If talk of the war in Ukraine last year revolved around how its military offensive was going, today it’s largely centered on how the nation’s defensive lines are shaping up.

Just last month, Ukraine’s prime minister announced a “record amount” of government funding for the construction of bulwarks.

While that’s good news to soldiers battling in the trenches against their deeply dug-in Russian adversaries, these sorts of messages do little to counter concerns among Western allies that, two years after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, the war has reached a stalemate.

This was also the assessment from Ukraine’s top general, Valerii Zaluzhny, who was fired ​Thursday in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ​framed as a much-needed pivot. 

“2024 can become successful for Ukraine only through effective changes in the basis of our defense,” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Another social media post by a Zelenskyy adviser added that Ukraine needs to prevent stagnation on the front line, since it negatively affects public opinion. 

Stalemate is a concern, too, for Republican lawmakers in the United States who are withholding war funds for Ukraine while demanding, among other things, that Kyiv – and the Biden administration – articulate just how the war against Russia might be won. 

It’s a fair request, argues John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a bipartisan think tank in Washington.

Promising to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” does not a strategy make. The U.S. needs a coherent plan, he says, “to break the stalemate and convince Putin he can’t outlast the West.” 

Coming up with a “theory of victory,” including a realistic assessment of how Kyiv might win, would, “I think, ease some concerns of supporters and opponents [of war funding] – if it’s a good answer,” says retired Col. Mark Cancian, senior adviser on international security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also in Washington.

“There’s already a lot of discomfort, even among Ukraine’s supporters, about how this is going to end – or is this going to be a forever war?”

Scott Peterson/Getty Images/The Christian Science Monitor/File

Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr (right) uses a probe and a pineapple-shaped fragmentation grenade as he trains soldiers of the 128th Brigade of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces to counter Russian mines that litter Russia's built-up defense lines in the Zaporizhzhia region, Aug. 2, 2023.

Training and equipment needed 

Kyiv’s previous plan for winning centered on reclaiming the occupied territories “bite by bite,” Colonel Cancian explains. The Ukrainian army fought back Russian invaders in Kyiv and then in Kharkiv by the spring of 2022. By the following October, it had pushed the Russians out of Kherson. 

“When the counteroffensive began last year, many people expected something like that – that is, that the Ukrainians would take another bite out of the occupied territories,” he says. “Maybe they’d get to the Sea of Azov, maybe they’d get halfway there. But they would take a bite out, then rebuild, then take another bite – and just keep going until they reoccupied their country.”

Instead, they have become tangled up in massive Russian defensive zones laden with mines.

Without enough de-mining equipment and vehicles, Ukrainian forces have sometimes had to resort to going out with ropes and grappling hooks that troops pull across fields. A plan for a renewed offensive, analysts say, could focus on better training and more equipment for crossing those fields.

At the same time, Ukraine is struggling to execute what’s known in military parlance as combined arms maneuvers. This involves coordinating on the battlefield between, say, infantry and artillery forces in a way that defending against one makes the adversary vulnerable to the other. It’s a tall order: ​Only the United States’ most experienced allies do it really well, analysts say.

Keeping pace 

As much of a slog as the war may seem, Mr. Hardie argues the “stalemate” description is unhelpful, since it seems to suggest “that Washington could unilaterally walk away without severely damaging U.S. interests.” 

The reality, he says, is that both sides must keep pace or collapse.

If aid from NATO nations dwindles, Russia could see an opening to try a new offensive amid a Ukrainian lack of ammunition and equipment.

President Zelenskyy succeeded in securing about $54 billion in fresh support from the European Union last week, as Hungary lifted its veto on further Ukraine aid. The EU, however, is expected to fall short of its goal to supply 1 million ammunition rounds to Ukraine by March. Leaders have promised that they’re still working to ramp up the European defense manufacturing base.  

For the U.S., continuing to aid a beleaguered Ukraine is also a good strategy, argues Stephen Biddle, professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University. 

“That’s the smart move for the U.S.,” he says. “The money we spend on Ukraine isn’t quite a rounding error for the U.S. defense budget, but it’s not a huge fraction of it.”

