North Asia

Today's headlines: Israeli security forces killed two Palestinian youths near Jenin; after two years, the Japanese emperor returns to greet citizens on New Year's Eve; Islamabad and Delhi exchange lists of nuclear sites and prisoners; Pyongyang shops flooded with luxury goods - counterfeits - of Chinese origin; Uzbekistan blocks the sale of Indian medicines.

The two leaders meet via videoconference. As Moscow grapples with repeated setbacks in the war against Ukraine; Beijing is under increasing pressure over its mismanagement of the pandemic. Although the two partners reiterated their desire to boost bilateral cooperation, it is highly unlikely that Xi will agree to visit Russia if Putin continues to suffer defeats in Ukraine.

The "Putinian" man is the current unhappy version of "homo sovieticus." Russians with no more hope for the future, except in the apocalyptic version of Orthodoxy. Putinian violence is the "Russian national characteristic," its true ideology.

Like Ukraine, Kazakhstan is home to a large ethnic Russian community. Kremlin exponents consider the former Soviet republic an "artificial" country. Astana does not want to appear a puppet of Russia, like Lukasenko's Belarus.

Message pronounced during urbi et orbi blessing: "Let us overcome the torpor of false images that make people forget the feast day, and as we look at Bethlehem let us fix our gaze on the child victims of World War III." In Myanmar and Iran "cease all bloodshed." Appeal for reconciliation in Ukraine, Syria, Holy Land, Lebanon, Yemen and for Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa plagued by hunger and famine.

Christmas in Ulan Bator, described by Card. Giorgio Marengo - chosen by Pope Francis in the last consistory. The prelate leads a Church that was born just 30 years ago in the steppe and counts a total of 1,400 faithful. "The coal scandal has exasperated people at an already difficult time. Christmas wish from Mongolia: to discover that this Child is born to take ever deeper roots among us as well."

In the thirty-year post-Soviet period, Christmas had split into two, accepting 25 December of the Gregorian calendar, without conflict with 7 January of the Julian calendar of the Orthodox Church. With the war, Christians return to quarelling over the dates of the liturgical calendar, evoking how the first schism in the 2nd century was overcome thanks to Irenaeus, a saint from Asia who went to preach in Gaul, inaugurating the meeting of souls and the great currents of Christian spirituality.

The 'Russia system' seems to have held up in the face of Western restrictions for its invasion of Ukraine. However, problems are expected in the long run. It will be difficult for the Russians to compensate for lost imports. A drop in the population's standard of living is expected. The Russian Bear behind even the emerging Asian countries.

It is Russia's most glorious association for the defence of human rights. Registered only in the capital, the Ministry of Justice challenges its work on a national scale. Human rights dead and buried in Putin's Russia.

Wooed by Moscow and Ankara, the Turkmen want to maintain their traditional neutrality. The passage of Turkmen gas to Europe and South Asia at stake. The Turks aim to become a primary energy hub. The Russians seek alternatives to the European market.

They target politicians who enriched themselves by selling coal to China. Thirty-five people are under investigation, including former president Khaltmaagiyn Battulga. Coal mining accounts for 25% of the national GDP. The Mongols want to free themselves from the cloak of isolation and lawlessness.

The war in Ukraine shows how propaganda is back with a vengeance, the latest incarnation of a something that goes from Mayakovski’s poems to today's influencers. It reflects a dilemma best embodied by Dostoevsky when he wrote: “Even if someone were to prove to me that the truth lay outside Christ, I should choose to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.”