The New York Times International - 14 11 2020

2020·16.24 MB·English

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DIRECTOR DUELS, A BUILT-IN FORT
AIMS THE Weekend WEAPON MIGHT WITH A
LENS AT BE USEFUL BIT OF
HIS OWN BRITISH
PAGE 10 | SCIENCE LAB
STORY HISTORY
AN ANCIENT FESTIVAL PAGE 17 | PAGE 12 |
WEEKEND HARLEY-DAVIDSON INTERNATIONAL
WHERE SNOW MEETS
HOMES
GIVES UP ON ITS
PERUVIAN SKY
INDIAN DREAM
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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020
Doomsday Fears grow
politics of as Biden
the populists team is kept
in the dark
Ivan Krastev
Contributing Writer
WASHINGTON
OPINION
Some Republicans say
VIENNA Donald Trump’s victory in the president-elect urgently
2016 presidential election was experi-
needs security briefings
enced by many right-wing populists in
Europe as a momentous turning point.
It was their version of 1989, when the fall
BY DAVID E. SANGER
of the Berlin Wall made liberalism
AND SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
appear unstoppable and triumphant.
Right-wing populists from Hungary to President Trump’s refusal to allow Pres-
Britain believed that if Mr. Trump could ident-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his
become president of the United States, transition staff access to government of-
the future belonged to them. President fices, secure communications and clas-
Trump’s 2020 defeat may trigger the sified briefings have prompted growing
rise of a much warnings, including some from Republi-
By refusing darker vision. cans, that keeping Mr. Biden in the dark
Fortified by the potentially endangers the United
to concede,
solidarity of a States.
Trump has
majority of Repub- Several Senate Republicans insisted
sent a message
licans, including, it that Mr. Biden should at least be given
to his fellow seems, the secre- access to the President’s Daily Brief, the
right-wing tary of state, Mr. compendium of the nation’s most
strongmen that Trump has wan- closely guarded intelligence secrets and
this is a fight tonly rejected the assessments of threats like terrorist
for survival. outcome of the plots and cyberattack vulnerabilities.
recent vote. Invok- Their call amounted to an acknowledg-
ing allegations of ment that Mr. Biden would be declared
fraud, he has made the victor in the election.
it clear that for him, conceding defeat is “I don’t think they need to know ev-
a non-starter. This behavior might seem erything,” Senator Roy Blunt of Mis-
AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES
pathetic — and it’s not going to keep him President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will confront many problems: bruised relationships with allies, a weak economy and getting a coronavirus vaccine to 330 million Americans. souri, a member of the Senate Republi-
in office — but his decision to ignore the can leadership, said of Mr. Biden’s advis-
will of the people has ramifications for ers on Thursday. “I think they do need to
democracy well beyond the United know some things, and national security
States. Hostility in Alaskan waters would be one of them.”
While most presidents and prime “President-elect Biden should be re-
ministers seem ready to congratulate ceiving intelligence briefings right now
President-elect Joe Biden, a handful of — that is really important,” said Senator
political leaders — Mr. Trump’s allies — Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, a
are endorsing his defiant gambit. When member of the Intelligence Committee
the media announced Mr. Biden’s tri- were being fired. Leave the area. As seas warmed by climate change and one of the few Senate Republicans
umph last Saturday, right-wing broad- ANCHORAGE Other U.S. fishing vessels scattered UVE.SS.S FEISLSHING open new opportunities for oil explora- to publicly acknowledge Mr. Biden’s vic-
casters across Europe insisted that the over 100 miles of open sea were getting tion and trade routes, the U.S. Coast tory. “It’s probably the most important
SIBERIA
elections were not over. While Emman- similar messages. Capt. Steve Elliott Guard now finds itself monitoring a part of the transition.”
