Vienna dispatch.
I’m entering my second week in Austria, and I like the country much more than I expected. I always imagined the Austrian capital as some posh, polished city full of buttery cakes and glittering opera houses. And while there are certainly elements of those stereotypes, I’ve discovered that it’s also diverse and a little gritty.
Almost 40 percent of Vienna’s population was born abroad, and there’s a sizable community from the Western Balkans. That shouldn’t surprise me, given the country’s history and location, but it wasn’t something I’d ever thought about.
One day, I ran into a shop to escape the rain and found myself in a Serbian-language bookstore. The owner came out from behind the counter and began chatting with me in Serbian, and I spent the next 20 minutes talking to him and reading translated books of poetry until the rain subsided. I couldn’t have asked for a more serendipitous moment. It’s been so long since I’ve had the opportunity to speak Serbian regularly, and yet I’ve heard it spoken on the street here almost every day. It makes me feel like I’ve landed somewhere familiar. I guess what I’m saying is it brings comfort.
We’ve been in back-to-back meetings from morning until night, nearly every day of the visit. But I’ll have more insights and stories and recommendations to share from Austria soon. The country has been gearing up for the EU elections, and Vienna celebrated gay pride yesterday, so there’s a lot going on.
But for now, here are a few of my unedited photographs:
Lazo Magazine is now on social media. You can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. And if you can donate to Lazo Magazine or become a paid subscriber to this newsletter, that’s always appreciated.
What I’m writing:
• I interviewed Marshall Billingslea, the special presidential envoy for arms control at the State Department and the assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department during the Trump administration. We discussed whether U.S. sanctions on Russia are working and how former President Trump would approach the war in Ukraine if he wins reelection. This interview is unlocked and free to read.
• As promised, here’s a podcast episode in which I discuss the view of Washington, D.C., from Europe, the war in Ukraine, and U.S. President Joe Biden’s new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
What I’m reading:
• The European Parliament election results are incoming….
• The former head of Moldova's general staff was an informant for Russian military intelligence, according to a new investigation from The Insider. The Insider accessed Telegram correspondence between former Chief of the Moldovan General Staff, Igor Gorgan, and his GRU handler, Russian Colonel Alexei Makarov. Gorgan regularly reported to Makarov on Moldova's domestic political situation and provided information on visits from Ukrainian Ministry of Defense representatives.
• Meduza has a deep dive into how the return of four villages to Azerbaijan sparked turmoil at Armenia’s political and literal frontiers.
• Poland arrested 18 people over the past six months on allegations of pursuing hostile activities or planning sabotage as an agent of Russia or Belarus, the Associated Press reports.
• Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico published a defiant video blaming the opposition for his recent shooting. Balkan Insight has the write-up.
• A German police officer died of his injuries after being stabbed, the Associated Press reports. The attack took place during an event held by Pax Europa, a German far-right anti-Islam group.
• German authorities said they uncovered evidence of an Islamic extremist motive in last week’s knife attack in which a police officer was killed, ABC News reports.
• Slovenia recognized a Palestinian state after its parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move, EuroNews reports.
• Spain will join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the Associated Press reports.
• The N.A.A.C.P., the oldest and largest civil rights group in the U.S., called for President Biden to “draw the red line” and suspend weapons shipments to Israel over the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza.
• Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said the group would continue to demand a permanent end to the Gaza war and full withdrawal of Israeli troops as part of a ceasefire plan, Reuters reports. The comments were an apparent blow to the latest ceasefire proposal advanced by President Biden last week, which was a three-phase proposal that would pair hostage releases with a “full and complete ceasefire.”
• Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar later issued a response to the ceasefire proposal advanced by Biden, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sinwar told Arab negotiators he would only accept a peace deal if Israel commits to a permanent ceasefire, adding, “Hamas will not surrender its guns or sign a proposal that asks for that.”
• Biden’s ceasefire plan put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a political jam, the Washington Post reports. Israelis marched in Tel Aviv, demanding Netanyahu accept the U.S.-brokered deal. Meanwhile, two far-right ministers – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir – threatened to resign and topple his governing coalition if he accepted it.
• More than one million people in Gaza are expected to “face death and starvation” by mid-July, according to a new United Nations World Food Program report.
• Thousands of ultranationalist Israelis marched through a sensitive Palestinian area of Jerusalem in an annual procession commemorating “Jerusalem Day,” CBS News reports. Marchers chanted “Death to Arabs” and other anti-Arab and anti-Islamic slogans.
• Israel is “prepared for an extremely powerful action in the north,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to Kiryat Shmona on the border with Lebanon. The BBC has the story.
• Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador in Tehran over a joint statement released by China and the United Arab Emirates related to Iran’s sovereignty over three Islands also claimed by the UAE, Reuters reports.
• The BBC has heard allegations of rape and torture in Myanmar’s Chin State.
• U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Cambodia for a visit amid increasing concern about Beijing’s growing presence at a key Cambodian naval base, Reuters reports.
• India’s prime minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third term, but his BJP party lost its outright parliamentary majority for the first time in 10 years, Al Jazeera reports. Modi’s NDA bloc secured 293 seats, above the 272 mark needed to form a government. The opposition coalition, INDIA, performed far better than expected, securing 232 seats.
• Mexico elected its first woman president in a historic landslide win, the BBC reports. Claudia Sheinbaum will replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on October 1.
• U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that prevents migrants from seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border when crossings surge, NBC reports.
• Final results in South Africa’s elections confirm the African National Congress party has lost its majority, the Guardian reports.
• South African president Cyril Ramaphosa of the African National Congress party said he would seek to form a broad alliance government because his party failed to secure enough seats in last week’s election to form a government on its own, the New York Times reports.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com