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Here are the five things you need to know today:
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. A call with Putin provides a blow to Zelensky.
UNITED STATES. The indictment of an ex-adviser is a memo to the current ones.
VENEZUELA. Trump’s pressure campaign meets choppy waters.
PERU. Gen-Z protesters turn against the new president.
DR CONGO. Kabila reemerges with a warning for Kinshasa.
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UKRAINE. RUSSIA. The power and the inglorious
A call with Putin provides a blow to Zelensky.
Donald Trump said he would meet Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a two-hour call. Trump demurred on sending Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv ahead of talks with Volodymyr Zelensky. Emergency power cuts were made across Ukraine.
INTELLIGENCE. Zelensky says the mere hint of Tomahawks has brought Putin to the table. Yet the missiles have always been a red herring in terms of their availability and likely effect. Either way, Putin has bought himself another fortnight of war before he meets Trump in Hungary, which has sought to host the leaders before (Viktor Orban has been seeking to meet Trump). Other EU members, fresh from negotiating a new counter-drone plan, won’t be pleased.
FOR BUSINESS. While he’ll need to take a circuitous route to get there, Putin’s visit to Central Europe will be a slap to NATO unity. The move could make Orban even more isolated in Brussels. Yet if an unlikely agreement is struck, it’ll be a diplomatic triumph ahead of Hungary’s April elections. In the wake of Gaza, Trump will want to upgrade his record from eight peace deals in eight months to nine in nine. Whether that’s a good thing for Kyiv is up for debate.
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UNITED STATES. Enemies within
The indictment of an ex-adviser is a memo to the current ones.
Former national security adviser John Bolton was charged with 18 violations of the Espionage Act Thursday, with each punishable by up to ten years. Trump said Bolton, who was previously indicted in 2021 (later dropped), was “a bad guy”.
INTELLIGENCE. The charges against Bolton, even if motivated by grievance, are seen
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