Russian ships and planes
uel Macron of France and Angela stood dumbfounded on the trawler RUSSIA range of new activity: cruise ships Mr. Biden’s edge over Mr. Trump in-
ALASKA
Merkel of Germany seemed more than harass U.S. vessels as Vesteraalen as three Russian warships promising a voyage through waters few creased late Thursday as Arizona was
Nome
pleased to usher in a new administra- came barreling through, barking orders have ever seen, research vessels trying called in the former vice president’s fa-
melting ice opens routes
tion, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of of their own. On the ship Blue North, U.S. Exclusive to understand the changing landscape, vor. The narrow win in Arizona enabled
Economic Zone
Hungary and President Andrzej Duda commands from a Russian plane led tankers carrying new gas riches and Mr. Biden to extend his lead in the Elec-
of Poland were in no rush to congratu- Capt. David Anderson to contact the VESTERAALEN shipping vessels testing new passage- toral College, where he now has 20 votes
BY MIKE BAKER BLUE NORTH
late the president-elect. U.S. Coast Guard, wondering how to BRISTOL LEADER ways that sailors of centuries past could above the 270 required to take the White
In fact, at the same time Mr. Trump The crew of the Bristol Leader was lay- protect his crew of 27. MARK 1 only dream of. House.
NORTHERN JAEGER
was calling foul, Mr. Orban was propos- ing out its long cod-catching line well “It was frightening, to say the least,” Russia’s operations in the Arctic have Giving Mr. Biden and his top aides ac-
Bering Sea
ing changes to the Hungarian electoral within U.S. fishing territory in the Be- Captain Anderson said. “The Coast meant a growing military presence at cess to the daily briefing, as Mr. Trump
system that should help him to stay in ring Sea when a voice crackled over the Guard’s response was: Just do what 100 MILES Source: United States Coast Guard America’s northern door. Rear Adm. got right after his election four years
power beyond 2022 and threatened to VHF radio and began issuing com- they say.” THE NEW YORK TIMES Matthew T. Bell Jr., the commander of ago, would address only a fraction of the
veto the European Union budget if mands: The ship was in danger, it said, The Russian military operations in the Coast Guard district that oversees problem. Mr. Biden will confront an ar-
KRASTEV,PAGE16 and needed to move. August inside the U.S. economic zone off This year, the Russian military has driv- Alaska, said it was not a surprise to see TRANSITION,PAGE7
The warnings, coming in a mixture of the coast of Alaska were the latest in a en a new icebreaker straight to the Russian forces operating in the Bering
The New York Times publishes opinion Russian and accented English from a series of escalated encounters across North Pole, dropped paratroopers into a Sea over the summer, but “the surprise PUSHING BACK ON TRUMP’S CLAIMS
from a wide range of perspectives in plane buzzing overhead, grew more spe- the North Pacific and the Arctic, where high-Arctic archipelago to fight a mock was how aggressive they got on our side Small cracks have begun to emerge
hopes of promoting constructive debate cific and more urgent. There was a sub- the retreat of polar ice continues to draw battle and repeatedly flown bombers to of the maritime boundary line.” in Republicans’ support for President
about consequential questions. marine nearby, the voice said. Missiles new commercial and military traffic. the edge of U.S. airspace. ALASKA,PAGE5 Trump’s charges of voter fraud. PAGE 6
Diana’s turn to capture ‘The Crown’
marquee series, (which comes out Sun-
The Netflix drama
day, and not a moment too soon, after all
takes on the royal story we’ve been through) takes us back to its
beginning, when Charles was a self-pity-
the world knows best
ing bachelor, Diana was an unworldly
earl’s daughter and the world was
thrilled to believe in what seemed like
BY SARAH LYALL
the happiest of fairy tales.
When we first glimpse her, minutes into Fans of the long-running royal drama
Season 4 of “The Crown,” Lady Diana have been waiting excitedly for this sea-
Spencer is dressed as a tree and hiding son, anticipating the story line they
behind a plant, the picture of long- know best: the emergence of Diana as
legged innocence in a foliage-festooned the glamorous, attention-sucking vor-
leotard. “Sorry, I’m not here,” she says tex around which the royal family
coyly to Prince Charles, the highly eligi- swirled for so many years. Even Prince
ble heir to the British throne, who has Harry and his wife, Meghan, the royal
arrived at her family’s estate for a date family’s newest rebels, look wan and
with her older sister Sarah. dull in comparison with Diana, who was
“That’s sneaky of her,” Sarah says to not just “the People’s Princess,” as
Charles afterward. “I told her to leave us Prime Minister Tony Blair called her,
alone.” but an international superstar for the
Here is Diana in her contradictory tabloid age.
glory, naïve and conniving, full of charm With its intoxicating stew of ingredi-
and full of guile, destined to marry a ents — royalty, beauty, adultery, celebri-
prince and wreak havoc on a monarchy. ty, media intrigue — the tale of the
Everyone already knows the sorry end doomed princess has been one of the
ALEX BAILEY/NETFLIX
to this disastrous love story. But the new Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin play Prince Charles and Princess Diana in the newest most rabidly consumed true-life tales of
season of “The Crown,” Netflix’s Netflix season of “The Crown,” about the British royal family, to be released on Sunday. DIANA,PAGE2
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..
