Premium: Ukrainian fightback exposes Russian war crimes, but Putin retreat not defeat

I once owned the email address alec@icon.co.za. It was allocated back in 1996, the very early days of SA's internet, when Ronnie Apteker, his brother Alon and partner David Frankel were building Internet Connection (hence @icon.co.za). Of the three, Ronnie was the one I connected with and got to know well. Today their business is owned by Japanese giant NTT and is SA's dominant provider of connectivity. Quite a legacy..David and Alon were the business brains, Ronnie the witty, creative one. So it surprised nobody that after IS, he started making movies (23 and counting) – most of them funny, some pretty successful. For the past 14 years the self-confessed tech nerd has been a regular visitor to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital to which he relocated permanently eight years ago. Ronnie is married to a Ukrainian and they have a baby, still in nappies..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Ronnie is back in SA after a harrowing journey that began two days after Putin's invasion. We caught up on Friday and you can watch the video recording of the interview by clicking above (or here). You'll eavesdrop on a conversation between two old pals where one shares real life experience and in-depth knowledge on a subject almost everyone you meet nowadays feels entitled to opine upon. Except Ronnie actually knows what he is talking about, having lived it..More for you to read today:.Xi Jinping's 'Common Prosperity' Was Everywhere, but China Backed Off. The signature economic policy, aimed at reducing inequality, rattled businesses last year but has faded as Beijing refocuses on shoring up growth. Hope, perhaps, for embattled Tencent and thus Naspers/Prosus?Short Sellers Bet Tether, Crypto's Central Bank, Is Vulnerable to a Run. Tether says it has conservative investments, while hedge funds question how much risk lies in the $82 billion investment portfolio that backs the currency.Why So Many Women in Middle Age Are on Antidepressants. Scientists are gaining a better understanding of women's midlife depression where one in four over 60 are on medication..Ukraine Isn't yet a 'Strategic Defeat' for Putin.Horrific images of murdered civilians and mass graves emerge from Kyiv suburb as Russian invaders retreat – but the war is far from over and Ukraine needs proper help says the WSJ's Editorial Board.By The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal.The human carnage and ruins of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, were on display this weekend after Russian troops withdrew. It's a horror show, with bodies of unarmed civilians lying in the street, some reportedly shot in the back of the head. Some appear to have been executed. This is the gruesome legacy of Vladimir Putin's invasion that the world will have to consider as part of its calculations as his war of attempted conquest continues..***.Western journalists were able to see and confirm the Bucha destruction as they entered the suburb after the last Russian troops retreated on Friday. Russian tank columns had moved through the town as they sought to surround and lay siege to Kyiv from multiple directions. They were stopped by fierce Ukrainian resistance, but not before laying waste to much of the city and, on the visual evidence, murdering its trapped population..Readers can see the bodies in the streets in videos online, which appear to be real. They are proof of the modern world as it is. For liberal internationalists who think military force is no longer a dominant force in human affairs, behold the dead in Bucha, where illusions about the "rules-based international order" are buried with the bodies..Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, called Russia's war a "genocide" on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday. Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, called the scenes from Bucha "a punch to the gut" on CNN, though he declined to call them war crimes. He said the U.S. will collect evidence in Ukraine and make a judgment..There is already a strong prima facie case that Russia's bombing of civilians is a war crime, even if it doesn't meet the definition of genocide. Scenes like those in Bucha, Mariupol and Kharchiv will have to inform the extent of Ukrainian, and Western, cooperation with Mr. Putin even if he withdraws from all of Ukraine..Is the U.S. really going to work with the Kremlin to implement another nuclear deal with Iran? And how is Russia still a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council? Its irrelevance in this conflict has exposed that the United Nations is worse than useless. It implicitly abets the world's dictators by giving them political legitimacy..The Russian withdrawal from the Kyiv region marks a setback for its original war aims, but it is still not a defeat for Mr. Putin. He might be regrouping his forces for another attempt on Kyiv later. Or perhaps he is changing his war aims to focus on conquering the east and south of the country. The Sunday bombardment by Russian ships suggests that Odessa, a city of about one million on the Black Sea, remains a Kremlin target..Which makes it dismaying that Biden officials continue to assert that the war is a "strategic defeat" for Mr. Putin. They repeat the talking point as if they're trying to persuade Americans that the war has already been won. "If you step back and look at this, this has already been a dramatic strategic setback for Russia and, I would say, a strategic defeat," Mr. Blinken said on CNN Sunday..No, it isn't. Russia has killed thousands of Ukrainians, inflicted untold damage, and still controls more territory than it did before the invasion. If Mr. Putin secures a truce that ratifies those territorial gains, he will have snatched the part of Ukraine that contains the bulk of its energy resources. He would be able to re-arm and continue as a lethal threat to the rest of Ukraine, the Zelensky government, and the border nations of NATO..This is no doubt why Mr. Zelensky continues to express frustration with the reluctance of the U.S. and NATO to provide the heavy weapons Ukraine needs to go on offense and retake lost territory. Leaks on the weekend suggest the U.S. may finally be helping to get old Russian tanks into Ukraine, but the country also needs advanced antiship missiles to protect Odessa, as well as aircraft to attack Russian tanks and artillery, and anti-aircraft systems..The West's goal shouldn't be some abstract "strategic defeat" but an actual defeat that is obvious to everyone, including the Russian public. Ukraine will have to decide how long it is willing to fight. But as long as it is willing, the U.S. and NATO should provide all of the military and sanctions support it needs. If Mr. Putin gains from this war, there will be more invasions, more war crimes, and more horrific scenes like those in Bucha in the future..NB FOR YOUR WALL STREET JOURNAL ACCESS….As a Premium subscriber you are entitled to full membership of wsj.com (normal price $29 a month). Be sure to action your access through the Premium link on the BizNews website. Because of The Wall Street Journal's credential requirements, be sure to create a password which has at least 8 characters and includes at least one letter and one number – NB it MAY NOT contain any special characters (ie #, !, @ etc). To maintain access to WSJ.com, you MUST enter our partner's website via BizNews Premium at least once a month. A final PS, if you had previously signed up for WSJ you'll need to clear the cookies from your device. Our help desk can assist – support@biznews.com..If you'd like to help sustain our independent voice, why not share the love by making a gift that keeps giving? Click here to access the BizNews Premium subscription signup form, and be sure tick the relevant box. At R100 a month and inclusive of full membership of The Wall Street Journal, it's a mind-expanding gift at an incredibly modest price.

Premium: Ukrainian fightback exposes Russian war crimes, but Putin retreat not defeat

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