Weekend reads

And some photos

This is just a little note to say that I am still here, reading and editing the news each day. There will be more in this space soon. Stay tuned. Happy weekend. ✍️ I’ll keep the comments on in case you want to send me a poem, tell me what you’re up to, lament a little. The world is a heavy place right now. Stay safe.

Berlin and I, slowly thawing in the Spring

As always, you can read Lazo Magazine by clicking here

What I’m reading:

• Attacks on Iran have damaged 82,000 civilian buildings, including hospitals, residential units, and the homes of 180,000 people, across 20 of Iran’s 32 provinces, the International Organization for Migration said. The Associated Press has the write-up.

• Russia plans to open four ground control stations for long-range attack drones in Belarus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, citing information from Ukraine’s military intelligence service. Reuters has the story.

• The Pentagon is considering whether to divert weapons intended for Ukraine to the Middle East as the war in Iran depletes some of the U.S. military’s most critical munitions, the Washington Post reports.

• The U.S. ​is making its offer of security guarantees for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country's eastern region of Donbas to Russia, President Volodymyr ‌Zelenskyy told Reuters in an interview.

• The Washington Post’s Catherine Belton has a bomb shell deep dive into how Russia is working to help swing the Hungarian election in favor of its ally, the illiberal Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán, who acts as a spoiler in the European Union and NATO.

• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk backed the report claiming Budapest had been regularly briefing Moscow from EU summits, injecting new fire into the last weeks of campaigning ahead of Hungary’s general election, Euractiv reports.

• Claims Hungarians are being told to violently overthrow their government are part of a Kremlin-linked online bot campaign to sway the election, Politico Europe reports.

• U.S. Vice President JD Vance is planning to visit Hungary in a show of support for the country's long-time nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Reuters reports.

• Hungary’s Civil Cooperation Forum, a group closely linked to Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, requested Trump’s controversial Board of Peace deploy an electoral observation mission to the country ahead of next month’s election, according to Hungarian media reports.

• Hungary filed criminal espionage charges against prominent investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi over alleged wiretapping. The Independent Press Institute said the move is part of a campaign of “legal harassment of the media.”

• Panyi rejected the accusations as “completely unprecedented” in an EU member state, comparing them to practices in “Putin’s Russia, Belarus and similar regimes,” Euractiv reports.

• Access to confidential EU documents by the Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is raising concerns that sensitive deliberations are being exposed to Moscow, three EU diplomats and four German lawmakers told Politico Europe.

• The Balkans Investigative Reporting Network located one of the alleged ringleaders of a group of Serbs accused of staging stunts in Paris and Berlin to whip up social tensions on behalf of Russia.

• An estimated 250,000 protestors in Prague, Czech Republic, demonstrated against defense spending cuts, threats against public media, and democratic backsliding by the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, fearing his populist government would end support for Ukraine. Reuters has the story.

• Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob has urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to investigate accusations that Israeli spy firm Black Cube interfered in the country’s election campaign, according to a letter obtained by Politico Europe.

• Right-leaning Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) ​and liberal Freedom Movement (GS) were tied in Slovenia’s parliamentary vote, Reuters reports.

• Euractiv’s correspondent in Central Asia has a great piece on how Central Asian migrants are increasingly looking to emigrate to Europe instead of Russia due to fears they’ll be sent to fight in Ukraine.

• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived in North Korea’s capital on Wednesday for an official visit during which he is to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Associated Press reports.

• Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the military would take control of south Lebanon all the way to the Litani River, AFP reports.

• Iran received a 15-point plan for a ceasefire from the United States through Pakistani intermediaries, the Associated Press reports. Pakistani officials described the plan broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits, and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

• Iranian officials told Pakistani, Egyptian, and Turkish mediators that U.S. military movements and Trump’s decision to deploy major troop reinforcement have increased their suspicion that his peace proposal is a trick, Axios reports.

• Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been privately pushing Trump to continue the war in Iran in recent days, saying that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign presents a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East by removing Iran’s government, the New York Times reports.

• New Lines Magazine has an interesting story about people from Kashmir, drawing on historical ties to Persia, donating their life savings to Iranians.

• An international humanitarian convoy set sail from Mexico to deliver over 20 tons of supplies to Cuba, the New York Times reports.

• The Mexican Navy said it had activated a search-and-rescue operation in the Caribbean to locate two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba, after the vessels failed to arrive in Havana as scheduled. Reuters has the story.

• Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been designated a “priority target” by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to records seen by the Associated Press.

• Police in Zimbabwe have arrested Tendai Biti, a former finance minister and the leading opponent of constitutional amendments that would allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his rule, DW reports.

---

You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com