2 | SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
page two
Leader
of Bahrain
government
for 5 decades
KHALIFA BIN SALMAN AL-KHALIFA
1935-2020
BY BEN HUBBARD
Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa,
who ran Bahrain’s government as prime
minister for nearly five decades while
defending the ruling dynasty and
quashing opposition, died on Wednes-
day. He was 84.
The state-run Bahrain News Agency
said he died at the Mayo Clinic in the
United States without elaborating. (The
clinic’s main campus is in Rochester,
Minn.) He had previously had at least
two heart attacks and undergone heart
surgery.
At his death, Prince Khalifa, a brother
of Bahrain’s previous monarch and un-
cle of its current king, Hamad bin Isa Al
Khalifa, was the world’s longest-serving
prime minister. He was known by
friends and foes alike as a traditionalist
who had run the day-to-day affairs of
Bahrain’s government since the country
gained independence from Britain in
1971.
During those years, Bahrain experi-
enced steady economic development
and forged a close alliance with the
United States. The U.S. Navy’s Fifth
Fleet is based in Bahrain, an island na-
tion of 1.5 million people in the Persian
Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia, next to
Qatar.
Prince Khalifa stood up for his long
DES WILLIE/NETFLIX
The research team of “The Crown” had plenty of firsthand material and a plethora of contemporary experts to draw on to tell the story of Diana (played here by Emma Corrin) and Charles. tenure at the head of Bahrain’s govern-
ment. When he was asked about it in
2012, he told reporters for the German
Diana’s turn to capture ‘The Crown’ magazine Der Spiegel, “So what?”
“Democratic systems are very differ-
ent,” he said. “Why can’t we also be dif-
ferent?”
In the same interview, he criticized
the Arab Spring uprisings, including one
DIANA,FROM PAGE1 to get out of the marriage because “your in Bahrain, that erupted in 2011.
the past few decades. Even 23 years af- face is on the tea towels.”) The produc- “This is not an ‘Arab spring,’” he said.
ter her death, Diana is still a cottage in- tion also addresses head-on the bulimia “Spring is connected with flowers,
dustry, her story fueling too-many-to- that took hold of her, showing Diana happy people and love — not death, cha-
count books, films, documentaries, mu- compulsively gulping down food and os and destruction.”
sicals, plays, mini-series and, even now, then throwing it back up. The scenes are Bahrain has been shaken by occa-
tabloid stories. Now the new season of hard to watch, but true to the disease sional eruptions of popular discontent,
“The Crown,” under the watchful eye of that consumed her for so many years. mostly among its Shiite Muslim major-
its writer and showrunner, Peter Mor- The emphasis on behind-closed-door ity, who accuse its Sunni Muslim rulers
gan, has to perform its greatest high- drama adds a special frisson to episodes of systemic discrimination.
wire act yet: how to make such a famil- like “The Balmoral Test.” First Thatcher,
iar story feel fresh and new. new to her job, and then Diana, new to
For the part of Diana, the production Charles’s romantic orbit, are summoned
cast the unknown actor Emma Corrin, to Balmoral Castle, the Windsors’ estate
24, a recent graduate of Cambridge Uni- in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands.
versity, who plays the princess from the It’s hard for outsiders to break in to what
ages of 16 to 28. Alert Dianaphiles will we see here is a close-knit family with
notice that Corrin has gotten the prin- peculiarly aristocratic traditions: the
cess’s seductive signature gesture — muddy, bloody joy they take in hunting;
head tilting to the side, eyes glancing co- the incomprehensible parlor games; the
quettishly upward through her bangs — upper-class language conventions that
just right. But inhabiting that most- smoke out who (from their point of
talked-about of women presented chal- view) is well-born and who isn’t.
lenges of its own. Thatcher finds it excruciating and MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AF — GETTY IMAGES
“It’s very difficult; it’s a lot to take on fails test after test, sitting in the wrong Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa in
and a lot of pressure, especially as we chair; saying “I beg your pardon” in- 2012. He was the king’s uncle.
