Russia

Today's news: partial IDF withdrawal from Gaza after a week-long offensive; Kathmandu towards new coalition government following parliamentary no-confidence vote for K.P. Sharma Oli; Thailand increases visa-free countries to 93 to boost tourism (and trade); 'Wandering' monk Thich Minh Tue reappears after a month.

A 47-year-old opera director, thanks to his loyalty to the cause, has taken on the task of dictating the new rules for Russian artists. With the support of the Kremlin, he has set up a large "patriotic content" project to produce films and television series, but also video games and apps to wink at the world of youth.

The Silema website recounts the conditions of refugees who fled not to fight in the war against Ukraine interned in the Mutsenieka camp. The dramas of those who are on the margins of the ongoing conflict and are not welcomed by either side.

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit dozens of cooperation agreements were signed in the fields of energy, trade and defence at the external borders. But - beyond the proclamations on the rejection of the dollar - China, India, Pakistan and the Central Asian countries remain well integrated in the world economy, taking care not to be dragged into the abyss of sanctions against Russia.

In Moscow, one can frequently hear people ask: “Are you with Biden or Trump?”, not to so much for ideological or geopolitical reasons, but for a mysterious sense of attraction and repulsion towards the great enemy, which in many respects is perceived as a Big Brother.

Russia exported 24% more oil to China in 2023 than in the previous year. And the Sila Sibiri pipeline is also operating at full capacity. But Beijing's rush into renewable energy production and the electric car market says that its goals are divergent from Moscow's. And that the current boom - vital for Russian finances - cannot last long.

​Arrested in August 2023, the 75-year-old leader of the Tulčin eparchy is a symbolic figure of the religious face of the ongoing conflict. For him, Patriarch Kirill would directly intervene by involving the Vatican in the negotiations. Many Russian propagandists are now assuring that he will become the new head of the patriarchal Church in Ukraine, replacing the subdued Onufryj.

Against all odds, Russia's GDP is growing at a fast pace. There is no longer any need to put something aside for the 'dark times', which have already arrived. Everything is pouring into immediate consumption, and of course the main bulk of the money ends up in the war industry, around which the various groups in an endless supply chain are growing.

According to Russian political scientist Dmitry Trenin, with a change in leadership Armenia would no longer find allies in the West; the US would step aside, and Azerbaijan and Turkey would be free to deal with an insurgent Armenian government on their own. The important thing for Moscow is that "another unfriendly front is not formed".

The condemnation of Tkačev by influential figures such as Kuzmin and Dvorkin has uncovered a Pandora's box within the Russian Orthodox Church, where the "two towers" of the holy war and what was condemned as "the liberal sect", linked to the memory of Aleksandr Men, the "spiritual father of dissent", are confronted.

At least 20 people were killed in a coordinated and extremely violent Islamist attack against two churches and a synagogue in Derbent and Makhachkala, North Caucasus. A 66-year-old clergyman was killed in church in front of his parishioners on the day of Pentecost. Two sons of Sergokalinsky District chief are among the attackers shot dead, while the father was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

Today's headlines: Israeli protests Armenian recognition of the Palestinian state, continues to attack Rafah, killing 45. China wants to execute supporters of Taiwanese independence. Five Pakistani soldiers are killed in a TTP attack near the Afghan border. Russia’s parliament further restricts immigration.