 The Biden administration might be changing its strategy on Ukraine says a media report. What has led to this transformation? Junior doctors in the United Kingdom are set to continue their months-long protest in 2024 as well. What are their demands? This is the Daily Debrief. These are your stories for the day and before we go any further, if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button. An article in the US media outlet Politico says that the Biden administration is, and I quote, quietly shifting its strategy in Ukraine. Now, according to this article, the new plan is to improve Ukraine's position in an eventual negotiation to end the war. And for this, giving up parts of Ukraine to Russia is on the table. This comes in the aftermath of the failed Ukrainian counter-offensive and increasing hesitation in the US-led coalition to bear the costs of the war. What are these factors and why have they led to a rethink if there is one? We go to Abdul Fomor. Abdul, interesting article coming in the Politico talking about some signs of rethinking in the Biden administration. Now, the war, it's been quite a long time since this war broke out. And even very early on, there were signs of, there were actually negotiations taking place which are subsequently sabotaged. But what does the overall situation in Ukraine look like now that has led to these reports? Of course, they're not entirely confirmed yet, but nonetheless. Inside Ukraine, there are many things happening, but primarily since the, you can say, the failure of the so-called counter-offensive, which was launched earlier this year, there has been a complete failure in kind of in that operation in which billions of dollars were spent by the Western forces, by the US, by the European powers and the sent ammunition, the sent every other aid possible to Ukrainians. But Ukrainians fails to kind of take advantage of it and kind of push back Russian advantages, advances on its eastern and southern borders. And that basically has created a possibility. Apart from this, there is also a widespread allegations of corruption in which Zelensky government has been at least involved. Apparently, they have been accused of cheifening off the war funds, the aid which is coming from across the world for their own, the leaders of Zelensky's government to kind of use it for their own personal benefits. They have been also, they have also been accused of using the weapons and the ammunition sent for the war against Russia to kind of for kind of reselling it in other parts of the world. So all of this, apart from the fact that the economy is collapsing, apart from the fact that the overall situation of the common Ukrainian is basically worse. In fact, there is a new debate happening about the Zelensky's plan to recruit 500,000 new soldiers for the front because they are feeling the crunch of manpower on the front and therefore they need new recruits. But that would mean that the overall age for the recruitment in the forces would go down drastically. And this may kind of have a very profound impact on the overall Ukrainian society. So this also has created a situation. So the given the fact that due to the now the war which is nearing two years has kind of completely messed up the Ukrainian society, Ukrainian economy and the government has failed to deliver on any of its attempts to kind of particularly on the counter offensive and allegation of corruption basically has created a situation where there is a growing, you can say, kind of dejection in the overall mission to kind of which with which the Ukrainians were pushed in the early days of the war against Russia. And that is reflected in the overall kind of decline in the popularity of Zelensky as well and the decline and the growing criticism of the government in Ukraine. So overall situation in Ukraine, both politically and economically, of course, we are not talking about militarily, which is obvious, is quite drastic. And that basically has become much more difficult following the recent setbacks in terms of the West's reluctance to extend the aid program in the country. That was my second question because a lot of these discussions are taking place in the view to the fact that the international coalition that gathered around this war seems now to be far more uncertain if not fractured. There is serious concern in many of these countries. So could you maybe take us through what is happening among the components of this coalition as well? Well, the war in Ukraine was primarily funded by both the US and its European allies. We can generally say European Union. And both of these sections in the last few months, if you see, there are attempts to kind of extend the funding has been blocked for various domestic reasons. And in the case of US and in the case of European Union because of the disagreement of certain countries towards the whole idea itself. So for example, in US, we all know how Republicans have basically been blocking the $60 billion aid program to Ukraine, despite the fact that Zelensky was invited to US. He met the Republicans despite all those attempts. There has been no development. It seems that the Joe Biden administration has decided not to push for it at this hour, primarily given the fact that the continuation of the conflict in the way it is happening is basically having an impact on its possibilities of reelection. And it's also having an impact on the overall capacity to deliver on the other promises with which the Joe Biden government had come to power against the the massive popularity of Donald Trump during the last elections. So that is one reason in US. In European Union, the 50 billion euro aid was blocked after Hungary applied and that basically meant that there is a complete blockade. So European Union is trying to kind of revise the aid plan and of course, with a reduced amount of 20 billion euros. But whether that will succeed or not is a thing to be kind of we need to see, wait and see. Even if that 20 billion dollar comes, that will not be enough for the amount which the Ukrainians need at this hour to kind of fight against the Russian push now. There was a report that how recently on Tuesday, it seems that Russia kind of recaptured a new territory and this is the first development in many months where the Russia has been able to advance further inside Ukraine. And that basically is a sign that the overall Ukrainian defense vis-a-vis Russia is falling primarily because of the aid, lack of aid, lack of ammunition. As you can say contingency, US had cleared a 25 million dollar aid, the last batch of aid which was