Yulia Navalnaya has vowed to continue her husband’s work to fight for a “free Russia,” Credit: EPA
In the days following her husband Alexei Navalny’s death in a Russian prison colony on 16 February, Yulia Navalnaya has picked up his mantle as a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin. Speaking to European lawmakers and students from across the continent in Strasbourg, Ms. Navalnaya called on countries to treat the Russian president as the leader of a criminal organization, using the legal tools at their disposal. Ahead of her speech, Mr. Navalny’s spokesperson announced that the activist’s body would be buried at a cemetery in Moscow on Friday, two weeks before the start of Russia’s presidential election, where Mr. Putin is set to win another six-year term. Ms. Navalnaya addressed the feeling that “Putin cannot be defeated at all,” channeling her husband in saying: “If you want to defeat Putin you have to become an innovator. You have to stop being boring.” (BBC News Briefing, 2/28/2024).
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TUESDAY’S MICHIGAN PRIMARY – Michigan’s primary mattered, here’s why
Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden won their primaries in Michigan yesterday, but the vote revealed vulnerabilities for Joe Biden that could come back to haunt him in November.
Why Michigan mattered: It was Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in Michigan that sealed the 2016 election, and Joe Biden’s triumph over Trump there and in other Upper Midwestern states in 2020 that decided the election. In all probability, it will play a decisive role this November. Michigan is also home to the largest Arab-American population in the United States. After a concerted campaign in protest of the Biden administration’s policy toward Israel and Gaza, 13 percent of Democratic primary voters chose “uncommitted” last night. In Dearborn and Hamtramck, two of the Michigan cities with the highest concentrations of Arab Americans, “uncommitted” won 56 and 61 percent of the Democratic vote, respectively. Significant portions of Michigan’s college towns also voted uncommitted in protest, foreshadowing how many young, progressive voters are angry about American support for Israel.
GOP voters once again rejected Nikki Haley in favor of Donald Trump. Haley lost for a fifth time against the former president, winning 27% of the vote against Trump’s 68%. She has vowed to stay in the race through Super Tuesday, where the lion’s share of the delegates are up for grabs. (Gzero Signal, 2/28/2024)
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NATO Troops to Ukraine? Macron Can’t Be Serious
Is French President Emmanuel Macron crazy or just bluffing? It’s a question geopolitics experts are confronting after he suggested Monday that sending Western troops into Ukraine to fight against Russia shouldn’t be “ruled out.”
Ukraine seemed to welcome the suggestion of possible European intervention – hardly surprising given Kyiv’s many challenges at this stage of the war.
But Moscow quickly warned that would inevitably lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. Germany and Poland on Tuesday also pooh-poohed Marcron’s idea.
Would this actually happen? It’s extremely unlikely that any Western countries will put boots on the ground in Ukraine. No one wants a conflict between nuclear-armed powers.
So why did Macron say this? According to a thread on X by Eurasia Group’s Europe Director Mujtaba Rahman, French sources said Macron’s comments were meant “to reassure Ukraine” and serve as “words of warning to Vladimir Putin.”
Our take: Macron likes to stand out on the global stage, for better or worse. He took a lot of flak for seeming too friendly to Putin early in the war. Making a non-starter threat like this enables him to look tough, without actually having to back it up. Trés shrewd, Emmanuel. (Gzero Signal, 2/28/2024)
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MOSCOW MUST LOSE THE WAR
In Germany, the second anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine has been marked by noisy sloganeering: calls to keep on fighting until Russia is defeated, and scorn for those who question the logic of ever more lethal weapons for Kiev. “They’re just scared.” From the United States come warnings that Ukraine will lose the war. Some voices within the US administration are now urging President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate with Russia. Yet Berlin is doubling down: Moscow must “lose this war.” The leader of the main opposition party in the Bundestag, Friedrich Merz (CDU), says bluntly that there should be “no negotiations” before Russia capitulates. Surveys indicate that not many agree: only 10 to 25 per cent of the German population think a Ukrainian victory is likely. Majorities expect a Russian victory and oppose further arms deliveries. Yet leading German media have joined in the ridiculing of Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his current stance against handing over Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev. He should, they say, stop being “scared”. Any fears are, of course, based on the well-founded assumption that Moscow would interpret the delivery of the Taurus as Germany going to war. Meanwhile, domestically Germany is in a downward spiral. The sharp rise in military spending is accompanied by social cuts and economic decline: “guns without butter,” as one economist quips. (German Foreign Policy, 2/28/2024)
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US Immigration: Economics vs. Politics
Immigration has overtaken the economy atop the list of Americans’ biggest concerns. In part that’s because the economic future is getting brighter, and as it happens, immigration is part of that story.
