From the editor | February 10

OZY prides itself on taking you beyond the news cycle. Today's The New + The Next email lifts the lid off Russia's latest play for influence in Syria ... through its heritage. We also introduce you to the woman leading a Black female revolution in surfing (pictured) and to a scientist building a sailboat for outer space.

Charu Kasturi, Senior Editor

The New + the Next

Russia’s Next Target in Syria? Its Heritage

With dust settling on Syria's war, Moscow is wrapping its arms around the country's unique World Heritage sites.

Russian bombs and fighter jets have destroyed Syrian towns and terrorized civilians for more than four years. Russian military brass, political leaders and diplomats are regular visitors to Syria. Mikhail Piotrovsky doesn’t fall into any of those categories, even though he’s Russian.

And yet in November, the director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace found himself in Damascus. He was in town to oversee an event of major importance in global historical heritage circles: the signing of an agreement to see Russian experts restore the ancient city of Palmyra.

It would be naive to dismiss Russia’s growing interest in Syria’s ancient sites as merely a way of opening them to tourism with the aim of helping the Syrian government repay its war debt to Moscow, many experts suggest. Instead, experts believe Russia’s plan may be to use ancient cultural sites as a way to ingratiate itself into postwar Syria, while simultaneously serving as a route to normalize ties with the West away from the still-caustic political sphere.

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The New + the Next

Catching a Wave for Black Female Surfers

A former marketing consultant, GiGi Lucas found a home on the waves — and wants more Black women to join her.

After a few years of surfing breaks from Costa Rica to New York City to Florida, Gwenna "GiGi" Lucas noticed a trend: She was one of just a few female surfers in the lineup — and usually the only woman of color. So she started doing her homework, and it led her back to Jim Crow.

Segregation laws often prevented people of color from accessing public beaches, even with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Lucas, 40, drew a simple line from there to the fact that she could only find about six other female surfers of color on Instagram, even though the sport has been around for thousands of years.

So in 2016, Lucas founded her nonprofit, SurfearNEGRA, to raise money to send the next generation of women of color to surf camp — and challenge cultural norms.

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