get close to when it comes out,” Corrin stead of the correct (according to the
said in an interview. The series is fiction, snobbish Princess Margaret) “What?”;
she pointed out, and her portrayal of Di- wearing city clothes for a day of hunting. On Wednesday, Bahrain announced
ana is her own. “I never went into this By contrast, Diana, whose family is old- that Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad
DES WILLIE/NETFLIX
thinking I wanted to embody or mimic er and grander than the upstart Wind- al-Khalifa, the king’s eldest son, would
her,” she said. “I think of her more as a “The more I’ve learned about the in- sors, knows how to play it. become the new prime minister. Prince
character, and this is my interpretation tricacies of this marriage and this rela- It all feels like voyeuristic fun, espe- Salman, 51, is also the deputy command-
of her.” tionship, the harder it’s been to pick cially in every scene featuring Olivia er of Bahrain’s military.
Peter Morgan’s multigenerational sides,” Corrin said. “People criticize Colman, who brings a droll, in-on-the- Prince Khalifa was born on Nov. 24,
saga, a consistently enthralling mix of Charles, but he did love this one woman joke archness to the role of Elizabeth 1935, in Al Jasra, Bahrain, a son of the
serious history and frothy gossip, has al- this whole life, and it wasn’t the one he this season. al-Khalifa dynasty that has ruled
ready spanned more than 30 years. This married,” she said, referring to Camilla. Because the real-life Queen is scrupu- Bahrain since 1783, including during its
new season brings us into the 1980s, the “So many mistakes were made by Diana lously dull and anodyne in public, most time as a British protectorate before it
era of big hair and puffy dresses, of and Charles after their marriage, but of her private conversations are wholly gained independence.
pleated pants and Conservative govern- the biggest mistake was that the mar- made up — but true to her character, His father, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad
ment. In Britain, it was the decade of riage ever happened in the first place.” said Morgan, who has made a career of al-Khalifa, ruled Bahrain from 1942 to
Margaret Thatcher, the country’s first Indeed, I was a Times correspondent plumbing the personal lives of public fig- 1961, and Prince Khalifa shadowed him,
female prime minister (Gillian Ander- in Britain in 2005 when Charles married ures and who has studied the queen learning the affairs of government.
son, her manner imperious and her Camilla, the woman he had loved all from multiple angles in the past. Prince Khalifa’s brother, Sheikh Isa
voice full of cardboard). along, after years of upheaval following bin Salman al-Khalifa, took power in
As always, intimate developments in his divorce from Diana and her sudden, The new season reminds us how 1961 and continued as Bahrain’s emir af-
the lives of the Queen and her family are shocking death. I spent the day inter- ter independence.
the relationship began in scandal,
set against the sweep of British politics viewing the crowds who had lined the While his brother served as the diplo-
and the wider forces of history: the Falk- streets in Windsor, where the wedding with the young Charles unable to matic and ceremonial head of state,
lands war; the Irish Troubles; Thatch- took place. Theirs was a mature, low- give up Camilla, even when she Prince Khalifa became prime minister,
er’s efforts to remake her party and up- drama love between two people who marries another man. giving him oversight of the government
end the welfare state; the subsequent knew each other thoroughly, and the and economy.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
economic upheaval. As we move closer Top, Olivia Colman, left, portraying Queen Elizabeth II in a scene with Corrin in “The public that had once so reviled them The Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979
to the present, these events seem less Crown.” Above, Diana and Charles in 1981, a few months before their wedding. greeted this new chapter in their long As always, we return to Diana, who scared Bahrain’s leaders, who feared
like distant history and almost like fa- relationship with a muted but respectful remains as complicated and unknow- that its revolutionary Shiite ideology
miliar home movies, parts of a collective understanding that has deepened over able in death as she was in life. Was she would take root in their own Shiite popu-
past shared by many viewers. The show had a team of advisers with divorce. “We had some advice from one time. the savior of the royal family, dragging a lation and challenge their rule. In the
Morgan said that he had approached direct knowledge of the events, a change of our advisers that Lady Fermoy was But the new season reminds us how stultified institution, and a nation along 1980s, Bahrain said it had thwarted two
the new season in the same way he has from previous seasons, when “there more of the kind of taskmaster we were the relationship began in scandal, with with it, into the modern age with her hu- pro-Iranian coup attempts.
