Tell me about yourself 🌎
Intimacy should be a two-way street.
One thing that happens when you write a weekly newsletter is that you spend a little more time than you’d like writing about yourself. There’s a sense that everyone who opens these emails every week (and there are thousands of you!..Lazo Letters is now #97 in international news on Substack 🤯) gets a sometimes quite intimate insight into my life and thinking. I feel mostly OK about that. But I’d also like it to be a reciprocal relationship.
That’s why I’m sharing a brief survey this week. I want to know who you are. Which languages do you speak? What are you interested in hearing about? Do you have personal projects you’d like me to highlight here? How can we build a better relationship between writer and reader?
I would be so grateful if you would take 5 minutes of your Sunday to complete this survey.
There was a ton of news this week, and I curated my usual list of links below. My goal is to provide you with an overview of the most important news stories of the week in an order that paints an accurate picture of significant trends in global news. Then I throw in a few extra links for fun. This week, for example, you can scroll through for updates on Russia-Ukraine negotiations, Russian interference in Europe, policy and personnel changes in Germany, the most noteworthy Trump administration diplomacy, updates on tensions between India and Pakistan, sectarian violence and Israeli strikes in Syria, the Canadian elections, and other news items from Africa and Latin America.
Also, today, Romania will hold much-anticipated elections in which a right-wing extremist might come out on top.
Paid subscribers can comment on this newsletter, so don’t hesitate to start a conversation if you think I’ve missed something important. After all, I want to hear from you.
Here’s a little snapshot from my life over the last week: I walked through the historic cemetery near my house and found the grave of a minor German noble and the man who patented the Ouija board. I also hosted the (truly delightful) Austrian Ambassador at this year’s somewhat lackluster White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which featured neither the president nor a comedian. We took pictures in which the blue lighting makes it look like I have on glow-in-the-dark face paint, or perhaps some strange facial bruise (I had neither).
If you’re new here and haven’t been reading Lazo Magazine, we’ve recently had pieces from Colombia, Luxembourg, and Afghanistan. I’m trying to grow this tiny independent online publication, so please support us in any way you can. That could be by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter, donating to Lazo here, or just reading the website and sharing some of our articles online. Lazo Magazine is also on social media. You can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
What I’m writing:
• I wrote about how Donald Trump is pushing for a Russia-Ukraine peace plan that benefits Moscow. This story is unlocked and free to read.
My weekly news blurbs:
What I’m reading:
• The Dispatch has a deep dive into Gaelic communities in Nova Scotia. This subject is near and dear to my heart because I visited these regions with my family as a very young person and attended many cèilidhs.
• RoadBook profiles Shimokita, a grungy counterculture neighborhood in Tokyo with a long history as an indie music incubator. I haven’t been here, but I’d probably like to visit.
• Everyone should read this joint investigation into the death of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who disappeared while reporting in Russian-occupied Ukraine. She was apparently strangled, starved, tortured with electric shocks, and eventually returned to Ukraine dead, without her brain or eyes. She was 27 years old.
• The United States and Ukraine signed an agreement granting U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral resources, which could help sustain U.S. military aid to Kyiv amid concerns that Trump may reduce support during ongoing peace talks with Russia.
• Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, wrote an op-ed in the Guardian arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin only offered a 3-day May ceasefire because he wants sanctions on Russian airlines lifted.
• New intelligence reviewed by U.S. and Western officials indicates that Putin shifted his near-term focus in Ukraine to consolidating control over occupied territories and strengthening Russia’s weakened economy, CNN reports.
• Russia and Belarus have been plotting attacks against the Belarusian diaspora in Lithuania since 2023, aiming to stoke ethnic tensions and disrupt the exiled Belarusian opposition, the Kyiv Post reports.
• The Bulgarian party Revival, a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations group in the European Parliament, signed a cooperation agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, the Bulgarian News Agency reports.
• France accused Russian military intelligence of conducting nearly ten years of cyberattacks targeting French government ministries, defense firms, and media outlets, allegedly aiming to collect intelligence and create discord within the country. The Wall Street Journal has the story.
