The World That Was

Adrian Olivier,

Sunday 18 August – Sunday 25 August:

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border. It was the first time Zelenskyy clearly stated the aim of the operation that began on August 6. Previously, he had said the operation aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling. Zelenskyy said “it is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory -– our operation in the Kursk region,” he said in his nightly address. Over the weekend, Ukraine destroyed a key bridge in the region and struck a second one nearby, disrupting supply lines as it pressed the incursion, officials said. In his remarks on creating a buffer zone, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces “achieved good and much-needed results.” Analysts say that although Ukraine could try to consolidate its gains inside Russia, it would be risky, given Kyiv’s limited resources and the vulnerability of its supply lines.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel had accepted a proposal to bridge differences holding up a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza, and he called on Hamas to do the same. Blinken spoke after holding a 2 1/2 hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day and later travelled to Egypt and Qatar for further negotiations. The three mediators have spent months trying to end the war in Gaza, with the talks repeatedly stalling. “In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel supports the bridging proposal,” Blinken told reporters, without saying what the proposal entails. “The next important step is for Hamas to say ‘yes.’” He added, however, that even if Hamas accepts the proposal, negotiators will spend the coming days working on “clear understandings on implementing the agreement.” He said there are still “complex issues” requiring “hard decisions by the leaders,” without offering specifics. Netanyahu said that he had a “good and important meeting” with Blinken and appreciated the “understanding that the United States has shown to our vital security interests, along with our shared efforts to release our hostages.” He added that efforts are being made to release the maximum number of hostages in the first stage of the cease-fire deal. Earlier on Monday, Blinken said it was a “decisive moment,” and “maybe the last” opportunity to free the hostages and secure a cease-fire. “It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process,” he said in a veiled reference to Iran. “And so we’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way move us away from getting this deal over the line, or for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places and to greater intensity.” Mediators will meet again this week to try to cement a cease-fire. 

On Wednesday, Iran’s parliament approved all members of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian’s Cabinet, the first time in over two decades a leader has been able to get all of his officials through the body. The approval marks an early win for Pezeshkian, a longtime lawmaker who found himself catapulted into the presidency after a helicopter crash in May killed his predecessor. Getting his officials approved shows Pezeshkian picked a Cabinet of consensus with names palatable to all of the power centers within Iran’s theocracy. The candidate who received the most support from lawmakers was the country’s new Defence Minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, who received 281 votes out of 288 present lawmakers. The chamber has 290 seats. Nasirzadeh was chief of the Iranian Air Force from 2018 to 2021. Abbas Araghchi, 61, a career diplomat who will be Iran’s new foreign minister. Araghchi was a member of the Iranian negotiating team that reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 that capped Tehran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and hailed the growing trade relationship between the two countries. “Our trade relations are developing, developing successfully … The attention that the governments of the two countries on both sides are paying to trade and economic ties is yielding results,” Putin said at the meeting in the Kremlin. He said that Russia and China have developed “large-scale plans” for economic and other projects. “Chinese-Russian relations are at an unprecedentedly high level,” said Li, who earlier had met with his Russian counterpart, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. 

On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in an interview that the United States is facing heightened threats from many actors, adding that he is “hard pressed to think of a time in my career where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once.” Wray spoke with The Associated Press while visiting the Minneapolis field office to talk about partnerships between law enforcement agencies and also with other entities. His remarks come as the FBI confronts heightened concerns over terrorism, both domestic and international, as well as Chinese espionage, intellectual property theft and foreign election interference. “I worry about the combination of that many threats being elevated at once, with the challenges facing the men and women in law enforcement more generally,” Wray said at the office in the suburb of Brooklyn Center. 

On Thursday, a volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted for the sixth time since December, spewing ashes and lava, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. The flare-up of the volcano, part of the Svartsengi volcanic system on the Reykjanes Peninsula, marks a continuation of intense geological activity in a region where eight volcanic blasts have been recorded since 2021. Before 2021, the volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula had been dormant for about 800 years. The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa and a popular tourist destination near the site of the eruption, announced that it had evacuated its guests and that it would be closed on Friday as a “precautionary measure.” Grindavik, a nearby fishing town of nearly 4,000 people, has been largely empty of its residents since January after volcanic activity started threatening the area. 

On Friday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave his strongest signal yet that interest-rate cuts are coming soon, saying the central bank intends to act to stave off a further weakening of the U.S. labour market. “We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labour market conditions,” Powell said in prepared remarks for a speech at the central bank’s annual gathering in the Grand Teton National Park. “The time has come for policy to adjust.” Fed officials’ next policy meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17-18. They are widely expected to lower the benchmark federal funds rate at that meeting. Powell was far less ambiguous than in his press conference after the last Fed meeting, on July 31. At the time, Powell suggested the Fed needed a bit more data to feel confident inflation was coming down. Friday’s speech suggested that he now has that data. “The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks,” Powell said.

On Friday, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his election bid and endorsed Donald Trump, potentially boosting the Republican former president just after Democrats left their convention with renewed hope for a win. “I promised the American people that I would withdraw from the race if I became a spoiler,” Kennedy said at a rally. “In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control.” Polls indicate that Kennedy’s departure will likely help Trump. At the rally, Kennedy suggested that Trump, whom he has spoken to in recent weeks, had asked “to enlist me in his administration.” He said he tried to meet with Harris and she declined. Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio said in a memo that survey data clearly showed Kennedy’s move would boost the Republican, even if Democrats claimed otherwise. “This is good news for President Trump and his campaign—plain and simple,” Fabrizio wrote. Kennedy said he would seek to remove his name from the ballot in competitive battleground states—but leave it on others, letting voters back him in solid blue or solid red states where he wouldn’t affect the outcome. 

On Saturday evening, Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging service Telegram was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for money laundering and drug trafficking among other offences, French media reported. Durov, 39, a dual citizen of France and Russia was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport after landing in France from Azerbaijan, according to broadcasters LCI and TF1. Investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, attached to the French customs department, notified Durov, 39, that he was being placed in police custody, the broadcasters said. Russian government officials expressed outrage at Durov’s arrest, with some highlighting what they said was the West’s double standard on freedom of speech. “In 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others, condemned the Russian court’s decision to block Telegram,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “Do you think this time they’ll appeal to Paris and demand Durov’s release?” Zakharova said in a post on her personal Telegram account. Officials at the Russian Embassy in Paris had requested access to Durov, Zakharova told Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti, but she added that French authorities view Durov’s French citizenship as his primary one. 

On Sunday, Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched their heaviest exchange of fire in months. Israel said around 100 warplanes launched airstrikes targeting thousands of rocket launchers across southern Lebanon to thwart an imminent Hezbollah attack. Hezbollah said it launched hundreds of rockets and drones aimed at military bases and missile defence positions in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Hezbollah called the attack an initial response to the targeted killing of one of its founding members and top commanders, Fouad Shukur, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. It said its military operations for Sunday were concluded, but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said they will “reserve the right to respond at a later time” if the results of Sunday’s attack aimed at a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv aren’t sufficient. Israel’s military said its intelligence base near Tel Aviv wasn’t hit. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said an initial assessment showed “very little damage” in Israel.