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, arrives while Republicans hold a closed-door meeting after blocking a bipartisan border package that had been tied to wartime aid for Ukraine, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 8, 2024.

It’s also a “very efficient” way to push back against a “pattern of aggression by Russia that could, if continued, threaten treaty allies for whom we have a substantially greater legal obligation to shed blood.”

War weariness on “one or probably two sides” eventually spurs adversaries to accept compromises they would otherwise reject, Dr. Biddle says.

But not yet. A vision of “victory” through negotiated settlement after a grinding war of attrition “is not an easy sell,” Dr. Biddle acknowledges. Fighting will continue until it’s clear on both sides that there is little chance of a breakthrough.

Still, among everyday Ukrainians, the needle is very gradually beginning to shift toward territorial concessions to Russia. While 8 in 10 Ukrainians still object to that idea, according to a December poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the number is shifting: Nine out of 10 were opposed in the same poll last May. 

As Ukraine considers a new mobilization law to call up more male soldiers, those figures could shift further.

In the meantime, Western-supplied weapons, training, and anti-mine equipment – as well as long-range arms to harass Russian forces – could help Ukraine punch through Russian defenses and put itself in a stronger negotiating position, Mr. Hardie argues. 

“Our goal in the West,” he says, “should be to maximize Ukraine’s leverage” for the truce that may one day come to pass.

Voter concerns about President Joe Biden’s age and mental acuity have long been his biggest liability.

And a day that technically brought him good news on the legal front – a special counsel’s decision not to file criminal charges over President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents from his days as vice president – may have compounded that political challenge.

In a hastily scheduled appearance before the cameras Thursday evening, Mr. Biden took exception to special counsel Robert Hur’s characterization of him in his final report as someone who would come off in court as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

“My memory is fine,” Mr. Biden said testily, even as he misidentified Egypt’s president as the president of Mexico. Mr. Biden has also recently misstated the leaders of Germany and France in remarks at fundraisers, referring to long-ago leaders as if they are still alive and in power.

Former President Donald Trump – the heavy favorite for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination – has also misstated key figures in recent months, appearing to mix up top Republican challenger Nikki Haley and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and apparently confusing the leaders of Turkey and Hungary.

But surveys make clear that voters see the 81-year-old incumbent’s mental and physical health as a greater problem than that of the 77-year-old former president.

An NBC News poll released Thursday, before the special counsel report and Mr. Biden’s response, showed that 76% of registered voters have major (61%) or minor (14%) concerns about the president’s physical and mental state. Fewer than half have the same concerns about former President Trump. Mr. Trump’s multiple felony charges are a much bigger issue for voters, with 61% saying they have concerns, per NBC.

Mr. Biden – the oldest president in American history – is not the only Washington politician of advanced years. Congress features many super-agers, some of whom don’t raise an eyebrow when it comes to their perceived vigor and sharpness, and others who do. Aging is highly individual and does not necessarily determine one’s ability to function at a high level. 

Still, serving as president of the United States, the highest-profile leadership role on the planet, is a uniquely challenging job.

Mr. Biden’s lawyers objected strongly to Mr. Hur’s many references to the president’s memory, saying his “inability to recall dates or details of events that happened years ago is neither surprising nor unusual,” especially given the particulars of storing and packing materials between residences.

Democratic strategists, too, have pushed back strongly on the Hur report as a political hit job by a Republican special counsel that went far beyond his purview.

Mr. Biden’s advisers have long tried to limit his interactions with the media. In three-plus years in office, the president has had just 33 press conferences, compared with 88 during Mr. Trump’s one term and 163 over President Barack Obama’s two terms.

Most of the time, when Mr. Biden takes questions from reporters, in formal or informal settings, the interactions have been innocuous, and convey an openness to scrutiny that seems essential to a functioning democracy.

But such scrutiny comes with risk.

In Thursday night’s contentious session, Mr. Biden emotionally took special exception to references to his late son, Beau Biden, whose death in 2015 was noted by the special counsel as a reason not to prosecute the president. “How in the hell dare he raise that,” Mr. Biden said.

