Eyes of the India

 Security services in Germany are monitoring the use of the pro-Russian Z symbol as Ukraine urged its allies to ban an emblem it described as showing “public support of barbarism”. A symbol resembling the Roman letter, which does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet, was painted on Russian tanks when they rolled into Ukraine. It has also been adopted by civilians as a show of support for Moscow’s troops. One suggestion is that it was painted on Russian tanks to distinguish them from those of Ukrainian forces. The symbol has been compared to Nazi and communist iconography and was worn by presenters at a pro-war rally addressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. On Tuesday, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, urged countries to criminalise what he said was a symbol of support for the month-long invasion. “Z means Russian war crimes, bombed-out cities, thousands of murdered Ukrainians. Public support of this barbarism must be forbidden,” he said. Several German states...

  The lawmakers were back; the masks were (mostly) gone; and the partisan banter that typically accompanies the president’s annual update on national affairs returned in force to the House chamber. But as  President Biden  delivered his first State of the Union address to the nation Tuesday night, there were signs everywhere that the customary speech had found extraordinary times: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks the first conventional war in Europe since the Second World War, and no one knows how it will end. That somber reality hung over the outer fanfare of the occasion like an anvil dangling over a Macy’s parade. And even Biden’s allies acknowledged that the breach of peace had raised the stakes — and expanded the audience — of Biden’s address.  “It’s really a state of the world speech, more than a state of the union speech,” said Rep.  Brad Sherman  (D-Calif.).  A number of lawmakers, to show solidarity with the outgunned Ukrainians, wore the bl...