The Full Belmonte, 4/25/2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands before a meeting in Kyiv yesterday.
“US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that US diplomats will return to Ukraine this week, a move officials are characterizing as a strong message of solidarity from the United States. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv over the weekend, where they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began in late February. Zelensky's office issued a readout of the meeting today, stressing the importance of the visit and thanking President Joe Biden for the US’ ‘unprecedented assistance.’ Meanwhile, Ukrainians attempted to celebrate one of their most important holidays of the year yesterday, Orthodox Easter, but the ongoing war and latest attacks in Mariupol cast a dark shadow over the holiday.” Read more at CNN
Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP
“American diplomats who left Ukraine before the war will start returning this week, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after a three-hour, secrecy-shrouded meeting in Kyiv.
The U.S. embassy will remain closed for now but will reopen ‘as soon as possible,’ a State Department release said.
Why it matters: This was the highest-level U.S. visit to Kyiv since Russia invaded 60 days ago.
‘Russia is failing’: Blinken and Austin — speaking to reporters afterward in Poland, near the Ukraine border — said the U.S. is stepping up military aid for Ukraine, including $300 million in foreign military financing and a $165 million sale of ammunition, AP reports.
Blinken said: ‘When it comes to Russia's war aims, Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding. Russia has sought as its principal aim to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty ... That has failed.’
U.S. wants Russia ‘weakened’ ... Asked what the U.S. sees as success, Austin replied: ‘We want to see Ukraine remain a sovereign country ... We want to see Russia weakened to the point where it can't do things like invade Ukraine.’” Read more at Axios
Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office
“Starting Monday, U.S. citizens and groups will be able to apply to sponsor Ukrainian refugees under the Uniting for Ukraine program. They can apply through an online portal that will be available on the Department of Homeland Security website. Ukrainians who are given permission to travel to the USA under the program will undergo a streamlined approval process that will allow them to live and work here for up to two years. To qualify, they must have been a resident of Ukraine as of Feb. 11 and have a U.S sponsor. They will be required to undergo a background check, pass biometric screenings, complete vaccinations and meet other public health requirements. Sponsors must undergo background screenings to make sure they are able to support the refugees and won’t exploit or abuse them.” Read more at USA Today
Photo: Zachary Basu/Axios
“Emmanuel Macron has won France's presidential election, making him the first French leader to be reelected in 20 years. Macron fended off a historic challenge from far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, after securing 58.5% of yesterday’s runoff vote. The victory is seen as a relief for France’s most prominent allies because a Le Pen presidency would have fundamentally changed France's relationship with the European Union and the West, at a time when the bloc and its allies rely on Paris to take a leading role in confronting some of the world's biggest challenges -- most notably, the war in Ukraine. Many in France were not happy with either candidate, however. The voter abstention rate for the runoff was 28%, according to the French Interior Ministry, the highest in more than 50 years.” Read more at CNN
Photo: Christophe Ena/AP
“Macron warned Le Pen's plan to ban headscarves for Muslim women could ‘create a civil war.’
Le Pen said the results show ‘winds of change afoot.’ She said her party will fight hard in June's legislative elections.” Read more at Axios
“The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday in the case of a high school football coach who lost his job after kneeling at the 50-yard-line in prayer after his former team's football games . Joseph Kennedy claims that Bremerton High School in Washington violated his First Amendment rights by declining to renew his contract after the prayers. One of the issues the Supreme Court must unknot is whether Kennedy was praying as a private citizen or as an assistant coach and school employee. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco ruled last year that Kennedy was acting as a public employee and that his prayers, therefore, were not protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that public schools could not offer prayers, even if participation by students is voluntary. A decision in Kennedy's case expected this summer.” Read more at USA Today
Joe Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Wash., poses for a photo March 9, 2022, at the school's football field.Ted S. Warren, AP
“The Biden administration will renew its push with lawmakers to secure Covid-19 funding when Congress returns from recess this week, a White House official told CNN. A $10 billion funding package is currently on the table, which the Biden administration says is urgently needed to continue the federal Covid-19 response. The White House initially requested $22.5 billion in relief funding last month in a larger government funding package, but it failed to move forward. That request included funding for testing, treatments and preventing future outbreaks. Negotiators were able to reach an agreement on a scaled-back $10 billion package, but Congress left for a two-week Easter break without passing the deal.” Read more at CNN
“Twitter’s board of directors met yesterday to discuss Elon Musk's offer to take over the company -- a potential prelude to negotiations with the Tesla CEO about next steps. A person familiar with the matter confirmed a board meeting took place and told CNN that discussions about Musk's bid have turned serious. According to an SEC filing, Musk offered to acquire all the shares in Twitter he does not own for $54.20 per share, valuing the company at $41.4 billion. Twitter is due to report first quarter earnings on Thursday afternoon. The company will have to address Musk's offer by then, if not before. Separately, Musk is on track for another massive payday where he will soon receive stock options worth billions of dollars.” Read more at CNN
A blaze in New Mexico on Friday.Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP
“Wildfires in Arizona, Nebraska and New Mexico have killed at least one person and destroyed hundreds of structures.” Read more at New York Times
“A man died after setting himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court to protest climate change.” Read more at New York Times
“U.S. cities wanting to return to prepandemic life are facing an obstacle: transit crime.” Read more at New York Times
“Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, is in a battle with Disney, the state’s biggest private employer. Here’s what we know.” Read more at New York Times
Photo: "60 Minutes"
“Last year saw a 59% increase in killings of law-enforcement officers from the year before, with 73 officers intentionally killed in the line of duty — the most since 1995, excluding the 9/11 attacks.
