Protesters light candles on Friday in front of the Russian Embassy in Prague after the announcement that the Kremlin's most prominent critic, Alexei Navalny, had died in an Arctic prison. Milan Kammermayer/AFP via Getty Images The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a penal colony in Russia's Arctic north was shocking, but hardly surprising. For years, critics and opponents of Russian leader Vladimir Putin have fallen victim to shootings, poisoning with radioactive or nerve agents, or have plunged to their deaths from open windows. Navalny was only 47 and had appeared in court the day before his death in the penal colony known as "Polar Wolf," where he was serving a lengthy sentence. Evgenia Kara-Murza, wife of another jailed opposition leader, [said on X](https://twitter.com/ekaramurza/status/1758481756108292436), formerly Twitter, that he "looked well and was, as always, in good spirits." Navalny was seen smiling in a video from the court hearing and even managed to send Valentine's Day greetings to his own wife. Less than 24 hours later, prison authorities said he had died. Before being [sent to Russian jail](https://www.npr.org/2021/01/18/958080423/after-arrest-kremlin-critic-navalny-calls-on-supporters-to-take-to-the-streets) in 2021, Navalny survived a poisoning attempt that nearly took his life during a flight from Siberia to Moscow. He sought emergency treatment in Berlin, where doctors said he had been poisoned with a [nerve agent called Novichok](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/02/908753772/alexei-navalny-was-poisoned-with-novichok-nerve-agent-germany-says). Once recovered, he returned to Russia, despite knowing the risk such a move posed. Navalny joins a long list of opposition figures, critics and journalists who have died under suspicious circumstances — or in some cases, survived poisonings — from London to Moscow. ### Boris Nemtsov One of the most prominent of those deaths was his own predecessor as the head of Russia's opposition to Putin's two-decade tenure in power, Boris Nemtsov. An outspoken critic of Putin, Nemtsov served as a deputy prime minister under Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. Nemtsov was [shot dead on a bridge](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/02/27/389598306/putin-critic-boris-nemtsov-shot-dead) close to the Kremlin in 2015, at age 55, as he was walking home at night with his girlfriend. ### Alexander Litvinenko Perhaps the most striking demise was of former spy [Alexander Litvinenko](https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/1039224996/russia-alexander-litvinenko-european-court-human-rights-putin), who was poisoned in a central London hotel in 2006 with the highly radioactive substance polonium. Litvinenko, a former agent of Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, [fell ill and died](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/alexander-litvinenko-the-man-who-solved-his-own-murder) after meeting with two Russian agents for tea in a London hotel. He was 44. He had accused Putin of complicity in the 1999 bombing of a Russian apartment block that killed hundreds of people and provided Putin with an excuse to launch the Second Chechen War. ### Sergei Skripal Another famous poisoning was the case of Sergei Skripal, 66, a retired military intelligence colonel [who fell ill](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/07/591584976/british-police-say-nerve-agent-was-used-to-poison-russian-ex-spy-sergei-skripal), together with daughter Yulia, during a visit to the English cathedral city of Salisbury in 2018. Skripal had earlier served 13 years in a Russian jail for working with the British spy agency MI6 to identify Russian spies in Europe. Skripal and his daughter survived the poisoning, which British doctors said was caused by the nerve agent Novichok — the same substance used against Navalny. ### Anna Politkovskaya Such suspicious incidents date back to the early days of Putin's leadership. In October 2006, the journalist and human rights activist [Anna Politkovskaya](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6229751) was shot dead in the lobby of her apartment building. She was 48. Politkovskaya came into conflict with the Kremlin over her critical reporting on Russia's war in Chechnya. She was intimidated by Russian forces in Chechnya, survived a poisoning and was subjected to a mock execution. ### Yevgeny Prigozhin And as recently as last summer, [Yevgeny Prigozhin](https://www.npr.org/tags/774740160/yevgeny-prigozhin), known as "Putin's chef" before rising to lead the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, died when the plane he was flying in exploded in midair. He was 62. The unexplained blast came two months after Prigozhin's [mercenary army had marched](https://www.npr.org/2023/06/24/1184147525/putin-wagner-treason-rebellion) on Moscow in protest over what he called a lack of support from Russia's military leadership as the Wagner Group spearheaded some of the deadliest battles in Ukraine. Putin and Prigozhin later brokered a deal that ended the rebellion in exchange for the rebels' amnesty and exile in neighboring Belarus. ### Ravil Maganov Just the year before, [Ravil Maganov](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/03/1120874579/opinion-it-should-not-be-a-crime-to-criticize-in-putins-russia), head of Russia's second-largest oil producer, Lukoil, died after apparently falling out of a sixth-floor window at a Moscow hospital at age 67. He had called for an end to the [Russian invasion of Ukraine](https://www.npr.org/series/1082539802/russia-ukraine-invasion-explained), launched by Putin earlier in 2022. ### Sergei Magnitsky And Navalny was far from the first critic of Putin to die inside Russia's prison system. In 2009, [Sergei Magnitsky](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/07/11/201120083/death-and-tax-evasion-the-strange-case-of-sergei-magnitsky) — who had accused Russian officials of massive corruption, before being jailed in Russia on charges of tax evasion — died in a prison cell at age 37. Human rights groups, including the Kremlin's human rights commission, concluded he had been beaten and denied medical care. The case became a cause célèbre, spurring the U.S. Congress to pass the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which barred Russian human rights abusers from entering the U.S. In return, Russia banned American citizens from adopting Russian orphans.

Feb 16, 2024 3:30 PM A surprise disclosure of a national security threat by the House Intelligence chair was part of an effort to block legislation that aimed to limit cops and spies from buying Americans’ private data.  US House Intelligence chairman Mike Turner, who disclosed a national security threat from Russia this week amid negotiations over reforms to a major US surveillance program.Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images The latest botched effort at salvaging a [controversial US surveillance program](https://www.wired.com/story/surveillance-fight-pits-the-white-house-opposite-reproductive-rights/) collapsed this week thanks to a sabotage campaign by the United States House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI), crushing any hope of unraveling the program’s fate before [Congress](https://www.wired.com/tag/congress/) pivots to prevent a government shutdown in March. An agreement struck between rival House committees fell apart on Wednesday after one side of the dispute—represented by HPSCI—ghosted fellow colleagues at a crucial hearing while working to poison a predetermined plan to usher a “compromise bill” to the floor. A civil war between the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees has crippled months of efforts to [reauthorize Section 702](https://www.wired.com/story/2023-ndaa-privacy-lobbying/) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), an unpopular but crucial spy power, stunning the intelligence system and forcing security hawks to publicly argue in favor of surveillance tactics that [even top spies acknowledge](https://www.wired.com/story/odni-commercially-available-information-report/) has been [prone to abuse](https://www.wired.com/story/darin-lahood-fbi-backdoor-search/). Witnesses to the events this week that forced House speaker Mike Johnson to shelve the latest Section 702 bill—the third of its kind to fail in as many months—say the leaders of HPSCI abandoned a deal that had been agreed to in private after weeks of negotiation. Sources familiar with the negotiations asked not to be identified, as none of them are authorized to speak publicly. The impetus for killing the deal, WIRED has learned, was an amendment that would end the government’s ability to pay US companies for information rather than serving them with a warrant. This includes location data collected from cell phones that are capable in many cases of tracking people’s physical whereabouts almost constantly. The data is purportedly gathered for advertising purposes but is collected by data brokers and [frequently sold](https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-12-08-Legal-Loopholes-and-Data-for-Dollars-Report-final.pdf) to US spies and police agencies instead. Senior aides say the HPSCI chair, Mike Turner, personally exploded the deal while refusing to appear for a hearing on Wednesday in which lawmakers were meant to decide the rules surrounding the vote. A congressional website shows that HPSCI staff had not filed one of the amendments meant to be discussed before the Rules Committee, suggesting that at no point in the day did Turner plan to attend. Two senior sources on the Hill who are working for members with direct knowledge of the events but are not affiliated with either of the relevant committees say that while lawmakers waited on Turner to appear, he was meeting privately with Johnson and threatening to kill the bill he'd already signed off on. At the same time, Turner and other HPSCI members were engaged in a floundering but possibly effective scheme to whip votes against any potential privacy enhancements, floating vague claims about an “urgent” threat against the US. Turner’s warning was [later reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/02/15/space-weapons-russia-china-starlink/) to concern Russia developing the capability to deploy nuclear weapons in space. In a [letter](https://www.freedomworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Turner-letter.pdf) on Friday, four advocacy organizations signed a letter calling for Turner to step down from his role as Intel chair over what they called a “near-panic” started purely for “political gain.” The letter, first reported by [Politico](https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/16/congress/outside-groups-slam-turner-russia-space-house-intelligence-00141972), was signed by members of groups FreedomWorks, Due Process Institute, Demand Progress, and Restore the Fourth. Neither Johnson nor Turner’s offices responded to a request for comment. Internal emails obtained by WIRED show that HPSCI’s ranking Democrat, Jim Himes, was likewise a part of that effort, his signature attached to a letter urging Democrats to schedule time to review “certain intelligence” in a HPSCI-operated “SCIF”—a room designed to securely host classified information. The letter implies an “urgent” threat involving foreign military capabilities that requires wide dissemination, all but ensuring it leaked to the press. In news reports about that intelligence the following day, anonymous officials [ensured it was stressed to reporters](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/14/national-security-threat-mike-turner/) that Section 702 was essential to identifying the threat. More recent statements made by the White House and Senate intelligence staff that relay the risks the disclosure poses to classified “sources and methods” have generated skepticism around 702’s role. Four senior aides tell WIRED that, despite speculation in [_The New York Times_](https://archive.is/bM3RA) that a foreign aid package related to Ukraine had been the impetus behind the effort to center the threat, Turner and Himes were motivated to instill paranoia in members that would inevitably raise doubts as to whether popular private reforms were simply too great a risk—namely those requiring the government to obtain warrants before accessing the private calls, texts, and emails of US persons, as well as “commercially available data” that can be used to monitor their whereabouts, both historically and in real-time. This campaign—mirrored with less success [by the FBI](https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/13/fbi-surveillance-terrorist-attack-00141200)—appeared to backfire in a matter of hours, with Senate intelligence staff refusing to support Turner’s claims and instead issuing a statement that implied his disclosure had put classified sources at risk. The White House similarly dismissed the urgency communicated by Turner, warning that information related to the “threat” might expose intelligence sources. Some aides critical of the tactics say nevertheless that they believe it may have been effective, shaking some members’ willingness to openly support reform. “These tricks aren’t new,” said one aide. “They’re recycled, but increasingly transparent.” (“Every spymaster in history has exploited the mixed feeling of awe, gratitude, and fear that power-holders respond to in dealing with intelligence,” civil liberties attorney Frank Donner once said. It was 1971.) By Wednesday afternoon, Himes, whose signature appeared on the initial “dear colleague” email announcing that the classified matter “should be known by all,” appeared to be seeking distance from the controversy, issuing a statement acknowledging the intel was “not a cause for panic” and saying the protection of sources is “a legal and sacred duty.” After Johnson reluctantly killed the plans to move forward with a vote—and with it, any hope of resolving the battle over Section 702—intelligence officials began the task of redirecting the blame. The complexities of the issue, and general lack of knowledge among the public and press, aided significantly in that goal. A [Fox News report](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/johnson-forced-delay-house-vote-controversial-surveillance-tool-gop-mutiny-threats) published Thursday morning, while accurately noting that it was Turner's threat that forced Johnson to cancel the vote, goes on to cite “sources close to the Intelligence Committee” who offered analysis of the events. The sources claimed that Turner was compelled to abandon the deal because the “compromise bill” had been sneakily altered in a manner that “totally screws FISA in terms of its ability to be a national security tool.” While redirecting blame away from Turner and his cohorts, the claim is both false and deceptive, relying on assertions that, while farcical perhaps to legal experts, would be impossible for the public at large (and most of the press) to parse alone. The text that Fox News’ intelligence sources are referring to—which can be [read on the final page](https://rules.house.gov/sites/republicans.rules118.house.gov/files/MG_02_xml.pdf) of the bill online—does nothing, in reality. It does not require or prevent anyone in the government from taking any action whatsoever. It also has no impact on FISA, the statute from which Section 702 derives its power. The controversial text states that the nation’s top intelligence official “may submit” information to Congress regarding how “law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community” purchase “commercially available data about United States persons.” Essentially, it grants the intelligence community permission to do something that it does not actually need permission to do. The language was included not to “totally screw” FISA, but to ensure that the phrase “commercially available data” appears at least once in the text, for reasons that are as benign as they are elusive to casual followers of legislative procedures. One of the most popular amendments suggested to the Section 702 bill, discussed openly by lawmakers for months, is one that would prevent the government from purchasing data that normally requires a warrant. To counter arguments that these purchases are unrelated (which is to say, not “germane”) to the 702 program, the language in the final section, accomplishing nothing else, was added. A placeholder, effectively. A senior source close to the Judiciary Committee said that it would have been impossible for Turner not to know the amendment was coming, and that the surprise expressed by his staff in the Fox News piece and elsewhere appeared to those in the know as pure theater. Four aides, recordings of several public hearings, and a slew of reporting confirm that Turner had been aware for weeks, if not months, that restrictions on commercially available data would be one of the key amendments offered up by Judiciary members. The aides added that he'd also privately agreed to allow Judiciary members to offer their amendments. Prior to the bill being pulled, Representatives Warren Davidson and Zoe Lofgren had issued a relevant joint statement publicly: “It makes little sense to rein in warrantless surveillance under one authority when the government can simply fall back on other available techniques to acquire similar information,” they said. Only after forcing Johnson to cancel the vote did the germaneness of the measure become a justification for tanking the entire process. “No one actually thinks the Intelligence Committee cares about this,” says an aide working for a Judiciary member. “It’s the amendment they’re freaking out about. They don’t want the intelligence community to have to ask judges before they do anything.” “For all the downplaying the agencies have done, telling us repeatedly they aren’t purchasing our data that often, Turner just blew weeks of negotiation to defend this one thing,” says the same aide. “To me, that says something about how much the government actually cares about this.” _Update: 2/16/24, 3:35 pm ET: Added details about a letter calling for Turner to step down as Intel chair._

Republican “ineptitude” in attempts to impeach [Joe Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden) left the party embarrassed when a key source was revealed this week not only to have lied to the FBI but to have links to Russian intelligence, a leading House Democrat has said. “It demonstrates Chairman Comer and Chairman Jordan’s ineptitude in dealing with an investigation that is really designed as a political ploy to help Donald Trump,” said Dan Goldman of New York. Goldman is a member of the House oversight committee, a panel chaired by James Comer of Kentucky, who has led the impeachment attempt alongside [Jim Jordan](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jim-jordan) of Ohio, the Republican judiciary chair. “They were willing to use anything they could get their hands on to make incredibly bold accusations that now result with them having egg on their face,” Goldman added. Last week, Alexander Smirnov, an FBI informant behind claims of corruption involving Joe Biden, was [arrested](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/fbi-informant-biden-ukraine-charged-burisma) on charges of lying about alleged links between the president, his son Hunter Biden, and Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. That was bad enough for Comer and Jordan, but then prosecutors dropped a bombshell: [allegations](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/20/fbi-informant-biden-ukraine-russia) that Smirnov had ties to officials linked to Russian intelligence. That news broke before [closed-door testimony](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/21/james-biden-republicans-impeachment-smirnov) in which James Biden, a brother of the president, forcefully rejected claims of corruption. Democrats called for an end to the impeachment attempt, but Comer and Jordan vowed to press on, [brushing off](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/22/alexander-smirnov-russia-republicans-biden) revelations about Smirnov and saying they retained faith in his claims. Hunter Biden is due to be interviewed next week. Speaking to reporters hosted by the Congressional Integrity Project, a liberal watchdog, Goldman considered how [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) came to rely on Smirnov. Goldman said: “The only way this became public is because of the pressure that Senator \[Chuck\] Grassley \[of Iowa\] and Chairman Comer put on the [FBI](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/fbi) to make them turn over this 1023,” referring to a form summarising Smirnov’s unverified claims. Last May, Grassley and Comer [published](https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/grassley_comer_to_fbi_-_biden_1023.pdf) a letter to Christopher Wray, the FBI director, in which they said a whistleblower had alerted them to the Smirnov form. Claiming “significant public interest in assessing the FBI’s response to this information”, the Republicans cited “growing concern about … political bias”. The FBI, Goldman said, released the form “with an understanding it would remain confidential because they were concerned about burning sources and methods. The Republicans did not respect that request.” In July, Grassley and Comer [released](https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fd_1023_obtained_by_senator_grassley_-_biden.pdf) the form, with some redactions. The information within, about Joe Biden supposedly working to his son’s benefit in Ukraine, fueled months of speculation by Republicans and rightwing media, particularly Fox News. Goldman said: “They went ahead and pushed forward with these unverified allegations, that they knew were unverified, as much as they could and relied very heavily on them to justify their vote to move into a formal impeachment process.” In an unpolitical world, developments this week might have dictated an end to that process. On Wednesday, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the oversight committee, called for that to happen. But his choice of words – Republicans, he said, should “fold up the tent to this circus show” – was telling. Jordan and Comer indicated no plans to stop their attempted impeachment, an effort based on feeding supporters and media allies and appeasing Trump, the probable presidential nominee. Goldman [entered Congress](https://goldman.house.gov/about) last year. Before that, he was lead counsel to House Democrats in Trump’s first impeachment, concerning attempts to blackmail Ukraine for dirt on rivals including Joe Biden. Speaking to reporters, Goldman called for an official investigation into Republican handling of the Smirnov allegations, also citing Russian efforts in support of Trump since 2016. “The House Republicans are simply doing the bidding of Donald Trump and \[Russian president\] Vladimir Putin by peddling what they knew already to be false allegations,” Goldman said. “I do think there should be more inquiry into not only what Chairman Comer and Chairman Jordan knew about any Russian involvement in pushing … these allegations but \[into\] Senator Grassley as well.” The 90-year-old Iowa senator, Goldman said, “was leading an investigation in 2020” – when Smirnov made his allegations – “and was receiving information from Andrii Derkach, who has been [sanctioned](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/active-russian-agent-andrii-derkach-indicted-scheme-violate-sanctions-united-states) as a Russian agent”. Sanctions against Derkach, a Ukrainian oligarch and lawmaker, were announced in December 2022. Speaking then, Breon Peace, the US attorney for the eastern district of New York, [called](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/active-russian-agent-andrii-derkach-indicted-scheme-violate-sanctions-united-states) Derkach a “Kremlin asset … sanctioned for trying to poison our democracy” with misinformation, in an attempt to influence the 2020 election. Grassley denies wrongdoing but was [reportedly](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/23/democrats-letters-to-trump-allies-are-foreign-plot-to-damage-biden-380217) among Republicans who received “packets” about Joe Biden from Derkach. The Iowa senator has not commented on developments in the Smirnov case linking the informant to Russian intelligence. Last week, after Smirnov was charged with lying to investigators, staff for the senator [told BleedingHeartland.com](https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2024/02/16/grassley-unrepentant-as-doj-declares-explosive-claims-to-be-fabrications/), an Iowa blog, the indictment “confirms several points Senator Grassley has made repeatedly”. The Smirnov affair is nothing if not complex. Goldman also said revelations about Russian intelligence links could affect court cases involving [Hunter Biden](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/hunter-biden), whose troubled personal life and legal jeopardy have dogged his father politically. “I don’t know exactly what led to the plea agreement falling apart last summer,” Goldman said, of dramatic developments in a Delaware courtroom in July, when a deal on tax and gun charges [collapsed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/26/why-hunter-biden-plea-deal-fell-apart), leading to Hunter Biden choosing to plead not guilty [instead](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/14/hunter-biden-gun-charges-indictment). “But part of it was certainly [allegations](https://www.vox.com/2023/8/17/23828938/hunter-biden-plea-deal-special-counsel-weiss) that the special counsel” – David Weiss, the Trump appointee who charged Smirnov – “was continuing to investigate \[alleged Foreign Agents Registration Act\] violations \[by Hunter Biden\]. That had been a part of the investigation for five years, and you don’t enter into a plea agreement that wraps up a long-running investigation only as to certain parts of it and not as to others, in the ordinary course. “The fact that they re-interviewed \[Smirnov\] [in September 2023](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/20/politics/biden-former-fbi-informant-russian-intelligence/index.html), after the plea agreement fell apart, is at least some circumstantial evidence that this investigation may have been what the special counsel’s office said was the Fara investigation related to Hunter Biden. And if that is the case, then I do think that \[revelations about Smirnov\] could have an impact on” Hunter Biden’s legal cases. This week, Hunter Biden’s lawyers [accused](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/20/politics/alexander-smirnov-hunter-biden/index.html) Weiss of using Smirnov’s now discredited allegations to blow up the plea deal last year.

Image source, GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/Pool/AFP **Vladimir Putin has been in power since 2000, longer than any Kremlin leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.** As he prepares for a fifth term as president, aged 71, all semblance of opposition is gone and there is little to stop him staying on, if he wants, until 2036. And yet, it was almost by accident that this little-known, former KGB man was hand-picked for the Kremlin. A case of being in the right place at the right time in predecessor Boris Yeltsin's inner circle. Vladimir Putin was a street-fighting boy whose early years were spent in a communal flat, or _kommunalka_, in communist Leningrad. Although he appeared to embrace liberal, democratic Russia, he later described the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union as "the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the \[20th\] Century". Determined to prevent Ukraine from leaving Russia's orbit, he unleashed Europe's biggest war since World War Two, with a full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. He often justifies his actions with an outlandish perception of history and a keen resentment of Nato. Before the invasion, and since, he falsely claimed that Ukraine was an artificial state populated by neo-Nazis. And he sought to stop Ukraine getting closer to Nato. The Western leader who arguably knew him best was Germany's former chancellor Angela Merkel, who is once reputed to have described him as out of touch with reality and "in another world". Image source, DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP She repeatedly tried to negotiate with Vladimir Putin, but after he sent troops to invade Kyiv she came to the conclusion "he wants to destroy Europe". Vladimir Putin was born seven years after the end of World War Two - following the siege of Leningrad which killed his elder brother and which his parents barely survived. He had a tough childhood that would affect the rest of his life. In an interview in 2000, he remembered cornering a large rat on the staircase of his communal apartment block. It had nowhere to run. Putin described the rat lashing out and throwing itself at him: "There, on the landing, I got a quick and lasting lesson in the meaning of the word cornered." Image caption, In 2000, a 10-year-old Japanese girl floored Mr Putin in Tokyo The young Putin got into fights with local boys who were often bigger and stronger. Later, he would look back on that time and describe himself as a "hooligan". He took up judo, which he continued as a black belt during his presidency, and the Russian martial art of sambo, and stayed close to his childhood partners, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. In 2015, he reflected on his early experiences on the streets of what is now St Petersburg: "Fifty years ago the Leningrad street taught me a rule: if a fight is inevitable, you have to throw the first punch." After studying at Leningrad State University, in 1975 he went straight into the Soviet intelligence service, the KGB. It was a natural step for a law graduate, and it suited him perfectly. It was also a dream job for a young man brought up on Soviet TV shows such as The Sword and the Shield, which recounted the derring-do of an undercover Russian spy in Nazi Germany. "I was a pure and utterly successful product of Soviet patriotic education," he reflected. By now, he spoke good German and he was posted to the East German city of Dresden in 1985 where he saw first-hand the collapse of a communist state in 1989. From the KGB headquarters across the road, he watched as crowds stormed the headquarters of the East German secret police, the Stasi. When a small group approached his building, he warned them off. But when he called a Red Army tank unit for protection, he realised Russia was of no help: "We cannot do anything without orders from Moscow. And Moscow is silent." The next year, he returned to a political system in free fall. He was given the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but never excelled at the KGB. One of his superiors, Nikolai Leonov, considered him a "mediocre agent". To this day, he retains a small circle of KGB colleagues from Leningrad as his closest confidants - long-standing allies such as Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council. It was not because of their "pretty eyes" he recruited them, his old judo coach Anatoly Rakhlin once recalled, "but because he trusts people who've proved themselves". Those he trusts, he often enriches. He handed childhood friend Arkady Rotenberg a $3.5bn (£2.7bn) contract to build a bridge from Russia to occupied Crimea. He is intensely private about his personal life, and divorced his wife Lyudmila in 2013 after 30 years of marriage. They had two daughters, widely named as Maria Vorontsova, an academic and businesswoman, and Katerina Tikhonova, head of a research foundation. Image caption, Vladimir Putin's younger daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, is known to love acrobatic rock 'n' roll From 1991, Vladimir Putin became deputy to the new mayor of Leningrad, Anatoly Sobchak, and a highly valued adviser. When Sobchak was voted out, his deputy was headhunted to work in the presidential administration in Moscow. These were the dying years of the Boris Yeltsin administration and Putin's rise was meteoric. He spent a short time as head of the Federal Security Service, which replaced the KGB, and was then asked to report to the president as secretary of the Security Council. On 9 August 1999, an ailing Yeltsin sacked his prime minister, replacing him with a little-known 46-year-old protege who would see through reforms ahead of presidential elections in 2000. Yeltsin was by now in need of a successor. "Putin had shown himself to be a liberal and a democrat, who wanted to continue market reforms," said Valentin Yumashev, who told Yeltsin he would make a "superb candidate". As Yeltsin's presidency faded away, Moscow was hit by a series of deadly but unexplained bombings. Vladimir Putin responded with a full-scale land offensive to recapture the mainly Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya from separatist rebels. His popularity soared and on 31 December 1999 he was appointed acting president, winning his first presidential term three months later. Thousands of civilians died in the Chechen campaign and, as he often does, Vladimir Putin used crude language to describe how he would wipe out the rebels "even in the toilet". The capital Grozny was devastated; Russia's leader had his victory. His first domestic challenge came in 2000, when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in an accident in the Barents Sea, with the loss of all 118 crew. President Putin remained on holiday and initially refused offers of international help. Many of the crew died waiting to be rescued. TV viewers watched as grieving women screamed at their president. Four years later, Chechen rebels took 1,000 hostages, most of them children, at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. When Russian special forces stormed the building, 330 people died. It later emerged that Russia had intelligence of a planned attack but had failed to act. The first years of the Putin presidency were both bloody and turbulent, but the Russian economy was doing well, buoyed by high oil prices. He won public support for taking on the billionaire oligarchs who had run rife in Russia in the 1990s. Summoning them to the Kremlin, he said they could keep their money as long as they kept out of politics and backed him. He acted fast against those who didn't, such as Russia's then-wealthiest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was arrested at gunpoint and jailed in Siberia. Russia's president had something of a honeymoon with the West. He was one of the first foreign leaders to ring President George W Bush after the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on the US. He even helped the US launch its ensuing campaign in Afghanistan. "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy," said President Bush. But Vladimir Putin soon became disillusioned with the US and its allies. Relations with the UK soured when a former KGB agent and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London using radioactive polonium-210. A UK inquiry found later that the Russian leader had "probably approved" the KGB attack. On a visit to the Munich Security Conference in 2007, Putin made his feelings towards the US clear. Image source, TIMM SCHAMBERGER/DDP/AFP "One state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way," he complained. It was an icy reminder of the old Cold War and an expression of Russia's anger that the US was continuing to plan for a missile defence system in Central Europe. "The stones of the Berlin Wall have long been distributed as souvenirs… and now they are trying to impose new dividing lines and walls on us," said Putin. It did not take him long to show he was prepared to use military power to undermine pro-Western leaders in former Soviet states. In 2008, Russian forces routed the Georgian army and took over two of its breakaway regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It was a very personal clash with Georgia's then pro-Nato President, Mikheil Saakashvili. Vladimir Putin was by now prime minister, as the constitution barred him serving a third consecutive term as president, but it was clear he still held the levers of power. Image caption, Vladimir Putin, seen here in 2015 with Dmitry Medvedev Today that problem no longer exists. He steered through a law in 2021 that reset his limit to zero, which means he can head straight into a fifth term, and even a sixth. Russia in 2024 is very different from the restive country in the run-up to the third Putin term. In 2011, the biggest mass protests since the collapse of the Soviet Union erupted in Russia's major cities in response to widespread allegations of fraud in parliamentary elections. Among the protest leaders was Boris Nemtsov, a liberal, former deputy prime minister in the 1990s. Another rising figure was anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, who labelled Mr Putin's United Russia "the party of crooks and thieves". Now, genuine opposition has all but vanished. Nemtsov was shot dead on a bridge, in view of the Kremlin, in 2015. Navalny survived a nerve agent poison attack in 2020, before he was thrown in jail in January 2021 and died three years later. His widow has accused Vladimir Putin of murder. Putin has secured the support of the Orthodox Church and he has built a National Guard, or Rosgvardiya, that reports direct to him. Acts of public defiance are few and far between, and newly created offences targeting those who discredit the military and disseminate fake news are widely used to silence dissent. Russia's media is largely pliant and controlled by the Kremlin, which has become consumed by an all-out war in Ukraine. Image source, ALEXEY DRUZHININ/SPUTNIK/AFP Image caption, Yevgeny Prigozhin thrived for years under Vladimir Putin until he led an armed rebellion in 2023 Putin faced a short, armed rebellion in June 2023, when the formerly loyal mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin sent his forces on the road to Moscow. But it was snuffed out and Prigozhin was later killed in a mysterious plane crash. Some 40% of budget spending in 2024 will go on defence and security, as President Putin diverts much of the economy to the war. Putin's war in Ukraine started, not in February 2022, but with the seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014. The night that Ukraine's pro-Moscow leader fled violent protests in Kyiv and was effectively ousted, the Russian president said he held an all-night meeting and told his colleagues it was time to "bring Crimea back into Russia". Pro-Russian agitators then seized swathes of Ukraine's Donbas region and war took hold in the east for eight years - until Putin decided he would invade from the north, south and east in a bid to overthrow Ukraine's elected government and seize Kyiv, with the invasion in 2022 . He has repeatedly sought to justify the war. He writes long historical essays, gives speeches and lectures the few foreign visitors that come. But it is a distorted, selective history that brooks no dissent. Civil rights group Memorial, which has devoted decades to remembering the victims of Soviet repression, has been banned. Its veteran co-president Oleg Orlov was jailed for this description of the Putin era: "They wanted fascism, and they got it." * [Chechnya](/news/topics/c302m85q5g4t) * [Soviet Union](/news/topics/cdl2w2zy8qgt) * [Russia](/news/topics/ce1qrvlegnyt) * [Donald Trump](/news/topics/cp7r8vgl2lgt) * [Alexei Navalny](/news/topics/cpzyrklr4l8t) * [Vladimir Putin](/news/topics/cvenzmgywd4t) * [Ukraine](/news/topics/cx1m7zg0gzdt) The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Donald Trump’s continuing lavish praise and support for Russian president Vladimir Putin are fueling alarm among former intelligence officials and other experts who fear another Trump presidency would benefit Moscow and harm American democracy and interests overseas. Trump praised Putin as a “genius” and “pretty savvy” when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, and has boasted he would end the war in a “day”, sparking critics’ fears that if he’s elected again Trump would help Russia achieve a favorable peace deal by cutting off aid to Kyiv. Trump also recently greenlit Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to Nato members who don’t pay enough to the alliance. “Trump views Putin as a strongman,” said Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and a national security official in the first two years of Trump’s administration. “In a way they’re working in parallel because they’re both trying to weaken the US, but for very different reasons.” More recently, instead of criticizing Putin for the death of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s leading opposition figure, who the Kremlin once tried to kill with poison, and who died suddenly last month in an Arctic penal colony, Trump weirdly equated the four criminal prosecutions he faces with Navalny’s fate as political prisoners “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Trump’s adulation for autocrats was displayed again this month at Mar-a-Lago where he hosted far-right Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, a close Putin ally and foe of Ukraine aid, whom Trump extolled. “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán,” Trump said. In turn, Orbán lauded Trump as “a man of peace”, and said if Trump’s re-elected, he “won’t give a penny” to Ukraine and the war will end. Ex-officials fret too that Trump would gut US intelligence by appointing far-right loyalists like retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn, who briefly served in 2017 as Trump’s national security adviser and later plead guilty of lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Deep concerns about another Trump presidency are rooted in part on his acceptance of Putin’s word in 2018 that Russia didn’t meddle in the 2016 election, despite strong evidence to the contrary from US intelligence officials, a bipartisan Senate panel report and an inquiry by special counsel Robert Mueller. > In paring back the US government and appointing loyalists, Trump will get rid of vital security expertise Fiona Hill A two-year investigation by Mueller found that Russian interference to help Trump win in 2016 was “sweeping and systematic”. There were other significant signs of Trump cozying up to Russia during his presidency, including a bizarre Oval office meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister where Trump shared classified information. Now veteran intelligence officials and other experts say they have strong worries should Trump become president again in light of the ongoing Putin-Trump bromance. “Putin much prefers the chaos agent of Trump because it undermines the US,” Hill said. “Trump’s not worried about national security, but focused on himself. In paring back the US government and appointing loyalists, Trump will get rid of vital security expertise.” “Trump is shockingly ignorant” about foreign affairs, Hill added. “Trump rarely read materials he was given before meetings. Trump is less a threat to Russia, and more to the US given his approach to governance.” Other ex-officials raise related concerns. “I think Trump and Putin are natural bedfellows,” said Douglas London, a retired senior CIA operations officer and author. “They complement each other well. They have common goals and objectives. Given Trump’s oft stated agenda to seek retribution against his enemies, London worries that via executive orders Trump will “use the CIA like his own Praetorian guard. Trump could do this by using the agency’s unique capabilities and authorities to spy on, silence and perhaps even bring harm to his enemies.” > There is literally nothing about Trump that suggests he would put our country’s interests ahead of his own interests under almost any circumstances Sheldon Whitehouse Similarly, key Democrats are deeply worried about the international and domestic repercussions if Trump wins the presidency again. “There is literally nothing about Trump that suggests he would put our country’s interests ahead of his own interests under almost any circumstances,” said the Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. “So when he has a close and long standing, almost servile, relationship with a foreign enemy, who is also a multi-billionaire oligarch, the recipe for disaster is self-evident.” [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/18/us-intelligence-trump-putin-threat#EmailSignup-skip-link-23) Sign up to First Thing Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Trump’s efforts to placate Putin and undercut US intelligence were underscored by their infamous 2018 meeting in Helsinki, Whitehouse noted. “We’ve seen Donald Trump’s assault on our national intelligence community prefigured by his horrifying performance with Putin where he said that he accepted Putin’s representations about election inference, election meddling and other mischief, putting our own intelligence agency’s determinations to the contrary, right under the bus.” Likewise, ex-Republican Representative Charlie Dent voiced fears about another Trump presidency given Trump’s adulation for Putin “Trump identifies with illiberal, populist and authoritarian leaders,” Dent said. “Trump has autocratic inclinations, and Putin is simply an autocrat.” On the campaign trail, Trump has sparked new criticism with bizarre statements underscoring his authoritarian instincts. One example: as Trump has ratcheted up his attacks on prosecutors who have charged him with 91 felony counts including 17 for conspiring with others to overturn his 2016 loss to Joe Biden, he even cited cynical comments by Putin last fall that echoed Trump’s false charges of political persecution. “Even Vladimir Putin says that Biden’s – and this is a quote – politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia, because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,” Trump told a New Hampshire rally this year before the state primary. “Trump speaking favorably about Putin and using him as a credible source, is the language of extremist politics,” said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard government professor and coauthor of How Democracies Die. “Trump is an authoritarian personality if there ever was one in American politics.” In a cagey twist, after Putin last month said he’d prefer a Biden victory this year because he’s “more experienced”, and “more predictable”, Trump tried to capitalize on the former KGB spy’s comments by thanking Putin for paying him a “great compliment”. “Putin’s trying to make as much mischief as possible,” said Hill. “It inoculates Trump and Putin if Biden is re-elected. Putin is covering all his bases.” Still, ex-intelligence officials see Trump’s pro-Putin affinities leading to a politicized intelligence community if Trump wins again, weakening intelligence sharing with allies and benefitting Russian interests. “Trump almost certainly will politicize the intelligence community by going forward with his public promise of installing people on the extreme fringes of rightwing politics such as Michael Flynn and Kash Patel,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior intelligence service official. Patel, a former defense department official in the Trump years who has been touted as a possible acting attorney general or top CIA official if Trump wins again, late last year echoed Trump’s talk of seeking retribution against his enemies. Patel told Steve Bannon’s War Room: “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in the government but in the media … who helped Joe Biden rig elections” Polymeropoulos stressed that appointments of Flynn or Patel by Trump “would damage US ties with key allies. You’ll see old allies not sharing critical intelligence, and for good reason. They’ll slowly reduce sharing, so as not to provoke the ire of Trump, but their source protection concerns will be paramount and over-ride all else. The intelligence will dry up.” “If Trump wins, forget the Brits or French – two of our best bilateral intelligence partners in Europe – ever sharing anything significant with us on Russia, for example.” Likewise, London sees a second Trump presidency posing extraordinary dangers for the US and its allies. “Trump terribly underestimates Putin. It’s in his interests to keep the US preoccupied domestically and politically polarized,” he said.

[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#site-index) The death of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who flew into a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last month, shook our usually unflappable city. This week, Bronx Zoo pathologists published a coroner’s report that [helps explain why he died](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-zoo-death-cause.html). It revealed that even Flaco, who had fled the confines of the Central Park Zoo, could not escape the strictures of his environment, especially because that environment was New York City. While the acute trauma from that crash was the most immediate cause of death, the necropsy also found that Flaco had pigeon herpesvirus and exposure to four different anticoagulant rodenticides. In other words, he had eaten too many infected pigeons and poisoned rats. “These factors would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal, even without a traumatic injury,” the report [states](https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/22247/Central-Park-Zoo-Releases-Postmortem-Testing-Results-for-Flaco-the-Eurasian-Eagle-Owl.aspx), “and may have predisposed him to flying into or falling from the building.” Flaco, it seems, was a dead bird flying. Last summer, I edited a [guest essay](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/27/opinion/nyc-rats-eric-adams.html) for Times Opinion by Jason Munshi-South, an urban ecologist at Fordham University, about New York City’s clumsy, counterproductive war on rats. Munshi-South warned me at the time that the city’s widespread deployment of rat poison posed a grave threat to Flaco. Of all the ways to kill rats, anticoagulants are an especially slow and pernicious method. A rat repeatedly nibbles on bait laced with the stuff. Eventually, the rat becomes weak from internal bleeding. If the internal bleeding doesn’t kill it, the rat’s lethargic state makes it easy prey. Rat poison travels up the food chain all the way to owls. Flaco is not the only creature who has died as a result of New York City’s pest management policies; rodenticide is a widespread cause of death for [much](https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/03/25/turtles-hawks-coyotes-animal-deaths-nyc-23/) of the city’s wildlife. Humans don’t have to turn to punitive and ineffective crackdowns through poison and traps for rat management. One alternative, already being [rolled out](https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/harlem-get-new-european-style-trash-containers-trucks) by the Department of Sanitation, is better trash collection. Flaco lived a notable life as the sole member of his species in New York. It’s easy to anthropomorphize an uncomplicated individualism in him. He was above the mess of the city. He knew nothing of SantaCon or Eric Adams. But no matter how high he flew, Flaco could not escape the decisions that can make the city a death trap for those who are not human. Anyone who believed that the forced exodus of Claudine Gay as Harvard’s first Black female president was dousing the fire rather than fanning it doesn’t understand how racial propaganda wars feed on momentum. As [The Harvard Crimson reported](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/3/22/cross-plagiarism-harvard-anonymous-complaint/) last week, three other Black women at the university have had anonymous complaints of plagiarism lodged against them since Gay’s departure. Christopher Rufo, a right-wing provocateur and instigator, immediately cheered the complaints [on social media](https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1770520934937673820), claiming they were part of a clear pattern for academics involved in the diversity, equity and inclusion field. This is, after all, part of Rufo’s plan, having announced, “[Game on](https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1743414988629553256),” after helping to push out Gay. The veracity of the complaints doesn’t matter; the reputational harm — to the accused and to the idea of inclusion — is the goal. The narrative here is about innate and pervasive inferiority, ineptitude and fraudulence by women and minorities, specifically Black women in this case. And it must be understood that the subtext, the inverse, of minority inferiority is therefore white supremacy. Black faculty members at Harvard are rightfully outraged by all of this and feel that their reputations are under review and under assault. Prof. [Lawrence D. Bobo](https://scholar.harvard.edu/bobo/home), the dean of social science at Harvard, told me that it was “unambiguous racial bias, arguably racism.” He called Rufo “a zealous ideological guttersnipe.” The rate at which D.E.I. programs are being banned is breathtaking. In January, Florida’s board of governors [barred state money](https://apnews.com/article/florida-universities-dei-programs-e7e8d90595b6c6696541a08635f2accb) from being used to fund D.E.I. initiatives at the state’s 12 public universities. Last week, Alabama’s governor [signed a bill](https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/us/alabama-bill-bans-dei-public-universities-reaj/index.html) that forbids public schools and universities from maintaining or funding D.E.I. programs. Kentucky is advancing a similar bill. House Republicans in Washington are trying to make similar moves. The attacks on professors at Harvard and other schools only help to propel these efforts because they provide a confirmation of bias. They feed a feeling that minority achievement and advancement are a sham, that somehow deceit at the pinnacle means it exists everywhere. [Tommie Shelby](https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/tommie-shelby), a professor of African and African American studies at Harvard, told me that these attacks exploit old stereotypes of Black people as “not smart,” and as “lazy and irresponsible.” And apparently, he said, those stereotypes still have currency. What’s happening at Harvard is about far more than Harvard or elite professors at elite institutions. The bigger issue — the war, not just the battle — is arresting all efforts at racial inclusion and turning back the clock to a time before they existed. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-mid1) When my [column about the Democratic strategist James Carville](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/opinion/james-carville-bill-clinton.html) was published last weekend, a lot of readers were transported back to the Clinton era. Carville was a key strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992 and an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful one in 2008. Naturally, the prolix politico had more to say than I had room for. Here are some of his comments that didn’t make it into the column: **“**When you look back at why Hillary lost,” I asked Carville at one point, “do you think it was mostly sexism, or we underestimated Trump, or they didn’t listen to Bill, or what?” **“**Certainly some of it was sexism,” he replied. “I’d never deny that. Some of it. They made the wrong calculation. Their calculation was there’s more of us than there are of them, and if our people come out, that women, particularly white women, are going to find it totally unacceptable, and that will overcome any deficiencies that we have, and they didn’t go to Wisconsin.” “I could go on and on,” he said. “To be honest with you, I think she knows. Everybody knows that it was believing in an algorithm as opposed to something else. Here, it was destroyed by an algorithm,” referring to ways that the Clinton campaign (and other political campaigns) used big data to try to anticipate and shape voter behavior — as the 2012 Obama campaign did as part of its winning strategy. “That’s just not how people think.” “I don’t dislike Robbie Mook,” Carville said, referring to Clinton’s campaign manager in 2016. “He’s a nice man, but he had a flawed view of what American politics was…. It was just an unfortunate confluence of events.” Credit...Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Shakira’s “[Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/arts/music/shakira-las-mujeres-ya-no-lloran.html)” — her first album in seven years, released on Friday — has all the ingredients to be a downright explosive comeback. After splitting from the retired soccer star Gerard Piqué in 2022, [she released a diss track](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CocEMWdc7Ck) directed at him and his new girlfriend. Fans reeled, and Shakira enjoyed her biggest commercial success in years. But all those elements — an icon reveling in her legacy, a media-commanding breakup narrative and commercial clout — can’t compensate for uninspired music. This album lacks what has long made Shakira a daring artist: her devotion to sonic eclecticism that cuts against the pop landscape’s typical riskless pablum. Shakira knows how to concoct genre-bending bangers. Her first English record borrowed from [Nirvana’s guitar riffs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYNqqDuwKV0). The Wyclef Jean collaboration “[Hips Don’t Lie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUT5rEU6pqM)” has a reggaeton beat and [a sampled salsa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqDmVekMWU) intro. And there may never be a World Cup song that tops the Soca-infused “[Waka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0&pp=ygURc2hha2lyYSB3YWthIHdha2E%3D) [Waka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzsuE5ugxf4&pp=ygURc2hha2lyYSB3YWthIHdha2E%3D).” Her transnational sound can sometimes feel more like mélange than cohesion, but more often, Shakira’s go-for-broke attitude captivates. On this album, her maximalist approach to genre is channeled into collaborations with a new generation of Latin hitmakers who have [taken over pop music](https://variety.com/2023/music/news/latin-music-riaa-mid-year-peak-luminate-report-1235742660/) in the past few years. When Shakira crossed over to Anglo audiences in the early 2000s, she carved a path for artists like Karol G and Rauw Alejandro. Now she’s bringing in her descendants to help turn her “[pain into productivity](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/arts/music/shakira-las-mujeres-ya-no-lloran.html).” Unfortunately, even Shakira’s collaborators cannot lift her tracks to electrifying heights. From the disco-pop “Cohete,” which lusts for new passion, to the slow-drip reggaeton “TQG,” which boasts about postbreakup self-love, many tracks are devoid of Shakira’s typical interplay between sound and word. That’s why it’s particularly telling that her new album takes its name from the lyric “Las mujeres ya no lloran; las mujeres facturan” (“Women don’t cry anymore; they cash in”). The album promised to be an opus on catharsis and perseverance. Instead, it relies on the safety of bankability. At her sharpest, Shakira can write [poetic, oddball lyrics](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/mar/08/popandrock.shopping) and play with the musical zeitgeist to create timelessness. An example is “[Inevitable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC-wJk56AQg),” her 1998 grunge-y ballad about letting go of toxic love. It’s a live-show mainstay because her audience still loves the way the acoustic confessional verses burst into the raucous, raw chorus. But this time, Shakira doesn’t seem to aim for emotional sharpness. Instead of transcending the zeitgeist, she’s allowed herself to fade into the most boring version of the pop scene. The [she-wolf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=booKP974B0k&pp=ygUIc2hlIHdvbGY%3D) is nowhere to be found. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-mid2) Parents know what’s best for their kids, except when the State of Florida does. When Florida passed a law prohibiting children younger than 14 from having social media accounts, lawmakers crowed about the move, [claiming](https://rumble.com/v4leoxz-governor-ron-desantis-signs-hb3-to-protect-children-from-the-harms-of-socia.html) they had to act because children don’t have the brain development to see the harm in addictive platforms. In other words, under the new law, even if parents want their tweens to have a social media account, they’re out of luck. Florida knows better. (The state doesn’t allow parents to decide about the merits of [gender-affirming care](https://www.nytimes.com/article/desantis-florida-bills.html) for their kids either.) But Florida is happy to let parents make decisions about other matters of vital importance to children’s well-being. Consider: When measles broke out in an elementary school in Weston in February, Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, [let parents determine](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/health/measles-children-travel.html) whether to keep their unvaccinated children at home. Those measles cases “received disproportionate attention for political reasons,” according to a March 8 [statement](https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2024/03/20240308-balances-personal-responsibility.pr.html) from the Florida Department of Health. Or maybe it was statistical ones: So far this year the United States has recorded 64 cases of measles (more than in all of 2023); [11](https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/2024/03/25/florida-measles-cases-count-broward-polk-martin-counties-cdc-department-health/73089992007/) of those were in Florida. Meaning that a state with 6.5 percent of the nation’s population has hosted 17.2 percent of its measles cases. Still: “Once again, Florida has shown that good public health policy includes personal responsibility and parents’ rights,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis in the March 8 statement. About 92 percent of students in Florida are fully vaccinated, [according](https://www.flhealthcharts.gov/ChartsDashboards/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=NonVitalIndNoGrp.Dataviewer&cid=75) to health officials; the state is one of [45](https://www.ncsl.org/health/states-with-religious-and-philosophical-exemptions-from-school-immunization-requirements#:~:text=There%20are%2045%20states%20and,have%20religious%20objections%20to%20immunizations.) that let parents skip their children’s shots for religious or moral reasons. Because measles is so transmissible — [nine of 10 unvaccinated people](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/contagious-infographic.html#:~:text=Measles%20is%20highly%20contagious%20and,if%20they%20are%20not%20protected.) in a room will get the disease if one infected person sneezes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — scientists [estimate](https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/herd-immunity#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20the%20population,vaccinated%20to%20achieve%20herd%20immunity.) that 95 percent of a population needs to be immunized in order to achieve herd immunity. Protecting children from social media is a laudable goal. It won’t be easy to kick children off social media platforms; the tech companies [acknowledge](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/opinion/children-nicotine-zyn-social-media.html) they don’t really know how old their users are, and they’ve yet to fully roll out [long-promised](https://about.fb.com/news/2022/06/new-ways-to-verify-age-on-instagram/) age-verification systems. That leaves parents to rely on their elected officials, who have empowered themselves to safeguard children from digital boogeymen. But not viral ones. Even the hard-right Supreme Court has its outer limits, it seems. On Tuesday morning, a majority of justices [appeared very likely](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/us/abortion-pill-supreme-court) to vote to throw out the first big challenge to abortion rights to reach the court since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Wait, didn’t they promise us that the ruling would end abortion litigation at the court, sending the issue instead back to the states, where it rightfully belongs? But I digress.) The current case was brought by a group of doctors who are morally opposed to abortion and are seeking to severely limit the distribution of the nation’s most used abortion drug — mifepristone, which women obtain to end [about 650,000 pregnancies](https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/medication-abortion-accounted-63-all-us-abortions-2023-increase-53-2020) a year, or nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the country. They challenged the F.D.A.’s approval of the drug as well as recent regulatory changes that have made it easier for women to obtain and use. These claims were dubious on their face, given that the F.D.A. has produced reams of evidence and explanation for its approval and treatment of mifepristone, one of the safer drugs on the market — far safer than, say, Viagra. But the justices were more troubled by the plaintiffs’ inability to show any concrete injury to themselves, a requirement, known as [“standing,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/us/politics/abortion-pill-lawsuits-doctors.html) that must be met before the court can consider any case. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Erin Hawley, was given several opportunities to demonstrate how this requirement was satisfied by her clients, none of whom had ever prescribed mifepristone or even had to treat a patient experiencing complications from using it. She offered nothing other than generalized concerns that they might one day have to do so. That raised the related question of how these plaintiffs, given their extremely tenuous connection to the focus of their lawsuit, nevertheless managed to win a nationwide injunction against the drug’s use. (Short answer: They went [judge-shopping](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/us/judge-selection-forum-shopping.html).) Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pointed out this extreme mismatch and the fact that there is already a [federal law](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocr/civilrights/understanding/ConscienceProtect/42usc300a7.pdf) exempting health-care providers who oppose abortions from participating in them. “‘Because we object to being forced to participate in this procedure, we’re seeking an order preventing anyone from having access to these drugs at all,’” Jackson said, summarizing the doctors’ argument. “How could they possibly be entitled to that?” Good question. This time, at least, the Supreme Court seems poised to answer it the right way. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-mid3) It’s standard practice in engineering — as well as common sense — to design a system so that it stands up even if something goes wrong. An engine failure on a cargo ship is a foreseeable problem. It should not have been enough to bring down an entire bridge span, as [happened](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/us/baltimore-bridge-collapse#ship-hits-baltimore-key-bridge) on Tuesday, when a ship leaving the Port of Baltimore lost power and plowed into a pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse. Six workers who had been patching potholes on the bridge were missing. Diagnosing precisely what went wrong in Baltimore will take months or years. I expect investigators will zero in on a few obvious questions. One is why the vulnerable piers of the bridge, which opened to traffic in 1977, were so exposed. The [buffers around the piers](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/26/how-key-bridge-collapsed-baltimore/) failed. If the piers had been buffered by wider concrete bases or giant piles of rocks or both, the errant ship might not have done the damage it did. If the lack of a thick buffer was intended to save money, it was a costly mistake, though the bridge was designed before the modern era of gigantic ships. It also appears that the ship wasn’t escorted by tugboats, which could have kept it on course after it lost power. That would also appear to be a cost-saving decision. I can’t judge whether it was a mistake or not, but it clearly needs to be looked into. > [@nytopinion](https://www.tiktok.com/@nytopinion?refer=embed) “Damaging collisions between ships and bridges are all too common. There were 35 major ones worldwide between 1960 and 2015, killing 342 people, of which 18 occurred in the United States, according to a 2018 tally by the engineering consultant firm Moffatt & Nichol. “As ships have gotten bigger, the damage has gotten worse. I found a 1983 report by the National Research Council that said that vessel collisions are far more frequent causes of damage to bridges than storms or earthquakes. “The date of the report tells you that this is a well-known problem. A bridge engineering handbook published in 2000 made clear the concerns. The stomach-churning video of the Baltimore collapse brings home just how fragile a bridge can be in comparison to a giant cargo ship. It’s an irresistible force meeting a very movable object,” says Opinion writer Peter Coy. [#baltimorebridge](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/baltimorebridge?refer=embed) [#bridgecollapse](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bridgecollapse?refer=embed) [#nytopinion](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nytopinion?refer=embed) [♬ original sound - New York Times Opinion](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7350788720443869995?refer=embed) Damaging collisions between ships and bridges are all too common. There were 35 major ones worldwide between 1960 and 2015, killing 342 people, of which 18 occurred in the United States, according to a 2018 [tally](https://conference-service.com/pianc-panama/documents/agenda/data/full_papers/full_paper_46.pdf) by the engineering consultant firm Moffatt & Nichol. As ships have gotten bigger, the damage has gotten worse. I found a [1983 report](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA135602.pdf) by the National Research Council that said that vessel collisions are far more frequent causes of damage to bridges than storms or earthquakes. The date of the report tells you that this is a well-known problem. A bridge engineering [handbook](https://ingenieriasismica.utpl.edu.ec/sites/default/files/publicaciones/UCG-ES-00583.pdf) published in 2000 made clear the concerns. The stomach-churning video of the Baltimore collapse brings home just how fragile a bridge can be in comparison to a giant cargo ship. It’s an irresistible force meeting a very movable object. Steering a cargo ship beneath a bridge isn’t easy even when the engine is running. The captain can’t slow down too much because the ship needs a certain amount of speed to be steerable. So vessels keep colliding with bridges, bridges keep collapsing and people keep getting killed. Something needs to change. On Wednesday, New York may finally become the first city in the nation to adopt congestion pricing, a plan to get cars and trucks off city streets and raise funds for public transit by charging drivers a premium for entering Manhattan’s busiest areas. The ambitious plan was stymied for nearly two decades, mostly because politicians were wary of challenging the city’s car culture, but if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approves the final [proposal](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/nyregion/nyc-congestion-pricing.html) on Wednesday, as expected, the program could start in June. It will be a resounding victory for New York’s economy and for roughly 5.5 million people who ride the region’s subways, buses and commuter rails every day. The money raised from truck and car tolls in Lower and Midtown Manhattan is expected to add about $1 billion each year for the region’s public transit system, which needs significant investment, especially after taking a hit in ridership during the height of the pandemic. Cities like London and Singapore, both with excellent transit systems, have had tolling programs like this for years. But lawsuits and Albany gridlock delayed the program, and it’s still disappointing to see groups like [the city’s teachers’ union](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24253867-congestion-pricing-lawsuit) and a local chapter of the [N.A.A.C.P](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/traffic/transit-traffic/congestion-pricing-nyc-naacp-lawsuit/5249743/). fighting the program in court. The reality is that the city’s economy relies heavily on a fully functioning transit system, and a [majority](https://www.cssny.org/news/entry/congestion-pricing-outer-borough-new-yorkers-poverty-data-analysis) of residents living in poverty in New York City depend on that transit system. “This isn’t just a fight about tolls,” Janno Lieber, the M.T.A. chief, who has championed the plan, told me. “Nobody speaks for the people who can’t get in the train station because there’s no elevator,” he said. “We’re going to have cleaner air, safer streets, better traffic, and we’re going to invest in transit.” In the final accounting, supporters of the plan — a group that over the years has included New Yorkers from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to ordinary subway riders who [voiced support](https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2024/03/19/supporters-of-congestion-pricing-outnumbered-foes-2-1-in-final-input) to the M.T.A. — appear to be the stronger coalition. In recent months, Gov. Kathy Hochul has pushed hard for the plan, too. If it succeeds, it will be a refreshing example of the progress that good government and steady civic pressure can bring. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-mid4) Patrick Healy, Deputy Opinion Editor Nick, you’ve [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article) [deeply](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/opinion/pornhub-news-child-abuse.html) [for years](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/kristof-when-states-abuse-women.html) about exploitation, abuse and trafficking of women and girls. Your [latest column](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/opinion/deepfake-sex-videos.html) on deepfake nude videos showed us new ways that technology has become a vile weapon against them. What did you learn in reporting the piece that surprised you? Nicholas Kristof, Opinion Columnist What startled me the most was simply the failure of regulators, lawmakers and tech companies to show much concern for the humiliation of victims, even as sleazy companies post nonconsensual fake sex videos and make money on them. Women and girls are targeted, yet the response from the tech community has mostly been a collective shrug. Why should Google, whose original motto was “don’t be evil,” be a pillar of this ecosystem and direct traffic to websites whose business is nonconsensual porn? Even when underage victims go to the police, there’s usually no good recourse. We’ve effectively armed predators and exploitative companies with artificial intelligence but denied victims any defense. Patrick Healy You write: “With just a single good image of a person’s face, it is now possible [in just half an hour](https://www.homesecurityheroes.com/state-of-deepfakes/#key-findings) to make a 60-second sex video.” Is there any way people can protect themselves? Nicholas Kristof Some experts counsel girls or women to avoid posting images on public Instagram or Facebook pages. That strikes me as unrealistic. Some of the victims are prominent women whose images are everywhere — one deepfake site appropriated a congresswoman’s official portrait. Or sometimes an ordinary woman or girl is targeted by an ex-boyfriend or by a classmate, who will probably have photos already. Because it’s so difficult for individuals to protect themselves, we need systemic solutions, like amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act so that there is less immunity for badly behaved tech companies. End impunity, and incentivize companies to police themselves. Patrick Healy Among the statistics that froze me was this one: “Graphika, an online analytics company, identified 34 nudify websites that received a combined [24 million unique visitors](https://graphika.com/reports/a-revealing-picture) in September alone.” These numbers are enormous. What does this say to you about our society? Nicholas Kristof A generation ago, there was an argument that social networks were going to knit us together. In fact, I think we’ve become more atomized, with screen time substituting for people time. Some experts think that in an age of social isolation, porn is becoming an easy way to avoid the complexity and frustration of dealing with real people. Meanwhile, the casual cruelty we see on social media is paralleled by the cruelty we see in deepfake sites showing actresses, princesses, singers or politicians being raped. It’s hard to view these exploitative, nonconsensual videos and not perceive misogyny — both in the videos and in a system that tolerates them and provides victims with no remedy. _Photograph by Larysa Shcherbyna/Getty Images_ Has Boeing finally [gotten the message](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/business/boeing-ceo-steps-down.html) that its very future rests on restoring faith in the safety of its products? I hope so. Trust in the aircraft manufacturer was shaken nearly five years ago, after the crashes of two 737 Max 8 planes killed nearly 350 people. Then in January, just when it seemed that the company had put its safety problems behind it, a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane midair during an Alaska Airlines flight. Fortunately, there were no major injuries. If Boeing’s current management had tried to ride out this storm, it would have shown a sense of impunity and a lack of remorse. The people at the top aren’t the only problem at Boeing, to be sure, but leadership matters. So it was a step in the right direction on Monday when Boeing [announced](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2024-03-25-Boeing-Announces-Board-and-Management-Changes) that David Calhoun had chosen to step down as chief executive officer, Stan Deal would retire as president of the commercial airplanes division, and Larry Kellner would not stand for re-election as chairman of the board. That’s not enough, though. To show that it means what it says, Boeing needs to find a new chief executive officer who has lived and breathed manufacturing and understands how to manage giant projects. That’s a rare commodity. Few projects are as big and complex as designing and building a commercial airliner. Thomas Black, an opinion columnist for Bloomberg, [mentions](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-25/boeing-needs-to-act-faster-to-find-ceo-calhoun-s-successor?sref=B3uFyqJT) Larry Culp, who is the chief executive of General Electric as well as G.E. Aerospace, one of the three companies that will survive as G.E. breaks itself up. But Culp might not want the job. Another step that would impress aircraft purchasers and passengers would be clawing back some of Calhoun’s bonus pay, or at least not paying out awards that haven’t vested yet. I asked Boeing about that and was told that details on that issue are coming in a few weeks. When Calhoun took over as chief executive in 2020, he vowed to produce jets at a pace the factory can handle, instill discipline, hunt for bad news and act on it, according to a [profile](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/business/boeing-david-calhoun.html) in The Times. “If I don’t accomplish all that,” he said, “then you can throw me out.” They just did. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-mid5) Maurizio Pollini, the great Italian pianist who [died](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/arts/music/maurizio-pollini-dead.html) on Saturday at 82, could never escape adjectives like cool and cerebral and remote. Perhaps some critics and listeners found him that way. Certainly there was no dispute over his technique, considered to be among the most brilliant of any pianist who flourished in the second half of the last century. He was also an intellectually searching man, interested in art and literature. Pollini’s virtuosity was evident from the beginning. Artur Rubinstein, who led the jury that awarded him first prize at the Chopin competition in 1960, [reportedly said](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/24/maurizio-pollini-obituary), “That boy plays better than any of us jurors.” Pollini was 18. Pollini’s brilliance was marked by precision and clarity. He excelled in complex modernist scores by Stockhausen, Nono and Boulez — especially Boulez’s Piano Sonata No. 2. For some, his Beethoven was exceptional. He was a master of Schumann. Brahms, Schubert and Debussy were in his repertoire. Mozart too, although the accolades here were a bit quieter. I once asked Pollini, in an [interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/arts/music/pollini-speaks-in-his-fashion.html), about his reputation for aloofness in his playing. He did not answer directly. “One can only think what music should give to a listener,” he said. “Certainly a strong emotion.” It is in Pollini’s Chopin performances that the whole discussion over his coolness becomes, for me, a little pointless. Few composers are as poetic as Chopin, and oddly, Pollini — so often described as overly intellectual — performs Chopin in a way that feels truly lyrical. I’m convinced it is Pollini’s brilliant control over technique that helps make it so (not to mention a formidable musical intelligence). His keyboard mastery allowed him to transmit, without mediation, Chopin’s romantic intentions. (In the interview, the pianist called Chopin “innately seductive.”) On news of his death I went back to a recording of Chopin’s 24 Preludes, released by Deutsche Grammophon in 1984, to hear that technique in service of poetry. It was there in the vaguely ominous oscillating undercurrent passages, the crystalline rippling configurations and the devilishly fast passages that never seemed rushed. It was there in the purity of touch in plaintive melodies, the élan of dashed-off broken chords, the patrician, elegant tone and the perfectly paced crescendos. The common denominator? An uncommon clarity. Don’t hold your breath, but as of Monday, the American people are just a few weeks away from maybe, possibly, witnessing the first ever criminal prosecution of a former American president. It might even end before Election Day. That prospect — once a near certainty, given that Donald Trump faced 91 ([now reduced to 88](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/donald-trump-charges-quashed-georgia-mcafee.html)) felony charges in four separate trials — has been looking increasingly dodgy of late. One trial has been delayed by an [inexperienced, Trump-friendly judge](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/politics/aileen-cannon-trump-documents.html). Another has been delayed by an [indiscreet, overstretched prosecutor](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/us/fani-willis-trump-georgia-case.html). Yet another, the federal Jan. 6 trial, which was supposed to start three weeks ago, has been delayed by an absurd hail-Mary legal argument by Trump that the Supreme Court [has decided to take seriously](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/us/politics/trumps-immunity-supreme-court-delay-strategy.html). Through it all, the former president has reveled openly in his [unmatched ability](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial/stalling-is-a-time-tested-strategy-that-keeps-working-for-trump?smid=url-share) to turn the justice system’s great strengths — deliberation and due process — against it. “We want delays, obviously,” [Trump told reporters](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/nyregion/trump-hush-money-hearing-takeaways.html) in February before a hearing in the fourth case, involving hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, in the hope of influencing the outcome of the 2016 election. On Monday, however, Juan Merchan, the New York judge in that case, [set the trial to start on April 15](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial#stalling-is-a-time-tested-strategy-that-keeps-working-for-trump). This was itself a delay from the original start date of March 25, which had to be postponed after a last-minute document dump by federal prosecutors. Merchan was not impressed by Trump’s lawyers’ flailing attempts to exploit the new evidence and ask for yet more time to prepare. “For whatever reason, you waited until two months before trial” to seek out these documents, he lectured them. (Trump did get a break on the $557 million bond he owes for a separate civil fraud judgment against him. Earlier on Monday, a New York appeals court cut that amount [by almost $400 million](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-bond-reduced.html) and gave him 10 days to come up with the cash.) It’s been argued that the New York case — technically about falsifying business records — is the weakest of the four against Trump. But it may also be the most fitting. Falsification, after all, is the essence of Trump. And it sets the stage for the broader arc of criminal charges — from before, during and after his presidency — that define the Trump era to date. The man is a walking crime scene. The American people deserve to see the end of the show. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-mid6) How the United States deals with U.N. Security Council resolutions on Israel has long been a barometer of Washington’s feelings about its close ally. America’s record of at least 55 vetoes on Israel’s behalf over half a century, often standing alone with Israel, has made those times when the United States abstains or even votes against Israel noteworthy and newsworthy. So when the Biden administration produced [a tough resolution last week](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-security-council-veto.html) calling for a cease-fire and then [allowed a similar measure to pass](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news/un-cease-fire-resolution-gaza-israel?smid=url-share) by abstaining on Monday, the signal was unmistakable. It was a way of broadcasting what President Biden has made abundantly clear in other ways in recent weeks: He is tired of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defiance of American and global calls to ease up on an offensive that threatens famine on a Gazan population whose homes and lives have already been cruelly devastated. Security Council resolutions are binding in international law but have no enforcement mechanism. In Israel’s case they have been used as a diplomatic cudgel that the United States has usually blocked and Israel has usually ignored. This time, the administration’s demonstration of frustration with Netanyahu was all the sharper, since Washington vetoed three earlier resolutions calling for cease-fires. Netanyahu, whose survival in office depends on the support of two extremist parties, has resisted all entreaties to order a pause in the brutal Israeli offensive. Last Friday, the administration offered its own draft calling for an immediate cease-fire, but it was vetoed by Russia and China, America’s primary adversaries on the global stage, which were not prepared to allow Washington to have its way. Nor were Republicans prepared to give Biden any slack over the Middle East, assailing him for turning on an ally in the middle of a war. But historically, Republicans have been at least as critical of Israel as Democrats, at least by the barometer of the Security Council. Every president since 1967 except Donald Trump has allowed at least one Security Council resolution critical of Israel to pass, and by far, the most were under the administrations of Richard Nixon (15) and Ronald Reagan (21). Barack Obama had the fewest: one, when shortly before leaving office he [abstained on a resolution](https://www.timesofisrael.com/choosing-not-to-veto-obama-lets-anti-settlement-resolution-pass-at-un-security-council/) critical of the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. **A correction was made on** : An earlier version of this article misstated details of the history of U.N. Security Council resolutions about Israel in relation to presidential administrations. It is not the case that every president since 1967 has allowed a few Security Council resolutions critical of Israel to pass or that the Obama administration had the fewest critical resolutions. No such resolutions passed during the Trump administration. How we handle corrections A British government source, reportedly, told the British newspaper [The Telegraph](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/24/china-russia-fuelling-attacks-princess-wales-after-cancer/) that “hostile state actors” — China, Russia and Iran — are “fueling disinformation about the Princess of Wales to destabilize the nation.” [British morning shows](https://twitter.com/gmb/status/1772144303785034239) promptly picked up the story, comparing it to election interference. It’s certainly possible that countries with a history of online conspiracy mongering played some role in amplifying the most salacious rumors about Catherine, the Princess of Wales. But it’s also undeniable that large numbers of _people_ — and celebrities and newspapers and everything else — were intensely interested in the princess’s whereabouts. The claim about foreign bots and the Princess of Wales is just the latest of similar claims of foreign interference or social media manipulation made without convincing public evidence. Young people are dissatisfied with President Biden’s policies over the Israel-Hamas war? [Blame](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/opinion/young-voters-tiktok.html) [TikTok](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/opinion/tiktok-politics-transparency.html). Consumer sentiment soured amid high inflation and housing prices? Must be social media! If our institutions turn foreign meddling on social media into the new “the dog ate my homework,” it will become an easy excuse to ignore public dissatisfaction with divisive policies. And how will such claims be believable when they actually involve consequential foreign meddling in elections? There is nothing mysterious about the Kate Middleton rumors and conspiracies. She completely disappeared from view amid conflicting claims about her whereabouts. Then photo agencies conceded that the one photo the palace released of her and her children was doctored. Because the royals cultivate a headline-grabbing parasocial relationship with the public, the topic merged with the global water cooler chat online and rumors ran wild. But there is a lesson. Kensington Palace is the latest institution to discover that lying to the public will make people suspicious. Mistrust will swirl on social media, as valid questions and bonkers conspiracies percolate. It was true for the pandemic and for the war in Gaza. It’s true in the royals’ case, too. Western institutions should first worry about shoring up their own behavior. Then they can talk about meddling — with evidence, please. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-mid7) President Biden and Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco in February.Credit...Kevin Lamarque/Reuters _Every Monday morning on The Point, we kick off the week with a tipsheet on the latest in the presidential campaign. Here’s what we’re looking at this week:_ * You can learn a lot about presidential candidates by the company they keep. In the first campaign I covered as a reporter, in 2004, then-Senator John Kerry came alive on the trail when he invited Edward M. Kennedy to join him in Iowa; Teddy loosened Kerry up, and those Kennedy stemwinders gave Kerry energy. By contrast, Kerry was never excited by his slick No. 2, John Edwards. In 2008, Hillary Clinton seemed happiest and heartiest when Bill Clinton was around, making her laugh, rooting her on — but they did relatively few joint appearances, with the Big Dog casting a long shadow. In 2016, if Donald Trump had a friend, I never saw it. He was a man who liked being alone with his own press clippings, and seemed happiest talking to journalists about his poll numbers. * This week, consider the company the candidates keep. Today, the No. 1 reality of Trump’s life — unending legal problems — will be in sharp relief as his lawyers grapple with a Manhattan court date in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case, and as they fight the seizure of his assets in the New York civil fraud case. Yes, Republican leaders are falling in line behind Trump, but few want to be in his company in public. Trump stands before us not only friendless and family-less — the company he keeps is the company of lawyers. * On Tuesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [will announce his running mate](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/politics/rfk-jr-vice-president.html) in his independent bid for the presidency. Kennedy’s choice — the company he keeps — will tell us plenty about his campaign’s strategic [imperatives](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/politics/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-running-mate.html); does he go with someone who has governing experience, or does he choose someone with celebrity flash or with deep pockets who can help finance signature collections to qualify for the November ballots? * Then there’s President Biden, who is focusing on the Democratic base. He held a call on Saturday with former President Barack Obama, the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and supporters celebrating the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and will join Obama and Bill Clinton at a big fund-raiser Thursday. Obama and Clinton are two of the party’s best communicators; though they have lost some popularity, I think they’ll be big assets for Biden and unfurl some good lines on his behalf. If Trump can prosper from misplaced nostalgia for his economic record, surely Biden can prosper from genuine nostalgia among a lot of Democrats and swing voters for the Clinton and Obama visions for hope and change. Plus, they’re fun company. Medical personnel removing bodies from the scene of the terrorist attack near Moscow.Credit...Maxim Shipenkov/EPA, via Shutterstock The horrific [terrorist attack](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/23/world/moscow-shooting) on people gathering for a concert at Moscow’s cavernous Crocus City Hall was a brutal reminder that Russia has long been a target of Islamist terrorists. From the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, through Moscow’s long and savage campaign to crush Chechen separatists, and Russia’s support of the Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has been at least as despised a foe of Islamist extremists as the United States for all of Vladimir Putin’s years in power. In the past the Kremlin acknowledged its opponent and dealt ruthlessly with Islamist extremists. This time, however, Putin made no mention of the organization that credibly claimed responsibility, an Afghan offshoot of the Islamic State known as ISIS-K, and instead cast indirect and utterly unsubstantiated suspicion on Ukraine. He said the criminals acted like the Nazis invaders who once slaughtered helpless civilians to intimidate the population, a charge meant to echo Putin’s regular depiction of the Ukrainian leadership as neo-Nazis. And the four attackers who were apprehended, he said, were moving in the direction of Ukraine, where he said a “window was prepared” for their escape. It was not a particularly believable story — the Russia-Ukraine border is arguably among the most militarized on earth. But the claim reflected Putin’s problem: coming on the heels of a staged election which was intended to glorify him as the only leader who can assure the Russians security against sworn enemies in Ukraine and the West, the attack was an obvious and devastating failure of intelligence and policing. The failure was all the more acute since the United States had warned him that it had intelligence of an impending attack in Russia, a warning Putin dismissed. Many expatriate Russian bloggers — a population that has swelled with Putin’s repression — warned from the outset that Putin would seek to implicate Ukraine and the West in the attack. After that, many surmised, he would use the attack to rally people behind the government and to launch another mobilization of men for the Ukraine war. Domestically, many reactions on the internet seemed to embrace the Kremlin’s conspiracy theories. One preposterous version, quoted by Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, said it made sense that Washington would deflect blame from Ukraine, since the U.S. helped create ISIS. The post may well have been part of a Kremlin propaganda offensive, but it would likely find many believers in Russia, where Putin turns even murderous attacks to his advantage. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/james-carville-on-the-reasons-hillary-clinton-lost#after-dfp-ad-bottom) * [© 2024 The New York Times Company](https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014792127-Copyright-notice) * [Manage Privacy Preferences](https://www.nytimes.com/privacy/manage-settings)

