💡 SPOTLIGHT
The two-year mark: What World War I (1916) teaches us about the Ukraine war (2024)
There are many analogies between 1916 and 2024, two years into World War I and the War in Ukraine respectively. It offers a clear way to try to understand what may happen next in Ukraine — and the world, writes Dominique Moïsi in French daily Les Echos.
The war in Ukraine will soon be entering its third year. To understand where we are now, a comparison with World War I may be useful. What was happening at the end of the summer of 1916, after two years of war?
On the Western front, the hero of the Battle of the Marne, General Joseph Joffre — victim of his failures to break through the enemy front — had been replaced by General Robert Nivelle, whose 1917 Chemin des Dames offensive would prove even more tragically futile. By late summer 1916, the front had essentially stabilized. We were waiting for an external factor to tip the balance one way or the other. In April 1917, the United States entered the war.
Today, with the frontline barely moving — even if the Ukrainians are suffering — it is not America’s entry, but its exit, which, by ending its support to Kyiv, could deeply alter the course of the war.
Trump is in some way Putin’s wild card, as Wilson was for the Allies. The Russian revolution in the fall of 1917, and its consequences, the end of hostilities on the Eastern Front, were not enough for the central empires to balance the entry of the United States in the war.
The analogies between 1916 and 2024 are numerous. Isn’t General Valerii Zaluzhny — whom President Volodymyr Zelensky has just dismissed after his counter-offensive failed — the Ukrainian Joffre?
The crux of the matter lies elsewhere. Could Europe take the place of the United States — to maintain a form of balance between Kyiv and Moscow — if Republicans, victorious behind Donald Trump, withdrew from the game, forcing Ukraine to accept negotiation on Russia’s terms?
Or are the United States, like a fading beacon in a spreading night, still irreplaceable today? For many historians, the U.S. inward-looking attitude in the aftermath of the First World War was one of the main causes of the Second World War. If the U.S. had remained faithful to the principles of Wilson, they would not have allowed the uncontrollable rise of fascism in Europe.
In 1920, the United States had retreated after the victorious end of hostilities. In 2025, it would do so with war still raging in Eastern Europe. What was merely a resignation yesterday, would by necessity become a betrayal tomorrow.
Historical analogies are useful and contain important lessons. But they cannot be taken too far. [...]
— Read the full article by Dominique Moïsi for Les Echos, translated into English by Worldcrunch.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
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• Navalny death and Ukraine war are the reason why U.S. is imposing “major sanctions” on Russia: The United States is set to announce new sanctions against Russia over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the two-year war in Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden did not give details but said he would provide more information about the package of measures on Friday, ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read more about How Navalny's Death Could Backfire On Putin Ahead Of Russian Election.
• Two charged with murder over Super Bowl parade shooting: Two men have been charged with second-degree murder and other gun-related counts in connection to the shooting during the post-Super Bowl celebration last week in Kansas City, home to the winning team. A woman was killed and 22 other people were injured in the February 14 shooting during the parade to honor the Kansas City Chiefs who won their second straight championship.
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• Delhi police clash with Indian farmers: Indian police fired tear gas to scatter thousands of protesting farmers. The police action came as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a new proposal, offering five-year contracts and guaranteed support prices for produce such as corn, cotton and pulses.
• “Grandfather satellite” to fall to Earth: ERS-2, a European satellite launched in 1995 to assess Earth's protective ozone layer, will enter the atmosphere and disintegrate around 11:32 a.m. EDT. Although the descent will be uncontrolled, it is expected that the two-ton satellite will burn up entirely, with chances of debris hitting the Earth considered “slim.” Besides, isn’t it time to clean the mass of debris orbiting Earth?
