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Alone and exploited, migrant children work brutal jobs across the U.S.

Alone and exploited, migrant children work brutal jobs across the U.S.

The New York Times reports: It was almost midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., but inside the factory everything was bright. A conveyor belt carried bags of Cheerios past a cluster of young workers. One was 15-year-old Carolina Yoc, who came to the United States on her own last year to live with a relative she had never met. About every 10 seconds, she stuffed a sealed plastic bag of cereal into a passing yellow carton. It could be dangerous work,…

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What Denmark’s North Sea coast can teach us about the virtues of respecting the planet

What Denmark’s North Sea coast can teach us about the virtues of respecting the planet

Kiley Bense writes: When the writer Dorthe Nors was a little girl in Denmark, she had a formative encounter with the North Sea, a moment that would stay with her for the rest of her life. “I was holding my mother’s hand,” she writes, in “A Line in the World,” her book of essays about the North Sea coast that was published in English in November. “As we walked along the beach, letting the waves splash around our ankles, one…

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Neutron stars: A form of matter like no other

Neutron stars: A form of matter like no other

Katia Moskvitch writes: On Aug. 6, 1967, Jocelyn Bell was looking at the squiggles drawn by a red pen on moving rolls of chart paper—the data from a radio telescope she was using to do her Ph.D. research on distant galaxies. She noticed one squiggle that looked odd. It was a “a bit of scruff,” she tells me from her office at Oxford University, where she’s now a visiting professor of astrophysics. The “scruff” was a series of sharp pulses…

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Ukrainians fear ‘as long as it takes’ increases risk of another forever war

Ukrainians fear ‘as long as it takes’ increases risk of another forever war

Josh Rogin writes: As the Ukraine war enters its second year, the Biden administration is pledging to support Kyiv for “as long as it takes.” That language is calculated to send a message of resolve to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it’s not what Ukrainians want to hear. Though they’re fighting valiantly, Ukrainians are also suffering greatly — and they are begging the West to help them speed up the war, not settle in for an endless slog. Just a…

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Key events that have defined Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Key events that have defined Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Michael Weiss and James Rushton report: A year ago today, Ukraine was under attack from three directions in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his French counterpart, who was still not yet convinced that the invasion had begun, was a state of “total war.” Kyiv, we were confidently told by officials and analysts alike, had at most three days before it fell to Vladimir Putin’s invading army, airborne, special forces and naval troops and Russian tanks, accompanied perhaps by a…

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Confusion reigns when West talks postwar security for Ukraine

Confusion reigns when West talks postwar security for Ukraine

Politico reports: Western allies want to protect Ukraine from the next Russian war — but a year into this war, there’s still no agreement over how to do it, when to discuss it or what it even means. The allies’ muddled messaging has been on full display since British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprised some of his counterparts last weekend with a bold yet vague proposal for a new “charter” to assure Ukraine’s long-term security. “We must demonstrate that we’ll…

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How one Ukrainian woman made the switch from her native Russian tongue to Ukrainian

How one Ukrainian woman made the switch from her native Russian tongue to Ukrainian

Sasha Dovzhyk writes: My mother tongue tastes like ashes. Things scorched by enemy fire, then soaked with rain, touched with rot, smelling of death. I felt the taste of my mother tongue most acutely while driving through Borodianka, Bucha, and Irpin two months after these Ukrainian towns in the Kyiv region were liberated by the Ukrainian army from the Russians’ “brotherly” embrace. Russian is my mother tongue and liberation means ripping it out of my throat. I come from Zaporizhzhia,…

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How open-source information is increasing the value of declassifying intelligence

How open-source information is increasing the value of declassifying intelligence

The New York Times reports: A year ago, the United States did something extraordinary — it released previously classified intelligence that exposed Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine. Last week, Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, made a similar move when he warned China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, against providing weapons to Russia. In a previous era, the warning might have remained private, at least for some time. But a new intelligence playbook honed just before and during…

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White supremacists behind over 80% of extremism-related U.S. murders in 2022

White supremacists behind over 80% of extremism-related U.S. murders in 2022

Reuters reports: Mass shootings in the United States accounted for most extremism-related fatalities last year in the country with over 80% of those murders committed by white supremacists, data released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) showed on Thursday. The advocacy group labeled 25 murders in 2022 as “extremist-related,” with 18 of those “committed in whole or part for ideological motives.” Two mass shootings – one in May in Buffalo, New York, wherein an avowed white supremacist fatally shot 10 Black…

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The invisible victims of American antisemitism

The invisible victims of American antisemitism

Yair Rosenberg writes: Last week, a gunman shot two Jews at close range as they departed morning prayer services in Los Angeles. The first victim was shot in the back on Wednesday. The second was shot multiple times in the arm on Thursday, less than 24 hours later. The attacks sent fear pulsing through the Jewish community of Los Angeles, as members wondered if their own place of worship would be targeted next. On Thursday evening, the alleged assailant was…

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If we deprive ourselves of history, everything is a surprise

If we deprive ourselves of history, everything is a surprise

Timothy Snyder writes: Teaching a lecture class on Ukrainian history last fall, I felt a touch of the surreal. The war in Ukraine had been going on for half a year when I began. A nuclear power had attacked a state that had given up its nuclear weapons. An empire was trying to halt European integration. A tyranny was attempting to crush a neighboring democracy. On occupied territories, Russia perpetrated genocidal atrocities with clear expressions of genocidal intent. And yet,…

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UN resolution demanding Russia’s immediate, unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine supported by 141 nations

UN resolution demanding Russia’s immediate, unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine supported by 141 nations

The Wall Street Journal reports: United Nations members called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, approving the latest U.S.-backed effort to pressure Moscow a year after the invasion—but also showing the limits of global support for Kyiv. Thursday’s resolution drew the support of 141 member countries, with seven countries voting against the measure and 32 abstaining, a similar outcome to previous resolutions related to the war. The resolution included a demand for Russia to “immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all…

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U.S. to expand small troop presence in Taiwan for training against Chinese invasion

U.S. to expand small troop presence in Taiwan for training against Chinese invasion

The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan, more than quadrupling the current number to bolster a training program for the island’s military amid a rising threat from China. The U.S. plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago, according to U.S. officials. The larger force will expand a training program the Pentagon has taken pains…

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Emily Kohrs’ much criticized media tour may have no legal consequences in Georgia court

Emily Kohrs’ much criticized media tour may have no legal consequences in Georgia court

The New York Times reports: Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump said late Wednesday that details divulged this week by the forewoman of a special grand jury investigating election interference by Mr. Trump and his allies had “poisoned” the Georgia inquiry. As of Thursday morning, however, the two lawyers had not filed any motions in court challenging the inquiry. Nor would they discuss what form such a challenge might take, saying only that they were weighing their options. “We’re…

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