[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#site-index) So, who do you think is going to come out on top in the Final Four? I’m not asking about the N.C.A.A. March Madness basketball tournament. I’m asking about the federal government’s antitrust lawsuits against Amazon, Apple, Facebook’s parent Meta, and Google. The most recent entry in the Final Four is Apple, which the Department of Justice [sued](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/technology/apple-doj-lawsuit-antitrust.html) last week. Daniel Crane, a University of Michigan law professor, informally asked about 50 of his peers at law schools around the country which of the four companies is most likely to win against the government. He got 19 responses. Amazon came out on top, followed by Apple, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and in last place Google. To put it differently, the law professors felt that the government’s antitrust arguments against Amazon are the weakest and its arguments against Google are the strongest. Crane wrote up his results in a [post](https://www.yalejreg.com/nc/ranking-the-big-tech-monopolization-cases-by-daniel-a-crane/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Why+DOJ+s+Antitrust+Case+Against+Apple+Falls+Flat&utm_campaign=The+Dispatch+News+and+Updates_Everyone_Why+DOJ+s+Antitrust+Case+Against+Apple+Falls+Flat) for a joint blog of the Yale Journal of Regulation and the American Bar Association’s section of administrative law and regulatory practice. He wrote that all of the respondents are “people I would consider distinguished in the field, fair minded, and highly knowledgeable,” and that they span the ideological spectrum of antitrust profs. But he admitted that it “certainly was not a scientific study.” There are multiple government and private actions against each of the four companies. To keep things simple for the informal survey, Crane grouped them into five buckets: Google search, Google’s ad technology, Meta/Facebook, Amazon and Apple. In color commentary, the professors — to whom Crane promised anonymity — ranged from calling all four cases manure, or a phrase to that effect, to writing that “each tells a powerful story of a monopolist fighting hard to maintain market power.” “Google is the consensus choice for the strongest government case; Amazon is the consensus choice for the weakest government case,” Crane wrote. “Indeed, not a single respondent ranked Amazon the strongest government case, and only one ranked Google the weakest.” That makes sense to me. As Eleanor Fox, an antitrust expert at New York University School of Law, told me, the first thing the government needs to establish is that the defendant is, indeed, a monopolist. Only then can it turn to proving anticompetitive behavior. All four companies have taken actions that could be deemed anticompetitive, but it’s only Google that clearly crosses the threshold of being a monopolist — in its case, in terms of market share in online search and advertising. Amazon is huge but a monopolist? Harder to see. Credit...Nina Westervelt/Getty Images Like many Beyoncé fans, I remember where I was when she dropped her self-titled album in 2013 without warning. (In my college library, failing to finish a term paper.) And I’ll confess: I wasn’t initially sure if the album was what I wanted to hear. As an amateur singer, I had been drawn to Beyoncé mainly because of her prodigious voice. It’s a gift you can truly appreciate only after you’ve sat through enough college a cappella group covers of “Love on Top,” four key changes and all, and each time heard the act of singing devolve into one of sonic seppuku. The electronic, subdued style of “Beyoncé” marked a significant departure from the vocal bombast of the ballad-laden album “4” and the belt-heavy “B’Day.” That shift in aesthetic emphasis continued with “Lemonade” in 2016 and “Renaissance” in 2022, in which showcasing her impressive voice could feel secondary, beside a greater artistic point. With her new album, “Cowboy Carter,” released on Friday, Beyoncé is definitely still trying to make a point, but she’s traded synthetic production for a far more acoustic sound. “With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones,” Beyoncé [said](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beyonce-releases-cowboy-carter-302103403.html) in a news release about the album. “I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune.” It’s a delight to hear her voice, the album’s primary instrument, unmediated and deployed in novel ways. Some of those she’s previewed elsewhere: The operatic soprano passages of “Daughter” are evocative of those she added to the beginning of “[I Care](https://youtu.be/5TmVtRYZLEU?si=MAyyf69YRcupoClc)” in her Coachella performance in 2018; the gliding, gospel-inflected growls in “Ya Ya” of her live renditions of “[Me, Myself and I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwl746w-z0A&t=1821s).” Other vocalizations I don’t think we’ve ever heard from her before, such as the croaky screeches in the opening track, “American Requiem.” “I think people are going to be surprised because I don’t think this music is what everyone expects,” Beyoncé said, “but it’s the best music I’ve ever made.” I’ll leave it to the music critics to determine whether that’s true, but I’m glad that Beyoncé is using the security of her position — more Grammys than anyone else has received, more money than anyone needs — to once again experiment, expanding the boundaries of her body of work. “Nothin’ really ends,” she sings on “American Requiem.” “For things to stay the same they have to change again.” Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid1) For a man as genial, upright and mild-mannered as Joe Lieberman, he could inspire a staggering amount of loathing — most of all from fellow liberals. Some would never forgive his scalding speech about Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair, others his stalwart support for the invasion of Iraq, others for campaigning for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Lieberman never seemed to care. He did what he thought was right and was rewarded with four terms in the Senate — the last time as an independent — and, very nearly, the vice presidency in 2000. When he died this week at 82 from a fall in his New York apartment, he could lay claim to being the most consequential elected Jewish official in the history of American politics. Today, Lieberman’s detractors may want to reconsider their loathing, and not just for politeness’ sake. Though his foreign policy views tilted right, he was also a champion of labor unions, gay rights and climate-change legislation; Obamacare never would have become law without his vote. Earlier in his life, he [helped register Black voters](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/26/us/2000-campaign-democratic-running-mate-trip-south-63-gave-lieberman-footnote-hold.html) in Mississippi — part of his belief, as he wrote at the time, that “this is one nation or it is nothing.” That conviction probably helped explain his brand of politics, which never sat well with partisans but made him important and interesting as a legislator. Lieberman wasn’t a centrist, at least not in the sense of being a difference splitter. But he never felt bound to follow the ideological herd, and he had a moral code that overrode political expedience, in ways that could earn him enmity and respect at the same time. After he blasted Clinton, the then-president called him to say, “There’s nothing you said in that speech that I don’t agree with. And I want you to know that I’m working on it.” Most Americans would probably agree that our political system is ailing, not least because partisanship has become so extreme and so few politicians are willing to work across political differences or challenge the most rabid partisans on their own side. Lieberman’s political career is a model of how politics was once done differently, in a way that — whatever one thought about discrete issues — made democracy better for everyone. Jews traditionally say of the dead, “May their memory be for a blessing.” Joe Lieberman’s memory is a blessing America sorely needs now. President Biden onstage with his predecessors Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on Thursday.Credit...Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters It was as starry as an Oscar ceremony. It had a Grammy-caliber musical lineup. And the financial haul — roughly $25 million raised for President Biden’s re-election effort — set a record for a single political event, according to the president’s aides. But none of that mattered as much as a single tableau [at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan on Thursday night](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/us/politics/biden-clinton-obama-trump-nyc.html): Biden and the two Democratic presidents before him, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, on the same stage and the same page, in a show of unity and continuity that underscored what a disruptive, divisive force Donald Trump is. Biden, Obama and Clinton sat in identical white armchairs for a group interview by Stephen Colbert, but the questions and answers weren’t the main point. The camaraderie was. The warmth. The support that Biden was getting from past leaders of the Democratic Party and its contrast with the low regard for Trump held by many onetime Republican standard-bearers. I’m wary of political predictions, but I’ll venture this much: Trump’s Republican predecessor George W. Bush won’t be stumping or speaking for him anytime soon. Nor will Mitt Romney or Mike Pence. Trump, of course, casts his isolation as affirmation: He’s no prisoner of history or of hoary ideas. No creature of the ruling class. To emphasize that last bit of positioning, he counterprogrammed the fund-raiser with his own visit to the New York area on Thursday for the wake of a police officer killed during a traffic stop this week. But despite that messaging and despite the presence of protesters at Radio City who denounced Biden’s support of Israel, the fund-raiser provided a crucial retort to all the second-guessing among Democrats — all the concern about Biden’s age, all the worry about his alienation of certain groups of voters. Obama and Clinton were present as ambassadors of the sentiment that Biden was up to this task, that he deserved a second term and that he would indeed secure one, if everybody would just get on board and get to work. They were there with counsel, too. In his comments onstage, Obama seemed to nudge Biden toward a campaign with more focus on his accomplishments. “It’s not just the negative case against the presumptive nominee on the other side,” Obama said. “It’s the positive case for somebody who’s done an outstanding job.” Obama and Clinton radiated appreciation to portray Biden as unappreciated. Then each of the three men put on a pair of Biden’s signature aviator glasses. Eyewear can speak louder than words. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid2) Credit...Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox, via Getty Images Baseball’s Opening Day has always had a special resonance. Maybe it’s the concurrence with springtime, or the mytho-poetic virtues of baseball that its acolytes always [preach](https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechfieldofdreams.html). There’s even been intermittent [talk](https://www.justbats.com/blog/post/3-reasons-opening-day-should-be-a-national-holiday/) of making Opening Day a national holiday — a whimsical notion that actually picked up a corporate [endorsement](https://time.com/9696/budweiser-wants-baseballs-opening-day-to-be-a-national-holiday/). I’m in favor of the idea, though there are obvious hurdles: outcry from fans of other sports or the many ways in which Major League Baseball has undermined the sanctity of its own ritual. Thankfully, there’s a simple and even more appealing alternative. Part of the problem with Opening Day is that its timing and national location are no longer reliable. Historically, the very first game of every season was played in Cincinnati, the home of the [first professional baseball team](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Red_Stockings). But in 2019, as part of an effort to market M.L.B. to international fans, the league started the season with a series between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland A’s in Japan. In 2020, the season opening was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic; in 2022, it was delayed by a contract-related lockout; and in 2024 it began last week with a showcase abroad, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in South Korea. All of these scenarios suggest the difficulty of pinning a federal holiday to Opening Day. It’s unlikely that M.L.B. will abandon its efforts at international expansion anytime soon. But there’s an elegant solution: Declare Jackie Robinson Day a federal holiday instead. Since 2004, M.L.B. has used April 15 to commemorate Robinson, who broke the sport’s color line on April 15, 1947 (which, that year, was opening day). Since 2009, every player wears the number 42 on April 15 to honor him. Unlike Opening Day, Jackie Robinson Day happens every year on the same date and it spotlights a moment of American progress. Yes, April 15 coincides with the federal tax-filing deadline, but who would complain if that got pushed back a week or two? Plus, the weather for an afternoon ballgame is reliably better in mid-April than in late March. This year, play hooky and don number 42 to catch a ballgame on April 15. If we’re lucky, by next year, maybe the whole nation will follow suit. John Eastman, the lawyer who played a central role in helping Donald Trump try to use the courts to overthrow the results of the 2020 election, will be disbarred in California after a state bar court judge [found him liable](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/us/politics/john-eastman-trump-lawyer.html) for 10 of 11 charges, including lying to the court, failing to uphold the Constitution, and moral turpitude. It’s about time that one of the many lawyers who worked to undermine the Constitution loses a law license for doing so. Eastman “made multiple patently false and misleading statements in court filings, in public remarks heard by countless Americans,” Judge Yvette Roland wrote in [her 128-page ruling](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24521262/eastman-decision-trial.pdf). These statements were “improperly aimed at casting doubt on the legitimate election results and support for the baseless claim that the presidency was stolen from his client **—** all while relying on his credentials as an attorney and constitutional scholar to lend credibility to his unfounded claims.” Given the seriousness of this misconduct and Eastman’s refusal to express any remorse, Roland was more than justified in ruling that “the most severe available professional sanction is warranted to protect the public and preserve the public confidence in the legal system.” Darn straight. There hasn’t been much to smile about lately when it comes to holding the most powerful people to account for the Jan. 6 insurrection. Its ringleader, Trump, has managed to flummox the federal courts with his standard recipe of delay and misdirection, and the odds are increasing that he will face no legal repercussions before Election Day. That would be an astounding and unforgivable failure of justice that would be laid at the feet of the Justice Department and the Supreme Court, both of which have taken far too long to address one of the most urgent challenges facing American democracy. But the news of Eastman’s comeuppance should satisfy anyone who cares about truth, justice and the rule of law. It’s not enough, surely: Eastman should be disbarred from every jurisdiction where he still holds a law license, and he has been criminally charged in the Georgia racketeering case, although that is not getting to trial anytime soon. For now, at least, it’s good to see even one of the bad guys pay a price. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid3) Credit...Drew Angerer/Getty Images My newsroom colleagues Steve Eder and Abbie VanSickle have written an [excellent report](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/us/politics/clarence-thomas-crystal-clanton-clerk.html) on Crystal Clanton, who is Justice Clarence Thomas’s new law clerk. She left Turning Point USA, a MAGA-aligned group, after she was accused of writing racist messages, including a text that said “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE.” Clanton [told The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-conservative-nonprofit-that-seeks-to-transform-college-campuses-faces-allegations-of-racial-bias-and-illegal-campaign-activity) that she doesn’t remember sending the message, and she’s been silent on the matter since. Since her firing, however, her former boss, Charlie Kirk, has claimed that the messages were fake and were created to smear her. After Turning Point USA fired her, Clarence and Virginia Thomas took her in. They let her live in their home, and she worked for Ginni Thomas at her firm, Liberty Consulting. The Thomases have helped guide Clanton’s career since, and now Justice Thomas has hired her. I have three distinct thoughts. First, I don’t think anyone should criticize the Thomases for taking her in. Even if she made a dreadful mistake, she should still be treated with love and compassion. In fact, extending a helping hand to someone who is in the center of a public firestorm is an act of grace that more people should emulate. Second, there is an immense difference, however, between opening your home and opening up a public office. Clanton is now in a position of public trust, and no one should simply trust Kirk’s explanation. Her own silence is deafening. She will be working on civil rights cases, and the public needs to know if she actually did write that she hates Black people. Third, I’m disturbed by the fact that she worked first for Ginni Thomas and then for Justice Thomas. Ginni Thomas urged the Trump administration [to overturn the 2020 election](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/virginia-thomas-mark-meadows-texts/) and trafficked in the [most bizarre conspiracy theories](https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/03/ginni-thomas-clarence-supreme-court-election/676571/). It would be entirely fair to call her rhetoric unhinged. Clarence Thomas’s defenders have rightly argued that we can’t judge a justice by his spouse, but that defense becomes harder to make when he hires one of his wife’s former employees. Justice Thomas has a number of loyal defenders on the right, and for good reason. He’s a brilliant man who is known to be kind and generous to the people around him. In 2022, Justice Sonia Sotomayor went out of her way to [compliment Thomas](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/16/politics/sonia-sotomayor-supreme-court-clarence-thomas/index.html), saying that he is a “man who cares deeply about the court as an institution — about the people who work here.” But one shouldn’t simply trust even those public officials one admires. Clanton’s hiring demands answers, and it’s now up to Clanton and Kirk to speak plainly. Five months after Russia invaded Ukraine, I was living in Berlin for the summer. At that point, the German capital had received thousands of Ukrainian refugees. A friend of mine told me that her friend who lived near the central railway station would watch floods of Ukrainians emerge from the trains daily. I am half German and half Ukrainian. So when I discovered that my apartment in Schöneberg was on the same street as a Ukrainian refugee center called [LaruHelpsUkraine](https://laruhelpsukraine.com/en/), I took it as a sign of duty and reached out to volunteer. As an audio journalist, I felt an urgency to document the stories of refugee Ukrainian women. In times of conflict, I sometimes wonder if news stories can hold all the nuance that life encompasses. “Why this story, and why now?” is a question that often confronts editors and writers. In a news cycle filled with so much devastation — shootings, climate disasters, wars, you name it — asking “why” can seem both important and futile. But in the practice of oral history, “why” doesn’t exist. If you’re unfamiliar with the medium, oral history is the process of documenting and capturing people’s experiences. The goal is to ask open-ended questions that allow the interviewees, or narrators, as I’ve been trained to call them, the opportunity to share whatever comes to mind for them. Silence is encouraged in between questions to allow narrators the room to direct their own stories. I spent a few days helping at Laru and mustered the boldness to ask if some women would be open to my interviewing them. Fortunately, eight were. What resulted is [a documentation of the experiences of women](https://docs.google.com/document/d/12OJBx-uAfGnA1EoXrISAtOd9GY7ZFFqKWajKEe-3AP0/edit) whose fates are connected through nationality and a particular German city. As the war rages on in Ukraine and the headlines appear and disappear on the conflict, I believe it’s even more important to know the life stories of people affected by war. Because they deserve to be documented and known. My hope is you’ll give [your ear to their stories and listen](https://soundcloud.com/ksamski/what-happens-to-the-stories-of-ukrainian-lives?si=977989a690044e3b84aa6031869252ee&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing). Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid4) In some ways, I understand Donald Trump’s appeal. The very transgressiveness of his behavior — his open embrace of racism and authoritarianism, without the usual resort to dog whistles — connects with the large number of voters who have always held such views and are thrilled to see someone express them out loud. One thing I still have trouble wrapping my mind around, however, is that more people don’t find Trump’s grandiosity — his constant unearned claims of greatness — ridiculous. Sometimes the subjects of Trump’s self-congratulation are trivial though revealing: It’s pretty wild to see a man who was and might again be president boasting about winning [two golf championships](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/biden-trolls-trump-golf-championship-boast.html) at a club he owns. But sometimes his boasting has real and dire implications for policy that can affect people’s lives. Here, for example, is his recent rant in response to Democrats claiming, correctly, that a second Trump term would probably cause many Americans to lose health coverage: Credit...Truth Social I realize that MAGA types aren’t bothered by the mangled language and bar-stool belligerence. But even if you don’t follow policy closely, presumably you’re aware that Trump was president for four years. If he knows of a way to make the Affordable Care Act “much, much better for far less money,” why didn’t he do it? The truth, as I [wrote the other day](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/opinion/obamacare-health-care-aca.html), is that Obamacare was well designed, given the political constraints, and that when Trump tried to produce an alternative, it would have taken health insurance away from many of his own supporters. You don’t have to be a liberal to scoff at Trump’s continuing insistence that he can pull off a trick he repeatedly failed at for all those years. So why don’t more people see Trump as a ridiculous braggart? Credit...Pool photo by Travis Dove The Republican National Committee exists, theoretically, to win elections. It communicates the G.O.P.’s political message, does fund-raising and undertakes an array of legal and data work to help candidates. For all this, the R.N.C. needs leaders and staff members who are grounded in reality — because useful data, solid legal arguments and persuasive fund-raising and political pitches generally need to be tethered to the real world. But right now, there are some pretty weird things happening with the new Trump-era R.N.C. The Trump-backed leadership fired a few dozen people immediately after taking over the committee this month, even though, at this point, it’s hard to imagine that many people working for the Republican Party were deeply skeptical of Trump. Will the people who replace them be about the same, or will this turnover produce a more fringe-infused party in terms of the claims out there on a given day? The question is newly pertinent after [a Washington Post article this week](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/26/rnc-2020-election-stolen-trump-hiring/), in which Josh Dawsey reported that multiple people interviewing for a job at the R.N.C. were asked whether the 2020 election was stolen. It isn’t clear how such a job interview question is shaping the committee staff, but we know the answer that Trump would want. And that answer is not grounded in reality. Any credible person familiar with the mechanics of elections would answer no. The risk for the committee is that it will become a place where the staff is untethered to reality and, as a result, will fumble on those legal, data, fund-raising and messaging fronts. Rebuilding an R.N.C. around wild claims made by the Trump campaign about 2020 may please Trump, but it can hurt candidates and fund-raising, which has been [a huge problem already](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/us/politics/trump-finances-money-fundraising.html) for Trump and Republicans. There is a world where the newly configured and staffed party apparatus around Trump amplifies more and more false stuff about the election while becoming worse at dealing with the technical realities of campaigns, like fund-raising, which could have unpredictable consequences. Bad polling work, weak fund-raising or weak legal challenges would be bad for any campaign trying to win. An R.N.C. untethered to reality may seem like bad news just for Republicans, but it’s to everyone’s detriment if a big segment of America keeps hearing and believing that the 2020 election was stolen. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid5) The death of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who flew into a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last month, shook our usually unflappable city. This week, Bronx Zoo pathologists published a coroner’s report that [helps explain why he died](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-zoo-death-cause.html). It revealed that even Flaco, who had fled the confines of the Central Park Zoo, could not escape the strictures of his environment, especially because that environment was New York City. While the acute trauma from that crash was the most immediate cause of death, the necropsy also found that Flaco had pigeon herpesvirus and exposure to four different anticoagulant rodenticides. In other words, he had eaten too many infected pigeons and poisoned rats. “These factors would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal, even without a traumatic injury,” the report [states](https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/22247/Central-Park-Zoo-Releases-Postmortem-Testing-Results-for-Flaco-the-Eurasian-Eagle-Owl.aspx), “and may have predisposed him to flying into or falling from the building.” Flaco, it seems, was a dead bird flying. Last summer, I edited a [guest essay](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/27/opinion/nyc-rats-eric-adams.html) for Times Opinion by Jason Munshi-South, an urban ecologist at Fordham University, about New York City’s clumsy, counterproductive war on rats. Munshi-South warned me at the time that the city’s widespread deployment of rat poison posed a grave threat to Flaco. Of all the ways to kill rats, anticoagulants are an especially slow and pernicious method. A rat repeatedly nibbles on bait laced with the stuff. Eventually, the rat becomes weak from internal bleeding. If the internal bleeding doesn’t kill it, the rat’s lethargic state makes it easy prey. Rat poison travels up the food chain all the way to owls. Flaco is not the only creature who has died as a result of New York City’s pest management policies; rodenticide is a widespread cause of death for [much](https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/03/25/turtles-hawks-coyotes-animal-deaths-nyc-23/) of the city’s wildlife. Humans don’t have to turn to punitive and ineffective crackdowns through poison and traps for rat management. One alternative, already being [rolled out](https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/harlem-get-new-european-style-trash-containers-trucks) by the Department of Sanitation, is better trash collection. Flaco lived a notable life as the sole member of his species in New York. It’s easy to anthropomorphize an uncomplicated individualism in him. He was above the mess of the city. He knew nothing of SantaCon or Eric Adams. But no matter how high he flew, Flaco could not escape the decisions that can make the city a death trap for those who are not human. Anyone who believed that the forced exodus of Claudine Gay as Harvard’s first Black female president was dousing the fire rather than fanning it doesn’t understand how racial propaganda wars feed on momentum. As [The Harvard Crimson reported](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/3/22/cross-plagiarism-harvard-anonymous-complaint/) last week, three other Black women at the university have had anonymous complaints of plagiarism lodged against them since Gay’s departure. Christopher Rufo, a right-wing provocateur and instigator, immediately cheered the complaints [on social media](https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1770520934937673820), claiming they were part of a clear pattern for academics involved in the diversity, equity and inclusion field. This is, after all, part of Rufo’s plan, having announced, “[Game on](https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1743414988629553256),” after helping to push out Gay. The veracity of the complaints doesn’t matter; the reputational harm — to the accused and to the idea of inclusion — is the goal. The narrative here is about innate and pervasive inferiority, ineptitude and fraudulence by women and minorities, specifically Black women in this case. And it must be understood that the subtext, the inverse, of minority inferiority is therefore white supremacy. Black faculty members at Harvard are rightfully outraged by all of this and feel that their reputations are under review and under assault. Prof. [Lawrence D. Bobo](https://scholar.harvard.edu/bobo/home), the dean of social science at Harvard, told me that it was “unambiguous racial bias, arguably racism.” He called Rufo “a zealous ideological guttersnipe.” The rate at which D.E.I. programs are being banned is breathtaking. In January, Florida’s board of governors [barred state money](https://apnews.com/article/florida-universities-dei-programs-e7e8d90595b6c6696541a08635f2accb) from being used to fund D.E.I. initiatives at the state’s 12 public universities. Last week, Alabama’s governor [signed a bill](https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/us/alabama-bill-bans-dei-public-universities-reaj/index.html) that forbids public schools and universities from maintaining or funding D.E.I. programs. Kentucky is advancing a similar bill. House Republicans in Washington are trying to make similar moves. The attacks on professors at Harvard and other schools only help to propel these efforts because they provide a confirmation of bias. They feed a feeling that minority achievement and advancement are a sham, that somehow deceit at the pinnacle means it exists everywhere. [Tommie Shelby](https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/tommie-shelby), a professor of African and African American studies at Harvard, told me that these attacks exploit old stereotypes of Black people as “not smart,” and as “lazy and irresponsible.” And apparently, he said, those stereotypes still have currency. What’s happening at Harvard is about far more than Harvard or elite professors at elite institutions. The bigger issue — the war, not just the battle — is arresting all efforts at racial inclusion and turning back the clock to a time before they existed. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid6) When my [column about the Democratic strategist James Carville](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/opinion/james-carville-bill-clinton.html) was published last weekend, a lot of readers were transported back to the Clinton era. Carville was a key strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992 and an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful one in 2008. Naturally, the prolix politico had more to say than I had room for. Here are some of his comments that didn’t make it into the column: **“**When you look back at why Hillary lost,” I asked Carville at one point, “do you think it was mostly sexism, or we underestimated Trump, or they didn’t listen to Bill, or what?” **“**Certainly some of it was sexism,” he replied. “I’d never deny that. Some of it. They made the wrong calculation. Their calculation was there’s more of us than there are of them, and if our people come out, that women, particularly white women, are going to find it totally unacceptable, and that will overcome any deficiencies that we have, and they didn’t go to Wisconsin.” “I could go on and on,” he said. “To be honest with you, I think she knows. Everybody knows that it was believing in an algorithm as opposed to something else. Here, it was destroyed by an algorithm,” referring to ways that the Clinton campaign (and other political campaigns) used big data to try to anticipate and shape voter behavior — as the 2012 Obama campaign did as part of its winning strategy. “That’s just not how people think.” “I don’t dislike Robbie Mook,” Carville said, referring to Clinton’s campaign manager in 2016. “He’s a nice man, but he had a flawed view of what American politics was…. It was just an unfortunate confluence of events.” Credit...Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Shakira’s “[Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/arts/music/shakira-las-mujeres-ya-no-lloran.html)” — her first album in seven years, released on Friday — has all the ingredients to be a downright explosive comeback. After splitting from the retired soccer star Gerard Piqué in 2022, [she released a diss track](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CocEMWdc7Ck) directed at him and his new girlfriend. Fans reeled, and Shakira enjoyed her biggest commercial success in years. But all those elements — an icon reveling in her legacy, a media-commanding breakup narrative and commercial clout — can’t compensate for uninspired music. This album lacks what has long made Shakira a daring artist: her devotion to sonic eclecticism that cuts against the pop landscape’s typical riskless pablum. Shakira knows how to concoct genre-bending bangers. Her first English record borrowed from [Nirvana’s guitar riffs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYNqqDuwKV0). The Wyclef Jean collaboration “[Hips Don’t Lie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUT5rEU6pqM)” has a reggaeton beat and [a sampled salsa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqDmVekMWU) intro. And there may never be a World Cup song that tops the Soca-infused “[Waka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0&pp=ygURc2hha2lyYSB3YWthIHdha2E%3D) [Waka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzsuE5ugxf4&pp=ygURc2hha2lyYSB3YWthIHdha2E%3D).” Her transnational sound can sometimes feel more like mélange than cohesion, but more often, Shakira’s go-for-broke attitude captivates. On this album, her maximalist approach to genre is channeled into collaborations with a new generation of Latin hitmakers who have [taken over pop music](https://variety.com/2023/music/news/latin-music-riaa-mid-year-peak-luminate-report-1235742660/) in the past few years. When Shakira crossed over to Anglo audiences in the early 2000s, she carved a path for artists like Karol G and Rauw Alejandro. Now she’s bringing in her descendants to help turn her “[pain into productivity](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/arts/music/shakira-las-mujeres-ya-no-lloran.html).” Unfortunately, even Shakira’s collaborators cannot lift her tracks to electrifying heights. From the disco-pop “Cohete,” which lusts for new passion, to the slow-drip reggaeton “TQG,” which boasts about postbreakup self-love, many tracks are devoid of Shakira’s typical interplay between sound and word. That’s why it’s particularly telling that her new album takes its name from the lyric “Las mujeres ya no lloran; las mujeres facturan” (“Women don’t cry anymore; they cash in”). The album promised to be an opus on catharsis and perseverance. Instead, it relies on the safety of bankability. At her sharpest, Shakira can write [poetic, oddball lyrics](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/mar/08/popandrock.shopping) and play with the musical zeitgeist to create timelessness. An example is “[Inevitable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC-wJk56AQg),” her 1998 grunge-y ballad about letting go of toxic love. It’s a live-show mainstay because her audience still loves the way the acoustic confessional verses burst into the raucous, raw chorus. But this time, Shakira doesn’t seem to aim for emotional sharpness. Instead of transcending the zeitgeist, she’s allowed herself to fade into the most boring version of the pop scene. The [she-wolf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=booKP974B0k&pp=ygUIc2hlIHdvbGY%3D) is nowhere to be found. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid7) Parents know what’s best for their kids, except when the State of Florida does. When Florida passed a law prohibiting children younger than 14 from having social media accounts, lawmakers crowed about the move, [claiming](https://rumble.com/v4leoxz-governor-ron-desantis-signs-hb3-to-protect-children-from-the-harms-of-socia.html) they had to act because children don’t have the brain development to see the harm in addictive platforms. In other words, under the new law, even if parents want their tweens to have a social media account, they’re out of luck. Florida knows better. (The state doesn’t allow parents to decide about the merits of [gender-affirming care](https://www.nytimes.com/article/desantis-florida-bills.html) for their kids either.) But Florida is happy to let parents make decisions about other matters of vital importance to children’s well-being. Consider: When measles broke out in an elementary school in Weston in February, Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, [let parents determine](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/health/measles-children-travel.html) whether to keep their unvaccinated children at home. Those measles cases “received disproportionate attention for political reasons,” according to a March 8 [statement](https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2024/03/20240308-balances-personal-responsibility.pr.html) from the Florida Department of Health. Or maybe it was statistical ones: So far this year the United States has recorded 64 cases of measles (more than in all of 2023); [11](https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/2024/03/25/florida-measles-cases-count-broward-polk-martin-counties-cdc-department-health/73089992007/) of those were in Florida. Meaning that a state with 6.5 percent of the nation’s population has hosted 17.2 percent of its measles cases. Still: “Once again, Florida has shown that good public health policy includes personal responsibility and parents’ rights,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis in the March 8 statement. About 92 percent of students in Florida are fully vaccinated, [according](https://www.flhealthcharts.gov/ChartsDashboards/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=NonVitalIndNoGrp.Dataviewer&cid=75) to health officials; the state is one of [45](https://www.ncsl.org/health/states-with-religious-and-philosophical-exemptions-from-school-immunization-requirements#:~:text=There%20are%2045%20states%20and,have%20religious%20objections%20to%20immunizations.) that let parents skip their children’s shots for religious or moral reasons. Because measles is so transmissible — [nine of 10 unvaccinated people](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/contagious-infographic.html#:~:text=Measles%20is%20highly%20contagious%20and,if%20they%20are%20not%20protected.) in a room will get the disease if one infected person sneezes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — scientists [estimate](https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/herd-immunity#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20the%20population,vaccinated%20to%20achieve%20herd%20immunity.) that 95 percent of a population needs to be immunized in order to achieve herd immunity. Protecting children from social media is a laudable goal. It won’t be easy to kick children off social media platforms; the tech companies [acknowledge](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/opinion/children-nicotine-zyn-social-media.html) they don’t really know how old their users are, and they’ve yet to fully roll out [long-promised](https://about.fb.com/news/2022/06/new-ways-to-verify-age-on-instagram/) age-verification systems. That leaves parents to rely on their elected officials, who have empowered themselves to safeguard children from digital boogeymen. But not viral ones. Even the hard-right Supreme Court has its outer limits, it seems. On Tuesday morning, a majority of justices [appeared very likely](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/us/abortion-pill-supreme-court) to vote to throw out the first big challenge to abortion rights to reach the court since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Wait, didn’t they promise us that the ruling would end abortion litigation at the court, sending the issue instead back to the states, where it rightfully belongs? But I digress.) The current case was brought by a group of doctors who are morally opposed to abortion and are seeking to severely limit the distribution of the nation’s most used abortion drug — mifepristone, which women obtain to end [about 650,000 pregnancies](https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/medication-abortion-accounted-63-all-us-abortions-2023-increase-53-2020) a year, or nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the country. They challenged the F.D.A.’s approval of the drug as well as recent regulatory changes that have made it easier for women to obtain and use. These claims were dubious on their face, given that the F.D.A. has produced reams of evidence and explanation for its approval and treatment of mifepristone, one of the safer drugs on the market — far safer than, say, Viagra. But the justices were more troubled by the plaintiffs’ inability to show any concrete injury to themselves, a requirement, known as [“standing,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/us/politics/abortion-pill-lawsuits-doctors.html) that must be met before the court can consider any case. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Erin Hawley, was given several opportunities to demonstrate how this requirement was satisfied by her clients, none of whom had ever prescribed mifepristone or even had to treat a patient experiencing complications from using it. She offered nothing other than generalized concerns that they might one day have to do so. That raised the related question of how these plaintiffs, given their extremely tenuous connection to the focus of their lawsuit, nevertheless managed to win a nationwide injunction against the drug’s use. (Short answer: They went [judge-shopping](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/us/judge-selection-forum-shopping.html).) Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pointed out this extreme mismatch and the fact that there is already a [federal law](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocr/civilrights/understanding/ConscienceProtect/42usc300a7.pdf) exempting health-care providers who oppose abortions from participating in them. “‘Because we object to being forced to participate in this procedure, we’re seeking an order preventing anyone from having access to these drugs at all,’” Jackson said, summarizing the doctors’ argument. “How could they possibly be entitled to that?” Good question. This time, at least, the Supreme Court seems poised to answer it the right way. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid8) It’s standard practice in engineering — as well as common sense — to design a system so that it stands up even if something goes wrong. An engine failure on a cargo ship is a foreseeable problem. It should not have been enough to bring down an entire bridge span, as [happened](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/us/baltimore-bridge-collapse#ship-hits-baltimore-key-bridge) on Tuesday, when a ship leaving the Port of Baltimore lost power and plowed into a pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse. Six workers who had been patching potholes on the bridge were missing. Diagnosing precisely what went wrong in Baltimore will take months or years. I expect investigators will zero in on a few obvious questions. One is why the vulnerable piers of the bridge, which opened to traffic in 1977, were so exposed. The [buffers around the piers](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/26/how-key-bridge-collapsed-baltimore/) failed. If the piers had been buffered by wider concrete bases or giant piles of rocks or both, the errant ship might not have done the damage it did. If the lack of a thick buffer was intended to save money, it was a costly mistake, though the bridge was designed before the modern era of gigantic ships. It also appears that the ship wasn’t escorted by tugboats, which could have kept it on course after it lost power. That would also appear to be a cost-saving decision. I can’t judge whether it was a mistake or not, but it clearly needs to be looked into. > [@nytopinion](https://www.tiktok.com/@nytopinion?refer=embed) “Damaging collisions between ships and bridges are all too common. There were 35 major ones worldwide between 1960 and 2015, killing 342 people, of which 18 occurred in the United States, according to a 2018 tally by the engineering consultant firm Moffatt & Nichol. “As ships have gotten bigger, the damage has gotten worse. I found a 1983 report by the National Research Council that said that vessel collisions are far more frequent causes of damage to bridges than storms or earthquakes. “The date of the report tells you that this is a well-known problem. A bridge engineering handbook published in 2000 made clear the concerns. The stomach-churning video of the Baltimore collapse brings home just how fragile a bridge can be in comparison to a giant cargo ship. It’s an irresistible force meeting a very movable object,” says Opinion writer Peter Coy. [#baltimorebridge](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/baltimorebridge?refer=embed) [#bridgecollapse](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bridgecollapse?refer=embed) [#nytopinion](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nytopinion?refer=embed) [♬ original sound - New York Times Opinion](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7350788720443869995?refer=embed) Damaging collisions between ships and bridges are all too common. There were 35 major ones worldwide between 1960 and 2015, killing 342 people, of which 18 occurred in the United States, according to a 2018 [tally](https://conference-service.com/pianc-panama/documents/agenda/data/full_papers/full_paper_46.pdf) by the engineering consultant firm Moffatt & Nichol. As ships have gotten bigger, the damage has gotten worse. I found a [1983 report](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA135602.pdf) by the National Research Council that said that vessel collisions are far more frequent causes of damage to bridges than storms or earthquakes. The date of the report tells you that this is a well-known problem. A bridge engineering [handbook](https://ingenieriasismica.utpl.edu.ec/sites/default/files/publicaciones/UCG-ES-00583.pdf) published in 2000 made clear the concerns. The stomach-churning video of the Baltimore collapse brings home just how fragile a bridge can be in comparison to a giant cargo ship. It’s an irresistible force meeting a very movable object. Steering a cargo ship beneath a bridge isn’t easy even when the engine is running. The captain can’t slow down too much because the ship needs a certain amount of speed to be steerable. So vessels keep colliding with bridges, bridges keep collapsing and people keep getting killed. Something needs to change. On Wednesday, New York may finally become the first city in the nation to adopt congestion pricing, a plan to get cars and trucks off city streets and raise funds for public transit by charging drivers a premium for entering Manhattan’s busiest areas. The ambitious plan was stymied for nearly two decades, mostly because politicians were wary of challenging the city’s car culture, but if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approves the final [proposal](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/nyregion/nyc-congestion-pricing.html) on Wednesday, as expected, the program could start in June. It will be a resounding victory for New York’s economy and for roughly 5.5 million people who ride the region’s subways, buses and commuter rails every day. The money raised from truck and car tolls in Lower and Midtown Manhattan is expected to add about $1 billion each year for the region’s public transit system, which needs significant investment, especially after taking a hit in ridership during the height of the pandemic. Cities like London and Singapore, both with excellent transit systems, have had tolling programs like this for years. But lawsuits and Albany gridlock delayed the program, and it’s still disappointing to see groups like [the city’s teachers’ union](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24253867-congestion-pricing-lawsuit) and a local chapter of the [N.A.A.C.P](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/traffic/transit-traffic/congestion-pricing-nyc-naacp-lawsuit/5249743/). fighting the program in court. The reality is that the city’s economy relies heavily on a fully functioning transit system, and a [majority](https://www.cssny.org/news/entry/congestion-pricing-outer-borough-new-yorkers-poverty-data-analysis) of residents living in poverty in New York City depend on that transit system. “This isn’t just a fight about tolls,” Janno Lieber, the M.T.A. chief, who has championed the plan, told me. “Nobody speaks for the people who can’t get in the train station because there’s no elevator,” he said. “We’re going to have cleaner air, safer streets, better traffic, and we’re going to invest in transit.” In the final accounting, supporters of the plan — a group that over the years has included New Yorkers from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to ordinary subway riders who [voiced support](https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2024/03/19/supporters-of-congestion-pricing-outnumbered-foes-2-1-in-final-input) to the M.T.A. — appear to be the stronger coalition. In recent months, Gov. Kathy Hochul has pushed hard for the plan, too. If it succeeds, it will be a refreshing example of the progress that good government and steady civic pressure can bring. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid9) Patrick Healy, Deputy Opinion Editor Nick, you’ve [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article) [deeply](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/opinion/pornhub-news-child-abuse.html) [for years](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/kristof-when-states-abuse-women.html) about exploitation, abuse and trafficking of women and girls. Your [latest column](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/opinion/deepfake-sex-videos.html) on deepfake nude videos showed us new ways that technology has become a vile weapon against them. What did you learn in reporting the piece that surprised you? Nicholas Kristof, Opinion Columnist What startled me the most was simply the failure of regulators, lawmakers and tech companies to show much concern for the humiliation of victims, even as sleazy companies post nonconsensual fake sex videos and make money on them. Women and girls are targeted, yet the response from the tech community has mostly been a collective shrug. Why should Google, whose original motto was “don’t be evil,” be a pillar of this ecosystem and direct traffic to websites whose business is nonconsensual porn? Even when underage victims go to the police, there’s usually no good recourse. We’ve effectively armed predators and exploitative companies with artificial intelligence but denied victims any defense. Patrick Healy You write: “With just a single good image of a person’s face, it is now possible [in just half an hour](https://www.homesecurityheroes.com/state-of-deepfakes/#key-findings) to make a 60-second sex video.” Is there any way people can protect themselves? Nicholas Kristof Some experts counsel girls or women to avoid posting images on public Instagram or Facebook pages. That strikes me as unrealistic. Some of the victims are prominent women whose images are everywhere — one deepfake site appropriated a congresswoman’s official portrait. Or sometimes an ordinary woman or girl is targeted by an ex-boyfriend or by a classmate, who will probably have photos already. Because it’s so difficult for individuals to protect themselves, we need systemic solutions, like amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act so that there is less immunity for badly behaved tech companies. End impunity, and incentivize companies to police themselves. Patrick Healy Among the statistics that froze me was this one: “Graphika, an online analytics company, identified 34 nudify websites that received a combined [24 million unique visitors](https://graphika.com/reports/a-revealing-picture) in September alone.” These numbers are enormous. What does this say to you about our society? Nicholas Kristof A generation ago, there was an argument that social networks were going to knit us together. In fact, I think we’ve become more atomized, with screen time substituting for people time. Some experts think that in an age of social isolation, porn is becoming an easy way to avoid the complexity and frustration of dealing with real people. Meanwhile, the casual cruelty we see on social media is paralleled by the cruelty we see in deepfake sites showing actresses, princesses, singers or politicians being raped. It’s hard to view these exploitative, nonconsensual videos and not perceive misogyny — both in the videos and in a system that tolerates them and provides victims with no remedy. _Photograph by Larysa Shcherbyna/Getty Images_ Has Boeing finally [gotten the message](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/business/boeing-ceo-steps-down.html) that its very future rests on restoring faith in the safety of its products? I hope so. Trust in the aircraft manufacturer was shaken nearly five years ago, after the crashes of two 737 Max 8 planes killed nearly 350 people. Then in January, just when it seemed that the company had put its safety problems behind it, a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane midair during an Alaska Airlines flight. Fortunately, there were no major injuries. If Boeing’s current management had tried to ride out this storm, it would have shown a sense of impunity and a lack of remorse. The people at the top aren’t the only problem at Boeing, to be sure, but leadership matters. So it was a step in the right direction on Monday when Boeing [announced](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2024-03-25-Boeing-Announces-Board-and-Management-Changes) that David Calhoun had chosen to step down as chief executive officer, Stan Deal would retire as president of the commercial airplanes division, and Larry Kellner would not stand for re-election as chairman of the board. That’s not enough, though. To show that it means what it says, Boeing needs to find a new chief executive officer who has lived and breathed manufacturing and understands how to manage giant projects. That’s a rare commodity. Few projects are as big and complex as designing and building a commercial airliner. Thomas Black, an opinion columnist for Bloomberg, [mentions](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-25/boeing-needs-to-act-faster-to-find-ceo-calhoun-s-successor?sref=B3uFyqJT) Larry Culp, who is the chief executive of General Electric as well as G.E. Aerospace, one of the three companies that will survive as G.E. breaks itself up. But Culp might not want the job. Another step that would impress aircraft purchasers and passengers would be clawing back some of Calhoun’s bonus pay, or at least not paying out awards that haven’t vested yet. I asked Boeing about that and was told that details on that issue are coming in a few weeks. When Calhoun took over as chief executive in 2020, he vowed to produce jets at a pace the factory can handle, instill discipline, hunt for bad news and act on it, according to a [profile](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/business/boeing-david-calhoun.html) in The Times. “If I don’t accomplish all that,” he said, “then you can throw me out.” They just did. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid10) Maurizio Pollini, the great Italian pianist who [died](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/arts/music/maurizio-pollini-dead.html) on Saturday at 82, could never escape adjectives like cool and cerebral and remote. Perhaps some critics and listeners found him that way. Certainly there was no dispute over his technique, considered to be among the most brilliant of any pianist who flourished in the second half of the last century. He was also an intellectually searching man, interested in art and literature. Pollini’s virtuosity was evident from the beginning. Artur Rubinstein, who led the jury that awarded him first prize at the Chopin competition in 1960, [reportedly said](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/24/maurizio-pollini-obituary), “That boy plays better than any of us jurors.” Pollini was 18. Pollini’s brilliance was marked by precision and clarity. He excelled in complex modernist scores by Stockhausen, Nono and Boulez — especially Boulez’s Piano Sonata No. 2. For some, his Beethoven was exceptional. He was a master of Schumann. Brahms, Schubert and Debussy were in his repertoire. Mozart too, although the accolades here were a bit quieter. I once asked Pollini, in an [interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/arts/music/pollini-speaks-in-his-fashion.html), about his reputation for aloofness in his playing. He did not answer directly. “One can only think what music should give to a listener,” he said. “Certainly a strong emotion.” It is in Pollini’s Chopin performances that the whole discussion over his coolness becomes, for me, a little pointless. Few composers are as poetic as Chopin, and oddly, Pollini — so often described as overly intellectual — performs Chopin in a way that feels truly lyrical. I’m convinced it is Pollini’s brilliant control over technique that helps make it so (not to mention a formidable musical intelligence). His keyboard mastery allowed him to transmit, without mediation, Chopin’s romantic intentions. (In the interview, the pianist called Chopin “innately seductive.”) On news of his death I went back to a recording of Chopin’s 24 Preludes, released by Deutsche Grammophon in 1984, to hear that technique in service of poetry. It was there in the vaguely ominous oscillating undercurrent passages, the crystalline rippling configurations and the devilishly fast passages that never seemed rushed. It was there in the purity of touch in plaintive melodies, the élan of dashed-off broken chords, the patrician, elegant tone and the perfectly paced crescendos. The common denominator? An uncommon clarity. Credit...Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Don’t hold your breath, but as of Monday, the American people are just a few weeks away from maybe, possibly, witnessing the first ever criminal prosecution of a former American president. It might even end before Election Day. That prospect — once a near certainty, given that Donald Trump faced 91 ([now reduced to 88](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/donald-trump-charges-quashed-georgia-mcafee.html)) felony charges in four separate trials — has been looking increasingly dodgy of late. One trial has been delayed by an [inexperienced, Trump-friendly judge](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/politics/aileen-cannon-trump-documents.html). Another has been delayed by an [indiscreet, overstretched prosecutor](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/us/fani-willis-trump-georgia-case.html). Yet another, the federal Jan. 6 trial, which was supposed to start three weeks ago, has been delayed by an absurd hail-Mary legal argument by Trump that the Supreme Court [has decided to take seriously](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/us/politics/trumps-immunity-supreme-court-delay-strategy.html). Through it all, the former president has reveled openly in his [unmatched ability](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial/stalling-is-a-time-tested-strategy-that-keeps-working-for-trump?smid=url-share) to turn the justice system’s great strengths — deliberation and due process — against it. “We want delays, obviously,” [Trump told reporters](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/nyregion/trump-hush-money-hearing-takeaways.html) in February before a hearing in the fourth case, involving hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, in the hope of influencing the outcome of the 2016 election. On Monday, however, Juan Merchan, the New York judge in that case, [set the trial to start on April 15](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial#stalling-is-a-time-tested-strategy-that-keeps-working-for-trump). This was itself a delay from the original start date of March 25, which had to be postponed after a last-minute document dump by federal prosecutors. Merchan was not impressed by Trump’s lawyers’ flailing attempts to exploit the new evidence and ask for yet more time to prepare. “For whatever reason, you waited until two months before trial” to seek out these documents, he lectured them. (Trump did get a break on the $557 million bond he owes for a separate civil fraud judgment against him. Earlier on Monday, a New York appeals court cut that amount [by almost $400 million](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-bond-reduced.html) and gave him 10 days to come up with the cash.) It’s been argued that the New York case — technically about falsifying business records — is the weakest of the four against Trump. But it may also be the most fitting. Falsification, after all, is the essence of Trump. And it sets the stage for the broader arc of criminal charges — from before, during and after his presidency — that define the Trump era to date. The man is a walking crime scene. The American people deserve to see the end of the show. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid11) How the United States deals with U.N. Security Council resolutions on Israel has long been a barometer of Washington’s feelings about its close ally. America’s record of at least 55 vetoes on Israel’s behalf over half a century, often standing alone with Israel, has made those times when the United States abstains or even votes against Israel noteworthy and newsworthy. So when the Biden administration produced [a tough resolution last week](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-security-council-veto.html) calling for a cease-fire and then [allowed a similar measure to pass](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news/un-cease-fire-resolution-gaza-israel?smid=url-share) by abstaining on Monday, the signal was unmistakable. It was a way of broadcasting what President Biden has made abundantly clear in other ways in recent weeks: He is tired of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defiance of American and global calls to ease up on an offensive that threatens famine on a Gazan population whose homes and lives have already been cruelly devastated. Security Council resolutions are binding in international law but have no enforcement mechanism. In Israel’s case they have been used as a diplomatic cudgel that the United States has usually blocked and Israel has usually ignored. This time, the administration’s demonstration of frustration with Netanyahu was all the sharper, since Washington vetoed three earlier resolutions calling for cease-fires. Netanyahu, whose survival in office depends on the support of two extremist parties, has resisted all entreaties to order a pause in the brutal Israeli offensive. Last Friday, the administration offered its own draft calling for an immediate cease-fire, but it was vetoed by Russia and China, America’s primary adversaries on the global stage, which were not prepared to allow Washington to have its way. Nor were Republicans prepared to give Biden any slack over the Middle East, assailing him for turning on an ally in the middle of a war. But historically, Republicans have been at least as critical of Israel as Democrats, at least by the barometer of the Security Council. Every president since 1967 except Donald Trump has allowed at least one Security Council resolution critical of Israel to pass, and by far, the most were under the administrations of Richard Nixon (15) and Ronald Reagan (21). Barack Obama had the fewest: one, when shortly before leaving office he [abstained on a resolution](https://www.timesofisrael.com/choosing-not-to-veto-obama-lets-anti-settlement-resolution-pass-at-un-security-council/) critical of the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. **A correction was made on** : An earlier version of this article misstated details of the history of U.N. Security Council resolutions about Israel in relation to presidential administrations. It is not the case that every president since 1967 has allowed a few Security Council resolutions critical of Israel to pass or that the Obama administration had the fewest critical resolutions. No such resolutions passed during the Trump administration. How we handle corrections A British government source, reportedly, told the British newspaper [The Telegraph](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/24/china-russia-fuelling-attacks-princess-wales-after-cancer/) that “hostile state actors” — China, Russia and Iran — are “fueling disinformation about the Princess of Wales to destabilize the nation.” [British morning shows](https://twitter.com/gmb/status/1772144303785034239) promptly picked up the story, comparing it to election interference. It’s certainly possible that countries with a history of online conspiracy mongering played some role in amplifying the most salacious rumors about Catherine, the Princess of Wales. But it’s also undeniable that large numbers of _people_ — and celebrities and newspapers and everything else — were intensely interested in the princess’s whereabouts. The claim about foreign bots and the Princess of Wales is just the latest of similar claims of foreign interference or social media manipulation made without convincing public evidence. Young people are dissatisfied with President Biden’s policies over the Israel-Hamas war? [Blame](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/opinion/young-voters-tiktok.html) [TikTok](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/opinion/tiktok-politics-transparency.html). Consumer sentiment soured amid high inflation and housing prices? Must be social media! If our institutions turn foreign meddling on social media into the new “the dog ate my homework,” it will become an easy excuse to ignore public dissatisfaction with divisive policies. And how will such claims be believable when they actually involve consequential foreign meddling in elections? There is nothing mysterious about the Kate Middleton rumors and conspiracies. She completely disappeared from view amid conflicting claims about her whereabouts. Then photo agencies conceded that the one photo the palace released of her and her children was doctored. Because the royals cultivate a headline-grabbing parasocial relationship with the public, the topic merged with the global water cooler chat online and rumors ran wild. But there is a lesson. Kensington Palace is the latest institution to discover that lying to the public will make people suspicious. Mistrust will swirl on social media, as valid questions and bonkers conspiracies percolate. It was true for the pandemic and for the war in Gaza. It’s true in the royals’ case, too. Western institutions should first worry about shoring up their own behavior. Then they can talk about meddling — with evidence, please. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-mid12) President Biden and Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco in February.Credit...Kevin Lamarque/Reuters _Every Monday morning on The Point, we kick off the week with a tipsheet on the latest in the presidential campaign. Here’s what we’re looking at this week:_ * You can learn a lot about presidential candidates by the company they keep. In the first campaign I covered as a reporter, in 2004, then-Senator John Kerry came alive on the trail when he invited Edward M. Kennedy to join him in Iowa; Teddy loosened Kerry up, and those Kennedy stemwinders gave Kerry energy. By contrast, Kerry was never excited by his slick No. 2, John Edwards. In 2008, Hillary Clinton seemed happiest and heartiest when Bill Clinton was around, making her laugh, rooting her on — but they did relatively few joint appearances, with the Big Dog casting a long shadow. In 2016, if Donald Trump had a friend, I never saw it. He was a man who liked being alone with his own press clippings, and seemed happiest talking to journalists about his poll numbers. * This week, consider the company the candidates keep. Today, the No. 1 reality of Trump’s life — unending legal problems — will be in sharp relief as his lawyers grapple with a Manhattan court date in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case, and as they fight the seizure of his assets in the New York civil fraud case. Yes, Republican leaders are falling in line behind Trump, but few want to be in his company in public. Trump stands before us not only friendless and family-less — the company he keeps is the company of lawyers. * On Tuesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [will announce his running mate](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/politics/rfk-jr-vice-president.html) in his independent bid for the presidency. Kennedy’s choice — the company he keeps — will tell us plenty about his campaign’s strategic [imperatives](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/politics/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-running-mate.html); does he go with someone who has governing experience, or does he choose someone with celebrity flash or with deep pockets who can help finance signature collections to qualify for the November ballots? * Then there’s President Biden, who is focusing on the Democratic base. He held a call on Saturday with former President Barack Obama, the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and supporters celebrating the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and will join Obama and Bill Clinton at a big fund-raiser Thursday. Obama and Clinton are two of the party’s best communicators; though they have lost some popularity, I think they’ll be big assets for Biden and unfurl some good lines on his behalf. If Trump can prosper from misplaced nostalgia for his economic record, surely Biden can prosper from genuine nostalgia among a lot of Democrats and swing voters for the Clinton and Obama visions for hope and change. Plus, they’re fun company. Medical personnel removing bodies from the scene of the terrorist attack near Moscow.Credit...Maxim Shipenkov/EPA, via Shutterstock The horrific [terrorist attack](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/23/world/moscow-shooting) on people gathering for a concert at Moscow’s cavernous Crocus City Hall was a brutal reminder that Russia has long been a target of Islamist terrorists. From the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, through Moscow’s long and savage campaign to crush Chechen separatists, and Russia’s support of the Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has been at least as despised a foe of Islamist extremists as the United States for all of Vladimir Putin’s years in power. In the past the Kremlin acknowledged its opponent and dealt ruthlessly with Islamist extremists. This time, however, Putin made no mention of the organization that credibly claimed responsibility, an Afghan offshoot of the Islamic State known as ISIS-K, and instead cast indirect and utterly unsubstantiated suspicion on Ukraine. He said the criminals acted like the Nazis invaders who once slaughtered helpless civilians to intimidate the population, a charge meant to echo Putin’s regular depiction of the Ukrainian leadership as neo-Nazis. And the four attackers who were apprehended, he said, were moving in the direction of Ukraine, where he said a “window was prepared” for their escape. It was not a particularly believable story — the Russia-Ukraine border is arguably among the most militarized on earth. But the claim reflected Putin’s problem: coming on the heels of a staged election which was intended to glorify him as the only leader who can assure the Russians security against sworn enemies in Ukraine and the West, the attack was an obvious and devastating failure of intelligence and policing. The failure was all the more acute since the United States had warned him that it had intelligence of an impending attack in Russia, a warning Putin dismissed. Many expatriate Russian bloggers — a population that has swelled with Putin’s repression — warned from the outset that Putin would seek to implicate Ukraine and the West in the attack. After that, many surmised, he would use the attack to rally people behind the government and to launch another mobilization of men for the Ukraine war. Domestically, many reactions on the internet seemed to embrace the Kremlin’s conspiracy theories. One preposterous version, quoted by Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, said it made sense that Washington would deflect blame from Ukraine, since the U.S. helped create ISIS. The post may well have been part of a Kremlin propaganda offensive, but it would likely find many believers in Russia, where Putin turns even murderous attacks to his advantage. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/beyonce-cowboy-carter#after-dfp-ad-bottom) * [© 2024 The New York Times Company](https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014792127-Copyright-notice) * [Manage Privacy Preferences](https://www.nytimes.com/privacy/manage-settings)