Yet as the assembled reporters shouted question after question about his memory, it ran the risk of reinforcing the issue in voters’ minds. It also produced uncomfortable moments. A particularly aggressive question from a Fox News reporter exemplified the nature of the exchanges, and the difficulty of responding.

“How bad is your memory, and can you continue as president?” posed the reporter, Peter Doocy. The president shot back, “My memory is so bad that I let you speak.”

Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto/AP/File

People walk by a poster that speaks about women’s reproductive rights in Krakow, Poland, Sept. 21, 2023. The parliamentary elections in Poland on Oct. 15 saw the Law and Justice party’s government ousted, opening the door to a repeal of Poland’s strict laws against abortion.

Teresa Barszczowska is a proud Polish conservative, and typically votes her Law and Justice party’s line.

But when it comes to a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, she wishes her conservative leaders would have had more empathy.

That ability to put oneself in another’s shoes was missing, she says, when her party’s leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, imposed a near-total abortion ban in 2020. “He doesn’t have his family of his own; he’s a bachelor. He doesn’t know how it is,” says Ms. Barszczowska, a pensioner. “He really shouldn’t be meddling in these things.”

The issue of abortion has neatly cleaved the Polish political class, yet researchers find that Poles themselves feel much more empathy around it than their elected leaders. And the idea that people hold compassion around many divisive issues presents an opportunity to bridge a societal divide, says Zofia Włodarczyk, a researcher at the social science think tank More in Common, which published a study.

After all, voters ushered out Law and Justice’s government, which instituted the abortion ban, and brought in one that plans to reinstate abortion rights. A polarized society desperately needs to find some common ground, and empathy could be a bridge, says Dr. Włodarczyk.

“We basically only talk [in politics] about abortion – are you for, or are you against, but there’s so much in between that’s gray,” she says. And when she and her colleagues interviewed voters of all stripes, they saw the gray. Even among the most staunchly conservative, religious group – about 6% of those surveyed – about a third of men and women surveyed would support someone close to them getting an abortion, and 35% of the most conservative women know someone who’s had an abortion. The vast majority of Polish men and women of all persuasions oppose punishing women who choose abortion.

Lenora Chu

Teresa Barszczowska is a Polish pensioner who supports the conservative Law and Justice party. On abortion rights, she wishes her party leadership would have more understanding of women and their situation.

“From all political spectrums, when people talked about abortion or about women who decide to have abortions, they talked with care and empathy,” says Dr. Włodarczyk. “As in, ‘I wouldn’t do it myself, but I understand why someone might.’ And when people have that empathy, it’s easier to find common ground. For the [new] ruling coalition, it’s a big task to find that common ground with voters who voted against them, and in these areas, it’s possible.”

Anna Wójcik, a legal scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, says people are ready to move past what she calls “civil war conditions,” after eight years in which the conservative majority questioned loyalty to country for simply expressing divergent views.

“I feel that Polish people are tired of this polarizing political scene and division,” says Ms. Wójcik. “Basically people want to move forward, to be able to discuss topics in democracy that we have conflicting views on, like energy transition and education and stuff like that.”

Yet much remains to be seen how institutions might leverage a sentiment such as empathy and compassion, says Ewa Łętowska, a former judge and Poland’s first ombudsman for human rights after the fall of communism.

“It exists, but how is anyone going to build [on] it? It’s hard for me to believe that the Catholic Church, in particular, is particularly passionate about love of thy neighbor, because it’s quite the opposite,” says Ms. Łętowska, pointing to the church’s politicization and close relationship with Law and Justice during the party’s rule. “There is potential, but it must come from above, in the sense of what is appropriate, and what is not appropriate.”

And the people might just be ready. Sebastian Kozioł holds traditional views, such as men should be the head of household, but he nevertheless feels compassion for women who might seek an abortion.

“It shouldn’t be a government referendum,” says Mr. Kozioł, who is currently between jobs. “Because social welfare isn’t good enough to support a family. Women bear the consequences, and therefore it should be their decision.”

Editor's note: The story was updated to correct the spelling of Anna Wójcik's surname.

