King Henry IV comes on stage in a nightgown, wondering why sleep eludes him. He imagines a boy sitting “upon the high and giddy mast” of a ship tossed by wind and waves. Why can that “sea-boy” sleep through the storm while in the “calmest and most stillest” night, a king cannot doze in his bed?
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” concludes the king in Shakespeare’s play.
The week ended with the crowning of King Charles III — the UK’s first coronation in 70 years. Despite the pageantry, he and many of the world’s other royals have been reduced to figureheads, with today’s great powers mostly ruled by a mix of democratically elected and authoritarian officials.
With that power, comes anxiety — and for some it was a particularly tense week. In Ukraine, leaders prepared for their long-anticipated spring offensive, seeking to drive out the invaders. Russia said that President Vladimir Putin was the intended target of a foiled Ukrainian drone attack on the Kremlin, an allegation Ukraine denied. To add to Putin’s woes, warlord Yevgeny Prighozin threatened to pull his Wagner Group forces out of the killing field of Bakhmut, blaming the Russian military establishment for denying them support. “The dead and wounded — and that’s tens of thousands of men — lie on the conscience of those who did not give us ammunition,” he said.
In the US, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are bracing for a crucial meeting Tuesday as the country stares down the threat of a financially devastating default in just a few weeks. Biden is battling low approval ratings as he seeks reelection in a country that, according to the polls, doesn’t want a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump and has a sour view of the economy. The US saw the second largest bank failure in its history last week.
Kremlin targeted?
“The announcement was dramatic and the images breathtaking,” Frida Ghitis observed. “The Kremlin declared that it had come under attack on Wednesday night, targeted by two drones whose objective it claimed was to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was unharmed…
Whatever happened, the Ukraine war is heading toward “a major escalation,” Ghitis added. “The ground is still muddy as the winter snow melts; the temperature is rising. Ukraine has announced repeatedly that it’s planning a large-scale counteroffensive, a push to retake Ukrainian territory captured by the Russian occupiers.”
“Russia is nervous about this new imminent stage of the war. And, frankly, Ukraine’s allies are, as well.”
The war has taken a fearsome toll on children, according to a report Thursday from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. A “large number” of children – estimated by Ukrainian officials to be from 200,000 to 300,000 – have been “displaced” to Russia or to territory the Russians have occupied in Ukraine.
Writing for CNN Opinion, Kristina Hook and Oleksandra Gaidai noted that “callous crimes against children have resulted in the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Russia’s so-called ‘Children’s Rights’ Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin – only the third-serving president in history to be issued one.”
“While the forced deportations have stunned global observers, from a historical perspective Russia’s policy against Ukrainian civilians is terribly logical and consistent.”
“Moscow has regularly used mass trafficking of citizens, including minors, over two centuries: to punish resisters, weaken community ties that could threaten the state and solve their own demographic problems.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was named a US attorney during the Ronald Reagan administration and held high-profile posts in George W. Bush’s administration. Now he is running for the GOP nomination for president and calling for a return to the kind of conservatism that has been in eclipse since Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016.
“Over the last eight years, we — as a party and as a nation — have forgotten the type of individual our forefathers intended the president of the United States of America to be,” he wrote for CNN Opinion. “We have forgotten what it’s like to live under the leadership of a president who looks forward, leads by example, instinctively puts the country before the party and has no issue setting ego aside to get things done.”
Source – CNN
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