As Russians go to the polls, the outcome of the presidential election and the turnout have already been decided. The dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is virtually interred in a Siberian concentration camp, described the support for Putin's regime as nothing more than the product of “terror and apathy". The eternal tsar is but the face of a system that excludes the human soul.
Today's headlines: Senior doctors in South Korea join trainee doctors’ protest. India's foreign exchange reserves reach their highest level in two years. Iran is beset by a severe nursing shortage with more than 3,000 emigrating abroad a year. Thailand is considering legalising casinos. The Chinese are quietly occupying Siberia, raising concerns among local Russians.
Baek Kwang-soon, 53, is being held on espionage charges. The Love Rice Sharing Foundation, a Protestant charity he works for, says that “all sorts of Russians, Thai and North Korean workers” are “in need, and we provide them with clothes, food, and gospel.” Last month, North Korea sent 300 workers, despite a UN ban.
In Moscow a meeting sponsored by the Foreign Ministry with representatives of member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and members of the Orthodox Patriarchate. Cooperation in the defense of traditional values but also other common goals on the geopolitical level under discussion.
The latest data on international arms transfers over the past five years come from Sweden-based SIPRI. India is the world's top importer, while the United States, for the first time in 25 years, is Asia’s largest supplier. Driving rearmament, experts explain, is the perception of a Chinese threat (which continues to boost its war production).
A stronghold of the Wagner Company, the Afewerki regime at the UN consistently votes on Moscow's side in resolutions on the conflict in Ukraine. Economic cooperation between the two countries grows steadily from year to year, while a monument to the Russian poet Pushkin has even been erected in Asmara.