When Pakistan’s election results started trickling in after the close of polls on Thursday, it quickly became clear that something remarkable had happened.

Candidates affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), which is being led from prison by ex-premier Imran Khan, had taken the lead in more than a hundred constituencies across the country and seemed destined to emerge as the winners of the election. Considering the level of persecution being faced by the party – its top leadership was thrown in jail or forced to defect after the May 9 riots – this development left most of the commentariat stunned.

Then, mysteriously, the results stopped. Returning officers, who are bound by law to compile and deliver the numbers from their constituencies to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by 2 a.m. on the day following the election, failed to do so – sparking fears that the results were being altered. When the results began to come in again in the early hours of Friday morning, several constituencies where PTI-backed candidates had been shown in commanding positions flipped.

“For the last six months, we’ve had a slogan saying, ‘answer their cruelty with your vote’ and I think people have really abided by that,” says Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, who served in Mr. Khan’s cabinet as a special assistant. “Now we’re seeing the people’s mandate being stolen in broad daylight.”

Later on Friday, the Interior Ministry released a statement attributing the delay in processing results to its suspension of cellular services during the election, a blackout it had enacted citing security concerns. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif, a three time former prime minister and Mr. Khan’s closest rival, claimed in a victory speech that his party had emerged as the largest in the country – though it still trailed behind independents, a pool which is overwhelmingly made up of PTI-backed candidates

Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

A journalist is silhouetted against the screen as he checks on the live results of the general election at a makeshift media center in Lahore, Pakistan, Feb. 9, 2024.

According to the latest projections, even if PTI-affiliated candidates make up the single largest voting bloc in the national assembly, it is inconceivable that a single party will have the seats to govern alone, and the results are likely to be contested in several rounds of litigation. Political commentator Mosharraf Zaidi expects the cases and tribunals to last for months.

“The most important implication of the ECP’s indefensible delay in reporting election day results is that every party and candidate that has not been declared victorious now has legitimate grounds to contest the outcomes,” he says. “This is complicated much further by clear evidence – comically transparent – of the manipulation of several results.”

What confuses the issue even more is that there are 70 seats in parliament that are not directly elected. These seats, reserved for women and religious minorities, are allocated to each party according to their share of directly elected members. In the run-up to the Feb. 8 poll, the PTI was deprived of its election symbol – the cricket bat – which meant that every PTI candidate was effectively running as an independent. Because the PTI does not technically exist as a party in the parliament, it will not be able to buttress its numbers with its share of reserved seats. 

The loss of the symbol, which also helps illiterate voters identify their party’s candidates, is one of several disadvantages the PTI was dealing with in the run up to Thursday’s election.

Last week, apparently on the directions of the country’s powerful military establishment, Mr. Khan was sentenced in three separate court cases, including a seven-year conviction for contracting an illegal marriage. Mr. Khan’s convictions, added to the fact that most of his party’s top leadership had been forced underground, led many in the country to believe that PTI supporters would be too demoralized to turn out. 

But “the jailed former Prime Minister inspired the voters of Pakistan to resist all pressures,” says political analyst Nasim Zehra, adding that “voters have upset the games and the calculations of Pakistan’s political managers.”

K.M. Chaudary/AP

Election campaign posters from political parties are seen over a road in Lahore, Pakistan, Feb. 9, 2024. The results of Pakistan's elections were delayed a day after the vote was marred by sporadic violence, a mobile phone service shutdown, and the sidelining of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party.

These managers, a reference to the top brass of the Pakistan army, have been accused of manipulating past elections to install governments of their choosing, including the one led by Mr. Khan from August 2018 to April 2022. That government and the one that followed it were both unstable coalitions dependent on the military’s support to govern, and there are many who expect the trend to continue in the future.

“The incoming govt is dead on arrival,” says veteran commentator Cyril Almeida, via WhatsApp, “a hodgepodge of anti-Imran forces that have linked their immediate fate to military patronage. ... It will stumble on, but will, with certainty, fail.”

