The Week in Review: August 17-23, 2024

Blinken’s “bridging proposal” falls flat, Ukraine’s Kursk incursion continues, and more

Derek here. As you’ll see below this is the final “Week in Review” for Kendrick, who’s moving on to bigger and better things. I want to thank him for doing such a commendable job managing this feature and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. For readers this means we’ll be pausing the “Week in Review” while I look for a new person to take it over. Hopefully it won’t be too long a pause.

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This week, Antony Blinken announced that Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a “bridging proposal” for a ceasefire that accommodated both Israel’s and Hamas’ demands—only for Netanyahu to turn around and refuse to compromise. The Ukrainian military continued its surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk oblast, though Russia’s progress in eastern Ukraine also continued unabated. Thousands protested across Indonesia after the Indonesian parliament moved to overturn two electoral rulings by the Indonesian Constitutional Court. The Sudanese military and Rapid Support Forces agreed to open up two much-needed humanitarian checkpoints into Sudan. And, details emerged on the deal Iraq and Turkey reached last week to jointly tackle the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in northern Iraq.