The upside: According to a CBO study, the surge in irregular migrants seen under Joe Biden will lead to 1.7 million more workers in 2024, and will grow the economy by about $7 trillion over the next decade.
The downside: Irregular immigration is straining social services, even in Democrat-run “sanctuary cities.” And over the longer term, experts say that the lower skill levels of this wave of migrants could undermine productivity and depress wages in low-skilled sectors.
The politics: Notwithstanding the findings about undocumented immigrants’ contributions to the future economy, Americans’ views are hardening. 80% of Americans say the current administration is doing a bad job managing the border, and a Gallup poll found that 28% of voters named immigration as the country’s biggest problem, up from 20% last month. (Gzero Signal, 2/28)
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JEW HATRED IN UK OUT OF CONTROL
In London over the past few days, I was told the following story.
It concerned Menai Bridge, a small town in north Wales which is listed here as having a population of 3,046 souls of whom precisely four are Jews. A few weeks ago, one of these four Jews decided to visit a shop in the town. She was shocked, however, to see a sign in its window declaring “No Zionists allowed.” She put her head round the door and told the owner that she had been intending to visit the shop, but in view of the sign in the window she wouldn’t now do so. At which he yelled at her: “Get out of my shop, you f*****g Jew!”
The owner was white-skinned. As the woman retreated into the street, an Asian man who was passing heard what was being screamed at her from inside the shop and proceeded to hurl at her the same antisemitic obscenity.
Jew-hatred in Britain is out of control. (Melanie Phillips, 2/28/2024)
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SHORTS
Any addiction, whether to the internet, opioids, or gambling, is closely linked to depression, with each reinforcing the other. (Rise and shine, Epoch Times, 2/28/2024)
TRUMP’S SURPIRSING PLEDGE. If former President Donald Trump wins reelection in 2024, he’s promising a massive campaign to deport all illegal immigrants. There are some doubts around whether this would be possible, but during the recent CPAC conference, President Trump reiterated this promise. Meanwhile, the former president is saying that a victory for him would render Nov. 5 a veritable “Liberation Day” for hard-working Americans. (Epoch Times, 2/28/2024)
The Daily Mail leads on the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, allegedly deciding not to boost defence spending in the upcoming budget, despite “raging” wars and “growing threats.” The paper describes this as “indefensible.” The Times splashes on its own interview with the home secretary, James Cleverly, who tells the paper that he believes that pro-Palestinian protesters have “made their point” and do not need to continue with their demonstrations. (The Week, 2/28/2024)
Mary Poppins, the 1964 Disney classic film, has had its age rating raised from U to PG by British film censors because it features “discriminatory language.” Mary Poppins includes two uses of the discriminatory term ‘hottentots’,” which was a derogatory term originally used by white Europeans about nomadic peoples in southern Africa, a spokesperson for the British Board of Film Classification said. “Most recently, the film was resubmitted to us in February 2024 for another theatrical re-release, and we reclassified it PG for discriminatory language.” (The Week, 2/27/2024)
Incitement Against Israel In Qatari Press Continues: Only More Attacks Like October 7 Will Restrain It; The Conflict Will End Only With Disappearance Of Israel (MEMRI headline, 2/28/2024
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RICH BUT, OH, SO POOR
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 13:16-18
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Stock market values can make people wealthy or poor. Money is not a good god; it cannot love you, nor can it give you eternal life. The one true God, however, has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” The church in Laodicea had a big problem. Because their lukewarm attitude caused a less-than-effective ministry, Jesus warned them that he was about to spit them out of his mouth. They had bank accounts filled with money, tempting their eyes to turn from Jesus toward only themselves. But that made them “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” in Jesus’ eyes.
Jesus did not shut the door on them, but he offered wise financial advice. He advised them to find true wealth in him, and to obtain the pure, white garments of his righteousness rather than the black-wool garments that Laodicea was famous for. And they should invest in the eye medicine of his insight, rather than the medicinal balm their region was known for. Money itself is not the problem, but trusting in money instead of Jesus will bring ruin (see 1 Timothy 6:10). Following the way of Laodicea puts the church at great spiritual risk. Let us thank God that he never leaves us but is always ready to discipline us in love. (Evan Heerema, Our Daily Bread, 2/27/2024)
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