[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#site-index) Credit...Alexandra Genova for The New York Times The [discovery](https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/health-alert-first-case-novel-influenza-h5n1-texas-march-2024) of the country’s second human case of H5N1 avian flu, found in a Texas dairy farm worker following an outbreak among cows, is worrying and requires prompt and vigorous action. While officials have so far said the possibility of cow-to-cow transmission “cannot be ruled out,” I think we can go further than that. The geography of the outbreak — sick cows in Texas, Idaho, Michigan, Ohio and New Mexico — strongly suggests cows are infecting each other as they move around various farms. The most likely scenario seems to be that a new strain of H5N1 is spreading among cows, rather than the cows being individually infected by sick birds. Avian flu is not known to transmit well among mammals, including humans, and until now, almost all known cases of H5N1 in humans were people in extended close contact with sick birds. But a cow outbreak — something [unexpected](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6631717/), as cows aren’t highly prone to get this — along with likely transmission between cows, means we need to quickly require testing of all dairy workers on affected farms as well as their close contacts, and sample cows in all the dairy farms around the country. It is possible — and much easier — to contain an early outbreak when an emergent virus isn’t yet adapted to a new host and perhaps not as transmissible. If it gets out and establishes a foothold, then all bets are off. With fatality rates estimated up to 50 percent among humans, H5N1 is not something to gamble with. Additionally, H5N1 was found in the unpasteurized milk of sick cows. Unpasteurized milk, already a bad idea, would be additionally dangerous to consume right now. Public officials need to get on top of this quickly, and transparently, telling us the uncertainties as well as their actions. The government needs to gear up to potentially mass-produce vaccines quickly ([which we have against H5N1](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/opinion/bird-flu-h5n1-pandemic.html), though they take time to produce) and ensure early supplies for frontline and health care workers. It’s possible that worst-case scenarios aren’t going to come true — yet. But evolution is exactly how viruses get to do things they couldn’t do before, and letting this deadly one have time to explore the landscape in a potential new host is a disastrously bad idea. I come today not to bury Mike Johnson, but to praise him. No. Seriously. I mean it. Johnson, the House speaker, [sat down](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8w41ly) with Trey Gowdy of Fox News over the weekend to discuss “realistic expectations” for Republicans in this era of narrowly divided government. Quipping that he was there as an “ambassador of hope on Easter Sunday,” Johnson offered “three simple things” his party should be focusing on: No. 1, “Show the American people what we’re for. Not just what we’re against.” No. 2, “We have to unite. We have to stand together.” And No. 3, “We’ve got to drive our conservative agenda and get the incremental wins that are still possible right now.” Nos. 1 and 2 are the sort of meaningless boilerplate politicians are forever blathering about. But No. 3 was clearly the core message of his mission, and he really leaned in, repeatedly noting that his team’s right-wingers — with whom he has long identified, mind you — need to come to terms with the political reality of holding “the smallest majority in U.S. history.” “We got to realize I can’t throw a Hail Mary pass on every single play,” he said, with that mild manner and beatific smile that makes him seem thoughtful and genial even when he’s speaking harsh truths. “It’s three yards and a cloud of dust. Right? We’ve got to get the next first down. Keep moving.” Southerners do love their football metaphors. When asked about Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to remove him, he acknowledged that she is “very frustrated” with how certain negotiations have gone of late, especially when it comes to spending. “Guess what? So am I,” he said. But with Republicans clinging to the majority by their fingernails, “we’re sometimes going to get legislation that we don’t like.” This kind of squish talk isn’t very MAGA. And working with Dems is what got the previous speaker kicked to the curb. (Poor Kev.) But Johnson is in some ways in a better spot than was Kevin McCarthy. A smattering of Democrats have suggested they would save Johnson from a coup attempt, especially on a key issue such as funding Ukraine. Plus, ousting another speaker so soon would only lock in House Republicans’ rep as a bunch of hopeless chaos monkeys — not a shrewd move in an election year. This is not to say that Johnson is shaping up to be an effective or competent speaker. But it takes a certain courage to talk reality — and math — to today’s House Republicans. Kudos to him for going there. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid1) Last week I wrote a rather long column [arguing that blanket bans on social media](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/opinion/social-media-government-jonathan-haidt.html) for children are a bad idea, even if you are persuaded (as I am) that smartphones and social media are a significant reason for increasing childhood mental health struggles. My basic point was simple: The First Amendment rights of children and adults are too precious to diminish, especially when there are less restrictive alternatives for combating the problem. I received an enormous amount of helpful feedback, but I want to briefly highlight one response. The American Enterprise Institute’s Brad Wilcox [posted a thread on X](https://x.com/BradWilcoxIFS/status/1773682900933689638?s=20) that began like this: “Could not disagree more w/ [@DavidAFrench](https://twitter.com/DavidAFrench) here, partly because he doesn’t fully ack how much the teen problem w/ social media is not just about the message(s) but the \*medium\* itself. Social media does not function like some debating society for teens.” I respect Wilcox greatly, and he’s got many valuable things to say about kids and social media, but he’s wrong in one key respect: Social media is, in fact, a debating society for teens, just as it is for adults. It’s often a miserable and contentious debating society, but social media is where an immense amount of our nation’s substantive debates takes place. Kids debate one another, and they read adult debates. Protecting political speech is a core purpose of the First Amendment. As the Supreme Court held in [Garrison v. Louisiana](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/379/64/), “Speech concerning public affairs is more than self-expression; it is the essence of self-government.” One reason children enjoy First Amendment rights is that they are essentially citizens in training. They have to learn how to engage in political debate. There are certainly issues with the medium itself, and there are ways to combat the pernicious effects of the medium without obliterating access to the content. The First Amendment, for example, permits [reasonable and content-neutral restrictions on the time, place and manner](https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/time-place-and-manner-restrictions/) of freedom of expression, and it’s easy to see a valid ban on smartphones during school hours. It’s also worth considering whether certain features of social media — such as [infinite scroll](https://freedom.to/blog/infinite-scroll/) — could be limited. But it’s important to note that time, place and manner restrictions can’t function as a form of disguised content discrimination. If you’re looking for reasons to ban social media because of what’s on the platform, then you’re playing a dangerous constitutional game. Last week, former President Donald Trump hawked his “God Bless the USA Bible” [in a video posted to social media](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/us/politics/trump-bible.html), stating “we must make America pray again.” In a story published today, The Times’s Michael C. Bender [notes that Trump](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/us/politics/trump-2024-religion.html) — despite a background few would call pious — “is framing his 2024 bid as a fight for Christianity, telling a convention of Christian broadcasters that ‘just like in the battles of the past, we still need the hand of our Lord.’” A [new report on religious change](https://www.prri.org/research/religious-change-in-america/) in the United States from The Public Religion Research Institute suggests that Trump’s attempts to tie Christianity tightly to a particular set of Republican political values may be turning some Americans away from Christianity. P.R.R.I. surveyed Americans who left their childhood religions to become “unaffiliated,” a group that includes people who call themselves atheists, agnostics and nothing in particular. The vast majority of people who become unaffiliated are Christians. While the largest percentage say they left religion because they no longer believe the religion’s teachings, 47 percent of those who became unaffiliated say they did so because of negative treatment or teaching about L.G.B.T.Q. Americans, and 20 percent say they became unaffiliated because their church or congregation became too focused on politics. “Among white Christian groups, the largest decline in the past decade took place among white evangelical Protestants, whose numbers saw a 3 percentage point decrease, from 17 percent in 2013 to 14 percent in 2023. In 2023, the percentages of white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (14 percent) and white Catholics (12 percent) remain largely similar to those of 2013,” according to P.R.R.I.’s survey. Trump [has frequently](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/evangelicals-christians-conservative-trump.html) and [closely aligned himself](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/23/trump-christians-evangelicals/) with white evangelical Christians. P.R.R.I.’s findings align with [what I learned last year when reporting on](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/opinion/christian-religion-brand-nones.html) those leaving religion. As one woman I spoke to put it, she became less religious “because evangelicals became apostates who worship Trump, nationalism and the Republican Party.” Trump promoting a Bible is just another example of his modus operandi: He may make a quick buck, but at what cost to the institution in the long run? Whether it’s a political or religious institution, the outcome always appears to be the same. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid2) Pedestrians in Washington on Sunday as President Biden’s motorcade passes by.Credit...Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press _Every Monday morning on The Point, we kick off the week with a tipsheet on the latest in the presidential campaign. Here’s what we’re looking at this week:_ * One of the worst things that can happen to a president seeking re-election is to have voters stop listening to you. As the campaign unfolds this week, I’m curious whether President Biden says or does things that really command attention from voters, and in particular might be persuasive to swing voters. * My curiosity stems from reading [the latest polls](https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden) and my colleague Nate Cohn’s [article](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/30/upshot/florida-2000-gore-ballot.html) on Saturday. This is how Nate summed up Biden’s standing in the race since his strong State of the Union speech on March 7: “It has gotten harder to see signs of any Biden bump. Taken together, new polls from [Fox](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/03/Fox_March-22-25-2024_National_Topline_March-27-Release.pdf), [CNBC](https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2024/03/26/cnbcaaes.pdf) and [Quinnipiac](https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us03272024_regvoter_uyex26.pdf) suggested that the presidential race was essentially unchanged, with Mr. Trump still holding a narrow lead nationwide. The president’s approval rating doesn’t seem discernibly higher, either.” * Now, State of the Union speeches themselves rarely produce a bump. But Biden was a new man in March, with a sharper message, lots of campaigning, strong ads and any number of Trump comments to whack. Yet we enter April with Trump in a narrow lead. * Something is not working for Joe Biden right now. Trump is behind him in [campaign money](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/31/opinion/trump-fundraising.html), tied up in court, making [crazy comments](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/us/politics/trump-speech-ohio.html) and posting videos showing Biden hogtied. For all that, Biden doesn’t seem to have changed large numbers of minds. Are voters still listening to the president? * Previous presidents who lost re-election, including Trump, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, struggled to persuade voters they were effective and sympathetic. In their own ways, the three men were seen as all talk, no action, and that’s what some progressive Democrats and young voters think about Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza. While his administration is talking tougher about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, the bombs keep falling on Gaza (and [more American bombs](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/29/us-weapons-israel-gaza-war/) are on the way) and the aid keeps being blocked from reaching starving people. * And it’s not just Gaza: It’s immigration, abortion rights and, especially, the economy. Nate Silver had [a striking chart](https://www.natesilver.net/p/how-culture-trumps-economic-class) last week showing how “even as consumer and investor sentiment has improved, President Biden’s approval rating [hasn’t](https://substack.com/redirect/baf6df4d-bb4a-4f9d-9d28-d91b60a21a06?j=eyJ1IjoiMWdodjIifQ.KEGatqZ6y_KXaeOrsHhb3mtWVl7EggRDVFp5fK46VbY), or at least it [hasn’t by much](https://substack.com/redirect/b4182b68-8aec-4696-9534-3a345da3650e?j=eyJ1IjoiMWdodjIifQ.KEGatqZ6y_KXaeOrsHhb3mtWVl7EggRDVFp5fK46VbY).” * Right now, Biden doesn’t have the same galvanizing, persuasive political narrative for swing voters that he had in 2020 — I think Trump nostalgia is very real — nor does he have the results enough voters want. Some voters have already written him off because of his age. But I think the bigger threat to re-election is that more voters will stop listening to him if he doesn’t offer a stronger narrative and stronger results. So, who do you think is going to come out on top in the Final Four? I’m not asking about the N.C.A.A. March Madness basketball tournament. I’m asking about the federal government’s antitrust lawsuits against Amazon, Apple, Facebook’s parent Meta, and Google. The most recent entry in the Final Four is Apple, which the Department of Justice [sued](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/technology/apple-doj-lawsuit-antitrust.html) last week. Daniel Crane, a University of Michigan law professor, informally asked about 50 of his peers at law schools around the country which of the four companies is most likely to win against the government. He got 19 responses. Amazon came out on top, followed by Apple, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and in last place Google. To put it differently, the law professors felt that the government’s antitrust arguments against Amazon are the weakest and its arguments against Google are the strongest. Crane wrote up his results in a [post](https://www.yalejreg.com/nc/ranking-the-big-tech-monopolization-cases-by-daniel-a-crane/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Why+DOJ+s+Antitrust+Case+Against+Apple+Falls+Flat&utm_campaign=The+Dispatch+News+and+Updates_Everyone_Why+DOJ+s+Antitrust+Case+Against+Apple+Falls+Flat) for a joint blog of the Yale Journal of Regulation and the American Bar Association’s section of administrative law and regulatory practice. He wrote that all of the respondents are “people I would consider distinguished in the field, fair minded, and highly knowledgeable,” and that they span the ideological spectrum of antitrust profs. But he admitted that it “certainly was not a scientific study.” There are multiple government and private actions against each of the four companies. To keep things simple for the informal survey, Crane grouped them into five buckets: Google search, Google’s ad technology, Meta/Facebook, Amazon and Apple. In color commentary, the professors — to whom Crane promised anonymity — ranged from calling all four cases manure, or a phrase to that effect, to writing that “each tells a powerful story of a monopolist fighting hard to maintain market power.” “Google is the consensus choice for the strongest government case; Amazon is the consensus choice for the weakest government case,” Crane wrote. “Indeed, not a single respondent ranked Amazon the strongest government case, and only one ranked Google the weakest.” That makes sense to me. As Eleanor Fox, an antitrust expert at New York University School of Law, told me, the first thing the government needs to establish is that the defendant is, indeed, a monopolist. Only then can it turn to proving anticompetitive behavior. All four companies have taken actions that could be deemed anticompetitive, but it’s only Google that clearly crosses the threshold of being a monopolist — in its case, in terms of market share in online search and advertising. Amazon is huge but a monopolist? Harder to see. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid3) Credit...Nina Westervelt/Getty Images Like many Beyoncé fans, I remember where I was when she dropped her self-titled album in 2013 without warning. (In my college library, failing to finish a term paper.) And I’ll confess: I wasn’t initially sure if the album was what I wanted to hear. As an amateur singer, I had been drawn to Beyoncé mainly because of her prodigious voice. It’s a gift you can truly appreciate only after you’ve sat through enough college a cappella group covers of “Love on Top,” four key changes and all, and each time heard the act of singing devolve into one of sonic seppuku. The electronic, subdued style of “Beyoncé” marked a significant departure from the vocal bombast of the ballad-laden album “4” and the belt-heavy “B’Day.” That shift in aesthetic emphasis continued with “Lemonade” in 2016 and “Renaissance” in 2022, in which showcasing her impressive voice could feel secondary, beside a greater artistic point. With her new album, “Cowboy Carter,” released on Friday, Beyoncé is definitely still trying to make a point, but she’s traded synthetic production for a far more acoustic sound. “With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones,” Beyoncé [said](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beyonce-releases-cowboy-carter-302103403.html) in a news release about the album. “I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune.” It’s a delight to hear her voice, the album’s primary instrument, unmediated and deployed in novel ways. Some of those she’s previewed elsewhere: The operatic soprano passages of “Daughter” are evocative of those she added to the beginning of “[I Care](https://youtu.be/5TmVtRYZLEU?si=MAyyf69YRcupoClc)” in her Coachella performance in 2018; the gliding, gospel-inflected growls in “Ya Ya” of her live renditions of “[Me, Myself and I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwl746w-z0A&t=1821s).” Other vocalizations I don’t think we’ve ever heard from her before, such as the croaky screeches in the opening track, “Ameriican Requiem.” “I think people are going to be surprised because I don’t think this music is what everyone expects,” Beyoncé said, “but it’s the best music I’ve ever made.” I’ll leave it to the music critics to determine whether that’s true, but I’m glad that Beyoncé is using the security of her position — more Grammys than anyone else has received, more money than anyone needs — to once again experiment, expanding the boundaries of her body of work. “Nothin’ really ends,” she sings on “Ameriican Requiem.” “For things to stay the same they have to change again.” For a man as genial, upright and mild-mannered as Joe Lieberman, he could inspire a staggering amount of loathing — most of all from fellow liberals. Some would never forgive his scalding speech about Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair, others his stalwart support for the invasion of Iraq, others for campaigning for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Lieberman never seemed to care. He did what he thought was right and was rewarded with four terms in the Senate — the last time as an independent — and, very nearly, the vice presidency in 2000. When he died this week at 82 from a fall in his New York apartment, he could lay claim to being the most consequential elected Jewish official in the history of American politics. Today, Lieberman’s detractors may want to reconsider their loathing, and not just for politeness’ sake. Though his foreign policy views tilted right, he was also a champion of labor unions, gay rights and climate-change legislation; Obamacare never would have become law without his vote. Earlier in his life, he [helped register Black voters](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/26/us/2000-campaign-democratic-running-mate-trip-south-63-gave-lieberman-footnote-hold.html) in Mississippi — part of his belief, as he wrote at the time, that “this is one nation or it is nothing.” That conviction probably helped explain his brand of politics, which never sat well with partisans but made him important and interesting as a legislator. Lieberman wasn’t a centrist, at least not in the sense of being a difference splitter. But he never felt bound to follow the ideological herd, and he had a moral code that overrode political expedience, in ways that could earn him enmity and respect at the same time. After he blasted Clinton, the then-president called him to say, “There’s nothing you said in that speech that I don’t agree with. And I want you to know that I’m working on it.” Most Americans would probably agree that our political system is ailing, not least because partisanship has become so extreme and so few politicians are willing to work across political differences or challenge the most rabid partisans on their own side. Lieberman’s political career is a model of how politics was once done differently, in a way that — whatever one thought about discrete issues — made democracy better for everyone. Jews traditionally say of the dead, “May their memory be for a blessing.” Joe Lieberman’s memory is a blessing America sorely needs now. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid4) President Biden onstage with his predecessors Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on Thursday.Credit...Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters It was as starry as an Oscar ceremony. It had a Grammy-caliber musical lineup. And the financial haul — roughly $25 million raised for President Biden’s re-election effort — set a record for a single political event, according to the president’s aides. But none of that mattered as much as a single tableau [at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan on Thursday night](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/us/politics/biden-clinton-obama-trump-nyc.html): Biden and the two Democratic presidents before him, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, on the same stage and the same page, in a show of unity and continuity that underscored what a disruptive, divisive force Donald Trump is. Biden, Obama and Clinton sat in identical white armchairs for a group interview by Stephen Colbert, but the questions and answers weren’t the main point. The camaraderie was. The warmth. The support that Biden was getting from past leaders of the Democratic Party and its contrast with the low regard for Trump held by many onetime Republican standard-bearers. I’m wary of political predictions, but I’ll venture this much: Trump’s Republican predecessor George W. Bush won’t be stumping or speaking for him anytime soon. Nor will Mitt Romney or Mike Pence. Trump, of course, casts his isolation as affirmation: He’s no prisoner of history or of hoary ideas. No creature of the ruling class. To emphasize that last bit of positioning, he counterprogrammed the fund-raiser with his own visit to the New York area on Thursday for the wake of a police officer killed during a traffic stop this week. But despite that messaging and despite the presence of protesters at Radio City who denounced Biden’s support of Israel, the fund-raiser provided a crucial retort to all the second-guessing among Democrats — all the concern about Biden’s age, all the worry about his alienation of certain groups of voters. Obama and Clinton were present as ambassadors of the sentiment that Biden was up to this task, that he deserved a second term and that he would indeed secure one, if everybody would just get on board and get to work. They were there with counsel, too. In his comments onstage, Obama seemed to nudge Biden toward a campaign with more focus on his accomplishments. “It’s not just the negative case against the presumptive nominee on the other side,” Obama said. “It’s the positive case for somebody who’s done an outstanding job.” Obama and Clinton radiated appreciation to portray Biden as unappreciated. Then each of the three men put on a pair of Biden’s signature aviator glasses. Eyewear can speak louder than words. Credit...Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox, via Getty Images Baseball’s Opening Day has always had a special resonance. Maybe it’s the concurrence with springtime, or the mytho-poetic virtues of baseball that its acolytes always [preach](https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechfieldofdreams.html). There’s even been intermittent [talk](https://www.justbats.com/blog/post/3-reasons-opening-day-should-be-a-national-holiday/) of making Opening Day a national holiday — a whimsical notion that actually picked up a corporate [endorsement](https://time.com/9696/budweiser-wants-baseballs-opening-day-to-be-a-national-holiday/). I’m in favor of the idea, though there are obvious hurdles: outcry from fans of other sports or the many ways in which Major League Baseball has undermined the sanctity of its own ritual. Thankfully, there’s a simple and even more appealing alternative. Part of the problem with Opening Day is that its timing and national location are no longer reliable. Historically, the very first game of every season was played in Cincinnati, the home of the [first professional baseball team](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Red_Stockings). But in 2019, as part of an effort to market M.L.B. to international fans, the league started the season with a series between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland A’s in Japan. In 2020, the season opening was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic; in 2022, it was delayed by a contract-related lockout; and in 2024 it began last week with a showcase abroad, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in South Korea. All of these scenarios suggest the difficulty of pinning a federal holiday to Opening Day. It’s unlikely that M.L.B. will abandon its efforts at international expansion anytime soon. But there’s an elegant solution: Declare Jackie Robinson Day a federal holiday instead. Since 2004, M.L.B. has used April 15 to commemorate Robinson, who broke the sport’s color line on April 15, 1947 (which, that year, was opening day). Since 2009, every player wears the number 42 on April 15 to honor him. Unlike Opening Day, Jackie Robinson Day happens every year on the same date and it spotlights a moment of American progress. Yes, April 15 coincides with the federal tax-filing deadline, but who would complain if that got pushed back a week or two? Plus, the weather for an afternoon ballgame is reliably better in mid-April than in late March. This year, play hooky and don number 42 to catch a ballgame on April 15. If we’re lucky, by next year, maybe the whole nation will follow suit. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid5) John Eastman, the lawyer who played a central role in helping Donald Trump try to use the courts to overthrow the results of the 2020 election, will be disbarred in California after a state bar court judge [found him liable](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/us/politics/john-eastman-trump-lawyer.html) for 10 of 11 charges, including lying to the court, failing to uphold the Constitution, and moral turpitude. It’s about time that one of the many lawyers who worked to undermine the Constitution loses a law license for doing so. Eastman “made multiple patently false and misleading statements in court filings, in public remarks heard by countless Americans,” Judge Yvette Roland wrote in [her 128-page ruling](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24521262/eastman-decision-trial.pdf). These statements were “improperly aimed at casting doubt on the legitimate election results and support for the baseless claim that the presidency was stolen from his client **—** all while relying on his credentials as an attorney and constitutional scholar to lend credibility to his unfounded claims.” Given the seriousness of this misconduct and Eastman’s refusal to express any remorse, Roland was more than justified in ruling that “the most severe available professional sanction is warranted to protect the public and preserve the public confidence in the legal system.” Darn straight. There hasn’t been much to smile about lately when it comes to holding the most powerful people to account for the Jan. 6 insurrection. Its ringleader, Trump, has managed to flummox the federal courts with his standard recipe of delay and misdirection, and the odds are increasing that he will face no legal repercussions before Election Day. That would be an astounding and unforgivable failure of justice that would be laid at the feet of the Justice Department and the Supreme Court, both of which have taken far too long to address one of the most urgent challenges facing American democracy. But the news of Eastman’s comeuppance should satisfy anyone who cares about truth, justice and the rule of law. It’s not enough, surely: Eastman should be disbarred from every jurisdiction where he still holds a law license, and he has been criminally charged in the Georgia racketeering case, although that is not getting to trial anytime soon. For now, at least, it’s good to see even one of the bad guys pay a price. Credit...Drew Angerer/Getty Images My newsroom colleagues Steve Eder and Abbie VanSickle have written an [excellent report](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/us/politics/clarence-thomas-crystal-clanton-clerk.html) on Crystal Clanton, who is Justice Clarence Thomas’s new law clerk. She left Turning Point USA, a MAGA-aligned group, after she was accused of writing racist messages, including a text that said “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE.” Clanton [told The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-conservative-nonprofit-that-seeks-to-transform-college-campuses-faces-allegations-of-racial-bias-and-illegal-campaign-activity) that she doesn’t remember sending the message, and she’s been silent on the matter since. Since her firing, however, her former boss, Charlie Kirk, has claimed that the messages were fake and were created to smear her. After Turning Point USA fired her, Clarence and Virginia Thomas took her in. They let her live in their home, and she worked for Ginni Thomas at her firm, Liberty Consulting. The Thomases have helped guide Clanton’s career since, and now Justice Thomas has hired her. I have three distinct thoughts. First, I don’t think anyone should criticize the Thomases for taking her in. Even if she made a dreadful mistake, she should still be treated with love and compassion. In fact, extending a helping hand to someone who is in the center of a public firestorm is an act of grace that more people should emulate. Second, there is an immense difference, however, between opening your home and opening up a public office. Clanton is now in a position of public trust, and no one should simply trust Kirk’s explanation. Her own silence is deafening. She will be working on civil rights cases, and the public needs to know if she actually did write that she hates Black people. Third, I’m disturbed by the fact that she worked first for Ginni Thomas and then for Justice Thomas. Ginni Thomas urged the Trump administration [to overturn the 2020 election](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/virginia-thomas-mark-meadows-texts/) and trafficked in the [most bizarre conspiracy theories](https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/03/ginni-thomas-clarence-supreme-court-election/676571/). It would be entirely fair to call her rhetoric unhinged. Clarence Thomas’s defenders have rightly argued that we can’t judge a justice by his spouse, but that defense becomes harder to make when he hires one of his wife’s former employees. Justice Thomas has a number of loyal defenders on the right, and for good reason. He’s a brilliant man who is known to be kind and generous to the people around him. In 2022, Justice Sonia Sotomayor went out of her way to [compliment Thomas](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/16/politics/sonia-sotomayor-supreme-court-clarence-thomas/index.html), saying that he is a “man who cares deeply about the court as an institution — about the people who work here.” But one shouldn’t simply trust even those public officials one admires. Clanton’s hiring demands answers, and it’s now up to Clanton and Kirk to speak plainly. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid6) Five months after Russia invaded Ukraine, I was living in Berlin for the summer. At that point, the German capital had received thousands of Ukrainian refugees. A friend of mine told me that her friend who lived near the central railway station would watch floods of Ukrainians emerge from the trains daily. I am half German and half Ukrainian. So when I discovered that my apartment in Schöneberg was on the same street as a Ukrainian refugee center called [LaruHelpsUkraine](https://laruhelpsukraine.com/en/), I took it as a sign of duty and reached out to volunteer. As an audio journalist, I felt an urgency to document the stories of refugee Ukrainian women. In times of conflict, I sometimes wonder if news stories can hold all the nuance that life encompasses. “Why this story, and why now?” is a question that often confronts editors and writers. In a news cycle filled with so much devastation — shootings, climate disasters, wars, you name it — asking “why” can seem both important and futile. But in the practice of oral history, “why” doesn’t exist. If you’re unfamiliar with the medium, oral history is the process of documenting and capturing people’s experiences. The goal is to ask open-ended questions that allow the interviewees, or narrators, as I’ve been trained to call them, the opportunity to share whatever comes to mind for them. Silence is encouraged in between questions to allow narrators the room to direct their own stories. I spent a few days helping at Laru and mustered the boldness to ask if some women would be open to my interviewing them. Fortunately, eight were. What resulted is [a documentation of the experiences of women](https://docs.google.com/document/d/12OJBx-uAfGnA1EoXrISAtOd9GY7ZFFqKWajKEe-3AP0/edit) whose fates are connected through nationality and a particular German city. As the war rages on in Ukraine and the headlines appear and disappear on the conflict, I believe it’s even more important to know the life stories of people affected by war. Because they deserve to be documented and known. My hope is you’ll give [your ear to their stories and listen](https://on.soundcloud.com/5tdHe1Hteo4JzKDx9). In some ways, I understand Donald Trump’s appeal. The very transgressiveness of his behavior — his open embrace of racism and authoritarianism, without the usual resort to dog whistles — connects with the large number of voters who have always held such views and are thrilled to see someone express them out loud. One thing I still have trouble wrapping my mind around, however, is that more people don’t find Trump’s grandiosity — his constant unearned claims of greatness — ridiculous. Sometimes the subjects of Trump’s self-congratulation are trivial though revealing: It’s pretty wild to see a man who was and might again be president boasting about winning [two golf championships](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/biden-trolls-trump-golf-championship-boast.html) at a club he owns. But sometimes his boasting has real and dire implications for policy that can affect people’s lives. Here, for example, is his recent rant in response to Democrats claiming, correctly, that a second Trump term would probably cause many Americans to lose health coverage: Credit...Truth Social I realize that MAGA types aren’t bothered by the mangled language and bar-stool belligerence. But even if you don’t follow policy closely, presumably you’re aware that Trump was president for four years. If he knows of a way to make the Affordable Care Act “much, much better for far less money,” why didn’t he do it? The truth, as I [wrote the other day](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/opinion/obamacare-health-care-aca.html), is that Obamacare was well designed, given the political constraints, and that when Trump tried to produce an alternative, it would have taken health insurance away from many of his own supporters. You don’t have to be a liberal to scoff at Trump’s continuing insistence that he can pull off a trick he repeatedly failed at for all those years. So why don’t more people see Trump as a ridiculous braggart? Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid7) Credit...Pool photo by Travis Dove The Republican National Committee exists, theoretically, to win elections. It communicates the G.O.P.’s political message, does fund-raising and undertakes an array of legal and data work to help candidates. For all this, the R.N.C. needs leaders and staff members who are grounded in reality — because useful data, solid legal arguments and persuasive fund-raising and political pitches generally need to be tethered to the real world. But right now, there are some pretty weird things happening with the new Trump-era R.N.C. The Trump-backed leadership fired a few dozen people immediately after taking over the committee this month, even though, at this point, it’s hard to imagine that many people working for the Republican Party were deeply skeptical of Trump. Will the people who replace them be about the same, or will this turnover produce a more fringe-infused party in terms of the claims out there on a given day? The question is newly pertinent after [a Washington Post article this week](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/26/rnc-2020-election-stolen-trump-hiring/), in which Josh Dawsey reported that multiple people interviewing for a job at the R.N.C. were asked whether the 2020 election was stolen. It isn’t clear how such a job interview question is shaping the committee staff, but we know the answer that Trump would want. And that answer is not grounded in reality. Any credible person familiar with the mechanics of elections would answer no. The risk for the committee is that it will become a place where the staff is untethered to reality and, as a result, will fumble on those legal, data, fund-raising and messaging fronts. Rebuilding an R.N.C. around wild claims made by the Trump campaign about 2020 may please Trump, but it can hurt candidates and fund-raising, which has been [a huge problem already](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/us/politics/trump-finances-money-fundraising.html) for Trump and Republicans. There is a world where the newly configured and staffed party apparatus around Trump amplifies more and more false stuff about the election while becoming worse at dealing with the technical realities of campaigns, like fund-raising, which could have unpredictable consequences. Bad polling work, weak fund-raising or weak legal challenges would be bad for any campaign trying to win. An R.N.C. untethered to reality may seem like bad news just for Republicans, but it’s to everyone’s detriment if a big segment of America keeps hearing and believing that the 2020 election was stolen. The death of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who flew into a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last month, shook our usually unflappable city. This week, Bronx Zoo pathologists published a coroner’s report that [helps explain why he died](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-zoo-death-cause.html). It revealed that even Flaco, who had fled the confines of the Central Park Zoo, could not escape the strictures of his environment, especially because that environment was New York City. While the acute trauma from that crash was the most immediate cause of death, the necropsy also found that Flaco had pigeon herpesvirus and exposure to four different anticoagulant rodenticides. In other words, he had eaten too many infected pigeons and poisoned rats. “These factors would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal, even without a traumatic injury,” the report [states](https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/22247/Central-Park-Zoo-Releases-Postmortem-Testing-Results-for-Flaco-the-Eurasian-Eagle-Owl.aspx), “and may have predisposed him to flying into or falling from the building.” Flaco, it seems, was a dead bird flying. Last summer, I edited a [guest essay](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/27/opinion/nyc-rats-eric-adams.html) for Times Opinion by Jason Munshi-South, an urban ecologist at Fordham University, about New York City’s clumsy, counterproductive war on rats. Munshi-South warned me at the time that the city’s widespread deployment of rat poison posed a grave threat to Flaco. Of all the ways to kill rats, anticoagulants are an especially slow and pernicious method. A rat repeatedly nibbles on bait laced with the stuff. Eventually, the rat becomes weak from internal bleeding. If the internal bleeding doesn’t kill it, the rat’s lethargic state makes it easy prey. Rat poison travels up the food chain all the way to owls. Flaco is not the only creature who has died as a result of New York City’s pest management policies; rodenticide is a widespread cause of death for [much](https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/03/25/turtles-hawks-coyotes-animal-deaths-nyc-23/) of the city’s wildlife. Humans don’t have to turn to punitive and ineffective crackdowns through poison and traps for rat management. One alternative, already being [rolled out](https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/harlem-get-new-european-style-trash-containers-trucks) by the Department of Sanitation, is better trash collection. Flaco lived a notable life as the sole member of his species in New York. It’s easy to anthropomorphize an uncomplicated individualism in him. He was above the mess of the city. He knew nothing of SantaCon or Eric Adams. But no matter how high he flew, Flaco could not escape the decisions that can make the city a death trap for those who are not human. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid8) Anyone who believed that the forced exodus of Claudine Gay as Harvard’s first Black female president was dousing the fire rather than fanning it doesn’t understand how racial propaganda wars feed on momentum. As [The Harvard Crimson reported](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/3/22/cross-plagiarism-harvard-anonymous-complaint/) last week, three other Black women at the university have had anonymous complaints of plagiarism lodged against them since Gay’s departure. Christopher Rufo, a right-wing provocateur and instigator, immediately cheered the complaints [on social media](https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1770520934937673820), claiming they were part of a clear pattern for academics involved in the diversity, equity and inclusion field. This is, after all, part of Rufo’s plan, having announced, “[Game on](https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1743414988629553256),” after helping to push out Gay. The veracity of the complaints doesn’t matter; the reputational harm — to the accused and to the idea of inclusion — is the goal. The narrative here is about innate and pervasive inferiority, ineptitude and fraudulence by women and minorities, specifically Black women in this case. And it must be understood that the subtext, the inverse, of minority inferiority is therefore white supremacy. Black faculty members at Harvard are rightfully outraged by all of this and feel that their reputations are under review and under assault. Prof. [Lawrence D. Bobo](https://scholar.harvard.edu/bobo/home), the dean of social science at Harvard, told me that it was “unambiguous racial bias, arguably racism.” He called Rufo “a zealous ideological guttersnipe.” The rate at which D.E.I. programs are being banned is breathtaking. In January, Florida’s board of governors [barred state money](https://apnews.com/article/florida-universities-dei-programs-e7e8d90595b6c6696541a08635f2accb) from being used to fund D.E.I. initiatives at the state’s 12 public universities. Last week, Alabama’s governor [signed a bill](https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/us/alabama-bill-bans-dei-public-universities-reaj/index.html) that forbids public schools and universities from maintaining or funding D.E.I. programs. Kentucky is advancing a similar bill. House Republicans in Washington are trying to make similar moves. The attacks on professors at Harvard and other schools only help to propel these efforts because they provide a confirmation of bias. They feed a feeling that minority achievement and advancement are a sham, that somehow deceit at the pinnacle means it exists everywhere. [Tommie Shelby](https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/tommie-shelby), a professor of African and African American studies at Harvard, told me that these attacks exploit old stereotypes of Black people as “not smart,” and as “lazy and irresponsible.” And apparently, he said, those stereotypes still have currency. What’s happening at Harvard is about far more than Harvard or elite professors at elite institutions. The bigger issue — the war, not just the battle — is arresting all efforts at racial inclusion and turning back the clock to a time before they existed. When my [column about the Democratic strategist James Carville](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/opinion/james-carville-bill-clinton.html) was published last weekend, a lot of readers were transported back to the Clinton era. Carville was a key strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992 and an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful one in 2008. Naturally, the prolix politico had more to say than I had room for. Here are some of his comments that didn’t make it into the column: **“**When you look back at why Hillary lost,” I asked Carville at one point, “do you think it was mostly sexism, or we underestimated Trump, or they didn’t listen to Bill, or what?” **“**Certainly some of it was sexism,” he replied. “I’d never deny that. Some of it. They made the wrong calculation. Their calculation was there’s more of us than there are of them, and if our people come out, that women, particularly white women, are going to find it totally unacceptable, and that will overcome any deficiencies that we have, and they didn’t go to Wisconsin.” “I could go on and on,” he said. “To be honest with you, I think she knows. Everybody knows that it was believing in an algorithm as opposed to something else. Here, it was destroyed by an algorithm,” referring to ways that the Clinton campaign (and other political campaigns) used big data to try to anticipate and shape voter behavior — as the 2012 Obama campaign did as part of its winning strategy. “That’s just not how people think.” “I don’t dislike Robbie Mook,” Carville said, referring to Clinton’s campaign manager in 2016. “He’s a nice man, but he had a flawed view of what American politics was…. It was just an unfortunate confluence of events.” Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid9) Credit...Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Shakira’s “[Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/arts/music/shakira-las-mujeres-ya-no-lloran.html)” — her first album in seven years, released on Friday — has all the ingredients to be a downright explosive comeback. After splitting from the retired soccer star Gerard Piqué in 2022, [she released a diss track](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CocEMWdc7Ck) directed at him and his new girlfriend. Fans reeled, and Shakira enjoyed her biggest commercial success in years. But all those elements — an icon reveling in her legacy, a media-commanding breakup narrative and commercial clout — can’t compensate for uninspired music. This album lacks what has long made Shakira a daring artist: her devotion to sonic eclecticism that cuts against the pop landscape’s typical riskless pablum. Shakira knows how to concoct genre-bending bangers. Her first English record borrowed from [Nirvana’s guitar riffs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYNqqDuwKV0). The Wyclef Jean collaboration “[Hips Don’t Lie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUT5rEU6pqM)” has a reggaeton beat and [a sampled salsa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqDmVekMWU) intro. And there may never be a World Cup song that tops the Soca-infused “[Waka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0&pp=ygURc2hha2lyYSB3YWthIHdha2E%3D) [Waka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzsuE5ugxf4&pp=ygURc2hha2lyYSB3YWthIHdha2E%3D).” Her transnational sound can sometimes feel more like mélange than cohesion, but more often, Shakira’s go-for-broke attitude captivates. On this album, her maximalist approach to genre is channeled into collaborations with a new generation of Latin hitmakers who have [taken over pop music](https://variety.com/2023/music/news/latin-music-riaa-mid-year-peak-luminate-report-1235742660/) in the past few years. When Shakira crossed over to Anglo audiences in the early 2000s, she carved a path for artists like Karol G and Rauw Alejandro. Now she’s bringing in her descendants to help turn her “[pain into productivity](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/arts/music/shakira-las-mujeres-ya-no-lloran.html).” Unfortunately, even Shakira’s collaborators cannot lift her tracks to electrifying heights. From the disco-pop “Cohete,” which lusts for new passion, to the slow-drip reggaeton “TQG,” which boasts about postbreakup self-love, many tracks are devoid of Shakira’s typical interplay between sound and word. That’s why it’s particularly telling that her new album takes its name from the lyric “Las mujeres ya no lloran; las mujeres facturan” (“Women don’t cry anymore; they cash in”). The album promised to be an opus on catharsis and perseverance. Instead, it relies on the safety of bankability. At her sharpest, Shakira can write [poetic, oddball lyrics](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/mar/08/popandrock.shopping) and play with the musical zeitgeist to create timelessness. An example is “[Inevitable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC-wJk56AQg),” her 1998 grunge-y ballad about letting go of toxic love. It’s a live-show mainstay because her audience still loves the way the acoustic confessional verses burst into the raucous, raw chorus. But this time, Shakira doesn’t seem to aim for emotional sharpness. Instead of transcending the zeitgeist, she’s allowed herself to fade into the most boring version of the pop scene. The [she-wolf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=booKP974B0k&pp=ygUIc2hlIHdvbGY%3D) is nowhere to be found. Parents know what’s best for their kids, except when the State of Florida does. When Florida passed a law prohibiting children younger than 14 from having social media accounts, lawmakers crowed about the move, [claiming](https://rumble.com/v4leoxz-governor-ron-desantis-signs-hb3-to-protect-children-from-the-harms-of-socia.html) they had to act because children don’t have the brain development to see the harm in addictive platforms. In other words, under the new law, even if parents want their tweens to have a social media account, they’re out of luck. Florida knows better. (The state doesn’t allow parents to decide about the merits of [gender-affirming care](https://www.nytimes.com/article/desantis-florida-bills.html) for their kids either.) But Florida is happy to let parents make decisions about other matters of vital importance to children’s well-being. Consider: When measles broke out in an elementary school in Weston in February, Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, [let parents determine](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/health/measles-children-travel.html) whether to keep their unvaccinated children at home. Those measles cases “received disproportionate attention for political reasons,” according to a March 8 [statement](https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2024/03/20240308-balances-personal-responsibility.pr.html) from the Florida Department of Health. Or maybe it was statistical ones: So far this year the United States has recorded 64 cases of measles (more than in all of 2023); [11](https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/2024/03/25/florida-measles-cases-count-broward-polk-martin-counties-cdc-department-health/73089992007/) of those were in Florida. Meaning that a state with 6.5 percent of the nation’s population has hosted 17.2 percent of its measles cases. Still: “Once again, Florida has shown that good public health policy includes personal responsibility and parents’ rights,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis in the March 8 statement. About 92 percent of students in Florida are fully vaccinated, [according](https://www.flhealthcharts.gov/ChartsDashboards/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=NonVitalIndNoGrp.Dataviewer&cid=75) to health officials; the state is one of [45](https://www.ncsl.org/health/states-with-religious-and-philosophical-exemptions-from-school-immunization-requirements#:~:text=There%20are%2045%20states%20and,have%20religious%20objections%20to%20immunizations.) that let parents skip their children’s shots for religious or moral reasons. Because measles is so transmissible — [nine of 10 unvaccinated people](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/contagious-infographic.html#:~:text=Measles%20is%20highly%20contagious%20and,if%20they%20are%20not%20protected.) in a room will get the disease if one infected person sneezes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — scientists [estimate](https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/herd-immunity#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20the%20population,vaccinated%20to%20achieve%20herd%20immunity.) that 95 percent of a population needs to be immunized in order to achieve herd immunity. Protecting children from social media is a laudable goal. It won’t be easy to kick children off social media platforms; the tech companies [acknowledge](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/opinion/children-nicotine-zyn-social-media.html) they don’t really know how old their users are, and they’ve yet to fully roll out [long-promised](https://about.fb.com/news/2022/06/new-ways-to-verify-age-on-instagram/) age-verification systems. That leaves parents to rely on their elected officials, who have empowered themselves to safeguard children from digital boogeymen. But not viral ones. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid10) Even the hard-right Supreme Court has its outer limits, it seems. On Tuesday morning, a majority of justices [appeared very likely](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/us/abortion-pill-supreme-court) to vote to throw out the first big challenge to abortion rights to reach the court since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Wait, didn’t they promise us that the ruling would end abortion litigation at the court, sending the issue instead back to the states, where it rightfully belongs? But I digress.) The current case was brought by a group of doctors who are morally opposed to abortion and are seeking to severely limit the distribution of the nation’s most used abortion drug — mifepristone, which women obtain to end [about 650,000 pregnancies](https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/medication-abortion-accounted-63-all-us-abortions-2023-increase-53-2020) a year, or nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the country. They challenged the F.D.A.’s approval of the drug as well as recent regulatory changes that have made it easier for women to obtain and use. These claims were dubious on their face, given that the F.D.A. has produced reams of evidence and explanation for its approval and treatment of mifepristone, one of the safer drugs on the market — far safer than, say, Viagra. But the justices were more troubled by the plaintiffs’ inability to show any concrete injury to themselves, a requirement, known as [“standing,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/us/politics/abortion-pill-lawsuits-doctors.html) that must be met before the court can consider any case. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Erin Hawley, was given several opportunities to demonstrate how this requirement was satisfied by her clients, none of whom had ever prescribed mifepristone or even had to treat a patient experiencing complications from using it. She offered nothing other than generalized concerns that they might one day have to do so. That raised the related question of how these plaintiffs, given their extremely tenuous connection to the focus of their lawsuit, nevertheless managed to win a nationwide injunction against the drug’s use. (Short answer: They went [judge-shopping](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/us/judge-selection-forum-shopping.html).) Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pointed out this extreme mismatch and the fact that there is already a [federal law](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocr/civilrights/understanding/ConscienceProtect/42usc300a7.pdf) exempting health-care providers who oppose abortions from participating in them. “‘Because we object to being forced to participate in this procedure, we’re seeking an order preventing anyone from having access to these drugs at all,’” Jackson said, summarizing the doctors’ argument. “How could they possibly be entitled to that?” Good question. This time, at least, the Supreme Court seems poised to answer it the right way. It’s standard practice in engineering — as well as common sense — to design a system so that it stands up even if something goes wrong. An engine failure on a cargo ship is a foreseeable problem. It should not have been enough to bring down an entire bridge span, as [happened](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/us/baltimore-bridge-collapse#ship-hits-baltimore-key-bridge) on Tuesday, when a ship leaving the Port of Baltimore lost power and plowed into a pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse. Six workers who had been patching potholes on the bridge were missing. Diagnosing precisely what went wrong in Baltimore will take months or years. I expect investigators will zero in on a few obvious questions. One is why the vulnerable piers of the bridge, which opened to traffic in 1977, were so exposed. The [buffers around the piers](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/26/how-key-bridge-collapsed-baltimore/) failed. If the piers had been buffered by wider concrete bases or giant piles of rocks or both, the errant ship might not have done the damage it did. If the lack of a thick buffer was intended to save money, it was a costly mistake, though the bridge was designed before the modern era of gigantic ships. It also appears that the ship wasn’t escorted by tugboats, which could have kept it on course after it lost power. That would also appear to be a cost-saving decision. I can’t judge whether it was a mistake or not, but it clearly needs to be looked into. > [@nytopinion](https://www.tiktok.com/@nytopinion?refer=embed) “Damaging collisions between ships and bridges are all too common. There were 35 major ones worldwide between 1960 and 2015, killing 342 people, of which 18 occurred in the United States, according to a 2018 tally by the engineering consultant firm Moffatt & Nichol. “As ships have gotten bigger, the damage has gotten worse. I found a 1983 report by the National Research Council that said that vessel collisions are far more frequent causes of damage to bridges than storms or earthquakes. “The date of the report tells you that this is a well-known problem. A bridge engineering handbook published in 2000 made clear the concerns. The stomach-churning video of the Baltimore collapse brings home just how fragile a bridge can be in comparison to a giant cargo ship. It’s an irresistible force meeting a very movable object,” says Opinion writer Peter Coy. [#baltimorebridge](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/baltimorebridge?refer=embed) [#bridgecollapse](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bridgecollapse?refer=embed) [#nytopinion](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nytopinion?refer=embed) [♬ original sound - New York Times Opinion](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7350788720443869995?refer=embed) Damaging collisions between ships and bridges are all too common. There were 35 major ones worldwide between 1960 and 2015, killing 342 people, of which 18 occurred in the United States, according to a 2018 [tally](https://conference-service.com/pianc-panama/documents/agenda/data/full_papers/full_paper_46.pdf) by the engineering consultant firm Moffatt & Nichol. As ships have gotten bigger, the damage has gotten worse. I found a [1983 report](https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA135602.pdf) by the National Research Council that said that vessel collisions are far more frequent causes of damage to bridges than storms or earthquakes. The date of the report tells you that this is a well-known problem. A bridge engineering [handbook](https://ingenieriasismica.utpl.edu.ec/sites/default/files/publicaciones/UCG-ES-00583.pdf) published in 2000 made clear the concerns. The stomach-churning video of the Baltimore collapse brings home just how fragile a bridge can be in comparison to a giant cargo ship. It’s an irresistible force meeting a very movable object. Steering a cargo ship beneath a bridge isn’t easy even when the engine is running. The captain can’t slow down too much because the ship needs a certain amount of speed to be steerable. So vessels keep colliding with bridges, bridges keep collapsing and people keep getting killed. Something needs to change. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid11) On Wednesday, New York may finally become the first city in the nation to adopt congestion pricing, a plan to get cars and trucks off city streets and raise funds for public transit by charging drivers a premium for entering Manhattan’s busiest areas. The ambitious plan was stymied for nearly two decades, mostly because politicians were wary of challenging the city’s car culture, but if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approves the final [proposal](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/nyregion/nyc-congestion-pricing.html) on Wednesday, as expected, the program could start in June. It will be a resounding victory for New York’s economy and for roughly 5.5 million people who ride the region’s subways, buses and commuter rails every day. The money raised from truck and car tolls in Lower and Midtown Manhattan is expected to add about $1 billion each year for the region’s public transit system, which needs significant investment, especially after taking a hit in ridership during the height of the pandemic. Cities like London and Singapore, both with excellent transit systems, have had tolling programs like this for years. But lawsuits and Albany gridlock delayed the program, and it’s still disappointing to see groups like [the city’s teachers’ union](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24253867-congestion-pricing-lawsuit) and a local chapter of the [N.A.A.C.P](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/traffic/transit-traffic/congestion-pricing-nyc-naacp-lawsuit/5249743/). fighting the program in court. The reality is that the city’s economy relies heavily on a fully functioning transit system, and a [majority](https://www.cssny.org/news/entry/congestion-pricing-outer-borough-new-yorkers-poverty-data-analysis) of residents living in poverty in New York City depend on that transit system. “This isn’t just a fight about tolls,” Janno Lieber, the M.T.A. chief, who has championed the plan, told me. “Nobody speaks for the people who can’t get in the train station because there’s no elevator,” he said. “We’re going to have cleaner air, safer streets, better traffic, and we’re going to invest in transit.” In the final accounting, supporters of the plan — a group that over the years has included New Yorkers from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to ordinary subway riders who [voiced support](https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2024/03/19/supporters-of-congestion-pricing-outnumbered-foes-2-1-in-final-input) to the M.T.A. — appear to be the stronger coalition. In recent months, Gov. Kathy Hochul has pushed hard for the plan, too. If it succeeds, it will be a refreshing example of the progress that good government and steady civic pressure can bring. Patrick Healy, Deputy Opinion Editor Nick, you’ve [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article) [deeply](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/opinion/pornhub-news-child-abuse.html) [for years](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/kristof-when-states-abuse-women.html) about exploitation, abuse and trafficking of women and girls. Your [latest column](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/opinion/deepfake-sex-videos.html) on deepfake nude videos showed us new ways that technology has become a vile weapon against them. What did you learn in reporting the piece that surprised you? Nicholas Kristof, Opinion Columnist What startled me the most was simply the failure of regulators, lawmakers and tech companies to show much concern for the humiliation of victims, even as sleazy companies post nonconsensual fake sex videos and make money on them. Women and girls are targeted, yet the response from the tech community has mostly been a collective shrug. Why should Google, whose original motto was “don’t be evil,” be a pillar of this ecosystem and direct traffic to websites whose business is nonconsensual porn? Even when underage victims go to the police, there’s usually no good recourse. We’ve effectively armed predators and exploitative companies with artificial intelligence but denied victims any defense. Patrick Healy You write: “With just a single good image of a person’s face, it is now possible [in just half an hour](https://www.homesecurityheroes.com/state-of-deepfakes/#key-findings) to make a 60-second sex video.” Is there any way people can protect themselves? Nicholas Kristof Some experts counsel girls or women to avoid posting images on public Instagram or Facebook pages. That strikes me as unrealistic. Some of the victims are prominent women whose images are everywhere — one deepfake site appropriated a congresswoman’s official portrait. Or sometimes an ordinary woman or girl is targeted by an ex-boyfriend or by a classmate, who will probably have photos already. Because it’s so difficult for individuals to protect themselves, we need systemic solutions, like amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act so that there is less immunity for badly behaved tech companies. End impunity, and incentivize companies to police themselves. Patrick Healy Among the statistics that froze me was this one: “Graphika, an online analytics company, identified 34 nudify websites that received a combined [24 million unique visitors](https://graphika.com/reports/a-revealing-picture) in September alone.” These numbers are enormous. What does this say to you about our society? Nicholas Kristof A generation ago, there was an argument that social networks were going to knit us together. In fact, I think we’ve become more atomized, with screen time substituting for people time. Some experts think that in an age of social isolation, porn is becoming an easy way to avoid the complexity and frustration of dealing with real people. Meanwhile, the casual cruelty we see on social media is paralleled by the cruelty we see in deepfake sites showing actresses, princesses, singers or politicians being raped. It’s hard to view these exploitative, nonconsensual videos and not perceive misogyny — both in the videos and in a system that tolerates them and provides victims with no remedy. _Photograph by Larysa Shcherbyna/Getty Images_ Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid12) Has Boeing finally [gotten the message](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/business/boeing-ceo-steps-down.html) that its very future rests on restoring faith in the safety of its products? I hope so. Trust in the aircraft manufacturer was shaken nearly five years ago, after the crashes of two 737 Max 8 planes killed nearly 350 people. Then in January, just when it seemed that the company had put its safety problems behind it, a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane midair during an Alaska Airlines flight. Fortunately, there were no major injuries. If Boeing’s current management had tried to ride out this storm, it would have shown a sense of impunity and a lack of remorse. The people at the top aren’t the only problem at Boeing, to be sure, but leadership matters. So it was a step in the right direction on Monday when Boeing [announced](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2024-03-25-Boeing-Announces-Board-and-Management-Changes) that David Calhoun had chosen to step down as chief executive officer, Stan Deal would retire as president of the commercial airplanes division, and Larry Kellner would not stand for re-election as chairman of the board. That’s not enough, though. To show that it means what it says, Boeing needs to find a new chief executive officer who has lived and breathed manufacturing and understands how to manage giant projects. That’s a rare commodity. Few projects are as big and complex as designing and building a commercial airliner. Thomas Black, an opinion columnist for Bloomberg, [mentions](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-25/boeing-needs-to-act-faster-to-find-ceo-calhoun-s-successor?sref=B3uFyqJT) Larry Culp, who is the chief executive of General Electric as well as G.E. Aerospace, one of the three companies that will survive as G.E. breaks itself up. But Culp might not want the job. Another step that would impress aircraft purchasers and passengers would be clawing back some of Calhoun’s bonus pay, or at least not paying out awards that haven’t vested yet. I asked Boeing about that and was told that details on that issue are coming in a few weeks. When Calhoun took over as chief executive in 2020, he vowed to produce jets at a pace the factory can handle, instill discipline, hunt for bad news and act on it, according to a [profile](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/business/boeing-david-calhoun.html) in The Times. “If I don’t accomplish all that,” he said, “then you can throw me out.” They just did. Maurizio Pollini, the great Italian pianist who [died](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/arts/music/maurizio-pollini-dead.html) on Saturday at 82, could never escape adjectives like cool and cerebral and remote. Perhaps some critics and listeners found him that way. Certainly there was no dispute over his technique, considered to be among the most brilliant of any pianist who flourished in the second half of the last century. He was also an intellectually searching man, interested in art and literature. Pollini’s virtuosity was evident from the beginning. Artur Rubinstein, who led the jury that awarded him first prize at the Chopin competition in 1960, [reportedly said](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/24/maurizio-pollini-obituary), “That boy plays better than any of us jurors.” Pollini was 18. Pollini’s brilliance was marked by precision and clarity. He excelled in complex modernist scores by Stockhausen, Nono and Boulez — especially Boulez’s Piano Sonata No. 2. For some, his Beethoven was exceptional. He was a master of Schumann. Brahms, Schubert and Debussy were in his repertoire. Mozart too, although the accolades here were a bit quieter. I once asked Pollini, in an [interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/arts/music/pollini-speaks-in-his-fashion.html), about his reputation for aloofness in his playing. He did not answer directly. “One can only think what music should give to a listener,” he said. “Certainly a strong emotion.” It is in Pollini’s Chopin performances that the whole discussion over his coolness becomes, for me, a little pointless. Few composers are as poetic as Chopin, and oddly, Pollini — so often described as overly intellectual — performs Chopin in a way that feels truly lyrical. I’m convinced it is Pollini’s brilliant control over technique that helps make it so (not to mention a formidable musical intelligence). His keyboard mastery allowed him to transmit, without mediation, Chopin’s romantic intentions. (In the interview, the pianist called Chopin “innately seductive.”) On news of his death I went back to a recording of Chopin’s 24 Preludes, released by Deutsche Grammophon in 1984, to hear that technique in service of poetry. It was there in the vaguely ominous oscillating undercurrent passages, the crystalline rippling configurations and the devilishly fast passages that never seemed rushed. It was there in the purity of touch in plaintive melodies, the élan of dashed-off broken chords, the patrician, elegant tone and the perfectly paced crescendos. The common denominator? An uncommon clarity. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid13) Credit...Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Don’t hold your breath, but as of Monday, the American people are just a few weeks away from maybe, possibly, witnessing the first ever criminal prosecution of a former American president. It might even end before Election Day. That prospect — once a near certainty, given that Donald Trump faced 91 ([now reduced to 88](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/donald-trump-charges-quashed-georgia-mcafee.html)) felony charges in four separate trials — has been looking increasingly dodgy of late. One trial has been delayed by an [inexperienced, Trump-friendly judge](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/politics/aileen-cannon-trump-documents.html). Another has been delayed by an [indiscreet, overstretched prosecutor](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/us/fani-willis-trump-georgia-case.html). Yet another, the federal Jan. 6 trial, which was supposed to start three weeks ago, has been delayed by an absurd hail-Mary legal argument by Trump that the Supreme Court [has decided to take seriously](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/us/politics/trumps-immunity-supreme-court-delay-strategy.html). Through it all, the former president has reveled openly in his [unmatched ability](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial/stalling-is-a-time-tested-strategy-that-keeps-working-for-trump?smid=url-share) to turn the justice system’s great strengths — deliberation and due process — against it. “We want delays, obviously,” [Trump told reporters](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/nyregion/trump-hush-money-hearing-takeaways.html) in February before a hearing in the fourth case, involving hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, in the hope of influencing the outcome of the 2016 election. On Monday, however, Juan Merchan, the New York judge in that case, [set the trial to start on April 15](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial#stalling-is-a-time-tested-strategy-that-keeps-working-for-trump). This was itself a delay from the original start date of March 25, which had to be postponed after a last-minute document dump by federal prosecutors. Merchan was not impressed by Trump’s lawyers’ flailing attempts to exploit the new evidence and ask for yet more time to prepare. “For whatever reason, you waited until two months before trial” to seek out these documents, he lectured them. (Trump did get a break on the $557 million bond he owes for a separate civil fraud judgment against him. Earlier on Monday, a New York appeals court cut that amount [by almost $400 million](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/nyregion/trump-bond-reduced.html) and gave him 10 days to come up with the cash.) It’s been argued that the New York case — technically about falsifying business records — is the weakest of the four against Trump. But it may also be the most fitting. Falsification, after all, is the essence of Trump. And it sets the stage for the broader arc of criminal charges — from before, during and after his presidency — that define the Trump era to date. The man is a walking crime scene. The American people deserve to see the end of the show. How the United States deals with U.N. Security Council resolutions on Israel has long been a barometer of Washington’s feelings about its close ally. America’s record of at least 55 vetoes on Israel’s behalf over half a century, often standing alone with Israel, has made those times when the United States abstains or even votes against Israel noteworthy and newsworthy. So when the Biden administration produced [a tough resolution last week](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-security-council-veto.html) calling for a cease-fire and then [allowed a similar measure to pass](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/25/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news/un-cease-fire-resolution-gaza-israel?smid=url-share) by abstaining on Monday, the signal was unmistakable. It was a way of broadcasting what President Biden has made abundantly clear in other ways in recent weeks: He is tired of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defiance of American and global calls to ease up on an offensive that threatens famine on a Gazan population whose homes and lives have already been cruelly devastated. Security Council resolutions are binding in international law but have no enforcement mechanism. In Israel’s case they have been used as a diplomatic cudgel that the United States has usually blocked and Israel has usually ignored. This time, the administration’s demonstration of frustration with Netanyahu was all the sharper, since Washington vetoed three earlier resolutions calling for cease-fires. Netanyahu, whose survival in office depends on the support of two extremist parties, has resisted all entreaties to order a pause in the brutal Israeli offensive. Last Friday, the administration offered its own draft calling for an immediate cease-fire, but it was vetoed by Russia and China, America’s primary adversaries on the global stage, which were not prepared to allow Washington to have its way. Nor were Republicans prepared to give Biden any slack over the Middle East, assailing him for turning on an ally in the middle of a war. But historically, Republicans have been at least as critical of Israel as Democrats, at least by the barometer of the Security Council. Every president since 1967 except Donald Trump has allowed at least one Security Council resolution critical of Israel to pass, and by far, the most were under the administrations of Richard Nixon (15) and Ronald Reagan (21). Barack Obama had the fewest: one, when shortly before leaving office he [abstained on a resolution](https://www.timesofisrael.com/choosing-not-to-veto-obama-lets-anti-settlement-resolution-pass-at-un-security-council/) critical of the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. **A correction was made on** : An earlier version of this article misstated details of the history of U.N. Security Council resolutions about Israel in relation to presidential administrations. It is not the case that every president since 1967 has allowed a few Security Council resolutions critical of Israel to pass or that the Obama administration had the fewest critical resolutions. No such resolutions passed during the Trump administration. How we handle corrections Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid14) A British government source, reportedly, told the British newspaper [The Telegraph](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/24/china-russia-fuelling-attacks-princess-wales-after-cancer/) that “hostile state actors” — China, Russia and Iran — are “fueling disinformation about the Princess of Wales to destabilize the nation.” [British morning shows](https://twitter.com/gmb/status/1772144303785034239) promptly picked up the story, comparing it to election interference. It’s certainly possible that countries with a history of online conspiracy mongering played some role in amplifying the most salacious rumors about Catherine, the Princess of Wales. But it’s also undeniable that large numbers of _people_ — and celebrities and newspapers and everything else — were intensely interested in the princess’s whereabouts. The claim about foreign bots and the Princess of Wales is just the latest of similar claims of foreign interference or social media manipulation made without convincing public evidence. Young people are dissatisfied with President Biden’s policies over the Israel-Hamas war? [Blame](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/opinion/young-voters-tiktok.html) [TikTok](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/opinion/tiktok-politics-transparency.html). Consumer sentiment soured amid high inflation and housing prices? Must be social media! If our institutions turn foreign meddling on social media into the new “the dog ate my homework,” it will become an easy excuse to ignore public dissatisfaction with divisive policies. And how will such claims be believable when they actually involve consequential foreign meddling in elections? There is nothing mysterious about the Kate Middleton rumors and conspiracies. She completely disappeared from view amid conflicting claims about her whereabouts. Then photo agencies conceded that the one photo the palace released of her and her children was doctored. Because the royals cultivate a headline-grabbing parasocial relationship with the public, the topic merged with the global water cooler chat online and rumors ran wild. But there is a lesson. Kensington Palace is the latest institution to discover that lying to the public will make people suspicious. Mistrust will swirl on social media, as valid questions and bonkers conspiracies percolate. It was true for the pandemic and for the war in Gaza. It’s true in the royals’ case, too. Western institutions should first worry about shoring up their own behavior. Then they can talk about meddling — with evidence, please. President Biden and Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco in February.Credit...Kevin Lamarque/Reuters _Every Monday morning on The Point, we kick off the week with a tipsheet on the latest in the presidential campaign. Here’s what we’re looking at this week:_ * You can learn a lot about presidential candidates by the company they keep. In the first campaign I covered as a reporter, in 2004, then-Senator John Kerry came alive on the trail when he invited Edward M. Kennedy to join him in Iowa; Teddy loosened Kerry up, and those Kennedy stemwinders gave Kerry energy. By contrast, Kerry was never excited by his slick No. 2, John Edwards. In 2008, Hillary Clinton seemed happiest and heartiest when Bill Clinton was around, making her laugh, rooting her on — but they did relatively few joint appearances, with the Big Dog casting a long shadow. In 2016, if Donald Trump had a friend, I never saw it. He was a man who liked being alone with his own press clippings, and seemed happiest talking to journalists about his poll numbers. * This week, consider the company the candidates keep. Today, the No. 1 reality of Trump’s life — unending legal problems — will be in sharp relief as his lawyers grapple with a Manhattan court date in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case, and as they fight the seizure of his assets in the New York civil fraud case. Yes, Republican leaders are falling in line behind Trump, but few want to be in his company in public. Trump stands before us not only friendless and family-less — the company he keeps is the company of lawyers. * On Tuesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [will announce his running mate](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/politics/rfk-jr-vice-president.html) in his independent bid for the presidency. Kennedy’s choice — the company he keeps — will tell us plenty about his campaign’s strategic [imperatives](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/politics/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-running-mate.html); does he go with someone who has governing experience, or does he choose someone with celebrity flash or with deep pockets who can help finance signature collections to qualify for the November ballots? * Then there’s President Biden, who is focusing on the Democratic base. He held a call on Saturday with former President Barack Obama, the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and supporters celebrating the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and will join Obama and Bill Clinton at a big fund-raiser Thursday. Obama and Clinton are two of the party’s best communicators; though they have lost some popularity, I think they’ll be big assets for Biden and unfurl some good lines on his behalf. If Trump can prosper from misplaced nostalgia for his economic record, surely Biden can prosper from genuine nostalgia among a lot of Democrats and swing voters for the Clinton and Obama visions for hope and change. Plus, they’re fun company. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-mid15) Medical personnel removing bodies from the scene of the terrorist attack near Moscow.Credit...Maxim Shipenkov/EPA, via Shutterstock The horrific [terrorist attack](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/23/world/moscow-shooting) on people gathering for a concert at Moscow’s cavernous Crocus City Hall was a brutal reminder that Russia has long been a target of Islamist terrorists. From the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, through Moscow’s long and savage campaign to crush Chechen separatists, and Russia’s support of the Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has been at least as despised a foe of Islamist extremists as the United States for all of Vladimir Putin’s years in power. In the past the Kremlin acknowledged its opponent and dealt ruthlessly with Islamist extremists. This time, however, Putin made no mention of the organization that credibly claimed responsibility, an Afghan offshoot of the Islamic State known as ISIS-K, and instead cast indirect and utterly unsubstantiated suspicion on Ukraine. He said the criminals acted like the Nazis invaders who once slaughtered helpless civilians to intimidate the population, a charge meant to echo Putin’s regular depiction of the Ukrainian leadership as neo-Nazis. And the four attackers who were apprehended, he said, were moving in the direction of Ukraine, where he said a “window was prepared” for their escape. It was not a particularly believable story — the Russia-Ukraine border is arguably among the most militarized on earth. But the claim reflected Putin’s problem: coming on the heels of a staged election which was intended to glorify him as the only leader who can assure the Russians security against sworn enemies in Ukraine and the West, the attack was an obvious and devastating failure of intelligence and policing. The failure was all the more acute since the United States had warned him that it had intelligence of an impending attack in Russia, a warning Putin dismissed. Many expatriate Russian bloggers — a population that has swelled with Putin’s repression — warned from the outset that Putin would seek to implicate Ukraine and the West in the attack. After that, many surmised, he would use the attack to rally people behind the government and to launch another mobilization of men for the Ukraine war. Domestically, many reactions on the internet seemed to embrace the Kremlin’s conspiracy theories. One preposterous version, quoted by Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, said it made sense that Washington would deflect blame from Ukraine, since the U.S. helped create ISIS. The post may well have been part of a Kremlin propaganda offensive, but it would likely find many believers in Russia, where Putin turns even murderous attacks to his advantage. Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/26/opinion/thepoint/avian-flu-cows-outbreak#after-dfp-ad-bottom) * [© 2024 The New York Times Company](https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014792127-Copyright-notice) * [Manage Privacy Preferences](https://www.nytimes.com/privacy/manage-settings)

