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What Eurovision means to Ukrainians at war | GZERO World

What Eurovision means to Ukrainians at war

Where else will you find banana-inspired wolves, dubstep rapping astronauts, or earworms about vampires? It’s Eurovision, of course: the 70-year-old song contest that pits nations against each other in an annual spectacle of camp, kitsch, and catchy melodies.

But for Ukrainians – who have won the contest three times in the past 20 years – the contest is about something much more.

On GZERO Reports, we visit a secret Eurovision watch party outside of Kyiv, a drag party in New York City, and look at how Eurovision is more political than you – or those wolves, astronauts, and vampires – could imagine.

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Ukrainian flag is covered with grains.

Reuters

What We’re Watching: Lavrov meeting UN chief Guterres, Biden hosting South Korea’s President Yoon

Playing chicken with grain again

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday in New York for talks on renewing that crucial Ukraine grain export deal.

To rewind, last year, with the Ukraine war contributing to soaring global food prices, the UN and Turkey brokered an agreement for Russia to lift a naval blockade that was preventing Ukraine from exporting its huge grain harvests to the world. At the same time, the UN also agreed to help Russia boost its own massive exports of grain and fertilizer, which had fallen because of financial sanctions against the Kremlin.

By tamping down global food prices, the deal helped prevent more than 100 million people from falling into extreme poverty, according to the UN. But Russia says it hasn’t seen enough progress on its own grain and fertilizer exports, and Moscow is threatening to ditch the grain deal altogether when it next comes up for renewal on May 18.

Let’s see whether Guterres and Lavrov can separate the wheat from the chaff on this to grind out an agreement.

Beyond that, expect some diplomatic fireworks as Lavrov chairs two meetings of the UN Security Council, where Russia currently holds the rotating presidency. How does, say, Ukraine feel about that? See our recent interview with Kyiv’s UN envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya.

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Biden’s visit to Ukraine signals US commitment, but war gets tougher | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Biden’s visit to Ukraine signals US commitment, but war gets tougher

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody, Ian Bremmer here, and a happy Monday to you, a Happy President's Day.

I'm just back from Munich Security Conference, and of course today the big news, President Biden, with his surprise trip to Kyiv. And this is just before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion into Ukraine, last February 24th. Also, since the Russian annexation in Crimea in 2014, and their intervention in Southeast Ukraine, the first American president to visit Ukraine. That means including Obama, including Trump, including the first year of the Biden administration. This is a big deal symbolically for the US in showing continued commitment. It is a big deal for the Ukrainians in helping support their morale. It is a big deal for NATO, in helping to get them to believe that the Americans are undiminished in the prioritization of Ukraine, even after tens of billions of dollars, and a year of serious fighting.

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Ian Bremmer: 2023 Will Test the Limits of Ukraine’s Ties With the West | GZERO Media

Ian Bremmer: US support for Ukraine vs fear of Russian escalation

Rogue Russia is Eurasia Group's #1 top geopolitical risk for 2023. But what does that mean if you're Ukraine?

For Ian Bremmer, so far Ukraine and NATO have been very aligned on their goals. But that might change in the future if Ukraine's demands threaten unity between the US and its allies, he said in a GZERO Live conversation about Eurasia Group's Top Risks 2023 report.

The West will continue supporting Kyiv. But the last thing America wants is to risk giving the Ukrainians too much or too fast that it'll risk an escalation that could lead to nuclear war.

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Status of Transatlantic Relationship | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Putin aims to draw Belarus into Ukraine war

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics.

What's the mood in the transatlantic relationship?

Well, not bad. Certainly not, but not as good as it should be. There's been or there is a substantial European irritation with a very high level of subsidies that is given to industries in the US, excluding European deliveries of electric vehicles and energy investments and things like that. And that is causing a somewhat of a mini crisis that I hope will be resolved in the next few months. Let's hope for the best.

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Annie Gugliotta

“Like I’m living in the forest”: a darkened Kyiv faces General Winter

By any measure, it’s been a good few months for the Ukrainian military. Kyiv’s commanders have liberated thousands of square miles of territory occupied by Russia earlier in the war.

But now, the Ukrainian people face perhaps their biggest test yet. The Kremlin, reeling from Ukraine’s recent battlefield successes, has enlisted the help of a reliable Russian ally.

“Vladimir Putin has tried to weaponize winter,” warned NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a recent alliance summit in Bucharest.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in St. Petersburg.

Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS

Russian revenge vs. Ukrainian resolve

Vladimir Putin responded on Monday to Kyiv's (alleged) involvement in blowing up part of the only bridge connecting Crimea to Russia by unleashing fire and fury against Ukrainian cities.

Although some feared that attacking Crimea would push Putin to go nuclear, his retaliation was swift but conventional — and somewhat measured in terms of the actual damage done by an aggressor capable of wanton bloodshed. Also, Russia’s president blamed the blast on Ukrainian "terrorism," not the West, which means he doesn’t want to pick a direct fight with NATO.

How did we get here? Will it be a turning point in the war? And what might Putin do next?

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British PM Boris Johnson looking frazzled.

Reuters

What We're Watching: Johnson faces moment of truth, Russia hits Kyiv, Summit of the Americas kicks off

Will Boris Johnson survive confidence vote?

Conservative lawmakers on Monday dealt a massive blow to British PM Boris Johnson by triggering a no-confidence vote that could remove him from the top job after nearly three years in office. Johnson’s popularity, both among the British electorate and within his own Conservative Party, has been waning for months, in large part because of the ongoing Partygate saga, which saw Downing Street repeatedly host rowdy parties in violation of COVID lockdown rules while Brits were often hit with fines for minor indiscretions. Earlier this year, Johnson became the first-ever British PM to be fined for breaking the law. The growing cost-of-living crisis has also hurt him: Johnson’s approval rating has plunged to a dismal 26% – a remarkable drop from the 66% he enjoyed at the beginning of the pandemic. In a sign of growing public disdain for the PM, he and his wife Carrie were booed at a recent event marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. So, what happens now? On Monday evening, Conservative legislators in the House of Commons will vote on whether to remove the PM from office. A simple majority – 180 Tory MPs – will need to back the motion to end his tenure as PM. But even if he prevails, Johnson will emerge a diminished figure in British politics. Will the perennial comeback kid survive again?

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