Last weekend, new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a powerful speech announcing major changes in German policy in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
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I first heard the words “martial law” at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday. A journalist friend rang me up to say that Russia was seemingly on the verge of imposing emergency wartime measures; he and his Russian partner were buying plane tickets to leave. After I hung up, a quick online search revealed that—among other things—martial law would give Russian authorities the power to close the borders. Like my friend, I have a Russian partner. With my current Russian visa set to expire in a few months’ time... Читать дальше...
America’s worst bookstore chain is no more. On Wednesday, Amazon announced it would be closing all 68 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, as well as its “4-Star” stores, which sold a hodgepodge of products that had received decent reviews on its main website. The bookstores had expanded rapidly after Amazon opened a first location in Seattle in the fall of 2015, but growth slowed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now the chain has said that it’s refocusing its physical retail efforts into a planned expansion into clothing and department stores. Читать дальше...
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court, has made her rounds at the Capitol, a charm offensive all nominees undertake. It gives each relevant senator a chance to ask questions and formulate how they will approach the confirmation hearing and provides a personal opportunity to assess the nominee on her merits. To say she is highly qualified is an understatement, but in today’s political environment, that means little, even after she was confirmed three times... Читать дальше...
Here’s what happened this week
Arguably one of the most important developments of the January 6 investigation to date came into public view late Wednesday through a new legal filing from the select committee that says it has evidence that Donald Trump and some of his campaign allies “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.” The filing says the committee has enough evidence to show that Trump and his allies broke multiple laws in trying to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election. Читать дальше...
Inside the soothing, edgeless white of an Apple Genius Bar in Palo Alto, two blonde-haired women widen their innocent eyes at each other across an unbridgeable gulf of understanding. One is a Genius for hire; the other, played by Amanda Seyfried, is Elizabeth Holmes, the Stanford dropout who founded the startup Theranos, claimed the company could run hundreds of medical tests using a mere finger prick of blood, received media fanfare as the youngest self-made female billionaire, and is now, many years later... Читать дальше...
War is hell for anyone in it. And it’s a predictable but regrettable call to arms for people with opinions who aren’t. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, as the fighting on the ground has escalated, so has the volley of opinions about the war. And for Eastern European scholars like us, it’s galling to watch the unending stream of Western scholars and pundits condescend to explain the situation in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, often in ways that either ignore voices from the region... Читать дальше...
Shortly before the pandemic began, for reasons I’m faintly embarrassed to admit were as much recreational as professional, I attended an hour-long prepping workshop in Central Park. Shane Hoebel runs among the most visible wilderness survival schools close to New York City; for a few hundred bucks, he’ll take novices into the woods upstate for a weekend and teach them how to make a fire with flint and properly wield a knife. Hoebel once made a cameo in a New Yorker story, using Apache techniques... Читать дальше...
That former President Donald Trump did something morally, ethically, and democratically wrong on January 6, 2021, is not really up for debate. In the heat of the moment, even some of his closest allies realized it: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy implored him to call off the mob he had incited to attack Congress, Fox News hosts begged White House staffers to get him to intercede, and several of his own Cabinet members and top aides resigned in protest in the hours and days that followed.... Читать дальше...