Jun 4, 2024 5:00 AM YouTube remains the only major US-based social media platform available in Russia. It’s become “indispensable” to everyday people, making a ban tricky. Journalists and dissidents are taking advantage.  PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION: ANJALI NAIR; GETTY IMAGES In December 2020, [Vladimir Putin](https://www.wired.com/tag/vladimir-putin/) held his end-of-the-year press conference as normal. Despite the [Covid-19](https://www.wired.com/tag/covid-19/) pandemic still raging in [Russia](https://www.wired.com/tag/russia/) and worldwide, the president insisted that things would be OK. He had set aside 350 billion rubles ($4.8 billion) “to give social benefits to people, families, both children, doctors, and students.” Two weeks later and nearly 1,000 miles away, the opposition Anti-Corruption Foundation uploaded a video to its [YouTube](https://www.wired.com/tag/youtube/) channel. In it, Alexei Navalny introduces the world to “Putin’s palace,” which he dubbed “the world’s largest bribe.” Over nearly two hours, Navalny walks viewers through the trappings of the palatial datcha, on the Black Sea coast. A 2-million-ruble sofa, a 2-million-ruble vanity, a dining table worth nearly 4 million rubles. The ubiquitous gold leafing on the walls, a private theater, a velvet-lined hookah bar, a casino, even a _Dance Dance Revolution_ room. The construction of such a lavish abode would have cost Putin and his oligarchic backers over 100 billion rubles ($1 billion) of money pilfered from the Russian state, Navalny tells the viewer. Money that could have gone to people, families, children, doctors, and students. The Russian-language video exploded, far surpassing anything Navalany and the Foundation had ever produced. Within weeks, it blew past 100 million views, and it has added another 32 million views since then—nearing the population of Russia itself. The Foundation’s popularity on the world’s largest video-sharing platform had been growing massively over the preceding year—particularly as Russians were stuck indoors, and as the Kremlin intensified its crackdown on the independent press. “Twenty years of total government control have turned television into an incessant marathon of disgraceful propaganda, lies, and censorship,” as Navalny told his viewers in a [2020 video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCZm_rdfZM) Behind him, a stack of TVs broadcast different clips of Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov, a ubiquitous face on the Russia1 channel. In December of that year, Navalny began his regular video dispatches with a startling introduction: “Hi, it’s Navalny. I know who wanted to kill me. I know where they live. I know where they work. I know their real names.” Working with investigative journalism outfit [Bellingcat](https://www.wired.com/story/russia-bellingcat-poison/), Navalny had posed as a Kremlin official in order to coax a confession out of one of his would-be assassins. The alleged agent recounted how the team of Russian operatives applied the nerve agent Novichok to Navalny’s underwear. Navalny recorded the whole thing and posted it directly to his YouTube channel. In a [follow-up video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibqiet6Bg38), Navalny continues to break down the failed murder plot in front of a wall featuring each of the men’s photos, maps of the operation, and red twine connecting everything. In the West, Navalny’s appeal was often shortened to that of simply an opposition figure—a divisive one, for some, who became the de facto alternative to Putin after the other alternatives were killed or jailed. But in the years leading up to his 2021 imprisonment and death in February 2024, Navalny became much more than just a politician—and the media apparatus he became the face of became bigger than him. While Russia has grown considerably more autocratic in recent years, with its elections even more tightly scripted and its media ever more controlled by the Kremlin, YouTube remains one of the few US-based social media sites still available in the country and a reliable and effective conduit to the Russian public. It could be key to determining what happens next in Moscow—if YouTubers can stay ahead of Kremlin censorship. “With minimal resources, we were essentially able to establish a direct competitor of Putin’s propaganda television,” says Vladimir Milov. “We are still behind them, but we are breathing down their back.” Milov is a former deputy minister with the Russian government, a longtime Navalny associate, and a YouTube creator in his own right. I caught up with him in Vilnius, where he’s been exiled since Moscow began criminal proceedings against him. Last year, Milov was convicted by the Russian courts of disseminating “war fakes” and sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia. Milov’s regular updates, which tend to focus on economics and finance, go out to his 500,000-plus subscribers, and often rack up around a million views. Leonid Volkov, another Navalny associate who helps run the Anti-Corruption Foundation, boasts another 165,000 followers. Dasha Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny’s daughter, [has her own channel](https://www.youtube.com/@dashanavalnaya4177) where she interviews GenZ Russians about the state of their country. Above that, independent media have found a second home on YouTube as well. Meduza, an independent media organization that had to decamp to Latvia after being declared a “foreign agent” under Russian law, has nearly 800,000 subscribers. The BBC’s Russian service, which left the country amid a 2022 media crackdown, broadcasts regularly to its 2.5 million subscribers. Cobbling together the analytics across these various channels, Milov says these opposition YouTubers have about 10 million to 15 million dedicated viewers inside Russia—while another 20 million viewers may stumble across their content from time to time. ​”Our message gets through to the Russian people,” Milov says. “We are serving as a very effective alternative broadcasting tool that really competes with Putin's propaganda.” VCIOM, a pollster loyal to the Kremlin, has found that a plurality of Russians still prefer to get their news from heavily censored Russian television, but their trust in the format has [plummeted](https://wciom.com/press-release/trustworthy-news), from nearly 50 percent in 2016 to just 25 percent today. Meanwhile, trust in online news has jumped by roughly the same degree. Meanwhile, as Western programming becomes rarer and rarer, many Russians are turning to YouTube for their primary source of entertainment—especially for kids’ programming. Eight of the 10 most-subscribed Russian YouTube channels, according to rankings compiled by analytics firm [Socialblade](https://socialblade.com/youtube/top/country/ru/mostsubscribed), are targeted at young children. So Russians are losing faith in the state-approved TV news, increasingly trusting of online media, and are looking to YouTube for entertainment. It has delivered tens of millions of people right at the opposition’s doorstep. Even if most Russian YouTube users are looking for content to pacify their children, bringing them on the platform has enormous benefits, Milov says. “There's this magical black box which is called YouTube recommendations.” He says plenty of his followers don’t even watch his videos—they listen. If Russians are letting the algorithm choose their next video while they cook dinner or fold laundry, it increases the chances his voice will reach a Russian who has never heard him before. Milov stresses that YouTube isn’t just a one-way service: Because it allows users to comment and chat anonymously, it provides an extraordinary chance for regular Russians to express themselves without fear of censorship. “The amount of our feedback is enormous,” he says. “Just myself, alone, I literally get messages, every day, from at least hundreds of people from across the country. When something serious happens? Thousands.” Sometimes, Milov says, his first indication that something terrible has happened in Russia is seeing just how many unread messages he has in his YouTube inbox. Milov says this feedback reinforces the idea, supported even by Kremlin-approved pollsters, that opposition to the war in Ukraine is growing. But it also provides some important details and nuance. “So this is like, I would say, an enormous focus group, with which you can also communicate. You can ask them questions back.” He chuckles, thinking of the notorious Russian security and intelligence agency: “You know, the FSB would kill for this kind of information.” “Obviously, the question is, why didn’t Putin shut down YouTube?” Milov says. “It’s easier said than done.” In recent years, Moscow has deployed an array of strategies to cow and kill independent media and the open internet in Russia. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok have been blocked altogether. Independent media like Meduza, TV Rain, and The Insider have been declared “undesirable” or labeled “foreign agents.” Through it all, YouTube has survived. Milov says the Kremlin was too slow to move on YouTube. By the time Moscow was banning other popular Western platforms, the Google-owned video platform had become indispensable to everyday Russians. “They kind of let the genie out of the bottle,” Milov says. “YouTube is mommies showing cartoons to kids, teenagers are watching music videos, people are watching comedians, elderly folks watching old Soviet movies, which are [widely available there](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TgWoSHUn8c), and so on,” he says. “And you shut it all down? So you have these empty evenings now, from this point on.” Unable to disrupt YouTube, the Kremlin tried desperately to compete with it. Moscow had high hopes for Rutube, a long-suffering YouTube clone which was relaunched in 2020 after a merger with the media arm of state-controlled energy giant Gazprom. If the site’s “top videos” section is to be believed, it hasn’t worked—some had racked up view counts in the mid-thousands. VK, Russia’s answer to Facebook, has fared slightly better with its video-sharing platform, and it is rife with pro-Kremlin broadcasters. But even its most popular channels have just a tiny fraction of the biggest Russian-language YouTube accounts. “It's like a big room, but it's empty,” Milov says of these Kremlin-backed alternatives. Having failed to compete with his online critics, Milov believes Putin opted for a more direct strategy. Just days before I arrived in Vilnius, thugs appeared outside the home of Leonid Volkov, former chair of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Nalvany chief of staff. Armed with hammers, they savagely beat him. Lithuanian intelligence believe the men arrested were [operating on orders from Russia](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68854314). A week after the attack, Volkov was [back on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQKCNZpcdTQ), his arm in a sling, “I am not going to stop—although I will gesticulate less in the coming weeks,” he said. Milov emailed me the day I arrived to apologize that, due to his new security protocols, he wouldn’t be able to show me around his home broadcast studio. Last November, the YouTube channel Volgograd Watch uploaded a new video trying to answer a difficult question: “When will the mobilized be returned?” Subscribers of the channel were asking when Russia’s conscripts on the front line might return home. Evgeny Kochegin, host of the channel, responded by providing a litany of links recommending anti-war groups and resources on how to dodge the draft. Kochegin himself fled conscription and was convicted in absentia for disseminating “[fake news.](https://repression.info/ru/persons/evgeny-kochegin)” In exile, Kochegin has tried to help others avoid being pressed into military service, and took to YouTube to do it, racking up a modest 30,000 subscribers. In May, however, Kochegin found YouTube to be an unreliable partner. His video was blocked for Russian viewers. Agents Media, an independent Russian news outlet, reviewed four different removal notices targeting human rights and anti-war YouTube channels. The news outlet obtained emails from YouTube’s legal team, threatening to take offline an entire channel. In the email to the OVD-Info channel, YouTube wrote that the channel had violated Russian Law #149-FZ and that “if you do not remove the content, Google may be required to block it.” According to [a company transparency report](https://transparencyreport.google.com/government-removals/government-requests?hl=en), Google has received hundreds of thousands of removal requests from the Russian government since 2022, including nearly 67,000 on the grounds of “national security,” over 200 for “government criticism,” and one for violating the electoral law. More than 1,000 applications from Moscow specifically cited Law #149-FZ, asking for the removal of nearly 1 million pieces of content—which could include channels, videos, or comments. Google reports that it approved more than 80 percent of those removal requests. An [open letter](https://roskomsvoboda.org/en/analysis/open-letter-to-google-about-russian-authorities/) published in May, signed by major Russian NGOs and Reporters Without Borders, called on Google to stop adhering to these requests from Moscow. “We are very concerned that the company appears to be helping the Russian censor to silence human rights and anti-war voices,” they wrote. In a statement, a spokesperson for YouTube insisted that if the company has concerns that legal requests are being used to silence dissidents, “we will push back”—noting that Russian courts have [fined](https://www.reuters.com/technology/russian-court-fines-google-508-mln-over-fake-information-ukraine-war-tass-2023-12-20/) Google in the past for refusing to comply with its orders. YouTube says it has removed more than 12,000 channels and over 140,000 videos relating to the war in Ukraine for violating the platform’s policies—including pro-Putin propagandists, Kremlin-controlled media outlets, and content from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The YouTube spokesperson, however, ignored questions as to why it has been so willing to respond to requests under Law #149-FX. Whether their channels are at risk from legal requests from Moscow, or whether Moscow blocks their channels entirely—the Russian dissidents are always making contingency plans. “They will not kill us by just shutting down one thing and making the other cooperate with the regime,” Milov says. “We'll navigate through.” One such plan is to wind up right where the problem began: on TV. Not long after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a group calling itself the Denis Diderot Committee began calling on major satellite television providers to stop beaming Kremlin propaganda into Russia and Europe — and replace it with real news. “That's the ultimate goal of our effort—to actually provide alternative media channels into the Russian television space that are not controlled by the Russian government,” Jim Phillipoff, one half of the committee, [told WIRED at the time.](https://wired.com/story/eutelsat-russia-ukraine-propaganda-denis-diderot-committee) Two years on, the committee scored a huge win. Satellite provider Eutelsat took up the committee’s challenge and [inked a deal with Reporters Without Borders](https://rsf.org/en/rsf-launch-svoboda-satellite-bouquet-independent-journalism-russia) to broadcast 11 channels of independent Russian news and content into the region, with the option to add 14 more. They call it the [Svoboda Satellite Package](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrFsj4qvJgI)—using the Russian word for “freedom.” Phillipoff told WIRED this week that they have begun broadcasting into 4.5 million households in Russia, and another 61 million households in the broader region—and they hope to grow that number by securing space on other regional satellites. While the satellite is simply rebroadcasting some existing channels, Philipoff says they’ve also created some channels from scratch—in some cases made up of dissident Russians’ YouTube content. They’ve been in talks with Volkov to help rebroadcast some of the work from the Anti-Corruption Foundation and other opposition groups. (They have also explored how to cooperate with eQsat, a like-minded effort to broadcast digital news files using satellites, [which WIRED revealed last September](https://www.wired.com/story/equalitie-trojan-horse-internet-censorship/).) While Russian television remains under the thumb of the Kremlin, and Google remains willing to block content at its behest, Svoboda exists to reject the censorship altogether, Phillipoff says. “The goal of our project is to circumvent this control.”

Jun 6, 2024 3:00 AM Eliot Higgins and his 28,000 forensic foot soldiers at Bellingcat have kept a miraculous nose for truth—and a sharp sense of its limits—in Gaza, Ukraine, and everywhere else atrocities hide online.  Ten years ago, Eliot Higgins could eat room service meals at a hotel without fear of being poisoned. He hadn’t yet been declared a foreign agent by [Russia](https://www.wired.com/tag/russia/); in fact, he wasn’t even a blip on the radar of security agencies in that country or anywhere else. He was just a British guy with an unfulfilling admin job who’d been blogging under the pen name Brown Moses—after a Frank Zappa song—and was in the process of turning his blog into a full-fledged website. He was an [open source](https://www.wired.com/story/nord-steam-explosions-mystery-osint/) [intelligence](https://www.wired.com/story/open-source-intelligence-war-russia-ukraine/) analyst avant la lettre, poring over social media photos and videos and other online jetsam to investigate wartime atrocities in Libya and Syria. In its disorganized way, the internet supplied him with so much evidence that he was beating UN investigators to their conclusions. So he figured he’d go pro. He called his website [Bellingcat](https://www.bellingcat.com/), after the fable of the mice that hit on a way to tell when their predator was approaching. He would be the mouse that belled the cat. Today, Bellingcat is the world’s foremost open source intelligence agency. From his home in the UK, Higgins oversees a staff of nearly 40 employees who have used an evolving set of online forensic techniques to investigate everything from the 2014 shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine to a 2020 dognapping to the [various plots](https://www.wired.com/story/russia-bellingcat-poison/) to kill Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. Bellingcat operates as an NGO headquartered in the Netherlands but is in demand everywhere: Its staffers train newsrooms and conduct workshops; they unearth war crimes; their forensic evidence is increasingly part of court trials. When I met Higgins one Saturday in April, in a pub near his house, he’d just been to the Netherlands to collect an award honoring Bellingcat’s contributions to free speech—and was soon headed back to collect another, for peace and human rights. Bellingcat’s trajectory tells a scathing story about the nature of truth in the 21st century. When Higgins began blogging as Brown Moses, he had no illusions about the malignancies of the internet. But along with journalists all over the world, he has discovered that the court of public opinion is broken. Hard facts have been devalued; online, everyone can present, and believe in, their own narratives, even if they’re mere tissues of lies. Along with trying to find the truth, Higgins has also been searching for places where the truth has any kind of currency and respect—where it can work as it should, empowering the weak and holding the guilty accountable. The year ahead may be the biggest of Bellingcat’s life. In addition to tracking conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, its analysts are being flooded with falsified artifacts from elections in the US, the UK, India, and dozens of other countries. As if that weren’t enough, there’s also the specter of artificial intelligence: still too primitive to fool Bellingcat’s experts but increasingly good enough to fool everyone else. Higgins worries that governments, social media platforms, and tech companies aren’t worrying enough and that they’ll take the danger seriously only when “there’s been a big incident where AI-generated imagery causes real harm”—in other words, when it’s too late. **WIRED:** You now preside over the world’s largest open source, citizen- run intelligence agency. A decade ago, when you switched from your blog to the Bellingcat website, what path did you see this taking? **ELIOT HIGGINS:** At that point, I was still trying to figure out exactly how I could turn this into a proper job. I’d been blogging for a couple of years. But I had children, and it was getting more important to earn a living. When I launched Bellingcat, the goal was to have a space where people could come publish their own stuff. Because at that point, I had several people who’d asked to publish on my blog. I needed a better-looking website. I also wanted a place where people could come together. But that was the extent of my strategy. There was no grand plan beyond that. It was all, “What’s happening next week?” Well, I launched on July 14, and then three days later MH17 was shot down. The way the community formed around MH17, it was really a massive catalyst for open source investigation—in terms of the growth of the community, the work we did developing techniques, the profile that gave it. Today our Discord server has more than 28,000 members. People can come and discuss stuff they think might be worth investigating, and we’re publishing articles based off the work of the community. **The world is never boring these days. What has it been like at Bellingcat since October 7, for example?** We’ve hired more people. We’re bringing in more editors. We’ve shifted people from other projects. We’ve already got one person who’s specifically working on archiving footage. But what’s different is that you don’t get the same kind of footage that we’ve gotten from, say, Ukraine or Syria. There’s actually a lot less coming from the ground. **Because of internet blackouts?** Yeah, and a lot of the stuff we find is actually from Israeli soldiers who’re misbehaving and doing stuff that I would say are definitely violations of international laws. But that’s coming on their social media accounts—they post it themselves. Another issue is: Because of the lack of electricity there, you actually get a lot of stuff happening at night that you can’t really see in the videos. Like the convoy attack that Israel had the drone footage of—there’s lots of footage of that, but it’s just all at night and it’s pitch-black. But there was a good piece of analysis I saw recently where they used the audio and could actually start establishing what weapons were being used. Just the sound itself makes it very distinct … **Like audio signatures of missiles?** Yeah, and it’s not just being able to identify the type of weapon: When you fire something, you can hear the sound of the bullet going by but also the sound the barrel makes—and you can use that to measure how far away the shot came from. When the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in 2022, we had the footage where she was shot. And the shot came from the direction of positions occupied by Israeli forces. \[_Months after the shooting, the Israel Defense Forces announced that there was “a high possibility” that the journalist was killed by one of its soldiers._\] **Are there things you haven’t seen before, coming from this conflict?** It’s certainly the first time I’ve seen AI-generated content being used as an excuse to ignore real content. When a lot of people think about AI, they think, “Oh, it’s going to fool people into believing stuff that’s not true.” But what it’s really doing is giving people permission to not believe stuff that _is_ true. Because they can say, “Oh, that’s an AI-generated image. AI can generate anything now: video, audio, the entire war zone re-created.” They will use it as an excuse. It’s just easy for them to say. **And then they can stay in their own information silo …** Yeah, just scrolling through your feed, you can dismiss stuff easily. It reinforces your own beliefs. Because Israel-Palestine has been such an issue for so long, there is a huge audience already primed to be emotionally engaged. So you see grifters churn out misattributed imagery or AI-generated content. The quality of that discourse is really low. It means that if you’re looking for real accountability, it’s hard. **You have this entirely transparent process, where you put all your evidence and investigations online so anyone can double-check it. But it’s a feature of the world we live in that people who’re convinced of certain things will just remain convinced in the face of all the facts. Does the inability to change minds frustrate you?** I’ve gotten used to it, unfortunately. That’s why we’re moving toward legal accountability and how to use open source evidence for that. We have a team that’s just working on that. You can have the truth, but the truth is not valuable without accountability. **What do you mean by legal accountability?** Well, you have people on the ground capturing evidence of war crimes. How do you actually take that from YouTube to a courtroom? No one has actually gone to court and said, “Here’s a load of open source evidence the court has to consider.” So we’ve been doing mock trials using evidence from investigating Saudi air strikes in Yemen. A lot of our work is educating people: Lawyers in general don’t know much about open source investigation. They need the education to understand how investigators work, what they’re looking for—and what is bad analysis. Because there’s more and more bad analysis with open source evidence. Do you know Nexta TV? They’re this Belarusian media organization, and they did a series of tweets after the attack on the concert in Moscow. They said there’s a lot of people in this scene wearing blue jumpers. They could be FSB agents \[_members of Russia’s Federal Security Service_\]. But where’s the proof they’re FSB agents in the first place? That was terrible analysis, and it went viral and convinced people there was something going on. If you can draw colored boxes around something and say you’re doing open source investigation, some people will believe you. **There are elections this year in the US and in the UK and in India. Are you preparing to deal with these three big election events as you deal with Ukraine and Gaza?** There’s only so much we can do to prepare, because I think the scale of disinformation and AI-generated imagery will be quite significant. If you look at what’s happened already in the US with the primaries, you’ve already got fake robocalls; the DeSantis campaign used AI-generated imagery of Trump and Dr. Fauci hugging each other. So that line has already been crossed. These tools are available to ordinary members of the public as well, not just political agents. **Which makes it much worse.** Yeah, because it’s not what the campaigns decide to do, it’s what their supporters decide to do. **Given this flood of AI-generated imagery, are you wary of Bellingcat turning into just a fact-checker rather than doing these much deeper investigations where you build a case?** It’s like the Kate Middleton thing that happened recently. I really tried not to join the conversation. I thought: This is really stupid discourse. But then you start seeing, like, TikTok videos that were saying, “Oh, the color’s being photoshopped” or whatever, and they have millions and millions and millions of views. So you kind of feel: Yeah, I have to say something. It’s actually a good reflection of how disinformation starts and spreads, and the dynamics. **I will not lie. I was fascinated too, for the span of a week.** That’s why it was prime territory for disinformation! I’ve dealt with lots of communities who believe in conspiracy theories. None of them generally believe they’re conspiracy theorists. They believe they’re truth seekers fighting against some source of authority that is betraying us all. They’ve come to understand that a source of authority cannot be trusted, because of their personal experiences. **I love a phrase you used for this once: that people who believe in conspiracy theories have previously suffered some kind of “traumatic moral injury.”** I use the example of Covid. A lot of people who were driving Covid disinformation were people in the alternative health community who’ve often had bad experiences with medical professionals. Like they’ve had a treatment go wrong, or they’ve lost a loved one, or they’ve been mistreated. And some of that is legitimate. Some of that is real trauma. Now, they found like-minded people, and within that community you have people who are anti-vaxxers. When Covid came along, suddenly those voices became a lot louder within those communities. And the distrust people had in medical professionals was kind of reinforced. It’s about feeding their anxiety—and they’re being fed every single day, every time they scroll through their groups. **In an era when AI images are going to proliferate, wouldn’t you rather that people have this heightened spidey sense about the world, where they’re alert? That they’re too skeptical rather than too trusting?** I’d argue against the frame of that question. If you have people’s spidey sense tingling all the time, they’ll just distrust everything. We’ve seen this with Israel and Gaza. A lot of people are really at that point where they do care about what’s happening, but it’s so confusing that they cannot stand to be part of this anymore. You’re losing people in the center of the conversation. This is a real threat to a democratic society where you can have a debate, right? **Is this AI-generated stuff at a stage of sophistication where even your team has to struggle to distinguish it?** Well, we explore the network of information around an image. Through the verification process, we’re looking at lots of points of data. The first thing is geo-location; you’ve got to prove where something was taken. You’re also looking at things like the shadows, for example, to tell the time of day; if you know the position of the camera, you’ve basically got a sundial. You also have metadata within the picture itself. Then images are shared online. Someone posts it on their social media page, so you look at who that person is following. They may know people in the same location who’ve seen the same incident. You can do all that with AI-generated imagery. Like the Pentagon AI image that caused a slight dip in the stock market. \[_In May 2023, a picture surfaced online showing a huge plume of smoke on the US Department of Defense’s lawn._\] You’d expect to see multiple sources very quickly about an incident like that. People wouldn’t miss it. But there was only one source. The picture was clearly fake. My concern is that someone will eventually figure that out, that you’ll get a coordinated social media campaign where you have bot networks and fake news websites that have been around for a long time, kind of building a narrative. If someone were clever enough to say, “OK, let’s create a whole range of fake content” and then deliver it through these sites at the same time that claims an incident has happened somewhere, they’d create enough of a gap of confusion for an impact on the stock market, for panic to happen, for real news organizations to accidentally pick it up and make the situation much worse. **So how do we even begin to fix this?** Social media companies need to have the responsibility—like, legislatively—to have AI detection and flagging as part of the posting process. Not just as something that’s a fact-check layer, because that’s not going to matter at all. I don’t think a voluntary system is going to work. There need to be consequences for not doing it. I think my worry is that we’re only going to figure this out when something really terrible has happened. “What happens to a lot of people is they have this kind of compulsive witnessing, where they’re like, ‘I have to witness this thing.’ Because, in history, people have turned their backs, right?” **Do you still do a lot of investigative work yourself now?** No. If I’ve got a gap in my day to do a quick geolocation or something like that, I’ll do it. I’m involved with a lot of the work we do on our production company side of things, so that’s keeping me busy. I do a lot around PR and comms. **Is that easy for you? Somewhere you’d said that when you were younger, you were slightly socially anxious?** I was _cripplingly_ socially anxious. I’ve had to beat it out of me. When I first started doing this, I had loads of anxiety, really serious levels. The idea of speaking on stage was terrifying to me. The first time I did a big event on stage was at a 2013 Google Ideas summit. I don’t remember anything about that. Just dripping with anxiety. But doing this again and again, about something I really care about, has helped balance that out. **How do you spend your spare time online? What do you do on holiday?** I’ve removed Twitter from my phone, because that was one of the worst things. Arguing with people … **You don’t do that anymore, I noticed. You used to do it a lot, and in such good faith.** It was kind of like testing my own knowledge. If someone can come up to me and say, “Oh, you’re wrong because of this,” and I can’t argue against that, then I’m the one in the wrong. It used to be worthwhile having those debates, even if they were arguing in bad faith. But it got to the point where the mythology around Bellingcat that existed in these echo chambers became crystallized. When someone now says, “Oh, Bellingcat is the CIA,” it’s always the same nonsense. **OK, you’re not arguing as much. What else are you doing?** I use AI a lot for my own entertainment. Do you know Suno AI, or Udio? These are music-creation tools—and in the past six months they’ve taken huge, huge leaps. **Oh, Suno. It’s the Hindi word for “listen.”** Yeah. Have you used these at all? **No.** I’ll show you. I have a SoundCloud where I upload my music. You can put in style prompts. You can also put in custom lyrics. **This is how the founder of Bellingcat spends his spare time.** Yeah. I like it especially when the AI generator really gets weird, goes completely off the rails. I write loads of songs about things like filter bubbles online and stuff. If you can condense an idea into a lyrical form, I find that helps process it into a simpler form to explain it to people in articles and books. **When you’re giving these prompts, are you giving them influences or are you just giving them genres?** Oh, I’ve got a whole process for this now! It used to be that I’d say, “OK, let’s do an ambient song.” But then I was thinking: How do I get the exact sound of certain bands? Because you can’t put in “Make a Beastie Boys song.” It won’t let you prompt it that way; they’re clearly trying to avoid getting sued. But I go to ChatGPT and explain the scenario: I’m giving prompts for a music-generation program that requires style tags and types of music, so what are the style tags for, like, Kraftwerk? It will break down styles into separate tags, and you can take those tags and put them back in. **I’ve read elsewhere that you call any yearning for a time before the internet “cyber-miserabilism,” which is a great phrase. But it’s also true that all of us remember our minds being calmer before we started scrolling through feeds.** You’re continually wired now. What really worries me is how this is traumatizing people. We had this a lot with Ukraine in 2022, when there were so many people engaged with the content stream. Those people were saying, “I just feel horrible all the time.” We didn’t realize we were traumatizing ourselves. We’re seeing the same issue with Israel and Gaza and people streaming through this imagery that’s just reinforcing the hate they have for the other side. **In the early days of Bellingcat, you were being exposed to videos like that on a daily basis, very often including footage of dead bodies. How do you protect yourself from what you’re seeing?** For me, it felt like there was a point to it, because I had success through seeing all this stuff. It’s the powerlessness that is often part of the traumatic response. But you can learn to disassociate from that. **Can you though?** I just think I got very good at compartmentalizing stuff. It’s so, so important for this work. With MH17, I was looking at the wreckage of the site. There was a big, high-resolution photo, and I was going through it looking at the details of the shrapnel holes, and there was a doll in the wreckage, and my daughter had been given the exact same doll by her aunt when she was born. What happens then is you have a subconscious engagement with it. And you have to stop at that point. Trying to push through it is a really bad idea. When I was looking at the victims of the 2013 sarin attacks in Syria, for example, we were trying to identify the symptoms. And one of the symptoms is the constriction of pupils. So I had to look at the eyes of these dead people to find enough screenshots to establish their cause of death. That was upsetting in itself. But then you go online, and you have all these idiots saying: “Oh, it’s fake. No one really died. The babies are acting.” _That_ is traumatic. What happens to a lot of people is they have this kind of compulsive witnessing, where you’re like, “I have to witness this thing.” Because, in history, people have turned their backs, right? So I have to witness this, so that these people’s suffering is being acknowledged. It’s an illusionary way of getting power back from the situation, because it really doesn’t change anything. All you’ve done is traumatized yourself. **I understand Bellingcat offers psychological support so anyone on staff can get free therapy. Do people use that counseling facility a lot?** Oh yeah, absolutely. It’s not just about the content we face but also the reaction from governments that we have to deal with. Which can be, as you know, quite aggressive. **I did wonder about that. I’ve read that you don’t eat room service meals anymore, and I wanted to know what else you do or don’t do. And also, what changed when Bellingcat was declared a foreign agent by Russia in 2021?** We have a security team, we have a lot of reviews around cybersecurity. We have a lot of discussions about our physical security. We have staff retreats, where consultants come talk to us about, like, “Here’s what to do if you’re being followed.” Fun stuff like that. Being declared undesirable and a foreign agent—in one sense, it’s a badge of honor. It’s also a problem, because we try to be transparent about who funds us, but if we’re a foreign agent and have donations from people who’re linked to Russia, that will put them at risk. We’ve had to stop publishing some of our donors’ names, which we’re not fans of. But they need to be protected. **What about this meeting, for instance? How did you know whether to agree to have a cup of coffee with me? What did you do?** Well, some research. First of all, I made sure to know what you look like. There’s been incidents where people have had meetings with journalists, who suddenly start asking very weird questions. They’ll start saying, “Oh, Israel are pretty awful, aren’t they?” And then you wonder, “What’s going on here?” I know people who’ve had Skype calls, and suddenly their call is on Iranian state media, selectively edited. **I found a quote online from one of your former employees in which he says, “Data is the great equalizer between an individual and the state.” But surely, at some point, governments and intelligence agencies will find ways to hide their own data better?** Russia tried to do that. After we did the first investigation of the poisoners \[_of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer, in England_\], we got copies of their GRU documents. The next time we tried that, they’d removed the photos from the documents of GRU officers. But that just told us they were GRU officers. When we posted about that, the photos returned, but they were of different people. They’d replaced a photo of a man with a photo of a woman. So … they’re not smart. **But they’re bound to get smarter?** Maybe. The thing is, these are doors. One door closes, we just go through the 10,000 other open doors. It’s never the end of the investigation. We just need to take another route. _Let us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor at_ _[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])._