With Pakistan’s economy on the brink of collapse and a recent uptick in terror incidents, it was hoped that the elections would produce the sort of stable government that could tackle Pakistan’s myriad problems. But Mr. Zaidi says “the cloud of controversy” over the results will rob “any government that takes oath ... of the legitimacy it needs to enact quick and difficult decisions.”

This may well enable the military to consolidate its grip on power. “The economic policy and other major issues are being handled by the military directly now,” says Raza Rumi, who directs the Park Center of Independent Media at Ithaca College. “A strong civilian government would have meant that the army would have to curtail some of its involvement in national affairs, but in this post-election context, their power and their involvement will continue.”

On game days, the football pilgrimage starts across the highway.  

Crowds thread through gold-paneled casinos, pyramid-shaped and gaudy, before emerging onto a street-turned-pedestrian walkway. Ahead is Allegiant Stadium, the $2 billion home of the Las Vegas Raiders. But the scene also reveals something more: a new vision of Las Vegas itself.

While many of the fans making the trek from the famous Las Vegas Strip are local, more than half are not. Pro football, it seems, is now a part of the Vegas tourist experience. When local officials agreed to pay $750 million of the stadium bill, they expected a benefit of 450,000 visitors a year. The reality has been nearly double that. The arrival of the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 alone is expected to bring 330,000 fans.

For a city built on gambling and then renewed through constant evolutions, professional sports is the next big thing. As America’s attitude toward gambling changes, the city is finally taking a prominent place in the pro sports landscape.  

For generations, professional sports avoided Las Vegas because of its association with gambling. “Two decades ago, Las Vegas tried to advertise on the Super Bowl, and the NFL wouldn’t allow it,” says Michael Green, professor and chair of the history department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Times have changed to say the least.” 

Yet the transformation has meant more than money. For many in Las Vegas, it has also brought a new sense of identity. For the city of glittering lights, often criticized as transient, pro sports have brought a new sense of place and stability. Not to mention something to root for together. 

Image of Sport/Sipa/Reuters/File

Allegiant Stadium, seen in 2021, is the Raiders’ $2 billion home.

“Usually before the game, if it’s somebody new, you look at each other and go, ‘We’re probably going to hug at some point during the game. Are we OK with that?’” says Sondra Cosgrove, who has season tickets to the Las Vegas Aces, two-time champions of the Women’s National Basketball Association.

In 2014, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver penned an opinion article in The New York Times calling for the legalization and regulation of sports betting. Four years later, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which barred states except Nevada from allowing sports gambling. 

The “sports economy”

In Las Vegas, the transformation of the past few years has been startling. On one December weekend, the National Football League’s Raiders played the Minnesota Vikings at Allegiant Stadium, the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights played the San Jose Sharks, and the National Basketball Association’s inaugural in-season tournament concluded at T-Mobile Arena. One month earlier, Major League Baseball officials approved the Oakland Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas. 

For the city, it has been a renaissance. “We’ve had the family-friendly ’90s, the nightclub days in the 2000s, the trade show boom, and now we’re really in the sports economy,” says Michael Naft, a member of the Clark County Board of Commissioners, which governs the Strip.  

Las Vegas’ first Super Bowl will be a christening of the city’s new status as a pro sports destination. 

Historically, about a quarter of the United States population has lacked much interest in visiting Las Vegas, says Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. 

“That quarter is pretty hard for us to break through ... and what sports has done is caused that number to shrink,” he says.

His data suggests that 60% of fans attending Raiders games during the 2022 season traveled from out of town.   

Yet among those coming to the stadium was also Jerry Armstrong. The season ticket holder makes a regular trip to a wall-length window overlooking the Las Vegas Valley. The vista of shopping centers and hotels unspooling toward the mountain peaks on the horizon is home now, and pro sports are a major reason why.

Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports NPSTrans Toppic

Members of the Vegas Golden Knights pose with the Stanley Cup after their win over the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final, June 13, 2023, in Las Vegas.

Mr. Armstrong had moved to Las Vegas from Texas after inheriting a house from his father, but he was considering a return to the Lone Star State. Then state lawmakers announced the stadium deal to woo the Raiders from Oakland, California. “They made the announcement – I stayed,” he says. “I decided I’m going to be here the rest of my life.”

