BRUSSELS — The European Union officially made Ukraine a candidate for membership on Thursday, signaling in the face of a devastating Russian military onslaught that it sees Ukraine’s future as lying in an embrace of the democratic West. While Ukraine’s accession into the bloc could take a decade or more, the decision sends a powerful message of solidarity to Kyiv and a rebuke to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has worked for years to keep Ukraine from building Western ties. Before Mr. Putin launched the invasion in February, insisting that Ukraine rightly belonged in Russia’s orbit, E.U. leaders would not have seriously considered starting Ukraine, with its history of oligarchy and corruption, on the path to membership. The decision came at a critical moment in the war, as Russia threatens to capture more territory in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces are outgunned and at risk of being encircled in fierce combat around the city of Lysychansk. The leaders … [Read more...] about First Step Toward Ukraine Joining E.U. Signals Solidarity Amid War
Total war battles kingdom
As Trade War Spreads to Mexico, Companies Lose a Safe Harbor
When trade tensions with China flared last year, many companies sought refuge in a country with a long, stable relationship with the United States: Mexico. Now, that alternative for production and materials may also be in jeopardy with President Trump’s threat to impose escalating tariffs on imports from Mexico, aimed at forcing action on illegal immigration. In the short term, the tariffs would mean lower profits for American importers and higher prices for American consumers on everything from avocados to Volkswagens. In the long run, they could force companies to reconsider the continent-spanning supply chains that have made North America one of the world’s most interconnected economies. That disruption, experts warn, could be far more damaging to the United States economy than the cost of tariffs themselves. The United States imported more than $345 billion in goods from Mexico last year, and shipped $265 billion the other way. But if anything, those numbers understate the … [Read more...] about As Trade War Spreads to Mexico, Companies Lose a Safe Harbor
ON CAMPUS: THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS
See the article in its original context from June 5, 1988 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. THE PHILOSOPHER GEORGE SANTAYANA was once asked which books young people should read. It didn't matter, he replied, as long as they read the same ones. Generations of Eng. lit. majors in American colleges followed his advice. You started with the Bible, moved briskly through Beowulf and Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton, the 18th-century novel, the Romantics, a few big American books like … [Read more...] about ON CAMPUS: THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS
Russia and Ukraine Exchange Dozens of Prisoners
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home following a prisoner swap, officials on both sides said Saturday. Top Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said in a Telegram post that 116 Ukrainians were freed. He said the released POWs include troops who held out in Mariupol during Moscow´s monthslong siege that reduced the southern port city to ruins, as well as guerrilla fighters from the Kherson region and snipers captured during the ongoing fierce battles for the eastern city of Bakhmut. Russian defence officials, meanwhile, announced that 63 Russian troops had returned from Ukraine following the swap, including some “special category” prisoners whose release was secured following mediation by the United Arab Emirates. A statement issued Saturday by the Russian Defense Ministry did not provide details about these “special category” captives. Russia Warns 'Absurd' Talk of Sending Warplanes to Ukraine Risks War Escalation … [Read more...] about Russia and Ukraine Exchange Dozens of Prisoners
Scarred by defeat, they gave birth to a golden age of Danish art
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 NEW YORK - Whenever I see the word "identity" in an exhibition title, I have an urge to vanish into the soothing nebulousness of a steamed-up bathroom. On the other hand, I am interested in how artists respond to national defeat and disaster. So I recommend "Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art." The show, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sounds unprepossessing. Danish art from the early 19th century? "Identity and place"? Unless you are a big fan of "Borgen" and eager to know what Birgitte Nyborg meant when she said, in the current season's final episode, that "modern day Denmark was born of defeat," you might be inclined to give it a pass. Reconsider. A lot of terrific art emerges from national trauma. Impressionism would not have taken the form it did without the Franco-Prussian War and the civil war inside Paris of 1870-71. Dada and art deco … [Read more...] about Scarred by defeat, they gave birth to a golden age of Danish art
When It Comes to Building Its Own Defense, Europe Has Blinked
BRUSSELS — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the greatest challenge to European security since the end of the Cold War, but the Europeans have missed the opportunity to step up their own defense, diplomats and experts say. Instead, the war has reinforced Europe’s military dependence on the United States. Washington, they note, has led the response to the war, marshaled allies, organized military aid to Ukraine and contributed by far the largest amount of military equipment and intelligence to Ukraine. It has decided at each step what kind of weapons Kyiv will receive and what it will not. Its indispensable role was manifest in the recent decision to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine and allow others to do so — a step Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany refused to take , despite strong pressure from Poland and Britain, unless the United States provided some of its own modern tanks. American leadership “has almost been too successful for its own good, leaving Europeans with no … [Read more...] about When It Comes to Building Its Own Defense, Europe Has Blinked