Jun 27, 2024 12:00 PM Hany Farid, a leading expert on image and video manipulation, says that detecting deepfakes will take more than AI alone.  Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Maury Phillips; Getty Images Some Fortune 500 companies have begun testing software that can spot a [deepfake](https://www.wired.com/tag/deepfakes/) of a real person in a live video call, following a spate of scams involving fraudulent job seekers who take a signing bonus and run. The detection technology comes courtesy of GetReal Labs, a new company founded by [Hany Farid](https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/people/hany-farid), a UC-Berkeley professor and renowned authority on deepfakes and image and video manipulation. GetReal Labs has developed a suite of tools for spotting images, audio, and video that are generated or manipulated either with artificial intelligence or manual methods. The company’s software can analyze the face in a video call and spot clues that may indicate it has been artificially generated and swapped onto the body of a real person. “These aren’t hypothetical attacks, we’ve been hearing about it more and more,” Farid says. “In some cases, it seems they're trying to get intellectual property, infiltrating the company. In other cases, it seems purely financial, they just take the signing bonus.” The FBI issued a [warning](https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA220628) in 2022 about deepfake job hunters who assume a real person’s identity during video calls. UK-based design and engineering firm Arup [lost](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/16/tech/arup-deepfake-scam-loss-hong-kong-intl-hnk/index.html) $25 million to a deepfake scammer posing as the company’s CFO. [Romance scammers have also adopted the technology](https://www.wired.com/story/yahoo-boys-real-time-deepfake-scams/), swindling unsuspecting victims out of their savings. Impersonating a real person on a live video feed is just one example of the kind of reality-melting trickery now possible thanks to AI. Large language models can convincingly mimic a real person in online chat, while short videos can be generated by tools like [OpenAI’s Sora](https://www.wired.com/story/openai-sora-generative-ai-video/). Impressive AI advances in recent years have made deepfakery more convincing and more accessible. Free software makes it easy to hone deepfakery skills, and easily accessible [AI tools](https://www.wired.com/story/picture-limitless-creativity-ai-image-generators/) can turn text prompts into realistic-looking photographs and videos. But impersonating a person in a live video is a relatively new frontier. Creating this type of a deepfake typically involves using a mix of [machine learning](https://www.wired.com/tag/machine-learning/) and face-tracking algorithms to seamlessly stitch a fake face onto a real one, allowing an interloper to control what an illicit likeness appears to say and do on screen. Farid gave WIRED a demo of GetReal Labs’ technology. When shown a photograph of a corporate boardroom, the software analyzes the metadata associated with the image for signs that it has been modified. Several major AI companies including OpenAI, Google, and Meta now add digital signatures to AI-generated images, providing a solid way to confirm their inauthenticity. However, not all tools provide such stamps, and open source image generators can be configured not to. Metadata can also be easily manipulated. GetReal Labs also uses several AI models, trained to distinguish between real and fake images and video, to flag likely forgeries. Other tools, a mix of AI and traditional forensics, help a user scrutinize an image for visual and physical discrepancies, for example highlighting shadows that point in different directions despite having the same light source, or that do not appear to match the object that cast them. Courtesy of Hany Farid; DALLE-3 Lines drawn on different objects shown in perspective will also reveal if they converge on a common vanishing point, as would be the case in a real image. Courtesy of Hany Farid; DALLE-3 Other startups that promise to flag deepfakes rely heavily on AI, but Farid says manual forensic analysis will also be crucial to flagging media manipulation. “Anybody who tells you that the solution to this problem is to just train an AI model is either a fool or a liar,” he says. The need for a reality check extends beyond Fortune 500 firms. Deepfakes and manipulated media are already a major problem in the world of politics, an area Farid hopes his company’s technology could do real good. [The WIRED Elections Project](https://www.wired.com/story/generative-ai-global-elections/) is tracking deepfakes used to boost or trash political candidates in elections in [India](https://www.wired.com/story/indian-elections-ai-deepfakes/), Indonesia, South Africa, and elsewhere. In the United States, a [fake Joe Biden robocall](https://www.wired.com/story/biden-robocall-deepfake-danger/) was deployed last January in an effort to dissuade people from turning out to vote in the New Hampshire Presidential primary. Election-related “cheapfake” videos, edited in misleading ways, have gone viral of late, while a Russian disinformation unit has [promoted an AI-manipulated clip](https://www.wired.com/story/russia-disinformation-network-ai-generated-biden-video/) disparaging Joe Biden. [Vincent Conitzer](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~conitzer/), a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and coauthor of the book [Moral AI](https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/144219/vincent-conitzer), expects AI fakery to become more pervasive and more pernicious. That means, he says, there will be growing demand for tools designed to counter them. “It is an arms race,” Conitzer says. “Even if you have something that right now is very effective at catching deepfakes, there's no guarantee that it will be effective at catching the next generation. A successful detector might even be used to train the next generation of deepfakes to evade that detector.” GetReal Labs agrees it will be a constant battle to keep up with deepfakery. Ted Schlein, a cofounder of GetReal Labs and a veteran of the computer security industry, says it may not be long before everyone is confronted with some form of deepfake deception, as cybercrooks become more conversant with the technology and dream up ingenious new scams. He adds that manipulated media is a top topic of concern for many chief security officers. “Disinformation is the new malware,” Schlein says. With significant potential to poison political discourse, Farid notes that media manipulation can be considered a more challenging problem. “I can reset my computer or buy a new one,” he says. “But the poisoning of the human mind is an existential threat to our democracy.”

 TALLINN, Estonia — When Maksim Kolker's phone rang at 6 a.m., and the voice on the other end said his father had been arrested, he thought it was a scam to extort money. A day earlier, he had taken his father, prominent Russian physicist Dmitry Kolker, to the hospital in his native Novosibirsk, when his advanced pancreatic cancer had suddenly worsened. The phone kept ringing and Kolker kept hanging up until finally his father called to confirm the grim news. The elder Kolker had been charged with treason, the family later learned, a crime that is probed and prosecuted in absolute secrecy in Russia and punished with long prison terms. Treason cases have been rare in Russia in the last 30 years, with a handful annually. But since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, they have skyrocketed, along with espionage prosecutions, ensnaring citizens and foreigners alike, regardless of their politics. That has brought comparisons to the show trials under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in the 1930s. The more recent victims range from Kremlin critics and independent journalists to veteran scientists working with countries that Moscow considers friendly. These cases stand out from the crackdown on dissent that has reached unprecedented levels under President Vladimir Putin. They are investigated almost exclusively by the powerful Federal Security Service, or FSB, with specific charges and evidence not always revealed. The accused are often held in strict isolation in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo Prison, tried behind closed doors, and almost always convicted, with long prison sentences. In 2022, Putin urged the security services to "harshly suppress the actions of foreign intelligence services, promptly identify traitors, spies and saboteurs." The First Department, a rights group that specializes in such prosecutions and takes its name from a division of the security service, counted over 100 known treason cases in 2023, lawyer Evgeny Smirnov told The Associated Press. He added there probably were another 100 that nobody knows about. The longer the war goes on, "the more traitors" the authorities want to round up, Smirnov said. Treason cases began growing after 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in the eastern part of the country and fell out with the West for the first time since the Cold War. Two years earlier, the legal definition of treason was expanded to include providing vaguely defined "assistance" to foreign countries or organizations, effectively exposing to prosecution anyone in contact with foreigners. The move followed mass anti-government protests in 2011-12 in Moscow that officials claimed were instigated by the West. Those changes to the law were heavily criticized by rights advocates, including those in the Presidential Human Rights Council. Faced with that criticism at the time, Putin promised to look into the amended law and agreed "there shouldn't be any broad interpretation of what high treason is." And yet, that's exactly what began happening. In 2015, authorities arrested Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven in the western region of Smolensk, on treason charges in accordance with the new, expanded definition of the offense. She was charged over contacting the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow in 2014 to warn officials there that she thought Russia was sending troops into eastern Ukraine, where the separatist insurgency against Kyiv was unfolding. The case drew national attention and public outrage. Russia at the time denied its troops were involved in eastern Ukraine, and many pointed out that the case against Davydova contradicted that narrative. The charges against her were eventually dropped. That outcome was a rare exception to the multiplying treason and espionage cases in subsequent years that consistently ended in convictions and prison terms. [Paul Whelan](https://www.npr.org/tags/681626370/paul-whelan), a United States corporate security executive who traveled to Moscow to attend a wedding, was arrested in 2018 and convicted of espionage two years later, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He denied the charges. Ivan Safronov, an adviser to the Roscosmos space agency and a former military affairs journalist, was convicted of treason in 2022 and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His prosecution was widely seen as retaliation for his reporting exposing military incidents and shady arms deals. "It's a very good cautionary tale case for them that journalists shouldn't write anything about the defense sector," his fiancee and fellow reporter Ksenia Mironova told AP. The FSB also went after scientists who study aerodynamics, hypersonics and other fields that could be used in weapons development. Such arrests swelled after 2018, when Putin in his annual state-of-the-nation address touted new and unique hypersonic weapons that Russia was developing, according to Smirnov, the lawyer. In his view, it was the security services' way of showing the Kremlin that Russian scientific advances, especially those used to develop weapons, are so valuable that "all foreign intelligence services in the world are after it." He stressed that all the arrested scientists were civilians, and that "they practically never go after military scientists." Many of the scientists denied the charges. Their families and colleagues insisted they were implicated over something as benign as giving lectures abroad or working with foreign scientists on joint projects. Kolker, the son of the detained Novosibirsk physicist, said that when the FSB searched his father's apartment, they looked for several presentations he had used in lectures given in China. The elder Kolker, who had studied light waves, gave presentations that were cleared for use abroad and also were given inside Russia, and "any student could understand that he wasn't revealing anything (secret) in them," Maksim Kolker said. Nevertheless, FSB officers yanked the 54-year-old physicist from his hospital bed in 2022 and flew him to Moscow, to the Lefortovo Prison, his son said. The ailing scientist called his family from the plane to say goodbye, knowing he was unlikely to survive prison, the son said. Within days, the family received a telegram informing them he had died in a hospital. Other cases were similar. Valery Golubkin, a 71-year-old Moscow physicist specializing in aerodynamics, was convicted of treason in 2023. His state-run research institute was working on an international project of a hypersonic civilian aircraft, and he was asked by his employer to help with reports on the project. Smirnov of the First Department group, which was involved in his defense, says the reports were vetted before they were sent abroad and didn't contain state secrets. Golubkin's daughter, Lyudmila, said the 2021 arrest came as a shock. "He is not guilty of anything," she said. His 12-year sentence was upheld despite appeals, and his family now hopes he will be released on parole. Other scientists working on hypersonics, a field with important applications for missile development, also were arrested on treason charges in recent years. One of them, Anatoly Maslov, 77, was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison in May. The Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Novosibirsk wrote a letter supporting Maslov and two other physicists implicated over "making presentations at international seminars and conferences, publishing articles in highly rated journals (and) participation in international scientific projects." Such activities, the letter said, are "an obligatory component of conscientious and high-quality scientific activity," both in Russia and elsewhere. Two other recent high-profile cases involved a prominent opposition politician and a journalist. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a journalist who became an activist, was charged with treason in 2022 after giving speeches in the West that were critical of Russia. After surviving what he believed were attempts to poison him in 2015 and 2017, Kara-Murza was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison, where his family fears for his deteriorating health. In his closing statement at trial, Kara-Murza alluded to the USSR's dark legacy of prosecutions, saying the country has gone "all the way back to the 1930s." The Wall Street Journal's [Evan Gershkovich](https://www.npr.org/2024/06/26/nx-s1-5019408/american-journalist-evan-gershkovich-is-on-trial-for-espionage-in-russia) was arrested in 2023 on espionage charges, the first American reporter detained on such charges since the Cold War. Gershkovich, who went on trial in June, denies the charges, and the U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained. Russians reportedly have been charged with treason — or the less-severe charges of "preparing for treason" — for acts including donating money to Ukrainian charities or groups fighting alongside Kyiv's forces, setting military enlistment offices in Russia on fire, and even private phone conversations with friends in Ukraine about moving there. Ksenia Khavana, 33, was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine's military. The dual Russian-U.S. citizen had returned from Los Angeles to visit family, and the First Department said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S.-based charity that helps Ukraine. Several factors are motivating authorities to pursue more treason cases, experts say. One is that it sends a clear message that the unwritten rules have changed, and that conferences abroad or work with foreign peers is no longer something scientists should do, says Andrei Soldatov, an investigative journalist and expert on the security services. It's also easier to get higher authorities to allocate resources to a treason case, like surveillance or wiretaps, he says. According to Smirnov, the spike in prosecutions came after the FSB allowed its regional branches in 2022 to pursue certain kinds of treason, and officials in those branches sought to curry favor with their superiors to advance their careers. Above all, Soldatov said, is the FSB's genuine and widespread belief of "the fragility of the regime" at a time of a political turmoil — either from mass protests, as in 2011-12, or now during the war with Ukraine. "They sincerely believe that it can break," he said, even if it's really not the case. Mironova, the fiancee of the imprisoned journalist Safronov, echoed that sentiment. FSB investigators think they're catching "traitors" and "enemies of the motherland," even when they know they don't have evidence against them, she said.

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature  Joanna Walters **Joe Biden** and **Kamala Harris** are expected to meet the Americans freed from Russian custody when they arrive back in the US tonight. The US president and his vice-president – now presumptive Democratic nominee for president in the 2024 election – will meet those returning to US soil at 11.30pm ET today. The White House issued updated guidance a few moments ago to say that Biden and Harris will travel to Joint Base Andrews, the military facility in Maryland, where they will “greet Americans freed from Russia” and stay for about half an hour before returning to Washington DC. Biden will travel from the White House. Harris moments ago boarded AF2 in Houston, Texas, where she has been attending the memorial for the late congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.  Kamala Harris speaks about the release of Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were detained in Russia, as she departs Houston to return to Washington this afternoon. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abedfe8f08fd552e82e127#block-66abedfe8f08fd552e82e127) Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the prisoner release today: > I welcome today’s release of wrongfully detained Allied citizens and Russian political prisoners. Close cooperation between [#NATO](https://twitter.com/hashtag/NATO?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Allies made this achievement possible. The right to peaceful opposition and freedom of the media are vital for any functioning society. > > — Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/jensstoltenberg/status/1819102742205387098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac204e8f08cbd70fcdef7c#block-66ac204e8f08cbd70fcdef7c) Navalny was a larger-than-life figure whose bravery in confronting Putin, despite the deaths of multiple other Kremlin opponents over the years, amazed [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) watchers around the world. After surviving an assassination attempt in which he was poisoned with a rare, Soviet-designed nerve agent, and then daring to return from safety in [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany) to certain arrest in Russia, Navalny took on an aura of near-invincibility. His sudden death behind bars shocked the White House team who had been trying to get the other prisoners home. “The team felt like the wind had been taken out of our sails,” a senior US official told reporters. When the news broke, national security chief Sullivan said he happened to be with the parents of one of the other key targets in the prisoner swap plan: [Evan Gershkovich](https://www.theguardian.com/world/evan-gershkovich), a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia in March 2023. “On the very day that he died, I saw Evan’s parents,” Sullivan said. “I told them that the president was determined to get this done, even in light of that tragic news, and that we were going to work day and night to get to this day.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac1e1f8f08fd552e82e24a#block-66ac1e1f8f08fd552e82e24a) Back to news about the prisoner swap now. Here is more on what US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has revealed about efforts to free [Alexei Navalny](https://www.theguardian.com/world/alexei-navalny) before he died, via AFP: Amid celebrations at getting a slew of US citizens and Kremlin opponents out of Russian prisons, the White House had one public regret Thursday: failure to get out an even bigger name – Alexei Navalny. “We had been working with our partners on a deal that would have included Alexei Navalny and, unfortunately, he died,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan revealed. In the White House’s plans, the last truly high-profile political opponent of President Vladimir Putin should have been included in the historic swap that saw 16 people - including three US citizens and a US resident - freed in return for 10 Russians chosen by the Kremlin, including two minors. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live#img-1) Odessa Rae (centre) with Alexei Navalny and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya. Photograph: Courtesy: Odessa Rae But in February 2024, just as the secret international talks were at a crucial stage, Navalny was pronounced dead at a notoriously brutal Russian Arctic prison, where he was serving a 19-year sentence after exposing Kremlin corruption. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac1d7b8f08a0af63bb4416#block-66ac1d7b8f08a0af63bb4416) We’ll be taking in some broader US politics news now as we await the released Americans’ arrival in Washington. On that note: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Edmundo Gonzalez won the most votes in Venezuela’s 28 July presidential election. Venezuela’s electoral authority has declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the election, a result that has been derided as implausible by the opposition, independent pollsters and many foreign governments. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac1c338f08cbd70fcdef4a#block-66ac1c338f08cbd70fcdef4a) Here is the Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, celebrating the confirmation of her reporter Evan Gershkovich’s release: [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live#img-2) WSJ Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker and staff celebrate the successful prisoner exchange in Turkey between the United States and Russia, including of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, at the WSJ offices in New York City, US, on 1 August 2024. Photograph: Dan Lyon/Wall Street Journal/WSJ/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac196f8f08a0af63bb43f1#block-66ac196f8f08a0af63bb43f1) Some prisoners freed from Russia and Belarus in a major swap had feared for their lives, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday, after meeting a group of the detainees on their arrival in [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany). Germany is receiving a total of 12 detainees. These include five who hold German nationality, including some dual nationals. Among them is Rico Krieger, a German who was sentenced to death in Belarus on espionage charges before a reprieve this week. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live#img-3) German national Rico Krieger is escorted by a federal security service officer before boarding a plane during a prisoner exchange between Russia with Western countries at an undisclosed location, in this still image from a 1 August 2024 broadcast video. Photograph: RU24/Reuters The German government has defended the decision to free Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, who assassinated a former Chechen rebel commander, and was a key figure sought by the Russians as part of the deal. “We are a society that is characterised by... the idea of individual freedom and by democracy,” Scholz said. “And the fact that those who have to fear for their lives because they have stood up for democracy and freedom can also count on the protection of others is part of our self-image as a democratic... society,” he added. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac15688f08a0af63bb43dd#block-66ac15688f08a0af63bb43dd) Here is Friday’s Guardian front page: [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac13e18f08a0af63bb43d8#block-66ac13e18f08a0af63bb43d8) It is the first time such a flag has been flown on the White House grounds. The flag symbolizes other Americans who continue to be held hostage or are wrongfully detained abroad, according to the White House. It underscores the administration’s “enduring commitment to ensuring the safety and security of our fellow Americans, and our sacred vow to continue working tirelessly until every American is accounted for and returns safely back home.” Here is the flag being flown at the State Department, too: > Diplomatic Security raised the Hostage & Wrongful Detainee flag outside State Dept today - the first time it was raised for Americans coming home. > > Flag only flies on Hostage Day/March 9, Flag Day/June 14, July 4 - or when a US hostage dies abroad or returns home. via [@CamJourno](https://twitter.com/CamJourno?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/LNX57gDm2Q](https://t.co/LNX57gDm2Q) > > — Olivia Gazis (@Olivia\_Gazis) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/Olivia_Gazis/status/1819096140438204839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac10a58f08a0af63bb43d1#block-66ac10a58f08a0af63bb43d1) Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed Germans and Russians freed in the prisoner swap to [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany) and said he had “very moving” conversations with them. Scholz said after they landed at Cologne/Bonn Airport late Thursday that “all arrived safe and sound” and they will undergo health checks in the coming days. “Many did not expect this to happen now and are still full of the feelings that are connected with suddenly being free,” he said, adding that “many feared for their health and their lives.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live#img-4) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks to the media after he met former prisoners following the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in decades, at the military area of Cologne Bonn Airport in Cologne, Germany. Photograph: Reuters The 16 prisoners freed by [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) and Belarus included five German citizens, and the deal involved Germany deporting to Russia Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life prison sentence for what judges concluded was a Russian state-ordered killing in Berlin in 2019. Scholz said: “I think this is the right decision. And if you had any doubts, then you lose them after speaking with those who are now free.” The German leader said it was “a special moment for me, a moment that certainly has also very much intensified the friendship between the US and Germany.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac0f958f08cbd70fcdef18#block-66ac0f958f08cbd70fcdef18)  Andrew Roth [Evan Gershkovich](https://www.theguardian.com/world/evan-gershkovich) was on a reporting trip deep in the Russian regions [when the FSB came for him.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/30/russia-arrests-wall-street-journal-reporter-on-espionage-charges-evan-gershkovich) The Wall Street Journal reporter was in Yekaterinburg, more than 850 miles from the Russian capital, when agents approached his table at a local bistro. As they frog-marched him out of the restaurant, the officers pulled Gershkovich’s shirt over his head to obscure his identity, witnesses said. The signal was clear: this was no ordinary arrest. That began a nearly 500-day odyssey in Russia’s notorious prison system for Gershkovich, the first reporter to be arrested and charged with espionage since the cold war. The Russian government said Gershkovich had been recruited by the CIA to collect information about the country’s larger producer of main battle tanks, Uralvagonzavod. The ensuing year of negotiations pulled in hundreds of other people, including Russian political prisoners and Russian spies held abroad, friends and family to provide support, negotiators on both sides, a Russian billionaire reportedly acting as broker in the exchange, as well as the jailed opposition leader [Alexei Navalny](https://www.theguardian.com/world/alexei-navalny), who died amid rumours that the west had presented Putin with a grand deal to free Krasikov and Gershkovich in a three-way trade back in February. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac0ded8f08cbd70fcdef13#block-66ac0ded8f08cbd70fcdef13) We are expecting Wall Street Journal reporter [Evan Gershkovich](https://www.theguardian.com/world/evan-gershkovich), the former US marine Paul Whelan and the journalist and joint US-Russian citizen Alsu Kurmasheva to arrive at the White House at around 11.30pm ET, where they will be met by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac0b688f08a0af63bb43b8#block-66ac0b688f08a0af63bb43b8) The Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer is celebrating the release of his friend and colleague: > EVAN IS FREE!!! Thank you to everyone who made this happen, who supported Evan and his family over the last 491 days. We have seen the best of humanity in action. My heart is so full. > > Cant wait to hug you Vania ♥️ [pic.twitter.com/yGllQYFOZA](https://t.co/yGllQYFOZA) > > — Pjotr Sauer (@PjotrSauer) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/PjotrSauer/status/1819033719581090254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac08bf8f08cbd70fcdeef8#block-66ac08bf8f08cbd70fcdeef8)  Pjotr Sauer Putin barely hid his true aim throughout this ordeal: to free a man named Vadim Krasikov, who was until today serving a life sentence for [the assassination of a Chechen rebel commander](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/28/russia-denies-ordering-assassination-of-zelimkhan-khangoshvili-chechen-exile-in-berlin) in Berlin’s Tiergarten. In his interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Putin described Krasikov as “a person who eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals, due to patriotic sentiments”. But a little digging into his background suggested Krasikov was likely an elite FSB assassin tasked with murdering Putin’s opponents abroad. He was caught red-handed after the attack, having been spotted by passersby. “Putin had become maniacal about getting Krasikov back; he really, really wanted Krasikov,” a source with knowledge of Kremlin deliberations on the issue told the Guardian earlier this year. “It was a symbol that we don’t abandon our people. He killed someone for us and we want people like that to know that they will be fought for to get them back.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac09408f08fd552e82e1f2#block-66ac09408f08fd552e82e1f2) The New York Times has published an account of what the day was like inside the Wall Street Journal newsroom as their reporter, [Evan Gershkovich](https://www.theguardian.com/world/evan-gershkovich), was freed. The journal continued to prominently feature reporting about Gershkovich’s imprisonment for over a year: > At 11.16am on Thursday, Emma Tucker, the top editor of The Wall Street Journal, broke the news of his release to the full Journal newsroom: “A few moments ago, Evan walked free from a Russian plane. He will shortly be on a flight back to the US” > > Whoops of joy and cheers followed. Staff members quickly gathered in the center of The Journal’s New York newsroom with champagne, some in tears, to hear Ms. Tucker give a toast to Mr. Gershkovich’s freedom and the hard work it had taken to get there. Praise went to Paul Beckett, the former Washington bureau chief who worked on Mr. Gershkovich’s release full time for the past nine months. > > Similar celebrations played out in The Journal’s London bureau. “He’s off the plane!” shouted Gráinne McCarthy, a top international editor in London, several Journal reporters recalled outside their office on Thursday. > > “It feels like the end of a nightmare,” said Eliot Brown, who covers finance and is a close friend of Mr. Gershkovich’s. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac079e8f08a0af63bb43a0#block-66ac079e8f08a0af63bb43a0) Hello, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the latest for the next while. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac06ba8f08a0af63bb439a#block-66ac06ba8f08a0af63bb439a) The largest prisoner swap between [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) and the US since the cold war took place on Thursday with the release of 16 people from Russian and Belarusian jails, in exchange for eight Russians. Here’s a recap of the main developments: * Among those freed from Russian custody include the Wall Street Journal reporter **Evan Gershkovich**, the former US marine **Paul Whelan** and the journalist and joint US-Russian citizen **Alsu Kurmasheva**. **Joe Biden** and **Kamala Harris**, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, are expected to personally receive them when they arrive at Joint Base Andrews later tonight. * The exchange also included the release of the Russian-opposition politician, **Ilya Yashin**, and several other opposition figures including the British-Russian politician, **Vladimir Kara-Murza**, and three people who had worked for the opposition leader **Alexei Navalny**, who died in prison earlier this year. * **Alexei Navalny** was meant to be a part of the exchange deal before his death in February, the US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, told reporters.  Moment Evan Gershkovich and other released prisoners board plane leaving Russia – video * Among the prisoners returning to Russia was the assassin **Vadim Krasikov**, who had been [held in a German prison](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/26/vadim-krasikov-who-russian-hitman-navalny-prisoner-swap-claim) since 2019 for murdering a Chechen exile in Berlin in broad daylight. The German chancellor**, Olaf Scholz**, said freeing Krasikov had not been an easy decision, but in the end was deemed a sacrifice worth making. * Several deep-cover Russian “illegal” spies arrested in Norway and Slovenia were swapped, along with Russians held on criminal charges in US jails. **[Here is the full list](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west)** of people who were involved in the prisoner exchange between Russia and the west. * The exchange on Thursday occurred at Ankara airport in **Turkey**, and involved people held in seven different countries including the **US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia** and **Belarus**. The Turkish presidency said 10 prisoners were relocated to Russia, 13 prisoners to Germany and three to the US. * The US president, **Joe Biden**, said the exchange deal was made possible by a “feat of diplomacy and friendship”. He thanked Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey for their help in bringing the deal together. Speaking from the White House and surrounded by family members of the freed prisoners, Biden asked the room to sing happy birthday to 12-year-old Miriam, daughter of **Alsu Kurmasheva**, who he said is turning 13 on Friday. * The swap is likely to be considered a political coup for **Biden** in the waning months of his presidency, and a blow to **Donald Trump**, who has claimed on the 2024 campaign trail that he would free Gershkovich if re-elected.  'Feat of diplomacy': Biden welcomes release of prisoners in Russia swap – video * The Russian president, **Vladimir Putin**, meeting the returning Russian prisoners, said the Kremlin had “not forgotten about you for a minute” and said that all of those involved in military service would receive state awards. * The editor of the Wall Street Journal, **Emma Tucker**, described the event as a “joyous day” for friends, family and colleagues of Gershkovich, and the “the millions of well-wishers in the US and around the world who stood with Evan and defended the free press”. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ac01a78f08a0af63bb437d#block-66ac01a78f08a0af63bb437d) **Brittney Griner**, the US basketball star who was imprisoned in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) for 10 months before her release in 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange, said she is “head over heels” that fellow Americans are coming home from Russia. “Great day. It’s a great day. It’s a great day,” Griner said after the US women beat Belgium in the Paris Olympic Games quarter-finals, AP reported. > We’ll talk more about it later. But head-over-heels happy for the families right now. Any day that Americans come home, that’s a win. That’s a win. Griner was released in December 2022 as part of a deal in which [she was swapped](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/08/brittney-griner-russia-us-prisoner-swap-viktor-bout) for the Russian arms dealer **Viktor Bout**. She was arrested in February 2022 at an airport in Russia after authorities said she was carrying vape canisters with cannabis oil. The US state department declared her to be wrongfully detained.  Brittney Griner seen exiting plane in Texas after release from Russia – video [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abffdb8f08a0af63bb4376#block-66abffdb8f08a0af63bb4376) Germany’s chancellor **Olaf Scholz** admitted that it was a difficult decision to release the Russian prisoner **Vadim Krasikov** as part of the exchange. Scholz was speaking to reporters at the Cologne/Bonn airport from where he was waiting to welcome freed German prisoners, Deutsche Welle reported. He said: > It was not easy for anyone to make this decision to deport a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment after only a few years in prison. He said the decision was made by his coalition government “after careful consideration”, and that both he and the opposition leader, **Friedrich Merz**, agreed with it. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abfc8d8f08fd552e82e1a0#block-66abfc8d8f08fd552e82e1a0) * * * #### Page 2 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Here are some images from the newswires showing Russia’s president **Vladimir Putin** meeting the newly released Russian prisoners at Vnukovo airport outside Moscow. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183&filterKeyEvents=false#img-1) Vladimir Putin arrives to meet released Russian prisoners at the Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, on Thursday. Photograph: Sergei Ilyin/AP [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183&filterKeyEvents=false#img-2) Russia’s honour guards and officials, including Putin, attend a ceremony to welcome Russian nationals. Photograph: Sergei Ilyin/Reuters [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183&filterKeyEvents=false#img-3) Vladimir Putin, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) director Sergey Naryshkin welcome Russian nationals. Photograph: Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183&filterKeyEvents=false#img-4) Putin greets Russian national Vadim Krasikov at Vnukovo international airport in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday. Photograph: Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183#block-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183) The US national security adviser, **Jake Sullivan**, choked up with emotion as he described the collective effort behind the release of US citizens detained in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia). Sullivan, in a briefing with reporters, said he had spent a lot of time with the families of the Wall Street Journal reporter, **Evan Gershkovich**, and the ex-marine **Paul Whelan.** “Most of the time, as you can imagine, those are tough conversations,” Sullivan said. “But not today,” he said as he began to tear up. > Today was very good day. Here’s the clip:  'Today was a good day': White House adviser chokes up after prisoner exchange – video [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abf9578f08cbd70fcdee90#block-66abf9578f08cbd70fcdee90)  Joanna Walters **Donald Trump** has lit into today’s prisoner swap with [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), via his social media platform Truth Social. “So when are they going to release the details of the prisoner swap with Russia? How many people do we get versus them? Are we also paying them cash?” the former president and current Republican presidential nominee, posted. He continued: “Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us! I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING -- and never any cash.” The Wall Street Journal, Gerskovich’s outlet, [noted](https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/evan-gershkovich-free-russia-hostage-exchange/card/trump-criticizes-prisoner-swap-claims-u-s-negotiators-are-an-embarrassment--mNKbS1X1QbpwmfnTvjx1) that Trump “once predicted Evan Gershkovich wouldn’t be freed under President Biden”. The WSJ also lists some prisoner swaps in the Trump administration. The US government has said it did not pay out any cash for today’s swap. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183&filterKeyEvents=false#img-5) Donald Trump looks on during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago yesterday. Photograph: Vincent Alban/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abf6258f08a0af63bb4334#block-66abf6258f08a0af63bb4334)  Joanna Walters The family of **Evan Gershkovich** has issued a statement expressing their joy and relief that their loved one is free and on his way back to them, as well as the other two US citizens freed alongside him, **Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva**. “We have waited 491 days for Evan’s release, and it’s hard to describe what today feels like. We can’t wait to give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave smile up close,” the statement said, according to CNN. It continued: “Most important now is taking care of Evan and being together again. No family should have to go through this, and so we share relief and joy today with Paul and Alsu’s families.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abf44e8f08fd552e82e162#block-66abf44e8f08fd552e82e162)  Joanna Walters **Kamala Harris** spoke earlier today with **Yulia Navalnaya**, widow of **[Alexei Navalny](https://www.theguardian.com/world/alexei-navalny)**, following the release of 16 individuals from Russia, the White House said. Those released by [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) today, the White House summarized, included three US citizens, one US green card holder, as well as five German citizens and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners, several of whom worked with Navalny in his efforts to combat corruption and to build a free, democratic Russia. “The Vice President welcomed the release of these individuals and reaffirmed that she will continue to stand with those fighting for freedom in Russia and around the world,” a White House statement said. It added that Harris commended Navalnaya for her courage in continuing her husband’s work for justice and the rule of the law in Russia. “The vice president previously met with Navalnaya in February 2024 at the Munich Security Conference, just hours after the terrible news broke of Navalny’s death in a Russian prison,” the White House said, linking to this post on Twitter/X from the time. > Today in Munich, following the news that Aleksey Navalny has died in Russia, I expressed my deep sorrow and outrage to his wife, Yulia. My prayers are with her and his entire family. [pic.twitter.com/elhYHQFBw6](https://t.co/elhYHQFBw6) > > — Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) [February 16, 2024](https://twitter.com/VP/status/1758614844540887274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abf1d98f08a0af63bb430f#block-66abf1d98f08a0af63bb430f)  Joanna Walters **Joe Biden** and **Kamala Harris** are expected to meet the Americans freed from Russian custody when they arrive back in the US tonight. The US president and his vice-president – now presumptive Democratic nominee for president in the 2024 election – will meet those returning to US soil at 11.30pm ET today. The White House issued updated guidance a few moments ago to say that Biden and Harris will travel to Joint Base Andrews, the military facility in Maryland, where they will “greet Americans freed from Russia” and stay for about half an hour before returning to Washington DC. Biden will travel from the White House. Harris moments ago boarded AF2 in Houston, Texas, where she has been attending the memorial for the late congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abfa798f08fd552e82e183&filterKeyEvents=false#img-6) Kamala Harris speaks about the release of Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were detained in Russia, as she departs Houston to return to Washington this afternoon. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abedfe8f08fd552e82e127#block-66abedfe8f08fd552e82e127) The Russian president, **Vladimir Putin**, greeted the returning prisoners with a handshake and a clap on the back as they landed in Moscow, Reuters is reporting. Putin told the released Russian prisoners that he “wanted to congratulate everyone on their return to the motherland”, the New York Times reported. Putin was joined by the Russian spy chief, **Sergei Naryshkin**, and **Andrei Belousov**, the minister of defence. Today’s exchange deal included eight prisoners returning to Russia: * **Vadim Krasikov**: Putin had long indicated Krasikov as his No 1 demand in any swap. He was arrested in 2019 after [shooting dead](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/28/russia-denies-ordering-assassination-of-zelimkhan-khangoshvili-chechen-exile-in-berlin) the Chechen exile Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in broad daylight in a Berlin park. * **Artem Dultsev** and **Anna Dultseva**: the pair were deep-cover Russian spies [who pretended to be](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/24/suspected-russian-spies-trial-slovenia) a married Argentinian couple. They lived in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with their two children, from where they are believed to have carried out tasks for Russian intelligence across Europe. * **Mikhail Mikushin**: Mikushin was arrested in the northern Norwegian city of Tromsø, where he worked as a researcher at a university, ironically engaged in assessing hybrid security threats. * **Vladislav Klyushin**: a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin, Klyushin was sentenced to nine years in a US prison for his role in a $90m insider trading scheme involving hacked secret earnings information about multiple companies. * **Roman Seleznev**: the son of a Russian Duma deputy, Seleznev was sentenced to 27 years in prison, the longest-ever hacking-related sentence in the US. * **Vadim Konoshchenok**: Konoshchenok was arrested over a scheme to export US-made technology intended for use by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. * **Pablo González/Pavel Rubtsov**: a dual Spanish-Russian national, González was a journalist who had worked for many years for Spanish publications, frequently in Russia and Ukraine. He was arrested in Poland, near the border with Ukraine, in March 2022 and has been held in jail in Poland since, accused of being a Russian spy. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abe7048f08fd552e82e0db#block-66abe7048f08fd552e82e0db) A plane carrying Russian citizens released in the prisoner swap has arrived in Moscow from Ankara, Russian state media is reporting. CNN previously reported that all seven aircraft involved in the prisoner swap were airborne, according to flight tracking data. Six of the flights are US-registered planes, it said, with the tracking data showing they were heading north-east from the Turkish capital and flying across [Europe](https://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news). [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abe3378f08fd552e82e0b8#block-66abe3378f08fd552e82e0b8) The Wall Street Journal’s **Vaughn Sterling** has shared a video clip of the newsroom reacting to the paper’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, announcing **Evan Gershkovich**’s release. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abe0128f08fd552e82e0a5#block-66abe0128f08fd552e82e0a5) The exiled leader of Belarus’s opposition, **Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya**, has said she hopes today’s exchange is a good sign for her own country’s political prisoners. Belarus holds nearly 1,400 political prisoners, according to human rights observers. In a statement, Tsikhanouskaya said: > We welcome the freeing of political prisoners from Russian jails and the fact that such an exchange of captives is an important precedent that helps releases of Belarusians. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abdcde8f08cbd70fcdedab#block-66abdcde8f08cbd70fcdedab) * * * #### Page 3  Moment Evan Gershkovich and other released prisoners board plane leaving Russia – video Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature The US ambassador to Turkey, **Jeff F****lake**, said a plane carrying the released Americans has taken off en route to the US. > Wheels up in Ankara! Next stop USA 🇺🇸 > > — Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/JeffFlake/status/1819064764552659324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abda4b8f08cbd70fcded9e#block-66abda4b8f08cbd70fcded9e) The press freedom group **Committee to Protect Journalists** (CPJ) has issued a statement welcoming the release of Wall Street Journal reporter **Evan Gershkovich** and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor **Alsu Kurmasheva** as part of the prisoner exchange. “Evan and Alsu have been apart from their families for far too long,” said CPJ head Jodie Ginsberg, adding that the pair had been detained and sentenced on “spurious charges” that had been “intended to punish them for their journalism and stifle independent reporting”. > Their release is welcome – but it does not change the fact that Russia continues to suppress a free press. Moscow needs to release all jailed journalists and end its campaign of using in absentia arrest warrants and sentences against exiled Russian journalists. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd8f58f08fd552e82e073#block-66abd8f58f08fd552e82e073) **Charles Michel,** the president of the European Council, has welcomed the release of the 16 people “unjustly jailed by the Russian regime”. Posting to Twitter/X, Michel said: > Alsu, Evan, Paul, Vladimir and others, you belong home with your families and loved ones! The EU “will continue supporting and standing for all those illegally detained in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) and elsewhere”, he added. > I welcome the release of 16 people unjustly jailed by the Russian regime. Alsu, Evan, Paul, Vladimir and others, you belong home with your families and loved ones!I thank all those, also in Europe, who helped to make the diplomatic deal possible. > > EU will continue supporting… — Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/CharlesMichel/status/1819058068543418722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd81d8f08a0af63bb4232#block-66abd81d8f08a0af63bb4232) Norway’s prime minister, **Jonas Gahr Støre**, has confirmed that today’s prisoner exchange includes **Mikhail Mikushin**, a suspected senior Russian military intelligence officer who was arrested in Norway in 2022. “The exchange has been made possible through extensive international cooperation,” Støre said in a statement, the Associated Press reported. > For the Norwegian authorities, it has been important to contribute in such cooperation with our close allies. A close collaboration across several countries has made this possible. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd6fb8f08a0af63bb4224#block-66abd6fb8f08a0af63bb4224) The White House’s national security adviser, **Jake Sullivan**, said no money was exchanged as part of today’s exchange. Sullivan, who celebrated “one of the largest and certainly the most complex exchange in history”, added that no sanctions were loosened to facilitate the deal. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd6038f08fd552e82e046#block-66abd6038f08fd552e82e046) **Joe Biden** has shared a photo of the newly freed Americans on a plane leaving [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia). The US president wrote: > After enduring unimaginable suffering and uncertainty, the Americans detained in Russia are safe, free, and have begun their journeys back into the arms of their families. > After enduring unimaginable suffering and uncertainty, the Americans detained in Russia are safe, free, and have begun their journeys back into the arms of their families. [pic.twitter.com/1rYNBTt9tJ](https://t.co/1rYNBTt9tJ) > > — President Biden (@POTUS) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1819068590680682579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd4c88f08fd552e82e02b#block-66abd4c88f08fd552e82e02b) The US national security adviser, **Jake Sullivan**, in his briefing with reporters, described **Marc Fogel,** an American sentenced to 14 years of hard labour in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), as “wrongfully detained”. This is the first time a US official has categorized Fogel as “wrongfully detained”, CNN reports. The US state department has not publicly designated Fogel as wrongfully detained but has called for his release. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd4388f08a0af63bb41fb#block-66abd4388f08a0af63bb41fb) The family of **Marc Fogel,** an American teacher detained in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), has issued a statement. “It is inconceivable to us that Russian dissidents would be prioritized over US citizens in a prisoner exchange,” they said in a statement shared by the New York Times. > Marc has been unjustly detained for far too long and must be prioritized in any swap negotiations with Russia, regardless of his level of notoriety or celebrity. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd3448f08a0af63bb41e6#block-66abd3448f08a0af63bb41e6) **Barack Obama** has described today’s exchange as a “tremendous diplomatic achievement” and noted the “skill and persistence” of **Joe Biden**, **Kamala Harris** and US allies. “We’re grateful that they’ll be back home with their families where they belong,” the former US president added in a post on X. > Thanks to the skill and persistence of [@POTUS](https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw), [@VP](https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw), and our allies, Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza are being released from Russian custody. It’s a tremendous diplomatic achievement, and we’re grateful that they’ll be back home with their… > > — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1819060394633150658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd1d28f08fd552e82dffb#block-66abd1d28f08fd552e82dffb) The UK foreign secretary, **David Lammy,** has issued a statement welcoming the news of the release. > _I strongly welcome the news that Russia has released a number of prisoners today, and am particularly relieved that British nationals **Vladimir Kara-Murza** and **Paul Whelan** will soon be reunited with their families._ > > _Mr Kara-Murza is a dedicated opponent of Putin’s regime. He should never have been in prison in the first place: the Russian authorities imprisoned him in life-threatening conditions because he courageously told the truth about the war in Ukraine. I pay tribute to his family’s courage in the face of such hardship and hope to speak to him soon._ > > _Paul Whelan and his family have also experienced an unimaginable ordeal. I look forward to speaking to him as he returns home to his family in the United States after over 5 years in detention._ [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd1718f08fd552e82dff3#block-66abd1718f08fd552e82dff3) * * * #### Page 4 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Russian state TV shows the moment journalist **Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Paul Whelan** and other members of the prisoner exchange board a plane to leave Russia.  Moment Evan Gershkovich and other released prisoners board plane leaving Russia – video [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abd0b38f08a0af63bb41b3#block-66abd0b38f08a0af63bb41b3) **Joe Biden** and **Kamala Harris** will welcome the released American citizens at Joint Base Andrews, the White House’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan says. **Evan Gershkovich**, **Paul Whelan** and **Alsu Kurmasheva** are expected to arrive on US soil tonight, he says. **Vladimir Kara-Murza** will be travelling to [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany), and his family will be travelling there to meet him. He is expected to return to the US to meet the president later on, Sullivan says. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abcfa58f08fd552e82dfd6#block-66abcfa58f08fd552e82dfd6) **Jake Sullivan** is asked if the exchange deal lays any groundwork for discussions about the war in Ukraine. The US national security adviser says the US does not see any link between the detained persons negotiations and any potential diplomacy over the war in Ukraine. “We see those as operating on separate tracks,” he tells reporters. > One is about the practical issue of producing this exchange. The other is a much more complex question. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abcf158f08a0af63bb419e#block-66abcf158f08a0af63bb419e) The White House’s national security adviser, **Jake Sullivan,** says US officials had no direct engagement with the Russian president, **Vladimir Putin**, over the exchange. US officials had “extensive” engagement with Russian officials, he said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abceba8f08cbd70fcded00#block-66abceba8f08cbd70fcded00) Asked about the US vice-president **Kamala Harris**’s involvement in today’s exchange, the White House says Harris spoke about the issue with the German chancellor, **Olaf Scholz,** at the Munich security conference earlier this year. The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, says he has say in the Oval Office “more times than I can count” over the past years to provide briefings and updates to both the US president, **Joe Biden,** and his vice-president. Harris was “very much core” to the team that helped make the exchange happen, Sullivan says. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abce018f08fd552e82dfba#block-66abce018f08fd552e82dfba) US national security adviser **Jake Sullivan** is asked how the US will try to make sure that today’s exchange doesn’t incentivize more detentions. Sullivan acknowledges that it is a “difficult” choice whether to send back a convicted criminal in order to secure the release of an innocent American, but he adds: > Sometimes the choice is between doing that and consigning that person to live out their days in prison. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abcd218f08a0af63bb4188#block-66abcd218f08a0af63bb4188) **Jake Sullivan**, the US national security adviser, is asked to provide some color as to what happened in the Oval Office between **Joe Biden** and the families of the released Americans. Sullivan says “it was a kind of extraordinary personal exchange” and that the family members were “overwhelmed” by the events of the day. “It was quite a moment,” Sullivan says. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abcc678f08cbd70fcdece2#block-66abcc678f08cbd70fcdece2) **Jake Sullivan**, the White House’s national security adviser, acknowledges that there was an earlier effort to work on a deal that would have included the release of **Alexei Navalny.** “Unfortunately, he died,” Sullivan says. Sullivan says that on the day that Navalny died, he told **Evan** **Gershkovich’s** parents that the US president was “determined” to get a deal done to secure the release of their son. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abcbb48f08cbd70fcdecd8#block-66abcbb48f08cbd70fcdecd8) US national security adviser **Jake Sullivan** becomes emotional as he speaks to reporters. “Today was a very good day,” he says. He says the US is going to be “drawing inspiration and continued courage” from all those who are being held hostage or wrongfully detained around the world. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abcaa68f08fd552e82df98#block-66abcaa68f08fd552e82df98) **Jake Sullivan,** the US national security adviser, says **Joe Biden** is reaching out to give his personal thanks to the leaders of [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany), Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey. Sullivan says: > This was vintage Joe Biden: rallying America, rallying American allies to save American citizens and Russian freedom fighters, and doing it with intricate statecraft, pulling his whole team together to drive this across the finish line. The US president’s goal has always been to “put families first”, he says. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abca3a8f08fd552e82df8f#block-66abca3a8f08fd552e82df8f) * * * #### Page 5  Moment Evan Gershkovich and other released prisoners board plane leaving Russia – video Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **Jake Sullivan**, the US national security adviser, says the Biden administration is proud to celebrate the return of more than 70 Americans from around the world. Sullivan says today’s exchange is a “feat of diplomacy” that could have “only been achieved by a leader like Joe Biden”. Under Biden’s direction, the national security, foreign policy and intelligence community worked “tirelessly and relentlessly” to secure the release of 16 individuals who were detained in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), Sullivan says. Those freed from Russian detention were three American citizens, one American green card holder, five German citizens and seven Russian political prisoners, in exchange for eight individuals held by the US, [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany), Norway, Slovenia and Poland. Sullivan says Biden was “personally engaged” in the diplomacy that brought the exchange about, including “multiple conversations” with the German chancellor, **Olaf Scholz,** as well as other leaders. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abc90d8f08fd552e82df7a#block-66abc90d8f08fd552e82df7a) **Jake Sullivan**, the White House’s national security adviser, tells reporters that the US has completed “one of the largest and certainly the most complex exchange in history”. Sullivan says he was with the US president, **Joe Biden,** in the Oval Office today as the families of **Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan** and **Vladimir Kara-Murza** were told of their release. The US president and the relatives of the prisoners were able to speak by phone, Sullivan says. > To say that everyone in the room was overjoyed, even at a loss for words, was an understatement. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abc8158f08a0af63bb415d#block-66abc8158f08a0af63bb415d) The **White House** is holding a briefing with reporters following the release of Wall Street Journal reporter **Evan Gershkovich** and former US marine **Paul Whelan**, among others. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House’s press secretary, says it is a “historic and important” day. She notes that “this is personal” for a lot of the reporters in the briefing room, especially for the Wall Street Journal team. She notes that there are those who are still wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world, and says the US “reaffirm\[s\] our pledge to their familes”: > We see you. We are with you, and we will never stop working to bring your loved ones home – where they belong. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abc7018f08a0af63bb4153#block-66abc7018f08a0af63bb4153) * A major prisoner exchange that took place at Ankara airport on Thursday afternoon involved the freeing of several foreign citizens held in Russia and numerous Russian political prisoners. * Those freed included the Wall Street Journal reporter **Evan Gershkovich**, former US marine **Paul Whelan**, US-Russian journalist **Alsu Kurmasheva** and Russian opposition figures such as **Ilya Yashin** and **Vladimir Kara-Murza**. * In exchange, eight Russians held in the west returned to Russia. Among them was the Russian assassin **Vadim Krasikov**, who has been held in a German prison, as well as deep-cover Russian “illegal” spies arrested in Norway and Slovenia. * The US president, **Joe Biden**, called the deal a “feat of diplomacy” and vowed that he “will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family”. * Biden addressed the nation about the deal, with the released prisoners’ family members standing besides him, and stressed the importance of alliances. * The Kremlin said the decision to pardon and release prisoners was made in order to get Russian captives home. * A German government spokesperson said it “did not take this decision lightly” and that “the state’s interest in carrying out the prison sentence of a convicted criminal was weighed against the freedom, physical well-being and – in some cases – ultimately the lives of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and those unjustly politically imprisoned.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abc0248f08cbd70fcdec39#block-66abc0248f08cbd70fcdec39) The Kremlin has said that 12 prisoners released in the swap, including Americans, were pardoned by Vladimir Putin decrees, Reuters reported. It also said the decision to pardon and release prisoners was made in order to get Russian captives home, and that it is grateful to countries who offered support for the swap. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abc3cb8f08cbd70fcdec6b#block-66abc3cb8f08cbd70fcdec6b) A lawyer representing **Pablo González** – one of the prisoners exchanged today who had been held in jail in Poland and accused of being a Russian spy – said that the move “is a significant landmark in favour of the freedom of all those journalists who are currently being held prisoner in different countries”. “It is worth underlining that the Russian authorities have shown a real interest in seeking a solution to this situation,” the lawyer said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abc1ab8f08fd552e82df18#block-66abc1ab8f08fd552e82df18) **Yulia Navalnaya**, the widow of [Alexei Navalny](https://www.theguardian.com/world/alexei-navalny), has said that “every released political prisoner is a huge victory and a reason to celebrate”. But, she stressed: “We still have to fight for: Daniel Kholodny, Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, Igor Sergunin. We will do everything we can to secure their release. Freedom for all political prisoners!” > Liliya ChanyshevaKsenia FadeevaIlya YashinVadim OstaninVladimir Kara-MurzaOleg OrlovAlexandra SkochilenkoAlsu KurmashevaAndrei PivovarovGerman MoyzhesKevin Lik This is the list of Russians who have been saved from Putin's regime. > > It was a huge, long, and very… — Yulia Navalnaya (@yulia\_navalnaya) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/yulia_navalnaya/status/1819048680650908004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abbdcd8f08a0af63bb40c5#block-66abbdcd8f08a0af63bb40c5) And here’s a first photo of the some of the released prisoners. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abbc8b8f08fd552e82decf#block-66abbc8b8f08fd552e82decf)  Shaun Walker Today’s deal includes political prisoners and journalists held in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) and Belarus being swapped for Russians held in west. The list includes figures such as **Oleg Orlov**, a veteran of the Soviet-era dissident movement, **Sasha Skochilenko,** a 33-year-old anti-war artist, and **Ksenia Fadeyeva**, an associate of the late [Alexei Navalny](https://www.theguardian.com/world/alexei-navalny). [Read about the prisoners who have been freed](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west). [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abb9aa8f08cbd70fcdebcd#block-66abb9aa8f08cbd70fcdebcd) During his address, **Joe Biden** – who stood surrounded by the family members of freed prisoners – paused to lead a singing of happy birthday to 13-year old Miriam, daughter of journalist **Alsu Kurmasheva**, who was released as part of the exchange. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abc90d8f08fd552e82df7a&filterKeyEvents=false#img-1) Joe Biden at the White House in Washington DC on Thursday. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abba978f08a0af63bb408b#block-66abba978f08a0af63bb408b) * * * #### Page 6  Moment Evan Gershkovich and other released prisoners board plane leaving Russia – video Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **Joe Biden** is speaking now about the prisoner exchange. “Now, their brutal ordeal is over,” he said. “Moments ago, the families and I were able to speak to them on the telephone from the Oval Office. They’re out of [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia),” Biden said, noting it’s an “incredible relief” for the families. “The deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy and friendship,” he said. For anyone who questions whether allies matter, Biden said, “today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world.” “Our alliances make our people safer,” he said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abb65b8f08cbd70fcdeb83#block-66abb65b8f08cbd70fcdeb83) **Kamala Harris**, the US vice president and contender for the presidency, has said that “today, we celebrate the release of Paul, Evan, Alsu, Vladimir, and others who were unjustly held in Russia”. “It gives me great comfort to know that their horrible ordeal is over and that they will soon be reunited with their families,” Harris said, adding that she and Joe Biden “will not stop working until every American who is wrongfully detained or held hostage is brought home.” > Today, we celebrate the release of Paul, Evan, Alsu, Vladimir, and others who were unjustly held in Russia. It gives me great comfort to know that their horrible ordeal is over and that they will soon be reunited with their families. [@POTUS](https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) and I will not stop working until every… > > — Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/VP/status/1819040977920602516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abb4b38f08a0af63bb3fee#block-66abb4b38f08a0af63bb3fee) The Dow Jones CEO and Wall Street Journal publisher, **Almar Latour**, and the Wall Street Journal editor in chief, **Emma Tucker**, said that “we are overwhelmed with relief and elated for Evan and his family, as well as for the others who were released”. “At the same time, we condemn in the strongest terms Vladimir Putin’s regime in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), which orchestrated Evan’s 491-day wrongful imprisonment based on sham accusations and a fake trial as part of an all-out assault on the free press and truth,” they said. They added: > Evan and his family have displayed unrivaled courage, resilience and poise during this ordeal, which came to an end because of broad advocacy for his release around the world. > > Specifically, we would like to thank the US government and numerous governments around the world, with particular gratitude to Germany; global news media organizations standing in solidarity with Evan; Evan’s vast international network of friends; and our colleagues at The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones and News Corp who supported Evan from the first hour of his captivity. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abb3758f08fd552e82de29#block-66abb3758f08fd552e82de29)  Deborah Cole The German government has confirmed its involvement in the exchange, saying it had been a difficult decision to release a convicted murderer in order to win others’ freedom. Chancellor **Olaf Scholz**’s spokesman, **Steffen Hebestreit**, said in an emailed statement that the deal had been arranged “in close and trusting cooperation with the United States and European partners” making it possible “to secure the release of 15 people who were unlawfully detained in Russia and a German national who had been sentenced to death in Belarus,” **Rico Krieger**. Hebestreit said their liberation was “only possible by deporting Russian nationals with a background in intelligence who were in prison in Europe and transferring them to Russia”. He confirmed that among them was **Vadim Krasikov**, “who was sentenced to life imprisonment in [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany) after murdering a Georgian citizen in Berlin”. “The German government did not take this decision lightly,” Hebestreit said. He added: > The state’s interest in carrying out the prison sentence of a convicted criminal was weighed against the freedom, physical well-being and - in some cases - ultimately the lives of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and those unjustly politically imprisoned. Our duty to protect German nationals as well as solidarity with the USA were important motivations. Germany hopes “that all those freed today will recover from their physical and psychological suffering, in the company of their family and friends”, he said. “Our thoughts go out to all those who are still imprisoned in Russia today for expressing their opinions and telling the truth about Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” Hebestreit said. “Their courage should be an example to all democrats!” The German government called on Russia and Belarus to release “all other political prisoners who are being unjustly held”. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abb2d58f08fd552e82de23#block-66abb2d58f08fd552e82de23) Politicians across western capitals are reacting with joy and relief to the prisoner exchange. > Very glad that [@vkaramurza](https://twitter.com/vkaramurza?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [@evangershkovich](https://twitter.com/evangershkovich?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) and some other political prisoners held by the butcher in kremlin are being released. > > We demand all political prisoners to be released from Russia’s and Belarus prisons. — Baiba Braže (@Braze\_Baiba) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/Braze_Baiba/status/1819039079998111921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > I welcome the release of several people imprisoned for political reasons in Russia in exchange for Russians imprisoned abroad. However, the Russian regime continues to persecute many innocent people. Czech diplomacy will continue to fight for justice and freedom for them. > > — Jan Lipavský (@JanLipavsky) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/JanLipavsky/status/1819038093099360287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > CHM [@RepMcCaul](https://twitter.com/RepMcCaul?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) issued the following statement today as wrongfully detained American citizens — including [@WSJ](https://twitter.com/WSJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) reporter Evan Gershkovich, [@RFERL](https://twitter.com/RFERL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and U.S. permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza — are coming home to their… [pic.twitter.com/vs5HJyxlxX](https://t.co/vs5HJyxlxX) > > — House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/HouseForeignGOP/status/1819017357928386595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > RM [@RepGregoryMeeks](https://twitter.com/RepGregoryMeeks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) releases statement on the Biden-Harris Administration’s securing of a multilateral prisoner exchange that has resulted in the release of Americans wrongfully detained in Russia as well as Russian dissidents and democracy activists. [pic.twitter.com/z5iSykpzvK](https://t.co/z5iSykpzvK) > > — House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems (@HouseForeign) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/HouseForeign/status/1819038010060484890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abb1ad8f08a0af63bb3fad#block-66abb1ad8f08a0af63bb3fad) The mood in the Wall Street Journal newsroom: “Best day ever.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abb0c68f08a0af63bb3f9c#block-66abb0c68f08a0af63bb3f9c) The US secretary of state, **Antony Blinken**, has said that “Paul Whelan, [Evan Gershkovich](https://www.theguardian.com/world/evan-gershkovich), and Alsu Kurmasheva are on their way to the United States to reunite with their families.” “I’m grateful for all of those who worked to secure their freedom and for our allies and partners who made this deal possible,” he added. > Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsu Kurmasheva are on their way to the United States to reunite with their families. I’m grateful for all of those who worked to secure their freedom and for our allies and partners who made this deal possible. > > — Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1819038365548773820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abafd08f08cbd70fcdeafb#block-66abafd08f08cbd70fcdeafb) A spokesperson for the German government said that the decision to release the Russian assassin **Vadim Krasikov** was not taken lightly, noting that the obligation to protect German citizens and express solidarity with the US were important factors. > In enger Zusammenarbeit mit den USA und europäischen Partnern ist die Freilassung von 15 Personen gelungen, die unrechtmäßig in Russland in Haft waren, sowie eines Deutschen, der in Belarus zum Tode verurteilt worden war: [https://t.co/2HhQpVq19B](https://t.co/2HhQpVq19B) > > — Steffen Hebestreit (@RegSprecher) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/RegSprecher/status/1819036882992259121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abaefd8f08cbd70fcdead7#block-66abaefd8f08cbd70fcdead7) **Who is Vladimir Kara-Murza?** Another dissident freed from Russian custody as part of the exchange is Russian-British citizen **Vladimir Kara-Murza**. The 42-year old was detained in Moscow on 11 April 2022 and later sentenced to 25 years on treason and other trumped-up charges. An intellectual who started as a journalist before turning to politics, Kara-Murza has [compared](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/11/wife-of-jailed-british-russian-fears-he-will-meet-same-fate-as-navalny) his case to a Stalinist show trial. He previously survived what he described as two government attempts to poison him. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abb65b8f08cbd70fcdeb83&filterKeyEvents=false#img-1) Vladimir Kara-Murza gestures standing in a defendant’s cage in a courtroom during the announcement of an appeal of his verdict in Moscow, Russia, on July 31, 2023. Photograph: AP [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ab1a218f089f49385204c0#block-66ab1a218f089f49385204c0) Here are more fascinating [details](https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/evan-gershkovich-free-cde745b3?mod=world_lead_story) from the Wall Street Journal about the efforts that went into the prisoner exchange. > President Biden—about an hour before he notified the world he was [dropping out of the presidential race](https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/biden-drops-out-presidential-race-6b1c74fd?mod=article_inline) on July 21—called the prime minister of Slovenia, whose country was contributing two convicted Russian spies to the swap, to secure the pardon necessary for the deal to proceed. > > CIA Director William Burns traveled to Turkey last week to meet his counterpart there and finalize the logistics for the swap. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abade58f08fd552e82dda2#block-66abade58f08fd552e82dda2) * * * #### Page 7 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature The German government has confirmed the release of 15 people “unjustly imprisoned in [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia),” Reuters reported. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abadac8f08fd552e82dda1#block-66abadac8f08fd552e82dda1) **Who is Alsu Kurmasheva?** Kurmasheva, one of the prisoner freed as part of the exchange, is a Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A Russian court sentenced the 47-year old in July to six-and-a-half years in prison after a rushed, secret trial. Kurmasheva, who has two children, was arrested last year during a family visit to the city of Kazan for failing to register as a “foreign agent” and for spreading “false information” about the country’s armed forces. Stephen Capus, the RFE/RL president and CEO, had denounced her trial and conviction as “a mockery of justice”. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abadac8f08fd552e82dda1&filterKeyEvents=false#img-1) Alsu Kurmasheva listens to her lawyer during a court hearing in Kazan, Russia on Friday, May 31. Photograph: AP [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ab11618f089f493852048c#block-66ab11618f089f493852048c) **Joe Biden has released a statement about the prisoner exchange.** He called the deal a “feat of diplomacy” and vowing that he “will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family.” > Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza. > > The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy. All told, we’ve negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia—including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over. > > I am grateful to our Allies who stood with us throughout tough, complex negotiations to achieve this outcome— including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey. This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon. Our alliances make Americans safer. > > And let me be clear: I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family. My Administration has now brought home over 70 such Americans, many of whom were in captivity since before I took office. Still, too many families are suffering and separated from their loved ones, and I have no higher priority as President than bringing those Americans home. > > Today, we celebrate the return of Paul, Evan, Alsu, and Vladimir and rejoice with their families. We remember all those still wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world. And reaffirm our pledge to their families: We see you. We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring your loved ones home where they belong. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66abacd98f08a0af63bb3f43#block-66abacd98f08a0af63bb3f43) The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that its reporter **Evan Gershkovich** is now free. The paper has this [insight](https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/evan-gershkovich-prisoner-exchange-ccb39ad3) into his last move as a prisoner in Russia. > The Russian Federation had a few final items of protocol to tick through with the man who had become its most famous prisoner. One, he would be allowed to leave with the papers he’d penned in detention, the letters he’d scrawled out and the makings of a book he’d labored over. But first, they had another piece of writing they required from him, an official request for presidential clemency. The text, moreover, should be addressed to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. > > The pro forma printout included a long blank space the prison could fill out if desired, or simply, as expected, leave blank. In the formal high Russian he had honed over 16 months imprisonment, the Journal’s Russia correspondent filled the page. The last line submitted a proposal of his own: After his release, would Putin be willing to sit down for an interview? [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66aba9e68f08a0af63bb3f00#block-66aba9e68f08a0af63bb3f00) **Michael McFaul**, a former US ambassador to [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), has thanked “all those who worked to free these fighters for freedom, human rights, and democracy.” > Three of my Russian friends -- Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin & Oleg Orlov -- will be free today! Thank you to all those who worked to free these fighters for freedom, human rights, and democracy. > > — Michael McFaul (@McFaul) [August 1, 2024](https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1819025395804717182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66aba84b8f08fd552e82dd1d#block-66aba84b8f08fd552e82dd1d) The president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, **Stephen Capus**, has [said](https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-prisoner-swap-belarus-gershkovich-whelan-alsu/33059280.html) that the broadcaster welcomed news of RFE/RL journalist **Alsu Kurmasheva**’s “imminent release and are grateful to the American government and all who worked tirelessly to end her unjust treatment by Russia.” > Alsu’s release makes us even more determined to secure the freedom of three other RFE/RL journalists, cruelly imprisoned in Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea. > > We will not rest until all of our unjustly detained journalists are home safe. Journalism is not a crime. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?page=with:block-66abadac8f08fd552e82dda1&filterKeyEvents=false#img-2) Alsu Kurmasheva, a US-Russian journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), attends a hearing at the Sovetski court in Kazan on April 1, 2024. Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66aba5318f08a0af63bb3e95#block-66aba5318f08a0af63bb3e95) The Kremlin spokesperson, **Dmitry Peskov**, has said let all enemies who left [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) stay away, and non-enemies can come home, Reuters reported. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66aba4618f08fd552e82dcc8#block-66aba4618f08fd552e82dcc8)  Shaun Walker The [Wall Street Journal](https://www.theguardian.com/media/wallstreetjournal) reporter **Evan Gershkovich** has been freed from Russian custody as part of a major exchange that also involved the freeing of several other foreign citizens held in Russia and numerous Russian political prisoners. In the exchange, which took place at Ankara airport on Thursday afternoon, eight Russians held in the west returned to Russia. Among them was [the Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/26/vadim-krasikov-who-russian-hitman-navalny-prisoner-swap-claim), who has been held in a German prison since 2019 for the murder of a Chechen exile in Berlin. Additionally, deep-cover Russian “illegal” spies arrested in Norway and Slovenia were swapped, along with Russians held on criminal charges in US jails. Two minors were also returned to [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia), believed to be the children of the spies jailed in Slovenia. [Read the full story here](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/evan-gershkovich-other-foreign-citizens-freed-russia-prisoner-swap). [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66aba2178f08cbd70fcde9d6#block-66aba2178f08cbd70fcde9d6)  Ruth Michaelson **Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation, known as MIT, said that it “conducted the most extensive prisoner exchange operation of recent times,” on the tarmac in Ankara, exchanging 26 different people held in seven different countries: the United States, [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany), Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus.** “The prisoner exchange encompassed the exchange of significant figures that have been sought by all parties for a long period,” they said, naming just five, including Wall Street Journal reporter **Evan Gershkovich** and former US marine **Paul Whelan** who were both jailed in Russia. Russian opposition politician **Ilya Yashin** and German **Rico Krieger** were also named in the statement. **Vadim Krasikov**, a hitman jailed in Germany who MIT described as a colonel with Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, was also named as part of the prisoner swap. Seven different aircraft carried the 26 different individuals to Turkey, they said. Two flew from the United States, one each from Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway to perform the intricate operation in the Turkish capital. Mediation for the swap began under the auspices of MIT in Turkey last month, they added. The large number of prisoners involved in the swap came with added complications. Prisoners were taken off each aircraft and then moved to secure locations by MIT, to undergo health checks and ensure that each part of the swap deal was ratified, before being placed back onto the planes heading to their respective destinations. “Ten prisoners, including two minors, were relocated to Russia, thirteen prisoners to Germany, and three prisoners to the United States,” they said. “This operation has been recorded in history as the most extensive prisoner exchange between the United States, Russia, and Germany in recent years.” From what we can see, the exchange is still in process, and hasn’t officially ended until all of the planes have left the tarmac in Ankara. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ab9dc28f08fd552e82dc0b#block-66ab9dc28f08fd552e82dc0b) As part of the exchange, Germany has released a Russian assassin, **[Vadim Krasikov](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/26/vadim-krasikov-who-russian-hitman-navalny-prisoner-swap-claim#:~:text=Explainer-,Vadim%20Krasikov%3A%20who%20is%20Russian%20hitman,to%20Navalny%20prisoner%20swap%20claim%3F&text=Allies%20of%20the%20late%20Russian,convicted%20hitman%20jailed%20in%20Germany.)**, according to a Turkish presidency statement. A high-ranking colonel in the Russian secret service FSB, the 58-year old was serving a life sentence in a German jail for [the 2019 murder](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/28/russia-denies-ordering-assassination-of-zelimkhan-khangoshvili-chechen-exile-in-berlin) of **Zelimkhan Khangoshvili**, a Georgian-born Chechen dissident, in Berlin’s central Tiergarten park. Vladimir Putin had made it clear that securing Krasikov’s return to [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) was his No 1 target. The Russian leader [alluded](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/09/putin-says-release-of-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-may-be-possible) to him in February, saying the release of the US journalist **Evan Gershkovich** could be secured in a prison swap involving a man, whom he described as a “patriot” serving a life sentence in a “US allied country” after being convicted of “liquidating a bandit”. [Share](mailto:?subject=Biden%20and%20Harris%20to%20meet%20freed%20Americans%20arriving%20in%20the%20US%20after%20Russia%20prisoner%20exchange%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/aug/01/russia-prison-swap-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-wsj-vadim-krasikov-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66ab22ae8f089f4938520508#block-66ab22ae8f089f4938520508)

