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Vox Sentences: A “peace spring” that’s anything but
Turkey invades Syria to go after the Kurds; Ukrainian Giuliani associates indicted.
Syrian Kurds under attack from Turkey
- Turkish ground forces crossed the border into northern Syria following air raids early Wednesday. Kurdish fighter groups, allied with the US to fight ISIS, are designated as terror groups by Turkey. [Al Jazeera]
- Eight are reported dead and 13 injured during the airstrikes, the latest conflict to afflict the already war-torn population, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked for “all parties to exercise maximum restraint.” [Rudaw / Mohammed Rwanduzy]
- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey announced on Wednesday the launch of the campaign, named “Operation Peace Spring,” to establish a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria. [Vox / Jen Kirby]
- Several NATO members expressed support for Turkey’s swift handling of its border security concerns, while a group of European allies on the council condemned the operation as a destabilizing incursion against the Kurds. [Daily Sabah]
- The plan got the green light after President Trump made the announcement that the US would pull troops out of northeastern Syria. [Reuters / Daren Butler and Orhan Coskun]
- Republicans and Democrats have condemned Trump for his actions and are putting together a bill sanctioning Turkey for its operation. [Vox / Alex Ward]
Giuliani associates’ campaign finance scheme
- New York federal prosecutors announced the arrest and indictment of two Ukrainian Rudy Giuliani associates on campaign finance charges. [Wall Street Journal / Aruna Viswanatha, Rebecca Ballhaus, Sadie Gurman, and Byron Tau]
- Using secret donations to political action committees, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman allegedly attempted to exchange a $325,000 foreign donation to America First for political influence. [NYT / Eileen Sullivan, Adam Goldman, and William K. Rashbaum]
- Their Wednesday evening arrest transpired at Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC, as both men were attempting to board a plane with one-way tickets out of the US. [Washington Post / Devlin Barrett, John Wagner, and Rosalind S. Helderman]
- Parnas and Fruman were working with Trump’s personal lawyer to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter for their involvement in Ukraine. [Politico / Ben Schreckinger, Darren Samuelsohn, Ben Lefebvre, and Caitlin Oprysko]
- The men are facing charges of conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and falsifying records for allegedly attempting to “circumvent the federal laws against foreign interference by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and State office.” [CBS / Grace Segers and Kathryn Watson]
Miscellaneous
- Penzeys Spices, an American spice retailer, spent $92,000 on Facebook ads that call for Trump’s impeachment. [Vox / Terry Nguyen]
- The UN says Yemen will become the world’s poorest country if the war continues, with 79 percent of the population living under the poverty line. [Al Monitor]
- China wants an apology from the NBA, but it’s far from a slam dunk. [Wall Street Journal / Eva Dou, James T. Areddy, and Ben Cohen]
- After reverse-engineering the YouTube algorithm that steers ads away from videos that it determines to be not appropropriate, a group is trying to prove that the algorithm discriminates against LGBTQ content. [Vox / Aja Romano]
- Even the creator of Comic Sans is tired of his font passing as a personality trait. [NYT / Emma Goldberg]
Verbatim
“Well, they’re going to be escaping to Europe, that’s where they want to go. ... They didn’t help us in the second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy for example. They’re there to help us with their land, and that’s a different thing.” [President Trump to reporters addressing concerns about the wellbeing of US-allied Kurds if the US pulls out of Syria]
Watch this: Vox Borders is back — with a twist
Vox Borders returns, and it’s covering a new terrain. [YouTube / Johnny Harris]
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By Cameron Peters
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