(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest: UN condemns Russia, calls for immediate withdrawal from Ukraine [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-23 UN approves resolution calling for Russia to immediately withdraw troops from Ukraine EuroNews The UN General Assembly has approved a non-binding resolution that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and demands the withdrawal of its forces. The move sends a strong message on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion that Moscow's aggression must end. The 141-7 vote with 32 abstentions was slightly below the highest vote for the five previous resolutions approved by the 193-member world body since Russia sent troops and tanks across the border into its smaller neighbour on February 24, 2022. The General Assembly's resolutions may be non-binding but are a powerful barometer of international opinion. China calls for Russia-Ukraine cease-fire, peace talks AP News China, a firm Russian ally, has called for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Moscow and the opening of peace talks as part of a 12-point proposal to end the conflict. The plan issued Friday morning by the Foreign Ministry also urges the end of Western sanctions imposed on Russia, measures to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities, the establishment of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians, and steps to ensure the export of grain after disruptions caused global food prices to spike. China has claimed to be neutral in the conflict, but it has a “no limits” relationship with Russia and has refused to criticize its invasion of Ukraine over even refer to it as such, while accusing the West of provoking the conflict and “fanning the flames” by providing Ukraine with defensive arms. Analysis: China's role as Ukraine peacemaker in doubt as it 'deepens' Russia ties Reuters China's effort to cast itself as a peacemaker on Ukraine reflects an aim to burnish its image rather than a change of stance, Western diplomats and analysts said, as it seeks to establish itself as a leader of a new multipolar world order. A year after Russia invaded its southwestern neighbour, its "no limits" partner China is offering to broker peace. It says it will issue a "position paper" on Ukraine and President Xi Jinping is expected to give a "peace speech" this week, Italy's foreign minister said. But analysts say China's affirmation of its "rock solid" relationship with Russia and the backing of Russia's line on the war undermines its posture of neutrality, as does a U.S. assertion that China was considering providing weapons to Russia, which China denies. Ukraine war: When will there be peace? Deutsche Welle Take tens of thousands of soldiers killed and maimed on both sides, thousands of dead Ukrainian civilians, and countless towns and cities destroyed. Add worldwide energy shortages and inflation, and hunger in many developing countries. This is the toll of a war that after a year is still far from being resolved. Russia's President Vladimir Putin has failed to achieve his goal of taking over all of Ukraine. But Russia holds about a fifth of the country's territory. On the other side, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has continually said Ukraine would retake all Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea. In a state of the nation speech this Tuesday, Putin showed no willingness to give in — quite the opposite: "It is impossible to defeat our country on the battlefield," he said. Putin also escalated the situation by announcing that Russia would suspend its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control pact it has with the US. Why is the Russian economy holding up against Western sanctions? France24 Despite nine sets of sanctions imposed by the European Union, the Russian economy only experienced a small contraction of its GDP in 2022. The "resilience" of the Russian economy was hailed on Tuesday by President Vladimir Putin during his state of the nation address. However, certain Western observers and politicians point out blind spots in the official statistics provided by Moscow. The Russian economy is resisting. Far from the "collapse" predicted by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire after the first waves of Western sanctions following the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's GDP contracted by only 2.1% in 2022, according to the Russian statistics service Rosstat. The Russian economy is even projected to grow by 0.3% in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). […] The apparent resilience of the Russian economy is primarily due to the surge in oil and gas prices in 2022, which compensated for the drop in the volume of exports – a reduction of around 25% for gas. How Putin blundered into Ukraine — then doubled down Financial Times At about 1am on February 24 last year, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, received a troubling phone call. After spending months building up a more than 100,000-strong invasion force on the border with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin had given the go-ahead to invade. The decision caught Lavrov completely by surprise. Just days earlier, the Russian president had polled his security council for their opinions on recognising two separatist statelets in the Donbas, an industrial border region in Ukraine, at an excruciatingly awkward televised session — but had left them none the wiser about his true intentions. Keeping Lavrov in the dark was not unusual for Putin, who tended to concentrate his foreign policy decision-making among a handful of close