In response to that stat, FBI Director Chris Wray told CBS News' Scott Pelley on ‘60 Minutes’: ‘Violence against law enforcement in this country is one of the biggest phenomena that I think doesn't get enough attention.’
‘Some of it is tied to the violent crime problem as a whole. But one of the phenomena that we saw ... is that [more] were killed through things like being ambushed, or shot while out on patrol.’
Context: 1,020 people have been shot and killed by police in the past year, according to a Washington Post database.” Read more at Axios
“Kansas bills with language expanding religious exemptions for childhood vaccine requirements were passed by the state Senate in March and now face the House when the legislature reconvenes Monday. They are among the more than 520 vaccine-related bills introduced in statehouses nationwide since Jan. 1, and of those bills, 66 specifically relate to childhood vaccine requirements in 25 states. One pending Kansas bill would mandate that vaccine exemption requests be accepted without scrutiny if based on religion or personal beliefs. Currently, the state leaves it to day care centers and school districts to accept requests for religious exemptions. State Sen. Mark Steffen stands behind amendments he pushed nullifying Kansas’ childhood vaccine requirements. The Republican, who said he is ‘not an anti-vaxxer in any shape or form,’ lamented mandates and suggested that individual rights supersede mandates designed to protect public health.” Read more at USA Today
“Scores of people were killed in an explosion at illegal oil refinery in southern Nigeria yesterday. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps said in a statement that the fire had led ‘to the death of men, women and children in the hundreds,’ adding that the remains of some victims ‘were burnt beyond recognition.’ Emergency response teams have counted 109 bodies, while others remain missing, according to local media reports. Oil theft and artisanal refining of crude oil is a common practice in the Nigeria's delta region. Government figures released last year found that more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil are being lost to theft each day.” Read more at CNN
“BEIJING (AP) — China’s capital Beijing began testing millions of residents and shutting down residential and business districts Monday amid a new outbreak of COVID-19.
While only 70 cases have been found so far in the city of more than 21 million since the outbreak surfaced Friday, authorities have implemented extreme measures to prevent a further spread of the virus.
Residents were staying home and stocking up on food as a safeguard against the possibility that they could be confined indoors, as has happened in multiple cities including the financial hub of Shanghai.
Shanghai, which has been locked down for more than two weeks, reported more than 19,000 new infections and 51 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, pushing its death toll from the ongoing outbreak to well over 100.
Long lines formed in supermarkets in central Beijing. Shoppers snapped up rice, noodles, vegetables and other food items, while store workers hastily restocked some empty shelves. State media issued reports saying supplies remained plentiful in Beijing despite the buying surge.” Read more at AP News
“The financial hub of Shanghai is installing green chain-link barriers outside residential buildings, businesses and bars to stop people from circulating outside.” Read more at Bloomberg
A photo of workers sealing off retail shops by installing fencing, posted to the Weibo social media platform. Source: Weibo
“Victorious upstart | Slovenia’s nationalist leader Janez Jansa was defeated by an unexpectedly wide margin in yesterday’s elections by a newly formed protest party. Jan Bratanic outlines how the win by former executive Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement rids the European Union of a leader who challenged its values concerning the rule of law and is a bad result for another EU rebel, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The war in Ukraine is accelerating an economic and political crisis in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring. Souhail Karam and Jihen Laghmari report on how Tunisian President Kais Saied is facing increasing public anger over inflation that’s near a record high, while 40% unemployment among under-25s in the North African nation threatens to spark a new exodus of migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe.” Read more at Bloomberg
A banner featuring Kais Saied outside a store in Tunis on April 8. Photographer: Chedly Ben Ibrahim/Bloomberg
Emmanuel Macron in Paris yesterday.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
‘The chance to dream’
“The world’s democracies have avoided a major new crisis.
Emmanuel Macron, the incumbent president of France, yesterday won re-election over Marine Le Pen by a vote of roughly 58 percent to 42 percent. Macron’s victory means that one of Western Europe’s biggest powers will not be run by a far-right nationalist who wants to distance France from NATO and who has a history of closeness to Vladimir Putin.
The victory is a tribute to Macron’s skill as a politician and policymaker. Although hardly loved by many French citizens, he has managed the Covid-19 pandemic well and helped accelerate economic growth during his first five years in office. In a solemn speech last night in front of a twinkling Eiffel Tower, Macron said the French had chosen ‘a more independent France and a stronger Europe.’
