It was his first visit there in 24 years, the pageantry was especially lavish even by Russian and North Korean standards, and Kim Jong Un and Putin seized the moment with a new mutual defense pact that echoed the Cold War era. But the upshot is a decidedly mixed bag.
On one hand, we shouldn't read too much into the rendezvous. Putin was perhaps keen to show he still has friends days after representatives of more than 90 countries, many of them deep-pocketed, gathered in Switzerland to forge a Ukraine peace plan. That summit came on the heels of new Western commitments, including by the U.S., to provide Kyiv with better weapons and more money. Putin's turning to the hermit Democratic People's Republic of Korea, by contrast, was not the most impressive optics.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
NIH budget cuts are causing chaos
THE U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH) IS THE largest funder of biomedical research in the world, and its grants create the foundation of basic science knowledge on which major health advances are built.
Zero Day's uncannily apolitical Washington
IN AN EARLY SCENE OF THE NETFLIX THRILLER ZERO DAY, a former U.S. President is visiting the site of a deadly Manhattan subway crash when an onlooker starts shouting about crisis actors.
For the love of voice notes
SOMEWHERE IN THE BLUR OF 2020, AS I SLIPPED OUTside with a mask and running shoes in the early morning to walk around the block, the lilting drawl of a friend's \"Hiiiiii\" nearly stopped me in my tracks.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.As the U.S. Health Secretary
THE SENATE CONFIRMED ROBERT F. Kennedy Jr., one of country's most notorious vaccine skeptics, to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Feb. 13, sparking outrage among public-health experts who worry that Kennedy will harm public health and further erode trust in science and medicine.
THE RISE OF GERMANY'S FAR RIGHT
Alice Weidel's AfD party is making gainswith a boost from the Trump Administration
Net Zero Is Not Enough
AUSTRALIAN MINING BILLIONAIRE ANDREW FORREST'S GREEN CRUSADE
How will your new company, Respin, help women in menopause?
Halle Berry The Oscar-winning actor says there’sa desperate need to inform women about menopause. Her new company aims to fill that education and empathy gap
How we talk about the Holocaust now
VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE ARRIVED AT THE DACHAU concentration camp under low, gray clouds.
South Korea's political drama will produce waves overseas
SOUTH KOREA'S political crisis continues. After President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached and arrested following his aborted imposition of martial law last December, the country's Constitutional Court will now decide his future. Legal experts say Yoon will soon be removed from office and sent to prison.
WOMEN of the YEAR
13 extraordinary leaders fighting for a more equal future