Mr. Armstrong might be an unusual case, but his situation speaks to how pro sports has become a unifying force for civic pride.

Jeff Jensen, a 30-year resident of Las Vegas, says the pro sports scene symbolizes the transition from a “tourist city to really like a regular city.”

If that transition had a date, it might be Oct. 10, 2017. The Vegas Golden Knights hockey team played their inaugural regular-
season game nine days after a man opened fire on concertgoers attending the nearby Route 91 Harvest country music festival. It was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. 

Leading up to the game, the hockey players visited blood drives and delivered groceries to first responders. The community embraced the team, which won that emotional first game and went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final that season.  

“That’s the first thing they wanted to do – they wanted to help us,” says Pammi Blackmon, a member of the VGK Ladies fan group. “And, well, they did.”

That giving spirit has been adopted by fans. The VGK Ladies Facebook group now has more than 10,000 members. Posts range from game quips and VGK-inspired nail design to calls for friendship or support. 

Ms. Blackmon says the bonds forged online or at watch parties have transcended sports fandom.

Courtesy of Pammi Blackmon

Vegas Golden Knights supporter Pammi Blackmon is part of the VGK Ladies group.

“We have a surprise squad that every now and then shows up to somebody’s house with goodies,” she says. “It’s usually because they’re going through either some really bad times or they’ve lost a loved one. ... It could be many reasons why.” 

“This is a lot of fun”

The Super Bowl might be Las Vegas’ biggest bow yet on the pro sports stage. But for residents here, sports have already changed the city. It has long been touted as a getaway from reality. Now, residents are finding that same experience. 

Dr. Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada, never considered herself much of a sports person until she decided to support the Las Vegas Aces. 

They hooked her – and not just because the team has won back-to-back WNBA championships. 

“I’m like, wait, this is a lot of fun,” she says. “For two hours, I don’t have to think about things that make me depressed, and I can feel better when I leave.” 

And that’s a win no matter the final score. ρ

REUTERS

Refugees who fled fighting in Myanmar have settled temporarily on the Moei River on the Thai-Myanmar border.

Can acting from the heart to aid civilians harmed by war help open minds to ending that war? The idea has some validity from conflicts where belligerents bowed to the norm of recognizing the innocence of civilians in battle zones, creating a thread of trust. Now Thailand is poised to prove it.

This month, the Southeast Asian nation plans to start a pilot project to deliver aid to about 20,000 displaced civilians across its long border with Myanmar. Three years of fighting since a military coup in Myanmar has left at least a third of that country’s population in need of assistance. And the military, which often strikes entire villages with impunity, has lately suffered big losses in territory and troops to armed rebels. Those rebels include a pro-democracy group as well as individuals from Myanmar’s ethnic minorities.

If the aid plan expands deeper into Myanmar and the delivered goods are not diverted to military use, it “will be the building block for constructive dialogue and engagement within Myanmar,” said Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara.” The aid effort, in other words, might help Myanmar’s warring factions find other common ground.

The “humanitarian corridor” also has the potential to welcome wider support. The aid will be delivered by the Red Cross in each country under supervision of the humanitarian arm of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

Thailand’s motives may not be purely in line with international humanitarian law. Its leaders fear China and India, which also border Myanmar, may seek more influence as the conflict turns against the ruling military. The Thai military also worries Myanmar may split up.

In addition, the idea of a humanitarian corridor was heavily promoted during an election last year in Thailand by the youthful, progressive Move Forward Party. The party won the most seats and votes but failed to take power because of the Thai military’s heavy hand in politics. Now a military-backed government in Bangkok is pushing the aid plan, perhaps to win over disenchanted youth who want Thailand to be driven by international values.

Still, the Thai plan is “about paving the way for Myanmar to once again reengage and engage constructively with the international community,” Vice Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told Reuters. If Myanmar’s junta allows neutral aid workers to help the innocent without bias, it would indeed mark an embrace of international law. Such softening of hearts might harden up enough trust to end the war.