NATO accuses China of supplying Russia’s attacks on Ukraine
For the first time, NATO has joined in Washington’s denunciations of China’s military support for Russia, accusing Beijing of enabling Russia’s war against Ukraine. In a declaration, the military alliance demanded that China halt shipments of “weapons components” and other technology critical to the rebuilding of the Russian military.
China cannot enable the war “without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation,” the declaration said, particularly calling out China’s “large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.” Potential costs were not specified, though the natural first step would be economic sanctions that barred China from parts of global markets. The declaration also blames China for “malicious cyber- and hybrid activities, including disinformation” aimed at Europe and the U.S.
Background: Many European leaders initially dismissed the agreement between Russia and China for a “partnership without limits” as unlikely or unrealistic. But 29 months after the invasion of Ukraine, that view has changed drastically.
Ukraine: Leaders issued an official document that solidifies the alliance’s “irreversible” commitment to move the country closer to membership.
Calls grow for Biden to drop out
President Biden faced more pressure to step aside yesterday, as Democrats aired concerns that he would lose to Donald Trump in November.
Speaking on a news show, Nancy Pelosi, congresswoman and former speaker of the House, said that “time is running short” for Biden to reconsider, adding that she would back him “whatever he decides.” Some other Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, have appeared to follow her lead, focusing on Biden’s past decisions to be a realist about his political fortunes and put his country first.
Explicit calls for Biden to withdraw have also increased. Senator Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to publicly call on the president to withdraw, and Representative Pat Ryan of New York became the eighth member of Congress to publicly call on him to drop out of the race.
Response: Biden has tried to silence his doubters by criticizing the Democratic “elites” whom he portrays as having turned on him, my colleague Peter Baker writes.
Hollywood: George Clooney, who hosted a $28 million fund-raiser last month for the president, also pleaded with him to step aside in a Times opinion essay, adding that he had seen Biden’s decline up close. “The one battle he cannot win,” he wrote, “is the fight against time.”
Macron ends his silence
In a letter to the French people, scheduled to be published today, President Emmanuel Macron of France said that it would take “a little time” to build a “broad gathering” of what he called “republican forces” able to form a coalition government.
“Nobody won” recent legislative elections, he said, a comment likely to irk the New Popular Front, a resurgent left-wing alliance that came in first with about 180 seats in the National Assembly and that said it would name its choice for prime minister this week. Macron is almost certain to reject that choice, risking a potentially explosive clash with the left.
Analysis: Experts see the elections in Britain and France less as a resurgence by the left than as a trend of intense political polarization across Europe.
MORE TOP NEWS
The writer-director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat bristles when people put a Bollywood label on “Kill,” his claustrophobic action film that pits a commando against bandits during a train robbery.
Bhat spoke with us about crafting gory fight sequences in tight spaces, the real-life inspiration for “Kill,” and his love for James Cameron’s “Aliens.” Read the interview.
Lives lived: Carol Bongiovi, the mother of the pop star Jon Bon Jovi and a former Playboy bunny and U.S. Marine, died at 83.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
ARTS AND IDEAS
25 years of memorable literary moments
The New York Times Book Review looked back on moments that made news in the book world this century. Here’s a selection:
2001: Oprah picks Jonathan Franzen’s novel “The Corrections” for her book club. When the author skewers her taste — “schmaltzy, one-dimensional” books — she rescinds the invitation.
2007: Amazon releases its first Kindle. It costs $399 and sells out in 5.5 hours.
2013: E L James’s “Fifty Shades of Grey” series, which brought erotica into the mainstream, hits a milestone of more than 100 million copies sold.
2022: More than 30 years after Iran’s ayatollah called for Salman Rushdie’s death over the novel “The Satanic Verses,” a knife-wielding man stabs the author at a literary event.
2024: Before he died in 2014, Gabriel García Márquez asked that his final novel, “Until August,” be destroyed. His family decides to publish it anyway.
(Read the full list, and catch up with our ranking of the best books.)
#Thursday #Briefing #York #Times