**Evan Gershkovich **A Wall Street Journal reporter, Gershkovich became the first western correspondent to be arrested for espionage since the fall of the Soviet Union. Detained in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to Ekaterinburg, Russian authorities claim he was collecting information for the CIA, but have never made public any of their supposed evidence. Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US state department have all denied the charges. He was [sentenced to 16 years in jail in July in a speedy, closed trial](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/19/trial-us-journalist-evan-gershkovich-hopes-prisoner-swap). [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-2) Paul Whelan, a former US marine, was arrested in 2018 on espionage charges. Photograph: Sofia Sandurskaya/AP **Paul Whelan **Arrested in 2018 on espionage charges, the former US marine has been in Russian prison since. Whelan, who also holds UK, Irish and Canadian citizenship, has always said the evidence against him was falsified. In a recent interview with the BBC, he said he spent his days stitching overalls and hats in a prison factory, and that his barracks were mouldy and unheated. Late last year, Whelan’s family said he had been hit in the face by another prisoner, breaking his glasses. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-3) Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for Radio Liberty in Prague, was arrested in Kazan, Russia, last year. Photograph: Alexey Nasyrov/Reuters **Alsu Kurmasheva**A 47-year-old editor for Radio Liberty, based in Prague, Kurmasheva is a joint US-Russian citizen. She was arrested last year during a family visit to the city of Kazan, and accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent” and for spreading “false information” about the country’s armed forces, under harsh censorship laws enacted after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-4) Ilya Yashin is one of Russia’s best-known opposition leaders. Photograph: Yury Kochetkov/AP **Ilya Yashin**Yashin is one of Russia’s best-known opposition leaders, a longtime ally of Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in 2015, and Alexei Navalny, who died in prison earlier this year. In an [interview last year with the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/04/ilya-yashin-kremlin-critic-speaks-out-from-russian-prison-putin-ukraine), written from prison, Yashin said he had stayed in Russia rather than emigrate because he felt that after the invasion of Ukraine it was important to remain and speak out. “I understood that an anti-war voice should be speaking in Russia,” he said. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-5) Oleg Orlov, a human rights defender, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail for criticism of the Russian army. Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images **Oleg Orlov**A veteran of the Soviet-era dissident movement, 70-year-old Orlov is one of Russia’s most respected human rights defenders, and for the past two decades was one of the leaders of Memorial, an organisation that won a share of the Nobel peace prize in 2022. Orlov was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail earlier this year for criticism of the Russian army. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-6) Sasha Skochilenko was jailed for seven years for replacing price tags in a St Petersburg supermarket with anti-war messages. Photograph: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP **Sasha Skochilenko**A 33-year-old anti-war artist, Skochilenko was jailed for seven years late last year after she replaced price tags in a St Petersburg supermarket with anti-war messages. Amnesty International declared her a prisoner of conscience. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-7) Opposition politician and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has accused the Kremlin of trying to poison him twice. Photograph: Dmitry Serebryakov/AP **Vladimir Kara-Murza**A 42-year-old longstanding opposition politician and activist, Kara-Murza has accused the Kremlin of trying to poison him twice, in 2015 and 2017. He was jailed for 25 years last year for his criticism of the war in Ukraine and for links with an “undesirable” organisation. His family said Kara-Murza, who has dual Russian-UK citizenship, had suffered health problems in prison, as an after-effect of the earlier poisonings. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-8) At 19, Kevin Lik is the youngest person to be convicted of treason in Russia. Photograph: X.com **Kevin Lik**Nineteen-year-old Lik is the youngest person to be convicted of treason in Russia. He was sentenced last December to four years in jail, apparently for emailing photographs to “representatives of a foreign state” at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lik is a German-Russian dual national; he was born in [Germany](https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany) but moved to Russia at the age of 12. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-9) Rico Krieger was sentenced to death in Belarus for supposedly carrying out a terrorist attack on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence. Photograph: Belteleradio Company/Reuters **Rico Krieger**Unlike everyone else in the swap, Krieger was held in Belarus, not Russia. His case became public only in recent weeks, when it emerged he had been sentenced to death in the country, supposedly for carrying out a terrorist attack on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence. He appeared in an emotional interview on state television, begging for clemency and asking the German government to intervene. According to Belarusian authorities, the 30-year-old Krieger was arrested late last year after setting off an explosion in the country in which nobody was injured, though no evidence was presented publicly. On Tuesday, the Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, pardoned Krieger. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-10) Ksenia Fadeyeva, an associate of the late Alexei Navalny, was sentenced to nine years in jail in 2023. Photograph: Andrei Fateyev/AP **Ksenia Fadeyeva**An associate of the late Alexei Navalny in the Siberian city of Tomsk, Fadeyeva was with Navalny when he was poisoned with the novichok nerve agent in the city in 2020. She later won election to the municipal council. However, Russian authorities outlawed Navalny’s organisation in 2021, and last year Fadeyeva was sentenced to nine years in jail on charges of “organising an extremist group”. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-11) Liliya Chanysheva, who was one of Alexei Navalny’s regional coordinators, is serving time in prison for organising an extremist community. Photograph: AP **Liliya Chanysheva**Chanysheva was another of Navalny’s regional coordinators, running his office in the city of Ufa. She was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for organising an extremist community, and the sentence was extended by a further two years in April, after prosecutors said the initial sentence was too lenient. **Vadim Ostanin **Ostanin was another former coordinator of Navalny’s office in the Siberian city of Barnaul. In July 2023, he was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony on charges of extremism. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-12) Andrei Pivovarov, the former head of Open Russia movement, was sentenced to four years in prison. Photograph: Denis Kaminev/AP **Andrei Pivovarov **Pivovarov is a Russian opposition politician who served as the head of Open Russia, which was outlawed in 2021. In 2022, Pivovarov was convicted of carrying out activities of an “undesirable” organisation and was sentenced to four years in prison. **Dieter (Demuri) Voro****nin**Voronin is a dual Russian-German national, and a political scientist. In March 2023, he was sentenced to 13 years and three months in prison on charges of state treason. He was implicated in the case of Russian journalist [Ivan Safronov](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/05/russian-journalist-ivan-safronov-sentenced-to-22-years-in-prison), who was accused of state treason for passing classified information to foreign nationals and sentenced to [22 years in prison](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/05/russian-journalist-ivan-safronov-sentenced-to-22-years-in-prison) in 2022. Safronov’s lawyers have said he was only using publicly available information in his work. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-13) Patrick Schöbel, a German national, had been facing drug-smuggling charges. Photograph: Andrei Bok/SOPA Images/Rex/Shutterstock **Patrick Schöbel **Schöbel is a German national who was arrested earlier this year at Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg in February when gummies containing cannabis were allegedly found in his possession. He had been detained since and was facing drug-smuggling charges, the outlet said. **German Moyzhes **Moyzhes is a dual Russian-German national, and a lawyer who had been helping Russians obtain residence permits for countries in the EU including Germany. He was arrested in May this year in St Petersburg, and accused of committing state treason. His trial was still pending. **Prisoners** **returning to Russia** ------------------------------------- [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-14) Vadim Krasikov was arrested in 2019 after fatally shooting the Chechen exile Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin. **Vadim Krasikov**Vladimir Putin had long indicated Krasikov as his number one demand in any swap. He was arrested in 2019 after [shooting dead the Chechen exile Zelimkhan Khangoshvili](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/28/russia-denies-ordering-assassination-of-zelimkhan-khangoshvili-chechen-exile-in-berlin) in broad daylight in a Berlin park. Believed to be a former FSB officer, Krasikov travelled to Germany on a false identity. German authorities believe the assassination was an officially sanctioned mission – a Berlin court called the hit “a state-ordered murder”. In his interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Putin described Krasikov as “a person who eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals, due to patriotic sentiments”. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-15) Anna Dultseva and Artem Dultsev were deep-cover Russian spies who are believed to have carried out tasks for Russian intelligence across Europe. **Artem Dultsev** **and** **Anna Dultseva**The pair were “illegals” – deep-cover Russian spies who are dispatched abroad on long-term missions that can last decades, posing as foreigners. Artem and Anna [pretended to be a married Argentinian couple](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/24/suspected-russian-spies-trial-slovenia) named Maria Meyer and Ludwig Gisch, a gallerist and IT entrepreneur respectively. They lived in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with their two children, from where they are believed to have carried out tasks for Russian intelligence across Europe. When they were arrested in late 2022, a source told the Guardian there was so much cash found in their office that it took “hours to count”. Their two minor children are also believed to have been included in the swap. The two had been taken into foster care after their arrest and continued to attend school in Ljubljana. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-16) Mikhail Mikushin, a Russian ‘illegal’, was arrested in Norway in 2022. Photograph: Christo Grozev/Bellingcat **Mikhail Mikushin**Another Russian illegal, Mikushin was arrested in Norway, where he used the Brazilian identity of José Assis Giammaria. He was [arrested](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/28/russian-spy-norway-canada-brazil-academic) in the northern Norwegian city of Tromsø, where he worked as a researcher at a university, ironically engaged in assessing hybrid security threats. He was due to stand trial in September. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-17) Vladislav Klyushin, a Russian businessman, was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Boston court for his role in a $90m insider-trading scheme. Photograph: AP **Vladislav Klyushin**A Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin, Klyushin, 43, was sentenced in September 2023 by a court in Boston to nine years in prison for his role in a $90m insider-trading scheme involving hacked secret earnings information about multiple companies. Klyushin, the owner of a Moscow-based IT company that worked with the Russian defence ministry, was one of the highest-profile Russians in US custody. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-18) Roman Seleznev, known by his hacking name Track2, was sentenced in the US to an unprecedented 27 years in prison for cybercrime. Photograph: US Department of Justice **Roman Seleznev**The son of a Russian Duma deputy, Seleznev, 40, was arrested on holiday at an airport in the Maldives in 2014 and sentenced three years later in Washington to 27 years in prison, the longest-ever hacking-related sentence in the US. Seleznev, known by his hacker name Track2, was accused by a US court of perpetrating a cyber-assault on thousands of American businesses resulting in $169m in losses. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/whos-who-in-the-prisoner-exchange-between-russia-and-the-west#img-19) Vadim Konoshchenok is alleged by the US to have been affiliated to two sanctioned Russian firms that played a key role in supplying Russia’s war machine. Photograph: US Department of Justice **Vadim Konoshchenok**Konoshchenok, 49, was arrested over a scheme to export American-made technology intended for use by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Initially detained in Estonia and later transferred to the US, Konoshchenok was alleged to be involved in the “Serniya Network” conspiracy. This network, comprising seven Russians and Americans, was implicated in illegally sourcing and shipping millions of dollars in western military hardware to Russian military contacts. **Pablo Gonz****ález/Pavel Rubtsov **A dual Spanish-Russian national, [González](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/12/spanish-journalist-held-in-poland-on-suspicion-of-pro-russian-espionage) was a journalist who had worked for many years for Spanish publications, frequently in Russia and Ukraine. He was arrested in Poland, near the border with Ukraine, in March 2022 and has been held in jail in Poland since, accused of being a Russian spy. Polish officials said he worked for GRU military intelligence, using cover as a journalist to travel the world and gain access to conflict zones. Poland had been criticised by press freedom groups for not making any evidence against him public, and Gonzalez had denied the charges.

* A **man aged 35 and his four-year-old son were killed** in Russian bombardment of Kyiv over Saturday night, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Sunday. Along with the two killed, three other people were injured when rockets hit homes in the capital’s Brovary district, authorities said. Explosions rang out on Saturday night in the centre and east of Kyiv, AFP journalists noted, as Ukraine’s air force said Russian missiles were headed towards the city. Flashes were seen against the night sky. Air raids against several other Ukrainian regions were also reported. * **Russia said it was evacuating tens of thousands of people from its Kursk region**, which has been invaded by Ukrainian troops. Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor, said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that he had “instructed” the head of the Belovsky district of the region, in Kursk’s south-west, to “speed up” the carrying out of the orders to evacuate. Local officials detailed the scale of civilian evacuations from towns and villages close to the combat zone. “More than 76,000 people have been temporarily relocated to safe places,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted an official from the regional emergency situations ministry as saying at a press briefing. * **Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were fighting in Russia’s Kursk region** and said the operation was part of Kyiv’s drive to restore justice after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Ukraine’s president had previously stayed silent about the operation. In his Saturday evening address, he said he had discussed the operation with the top Ukrainian commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, “and our actions and pushing the war into the aggressor’s territory”. Thanking the soldiers involved, he added: “Ukraine is proving that it can really bring justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor.” * **At least 13 people were injured in the city of Kursk after debris from a destroyed Ukraine-launched missile fell onto a nine-storey residential building**, officials in the region said on Sunday. Residents of the building were to be evacuated to a temporary accommodations centre, said the Kursk mayor, Igor Kutsak. He added that the whole city was under air raid alerts. * **Russia’s defence ministry claimed it prevented Ukraine from advancing further on the fifth day of the attack into Kursk**, [Dan Sabbagh reports](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/10/russia-claims-to-have-thwarted-ukraine-advance-in-kursk). Fighting was said to be taking place in three villages between seven and 11 miles from the international border – Ivashkovskoye, Malaya Loknya and Olgovka – similar locations to where [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine) was estimated to have advanced previously. Russia’s FSB domestic security agency imposed a “counter-terrorism” regime on Kursk and two neighbouring oblasts, Bryansk and Belgorod, giving the authorities sweeping powers to lock down an area and impose controls on communications. * **Russia’s nuclear agency on Saturday warned of a direct threat to the Kursk nuclear power station, less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the fighting**. “The actions of the Ukrainian army pose a direct threat” to the Kursk plant in western Russia, state news agencies cited its atomic energy agency Rosatom as saying. There was no evidence of Ukrainian forces threatening the plant. On Friday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency called for “maximum restraint”. * **There were reports of regional power outages after an electricity substation was hit in the Kursk region.** Acting governor Alexey Smirnov said on Friday that a fire had broken out in a transformer substation hit by debris from a Ukrainian drone. Power was out in some frontline areas, he added, including Kurchatov, where the nuclear power station is based. * **Belarus sent more troops to reinforce its border with Ukraine on Saturday,** saying Ukrainian drones had violated its airspace in the course of Kyiv’s incursion into the Kursk region. Belarus’s foreign ministry summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires, demanded measures to ensure such incidents would not recur and suggested a repeat would prompt Belarus to consider whether Kyiv’s diplomatic presence in Minsk was “appropriate”. The Ukrainian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. * **Ukraine’s navy and military intelligence attacked and damaged a former offshore gas platform used by Russian forces in the Black Sea, the navy spokesperson said on Saturday.** He posted a video taken at night showing an explosion on an offshore platform and the ensuing fire. He said that a half a day before the attack, Russian forces had stationed equipment and military personnel on the platform. There was no immediate comment from Moscow. * **Three people were killed in two Russian attacks on Ukraine’s eastern frontline Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, local officials said on Saturday.** One civilian was killed and several others were injured in a Russian missile strike on the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, the local governor said. * **One civilian was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian city of Lipetsk, about 300 km (190 miles) from the Ukrainian border**, the regional government said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday. Igor Artamonov, governor of the Lipetsk region, said Russian air defence systems had intercepted 19 Ukrainian drones overnight * **Elsewhere on the frontline, Ukraine on Saturday reported the lowest number of “combat engagements” on its territory since 10 June**. That could be a sign its incursion is helping to relieve pressure on other parts of the sprawling frontline where Moscow’s troops had been advancing. * **Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv, with air defence systems repelling the strikes, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital and military administration officials said early on Sunday**. “Air defence units operating, air raid alert continues,” said the Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko. It was not immediately clear if the attack caused any damage or injuries. * **Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged on Saturday to “strengthen our Ukrainian spiritual independence”,** suggesting that the country’s leadership was moving towards effectively banning the branch of the Orthodox church that has links to Moscow. Membership of the independent church loyal to the Kyiv patriarchate has swelled since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But the minority Moscow-linked church retains influence and Ukrainian leaders accuse it of abetting the invasion and trying to poison public opinion.

Aug 28, 2024 7:00 AM On its 10th anniversary, Signal’s president wants to remind you that the world’s most secure communications platform is a nonprofit. It’s free. It doesn’t track you or serve you ads. It pays its engineers very well. And it’s a go-to app for hundreds of millions of people.  Photograph: Dina Litovsky ten years ago, WIRED published a [news story](https://www.wired.com/2014/07/free-encrypted-calling-finally-comes-to-the-iphone/) about how two little-known, slightly ramshackle [encryption](https://www.wired.com/tag/encryption/) apps called RedPhone and TextSecure were merging to form something called Signal. Since that July in 2014, Signal has transformed from a cypherpunk curiosity—created by an [anarchist coder](https://www.wired.com/2016/07/meet-moxie-marlinspike-anarchist-bringing-encryption-us/), run by a scrappy team working in a single room in San Francisco, spread word-of-mouth by hackers competing for paranoia points—into a full-blown, mainstream, encrypted communications phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people have now downloaded Signal. (Including Drake: “Cuban girl, her family grind coffee,” he rapped in his 2022 song “Major Distribution.” “Text me on the Signal, don’t call me.”) Billions more use Signal’s encryption protocols integrated into platforms like [WhatsApp](https://www.wired.com/tag/whatsapp/). That origin story is, perhaps, a startup cliché. But Signal is, in many ways, the exact _opposite_ of the Silicon Valley model. It’s a nonprofit that has never taken investment, makes its product available for free, has no advertisements, and collects virtually no information on its users—while competing with tech giants and winning. In a world where Elon Musk seems to have proven that practically no privately owned communication forum is immune from a single rich person’s whims, Signal stands as a counterfactual: evidence that venture capitalism and surveillance capitalism—hell, capitalism, period—are not the only paths forward for the future of technology. Over its past decade, no leader of Signal has embodied that iconoclasm as visibly as Meredith Whittaker. Signal’s president since 2022 is one of the world’s most prominent tech critics: When she worked at Google, she led walkouts to protest its discriminatory practices and spoke out against its military contracts. She cofounded the AI Now Institute to address ethical implications of artificial intelligence and has become a leading voice for the notion that AI and surveillance are inherently intertwined. Since she took on the presidency at the Signal Foundation, she has come to see her central task as working to find a long-term taproot of funding to keep Signal alive for decades to come—with zero compromises or corporate entanglements—so it can serve as a model for an entirely new kind of tech ecosystem. Whittaker has been based in Paris for the summer, but I met up with her during a quick visit to her home city of New York. In a Brooklyn café, we ended up delving deepest into a subject that, as outspoken as the privacy exec may be, she rarely speaks about: herself, and her strange path from Google manager to Silicon Valley gadfly. **Andy Greenberg: Is it OK to say here that we had planned to talk on the actual 10th anniversary of Signal but had to reschedule because you were hospitalized with food poisoning?** **Meredith Whittaker:** Yeah, that’s fine. **OK. So you’re not quite a privacy person like \[Signal Foundation cofounders\] Moxie Marlinspike or Brian Acton …** No, I’m a woman, for one thing. **True! But also, there’s no way that either of them would let me mention something personal like that. They’re much more guarded in the way that they present themselves. It seems like you’re a different kind of leader for Signal.** I think the Venn diagram of our beliefs has some significant overlaps. We all have a clear analysis of surveillance capitalism and the stakes of mass surveillance in the hands of the powerful. But in terms of my personal guardedness around my own life: I am a private person. There’s not that much on the internet about me, because from a young age, I’ve had a fundamental instinct not to tell too much. But I think it comes more from just a long-standing tendency—and thinking about the stakes—than a position of ideological purity. **You’re also much more out there in public than anybody from Signal has ever been before.** Yeah. That’s true. We’re at a different phase of Signal right now, as well. **How so?** Well to begin with, Signal started 10 years ago as this virtuosic hacker project that was pushing against a dominant paradigm that was almost universally celebrated by everyone at the time. **What paradigm would that be?** Surveillance. The surveillance business model. Photograph: Dina Litovsky **Right. And what phase is Signal in now?** Now Signal is established critical infrastructure for militaries, for dissidents, for journalists, for CEOs, for anyone who has private confidential information. So I think we’re in a different place, where we need to be out there. We can’t have our story told by proxies. It’s time to define it for ourselves. **Well, before we get to that story: You’ve been spending the summer in Paris. Why Europe? Why France? Is that a Meredith thing, or is that a Signal thing?** It’s a Signal thing. We’re focusing on the EU, and growing our market, and figuring out who potential partners could be. I think it’s good for any tech company right now to be thinking, how can we be flexible, given that we’re looking at a very volatile geopolitical environment. **Are you saying you’re looking for an escape route, in the event of a second Trump administration?** It’s more than that. There are a lot of possible futures on the table right now. **Let me just ask it this way: There’s an election coming up in the US. Are you thinking about a new administration, Democrat or Republican, and the possibility that Signal needs to find a new home?** My answer to that would be, I think we’re always aware of shifting political sands. Given that governments in the US and elsewhere have not always been uncritical of encryption, a future where we have jurisdictional flexibility is something we’re looking at. **Does it really make sense to look for that kind of jurisdictional flexibility in Europe when Telegram founder Pavel Durov was just arrested in France? Does this give you pause about Signal’s future in the EU?** Well, to start: Telegram and Signal are very different applications with very different use cases. Telegram is a social media app that allows an individual to communicate with millions at once and doesn't provide meaningful privacy or end-to-end encryption. Signal is solely a private and secure communications app that has no social media features. So we're already talking about two different things. And as of today \[August 27, 2024\] there are simply too many unanswered questions and too little concrete information about the specific rationale behind Durov’s arrest for me to give you an informed opinion. On the broader question, let's be real: There's no state in the world that has an unblemished record on encryption. There are also champions of private communications and expression everywhere in the world—including many in the French government and in Europe beyond. Those of us who’ve been fighting for privacy for the long term recognize that this is a persistent battle, with allies and adversaries everywhere. Trying to prioritize flexibility is not the same thing as idealizing one or another jurisdiction. We're clear-eyed about the waters we need to navigate, wherever they are. We see a huge amount of support and opportunity in Europe. And there are really big differences between states, even in Europe. Germany is considering a law [mandating end-to-end encryption](https://tuta.com/blog/german-government-publishes-encryption-law), while Spain has been at the tip of the spear on pushing for [undermining encryption](https://www.wired.com/story/europe-break-encryption-leaked-document-csa-law/). So again, it's not a monolith. **What does the US election mean for Signal, its operations, and its growth?** Everything is up and to the right. I think general cultural sensitivity to privacy has never been more acute, and it gets inflamed—you see a lot of people joining—in moments of political volatility. So Ukraine used to be a market that was near the bottom. It’s now one of our top markets, following the Russian invasion. That’s just one example. We also see growth in response to things like what we call a Big Tech Fuckup, like when WhatsApp [changed its terms of service](https://www.wired.com/story/whatsapp-privacy-policy-facebook-data-sharing/). We saw a boost in desktop after Zoom announced that they were going to [scan everyone’s calls for AI](https://www.wired.com/story/zoom-became-a-part-of-daily-life-it-needs-to-tell-users-exactly-how-its-using-their-data/). And we anticipate more of those. We also see a boost when a big organization mandates the use of Signal, so the European Commission in 2020 endorsed Signal as the only messenger they recommended for members. So with things like that, effectively everyone switches at once. Elections can be moments where that happens. But often, those moments are less for us to predict and more for us to be prepared for. Forty years of history seem to be happening every other week. **Going back to your sense of Signal’s new phase: What is going to be different at this point in its life? Are you focused on truly bringing it to a billion people, the way that most Silicon Valley firms ar**e? I mean, I … Yes. But not for the same reasons. For almost opposite reasons. **Yeah. I don’t think anyone else at Signal has ever tried, at least so vocally, to emphasize this definition of Signal as the _opposite_ of everything else in the tech industry, the only major communications platform that is not a for-profit business.** Yeah, I mean, we don’t have a party line at Signal. But I think we should be proud of who we are and let people know that there are clear differences that matter to them. It’s not for nothing that WhatsApp is spending millions of dollars on billboards calling itself private, with the load-bearing privacy infrastructure having been created by the Signal protocol that WhatsApp uses. Now, we’re happy that WhatsApp integrated that, but let’s be real. It’s not by accident that WhatsApp and Apple are spending billions of dollars defining themselves as private. Because privacy is incredibly valuable. And who’s the gold standard for privacy? It’s Signal. I think people need to reframe their understanding of the tech industry, understanding how surveillance is so critical to its business model. And then understand how Signal stands apart, and recognize that we need to expand the space for that model to grow. Because having 70 percent of the global market for cloud in the hands of three companies globally is simply not safe. It’s Microsoft and CrowdStrike taking down half of the critical infrastructure in the world, because CrowdStrike cut corners on QA for a fucking kernel update. Are you kidding me? That’s totally insane, if you think about it, in terms of actually stewarding these infrastructures. **So your focus is in preservation of this role for Signal.** Preserving and growing. This is not a sclerotic kind of museum piece. This is an adolescent animal that is about to double, triple in size. Our user base has been steadily growing, and I think it’s going to keep growing with the geopolitical volatility of the world and a new generation that is much more hip to the perils of Big Tech controlling infrastructure. My job is to make sure Signal has the room to do that and to make sure that people who need to be paying attention, who need to be paying up, who need to be putting their shoulder behind the wheel of this vision, are lined up to do that. **As Signal becomes a mainstream app, what about that hacker scene that was once the core audience? It’s become very stylish, among some of the hackers that I talk to, to say “Signal’s blown. There’s a backdoor in Signal. Or the intelligence agencies have cracked Signal. We need to move to my preferred, obscure, ultra-secure messaging platform.” But how do you answer that, and how do you live with this issue of proving a negative all the time, that there’s _not_ a vulnerability or a backdoor in Signal?** I would push back on it being stylish among hackers. On the whole, we love and work very well with the security research community. You’re talking about a few loud, callow security researchers, some of them “security researchers” in quotes. But it’s very disappointing to me to see that kind of discourse. It shows, to me, a kind of abdication of responsibility. Where I get really frustrated is when that over-claiming and selfish fame-seeking behavior collides with an information environment where there are state actors trying to move people away from private communication onto less private communication platforms. We have desperate civil society groups, desperate human rights groups, journalists, immediately calling us after one of those things goes viral saying, “Oh my God, is there a problem with Signal? We’re moving all our people to some alternative”—which is less secure. There are actual existential stakes here for people around the globe, 99 percent of whom can’t actually validate random security researchers’ claims but nonetheless are taking it seriously, because it’s a life-or-death issue. **I think we’re talking in some part about Elon Musk here. He contributed to this recently when he vaguely alluded to “known vulnerabilities” in Signal in a [post on X](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1787589564917490059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1787589564917490059%7Ctwgr%5E8fd42b1c1d740f3386ace793f798c4c98e609ff9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fembedly.forbes.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext2Fhtmlkey%3D3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935schema%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Felonmusk%2Fstatus%2F17875895649174900593Fs3D6126t3Df02uwS5xJYHZsKrF6HO_4Qimage%3D).** It concerns me to see the Elons of the world jumping on that bandwagon. Elon’s been a longtime supporter of Signal. He tweeted in 2021 he used Signal, right? He’s been a fan. So I don’t know what changed. What I do know is that, as far as we know, the claim was completely baseless. There’s no serious report that backs it. But that was two nights of me not sleeping, just dealing with Twitter stuff because we had to take it seriously, because it freaked out a lot of people. **As Signal becomes more mainstream, I increasingly find that I’m using Signal in completely trivial, normal, everyday communications with people and sending them videos, sending them entire slideshows of images of my kids or whatever. And I keep thinking, I’m costing Meredith so much money right now.** Andy, it is an honor. \[_Laughs._\] It is an honor to send your slideshows and videos. **But this is all very expensive for a nonprofit. WhatsApp, of course, would love you to just post as much data as you can on their platform. They can stomach the cost, because they’re making money. But Signal—I worry, in terms of the cost of all that data, are you the dog that caught the car at some point?** It’s a net positive. Encryption requires a network effect. Our goal is that everyone, everywhere can easily pick up their device and use Signal to talk to anyone else. We’re well supported. We are a nonprofit—not because we want to exist on coins thrown at us in a hat. We’re nonprofit because that kind of organizational structure is, at this point in history, critical to focusing on our mission. In our industry, profit is made through monetizing surveillance or providing goods and services. There isn’t a business model for privacy on the internet. Signal is a nonprofit because a for-profit structure leads to a scenario where one of my board members goes to Davos, talks to some guy, comes back excitedly telling me we need an AI strategy for profit. Or another one of my board members comes in, gets really nervous that our revenue model, whatever it is, isn’t bringing in something that meets our goals and says, “Well, maybe we can start collecting metadata. Maybe we can reduce the focus on privacy, because of course our primary objective function, as a traditional for-profit, is revenue and growth.” And privacy in an economy powered by surveillance will necessarily hamper those. So we’re looking now at how we grow the model Signal is building into something sustainable. And the type of money we’re talking about isn’t huge for tech—it’s huge for other sectors, but we’re pretty lean for tech. And how do we extend that model as a template that others can adopt in service of building infrastructure, applications, and alternatives to the concentrated surveillance business model at the heart of the tech industry? Photograph: Dina Litovsky **This is a very rude question, but on this subject of being lean, I looked up your 990, and you pay yourself less than … well, you pay yourself half or a third as much as some of your engineers.** Yes, and our goal is to pay people as close to Silicon Valley’s salaries as possible, so we can recruit very senior people, knowing that we don’t have equity to offer them. We pay engineers very well. \[_Leans in performatively toward the phone recording the interview._\] If anyone’s looking for a job, we pay very, very well. **But you pay yourself pretty modestly in the scheme of things.** I make a very good salary that I’m very happy with. **It feels taboo to even be talking about this. But it really captures the weirdness of Signal.** Well, look, it captures that we’re doing what we can to build a model that works in opposition to a near-hegemonic model that we are up against. Right? It’s going to look weird because the norm is not what we’re about. **I wouldn’t imagine that most nonprofits pay engineers as much as you do.** Yeah, but most tech is not a nonprofit. Name another nonprofit tech organization shipping critical infrastructure that provides real-time communications across the globe reliably. There isn’t one. This is not a hypothesis project. We’re not in a room dreaming of a perfect future. We have to do it now. It has to work. If the servers go down, I need a guy with a pager to get up in the middle of the fucking night and be on that screen, diagnosing whatever the problem is, until that is fixed. So we have to look like a tech company in some ways to be able to do what we do. **If I could get into the actual story of your career, you said in your initial blog post when you took the president role that you’ve always been a champion of Signal. I think you said you used RedPhone and TextSecure?** I did. **I tried those at the time, enough to write about them. But they were pretty janky! I’m impressed or maybe a little weirded out that you used them back then.** But I was in tech. Right? All the cool people in tech were already using them. **And you were at Google at that time?** Yeah. I was with Google then. **What was somebody like you even doing at Google, honestly?** Have you ever heard of needing money to live and pay rent, Andy? \[_Laughs._\] Have you heard of a society where access to resources is gated by your ability to do productive labor for one or another enterprise that pays you money? **I get that! But you are now such a vocal anti-Silicon-Valley, anti-surveillance-capitalism person that it’s hard to imagine—** I’m not anti-tech. **Yeah, I didn’t say that. But how did you end up at Google?** Well, I have a degree in rhetoric and English literature from Berkeley. I went to art school my whole life. I was not looking for a job in tech. I didn’t really care about tech at that time, but I was looking for a job because I graduated from Berkeley and I didn’t have any money. And I put my résumé on Monster.com—which, for Gen Z, it’s like old-school LinkedIn. I was interviewing with some publishing houses, and then Google contacted me for a job as something called a … what was it, consumer operations associate? **Consumer operations associate?** Yeah. What is that? None of those words made sense. I was just like, that sounds like a business job. So I set up a Gmail account to respond to the recruiter. And then I went through, I think, eight interviews and two weird sort of IQ tests and one writing test. It was a wild gauntlet. **What year was this?** I started in July of 2006. Ultimately what a “consumer operations associate” meant was a temp in customer support. But no one had told me that. And I was like, _what is this place? Why is the juice free? The expensive juice is free._ I’d never been in an environment like that. At that point, Google had hit an inflection point. They had a couple of thousand employees. And there was a conviction in the culture that they had finally found the recipe to be the ethical capitalists, ethical tech. There was a real … self-satisfaction is maybe an ungenerous way to put it, but it was a weird exuberance. I was just really interested in it. And there were a lot of blank checks lying around Google at that time. They had this 20 percent time policy: “If you have a creative idea, bring it to us, we’ll support it”—all of this rhetoric that I didn’t know you shouldn’t take seriously. And so I did a lot of maneuvering. I figured out how to meet the people who seemed interesting. I got into the engineering group. I started working on standards, and I was just, in a sense, signing my name on these checks and trying to cash them. And more often than not, people were like, “Well, OK, she got in the room, so let’s just let her cook.” And I ended up learning. **What were you working on? I don’t actually know the last job you had at Google, but it was not in customer support.** My God, no. No. I founded a research group. **So it wasn’t a fantasy, the 20 percent thing. It sounds like you actually really lived that Google dream. You made those side hustles and explorations your whole job, eventually. This all sounds very pro-Google, pro-Silicon-Valley. It’s, like, the dream of every young person who wants a job at Google.** If I only fucked with my own success, I would be an SVP at Google right now with five houses. I was working with some of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with. I shared an office with the coauthor of the C programming language! And people were really generous with their time and expertise. So all of that was great. And I can hold that in a balance with the fact that ultimately the business model, intentionally or not, is deeply toxic. And we’ve seen the derivatives of that over the past 10 years play out over and over and over again. Photograph: Dina Litovsky **Yeah. Not to make this sound like Dave Eggers’ _The Circle_ or something, but at what point did this utopia start to sour for you? How did you make this shift to who you are now and what you’re doing now?** I founded an effort called Measurement Lab around that time, the world’s largest source of open data on internet performance. At the time it was a hypothesis project: Can we put some teeth on the net neutrality debate by creating a numerical benchmark for “neutrality” and begin to hold internet service providers to that standard? It was really where I cut a lot of my technical teeth, got deep into networking. We were able to show through this mass data collection, through years of work, that there were actual issues happening in our connections. So all of that was right around the time when machine learning was becoming a new hot thing. There’s an inflection point in 2012 that I’m sure you’re familiar with: There’s this paper that got published, called the AlexNet Algorithm, that basically brought a bunch of ingredients together and ignited the current AI moment after a long winter. What it showed is that with massive amounts of data and powerful computational chips, you could make old algorithmic techniques—techniques that dated from the 1980s—do new and impressive things. **OK … I guess I maybe see where this is going.** I am hypersensitive to data. I’ve been in the measurement wars. So I’m like, “Wait, what is machine learning? Oh, so you’re taking trashy data that you claim represents human sentiments—or things that are much more difficult to measure accurately than the low-level network performance data that I was very familiar with—and you’re putting that into some statistical model, and then you’re calling that intelligence?” I was like, “Wait, no, you can’t do that.” So that animated a lot of my concerns around AI. And of course throughout this time I’m learning more and more about what the business model actually is. I’m situated in the technical infrastructure group, and what I began to realize is: That’s where the money is. I’m looking at the balance sheet, the Measurement Lab server infrastructure, more than 10 years ago now, cost $40 million a year just in uplink connectivity. It gave me a lot of sensitivity to just the capital involved. I’m like, “Oh, this is not innovation. This is capital.” **$40 million is basically Signal’s entire annual budget right now.** It’s a little under that. But yeah, I think the capital intensiveness of tech and the consolidation of tech infrastructure was something I was sensitized to pretty early. What was new to ignite this AI boom right then? It was the presence of massive amounts of data—training data and input data—and powerful computational chips, the more of them strung together, the better. Now, what are those? Those are exactly the affordances that have accrued to the early platform companies that have built out their social media networks, built out their data centers. With artificial intelligence, we’re basically relaundering a lot of this shit through broken models that are giving Google more and more authority to claim intelligence when what they’re actually doing is issuing derivatives of the shitty data they have. And what was AI used for? Why were they into it? Because it’s really good at tuning ad algorithms, at targeting ads. It’s not an accident that the three authors of this AlexNet paper were immediately hired by Google. Through a number of paper cuts, I was becoming sensitized to the problems with surveillance, the problems with this mass-scale approach, the platform approach—where poison salts the earth for any other competitor—and the problem with that concentrated power. **Was there any single turning point for you?** No, there was no one moment. There’s a lot of sedimentary layers as I learn these things: That seems weird. That seems iffy. That doesn’t seem aboveboard. By 2017 I’d already cofounded the AI Now Institute. I was pretty well known in the field and within the company as a vocal critic. My job was very cool. I could say whatever I wanted. I thought I had found the magical formula. Then I realized, yeah, everyone loves it because you’re not actually in the room informing decisions. You’re just providing, well, in the most cynical sense, a pretext that Google can point to and say, “We listen to heterogeneous voices across the spectrum. We’re a very open company.” But in 2017, I found out about the DOD contract to build AI-based drone targeting and surveillance for the US military, in the context of a war that had pioneered the signature strike. **What’s a signature strike?** A signature strike is effectively ad targeting but for death. So I don’t actually know who you are as a human being. All I know is that there’s a data profile that has been identified by my system that matches whatever the example data profile we could sort and compile, that we assume to be Taliban related or it’s terrorist related. **Right. Like, “We kill people based on metadata,” as former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden said.** That’s it, exactly. Google had vocally, many times in the past, disavowed doing military work. Because yoking the interests of a massive surveillance corporation to the world’s most lethal military—which is what the US military call themselves, not my term—is a _bad idea_. And the marriage between overclassification on the government side and corporate secrecy on the tech industry side would be a disaster for any accountability around the harms of these systems. That was the point at which I was like, look, I can’t make my reputation and my money on offering an analysis of why this might be bad without actually pushing back using a little bit more muscle. **We’re talking about Project Maven now, the DOD contract that led to your organizing walkouts at Google.** I mean, it wasn’t just me. I was somebody who put my reputation on the line and did a lot of work for this, but it was thousands and thousands of people within Google. It was a sustained effort. It was many of the most senior AI researchers coming out and saying “fuck this.” One, it doesn’t work. Two, I don’t want to contribute to it. And three, this is a bad path to go down. Because let’s be clear: It doesn’t work. Bloomberg’s [reporting](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-06-10/ukraine-s-vision-of-robot-assassins-shows-need-for-binding-ai-rules) in Ukraine recently was pretty categorical on this. The people who picked up that contract, the Maven contracts, have built out the systems, and they’re buggy, they’re fallible, they’re overly complex. **What does it feel like to have been looking at that in 2017, and now not only is AI the buzzword of the moment but also we’ve seen evidence that the IDF is bombing Gaza based on the output of AI tools?** Well, I don’t feel like I was wrong! I mean, if being right were a strategy, we would’ve won a million times over. I think one of the things we see in Gaza is the interlocking of mass surveillance and these targeting systems. The latter is reliant on the former. In order to create data profiles of people, in order to even have the pretext of targeting them algorithmically, you first need data. And Gazans are some of the most surveilled people in the world. That then becomes the fodder for training these models—however that’s done—to determine that if a given data profile looks enough like the profile that’s been flagged as a terrorist profile, you should then bomb them. It’s a tragic example of at least part of what we were warning about then. **On this question of how surveillance and AI are intertwined: Do you have people say to you, “Meredith, please stick to your job, your focus is supposed to be privacy. Why are you talking about AI all the time? Aren’t you the encryption person?”** Maybe people say that _about_ me. I would say I’m well established enough in my position that few people say it _to_ me. If you were going to say that, you’d have to back it up with, why do you think those are unrelated? The short answer here is that AI is a product of the mass surveillance business model in its current form. It is not a separate technological phenomenon. **When I go back and I listen to your congressional testimony on AI, you were talking more about the ability of AI to do scary things _for_ surveillance. But what you’re talking about now is the ways that surveillance provides the data and the infrastructure for AI. It sounds like a chicken and egg thing.** Well, AI is the narrative. It’s not the technology. Surveillance and infrastructure are the material conditions. **So you’re saying that AI and surveillance are self-perpetuating: You get the materials to create what we call AI _from_ surveillance, and you use it for more surveillance. But there are forms of AI that ought to be more benevolent than that, right? Like finding tumors in medical scans.** I guess, yeah, although a lot of the claims end up being way overhyped when they’re compared to their utility within clinical settings. What I’m _not_ saying is that pattern matching across large sets of robust data is not useful. That is totally useful. What I’m talking about is the business model it’s contained in. OK, say we have radiological detection that actually is robust. But then it gets released into a health care system where it’s not used to treat people, where it’s used by insurance companies to exclude people from coverage—because that’s a business model. Or it’s used by hospital chains to turn patients away. How is this actually going to be used, given the cost of training, given the cost of infrastructure, given the actors who control those things? AI is constituted by this mass Big Tech surveillance business model. And it’s also entrenching it. The more we trust these companies to become the nervous systems of our governments and institutions, the more power they accrue, the harder it is to create alternatives that actually honor certain missions. Photograph: Dina Litovsky **Just seeing your Twitter commentary, it seems like you’re calling AI a bubble. Is it going to self-correct by imploding at some point?** I mean, the dotcom bubble imploded, and we still got the Big Tech surveillance business model. I think this generative AI moment is definitely a bubble. You cannot spend a billion dollars per training run when you need to do multiple training runs and then launch a fucking email-writing engine. Something is wrong there. But you’re looking at an industry that is not going to go away. So I don’t have a clear prediction on that. I do think you’re going to see a market drawdown. Nvidia’s market cap is going to die for a second. **So it’s not a self-correcting thing. Are you arguing that regulation is the solution?** Regulation could be part of it. Things like structural separation, where we begin to separate ownership of the infrastructure from the application layer, would perturb these businesses. I think meaningful privacy regulations could go a long way. Stopping the collection of massive amounts of data, curtailing the authority these companies have claimed for themselves to define our world based on the data they collect: All of that becomes really interesting territory, because it’s curbing the tributaries of infrastructural power that is animating this boom. You can see Signal is doing that in some sense. We don’t collect any data. We are effectively creating a system where, instead of all your metadata going to Meta, your metadata is going to no one. **Yeah, but it’s hard to point to Signal as the solution. You’re an advocate for structural change, but really you’re leading an organization that is so sui generis in the world. How do those things work together? I think you’re saying that you’re providing a model that hopefully other people will adopt? Because it’s not like Signal alone is going to solve surveillance capitalism.** No, no, no. Signal is not a solution to the problem. It is proof that we can do things differently, that there’s nothing natural about the paradigm that exists. The Signal model is going to keep growing, and thriving and providing, if we’re successful. We’re already seeing Proton \[a startup that offers end-to-end encrypted email, calendars, note-taking apps, and the like\] [becoming a nonprofit](https://proton.me/blog/proton-non-profit-foundation). It’s the paradigm shift that’s going to involve a lot of different forces pointing in a similar direction. We need to build alternatives, and this is something I’m working on with a coalition in Europe and folks in the US and elsewhere. But what does significant capital poured into building independent tech look like? How do you disarm the massive platforms, draw down their cloud infrastructures, the fact that they control our media ecosystem, the entire nesting-doll of toxic technologies that we’re seeing from this, while building alternatives that actually interconnect the world? What do communications networks that support this vision look like? What does an independent cloud infrastructure look like? How do we openly govern technologies that have been closed and captured by these large companies? And how do we do that at the level of actually building things? I’m really invested in that, because I think we’re going to need it for the world. **Does that mean that, in another 10 years, there’s going to be Signal Search, Signal Drive, Signal whatever?** There’s no road map for that. We don’t have to do everything. Signal has a lane, and we do it really, really well. And it may be that there’s another independent actor who is better positioned to provide some of those services. As a nonprofit, we’re not looking to poison the ground for others and do it all ourselves. We’re looking for a teeming ecosystem of people who are actually innovating, not just providing financializable startup infrastructure to be acquired by Big Tech at some point. **It’s almost a bad habit to think of a single company needing to dominate everything.** Yeah. **But still, Signal serves as a model for all of these things you want to see in the world. So what will Signal itself look like in 10 years?** I see Signal in 10 years being nearly ubiquitous. I see it being supported by a novel sustainability infrastructure—and I’m being vague about that just because I think we actually need to create the kinds of endowments and support mechanisms that can sustain capital-intensive tech without the surveillance business model. And that’s what I’m actually engaged in thinking through. I think most people will use Signal. I think Signal will be known almost like the power company. And I think we will see that model take off enough that it’s common sense to not talk about tech as Big Tech but to talk about a much more heterogeneous landscape with many, many more privacy-preserving options. **That’s a lovely vision. I guess basically no one but Signal has been actually making this work, though. So far the for-profit model just keeps winning with this one exception.** Keeps winning what? **Keeps winning users.** So a monopolistic hegemony is a really good way to do that. But it does not win hearts and minds. And we have now fully turned in terms of public sentiment toward Big Tech. People have to use it because you can’t participate in society without it, but that’s not winning users. That’s coercion. We’re talking about lock-in, where other options have been foreclosed by state abandonment or monopoly. The demand for an alternative has never been stronger. Signal is a heroic example that evolved in a moment of historical contingency and happened to involve some genuinely genius individuals who were committed and had a work ethic that carried it over that period of time. So I know that tech done differently is possible. I don’t think it’s fair to say other alternative models just haven’t worked because people prefer Big Tech. No, these alternative models have not received the capital they need, the support they need. And they’ve been swimming upstream against a business model that opposes their success. It’s not for lack of ideas or possibilities. It’s that we actually have to start taking seriously the shifts that are going to be required to do this thing—to build tech that rejects surveillance and centralized control—whose necessity is now obvious to everyone. _This interview has been edited for length and clarity._ _Let us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor at_ _[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])._