Still, the campaign offered some new warning signs for Western democracies. Le Pen’s showing was considerably better than in France’s last election, in 2017, when she won 34 percent in the final round versus Macron. And when her father made the final round of the presidential election, in 2002, he won only 18 percent of the vote.
Over the past two decades, a growing share of French citizens have drifted toward the Le Pens’ nationalist politics, with its hostility toward Muslims and skepticism of the institutions that have helped keep Western Europe largely peaceful and unified since World War II.
It’s a common story across Western democracies, including the United States. As many working-class voters have struggled with slow-growing incomes over recent decades — a result of globalization, automation and the decline of labor unions, among other forces — they have become fed up with traditional politicians.
Roger Cohen, The Times’s Paris bureau chief who was previously our foreign editor, said these voters have a sense ‘of being invisible, of being forgotten, of being the lowest priority.’
A polling station in the city of St.-Denis.Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
A geographic gap
In France, many were angry that Macron raised a tax on diesel fuel in 2018. ‘Just fine for the hyperconnected folks in big cities like Paris,’ Roger says, ‘much less so for people who have seen train stations and hospitals close in their communities and need to drive to work in some Amazon packaging warehouse 60 miles away.’
Geography is a dividing line, in France and elsewhere. Frustrated working-class voters often live in smaller metropolitan areas or rural areas. Professionals tend to live in thriving major cities like Paris, London, New York and San Francisco; they also tend to be more socially liberal, more in favor of globalization and less outwardly patriotic.
The ‘cosmopolitan elites,’ as the Democratic political strategist David Shor notes, are now numerous enough to dominate the leadership of political parties — but still well shy of a majority of the population in the U.S. or Europe.
As a result, the traditional parties of the center-right and center-left have collapsed across large parts of Europe. In France, those two parties — which dominated politics until recently — won just 6.5 percent of the vote, combined, in the first round of the French election two weeks ago. Macron — a member of a new centrist party that has few other major figures — finished first with 27.8 percent; Le Pen finished second with 23.1 percent, and a far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, finished third with 21.9 percent.
In Britain, these same forces led to Brexit, the country’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union, as well as a decade of poor showings by the Labor Party. In the U.S., working-class frustration allowed Donald Trump to take over the Republican Party with a populist message, while Democrats have lost many working-class votes, partly because of the party’s social liberalism.
In France, Le Pen’s campaign took advantage of anger about recent Islamist terrorism and surging inflation to post the best showing of her political career (as a recent Daily episode described). She still did not win — or even get within 15 percentage points — but it would be naïve to imagine that her brand of politics cannot win in the future.
A generation gap
Macron has retained the presidency in large part because of his strength among older voters. ‘The French electorate has fractured along lines that are largely generational,’ Stacy Meichtry and Noemie Bisserbe of The Wall Street Journalwrote: In the first round, Macron won the oldest group — those 60 and older. Le Pen won voters between 35 and 59, and Mélenchon, the far left candidate, won those 18 to 34.
‘Radical politics in France is not about to fade,’ Roger said. Le Pen tapped into voters’ disappointment about the course of their lives. Mélenchon offered an idealistic vision of a society where the profit motive does not dominate, inequality is reduced and the environment is protected.
‘Nobody else was offering young people the chance to dream,’ Roger said. ‘They will want to continue to do that.’
Related: Jacobin, a socialist publication based in the U.S., argued that Mélenchon ‘defied the smears — and provided hope for France’s left.’ And The Economist, a pro-market magazine, called Macron’s win ‘a victory for centrist, broadly liberal, pro-European politics’ as well as for ‘tolerance, freedom, respect and the European Union.’
More on the election
Turnout was the lowest in two decades.
‘I had no choice’: The voters who didn’t like Macron but did not want to see a Le Pen presidency.
European leaders expressed relief. ‘We can count on France for five more years,’ the president of the European Council said.
The focus in France now shifts to parliamentary elections in June, which will determine how much leeway Macron has. Le Pen described them last night as ‘the great legislative electoral battle.’” Read more at New York Times
“NEW YORK (AP) — On an unusually crowded weekend at movie theaters that featured a pricey Viking epic and Nicolas Cage playing himself, DreamWorks Animation’s ‘The Bad Guys’ bested the field, signaling a continued resurgence for family moviegoing after a downturn during the pandemic.
‘The Bad Guys,’ released by Universal Pictures, debuted with $24 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That came despite steep competition for families from Paramount Pictures’ ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 2,’ which stayed in second place with $15.2 million its third week of release. It’s grossed $145.8 million domestically thus far.” Read more at AP News
“Lives Lived: Jim Hartz was a folksy newsman from Oklahoma whose TV career lasted three decades — including two years as co-host of the ‘Today’ show. Hartz died at 82.” Read more at New York Times