The Destruction of Sennacherib.
And a week of news.
This week, I’m leaving you with one of my favorite poems, which is all about war and death and the Middle East, and it ends with snow. It feels very apt at the moment. It’s by the inimitable but ever-complex and sometimes despised Lord Byron. The photo is just because I like it.
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
What I’m writing:
• Following last week’s newsletter, I wrote a deep dive into the competing airstrikes in the Middle East and the potential for escalation. Over the last several weeks, airstrikes pummeled Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. This article is unlocked and free to read.
• My colleague Savannah Behrmann and I break down the latest on the border and Ukraine aid talks in Congress and why they are again on shaky ground. This article is unlocked and free to read.
My weekly news blurbs:
What I’m reading:
• A Russian military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed near the southern city of Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border, NBC reports.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners” following the deadly plane crash that reportedly killed 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, the BBC reports. Moscow claimed the Ukrainians were being transported for a prisoner exchange, but Ukraine’s military intelligence service said it had not been told to ensure safe airspace.
• Meeting at locations agreed in Telegram groups and hiding their identities, some Russians in Serbia are collecting of signatures for Boris Nadezhdin, a rare anti-war candidate challenging Putin in Russia’s 2024 elections, Balkan Insight reports.
• NATO signed a $1.2 billion contract for hundreds of thousands of 155m artillery rounds, some of which will be supplied to Ukraine after Kyiv said it faces ammunition shortages, Reuters reports.
• European countries are fed up with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s blocking of aid for Ukraine and are preparing a tough message for the strongman leader ahead of a gathering of EU leaders in Brussels next week: Stop blocking, or we could deploy a diplomatic nuclear option to cut you out of EU decision-making. Politico Europe has the story.
• The leader of Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist Transdniestria region called on its intelligence and defense institutions to uphold a “high level of military preparedness” and conduct regular military drills, Reuters reports.
• Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stepped up his anti-Ukrainian rhetoric in an interview with his country’s public broadcaster, saying that “Ukraine is not a sovereign country” and is “under total influence and control of the United States.”
• The Slovak culture ministry resumed cooperation with Russia and Belarus, which was suspended after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Politico Europe reports.
• Spain tops the list as the largest EU importer of Russian gas, La Vanguardia reports. Spain significantly increased its intake of Russian LNG in 2023.
• Turkey ratified Sweden’s bid to join NATO after a long-standing dispute over what it called Sweden’s support for Kurdish separatists, the BBC reports.
• Hungary’s parliamentary speaker said there was no “particular urgency” in approving Sweden’s NATO membership bid after ratification by Turkey left Hungary the only country hampering the accession process, Reuters reports.
• A protest against Germany’s far-right in Munich drew approximately 100,000 people, the Associated Press reports. The demonstrations followed a report that right-wing extremists met to discuss deporting millions of immigrants, including those with German citizenship, with members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) in attendance.
• In an interview with the Financial Times, AfD leader Alice Weidel said her party will push for a Brexit-style vote on Germany’s EU membership if it comes to power.
• Germany’s top court stripped a neo-Nazi party of the right to public financing and tax advantages normally afforded to political organizations, a decision that could provide a blueprint for government efforts to fend off a far-right resurgence, the New York Times reports. Although the party, Die Hamat, was already too small to receive public funding, the case could have implications for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
• The president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said Britain has a legal obligation to comply with its injunctions after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would ignore the court’s orders to halt the planned deportation of some asylum seekers to Rwanda, Reuters reports.
• More than 40 senior former Israeli national security officials, acclaimed scientists, and business leaders have sent a letter to Israel’s president and speaker of parliament demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be removed from office, claiming he poses an “existential” threat to the country, CNN reports.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected what he said were conditions proposed by Hamas for the release of remaining hostages in Gaza, including ending the war and withdrawing Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. He also reiterated his opposition to a two-state solution, putting him at odds with the Biden administration.
• Israel made a proposal to Hamas through Qatari and Egyptian mediators that includes up to a two-month pause in fighting as part of a deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, Axios reports. Hamas later rejected the proposal.
• Israel proposed that Hamas senior leaders could leave Gaza as part of a broader ceasefire agreement, CNN reports.
• Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said the kingdom will not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to rebuilding Gaza without a credible path to Palestinian statehood, the Associated Press reports.
• Arab countries are working on a proposal for postwar Gaza that would create a pathway for Palestinian statehood in exchange for Saudi Arabia’s recognition and normalized relations with Israel, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• All but two Senate Democrats are supporting a measure advocating the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a national security package that would also include military aid to Israel.
• Iran accused Israel of launching an airstrike on Damascus that killed senior Iranian military figures, raising fears of deeper regional turmoil, the New York Times reports.
• Iran-backed militants attacked an air base housing U.S. and Iraqi troops in western Iraq, U.S. Central Command said, in the latest incident targeting U.S. forces amid rising regional tensions.
• The United States and Iraq are expected to soon begin talks on the future of the U.S. military presence in the country as public calls from the Iraqi government for a withdrawal grow, CNN reports.
• Pakistan said that Iran’s foreign minister will visit the country next week, signaling efforts to rebuild relations after the two countries exchanged missile strikes, Reuters reports.
• The Kenyan High Court blocked the government from deploying police officers to fight gangs in Haiti, the BBC reports.
• Mali’s junta ended a 2015 peace deal with Tuareg separatist rebels, a move that risks further destabilizing the country, Reuters reports.
• The president of Egypt, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has expressed his support for Somalia in a dispute over an offer by the breakaway northern region of Somaliland to give land-locked Ethiopia access to its coast in exchange for recognition of its independence, the Guardian reports.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com.