| Dear readers, Spain, Ireland, and Norway this week announced they will formally recognize the State of Palestine on May 28, bucking a historical trend among Western nations to leave the issue to one side. While 143 of the 193 member states of the United Nations have taken the step, many of the world’s most powerful countries, notably G7 members including the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, have not. The move by the governments of the three European countries is seen as being designed to provide an impetus for others to follow suit. Israel responded by recalling its ambassadors and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision “a reward for terrorism.” Nour Odeh, a Palestinian political analyst and a former spokesperson for the Palestinian National Authority, said that recognition is not merely a symbolic act, but “an act of legal and political commitment.”
EL PAÍS visited the front lines of the renewed Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, accompanying a Ukrainian police special operations unit on a civilian extraction mission. Only around 300 inhabitants remain in Vovchansk, the main target of a new Russian lightning military campaign launched on May 10, from a pre-war population of some 17,000. The vast majority have fled or been evacuated and those that remain, a member of the unit explained, are often “pro-Russian.” “The police have been told that if they leave, the city will be occupied by the “banderistas,” he said, using a common expression in Russia to refer to followers of the 1930s Ukrainian ultranationalist leader Stepan Bandera.
We also reported on the dangers posed by the proliferation of satellites orbiting Earth, which could have detrimental effects on the ability of planetary defense systems to detect asteroid impacts and near-Earth objects. Companies such as SpaceX, OneWeb, and Amazon are engaged in a satellite space race, with Elon Musk’s Starlink planning to reach 42,000 devices in the coming years. “In a lawless space, they’ll never be able to develop their multibillion-dollar business with sufficient safety guarantees,” said Spanish astrophysicist David Galadí. We hope you enjoy this selection of stories. |
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