• Germany's incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz released his first batch of Cabinet picks, Politico Europe reports.
• Germany and Greece asked the European Union for approval to increase significantly investments in defense equipment and weaponry, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Over half of the countries in the European Union plan to trigger an emergency clause allowing them to make defense investments that push them over the bloc's budgetary spending limits, Politico Europe reports.
• Germany’s domestic intelligence agency designated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist group that poses a threat to democracy, a classification that allows for enhanced monitoring of the party, including via informants and intercepting communications, Reuters reports.
• Germany charged a former aide to a right-wing politician with espionage for China, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Reform U.K., Britain’s upstart anti-immigration party, celebrated breakthrough wins as votes were tallied in local elections, the Washington Post reports. The early results showed that the populist politics roiling much of Europe and the United States are gaining traction in the United Kingdom.
• Euronews reports that citizens of Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, and Latvia can now travel to China visa-free.
• Dozens of self-identified NGOs in Geneva with secret ties to the Chinese government have been involved in a campaign to undermine the United Nations Human Rights Council, according to an investigation by The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
• The Trump administration has been consulting outside experts and discussing ways to restart talks with North Korea, sources told Axios.
• Syria formally responded to a list of U.S. conditions for potential partial sanctions relief, Reuters reports.
• Deadly sectarian clashes erupted on the outskirts of Damascus, killing at least 12 people, the New York Times reports.
• The Syrian presidency denounced Israeli air strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus as tensions soar after Israel accused Syria’s authorities of failing to protect the Druze minority from sectarian violence, Al Jazeera reports.
• Israel carried out airstrikes across Syria, warning it would target government forces if clashes continued between pro-government fighters and Druze militia members, the New York Times reports.
• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is considering eliminating the U.S. security coordinator position for the West Bank and Gaza as part of a broader restructuring of diplomatic personnel, sources told Axios.
• In the six weeks since Israel renewed its military campaign in Gaza, Israeli forces significantly redrew the territory’s map—labeling roughly 70 percent of the enclave as either a military “red zone” or an evacuation area—displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into increasingly confined areas. The Washington Post has the story.
• Hearings began at the International Court of Justice over allegations that Israel is breaking international law by refusing to allow aid into Gaza, Reuters reports.
• NPR reports that India will include caste details in its next census, in a move likely to have sweeping socio-economic and political ramifications for the world's most populous country.
• Pakistan’s defense minister said that a military incursion by India was “imminent,” as tensions between the neighboring countries continue to rise in the wake of a deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir, Reuters.
• New Lines Magazine reports that as the ethnic conflict in India’s northeastern state of Manipur drags on and new militias and “village volunteer” camps continue to crop up, the lines between combatants and civilians have blurred.
• Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won the Canadian election, defeating his Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre, CNN reports.
• Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada’s Liberal Party fell just short of securing a parliamentary majority in Monday’s election, securing 169 of 343 seats, the New York Times reports. That means he will need support from smaller parties to pass laws.
• Venezuelan authorities and pro-government armed groups have committed widespread abuses since the July 28, 2024, presidential elections, Human Rights Watch said in a report.
• Congo and Rwanda pledged to draft a peace agreement by May 2 and halt military support for armed groups, Reuters reports.
• Charles Ong’ondo, a Kenyan opposition member of parliament, was shot dead in Nairobi by gunmen on a motorcycle in a suspected assassination, the BBC reports.
• United Nations experts called on Malian authorities to investigate reports of summary executions and enforced disappearances allegedly carried out by the Malian army and Russian mercenaries, after dozens of bodies were discovered near a military camp, the Associated Press reports.
• Mali’s military leader, Gen. Assimi Goïta, has secured the support of key political allies to be declared president until 2030, the BBC reports. Amnesty International denounced the news, calling it a “proposal to dissolve all political parties in Mali.”
• The Trump administration has explored deals with Libya and Rwanda to accept migrants with criminal records from the United States, CNN reports.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com
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