• Stinky ship leaves Cape Town: The Al Kuwait ship arrived at Cape Town’s harbor from Brazil on Sunday to load feed for its cargo of 19,000 cows. Shortly after, residents started complaining about a ”nauseating” odor coming from the ship. According to the animal welfare organization, the cows had been on board for over two weeks, with numerous animals forced to rest in pools of their own waste.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Amsterdam-based daily Het Parool highlights the increasing use of small drones in Ukraine and how they transformed the way war is waged. According to the Dutch newspaper, these unmanned systems have become a lethal tool on the battlefield, and their significance as a propaganda instrument should not be overlooked.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
“Reading time: 59 minutes?” Digital forces push publishers toward shorter books
Bookshops’ shelves display an increasing number of books with a smaller number of pages. Data seems to confirm that books with more than 400 pages are increasingly becoming a rarity. Why are shorter books being published, and what does that tell us about how we engage in our free time? asks Pablo Cerezal in Spanish online media Ethic.
📖 A report from the U.S. non-lucrative organization Wordsrated shows that publishing houses are producing increasingly shorter books. This study claims that, in the last decade, bestsellers have shrunk in volume by more than 11% and books with more than 400 pages are becoming increasingly rare. “Good things, when short, are twice as good. Badness, if brief, is not so bad," wrote Spanish Jesuit preacher and philosopher Baltasar Gracián in his “pocket oracle” The Art of Worldly Wisdom back in 1647.
💸 If we look at the decline of profits in the publishing industry since the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to the rise of prices of paper and other industrial supplies, we can understand that the publication of shorter books can even the balance for publishers. Before, someone could spend three months of their life reading one of Proust's volumes, purchased for less than 20 euros. Now, instead, they could read three books like Kafka's masterpiece for around 15 euros each. The benefit for the publishing house is thus ensured.
⏩ But if we look at those on the other side of editorial marketing — that is to say the readers — we can observe that their habits have also changed. One of the reasons is the excessive exposure to technology which, moreover, seems to do its best every day to renew itself at greater speed, leaving just enough time to assimilate the changes.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
💬 LEXICON
歩道走行ロボット
Uber Eats is set to introduce delivery services carried out by sidewalk robots (歩道走行ロボット, pronounced Hodō sōkō robotto) in parts of Tokyo, through a partnership with robotics firm Cartken and Mitsubishi Electric. The autonomous sidewalk robots, equipped with AI and computer vision technologies, will navigate the streets of Japan’s capital starting next month, delivering Uber Eats orders. The country, known for embracing robot helpers in the hospitality industry, will become the first international market with autonomous delivery available on the Uber Eats platform. The robots are designed to navigate obstacles, yield to pedestrians, and follow traffic rules, ensuring the safe and efficient delivery of food at appropriate temperatures.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📣 VERBATIM
“Only by extinguishing the flames of war in Gaza can we prevent the fires of hell from engulfing the entire region.”
— China has strongly criticized the United States for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. China argued that the veto sends the “wrong message” and effectively allows the ongoing violence to continue. The U.S. defended its veto, stating that the Algerian-proposed resolution would jeopardize ongoing talks to end the Israel-Gaza war. China's UN ambassador emphasized that the veto hinders efforts to halt the conflict and could lead to a broader war in the Middle East. The resolution was supported by 13 out of 15 Security Council members, with the UK abstaining. The U.S. has proposed its own temporary ceasefire resolution, warning Israel against invading the city of Rafah. Meanwhile, in a rare public foray into foreign policy, Britain’s Crown Prince William called for “end to the fighting as soon as possible” in a strongly worded declaration on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
Pushkin Plaza in Seoul has become a place for South Koreans to honor late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Such spontaneous manifestations of support for Navalny have appeared since Friday when the Kremlin critic died under mysterious circumstances in a Russian prison. — Photo: Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/ZUMA
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• Women Of ISIS: An Exclusive Journey Inside The Terror Group's Female Network — DARAJ
• Countdown To Ramadan, A New Deadline Turns The War In Gaza Even Darker — FRANCE INTER
• If The Digital Revolution Destroys The Written Word, What Will We Become? — EL ESPECTADOR
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