Your Tuesday recap: Europe’s recalculation on Ukraine

Good morning. We are referring to Europe’s recalculation of Ukraine, revelations from January 6 hearings and a truck driver’s strike in South Korea.

Europe recalculates when Russia benefits

As Russia moves east, European leaders are under increasing pressure to forge a cohesive strategy that outlines what might constitute Ukraine’s victory – or Russia’s defeat.

European leaders say Ukraine will decide how and when to enter negotiations to end the war. They have all provided substantial financial and military support to Ukraine, which continues to press for more weapons.

But some European allies are increasingly worried about a protracted war. They don’t want to bring NATO into direct conflict with Russia – and they don’t want to incite President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear or chemical weapons. Here are the recent updates.

What’s next: Yesterday, it was reported that the leaders of France, Germany and Italy were planning to visit Kyiv, perhaps as early as this week.

Trump has ‘decoupled from reality’

The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol continued to conduct hearings yesterday. In turn, members of Donald Trump’s inner circle testified that they told the former president that his claims of widespread election fraud were bogus. But Trump came up with a lie.

William Barr, a former attorney general, said in a recorded recording that Trump had become delusional. Barr said that in the weeks following the 2020 election, he repeatedly told Trump “how crazy some of these allegations are.”

“He’s going to become detached from reality if he really believes these things,” Barr said of Trump. “Never showed any interest in what the actual truth was.”

Resources: Here are four takeaways from yesterday’s hearing and five takeaways from the first day of last week’s hearing. The next hearing is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 a.m. Eastern time (that’s 10 p.m. in Hong Kong).

Analysis: The committee is trying to make the Trump case aware that his claims of a rigged election are untrue. Barr’s testimony suggests another explanation: Trump actually believed his own lies.

Finance: The committee alleges that Trump used lies about fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. One committee member said the big lie was also a “big bust”.

Trucks in Korea go on strike

A strike by truckers in South Korea extended into Saturday, forcing the country’s manufacturers to scale back production and slow traffic at their ports.

The union representing truckers said they have repeatedly demanded safer conditions and fair fares. Truckers are protesting against soaring fuel prices and demanding minimum wage guarantees, Reuters reports. One trucker told Reuters he makes about $2,300 a month and his monthly fuel bill has increased by about $1,000 since April.

That strike is costing the South Korean economy and leading to widespread domestic delays: For the first six days, it resulted in production and transportation disruptions for cars, steel, and steel. and petrochemicals worth 1.6 trillion won (about $1.25 billion), the government said.

Global context: The strike could further disrupt broken global supply chains. But so far, the Associated Press reports, the country has not reported any major disruptions to key exports.

What’s next: Yesterday, truck owners said they could escalate disruptions if demand is not met, Reuters reported, including stopping coal shipments to a power plant.

LATEST NEWS

Asia

• Reuters reports, Beijing is racing to control the 24-hour bar-related coronavirus outbreak.

• Chinese police have arrested nine people on suspicion of assault after footage of an assault on a woman at a restaurant went viral, AP news agency reported.

World News

India’s economy is growing rapidly: Exports are at record highs and profits for publicly traded companies have doubled. But India is not able to create enough jobs, a sign of uneven growth and growing inequality.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Art as a collective

Documenta, arguably the world’s largest contemporary art exhibition, opens later this month in Kassel, Germany. It will run for 100 days and receive nearly a million visitors.

Ruangrupa, an Indonesian radical creative collective, is directing the 15th edition of Documenta. The group has long rejected the idea of ​​seeing art as objects, and instead, they turn social experiences into art.

For their only personal gallery exhibit, ruangrupa threw a party and left as crumbs as the exhibit. Some artists have suspected it is art. “We tell them: ‘You feel energized and inspired. You have met your friends. It’s art”, one member said.

At Documenta, they will work with 14 other collectives and their colleagues to test the idea of ​​lumbung, the traditional rice shop commonly found in Indonesian villages, built and shared by people.

“Not only do they not create tangible objects, they do not even create intangible experiences,” wrote Samanth Subramanian in The Times, adding, “Instead of collaborating to make art, ruangrupa propagates the art of collaboration. It is a collective that teaches collectivity”.