Foreign Correspondence, Vol 92
The woman fighting to free her husband—and all political prisoners—in Russia
Hello, happy Friday, and to those observing, Ramadan Mubarak!
The Islamic holy month—best known as the period when Muslims refrain from food and drink during daylight hours and least known as the time, four yeas ago, when my caffeine-starved brain concocted this idea to start a newsletter—is upon us once more. But it isn’t much of a happy one. For many, the ongoing war in Gaza has transformed an otherwise celebratory occasion into a more somber affair. After all, it’s difficult to fathom enjoying sunset feasts and with friends and family when you know that, thousands of miles away in Gaza, people are on the brink of famine.
As grateful as I am for the easier fasting hours this year, where in London the sun has been setting just after 6 p.m., I also couldn’t imagine complaining about anything in the current context. When you’re sheltered and safe with a guaranteed meal at the end of the day, what’s there to complain about?
If you’re celebrating, I hope you have a joyful and restorative month. If you’re not, I’d like to confirm that the rumors are true: not even water!
What I’ve written
This weekend, Russia is holding a ritual it calls an “election.” With all prospective candidates disqualified, exiled, jailed, or dead, Vladimir Putin is all but guaranteed to secure an absolute victory—and with it another six years in power.
But the Russian opposition continues to live on—not just in would-be leaders behind bars such as Vladimir Kara-Murza (who, after the death of Alexei Navalny, is now Russia’s most high-profile political prisoner), but in their spouses who take up their advocacy when they’re no longer able to do it themselves.
In my third profile for TIME, I wrote about Evgenia Kara-Murza and the increasingly pronounced feminine face of anti-Kremlin activism:
For many Russians, March 1 was a day of mourning. The memorial service for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who perished weeks earlier in a remote Arctic penal colony, was being held in a small church on the outskirts of Moscow. Despite the heavy police presence and in defiance of the Russian government’s warnings against unauthorized gatherings, tens of thousands of people turned out for the funeral, with many chanting “Putin is a killer!” and “No to war!” It was the largest protest Russia had seen since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago—a fitting tribute for a man best known for his ability to draw Russians onto the streets to demonstrate against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule. Several of those people have since faced arrest.
Thousands of miles away, in a bright conference room overlooking London’s Finsbury Square, Evgenia Kara-Murza is appalled. “It’s so grotesque, so Kafkaesque,” she tells TIME of the Kremlin’s handling of Navalny’s funeral and the crackdown on those who have tried to pay their respects. In an alternate universe, perhaps she would have been among them. The service, after all, was being held just a stone’s throw from her parents’ home in Moscow. Like the scores of people lining up around the church that day, she saw Navalny as a key leader in the fight for a free and democratic Russia—or, as he called it, “the beautiful Russia of the future.” But sitting here in London, Evgenia doesn’t have time to mourn. Later this afternoon, she will meet British Foreign Secretary David Cameron about another enemy of the Kremlin: Her husband, the prominent Russian opposition politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has been languishing in a Siberian penal colony since 2022. Keep reading here
Spring is coming—but it won’t bring much reprieve for the people of Gaza. I wrote about how experts fear that warmer temperatures could make an already catastrophic situation even worse:
Among Checchi’s top concerns is that warmer weather could even lead to a cholera outbreak. “Something like cholera, if introduced into the Gaza Strip, would result in a really massive epidemic for the reasons you can imagine: It would be extremely transmissible because people are living on top of each other, there’s not enough water, not enough sanitation,” he says, noting that Gaza’s decimated health care system doesn’t have the resources to cope with illnesses that require extensive rehydration. The few health facilities that still remain are well past breaking point.
“It’s the perfect environment for a massive epidemic to take hold,” Checchi warns. “And perhaps we’ve just been a little lucky so far that one hasn’t.” Keep reading here
Plus:
‘Unsafe, Ineffective, Undignified:’ Why Food Airdrops Are Falling Short in Gaza
Netanyahu, in Defiance of Biden’s ‘Red Line,’ Authorizes Plans for Rafah Offensive
What I’ve read
This essay on the Kate Middleton saga—or, as my former Atlantic colleague Helen Lewis aptly puts it, QAnon for wine moms (The Atlantic)
A request for privacy has morphed into a giant online game designed to invade it. But the story is also remarkable for the insight it gives us into the challenges facing traditional media. Trust is low, gatekeeping is impossible, and even people who probably once deplored tabloid intrusion into royal affairs and eating disorders are now firing up TikTok and getting sucked into a nine-part video series about the opacity of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve. This is QAnon for wine moms. And the dynamics behind it are not going away.
This piece on how the U.S. kneecapped the most essential aid group in Gaza (Mother Jones)
Netanyahu and others in Israel have long hoped to get rid of the UNRWA, which they see as a reminder to the world that, under international law, millions of Palestinians are refugees who have a right of return to their former homes. The United States has long supported the agency, contributing more than $7 billion since it began operations in 1950, but even Israeli officials were reportedly surprised by how quickly the US pulled its backing. An Israeli official told the New York Times that Israelis had tried to undermine UNRWA so many times that no one expected the latest allegation to have much impact.
This long read on Joe Biden’s last campaign (The New Yorker)
If you spend time with Biden these days, the biggest surprise is that he betrays no doubts. The world is riven by the question of whether he is up to a second term, but he projects a defiant belief in himself and his ability to persuade Americans to join him. For as long as Biden has been in politics, he has thrived on a mercurial mix of confidence and insecurity. Now, having reached the apex of power, he gives off a conviction that borders on serenity—a bit too much serenity for Democrats who wonder if he can still beat the man with whom his legacy will be forever entwined. Given the doubts, I asked, wasn’t it a risk to say, “I’m the one to do it”? He shook his head and said, “No. I’m the only one who has ever beat him. And I’ll beat him again.” For Biden, the offense of the contested election was clearly personal. Trump had not just tried to steal the Presidency—he had tried to steal it from him. “I’d ask a rhetorical question,” Biden said. “If you thought you were best positioned to beat someone who, if they won, would change the nature of America, what would you do?”
What I’m thinking about
As of this writing: Qatayef, and qatayef only.
Until next time,
Yasmeen