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What Putin really wants is bigger than Ukraine · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, February 22nd. That's 2-22-22, a very special date. We'll talk about it more later on in the show. I'm Shumita Basu.
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  Duarte Geraldino, Narrating: And I'm Duarte Geraldino. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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  Basu: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine. He also recognized their independence from Ukraine. Putin announced the move in a made-for-TV speech. On camera, he sat with his top advisors and asked anyone who disagreed to speak up. They were all silent. The White House has promised new sanctions, though these sanctions don't go as far as the ones President Biden had promised if Russia were to launch a full scale-invasion of Ukraine.
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  Geraldino: We're in a moment where it's important to understand how this is so much bigger than Ukraine. As "The Wall Street Journal" puts it, Putin's goal is to renegotiate the end of the Cold War. Ukraine may be the current field where this is playing out, but it's not the whole ballgame. This piece looks at recent world history, as well as Putin's personal history, to understand what may be driving him to place such a risky bet by confronting the U.S.
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  Basu: Maybe the most important explainer in this piece is the map, which you can see on the Apple News app. You see, Putin sees NATO as a tool of American power. This map shows all the countries that joined NATO after 1990. And you can see how NATO's reach kept getting closer and closer to Russia, including signing up countries right on its border. The buffer zone of the Cold War was shrinking. Putin didn't want it to get smaller if Ukraine joins NATO. And he's been willing to move armies to make his point to Biden.
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  Geraldino: He's called the Soviet Union's collapse the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century. Think about what that says about his mentality. Of all the terrible things that happened in the 20th century, world wars, genocide, this is what he's focusing on most. Understand that and you can see why he's willing to provoke America. The goal seems to be to redraw the map on Cold War lines, or at least stop things from going further.
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  Basu: The "Journal" digs into Putin's resume for more insight. Near the end of the Cold War, he was a KGB operative in what was once known as East Germany. He was pulled back to the Soviet Union just in time to see it collapse. He saw power built over decades shrink, both inside and outside Russia. He couldn't do much about it then. But he seems to think he can now.
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  Geraldino: The U.S. Soccer Federation and dozens of women's national team players have reached a settlement in their equal pay lawsuit. The total is 24 million dollars. This comes after years in court.
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  Basu: "ESPN" reports, once this is finalized, the bulk of the settlement money will go to the athletes. And two million dollars is earmarked for players' post-career goals and charities related to women's' and girl's soccer. The U.S. Soccer Federation has also committed to equal pay for the women's and men's teams in tournaments, including the World Cup. Previously, a World Cup win could earn a man around four times more than a woman.
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  Geraldino: Megan Rapinoe told "ESPN," this is a "monumental win" for women's' sports. You can read more about this in the Apple News app.
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  The first primary of the 2022 midterms is just a week from today in Texas. Votes by mail are already coming in. But local election officials say thousands of people may not have their votes counted this year. That's because of a new Republican-backed law that requires mail-in voters to cite the same ID they used when they registered to vote. On the surface, that may not seem like a huge complication. But in practice, it really is. So far, thousands of would-be voters have put the wrong form of ID down.
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  Basu: An elections administrator explains it this way: let's say you registered to vote 20, 30 years ago using your social security number. Well, now, in Texas, if you try to use your driver's license number for your mail-in ballot, that might cause problems. It's a perfectly valid form of ID, but it doesn't match the one you used to register, so you could get flagged for rejection.
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  Geraldino: "NBC News" reports, in Texas's largest county, Harris County, 35 percent of mail-in ballots were flagged for rejection. In El Paso County, it's around 50 percent. Those are unusually high rates.
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  Basu: Opponents of the strict new rules say they'll disproportionally hurt people of color. One elections administrator tells "NBC" that so far, it seems to be affecting older voters the most. Eighty-five percent of ballot-by-mail voters are over 65 years old.
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  Geraldino: Now, there's still time for voters to fix the errors. But historical data shows, the number of ballot errors that get fixed in time for these votes to be counted is very low. And this means the electoral voice of many Texas voters may be lost in the mail.
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  Basu: When a large corporation inflicts damage on the environment, it can be really hard for people who are affected by it to sue and win. They're up against the power of a huge company and its army of lawyers. But now, something different is starting to happen. Investors are stepping in to bankroll some of these types of lawsuits. They see the potential to make huge profits by helping low-income people sue companies.
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  Geraldino: Lucca De Paoli reported this story for "Bloomberg Businessweek." He writes about a lawsuit over an environmental disaster in Brazil. In 2015, a mining company's dam collapsed. The flood killed 19 people, and the resulting pollution devastated the indigenous community there. 200,000 people are suing the company BHP for seven billion dollars.
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  Basu: "Bloomberg" spoke to one of these people, Anderson Krenak. He says it's not just about the money. He wants to send a message that it's unacceptable to damage the natural world. And, as De Paoli explains, the financial and legal muscle to wage that fight is coming from an ocean away.
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  Lucca De Paoli: We just thought that that was kind of weird that you had sort of fund managers in London working together with people like Anderson Krenak in Brazil to take on sort of large mining companies. And we just thought that was, you know, super interesting.
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  Geraldino: The investors take care of the legal fees in exchange for a cut of the settlement. As De Paoli puts it, part of the draw for these investors is that more and more potential clients are eager to back ventures that are seen as environmentally positive.
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  De Paoli: The managers who invest in them believe that this can possibly aid their returns if they're investing something which can be seen to be a social good.
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  So, the investors stand to make money and maybe look like good guys. Though De Paoli makes it clear, this is ultimately about making money. Still, it does help to be seen as being on the right side of history.
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  De Paoli: So, whether they're sort of Erin Brockovich, I don't know, but they are funding people who I think might regard themselves as more like Erin Brockovich.
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  Basu: The mining company in the Brazil case has said the lawsuit is unnecessary because there are other legal proceedings and it's setting up a compensation fund. The case could go on for years. And if the indigenous people win, it won't just be a victory for them. It'll also be a payday for wealthy investors backing the suit.
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  Okay, finally, we promised we would talk about today's date. It is 2-22-22. All twos on a Tuesday. Now, "The Washington Post" reports on how people are reacting. Many couples see this as an auspicious day to get married. In Vegas, they are bracing for a record-breaking day. The previous record was for the date 7-7-2007.
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  Geraldino: And it's all too cute to bear. Right? [CHUCKLES] Many people also see today as a lucky day. It's unique, so maybe it's got something special about it. The "Post" profiles a pregnant woman whose original due date was later this month. But the doctor recommended scheduling a C-section, so she plans to deliver today.
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  Basu: And if you love palindromes, boy are you gonna love this. "NBC Chicago" points out we're gonna have plenty of palindrome dates this month. Tomorrow is 2-23-22, the same backwards and forwards. And so are all of the days in the rest of February.
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  Geraldino: You can read more about all the unusual ways people are marking this day in the full story on the Apple News app, along with all the stories we talked about today. There's also coverage of the extreme winter weather hitting a lot of the country this week. Keep an eye on that, so you can stay warm and safe.
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  Basu: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners.
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  Geraldino: We'll talk to you again tomorrow.
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