Biden's new Ukraine strategy: Zero focus on regaining ground
US President Joe Biden is preparing a new strategy to support Ukraine, the Washington Post reports. The new plan downplays the importance of winning back territory from the Russians and instead focuses on helping Ukraine fend off new Russian advances, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The whole thing is described as a sharp change in strategy compared to last year, when the US and its allies invested heavily in supplying Ukraine with weapons and training in the hope of rapid advances on the front in the east and south.
Hope faded during the year and now, according to WP's source, it is clear that the same large-scale effort will not last. Instead, the goal is to help the Ukrainians maintain their position on the battlefield and "put them on a different trajectory so that they are stronger by the end of 2024."
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Israel-Hamas war Eurovision Song Contest
Around 1,000 artists want to port Israel from Mello
Swedish artists are preparing an appeal against Israel's participation in Eurovision, reports Expressen. The newspaper has seen a draft with the headline "EBU - Put down the double standards, exclude Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest" which several well-known names have signed.
The around 1,000 artists want Israel to be ported because of the war in Gaza, which "leading human rights organizations describe as serious war crimes", according to the appeal. Norwegian, Finnish and Icelandic artists have in previous petitions demanded that Israel not be allowed to participate.
The European Broadcasting Union EBU has responded that it is not relevant to exclude Israel because the competition is between public service companies and not between states. In 2022, however, Russia was excluded due to the war against Ukraine, according to TT.
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The presidential election in Venezuela
HD establishes ban on opposition candidate
Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is banned from running in the presidential election later this year. That is what the country's highest court decides, according to AP.
"Our struggle to conquer democracy through free and fair elections is not over," she writes on X, but does not yet comment on how it continues.
Machado won the primaries in October with over 90 percent of the opposition's vote, despite the government banning her from running shortly before. She was still able to run because the primaries were arranged by an independent electoral commission, and appealed the ban to HD.
The United States will now review its sanctions against Venezuela, according to Reuters. They were eased last year on the condition that the country would hold free and open elections.
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