Section: The Atlantic (USA)
Europe Warns Against Tightened U.S. Sanctions on Russia
The European Union is pushing back against the House-approved measure to strengthen sanctions against Russia, arguing “America first cannot mean that Europe’s interests come last.”“The U.S. bill could have unintended unilateral effects that impact the EU’s energy security interests,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission...
Brezhnev’s Secret Pledge to ‘Do Everything We Can’ to Re-Elect Gerald Ford
Putin’s covert support for Donald Trump has not been the first time Russia aspired to influence an American presidential election. Forty-two years ago, a Russian leader privately pledged his government’s support for a president’s reelection: “We for our part will do everything we can to make that happen,” Leonid Brezhnev said to...
What Jared Kushner’s Statement Reveals About Russian Methods
In trying to fend off suspicion of collusion with the Kremlin, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner have recently provided the public with two very interesting documents. Shoving responsibility for any outreach onto the Russian side, the two men have given us with a partial account of Russian methods in approaching the Trump camp in 2016. If the...
But What About Hillary Clinton?
Donald Trump’s brand-new communications director got a glimpse of the challenge he faces this weekend. As Anthony Scaramucci toured the Sunday shows, promising a new era of better relations and positive vibes, his boss was firing off his most active string of Twitter complaints in some time, taking shots at Democrats, Republicans, the...
5 Ways to Interfere in American Elections—Without Breaking the Law
Russia’s apparent interference in the U.S. presidential election is a big story, but it’s part of an even bigger one: the ease with which foreign actors can insert themselves into the democratic process these days, and the difficulty of determining how to minimize that meddling.Witness the disagreement in recent weeks among leaders of...
Donald Trump’s Defenders on the Left
When it comes to possible collusion with Russia, Donald Trump’s most interesting defenders don’t reside on the political right. They reside on the political left.Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich aren’t defending a principle. They’re defending a patron. Until recently they were ultra-hawks. Now, to downplay Russia’s...
Congress Comes to an Agreement on Russia Sanctions
Congress reached an agreement Saturday on sanctions against Russia for its election-meddling and invasion of Crimea. The latest version of the bill also includes sanctions against Iran, North Korea, and gives Congress veto power that could block President Trump from easing any sanctions on Moscow.The bill, which could be on Trump’s desk...
Listening Closely to the Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief
The big hard-news takeaways of President Trump’s interview with The New York Times this week were his trashing of his attorney general for being insufficiently corrupt, and the threats he made in the direction of the special counsel investigating him and his circle.But I’m more interested in examining his mental tics, parsing how he...
Is Trump Bad News for Putin?
When it emerged that Donald Trump had had a second, unscheduled and unsupervised chat with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, the media’s already-overstressed conspirometer dialed up to 11. But what if the real story now is less one of collusion with the Russians as collision with everyone else?In his formal meeting with Putin, Trump...
Anything They Can Do, Trump Can Do Better
The transcript of Donald Trump’s interview yesterday with the New York Times runs over 7,000 words. But you can boil down its essence to two words: I’m better. No matter what the subject, Trump finds someone to compare himself to. And in every comparison, he comes out the winner.The Times reporters start the interview by asking Trump...