 Down a long, flat road in the industrial zone of South Memphis, a newly occupied factory is humming with activity. It’s a low-level white building that spans the length of several football fields. Workers in florescent green vests excavate the surrounding land, and a parade of construction trucks comes and goes. More than a dozen generators steadily burn methane gas. This part of Memphis, Tenn., is known for its factories and smokestacks. Nearby are a handful of historically Black neighborhoods, where poor air quality has given residents elevated asthma rates and lower life expectancy. Now, they have a new neighbor: Elon Musk. He took over the massive factory just a few months ago with the goal of building the “world’s largest supercomputer.” It’s named “Colossus,” sharing the title with both a mutant Russian comic book character and a sci-fi movie about a supercomputer that becomes sentient and goes rogue. The name originally comes from the mythical Greek statue "Colossus of Rhodes." This data center will supply the compute power for Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI. It could be a test case of this technology’s groundbreaking advances, and also its unintended consequences. AI [requires more electricity](https://www.npr.org/2024/07/12/g-s1-9545/ai-brings-soaring-emissions-for-google-and-microsoft-a-major-contributor-to-climate-change) to complete even simple tasks compared to typical search queries. In the U.S., about 60% of that electricity [comes from burning fossil fuels](https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3), which is the primary driver of climate change.  xAI launched in July 2023 with the stated mission to “understand the universe” and a plan to “accelerate human scientific discovery.” It says it [raised $6 billion](https://x.ai/blog/series-b) in funding in May. Since xAI’s arrival in Memphis, flight logs show that Musk’s private jet has flown back and forth to the city twice a month. When the supercomputer gets to full capacity, the local utility says it’s going to need a million gallons of water per day and 150 megawatts of electricity — enough to [power 100,000 homes](https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1209/ML120960701.pdf) per year. Last week, Musk [posted on X](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1830650370336473253), the social platform formerly known as Twitter, that Colossus was brought online over Labor Day weekend, saying “from start to finish, it was done in 122 days.” “Moreover,” he added, “it will double in size.” xAI’s central focus is a tool called Grok. It’s an AI chatbot, similar to ChatGPT, that the company flaunts as “having a sense of humor.” Musk has called it the “most fun AI in the world.” It has [fewer rules than other AI chatbots](https://www.npr.org/2024/08/16/nx-s1-5078636/x-twitter-artificial-intelligence-trump-kamala-harris-election) and has been known for creating [controversial deepfake](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/14/musk-ai-chatbot-images-grok-x) images, such as Mickey Mouse as a Nazi and Kamala Harris in lingerie. The primary purpose of the Memphis supercomputer is to provide compute power for Grok. The project has moved at breakneck speed and has been cloaked in mystery and secrecy. Musk has yet to make a public appearance, and officials from the local utility who were briefed on the project signed nondisclosure agreements, according to the utility’s spokeswoman. The NDAs [were first reported by _Forbes_](https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2024/07/17/inside-elon-musks-mad-dash-to-build-a-giant-xai-supercomputer-in-memphis/). The news dropped on Memphis in a press conference in June that was announced with little notice and caught members of the City Council, environmental agencies and the community off guard.  “We have been deemed by xAI not even valuable enough to have a conversation with,” says KeShaun Pearson, who grew up a few miles from the facility and is president of the local nonprofit Memphis Community Against Pollution. “To not even be included in conversations about what is transpiring in our own backyards.” Musk and xAI did not return requests for comment. The limited oversight and rushed nature of this project have allowed xAI to skirt environmental rules, which could impact the surrounding communities. For instance, the company’s on-site methane gas generators currently don’t have permits. “Artificial intelligence may be a cutting-edge technology,” says Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “But it’s imposing the same kinds of pollution burdens on communities that industrial sources have been for the past 100 years.” ### City Council kept in the dark Memphis Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton was in her living room watching the evening news on June 5 when a report came on that made her sit up in her chair. The city’s local chamber of commerce was announcing that xAI was moving to Memphis to build its “Gigafactory of Compute.” “I’ll give you a perspective,” Ted Townsend, the CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, said in a press conference that day. “If you take the two largest supercomputers in the world and you combine them, and you multiply that by four — that’s what we’re building here in Memphis.” Cooper-Sutton says she couldn’t believe her ears. This was the first time she’d heard anything about the project. “Wow,” she says, recalling her feelings that day. “One word. Wow.”  Cooper-Sutton wasn’t the only one who’d been kept in the dark. Community leaders and other City Council members told NPR they also didn’t find out until the night before or day of. Those who were in the loop include the chamber, Memphis Mayor Paul Young and representatives from the local and state utilities. At first, details were scant. During the June press conference, when a reporter asked where the supercomputer would be located, Townsend said that “due to global security concerns, we are not at liberty to identify the location.” He said the project was a “multibillion-dollar investment” in Memphis, and the number of jobs generated and investment specifics were still being calculated by xAI. A spokeswoman for the chamber declined to answer NPR’s questions. It’s since been announced that xAI took over a former manufacturing facility that was run by the company Electrolux. The local utility says xAI will generate 300 jobs; although it’s unclear whether these are temporary or permanent. Currently, the company has 37 job listings and the majority are based in California. Data centers are highly automated, so they have few employees. Microsoft, for example, says it [employs about 50 workers](https://local.microsoft.com/blog/frequently-asked-questions-about-our-datacenters/) per facility. Mayor Young told NPR in an email that xAI has “chosen to go the no-incentive route, which means that they will pay the full amount for property taxes.” He said he sees Musk choosing Memphis as an endorsement of its “get-it-done attitude.” “Elon and his team dream big, and we love that,” the mayor said. When NPR asked for more information on the project plans, he said, "it is probably best to leave any forward planning discussions related to the overarching vision to Elon and his team.” After community outcry, the local utility (Memphis Light, Gas and Water, or MLGW) [issued fact sheets and participated in a community forum](https://www.mlgw.com/xai). It laid out how much electricity and water xAI will use and says residents won’t be impacted. It added that the increase in electricity sales means $500,000 more for Memphis annually. MLGW says it has seven contracts with xAI, including for electricity, water, gas and use of the gas pipeline. NPR requested these contracts and a spokesperson said to file a public records request. NPR’s subsequent public records request was denied on account of not being a citizen of Tennessee. Cooper-Sutton says she eventually met with representatives from xAI and the chamber, but still doesn’t have concrete answers around how this project came about, the timeline of events and why the city of Memphis wasn’t made aware of the deal before it was set. She says she asked to meet with Musk, since he’s the head of xAI, but is still waiting for that to happen. “I have an old saying from my grandparents: What it won't get in the wash, it’ll take care of in the rinse,” she says. “So, if there's any secrets and if there's a dead cat on the line — it’ll soon show up.” ### “Southwest Memphis is ground zero” One mile from xAI, across a stretch of the Mississippi floodplain and a thicket of towering hardwood forest, is one of Memphis’ oldest neighborhoods. It’s called Boxtown. The southwest Memphis community was first started in the [aftermath of the Civil War by formerly enslaved people](https://storyboardmemphis.org/neighborhoods/boxtown/). They later built homes from leftover boxcars. Boxtown still houses the oldest church in Memphis. Today, it’s a leafy neighborhood that has the feel of a tight-knit community. It’s sprinkled with modest brick and wood-paneled homes that have tidy yards. Some hang American flags out front; others have charcoal smokers. KeShaun Pearson grew up nearby and has spent a lot of time here. He’s 35 years old, tall and lean. Pearson is also disarmingly friendly, speaking to every stranger he comes across. As he slowly drives through Boxtown, he points things out. There’s the community garden and a tiny white house that looks like it could almost be original architecture. “My grandmother is buried down that road,” he says. “God rest her soul.” Both of Pearson’s grandmothers died of cancer in their 60s and he’s convinced it had to do with living in South Memphis.  The cancer rate in South Memphis is four times higher than the national average, according to a [ProPublica report](https://www.propublica.org/article/toxmap-poison-in-the-air). And a [2020 University of Memphis study](https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3195&context=etd) found the life expectancy here is 10 years lower than other parts of the city. South Memphis also has elevated asthma rates, and the American Lung Association gave it a failing grade for air quality. Experts say this is largely due to the neighborhood’s proximity to Memphis’ industrial zone. Down the road from xAI, there’s a decommissioned coal plant where the city is still dealing with issues from coal ash, and there’s a steel mill, an oil refinery, a wastewater facility and the state’s power plant. It’s common for the county health department to issue “[code orange](https://weatherkit.apple.com/alertDetails/index.html?ids=4411aa18-cb2a-596d-8ac3-5cb518db3ae3&lang=en-US&timezone=America/Chicago&party=apple)” ozone alerts here. This means ozone levels exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety standards and sensitive groups, like adults with respiratory issues and children, shouldn’t go outside. “They have a very serious air pollution problem,” says Garcia from the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Southwest Memphis is ground zero.” Garcia, Pearson and other environmental justice advocates fear that xAI will add to the pollution burden of this already overburdened community, because of its high demand for energy. They say it’s particularly concerning that the project has had little government oversight and the community has been left out of the process. “It's frustrating because it could be better,” Pearson says. “The dissonance of having essentially the future of technology powered by fossil fuels is, you know, it just leaves me speechless.” ### xAI adds gas generators without a permit The factory that xAI now inhabits sits on 217 acres of land and has the possibility to add an additional 580 acres. The main building is 785,000 square feet (roughly the size of 13 football fields) and comes with a cooling tower, heavy electrical power feeds and is fully air-conditioned. Phoenix Investors, which is leasing the site to xAI, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Alongside the factory are at least 18 portable methane gas generators, which visibly emit a steady stream of hazy smoke into the air. These turbines help fuel the company’s AI. They started to appear in June and have multiplied over the last couple of months. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, it’s estimated these generators can provide enough electricity to power 50,000 homes. And they have the capacity to emit 130 tons of [harmful nitrogen oxides](https://www.epa.gov/no2-pollution/basic-information-about-no2) per year, potentially making them a major source of the pollutant in Memphis. xAI doesn’t have air permits for these turbines, according to the Shelby County Health Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. The county health department told NPR that it only regulates gas-burning generators if they’re in the same location for more than 364 days. “Given the mobile nature of the gas-turbines in question … \[the health department\] does not have current permitting authority,” a spokeswoman wrote in an email. She said this is the Environmental Protection Agency’s jurisdiction. The Environmental Protection Agency told NPR it hasn’t issued air permits for these turbines, but after getting inquiries from media outlets and citizen groups it’s “looking into the matter.”  LaTricea Adams is from South Memphis and says she was shocked to hear about the generators. She’s a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and founder of the nonprofit Young, Gifted & Green. “Now you have turbines, but you don’t have an air permit. Like, in what universe is that acceptable?” she says. “It’s like the Spider-Man meme, where everybody's pointing at each other, but the community is who's losing.” This isn’t the first time one of Musk’s companies didn’t have permits for high-emissions machinery. His spaceship company SpaceX was fined for allegedly discharging industrial wastewater numerous times in Texas without a permit, according to a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This was [first reported by CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/12/spacex-repeatedly-polluted-waters-in-texas-tceq-epa-found.html). The Boring Co., which is his underground tunneling business, was also [fined in Texas](https://www.tceq.texas.gov/downloads/agency/decisions/agendas/backup/2023/2023-1489-wq-e.pdf) for failing to get a permit to discharge industrial stormwater. And his electric car company Tesla was [cited by California](https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/communications-and-outreach/publications/news-releases/2021/settle_tesla_210507_2021_007-pdf.pdf) for 33 air quality violations. “There's a way to do this right,” says Adams. “I don't think that all is lost, but it’s going to take all of the powers that be to be more transparent and make this mutually beneficial.” ### Artificial intelligence puts a strain on the grid On a sweltering August day, KeShaun Pearson drives down the flat road to xAI. As he pulls up, he points across the street to a multibuilding power plant owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. This is the state utility that ultimately has to approve xAI’s power plan. Typically, data centers the size of xAI have to wait years before they can get on the grid, according to a [report by Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-ai-data-centers-power-grids/). That’s because utilities need to ensure that the facilities won’t strain the grid for residents and other customers. xAI has already gotten the go-ahead for 50 megawatts of electricity from MLGW. But it’s requesting 100 megawatts more — enough to power tens of thousands of homes — and for that, xAI needs Tennessee Valley Authority’s approval. A spokesman for the utility says it’s reviewing xAI’s electricity demands and is waiting for more information from the company. > This weekend, the [@xAI](https://twitter.com/xai?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) team brought our Colossus 100k H100 training cluster online. From start to finish, it was done in 122 days. > > Colossus is the most powerful AI training system in the world. Moreover, it will double in size to 200k (50k H200s) in a few months. > > Excellent… > > — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) [September 2, 2024](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1830650370336473253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Musk says xAI has already dealt with “power fluctuation issues.” During an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman last month, he said that training his AI necessitates quick bursts of 10 and 20 megawatts of electricity and “the electrical system freaks out about that.” Water is another issue for xAI. Data centers use massive amounts of water to cool their servers; xAI says it will need 1 million gallons of water a day, which is about 3% of the total capacity of the local wellfield, according to the [nonprofit Protect Our Aquifer](https://www.protectouraquifer.org/issues/xai-supercomputer). This is the same wellfield that provides drinking water to residents. “It would put stress on the wellfield,” says Scott Schoefernacker, science director for Protect Our Aquifer. He adds that “a lot of the water is just being used as cooling and it evaporates.” MLGW is adamant that xAI won’t impact the grid or water availability. It also says it’s in talks with the company to build a gray water plant to use treated wastewater for cooling, along with the installation of large-scale batteries for electricity storage. Several tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, have started using renewable energy sources at their data centers but still mostly rely on fossil fuels. According to the Bloomberg report, one of the reasons for that is because AI’s demand for energy is so high that renewable energy suppliers can’t keep up. After watching xAI’s buzzing construction activity for a while, Pearson starts up the car and drives back through the industrial zone. He points to a dense forest in the distance where 50-foot-tall trees, hanging with vines, tower over the landscape. He explains that this is [T.O. Fuller State Park](https://tnstateparks.com/parks/t-o-fuller) and that it was the first state park east of the Mississippi for Black people. Now, he says, it’s impossible to enjoy because of all of the pollution from nearby factories.

In recent days, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, [has capitulated](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/06/michel-barnier-emmanuel-macron-france-marine-le-pen) to the far-right anti-immigration agenda of Marine Le Pen. In July, in an [electoral pact](https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/02/europe/french-election-drop-outs-intl-latam/index.html) with the left, he sought a firewall against her. Now he has turned rightwards, giving her an [effective veto](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/09/09/france-macron-le-pen-barnier-national-rally/) over prime minister [Michel Barnier’s](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clywrqr92dpo) new government. By the end of the month, the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ), founded by two former members of the SS, Anton Reinthaller and Friedrich Peter, is [expected to form](https://inkstickmedia.com/the-post-nazi-fpo-is-on-course-to-win-the-elections-in-austria/) an anti-immigration, pro-Russian government. It will cement a new hard-right axis across Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, and more importantly, Italy, where step by step the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni (who [met Keir Starmer](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/sep/16/keir-starmer-giorgia-meloni-immigration-uk-politics-live) on Monday), is accused of [taking control](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/06/italy-rai-journalists-strike-giorgia-meloni-government) of the press and the judiciary. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has just won the east German regional elections in Thuringia and came second in Saxony. This is despite Germany’s domestic intelligence agency listing the AfD in [three states](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2ng0nyj2no) as an “extremist” organisation, reflecting concerns about the [Holocaust denial](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/06/germany-far-right-elections-afd-firewall/) and links to far-right political violence of some of its members – and their invoking of banned Nazi slogans, for which the party’s Thuringian leader, Björn Höcke, has twice been [found guilty](https://www.politico.eu/article/bjorn-hocke-alternative-for-germany-thuringia-nazi-slogan-fine/) in German courts. But while Germany’s centre-right opposition leader, [Friedrich Merz](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/08/friedrich-merz-looks-likely-to-be-germanys-next-leader-but-how-will-he-defuse-the-afd), who last year [supported coalitions](https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-center-right-leader-friedrich-merz-suggest-cooperation-with-far-right-afd-municipal-level/) with the AfD in local government, has now [refused to enter](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-cdu-leader-rules-out-cooperation-with-far-right-afd/a-66642647) any national or regional coalition with the AfD, he has come closer to much of its anti-immigration agenda. He now wants “[to talk about](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-opposition-leader-merz-rules-out-afd-cooperation/a-70159006) the issue of repatriation” of existing residents. Now Höcke is openly mocking what he calls the “[dumb firewall](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/06/germany-far-right-elections-afd-firewall/)” against him, forecasting that it will not last. And last week the German coalition government reacted to the AfD’s success by [tightening control](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/10/the-end-of-schengen-germanys-new-border-controls-put-eu-unity-at-risk) of its borders in an effort to [curb irregular migration](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germanys-tighter-border-controls-take-effect-irking-neighbours-2024-09-16/). Another lurch rightward came with the decision last month by the Dutch [health minister](https://nltimes.nl/2024/09/06/dutch-health-minister-will-donate-mpox-vaccine-parliament-say), a member of Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party, to refuse requests from African countries for urgent help in the fight against mpox, even when the Dutch stockpile runs to [100,000 boxes](https://nltimes.nl/2024/08/29/netherlands-will-yet-donate-mpox-vaccines-african-countries) of unused vaccines – many of which will pass their use-by date next year. The spectre haunting Europe is not communism, as Karl Marx once wrote, but far-right extremism. And not much is left of the [cordon sanitaire](https://www.ft.com/content/30cb3fc8-b4d5-4e31-a2a4-9d47bab7b5ee) that was to keep out the far right. Europe now has [seven governments](https://www.eunews.it/en/2024/06/06/far-right-already-governs-7-member-states-eu-democratic-standards-at-stake/) with hard-right parties in control or in coalition, with Austria likely to be next, as once-immovable barriers to contamination are swept aside by centre-right appeasers. “[Breaking point](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants)” was the slogan on a poster that Nigel Farage deployed in 2016 during the Brexit referendum campaign, portraying bearded and dark-skinned migrants appearing to march in droves towards us. The exact same photograph was later [replicated in Hungary](https://www.euronews.com/2018/03/28/hungary-government-s-new-anti-immigration-ad-copies-ukip-s-controversial-anti-migrant-post), with the caption changed from “Breaking point” to “Stop”. Similar slogans include “Stop the invasion” (“_[Stop invasione](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2pfZajgeaA)_”), used by Matteo Salvini’s Italian League party; and “Close the borders” (“_[Grenzen dicht](https://www.dw.com/de/rechter-h%C3%B6henflug-in-deutschland-die-afd-und-das-klima/a-65782261)_”), adopted by German far-right groups the AfD and Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West). A few years ago, when the [now-imprisoned](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/23/bannon-border-fraud-trial) former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon [attempted to form](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/22/nigel-farage-discussed-fronting-far-right-group-led-by-steve-bannon) a global coalition of anti-globalists, he managed to herd together a number of Europe’s rightwing leaders, from Nigel Farage to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. He was involved in setting up an “[Academy for the Judeo-Christian West](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/the-last-stand-at-steve-bannons-gladiator-school)” in Italy. And Trump’s “[America first](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/deep-roots-trumps-isolationism)” Republican party is now one of many to adopt the “my country first” slogan. Spain’s far-right Vox party has used “_Primero lo nuestro. Primero los españoles_”; Italy’s League, “_Prima gli Italiani_”; Hungary’s Fidesz party, “_Nekünk Magyarország az_ _első_”; Germany’s AfD, “_[Unser Land zuerst](https://www.afd.de/unser-land-zuerst/)_”; Austria’s FPÖ, “_Österreich_ _zuerst_”; and the Swiss People’s Party, “_Die Schweiz_ _zuerst_”. Outside Europe, “_Önce Türkiye_” (“Turkey First”) is promoted by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party. The far-right Japan First party marches under the banner of “日本第一” (“Japan first”). “India first” has been adopted by prime minister [Narendra Modi’s](https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/06/indias-shock-election-result-loss-modi-win-democracy) Bharatiya Janata party. Variations on this theme include “_Polska dla Polaków_” (“Poland for Poles”), [used by nationalists in Poland](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46143753), Vox’s slogan “_España_ _viva_” (“Long live Spain”), and “_Brasil_ _acima de_ _tudo_” (“Brazil above everything”), used by Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro. In all, about 50 countries have already gone to the polls in 2024. “Fears that this year would reflect the global triumph of illiberal populism have so far been proved wrong,” Francis Fukuyama, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy and the author of the End of History and the Last Man thesis, has [concluded](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/year-elections-has-been-good-democracy-francis-fukuyama). “Democratic backsliding can and has been resisted in many countries.” He can, of course, point to the return of [Labour in Britain](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jul/04/uk-general-election-results-2024-live-in-full), the [re-election of Ursula von der Leyen](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/18/ursula-von-der-leyen-wins-second-term-european-commission-president) as president of the European Commission, the [shift away](https://apnews.com/article/poland-election-government-tusk-c83032bf51c7017caf7dfbe2c90f1ba1) from the far right in Poland and the [setback for Modi](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/04/india-election-results-narendra-modi-bjp) in India. But the Polish and Indian results tell me no more than tolerance of rightwing extremism can ebb when the electorate finds out that the nationalist demagogues are good at exploiting grievances, but bad at eradicating them. And so we must not forget what has happened in countries from [Indonesia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/25/indonesia-election-2024-prabowo-subianto-president-legal-challenges) to [Argentina](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/20/argentina-presidential-election-far-right-libertarian-javier-milei-wins-after-rival-concedes), the knife-edge fight for power in the US and – what Fukuyama misses in Europe – the insidious surrender of the centre to far-right prejudice. Of course, there are ways to frustrate the onward rush of rightwing populists. Not only did the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, [defeat the right](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/26/pedro-sanchez-spain-general-election-hard-right) in national elections last year, but he has skilfully engineered a split between Spain’s centre-right People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox [over the fate](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/12/spain-far-right-vox-quits-five-regional-governments-over-migration-row) of vulnerable child migrants. Until July the two were in coalition in five key regions: Valencia, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura and Castilla y León. But it was not the centre-right PP that abandoned the extreme-right Vox; it was the extreme right that walked away from the centre right. And as long as the so-called moderates continue to play with fire – believing that by keeping their opponent close, they can eventually tame the beast – they will continue to lose. Sooner rather than later, the far-right poison will have to be countered with a progressive agenda focused on what matters to people most: jobs, standards of living, fairness and bridging the morally indefensible gap between rich and poor. * Gordon Brown was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010 * _**Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our [letters](https://www.theguardian.com/tone/letters) section, please [click here](mailto:[email protected]?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city/town/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.).**_

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **Donald Trump** said that the 7 October attacks on Israel and the Russian attack on Ukraine wouldn’t have happened if the Biden administration hadn’t been elected. “Think of how different this world would have been,” he said. Trump then attacked Harris for dodging questions during her interviews. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f200768f080a0d348dd8df#block-66f200768f080a0d348dd8df) “We’re here today because early voting begins in Pennsylvania over the next two weeks, and we need each and every one of you to go out,” **Donald Trump** said at the start of his speech in Pennsylvania. “Go out and make a plan to vote early, vote absentee or vote in person on election day, but you gotta get out and vote,” he said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1ff368f08c67d82dd7a26#block-66f1ff368f08c67d82dd7a26) **Donald Trump** started his speech 50 minutes late instead of the scheduled 7pm slot in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He walked out to Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1fdcd8f082ee6d991273e#block-66f1fdcd8f082ee6d991273e) **Kamala Harris’s** and **Donald Trump’s** presidential campaigns have ramped up efforts in Pennsylvania. In 2008, the state voted for the Democratic candidate, and again in 2012. But in 2016, Pennsylvania voted in favor of the Republican candidate. The state then voted Democratic in 2020. Earlier today, Trump participated at a roundtable in Pennsylvania to garner support from American farmers. Trump said he would impose a national sales tax with or without Congress. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1fbae8f08c67d82dd7a1a#block-66f1fbae8f08c67d82dd7a1a) Former president [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) is running 20 minutes late for his speech. He was slated to start at 7pm ET/4pm PT in Indiana, Pennsylvania. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1f7928f080a0d348dd8a3#block-66f1f7928f080a0d348dd8a3) In a few minutes, **Donald Trump** will speak at an event at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, about 55 miles east of Pittsburgh. We’ll be covering Trump’s remarks. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1f42b8f082ee6d9912708#block-66f1f42b8f082ee6d9912708) Michigan governor **Gretchen Whitmer** condemned Democratic congresswoman **Rashida Tlaib** after accusing Michigan attorney general **Dana Nessel** of potential bias in bringing charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan. Nessel later said Tlaib’s comments were antisemitic. “The suggestion that Attorney General Nessel would make charging decisions based on her religion as opposed to the rule of law is antisemitic,” Whitmer wrote in a [statement](https://x.com/jaketapper/status/1838294708717486389) to CNN’s Jake Tapper, host of State of the Union. “Attorney General Nessel has always conducted her work with integrity and followed the rule of law. We must all use our platform and voices to call out hateful rhetoric and racist tropes.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1ef788f08c67d82dd79c6#block-66f1ef788f08c67d82dd79c6) New York Republican representative **Anthony D’Esposito** gave part-time jobs to his lover and his fiancée’s daughter after winning his seat in Congress in 2022, [the New York Times reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/nyregion/anthony-desposito-affair-congress.html). D’Esposito’s hiring decisions are possible violations to congressional ethics rules, especially those against nepotism and engaging in relationships with employees under one’s supervision. Both were employed in his district office, with the fiancée’s daughter earning $3,800 a month and the woman involved in the affair earning $2,000 a month. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election#img-2) Anthony D’Esposito last year. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1eb968f08c67d82dd79aa#block-66f1eb968f08c67d82dd79aa) Earlier today, **Donald Trump** was asked about his plan to install a blanket tariff on all imports, with additional higher tariffs on goods brought in from China, as a way to extract money from rival nations. > “I don’t need Congress, but they’ll approve it,” the former president said. “I’ll have the right to impose them myself if they don’t.” A spokesperson for Harris’s campaign responded to these remarks: “This is the core tenet of Trump’s Project 2025 playbook: seize power for himself, squeeze the middle class to the tune of nearly $4,000 a year, and make high costs even worse – all as he and his billionaire friends get another tax giveaway,” she said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1e7e58f08c67d82dd7996#block-66f1e7e58f08c67d82dd7996) **JD Vance kept getting asked by reporters about Mark Robinson. The crowd booed each time.** “As I’ve said, that is Mark Robinson’s case to make to the people of North Carolina,” Vance said. “I’m not going to make it for him and the people of North Carolina, they get to be the judges of whether they believe him or not.” Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, has faced [increasing pressure](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/20/mark-robinson-north-carolina-governor-race) to drop out from the gubernatorial race after a damning CNN story reported that he made [lewd and sexually explicit comments](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/19/mark-robinson-north-carolina) on the pornography site Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012. “I really cannot believe that the American media is so much more focused on this than on the struggles of their fellow citizens,” Vance said. Shortly after, Vance ended his speech. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1e33f8f082ee6d99126a2#block-66f1e33f8f082ee6d99126a2) During his rally in Charlotte, **JD Vance** called gubernatorial candidate **Mark Robinson’s** reported comments uncovered by CNN (among others, referring to himself as a “Black Nazi”), “gross”. But he added that Robinson had claimed he had never made the comments, which appeared on a porn forum in 2010. “I think it’s up to Mark Robinson to make his case to the state of North Carolina that those weren’t his statements.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1e2068f082ee6d991269d#block-66f1e2068f082ee6d991269d) **JD Vance** was asked whether he would change anything about the way he spreads the debunked false claims of pets being abducted and eaten in Springfield, Ohio. “My responsibility is to listen to the people that I serve and not a biased media, and that’s what I’ll keep on doing in Springfield, Ohio,” he answered. “To the people of this great state of North Carolina, I will always listen to you even when the media attacks me. I will listen to you about what’s going on in your communities.” “I wish the American media was half as interested in the stress on the local schools, the stress on the hospitals and unaffordable housing as they are, and debunking a story that comes from the residents of Springfield,” Vance said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1e1c68f08c67d82dd7977#block-66f1e1c68f08c67d82dd7977) During a Charlotte, North Carolina rally, **JD Vance** tapped into a well of grievance, blaming “illegal aliens” for the opioid epidemic and the scourge of fentanyl in the US. Vance has drawn condemnation for his unfounded claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio were stealing cats and dogs from community members and eating them. He has since doubled down on his claims, suggesting during an interview on CNN that he had license to “create stories” to garner interest in a topic like immigration. During his rally in North Carolina, Vance said that Harris was a “bad person for causing this border crisis” and that he and others “are not bad people for complaining about it.” [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1e0bd8f08c67d82dd7972#block-66f1e0bd8f08c67d82dd7972) At the end of his speech, **JD Vance** supported Trump’s plan around environmental policy. Trump plans to scrap the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and its cleantech subsidies. “You want to talk about why our farmers are struggling? Because everything from the diesel fuel that they use to the fertilizer they use has gotten more expensive because of Kamala Harris’s energy policies,” Vance said. He is now taking questions from reporters. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1e05e8f08c67d82dd7970#block-66f1e05e8f08c67d82dd7970) **JD Vance** recounted the story of his mother, who had struggled with opioid addiction, to attack **Kamala Harris’s** policies at the southern border. Harris said she hopes to revive the border compromise law that would close loopholes in the asylum process. She also supports an earned pathway to citizenship. “We want [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) because he’s going to make it possible for us to enforce the border,” Vance said. These remarks come after Vance's false, racist rumors of pets being abducted and eaten in a town in his home state of Ohio. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1dedc8f08c67d82dd7966#block-66f1dedc8f08c67d82dd7966) During his speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, **[JD Vance](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jd-vance)** said American families can no longer afford necessities, citing the higher price of a carton of eggs compared to the price during former president Trump’s administration. > “We believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you ought to be able to afford a nice life for your American family,” Vance said. He also said prices for gasoline and homes are higher. “We just need to get back to common sense economic policies,” he said. > “The American Dream doesn’t exist without homeownership,” Vance said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1dd258f080a0d348dd81b#block-66f1dd258f080a0d348dd81b) **JD Vance** attacked **Kamala Harris**, saying she dodges media interviews and questions related to the economy. “How can we trust Kamala Harris to represent us in front of the most dangerous regimes in the world if she won’t even sit for an interview with the American media?” Vance said. “It’s funny to try to have her answer what her actual plans are for the American people,” he said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1dbe18f080a0d348dd812#block-66f1dbe18f080a0d348dd812) **JD Vance** has taken the stage. The Republican vice presidential pick said North Carolina is one of the race’s most important states. “It is going to be the state that turns this country red,” Vance said. “We’re going to send **Donald Trump** back to the White House, and we’re going to do it thanks to the great patriots of this state.” “**Donald Trump** has a record to be proud of, and **Kamala Harris** has a record to be ashamed of, so we’re not going to promote her,” Vance added. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1dac38f082ee6d9912673#block-66f1dac38f082ee6d9912673) * * * #### Page 2 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Bishop took a stab at **Kamala Harris**, saying she “can’t explain how she’ll lower the cost of living or secure the border.” He cited high crime rates in North Carolina. “They have no ideas or answers that work for the people,” Bishop said before extending his support for **Donald Trump** and **JD Vance**. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1d8fa8f08c67d82dd7943#block-66f1d8fa8f08c67d82dd7943) Congressman **Dan Bishop**, candidate for attorney general in North Carolina, took the stage before **JD Vance** in Charlotte. “I’m your nominee to become the first Republican attorney general for North Carolina since Zeb Walser in 1896,” he said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1d85f8f08c67d82dd793f#block-66f1d85f8f08c67d82dd793f) In a few minutes, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, **JD Vance**, is expected to deliver a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina. We’ll be covering his remarks. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1d5b38f080a0d348dd7d9#block-66f1d5b38f080a0d348dd7d9) **The sentencing of the disgraced former senator Robert Menendez has been delayed until 29 January.** A judge on Monday delayed the sentencing of the New Jersey Democrat in his federal corruption case, which was originally set for late October. Menendez, 70, a three-term senator, was [found guilty](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/16/bob-menendez-bribery-verdict) by a jury in a Manhattan courtroom of 16 counts of corruption, including bribery, extortion and acting as a foreign agent. A years-long investigation found Menendez had accepted bribes in the form of cash and gold bars in exchange for helping the governments of Qatar and Egypt. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f1d8fa8f08c67d82dd7943&filterKeyEvents=false#img-2) Bob Menendez outside court in New York in October. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1d1668f08c67d82dd7912#block-66f1d1668f08c67d82dd7912) In Pennsylvania, **Donald Trump** spoke at an event hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, which is led by **Richard Grenell**, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, and former New York congressman **Lee Zeldin**. Trump discussed his plans to counter the US reliance on China, backing his idea to use massive tariffs on goods imported from China to protect US industries and raise revenues. “Nobody’s done for farmers what I’ve done,” he said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1cf128f080a0d348dd7b5#block-66f1cf128f080a0d348dd7b5) **JD Vance**, the Republican vice-presidential pick, has picked Representative **Tom Emmer** to help him in his upcoming debate preparation against Governor **Tim Walz**, the Democratic vice-presidential pick, according to [the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/us/politics/vance-debate-prep-emmer.html). Over the past month, Vance has been working closely with his team, reviewing strategies for the face-off with Walz. **Donald Trump’s** running mate will be debating **Kamala Harris’s** running mate on 1 October in New York City at 9pm, marking their first televised debate. The preparation sessions have taken place at Vance’s home in Cincinnati and via online meetings with his inner circle, including Trump campaign strategist Jason Miller, the Times reported. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1c9f68f080a0d348dd79c#block-66f1c9f68f080a0d348dd79c) **Congress appears on track to enact a spending bill that will keep the government open through 20 December, after Republican House speaker Mike Johnson dropped his demand for passage of a law requiring voters prove their citizenship before registering.** **Donald Trump** has demanded passage of that bill, and in remarks on the Senate floor earlier today, majority leader **Chuck Schumer** condemned his tactics ahead of the election: > The matter is now very straightforward: we now have less than a week to pass a funding bill through the House, through the Senate, and on to the president’s desk. > > Both sides will have to act celeritously and with continued bipartisan good faith to meet the funding deadline. Any delay or last minute poison pill can still push us into a shutdown. I hope – and I trust – that this will not happen. > > Of course, as we proceed, it’s important to remember that negotiations didn’t have to wait until the last minute. This agreement could have very easily been reached weeks ago, but Speaker Johnson and House Republicans chose to listen to Donald Trump’s partisan demands instead of working with us from the start to reach a bicameral, bipartisan agreement. > > Remember: Donald Trump has spent the entire month urging House Republicans to shut the government down if his poison pills weren’t passed. That is outlandishly cynical: Donald Trump knows perfectly well that a shutdown would mean chaos, pain, needless heartache for the American people. But as usual, he just doesn’t seem to care. Here’s the latest on the spending negotiations: [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1c8048f080a0d348dd78d#block-66f1c8048f080a0d348dd78d) **Keeping Nebraska’s unique system of allocating electoral votes by congressional district in place improves Kamala Harris’s chances of winning the election with only the three Great Lakes battleground states – Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.** Those three states combined with an electoral vote from Nebraska – which seems gettable, as the district encompassing the largest city Omaha leans Democratic – would send the vice-president to the White House. But [Politico reports](https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/20/trump-union-voters-democrat-fears-00180171?nname=politico-toplines&nid=0000018f-3124-de07-a98f-3be4d1400000&nrid=2f6ae1fe-07cc-4234-89b5-8951cbfae8c6&nlid=2758340) that the Teamsters union declining to endorse any candidate last week, after backing Democrats for years, could be a warning sign for Harris, particularly when it comes to the white voters who will decide the victor in the Great Lakes states. Here’s more on that: > The Teamsters withholding an endorsement from Harris this week — after internal polling showed most respondents backing Trump — is sparking fresh concerns that the GOP nominee could have higher-than-expected support among union members, especially men. Labor leaders in other sectors attest that, like in 2016 and 2020, the former president has maintained a grip on key parts of their rank-and-file despite his anti-union record. Privately, Democrats say Harris still has work to do to win over older, white, working-class voters who make up a large portion of the electorate in the Rust Belt and have been hit by high prices. > > “Candidly, Trump has a solid, solid base of working-class people that have bought into his message,” said Jimmy Williams, president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, which has endorsed Harris. “It’s movable and it’s been moving. But it’s not like some tide that’s turned.” > > Some Teamsters leaders have [questioned the methodology](https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/18/teamsters-no-endorsement-2024-election-00179900) of the polling showing Trump winning majority support among the union’s members. But one pro-Harris union official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, spoke in dire terms about it. The person said it is a “red flag” that is reminiscent of the 2016 election, when Hillary Clinton underperformed among union households despite winning the majority of top labor endorsements. > > “Hard not to have HRC flashbacks right now, to be honest, that stuff might be wrong beneath the surface,” the official said. “I hope it’s not.” > > Democratic strategists said Harris’ performance in November could come down to the historic gender gap, especially among blue-collar voters, that has so far defined this election. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1c6708f082ee6d99125e2#block-66f1c6708f082ee6d99125e2) An attempt by **Donald Trump** and his allies to convince Nebraska state lawmakers to change their system for allocating electoral votes appears to have faltered, after a key legislator said he opposed the campaign. [The Nebraska Examiner reports](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/09/23/state-sen-mike-mcdonnell-deflates-gop-hopes-for-nebraska-winner-take-all-in-2024/) that **Mike McDonnell**, an Omaha-area lawmaker who only recently switched his registration to GOP from Democratic, said he will not support changing the state’s rules for allocating electoral votes to a winner-take-all system. Under the current system, electoral votes in Nebraska are allocated by congressional district, and **Joe Biden** won the district around Omaha four years ago. The change would benefit Trump, as it would almost certainly allow him to pick up all five electoral votes in the solidly red state. “I have taken time to listen carefully to Nebraskans and national leaders on both sides of the issue. After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change,” McDonnell said. While [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) control Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, dissent within the party has stopped governor **Jim Pillen** from calling a special session to change the electoral vote rules. Here’s more on the recent legislative push: [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1c02a8f082ee6d99125bd#block-66f1c02a8f082ee6d99125bd) **Donald Trump** launched a partisan attack on the justice department and FBI in a just-released statement, accusing the agencies of showing leniency towards the suspect arrested last week for apparently attempting to assassinate him. “The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July. The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist,” the former president wrote. He went on to accuse the agencies of conspiring against him, mentioning his two impeachments as well as his involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, among other scandals that occurred during his presidency, and after. “The DOJ and FBI have a Conflict of Interest since they have been obsessed with ‘Getting Trump’ for so long,” he wrote. **Ron DeSantis**, the Republican governor of Florida who was Trump’s one-time rival but has since endorsed him, [has announced](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/16/trump-assassination-attempt-suspect) that the state will open its own investigation of the incident, which occured at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach. Trump said that investigation should be taken precedent: > If the DOJ and FBI cannot do their job honestly and without bias, and hold the aspiring assassin responsible to the full extent of the Law, Governor Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida have already agreed to take the lead on the investigation and prosecution. Florida charges would be much more serious than the ones the FBI has announced. The TRUTH would be followed, wherever it leads. OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT AND DISCREDITED, especially as it pertains to the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE! [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1b7d58f080a0d348dd6f8#block-66f1b7d58f080a0d348dd6f8) * * * #### Page 3 Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature **Police Leaders for Community Safety**, a nonpartisan advocacy organization made up of [law enforcement leaders](https://policeleaders.org/advisory-board/) from across the US, has endorsed Democratic nominee **Kamala Harris** for president. In a [statement](https://policeleaders.org/police-leaders-for-community-safety-endorses-kamala-harris-for-president/) posted on Monday, Sue Riseling the chair of the organization, said that the endorsement of Harris “reflects Harris’ track record and unwavering commitment to public safety and the rule of law”. Riseling added that as law enforcement leaders, they “know first-hand what it will take to make our communities safer – and that includes having [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris) as our next president”. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1b40d8f080a0d348dd6df#block-66f1b40d8f080a0d348dd6df) On Monday, **Ryan Routh**, 58 – who was arrested in Florida this month and accused of trying to assassinate **Donald Trump** at his golf course – was ordered to remain in jail without bond to await trial on two gun-related charges, according to a new report from Reuters. This comes as US prosecutors are seeking to charge Routh with attempting to assassinate a major political candidate, Reuters added. Earlier today, it was [revealed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f16aaa8f088e71adbf7c2a#block-66f16aaa8f088e71adbf7c2a) in a court filing that Routh left behind [a note](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/23/trump-golf-club-suspect-assassination-attempt-note) where he acknowledged that he intended to kill the former president. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1b1fc8f082ee6d9912519#block-66f1b1fc8f082ee6d9912519) The **Republican Governors Association** reportedly said in a statement that its pro-**Mark Robinson** advertisements are set to expire on Tuesday, and that no further placements have been made, according to the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/09/23/us/trump-harris-election). This comes just days after CNN reported that Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, had made disturbing comments on a porn message forum, including [describing himself as a black Nazi](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/22/lindsey-graham-mark-robinson-north-carolina-governor-race). Earlier today, it was also reported that several of Robinson’s top staffers on [his campaign have quit](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/23/mark-robinson-north-carolina-campaign) in the days following the media report. [](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f1b40d8f080a0d348dd6df&filterKeyEvents=false#img-2) Mark Robinson at a campaign event in Asheville, North Carolina in August. Photograph: Jonathan Drake/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1b0128f080a0d348dd6bf#block-66f1b0128f080a0d348dd6bf) **Joe Biden** is scheduled to appear on ABC’s The View talk show on Wednesday, the network [announced](https://www.dgepress.com/abcnews/pressrelease/president-joe-biden-to-visit-the-view-live-in-studio-wednesday-sept-25/), adding that it will be Biden’s first interview since the **Democratic National Convention** and the July presidential debate. The network added: > The exclusive appearance marks the first live appearance by a sitting president on the show and the second time a sitting president has visited, following former **Barack Obama**’s history-making visit which aired July 29, 2010. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1aded8f08c67d82dd7825#block-66f1aded8f08c67d82dd7825)  Joanna Walters The United States is sending additional troops to the Middle East during the sharp surge in violence between Israel and [Hezbollah](https://www.theguardian.com/world/hezbollah) forces in Lebanon that has raised the risk of a greater regional war, the Pentagon said moments ago. Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen **Pat Ryder** would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The US currently has about 40,000 troops in the region, the Associated Press writes. The new deployments come after significant strikes by Israeli forces against targets inside [Lebanon](https://www.theguardian.com/world/lebanon) that have killed hundreds and as Israel is preparing to conduct further operations and the state department is warning Americans to leave Lebanon as the risk of a regional war increases. > _Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the US_ _embassy urges US citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available,” the_ _state_ _department had cautioned on Saturday._ You can follow the latest updates on the Middle East in our dedicated live blog: [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1a9d28f08c67d82dd7800#block-66f1a9d28f08c67d82dd7800) The man suspected of attempting an assassination of **Donald Trump** wrote a note where he acknowledged that he indeed intended to kill the former president, federal prosecutors [revealed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f16aaa8f088e71adbf7c2a#block-66f16aaa8f088e71adbf7c2a) in a court filing. The document included several new details of the incident at a Florida golf course where Trump was playing last week, including that the FBI [geolocated](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f16fd18f08a5bb140a7d47#block-66f16fd18f08a5bb140a7d47) two cellphones belonging to **Ryan Wesley Routh** to the area around the former president’s properties in the weeks leading to his arrest. Meanwhile, [a new poll](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f15f508f080b5a72d8b138#block-66f15f508f080b5a72d8b138) shows **Kamala Harris** trailing the former president in three of the four Sun Belt swing states, while another survey has her seeing [a historic spike](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f188e58f08a5bb140a7ed2#block-66f188e58f08a5bb140a7ed2) in her favorability ratings. Here’s what else has happened today so far: * **A government shutdown** [seems](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f18fe48f08a5bb140a7f59#block-66f18fe48f08a5bb140a7f59) to have been averted, with Republican speaker **Mike Johnson** heading off the politically damaging disruption by agreeing to a spending deal that does not include measures against non-citizen voting, which Trump had demanded. * **Harris** [won the endorsements](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f195188f080a0d348dd578#block-66f195188f080a0d348dd578) of hundreds of former national security and military officials, who said Trump “has proven he is not up to the job”. * **The White House** [laid out](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?page=with:block-66f19faf8f082ee6d991244c#block-66f19faf8f082ee6d991244c) how **Joe Biden** will spend his final months in office, dubbing it the “sprint to the finish”. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f1a44c8f082ee6d991248b#block-66f1a44c8f082ee6d991248b) **Joe Biden** is set to depart the White House next January, after he ended his bid for a second term and endorsed **Kamala Harris**. This morning, his administration’s communications director **Ben LaBolt** announced Biden’s “sprint to the finish”, a plan to spend his final months in office doing what he can to achieve his administration’s priorities. “When the president decided to step back from the campaign and endorse the vice-president, he called his senior team together that day and said we need a plan for the next 180 days to finish as strong as we started,” LaBolt wrote, continuing: > Every day the president meets with his team, he is pushing to lay it all out on the field for the remainder of the term. His directives are: > > Aggressively execute on the rest of his agenda > > Look for new opportunities to put a stake in the ground for the future > > Hit the road to highlight the Biden-Harris record > > Show up as a president for all Americans and communicate directly with them on how the Biden-Harris Agenda will pay dividends now and 10, 20, 30 years into the future LaBolt offered a preview of what Biden would be doing in the days and weeks to come: > The week of 9/23, the president will roll out new policy to combat gun violence. This is a president who has taken dozens of executive actions to counter the scourge of gun violence, established the first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention – overseen by the vice-president, and signed the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years. > > The week of 9/23, the president will give a speech on the historic work he has done to tackle the climate crisis and the Biden-Harris administration will make new policy announcements to keep building on this progress > > The president will keep traveling the country – highlighting the Biden-Harris record > > The president will travel internationally as he continues to strengthen our alliances and partnerships on the world stage, which has been a top priority for him as president having restored American leadership on the world stage [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f19faf8f082ee6d991244c#block-66f19faf8f082ee6d991244c) _North Carolina has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2008, but recent polls have shown Kamala Harris within striking distance of taking its 16 electoral votes. The Guardian’s [George Chidi](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/george-chidi) has a look at why:_ Landon Simonini found himself standing in the middle of a Charlotte highway lane at 2.30 in the afternoon, stuck in an artificial traffic jam while drivers waited for Kamala Harris’s plane to land and the motorcade to clear for the rally later that day. He was out of his car, because why not? He wasn’t going anywhere soon. His red Make America great again cap stood out among others cursing the traffic gods. Simonini, born and bred in Charlotte, builds houses. His livelihood depends to some degree on Charlotte’s tremendous growth. But not all growth is great, he said. “This is a traditionally southern state,” Simonini said. “Over 100 people move to Charlotte a day. That is changing the election map. I am born and raised in Charlotte, for 33 years. I have lived here my entire life. I went to school at UNC Charlotte. This is my city. It is a conservative city and I want to keep it that way.” But in America’s nail-biting 2024 presidential election, [North Carolina](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/northcarolina) is now in play. It rejoins a select list of crucial swing states whose voters will decide if Harris becomes America’s first woman of color to win the White House or if Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office from which he wreaked political chaos for four years. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f19b5c8f082ee6d99123ed#block-66f19b5c8f082ee6d99123ed) A group of more than 700 former military and national security officials have released [an open letter](https://www.nsl4a.org/nsl4a-announcements/nsl4a-endorsement-harris) endorsing **Kamala Harris** over **Donald Trump**, who they write “has proven he is not up to the job”. “Harris has proven she is an effective leader able to advance American national security interests. Her relentless diplomacy with allies around the globe preserved a united front in support of Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. She grasps the reality of American military deterrence, promising to preserve the American military’s status as the most ‘lethal’ force in the world,” reads the letter released by National Security Leaders for America. As for Trump, the group writes: > Mr Trump threatens our democratic system; he has said so himself. He has called for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution. He said he wants to be a “dictator,” and his clarification that he would only be a dictator for a day is not reassuring. He has undermined faith in our elections by repeating lies, without evidence, of “millions” of fraudulent votes. > > He has shown no remorse for trying to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th, promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators, and has made clear he will not respect the results of the 2024 election should he lose again. > > That alone proves Mr Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief. Here’s more: [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f195188f080a0d348dd578#block-66f195188f080a0d348dd578) _Days after the House of Representatives failed to pass a government spending bill coupled with legislation against non-citizen voting demanded by Donald Trump, the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, is making a new attempt to head off a government shutdown without bowing to the former president’s demands. Here’s more on the legislative maneuvering, from the Guardian’s [Robert Tait](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/roberttait):_ US congressional leaders have agreed to a short-term funding deal in a move that averts a damaging pre-election government shutdown and also amounts to a snub for [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump). The prospect of a shutdown at the expiration of the current government funding on 30 September had been looming after [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) insisted on tying future funding to legislation that would require voters to show proof of US citizenship – known as the Save Act and backed by Trump but opposed by Democrats. After weeks of backroom maneuvering, the Republican House speaker, [Mike Johnson](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/mike-johnson), announced a compromise that provides funding for another three months while decoupling it from the Save Act. Any other path would have been “political malpractice”, he added. The new package continues present spending levels while also giving $231m in emergency funds to the beleaguered Secret Service to enable it to provide added protection for Trump – the Republican presidential nominee, who has been the subject of two failed apparent assassination attempts – as well as his Democratic opponent, [Kamala Harris](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/kamala-harris), before the presidential election on 5 November. It represents a climbdown for Johnson, who had previously adhered to Trump’s demand that government funding be conditioned on passing the Save Act. The bill – has become an article of faith for the former president and his supporters due to their belief, unsupported by evidence, that electoral fraud is rife. [Share](mailto:?subject=Trump%20urges%20supporters%20to%20‘get%20out%20and%20vote’%20at%20rally%20in%20swing-state%20Pennsylvania%20–%20live&body=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/sep/23/trump-harris-us-election?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-66f18fe48f08a5bb140a7f59#block-66f18fe48f08a5bb140a7f59)

