April 06, 2022

Bullets and Choices

NEED TO KNOW Bullets and Choices MOLDOVA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a19755da-0385-95db-b607-df0d274fdb27.png"] Moldovans looking to the east can see smoke on the horizon as Ukrainian troops fend off Russia’s invasion, the Scotsman newspaper recently reported. As a result, one can understand why many in the former Soviet republic wedged between Romania and...

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April 05, 2022

Green Fields, Orange Apes

NEED TO KNOW Green Fields, Orange Apes INDONESIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/ec0c6f24-24ad-434b-bf1d-56e472da6e67.png"] Indonesians are talking about their government’s plan to move their capital from the metropolis of Jakarta on the island of Java to a new city under construction, Nusantara, on the island of Borneo. Expected to be completed in 2045, the...

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April 04, 2022

Push, Pull

NEED TO KNOW Push, Pull CENTRAL ASIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2e2ef13c-a42d-db72-25cb-edaa084a6043.png"] A radio talk show host in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan recently posted a troubling note on Facebook. Noting how Kazakhs have strong feelings about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lyubov Panova warned that criticism of the war could be...

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April 01, 2022

Little Brother

NEED TO KNOW Little Brother SERBIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/fd16e594-c67c-41ff-beb7-977236001063.png"] American and Western European diplomats recently expressed their disappointment at Kosovo’s decision to disallow people to vote in neighboring Serbia’s elections on April 3. “Such an attitude of the Kosovo government is not in line with our values and principles and...

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March 31, 2022

Russkiy Mir

NEED TO KNOW Russkiy Mir RUSSIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/db8acf88-8b4f-4b1c-bf9a-1e71d4eee94b.png"] Artur and Vsevolod fled to Istanbul, Turkey from their hometown of Moscow fearing that they might face conscription into the Russian military as the country’s brutal but botched invasion of Ukraine continues. “The atmosphere of fear in Russia is unprecedented,” said Vsevolod,...

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March 30, 2022

Between a Hammer and an Anvil

NEED TO KNOW Between a Hammer and an Anvil HUNGARY [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f77307e3-d12d-4a63-bcb5-407e519df6dc.png"] Most Central and East European leaders have been outspoken in their condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Polish, Czech, and Slovenian leaders made a risky visit to Kyiv earlier this...

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March 29, 2022

Packing Proxies

NEED TO KNOW Packing Proxies MALDIVES [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e808e12a-9c97-7e3a-2d92-f3b344e1fae9.png"] Some in the Maldives want to reduce the influence of India. The same people in the archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean might want to increase the influence of China in their backyard, too. Lawmakers with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)...

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March 28, 2022

Just Business

NEED TO KNOW Just Business UKRAINE/ RUSSIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/2aaf5c8d-a4e6-42cf-9dd9-f761d6bfed83.png"] Executives at France-based energy giant TotalEnergies recently announced that they would stop all Russian oil purchases this year in protest against President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian oil accounted for 17 percent of the $190 billion company’s production, reported...

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March 25, 2022

Crisis, Opportunity

NEED TO KNOW Crisis, Opportunity MALTA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/065f7a50-297e-403d-9a34-a904c51f2f61.png"] Maltese Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader Robert Abela recently handed out tax refund checks as large as $150 to 250,000 workers in his country, the bloc's smallest member. Abela said the checks would probably be the last voters would see...

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March 24, 2022

Four Weeks

NEED TO KNOW Four Weeks UKRAINE [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a64959d6-63d7-1d66-6bcc-4a03c878854b.png"] The pregnant woman and her infant who died after a Russian airstrike on a hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol might be the most moving, tragic, needless individual story in the war in Ukraine that started one month ago today. Associated...

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March 23, 2022

Egg on Face

NEED TO KNOW Egg on Face EUROPE [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f9c83d42-7d43-4e2f-a6d6-f7bf04744b7d.png"] Populist Italian politician Matteo Salvini had egg on his face recently after a press conference in the Polish town of Przemysl, a destination for many refugees from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Recalling that Salvini had praised Russian President Vladimir Putin...

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March 22, 2022

A Caucasian Puzzle

NEED TO KNOW A Caucasian Puzzle ARMENIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/291ba8a2-3105-41e3-a793-e28cc6a9282e.png"] Armenian President Armen Sarkissian recently resigned from office because he felt that he possessed too little power. "The president does not have the necessary tools to influence the radical processes of domestic and foreign policy in these difficult times for...

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March 21, 2022

An Angry Man

NEED TO KNOW An Angry Man RUSSIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/db8acf88-8b4f-4b1c-bf9a-1e71d4eee94b.png"] Recently, Putin declared that any country that interfered in Russia’s special operations in Ukraine would face “consequences greater than any you have faced in history,” raising the specter of mutually assured destruction, as the Atlantic magazine recounted. Is Vladimir Putin’s threat...

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March 18, 2022

When Dreams Become Nightmares

NEED TO KNOW When Dreams Become Nightmares UKRAINE [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/dce492ba-22fe-b9ad-f692-6f5eeb441d37.png"] When Russia recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine shortly before it invaded the country in late February, some locals were thrilled. They thought eight years of war would finally come to an end. "The recognition...

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March 17, 2022

Stifled Spring

NEED TO KNOW Stifled Spring TUNISIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/1f262cf6-0ed8-4367-aeca-5f0f2b6684d0.png"] Tunisian President Kais Saied recently extended his North African country’s state of emergency through the end of the year. The emergency order has been in effect since 2015 following a terrorist attack that resulted in the deaths of several presidential guards....

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March 16, 2022

A Wobbly Fence

NEED TO KNOW A Wobbly Fence INDIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/77bfa5a5-e30b-cebc-e08e-ada1a8fb7f63.png"] Most United Nations members rallied to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month. India, the world’s largest democracy, however, chose to sit on the fence, abstaining from the two votes. The reason was longstanding ties with Russia that some...

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March 15, 2022

Different Strokes, Different Folks

NEED TO KNOW Different Strokes, Different Folks WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] Danish officials don’t think children need Covid-19 vaccinations. They don’t think citizens who are at a high risk of a severe reaction to infection should receive a fourth booster shot. They’ve lifted mask mandates, eliminated vaccine passports and other...

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March 14, 2022

Master and Servant

NEED TO KNOW Master and Servant WORLD [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/486ddb7e-3777-4543-ab44-3536360a3ce9.png"] At least two storylines have formed around Russia, Ukraine and world energy supplies and prices. The first warns of the potential consequences of countries taking a principled stand on the war and violence in Ukraine and rejecting Russian oil outright without...

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March 11, 2022

Awkward Alliances

NEED TO KNOW Awkward Alliances CHINA/ RUSSIA [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/21f9e324-4daf-4230-9a72-9b7adfd30562.png"] Chinese President Xi Jinping once described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “my closest foreign colleague and my best confidant.” Their affinity makes sense. The two men are the world’s most powerful autocrats, the New Yorker magazine noted. Now, however, Putin’s invasion...

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March 10, 2022

Dictatorship 2.0

NEED TO KNOW Dictatorship 2.0 TURKMENISTAN [map url="https://mcusercontent.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/b168b666-d25a-47b3-9e9e-747b1b8c92c8.png"] The 40-year old son of Turkmenistan's president, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, recently hit the campaign trail. Some wonder why he bothered. He's the shoo-in for March 12 elections – a dauphin with a long list of titles including deputy prime minister. The eight other...

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