Section: The Atlantic (USA)
Why Russia Really Tore Down Its Steve Jobs Memorial
On Monday, many outlets reported the news that a memorial dedicated to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs had been dismantled in St. Petersburg, Russia. In a statement, ZEFS, a consortium of Russian companies, explained that it had removed the statue on Friday, one day after Tim Cook announced he was gay, for this disquieting reason: “After Apple...
Still Paying World War I Debt, 100 Years Later
It has been 100 years since the start of the First World War, which was fought for four years and claimed the lives of more than 6,000 soldiers a day. Countries in Europe began marking the centenary earlier this year, and the Tower of London is awash in ceramic poppies in beautiful tribute to the men who died. The scale of World War I was...
An Illegitimate Election in Ukraine
Alexander Zakharchenko, a 38-year-old mining electrician, won an illegitimate election in pro-Russian separatist controlled Ukraine this weekend. The election was held to determine a leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, however, the militant separatist group is not recognized as a legitimate power by the Ukrainian government. President...
Is Anybody Ready for a Rebel Election in Ukraine?
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine are set to elect executives and legislators in a Sunday vote. The move will defy the Ukrainian government and the international community, but it will be backed by Moscow. The United States and the United Nations say the election will violate the terms of a cease-fire agreement signed by Russia, Ukraine...
Gas Deal Ensures Europe Won’t Freeze This Winter
After months of tense and, at times, bitter negotiations, Ukraine has brokered a deal to resume natural gas shipments from Russia and keep the pipelines open through the coming winter. The settlement includes an negotiated rate on future gas shipments and—with the help of the European Union—the settling of more $3 billion in debts owed by...
Hitting ISIS Where It Hurts
ISIS is making about $1 million a day from oil sales, according to a U.S. Treasury Department estimate. And disrupting the group’s ability to sell the roughly 50,000 barrels of oil it’s believed to produce daily is a top concern for David Cohen, the U.S. undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. Dealing...
Winning With Ideas
“Daring ideas,” wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” Heading into the final quarter of a year that’s already seen crises such as the rise of ISIS, conflict in the Ukraine, and the ongoing threat of Ebola, it’s almost...
How Republicans Got Their Groove Back on Security
The Secret Service reels from blunder to blunder, the Ebola virus finds new victims, and the black masks of ISIS march across Iraq. The embattled Democratic president’s foreign policy approval rating is plummeting. Voters across America have come to feel the Republican Party can better keep them safe. In other words, a series of novel and...
Ukrainians Vote to Face West
Pro-Western parties have emerged as the big winners in Ukraine’s parliamentary elections. According to exit polling, the Poroshenko Bloc—controlled by President Petro Poroshenko—earned 23 percent of the vote, while a party aligned with Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk secured 21.3 percent. Both parties favor policies designed to bring...
Vladimir Putin’s Tangled Stance on Israel
Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama agree on very little. But on the subject of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, they’re on the same page. In a speech delivered Sunday at the Valdai Club, an annual gathering of Russian experts, Putin blamed the settlement construction for increased tension in the Middle East and beyond....