“Shock” suddenly became the most commonly uttered word in habitually nonplussed Washington DC. After [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) had attempted to subvert the certification of a presidential election, incited a mob, absconded with national security secrets, was convicted as a felon, and waged his Nazi-esque “poison in the blood” campaign, his brazen cabinet appointments are so mind-boggling that even hard-bitten cynics gasp. Sheer hypocrisy would have drawn a yawn. But Trump’s cabinet selections would have startled even the character of Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca, who feigned surprise at discovering gambling in the backroom of Rick’s Café before pocketing his winnings: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” If Russia occupied the United States, it would not impose a collaborationist regime of such hare-brained incompetents. Kleptocrats would be expected as commissars, but not patent lunatics. Hitler, for his part, murdered the Nazi radicals in the Night of the Long Knives to solidify his rule over the conservative establishment. Trump declared he would be a dictator on “day one”. But before day one, he has decided to empower some of the most fringe characters floating around his Maga movement. The outrageousness of his nominees is intended above all to force the subjugation of those remaining Republicans who insist on their independence. He has posed a battle royale with the Republican Senate to determine whether it will buckle under his Mafia test to [recess-appoint](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/trump-senate-recess-appointments-explained) his madcap cabinet. He wants to break the Senate and crush it under his heel as his first act. Humiliation is the essence of his idea of power. Trump’s cabinet appointments are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance. The motive for naming his quack nominees is located in his resentments from his sordid first term for which he pledged retribution. He sees the US government in its totality as a bastion of his “enemies within”. He intends to shatter every department and agency, root out expertise that might contradict his whims, demolish the balancing power of the Congress that could inhibit him, and trample the law that might stand in his way. Wrecking the government is not only Trump’s technique for gaining submission and compliance, but is his ultimate purpose. He will achieve vindication by tearing down anything he feels was used to restrain his destructive impulses or tried to hold him accountable for his past crimes, whether it is the military, the justice system or science itself. Before the election, Trump developed two elaborate plans, one if he lost and the other if he won. In either case, he would attack the federal government. He had learned lessons from the failure of his January 6 coup. His preparation throughout 2024 to declare the election stolen and force a constitutional crisis was the underside of his campaign. In advance, he organized an extensive network of lawyers and political operatives to deny he lost, refuse to certify the election in districts and states to the point of preventing an electoral college majority, and throw the election to the House of Representatives, where the [Republicans](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) held the margin from control of state legislatures to cast 26 states for him. In March, Trump ousted the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, because she would not divert the committee’s resources into an election-denial operation and fund his legal expenses. He inserted his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as the new head. She fired 60 staffers, but named Christina Bobb, a former far-right One America Network TV presenter, who was a key cheerleader of the fake elector scheme in 2020, as senior counsel of its election integrity unit. In April, she was indicted along with 17 other Arizona Republicans for fraud, forgery and conspiracy. Trump was named “Unindicted Co-Conspirator No 1”. Bobb’s indictment only elevated her standing as a Trump loyalist. A week after Trump’s election, he appointed the outside counsel for Bobb’s effort, William McGinley, Trump’s cabinet secretary in his first term, as his new White House counsel. In Trump’s first term, his White House legal counsel, Don McGahn, had resisted his pressure to provide him with cause to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, and his successor, Pat Cipollone, objected to Trump’s schemes to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump at last has an in-house lawyer to tell him how to do what he wants. Joe Biden [welcomed Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/13/trump-republicans-biden-transfer-of-power) to the Oval Office on 13 November in a show that the transfer of power was peaceful. Biden’s message was to re-establish a constitutional standard, contrasting with Trump’s graceless refusal to meet with him after January 6. But the atmosphere of normalization was illusory. Biden acted as though by his example regular order could have a chance of restoration. His gesture was nostalgic. Minutes after Trump left Biden’s presence, he announced his nomination of [Matt Gaetz](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/matt-gaetz) to be attorney general. _Ding, dong._ The clock struck 13, again and again. But Trump had given fair warning. Trump rolled out his team of travesties in the spirit he had promised. “Well, revenge does take time. I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified,” Trump said in June on Dr Phil’s Fox News show. When Fox News host Sean Hannity followed up, trying to prod Trump into softening his threats, Trump rejected the opportunity. **“**When this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them,” he said. Trump’s plan upon winning, now unfolding, is to launch a full-scale assault on the federal government from the top down. He has no need to smash into the Capitol with the Proud Boys, whom he has promised to pardon as “hostages”. Certain common characteristics run through his cabinet of curiosities and horrors to mark them collectively unique among any cabinet of any president – alleged sexual misconduct and abuse, drug addiction, megalomania, authoritarianism, cultism, paranoia, white supremacy, antisemitism and grifting. Some nominees meet all these qualifications, others only two, three or four. For a few, it’s just plain and simple self-aggrandizing corruption. Each of Trump’s appointees is there to savage a target on Trump’s hit list. When he came to Washington he was a relative blank slate, despite hauling a baggage train of scandal from New York. Back then, Trump blithely spoke of getting away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. Now, it’s Pennsylvania Avenue, where six people died as a result of January 6. Trump has been in the business of making enemies of anyone trying to enforce the law. The federal cases against him will be dropped to follow the ruling of the US supreme court that he has absolute immunity for “official actions”. Liberated from accountability, Trump is building his government on revenge. Quite apart from his appointees’ dearth of managerial experience and competence, they represent the antithesis of the core mission of the departments and agencies they have been named to oversee. They are not being appointed to run them efficiently, but to rule and ruin. The greatest influence in public life exercised by Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and former national guard officer before Trump named him as secretary of defense, was in 2019 when he privately lobbied Trump and publicly advocated on Fox for pardons for three military officers convicted of war crimes, which Trump granted. Hegseth has denounced women in the military; they make up 17.5% of active duty personnel and more than 20% of reserves. He has called for the firing of the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Charles Q Brown Jr, who is Black, saying that any general “involved in any of the DEI, woke shit has got to go”. Hegseth was one of 12 national guard members who were removed from Biden’s guard detail at his 2021 inauguration after he was [deemed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/11/16/pete-hegseth-tattoo-national-guard/) “an inside threat”. Hegseth’s body is covered with tattoos – a Jerusalem cross, a symbol of the First Crusade, inked across his chest, and the crusader slogan “Deus Vult” (“God wills it”) on his arm among other crusader markings. This iconography has become popular with far-right Christian nationalists and white supremacists. The Deus Vult cross [flag](https://uncivilreligion.org/home/the-deus-vult-cross) was carried by insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6. When the tattoos were spotted by his national guard master sergeant, who [wrote](https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2024-11-15/how-trumps-pentagon-pick-hegseth-fell-out-of-love-with-the-u-s-military) of the “disturbing” symbols to the commanding general of Washington, Hegseth was kept far from Biden. The Associated Press first reported the story of Hegseth’s exclusion from proximity near the president. JD Vance [attacked](https://x.com/JDVance/status/1857547140010225962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1857547140010225962%7Ctwgr%5E939408e3f9ea4e5e32c1c33b10b2e981cee2646f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Fworld%2Fus%2Fjd-vance-calls-out-news-agency-ap-for-attacking-pete-hegseth-over-controversial-tattoo-anti-christian-bigotry%2Farticleshow%2F115365343.cms) the news organization, tweeting: “disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP”. In 2017, Hegseth was the subject of a police investigation for rape in Monterey, California. His second wife had divorced him in September for his affair with a Fox News producer whom he had impregnated. She would give birth to a daughter in August. In October, Hegseth attended a meeting of the California Federation of Republican Women, drank at the hotel bar in the evening, and, visibly intoxicated, was assisted to his room by a woman member of the group, who attended the event with her two young children and husband. Something happened. She was bruised and police tested her positive for rape. Hegseth claimed they had consensual sex. The police did not press charges. According to a memo given to the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/pete-hegseth-sexual-assault-accuser-paid/) by a friend of the accuser, also present at the meeting as a participant, the alleged victim and her husband hired a lawyer “to ensure Hegseth didn’t get off without punishment”. Hegseth wound up paying her an unspecified sum of money in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement. Revelations of Hegseth’s alleged behavior have not elicited censure from Trump, but expressions of sympathetic support for the would-be #MeToo victim. “Mr Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed,” stated the Trump transition response. Hegseth’s lawyer [attacked](https://nypost.com/2024/11/17/us-news/pete-hegseth-says-he-was-blackmailed-into-paying-off-rape-accuser/) the woman: “She was the aggressor. She was sober, he was drunk. She took advantage of him.” Hegseth appears to Trump as the ideal man to purge the military. Trump’s transition team has drafted an executive order for a “[warrior board](https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/11/13/it-could-be-very-hard-do-our-job-top-military-officers-brace-trumps-potential-loyalty-review-boards.html)” to remove any general or admiral “lacking in requisite leadership qualities”. Trump complained to his chief of staff Gen John Kelly that he wanted “my generals” to be more like “Hitler’s generals”. > Trump’s plan upon winning, now unfolding, is to launch a full-scale assault on the federal government from the top down Hegseth would be his enforcer of politicizing the military so that it never questioned any illegal behavior, like violating the War Crimes Act, or refusing an order to open fire on American protestors. “Can’t you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump said to Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, in the presence of secretary of defense Mark Esper, about demonstrators after George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Hegseth would not be the defense secretary to advise Trump against invoking the Insurrection Act to impose martial law as Mike Flynn, his disgraced former national security adviser, suggested to him shortly before January 6. Tulsi Gabbard, the former congresswoman nominated to be the director of national intelligence, who flipped seamlessly from far left to far right, has been steady as a rote pro-Russian propagandist, hailed on Russian state media as “[our girlfriend](https://x.com/farhip/status/1856885349689037003)”, and has been identified with a secretive Hare Krishna-affiliated sect called the [Science of Identity Foundation](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tulsi-gabbard-cult-putin-democrat-science-of-identity-b2556594.html) that mixes vegetarianism, homophobia and Islamophobia. Gabbard is there to wreak havoc on Trump’s phantom nemesis, the “deep state”. His first director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, a former Republican senator from Indiana, closely observed Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin, which he told Bob Woodward was “so strange”, “so subservient”. “Is this blackmail?” Coats [wondered](https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-intel-chief-dan-coats-suspected-putins-blackmail-bob-woodward-1971807). Trump recalls that his first impeachment was the result of a whistleblower complaint from an analyst from the office of the director of national intelligence, who filed a memo about a phone call Trump had with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in which he sought to coerce him into manufacturing political dirt about Biden in exchange for defensive Javelin missiles already approved by the Congress. “I would like you to do us a favor,” said Trump in what he insisted was a “perfect phone call”. Trump was furious at the exposure of his blackmail. “I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information because that’s close to a spy,” he [said](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/politics/trump-whistle-blower-spy.html). “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right?” Now he will send Gabbard to terminate the “spies” of the “deep state”. [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/20/trump-cabinet-picks-contempt-rage-vengeance#EmailSignup-skip-link-36) Sign up to Fighting Back Big thinkers on what we can do to protect civil liberties and fundamental freedoms in a Trump presidency. From our opinion desk. **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Robert F Kennedy Jr, [nominated as secretary of health and human services](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/14/trump-administration-rfk), is an opponent of the scientific method for which he reflexively substitutes _a priori_ conspiracy theories. He has grifted millions on bogus claims that vaccines cause autism. “There is no vaccine that is safe and effective,” he said. A decades-long heroin addict and self-confessed sex addict, he has a family who has tried to lift him out of his turmoil, staging interventions for years to have him professionally treated for his psychological troubles, but have been reduced to despair. He [claims](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/robert-f-kennedy-jr-national-institutes-of-health/) that his family members have succumbed to “hypnosis”. During the campaign, a [family babysitter](https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/12/rfk-jr-sexual-assault-apology-00167867) emerged to accuse Kennedy of numerous sexual assaults. He claimed he had “no memory of this incident but I apologize sincerely”. He said in an interview: “I’m not a church boy.” Meanwhile, he was reportedly involved in an affair with Olivia Nuzzi, a writer for New York Magazine, which cost her her fiance and job. Three other women stepped forward to claim they had [sexual affairs](https://pagesix.com/2024/10/02/celebrity-news/rfk-jr-accused-of-having-romantic-relationships-with-at-least-3-other-women-amid-olivia-nuzzi-affair-report/) with him after meeting him through his anti-vaccine group, the Children’s Health Defense, and at the same time he was involved with Nuzzi, which he denied. But RFK Jr, is promoted by Tucker Carlson and his trailing entourage of lost boys, Don Jr, and JD Vance. Carlson and Don Jr [persuaded](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/tucker-carlson-donald-trump-jr-lobbied-rfk-jr-drop-endorse-trump-rcna167665) Bobby to drop his third-party candidacy and to endorse Trump. On 31 October, at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, Carlson interviewed Trump and asked him pointedly whether he would appoint Bobby. On 1 November, RFK Jr appeared on the Tucker Carlson Live Tour, where he [told](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgbs-f0EhAg) a rapturous crowd that in answer to his prayers for the fulfillment of his personal destiny: “God sent me Donald Trump.” Before the election, Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal editorial page confidently informed its readers that Trump’s bizarre statements and inclinations were not to be taken seriously, and that in any event would be blocked by “checks and balances”. After Trump was elected, the Journal has been stunned by the nominations of Gaetz and RFK Jr. “Good luck making sense of this nomination,” it [editorialized](https://www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-jr-health-and-human-services-secretary-donald-trump-3df2b039?mod=opinion_lead_pos1) about Bobby. “Matt Gaetz is a bad choice for attorney general,” ran another thundering [piece](https://www.wsj.com/opinion/matt-gaetz-attorney-general-nominee-donald-trump-b07d3a4f?mod=opinion_trendingnow_article_pos3). Murdoch is out in the cold. The TV host he fired, Tucker Carlson, is the kingmaker. In naming RFK Jr, Trump is reacting to his conflicts during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he wished to ignore it, dismissed mask-wearing and suggested [injecting Clorox](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/23/trump-bleach-one-year-484399). He despised the scientists who told him his ideas would not work. He hated his chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, and Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr Deborah Birx – “all these idiots”, said Trump. Trump also fired Dr Rick Bright, the director of the Center for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in charge of vaccine development, for refusing to approve the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19, which Bright [protested](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/politics/read-whistleblower-vaccine-development/index.html) was one of several “potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections”. Bright testified in May 2020 before Congress that the Trump administration had “no master plan”, that the country faced “the darkest winter in our history” and that in the absence of national leadership, “our window of opportunity is closing.” Trump has not appointed RFK Jr for his famous name, though he must receive gratification from possessing for himself this piece of the Kennedy legacy, however tarnished. Bobby Kennedy Jr is there because he says that he will fire 600 experts at the National Institutes of Health, the foremost medical research center in the world – “all these idiots”. And [Tucker Carlson](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/tucker-carlson) vouches for him. The tangled resentments of Trump’s appointees are cardinal virtues, especially when they overlap with his own grievances. Trump, the adjudicated rapist, credibly accused by dozens of women of sexual assault, whom sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein [called](https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-describes-donald-trump-000845379.html) his “closest friend for 10 years”, identifies with Matt Gaetz fending off investigations of his alleged sex crimes. After Trump confided in Reince Priebus, his first chief of staff, that he would pick Gaetz, Priebus [concluded](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-told-abcs-reince-priebus-his-matt-gaetz-pick-is-for-real-a-big-middle-finger-to-the-doj/): “So, he \[Trump\] feels like he has gone to hell and back 10 times. So, this is also a big middle finger to the DoJ and the FBI.” At the end of the first Trump administration, Gaetz desperately sought to secure an all-purpose pardon to cover him from the then ongoing federal inquiry into alleged sex trafficking of minors to his alleged participation as a co-conspirator in Trump’s coup. He approached, among others, deputy White House legal counsel Eric Herschmann, who testified before the January 6 committee. “The pardon that he was discussing, requesting was as broad as you could describe,” he [stated](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/17/politics/matt-gaetz-trump-pardon-justice-department/index.html). “From beginning – I remember he said, from the beginning of time up until today for any and all things. He had mentioned Nixon, and I said Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad.” In October 2023, Congressman Gaetz provoked the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. “I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker,” McCarthy [said](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mccarthy-blames-ouster-lawmaker-who-wanted-stop-ethics-complaint-slept-with-17-year-old). “It’s because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old.” On 13 November, Trump named Gaetz attorney general. The next day, Gaetz [resigned from Congress](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/13/trump-matt-gaetz-attorney-general). The day following that, the House ethics committee report on Gaetz’s alleged sex crimes was scheduled to be released. But because Gaetz is no longer a member of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, serving as Trump’s handy man, “strongly requested” that it would violate House rules to make the report public despite precedents to the contrary. He warned it would “open a Pandora’s Box”, presumably of other dark secrets about Gaetz and perhaps other nominees. Democratic and Republican senators on the judiciary committee that will hold confirmation hearings have asked for the report. It remains bottled up. Trump does not attempt to hide his intention to “dismantle government bureaucracy” and “send shockwaves through the system”, as he tweeted in his appointment of “the Great Elon Musk” and [Vivek Ramaswamy](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/vivek-ramaswamy) (no “Great” preceding his name), assigned to rampage through the entire government as a “Department of Government Efficiency”. Musk has a long history of conflicts with government regulatory agencies and outstanding unresolved investigations, including an Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into inside stock trading. Musk’s commission is transparently a case of self-interest. “Doge”, as it is called, after “dogecoin”, a cryptocurrency that Musk has been hawking, is not at all a department, which would require FBI background checks. Musk orbits on a cocktail of LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, “often at [private parties around the world](https://www.wsj.com/articles/silicon-valley-microdosing-ketamine-lsd-magic-mushrooms-d381e214?mod=article_inline), where attendees sign nondisclosure agreements or give up their phones to enter”, [according](https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-illegal-drugs-e826a9e1) to people who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. He speaks privately to Vladimir Putin. During the campaign, he turned Twitter/X into a cesspool of disinformation, a good deal of his own fabrication and streams of it from Russian troll farms. Inexplicably, he continues to hold a security clearance as a government contractor that has not been suspended under review during the Biden administration. Ramaswamy, a venture capitalist and libertarian ideologue who ran for the Republican nomination for president on a platform of abolishing numerous federal agencies from the IRS to the FBI, is completely inexperienced in government affairs, which he has been tasked to reform. He has made confusing, possibly conspiratorial claims about 9/11 and suggested that January 6 was “an inside job”. During his campaign, he [stated](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/us/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-dismantle-government.html) that his goal was to fire 75% of the federal workforce in short order. Merely a charlatan and a demagogue, Ramaswamy does not stand out as especially peculiar among the wholly unqualified Trump nominees. Trump’s appointment of Doug Burgum, the billionaire governor of North Dakota, as secretary of the interior and “energy czar”, fits the profile of old-fashioned plunder. In April, Burgum gathered oil and gas executives at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump flagrantly [asked for $1bn in campaign contributions](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/03/trump-big-oil-campaign-pitch-corruption) in exchange for tax breaks and favorable policies. Harold G Hamm, chair of Continental Resources, an independent oil company, who is an investor in a proposed $5.2bn pipeline in North Dakota, helped Burgum organize the meeting. Burgum’s family holds land that profits from Hamm’s business. “Obviously it’s no secret that I helped gather the industry up, oil and gas producers and the entire industry,” Hamm [said](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-harold-hamm-top-oil-164300562.html). He handed Trump a list of more than 100 policies he wanted implemented. “I couldn’t be more thrilled by president-elect Donald Trump’s victory,” Hamm remarked. Then, Trump named as secretary of energy a fracking equipment company executive, Chris Wright, who has declared: “There is no climate crisis.” The volatile elements of petroleum, public lands and leasing deals evoke a scenario from a century ago, of a cabinet appointed by a president who promised to restore the country to its greatness in a “return to normalcy”. During the Warren G Harding presidency, secretary of the interior Albert B Fall accepted kickbacks from oil companies in granting oil leases and became the first cabinet member to be sentenced to prison. It was the worst cabinet scandal in history. Make Teapot Dome Again. Trump seeks to install his cabinet by circumventing the Senate. He insists that the Republican leadership forgo its constitutional duty to advise and consent and instead allow his picks to assume their positions as recess appointments. Trump is also denying the FBI from conducting background checks. His cabinet nominations have become his instrument for intimidation. He intends to sweep aside checks and balances for one-man rule. The appointment of Senator [Marco Rubio](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/marco-rubio) of Florida as secretary of state illustrates the kind of behavior Trump wishes to encourage among Republican senators. During the 2016 Republican primaries, Rubio derided Trump for his “small hands”, a signifier for his genitals. “You know what they say about men with small hands?” Rubio jibed. But after Trump was [convicted of 34 felonies](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/30/trump-trial-hush-money-verdict) in New York for paying hush-money to an adult film actorto influence the 2016 election, Rubio leaped to blame Biden falsely for Trump’s prosecution. Rubio [tweeted](https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1796628397654778005): “Our current President is a demented man propped up by wicked & deranged people willing to destroy our country to remain in power.” He added, with flaming emojis: “It’s time to fight \[fire\] with \[fire\].” Subservience has now received its reward. Rubio, “little Marco”, the most conventional of Trump’s cabinet choices, is an example to them all.

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Ukrainian President [Volodymyr Zelenskyy](https://www.theguardian.com/world/volodymyr-zelenskiy) has suggested that retaking parts of Ukrainian territory may have to be achieved through diplomatic means, rather than military force. [In an interview with the Japanese news agency, Kyodo News](https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/12/2b04e9c88c84-urgent-n-korean-troops-in-russia-killed-zelenskyy-tells-kyodo-news.html), Zelenskyy said it is difficult to reclaim some of the Russian occupied parts of his country by force, including the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as things stand. “Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true,” Zelenskyy said. “We do have to find diplomatic solutions.” He stressed that such steps could be considered “only when we know that we are strong enough” to prevent Russia from launching new aggression against [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine). Zelenskyy’s comments indicate a shift away from his long-held stance that his country will fight to regain all territory seized by Russia. Zelenskyy has called on the outgoing Biden administration to help convince Nato members to invite Ukraine to join the alliance, as [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) continues to make battlefield gains. He said the conflict has entered a “complicated period”. In October, [he revealed a so-called victory plan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/16/zelenskyy-ukraine-victory-plan-nato), which contains a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends. [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d79228f08613772568fc7#block-674d79228f08613772568fc7) Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Donald Trump’s former national security adviser **John Bolton** has been interviewed by Sky News’ Kay Burley. Bolton said Trump “distrusts” Nato and does not understand the principle of a defensive alliance. Despite Trump’s tendency towards hyperbolic rhetoric, he said people should take the threat of Nato withdrawal “very seriously”. Bolton told Sky News: > _He basically thinks we are defending Europe, we don’t get anything out of it. They are not paying anything. What is in it for us? It s the same view he has with our alliances with South Korea and with Japan. I am very worried about it._ > > _Now Europeans and many others say ‘but we are close to paying 2% of our GDP on defence – which we pledged, by the way, ten years ago at a Nato summit’ and which many have still not reached. I think the US is going to have to increase its defence spending to something close to Reagan era level (4/5%). That means Europe is going to have to go up to 3%._ Burley put two of Trump’s claims to Bolton: that there were no high profile wars during his presidency between 2016 and 2020 and that he could end the [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine) war within 24 hours when he enters office again next month. He agreed, broadly, that there were no “high profile wars”, though he said he dealt with the Afghanistan war “incorrectly” by making a deal with the Taliban, which Bolton said was implemented “disastrously” by Joe Biden, the outgoing US president. “Trump is exaggerating. He is telling the truth in the sense that we were in a calmer period of history and we have see now what can happen, in part because of the weakness demonstrated by Biden in withdrawing from Afghanistan and failing to even try to deter the Russians before they invaded Ukraine,” Bolton told Sky News. Looking at what Trump could do in office, Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, added: “He has said he will get Zelenskyy and Putin in a room together and they would solve Ukraine in 24 hours – good luck with that.” Former US national security adviser John Bolton has been interviewed by Sky News’ Kay Burley Bolton served in the Reagan, George W Bush and first Trump administrations. After his firing in 2019, Bolton published a book, The Room Where It Happened, in which he strongly [criticised](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/28/the-room-where-it-happened-by-john-bolton-review-donald-trump) Trump’s leadership. Earlier this year, Bolton [called](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/29/desantis-trump-2024-white-house-bid) Trump’s 2024 presidential bid “poison” to the Republican party. Known for his hawkish views, Bolton has previously advocated bombing North Korea and wielding military might elsewhere to further American interests rather than get bogged down in multilateral agreements. [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d96438f0816561c4a06f0#block-674d96438f0816561c4a06f0) Germany’s foreign minister, **Annalena Baerbock**, has warned her Chinese counterpart that Beijing’s support for Moscow would impact ties and instead urged China to help end the war in Ukraine Speaking in Beijing, she said the over 1,000-day war was affecting the whole world and North Korean troops being deployed to fight for [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) in Ukraine and the use of Chinese-made drones. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP)**,** Baerbock urged an international peace process for Ukraine and said “that is why I am here in China today”, adding that every permanent member of the UN security council had a “responsibility for peace and security in the world” “The Russian president is not only destroying our European peace order through his war against Ukraine, but is now dragging Asia into it via North Korea,” she told a press briefing. “My Chinese counterpart and I have therefore discussed in depth that this cannot be in China’s interest either. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates#img-2) Annalena Baerbock speaks during a press briefing at a hotel in Beijing. Photograph: Andy Wong/AP She met with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, for a “strategic dialogue” as Berlin seeks to build better ties with China while engaging on key differences. China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the US and other western countries. But it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia, and Nato members have said Beijing is a “decisive enabler” of the war, which it has never condemned. “Drones from Chinese factories and North Korean troops attacking the peace in the middle of Europe are violating our core European security interests,” Baerbock said. [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d913a8f086137725690af#block-674d913a8f086137725690af) Here are some pictures from German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s [surprise visit](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?page=with:block-674d63498f08613772568f1f#block-674d63498f08613772568f1f) to Kyiv today: [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates#img-3) Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olaf Scholz attend a ceremony of honouring fallen soldiers near the People’s memorial of national memory in Kyiv. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates#img-4) Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olaf Scholz visit the makeshift memorial paying tribute to Ukrainian and foreign fighters at the independence square in Kyiv. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates#img-5) Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olaf Scholz visit an exhibition of Ukrainian drones in Kyiv. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d8fba8f0816561c4a06aa#block-674d8fba8f0816561c4a06aa) Georgian police have arrested a prominent opposition leader after using water cannon and teargas to scatter anti-government protesters who [rallied outside parliament for a fourth consecutive night](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/01/dozens-hospitalised-in-third-night-of-pro-eu-protests-in-georgia). The protests were sparked by the government’s [announcement last week that it was suspending talks](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/29/georgia-protest-irakli-kobakhidze-salome-zourabichvili) on joining the EU. Critics saw that as confirmation of a Russian-influenced shift away from pro-western policies, something the ruling party denies. The Coalition for Change, the country’s largest opposition party, said in a post on X that Zurab Japaridze, one of its leaders, was arrested by police early on Monday as he was leaving the demonstration. Moscow denies interfering in its neighbour, but a former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, warned on Sunday that Georgia was “moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, into the dark abyss”, adding: “Usually this sort of thing ends very badly.” You can read more on this developing story here: [ Georgian opposition leader arrested after fourth night of protests ](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/02/georgian-opposition-leader-arrested-after-fourth-night-of-protests) [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d894e8f088c7046fe1458#block-674d894e8f088c7046fe1458) The Kremlin has responded to the news that the German chancellor, **Olaf Scholz**, is in Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine. In a regular press briefing to journalists, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had no “expectations” from the visit by Scholz, [who spoke by phone to Vladimir Putin last month in a controversial phone call](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-674d73788f0816561c4a059b#block-674d73788f0816561c4a059b). “I would not say we have expectations from this visit. Germany is continuing its line of unconditional support to Ukraine,” Peskov said, adding that Putin had not passed on a message to [Volodymyr Zelenskyy](https://www.theguardian.com/world/volodymyr-zelenskiy) through Scholz. [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d87e68f088c7046fe1450#block-674d87e68f088c7046fe1450) [As we reported in the opening post](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-674d63498f08613772568f1f#block-674d63498f08613772568f1f), a Russian drone hit a residential building in the western city of **Ternopil**, killing at least one person and injuring several others, officials said on Monday. Ternopil – a city with a population of about 225,000 – is far from the frontline and is not commonly targeted by Russian forces. Serhiy Nadal, the head of the regional defence headquarters in Ternopil, said via Telegram that as result of the attack, a fire engulfed several flats on the top floor of a five-storey apartment building. He said that residents from several apartments were evacuated and that emergency services were working at the scene. About 20 cars were reported to have been damaged in the yard of the building. Social media videos showed flames bursting out of the windows of a multi-storey apartment building in the darkness. [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates#img-6) A firefighter works at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Ternopil. Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d7f4a8f088c7046fe140b#block-674d7f4a8f088c7046fe140b) Ukrainian President [Volodymyr Zelenskyy](https://www.theguardian.com/world/volodymyr-zelenskiy) has suggested that retaking parts of Ukrainian territory may have to be achieved through diplomatic means, rather than military force. [In an interview with the Japanese news agency, Kyodo News](https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/12/2b04e9c88c84-urgent-n-korean-troops-in-russia-killed-zelenskyy-tells-kyodo-news.html), Zelenskyy said it is difficult to reclaim some of the Russian occupied parts of his country by force, including the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as things stand. “Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true,” Zelenskyy said. “We do have to find diplomatic solutions.” He stressed that such steps could be considered “only when we know that we are strong enough” to prevent Russia from launching new aggression against [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine). Zelenskyy’s comments indicate a shift away from his long-held stance that his country will fight to regain all territory seized by Russia. Zelenskyy has called on the outgoing Biden administration to help convince Nato members to invite Ukraine to join the alliance, as [Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia) continues to make battlefield gains. He said the conflict has entered a “complicated period”. In October, [he revealed a so-called victory plan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/16/zelenskyy-ukraine-victory-plan-nato), which contains a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends. [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d79228f08613772568fc7#block-674d79228f08613772568fc7) [As we mentioned in the opening summary](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-674d63498f08613772568f1f#block-674d63498f08613772568f1f), Olaf Scholz held an hour-long call with Vladimir Putin on 15 November, angering Kyiv as it was seen to weaken Europe’s attempt to isolate the Russian president. Ukrainian president [Volodymyr Zelenskyy](https://www.theguardian.com/world/volodymyr-zelenskiy) said it opened a “Pandora’s box” that undermined efforts to end the war in Ukraine with “a fair peace”. Scholz defended the call with Putin, their first direct communication in almost two years, saying it was important to tell him he cannot count on German support for [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine) to wane. Scholz reportedly condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine and called on Moscow to negotiate with Kyiv to come to a “fair and lasting peace”. He also criticised Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops against Ukraine, describing it as a “grave escalation” of the conflict (according to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, [up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/24/putin-does-not-deny-north-korea-has-sent-soldiers-to-russia) as part of a major defence treaty between Russia and North Korea). Scholz’s willingness to engage with Putin is likely to provoke frustration in Ukraine, whose future became uncertain after Donald Trump’s victory, as American military aid may be reduced during his presidency. As the second biggest backer of Ukraine after the US, Germany faces concerns that it will be left to take on a far bigger share of the war effort if Trump carries out his threat to reduce support for Kyiv, my colleagues [Pjotr Sauer](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/pjotr-sauer) and [Kate Connolly](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/kateconnolly) note in [this story](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/15/scholz-urges-putin-in-phone-call-to-negotiate-with-ukraine). [](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates#img-7) Olaf Scholz, right, during a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin as the German foreign and security policy adviser Jens Plötner and government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit look on in Berlin. Photograph: Steffen Kugler/Reuters [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d73788f0816561c4a059b#block-674d73788f0816561c4a059b) Good morning and welcome to our coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The German chancellor, **Olaf Scholz**, visited Ukraine for the first time in more than two and a half years on Monday. The diplomatic trip comes just weeks after he was criticised by Ukrainian President **Volodymyr Zelenskyy** for having a phone call with Russian President **Vladimir Putin**. Their call came at a time of widespread speculation about what the new administration of president-elect **Donald Trump** will mean for Ukraine. Scholz, who is under pressure from many voters to cut aid to Kyiv, said that, in his meeting with Zelenskyy, he will announce further military supplies this month totalling €650m (£539m). Zelenskyy is set to push Nato to invite [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine) to join the military alliance at a meeting in Brussels this week. “Ukraine can rely on Germany – we say what we do and we do what we say,” the German chancellor said. > Die Ukraine kann sich auf uns verlassen. Wir sagen, was wir tun. Und wir tun, was wir sagen. > > Um das erneut deutlich zu machen, bin ich heute Nacht nach Kyjiw gereist: mit dem Zug durch ein Land, das sich seit über 1000 Tagen gegen den russischen Angriffskrieg verteidigt. [pic.twitter.com/sAcTtkTPW3](https://t.co/sAcTtkTPW3) — Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) [December 2, 2024](https://twitter.com/Bundeskanzler/status/1863476911332045034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) In other developments: * At least one person was killed and others injured in a Russian attack on **Ternopil** in western Ukraine, reports said on Monday morning. The city mayor, Serhiy Nadal, said a [drone hit the fifth floor of an apartment building](https://t.me/nadal_online/11124), starting a fire. * Ukraine’s air force said on Monday that Russia launched 110 drone attacks the previous night. The air force shot down 52 while 50 were “lost”, likely due to electronic warfare, it said. One remained in Ukrainian airspace and six headed toward Belarus and Russia. * Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that his country needed security guarantees from Nato and more weapons to defend itself before any talks with Russia. He called for “steps forward with Nato” and a “good number” of long-distance weapons for Ukraine to defend itself. “Only when we have all these items and we are strong, after that, we have to make the very important … agenda of meeting with one or another of the killers,” he said, adding that the EU and Nato should be involved in any negotiations. Zelenskyy made the comments after meeting the EU’s new foreign policy chief, **Kaja Kallas**, and the EU council chief, **Antonio Costa**, who were visiting Kyiv as a show of support on their first day in office. * Germany’s foreign minister, **Annalena Baerbock**, on Monday warned her Chinese counterpart that Beijing’s support for Russia would “impact” ties. “Foreign minister Baerbock emphasised that the increasing Chinese support for Russia’s war against Ukraine has an impact on our relations, as core German and European security interests are affected,” according to a German foreign ministry spokesperson. [Share](mailto:?subject=Russia-Ukraine%20war%20live:%20Kyiv%20must%20use%20diplomacy%20to%20reclaim%20territory,%20Zelenskyy%20says;%20Germany%20urges%20China%20to%20help%20end%20war&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/02/olaf-scholz-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-674d63498f08613772568f1f#block-674d63498f08613772568f1f)

Dec 7, 2024 2:00 AM State leaders want nuclear reactors to provide consistent, low-carbon power for AI, oil extraction, and more. But in South Texas, people worry mining for fuel will poison their water.  Misty Ortega lives adjacent to Uranium Energy Corporation's site for deep injection disposal of radioactive waste and has campaigned against the project in Goliad County.Photograph: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News _This story originally appeared on [Inside Climate News](https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01122024/texas-uranium-mining-nuclear-renaissance/) and is part of the [Climate Desk](https://www.climatedesk.org/) collaboration._ In the old ranchlands of South Texas, dormant uranium mines are coming back online. A collection of new ones hope to start production soon, extracting radioactive fuel from the region’s shallow aquifers. Many more may follow. These mines are the leading edge of what government and industry leaders in Texas hope will be a nuclear renaissance, as America’s latent nuclear sector begins to stir again. Texas is currently developing a host of high-tech industries that require enormous amounts of electricity, from cryptocurrency mines and artificial intelligence to hydrogen production and seawater desalination. Now, powerful interests in the state are pushing to power it with next-generation nuclear reactors. “We can make Texas the nuclear capital of the world,” said Reed Clay, president of the Texas Nuclear Alliance, former chief operating officer for Texas governor Greg Abbott’s office and former senior counsel to the Texas Office of the Attorney General. “There’s a huge opportunity.” Clay owns a lobbying firm with heavyweight clients that [include](https://www.transparencyusa.org/tx/lobbying/lobbyist/john-r-clay-jr-83162?page=2) SpaceX, Dow Chemical, and the Texas Blockchain Council, among many others. He launched the Texas Nuclear Alliance in 2022 and formed the [Texas Nuclear Caucus](https://www.pr.com/press-release/884307) during the 2023 state legislative session to advance bills supportive of the nuclear industry. The efforts come amid a national resurgence of interest in nuclear power, which can provide large amounts of energy without the carbon emissions that warm the planet. And it can do so with reliable consistency that wind and solar power generation lack. But it carries a small risk of catastrophic failure and requires uranium from mines that can threaten rural aquifers. In South Texas, groundwater management officials have fought for almost 15 years against a planned uranium mine. Administrative law judges have ruled in their favor twice, finding potential for groundwater contamination. But in both cases those judges were overruled by the state’s main environmental regulator, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Now local leaders fear mining at the site appears poised to begin soon as momentum gathers behind America’s nuclear resurgence. In October, Google [announced](https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/google-kairos-power-nuclear-energy-agreement/) the purchase of six small nuclear reactors to power its data centers by 2035. Amazon [did the same](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-nuclear-small-modular-reactor-net-carbon-zero) shortly thereafter, and Microsoft has said it will pay to [restart](https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/09/26/1104516/three-mile-island-microsoft/) the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania to power its facilities. Last month, President Joe Biden [announced](https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2024/11/12/biden-%E2%81%A0harris-administration-establishes-bold-u-s-government-targets-for-safely-and-responsibly-expanding-u-s-nuclear-energy-and-announces-framework-for-action-to-achieve-these-targets/) a goal to triple US nuclear capacity by 2050. American companies are racing to license and manufacture new models of nuclear reactors. “It’s kind of an unprecedented time in nuclear,” said James Walker, a nuclear physicist and cofounder of New York-based NANO Nuclear Energy, a startup developing small-scale “microreactors” for commercial deployment around 2031. The industry’s reemergence stems from two main causes, he said: towering tech industry energy demands and the war in Ukraine. Previously, the US relied on enriched uranium from decommissioned Russian weapons to fuel its existing power plants and military vessels. When war interrupted that supply in 2022, American authorities urgently began to rekindle domestic uranium mining and enrichment. “The Department of Energy at the moment is [trying to build back](https://www.energy.gov/ne/funding-opportunities) a lot of the infrastructure that atrophied,” Walker said. “A lot of those uranium deposits in Texas have become very economical, which means a lot of investment will go back into those sites.” In May, the White House [created](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/29/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-steps-to-bolster-domestic-nuclear-industry-and-advance-americas-clean-energy-future/) a working group to develop guidelines for deployment of new nuclear power projects. In June, the Department of Energy announced [$900 million](https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-announces-900-million-accelerate-deployment-next-generation-light-water-small-modular) in funding for small, next-generation reactors. And in September it announced a [$1.5 billion loan](https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2024/09/30/biden-harris-administration-bringing-back-clean-nuclear-energy) to restart a nuclear power plant in Michigan, which it called “a first-of-a-kind effort.” “There’s an urgent desire to find zero-carbon energy sources that aren’t intermittent like renewables,” said Colin Leyden, Texas state director of the Environmental Defense Fund. “There aren’t a lot of options, and nuclear is one.” Wind and solar will remain the cheapest energy sources, Leyden said, and a build-out of nuclear power would likely accelerate the retirement of coal plants. The US hasn’t built a nuclear reactor in 30 years, spooked by a handful of disasters. In contrast, China has grown its nuclear power generation capacity almost 900 percent in the last 20 years, according to the [World Nuclear Association](https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/china-nuclear-power), and currently has 30 reactors under construction. Last year, Abbott [ordered](https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Jackson,_Kathleen_08.16.23.pdf) the state’s Public Utility Commission to produce a report “outlining how Texas will become the national leader in using advanced nuclear energy.” According to the [report](https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/TANRWG_Advanced_Nuclear_Report_v11.17.24c_.pdf), which was issued in November, new nuclear reactors would most likely be built in ports and industrial complexes to power large industrial operations and enable further expansion. “The Ports and their associated industries, like Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), carbon capture facilities, hydrogen facilities and cruise terminals, need additional generation sources,” the report said. Advanced nuclear reactors “offer Texas’ Ports a unique opportunity to enable continued growth.” In the Permian Basin, the report said, reactors could power oil production as well as purification of oilfield wastewater “for useful purposes.” Or they could power clusters of data centers in Central and North Texas. “There’s an urgent desire to find zero-carbon energy sources that aren’t intermittent like renewables. There aren’t a lot of options, and nuclear is one.” Already, Dow Chemical has [announced plans](https://corporate.dow.com/en-us/news/press-releases/dow-x-energy-collaborate-on-smr-nuclear.html) to install four small reactors at its Seadrift plastics and chemical plant on a rural stretch of the middle Texas coast, which it calls the first grid-scale nuclear reactor for an industrial site in North America. “I think the vast majority of these nuclear power plants are going to be for things like industrial use,” said Cyrus Reed, a longtime environmental lobbyist in the Texas Capitol and conservation director for the state’s Sierra Club chapter. “A lot of large industries have corporate goals of being low carbon or no carbon, so this could fill in a niche for them.” The PUC report made seven recommendations for the creation of public entities, programs, and funds to support the development of a Texas nuclear industry. During next year’s state legislative session, legislators in the Nuclear Caucus will seek to make them law. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for energy investment in Texas,” said Stephen Perkins, Texas-based chief operating officer of the American Conservation Coalition, a conservative environmental policy group. “We’re really going to be pushing hard for \[state legislators\] to take that seriously.” However, Texas won’t likely see its first new commercial reactor come online for at least five years. Before a build-out of power plants, there will be a boom at the uranium mines, as the US seeks to reestablish domestic production and enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel. Texas Uranium ------------- Ted Long, a former commissioner of Goliad County, can see the power lines of an inactive uranium mine from his porch on an old family ranch in the rolling golden savannah of South Texas. For years the mine has been idle, waiting for depressed uranium markets to pick up. There, an international mining company called [Uranium Energy Corp](https://www.uraniumenergy.com/projects/texas/#:~:text=In%202010%2C%20UEC%20activated%20wellfields,were%20produced%20by%20ISR%20methods.). plans to mine 420 acres of the Evangeline Aquifer between depths of 45 and 404 feet, according to permitting documents. Long, a dealer of engine lubricants, gets his water from a well 120 feet deep that was drilled in 1993. He lives with his wife on property that’s been in her family since her great-grandfather emigrated from Germany. “I’m worried for groundwater on this whole Gulf Coast,” Long said. “This isn’t the only place they’re wanting to do this.” As a public official, Long fought the neighboring mine for years. But he found the process of engaging with Texas’ environmental regulator, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, to be time-consuming, expensive, and ultimately fruitless. Eventually, he concluded there was no point. “There’s nothing I can do,” he said. “I guess I’ll have to look for some kind of system to clean the water up.” Uranium Energy Corporation’s mining site in Goliad County. Photograph: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News Art Dohmann, vice president of the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District, studies a map of Uranium Energy Corporation’s mining site in the county. Photograph: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News The Goliad mine is the smallest of [five sites](https://www.uraniumenergy.com/projects/texas/#:~:text=In%202010%2C%20UEC%20activated%20wellfields,were%20produced%20by%20ISR%20methods.) in South Texas held by UEC, which is based in Corpus Christi. Another company, [enCore Energy](https://encoreuranium.com/projects/south-texas-operations/), started uranium production at two South Texas sites in 2023 and 2024, and hopes to bring four more online by 2027. Uranium mining goes back decades in South Texas, but lately it’s been dormant. Between the 1970s and 1990s, a cluster of open pit mines harvested shallow uranium deposits at the surface. Many of those sites left a legacy of aquifer pollution. TCEQ [records](https://www.tceq.texas.gov/groundwater/groundwater-planning-assessment/sfr-056-joint-groundwater-monitoring-contamination-report) show active cases of groundwater contaminated with uranium, radium, arsenic, and other pollutants from defunct uranium mines and tailing impoundment sites in Live Oak County at ExxonMobil’s [Ray Point site](https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/uranium/exxonmobil-corporation-ray-point.html), in Karnes County at Conoco-Phillips’ [Conquista Project](https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/uranium/conoco-phillips-company.html), and at Rio Grande Resources’ [Panna Maria Uranium Recovery Facility](https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/uranium/rio-grande-resources-corp.html). All known shallow deposits of uranium in Texas have been mined. The deeper deposits aren’t accessed by traditional surface mining, but rather a process called in-situ mining, in which solvents are pumped underground into uranium-bearing aquifer formations. Adjacent wells suck back up the resulting slurry, from which uranium dust will be extracted. Industry describes in-situ mining as safer and more environmentally friendly than surface mining. But some South Texas water managers and landowners are concerned. ”We’re talking about mining at the same elevation as people get their groundwater,” said Terrell Graham, a board member of the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District, which has been fighting a proposed uranium mine for almost 15 years. “There isn’t another source of water for these residents.” “It Was Rigged, a Setup” ------------------------ On two occasions, the district has participated in lengthy hearings and won favorable rulings in Texas’ administrative courts supporting concerns over the safety of the permits. But both times, political appointees at the TCEQ rejected judges’ recommendations and issued the permits anyway. “We’ve won two administrative proceedings,” Graham said. “It’s very expensive, and to have the TCEQ commissioners just overturn the decision seems nonsensical.” The first time was in 2010. UEC was seeking initial permits for the Goliad mine, and the groundwater conservation district filed a technical challenge claiming that permits risked contamination of nearby aquifers. The district hired lawyers and geological experts for a three-day hearing on the permit in Austin. Afterwards, an administrative law judge agreed with some of the district’s concerns. In a [147-page opinion](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25419007-2010-aljs-proposed-decision-to-remand-class-iii-permit?responsive=1&title=1) issued in September 2010, an administrative law judge recommended further geological testing to determine whether certain underground faults could transmit fluids from the mining site into nearby drinking water sources. “If the Commission determines that such remand is not feasible or desirable then the ALJ recommends that the Mine Application and the PAA-1 Application be denied,” the opinion said. But the commissioners declined the judge’s recommendation. In an order issued [March 2011](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25419008-2011-uranium-mining-permit-and-aquifer-exemption?responsive=1&title=1), they determined that the proposed permits “impose terms and conditions reasonably necessary to protect fresh water from pollution.” “The Commission determines that no remand is necessary,” the order said. The TCEQ issued UEC’s permits, valid for 10 years. But by that time, a collapse in uranium prices had brought the sector to a standstill, so mining never commenced. In 2021, the permits came up for renewal, and locals filed challenges again. But again, the same thing happened. A nearby landowner named David Michaelsen organized a group of neighbors to hire a lawyer and challenge UEC’s permit to inject the radioactive waste product from its mine more than half a mile underground for permanent disposal. “It’s not like I’m against industry or anything, but I don’t think this is a very safe spot,” said Michaelsen, former chief engineer at the Port of Corpus Christi, a heavy industrial hub on the South Texas Coast. He bought his 56 acres in Goliad County in 2018 to build an upscale ranch house and retire with his wife. David Michaelsen, former chief engineer for the Port of Corpus Christi, owns property near Uranium Energy Corporation’s Goliad mine and has been fighting the permits over groundwater contamination concerns. Photograph: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News In hearings before an administrative law judge, he presented evidence showing that nearby faults and old oil well shafts posed a risk for the injected waste to travel into potable groundwater layers near the surface. In a [103-page opinion](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25419010-pfd-2024?responsive=1&title=1) issued April 2024, an administrative law judge agreed with many of Michaelsen’s challenges, including that “site-specific evidence here shows the potential for fluid movement from the injection zone.” “The draft permit does not comply with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements,” wrote the administrative law judge, Katerina DeAngelo, a former assistant attorney general of Texas in the environmental protection division. She recommended “closer inspection of the local geology, more precise calculations of the \[cone of influence\], and a better assessment of the faults.” Michaelsen thought he had won. But when the TCEQ commissioners took up the question several months later, again they rejected all of the judge’s findings. In a [19-page order](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25419009-order-2022-1553-wdw-1-1?responsive=1&title=1) issued in September, the commission concluded that “faults within 2.5 miles of its proposed disposal wells are not sufficiently transmissive or vertically extensive to allow migration of hazardous constituents out of the injection zone.” The old nearby oil wells, the commission found, “are likely adequately plugged and will not provide a pathway for fluid movement.” “UEC demonstrated the proposed disposal wells will prevent movement of fluids that would result in pollution” of an underground source of drinking water, said the order granting the injection disposal permits. “I felt like it was rigged, a setup,” said Michaelsen, holding his 4-inch-thick binder of research and records from the case. “It was a canned decision.” Another set of permit renewals remains before the Goliad mine can begin operation, and local authorities are fighting it too. In August, the Goliad County Commissioners Court passed a [resolution](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25419206-goliad-county-resolution?responsive=1&title=1) against uranium mining in the county. The groundwater district is [seeking to challenge](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25419205-gcgcd-comments?responsive=1&title=1) the permits again in administrative court. And in November, the district [sued](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25419013-original-petition-for-judicial-review-1?responsive=1&title=1) TCEQ in Travis County District Court seeking to reverse the agency’s permit approvals. Because of the lawsuit, a TCEQ spokesperson declined to answer questions about the Goliad County mine site, saying the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation. A final set of permits remains to be renewed before the mine can begin production. However, after years of frustrations, district leaders aren’t optimistic about their ability to influence the decision. Only about 40 residences immediately surround the site of the Goliad mine, according to Art Dohmann, vice president of the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District. Only they might be affected in the near term. But Dohmann, who has served on the groundwater district board for 23 years, worries that the uranium, radium, and arsenic churned up in the mining process will drift from the site as years go by. “The groundwater moves. It’s a slow rate, but once that arsenic is liberated, it’s there forever,” Dohmann said. “In a generation, it’s going to affect the downstream areas.” UEC did not respond to a request for comment. Currently, the TCEQ is evaluating possibilities for expanding and incentivizing further uranium production in Texas. It’s following instruction given last year, when lawmakers with the Nuclear Caucus added an item to TCEQ’s biannual budget ordering [a study](https://www.tceq.texas.gov/downloads/permitting/radioactive-materials/publications/uranium-resources-in-the-state-of-texas.pdf) of uranium resources to be produced for state lawmakers by December 2024, ahead of next year’s legislative session. According to the budget item, “The report must include recommendations for legislative or regulatory changes and potential economic incentive programs to support the uranium mining industry in this state.”