| |  | Marine One lands in the snow Friday to pick up President Trump for a Florida trip. Source: Getty |
| | IMPORTANT | | 01 |
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says he’s facing the proxy of a foreign invader bent on looting his nation’s oil. That claim is bolstered by National Security Adviser John Bolton’s photographed notation: “5,000 troops to Colombia.” To many Venezuelans, though, the self-proclaimed “interim president,” Juan Guaidó, recognized by many other nations, has brought hope of relief from crushing economic and political crises.
Can Maduro survive? The socialist leader has faced protest before, and prevailed. He’s broadcast footage of normalcy, such as him dancing with his wife — while armored vehicles fill the streets of Caracas, anticipating today’s mass street demonstrations for his ouster.
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Now the Russians are out, too. President Donald Trump’s administration announced Friday the U.S. will pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a pact associated with ending the Cold War, claiming Moscow had been in violation since 2014. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited a six-month withdrawal countdown, but the Kremlin reacted quickly, announcing its own suspension today.
What happens now? It signals further deterioration in U.S.-Russia relations, allowing nuclear-capable missiles in Europe and the beginning of a new arms race.
See what OZY is reporting on the Russian election meddling probe.
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It’s an altered state: Women, many donning suffragette white, will face President Donald Trump at Tuesday’s annual address. Among them, undocumented housekeeper Victorina Morales, just fired from New Jersey’s Trump National Golf Club. Looming above will be his host, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who delayed the speech until Trump unshuttered the government.
What will he say? Excerpts of his speech urge Americans to “heal old wounds,” and unite to “forge new solutions,” but Trump isn’t known for staying on script, and could still ignore Republican warnings and declare emergency powers to fund his border wall.
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There’s not much in Khorgos, Kazakhstan, near the Chinese border. But Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative sees multibillion-dollar opportunities. The central Asian crossroads is key to the initiative’s European links. Some 90 percent of Chinese trade with western Eurasia moves by sea. New rail routes could speed such cargo.
Is Kazakhstan happy? It’s so far avoided the crippling debts shouldered by other BRI partners, but other tensions exist: There’s a crackdown on Muslims in neighboring Xinjiang province, where China has agreed to let Kazakh-origin Chinese escape to their homeland.
Read more about the Belt and Road Initiative with OZY
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| INTRIGUING | | 01 |
Dutch dementia patients must request legal euthanasia early — like Annie Zwijnenberg, whose voluntary death was documented in a recent film — even proceeding before they are truly incapacitated. By that time, affirming consent becomes legally questionable and can put doctors in legal jeopardy.
Is the tide changing? Some are concerned that cases involving late-stage patients and a current prosecution — in which a struggling patient’s family held her down for a lethal injection — could preclude dementia sufferers from choosing death over indignity.
Don’t miss OZY’s feature on why better lawyers equals more dementia on death row.
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Semiautonomous Northern Iraq has seen an era of peace, raising hopes that the mountainous region could be the next great adventure destination. A war-weary reporter motored through Kurdistan to find plenty: rafting virgin, if trash-strewn rapids with a local environmental activist, mountaineering among land mines, and mushroom hunting within range of hostile Iranian marksmen.
Is it safe now? This adventure features man-made dangers that even Kurdish guides may ignore. Meanwhile, Turkish forces are stepping up anti-separatist actions inside Iraq, and even the best ponchos aren’t airstrike-resistant.
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While “much of humanity would still teleport to America if it could,” Asia is beating the U.S. in attracting the world’s brain trust. That’s how globalization expert Parag Khanna sees it in his new book, The Future Is Asian. In an OZY excerpt, Khanna describes the phenomenon by which he and other immigrant-origin Americans have returned to homelands lately brimming with opportunity.
Who will benefit from this? Asian nations are reaping the rewards of the talent influx as America’s allure for the world’s best and brightest wanes — not least from recent nationalist policies.
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“I could die going down this slide.” That promotional hype from Kansas City water park co-owner Jeff Henry became a macabre prediction after the world’s tallest waterslide decapitated a child two years ago. An in-depth look into the park’s management paints a picture of repeated red flags, lax maintenance and hubris preceding the accident.
What’s the fallout from the tragedy? Henry and ride designer John Schooley, facing second-degree murder charges, and Tyler Miles, park operations manager, charged with involuntary manslaughter, await trial — as the tragedy renews debate over amusement parks’ federal regulation exemption.
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St. Louis — which lost the Rams franchise in 2016 to Los Angeles — might be the only city outside of New England rooting for the widely hated Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl. After watching the Rams remain mediocre for years, Missourians must witness the very real post-relocation bump. Across sports, from the Baltimore Ravens to the Oklahoma City Thunder, teams with sudden incentive to perform well have left jilted fans feeling cheated.
Who’s next? Watch the Las Vegas Raiders, on their way out of Oakland, become another team infused with the verve of its new fan base.
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Opinion
OZY’s City Futures brings you urban face-lifts reshaping life, from crumbling commercial capitals to war zones.
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