approved previously recently. But that is, as I said before, is a very small amount and very small aid in comparison to the need the Ukrainians have at this hour, particularly during the winter. Abdul, thank you so much for that update. The junior doctors committee of the British Medical Association is announced a six day strike starting January 3rd. If the government does not heed its demand for better restoration for pay restoration and better working conditions. The doctors have already been on strike for 28 days over the course of the year, but the government does not listen to the demands at all. Other personnel in the NHS have also been struggling on similar demands. We go to Anna to understand the situation. Anna, thank you so much for joining us. So throughout the year we have seen British junior doctors, of course, raising a series of issues towards the government, the government not responding in a positive manner. We have seen industrial action also taking place and they've also said that, you know, more might happen. So let's first talk about what some of these demands are, why really are these doctors protesting? Well, the demands have remained the same throughout the year. So if we look back sometime in March, but if we take into consideration other health workers also previously, health workers across England, across the United Kingdom have warned that their salaries were not high enough to allow them to lead a healthy and dignified life. So this has been has been an issue throughout the year. And now what we are seeing is that while other health workers might have come up to an agreement together with the government, at least some sort of agreement, junior doctors are refusing to accept the offers that the health ministry has been has been tabling because they're saying that throughout the years they have they have experienced what amounts to about 35% of pay cut. So this makes one of the biggest groups of health workers in the NHS, one of the lowest paid ones, if we look at the hourly wages. And so they're saying that of course, you know, this is not, it's not something that can continue for much longer, and that essentially people are both living and having very serious health issues because of the working conditions that they're being placed in. What does the coming year look forward as far as many of these doctors are concerned? And how do you see this action progressing? Well, judging from what has been out since the last few months, it looks like they're going to continue with the actions and that they're not really going to relent, despite the fact that the government has been refusing to come up with a decent offer. So just in 2023, they now they would have been on strike on and off for more than 30 days throughout the year. This is unprecedented industrial action in the NHS. And if we look at next week, in case the government does not agree to have the to continue the conversation with junior doctors in a way that they find acceptable, they're looking at at least six days strike at the very beginning of the year. What is known to be a very stressful period for the for the NHS when the demand is high, when people need access to healthcare services, because of course, but also because of other reasons. So, you know, if just judging from the beginning of the year, it looks like it's going to be a very active one for junior doctors. And rightly so, because what they have been experiencing throughout the year is a complete, you know, a blockade from the government to actually have a meaningful discussion. They have been sent sent away with with offers that don't even begin to address the problems that they have been experiencing when it comes to salary levels over the over the last years. And of course, you know, they have been again and again, they have been blamed for the action that they were they were taking. And the government saying that of course, they have been behaving unreasonably and have not had their patients best interest and heart. Of course, if we look at the statements published by by the junior doctor straight union, we see that essentially what they are doing is is striking for the patient's best interest because the current government's policy as well as the policies of the governments that came before has been very detrimental to patient safety has caused numerous postponements and backlogs of treatments. And what they're trying to do is essentially secure a health workforce that is able to to care for the patients in the way they they need it and they they deserve it. Right. And this context also generally wanted to ask you the question about the NHS itself, you know, it's been a long year of protests by many sections of the NHS. So how do you sort of see what has been happening with the NHS over the past few years and especially this year? Well, it has been a very active year. But I think that, you know, it's a it's a sign that the warnings that have been have been circulated before were actually right. What the NHS has experienced over the years is a creeping sort of privatization. They have not been outwardly privatized. But of course, they have, you know, we have we have seen that health workers have been treated very badly throughout the pandemic even before. It's not only about the pay. It's not only about the salary. It's also about the working conditions, the patients and staffing ratios that they're seeing. It's also about the treatment of workers who are not from who are not the first type of health workers that you think of. So if we look at the outsourced workers, the cleaners, the porters, the kitchen staff who have been on protest for months in some cases because they were demanding fair, fair working conditions in line with what with what their NHS peers were looking at. But essentially, the NHS is still looking at a very difficult period. So they're facing with unprecedented waiting times. Of course, they're struggling with staff leaving, emigrating elsewhere because of the working conditions. So what gives hope is, of course, that there's a strong movement behind the defence of the NHS. The people in Britain still consider the NHS to be something to be proud of, something to defend. Health workers do so too. So that's something that should lead us to believe that in the next year, the fight for the NHS will continue. Anna, thank you so much for that update. And that's all we have in this episode. We'll be back tomorrow. In the meanwhile, do visit our website peoplesdispatch.org, follow us on all the social media platforms. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button.