confidants, even when it undermined Russia’s diplomatic efforts. On this occasion, the phone call made Lavrov one of the very few people who had any knowledge of the plan ahead of time. The Kremlin’s senior leadership all found out about the invasion only when they saw Putin declare a “special military operation” on television that morning. News Analysis: Putin leaving nuclear treaty is a reminder that he has — and can use — nuclear bombs Los Angeles Times It seemed to be a scary example of bellicose warmongering foreshadowing a catastrophic escalation. But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement this week that he was abandoning the last major nuclear arms control treaty may have been more symbolic than a threat of concrete action. Symbolic, but a mighty potent symbol. And one that may signal an end to global arms control agreements. “Big mistake,” President Biden said Wednesday in Warsaw when asked about Putin’s comments. Ukrainian family now in Minnesota reflects on a year of war Minneapolis Star Tribune A year ago, Olesia Safronova and Serhii Chubenko didn't believe Russia was really going to invade their home country of Ukraine. Then the bombs started flying and the war never stopped. The couple and their three children escaped and are living in St. Paul now, but they worry about friends and family back home every day. "We really hope that everything will end soon," Chubenko said through an interpreter. "We just want less people to suffer from this." Friday marks one year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the start to a war that captured the attention of the world and the hearts of Minnesotans who wanted to help. More than 105,000 Ukrainians have sought safety in the United States since the war broke out on Feb. 24, 2022. Winter storm pounds US USA Today A massive winter storm with heavy snow and powerful winds was slamming the Northern Plains and Midwest Thursday on its cross-country trek, killing one person in Michigan and triggering major power outages, flight cancellations and road closures. […] In the Northeast, a mix of sleet and freezing rain was falling east of Syracuse, New York, to Boston earlier Thursday, Accuweather reported. The East Coast can expect the storm to make its way in that direction later in the week. For the first time in 34 years, the National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for Southern California mountains through Saturday. Some coastal areas could see 10-foot waves through Thursday, forecasters said. A million households have lost power so far as major winter storm blasts the U.S. NPR News A major, prolonged winter storm continues to bring heavy snow, blizzard conditions and significant ice from California to the Northeast this week. Nearly 950,000 households nationwide were without power as of 7 p.m. ET on Thursday. The vast majority of those outages — more than 820,000 — are in Michigan, where residents have been hit with freezing rain and ice. That's according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages state-by-state. "Power outages and areas of tree damage will be possible across these areas [from the Great Lakes into the Northeast], and especially for the locations seeing a combination of stronger winds and accumulating ice," the National Weather Service predicted. Portland records snowiest day since 1943, landing at No. 2 on all-time list The Oregonian Portland hasn’t seen this much snow all at once in 80 years. “This is a big deal,” said Tonja Fransen, a meteorologist at the local National Weather Service office. Portland International Airport recorded 10.8 inches Wednesday, beating out the 9.3 inches that fell on a January day in 1956. Since snowfall record-keeping at the airport began in 1939, the greatest snow accumulation over a day was 14.4 inches in 1943. Biggest storm since 2011 has San Diego County in ‘crosshairs’ The San Diego Union-Tribune The most powerful storm in more than a decade will hit San Diego County Friday and Saturday with snow that could cause whiteout conditions in the mountains and shut down Interstate 8, rain that could cause widespread flooding and mudslides, and winds that could make kindling of trees, the National Weather Service said. A cold, slow-moving system out of Alaska will tap moisture from the subtropics and carry it directly into the mountains of Southern California. Snowfall can be hard to predict. But forecasters said that Palomar Mountain and Mount Laguna could get 3 to 4 feet of snow, adding to the foot or so they’ve already gotten this week. As much as 5 feet of snow could fall in the nearby San Bernardino mountains, where a blizzard warning is in effect. Richmond hits a record temperature for February Richmond Times-Dispatch The end of February in central Virginia conjures images of chilly weather, maybe even some late-season snowfall, as the city waits for spring to deliver blooming flowers and fairer temperatures. Instead, Richmond was treated Thursday to temperatures that smashed the previous daily record for Feb. 23 and threatened to tie the overall monthly high. The previous record for the day was 75 degrees set in 2017, one of 12 new record daily highs set in February since 1997. Temperature readings at Richmond International Airport had already hit 76 degrees by 10 a.m., climbing to 81 just before 4 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. This Baltimore winter has been warm — but is it the warmest ever? The Baltimore Sun [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/23/2154692/-Overnight-News-Digest-UN-condemns-Russia-calls-for-immediate-withdrawal-from-Ukraine Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/