all along, but that expectations for it were fewer people alive we could talk looking for,” O Beirn said. The resulting the young Charles unable to give up Ca- manity and common touch? Or were her In the 1990s, Bahrain’s Shiites rose up
seemed higher. “I’m slightly more con- to,” said Oona O Beirn, a “Crown” scenes are painful: Diana really does milla, even when she marries another emotional upheavals alarmingly anti- to demand economic development and
scious of accuracy as opposed to truth, producer who worked closely with the come across as a lamb to the slaughter, a man, and proposing to Diana only after British and rather unhinged, a debase- political reforms, and Sheikh al-Khalifa
and I’m leaning into accuracy as much research team. (For instance, in the first description she once used of herself. his family browbeats him into finding a ment of centuries of stiff-upper-lip recti- championed efforts to quell the unrest
as I can,” he said, speaking by phone season, they had just one surviving Sulzberger said that with so many suitable wife. O’Connor presents tude? by locking up thousands of people.
from London. source from Churchill’s office; now people alive to remember what hap- Charles as a kind of Hamlet-on-the- It remains to be seen how the final two As Bahrain’s economy developed,
Luckily, the research team had a trove there is a plethora of contemporary ex- pened, the show was particularly con- Thames, stooped under the weight of his seasons of “The Crown,” which are ex- Prince Khalifa was dogged by corrup-
of firsthand material to draw on. The vi- perts, including Patrick Jephson, a for- cerned with plumbing the nuances of own ennui, by turns annoying and sym- pected to end in the early 2000s, will tion allegations.
cissitudes of the royal marriage were mer private secretary to Diana.) “As the the story. That meant acknowledging pathetic. “He can be soft and gentle and treat Diana’s legacy. But if you leave this “I believe that Sheikh Khalifa is not
aggressively covered by the British tab- show has become more well known, we potential bias in even knowledgeable kind,” O’Connor said in an interview. “I season believing that to be a complex wholly a negative influence,” an Ameri-
loid press, often with the tacit help of Di- get approached a lot, and then it’s a case sources. For instance, accounts sympa- liked the idea that he was a sort of tor- question — as indeed are the relation- can diplomat wrote in 2004 in a cable re-
ana (although she denied it at the time). of talking to who we think would be help- thetic to Diana at the time stressed her toise, with a shell over him that protects ships between the Queen and her family, leased by WikiLeaks. “While certainly
In addition to endless newspaper ac- ful,” O Beirn said. despair over Charles’s infidelity while him from the world.” the Queen and her government and the corrupt, he has built much of modern
counts, the production turned to Jona- As always, they have taken many cin- conveniently eliding her own adulterous Audience reactions at early screen- Queen and her country — then Morgan Bahrain.”
than Dimbleby’s exhaustive biography ematic liberties. “Crown” watchers in adventures. But “The Crown” makes it ings, Morgan said, have been emotional. will have done his job. You don’t even The diplomat called Prince Khalifa “a
of Prince Charles, written with Charles’s Britain are already debating what is ac- clear that there were two sides to the “I’m inclined to think for the viewer have to be a flag-waving royalist to care traditional Arab” and predicted that his
help and providing an insight into his curate and what has been changed for tale, showing Diana promising the there is now an increased sense of con- what “The Crown” reveals about the conservatism would make him “a drag
difficult relationship with his parents; dramatic purposes. In one episode, for Queen that she will give up her lover, nection,” he said. “People are feeling it Windsors and the kingdom over which on the pace of reform.”
and Andrew Morton’s explosive biogra- instance, Diana gets a crash course in James Hewitt, and then going back to far more vividly.” they preside. Last month, Bahrain agreed to open
phy of Diana, based on hours of confes- royal-family protocol — where to walk, him after Charles fails to end his own af- As always, the series skates through Morgan himself isn’t a particular diplomatic relations with Israel, making
sional tape recordings from the princess where to stand, how to speak in public. fair with Camilla Parker Bowles. public events, focusing its attention on royal fan, he says: he’s much more inter- it the fourth Arab state to do so.
and full of juicy details about her mar- In real life, Sulzberger said, the instruc- Both Corrin and Josh O’Connor, who the more interesting private dramas. ested in his characters’ unique position Prince Khalifa’s health had been de-
riage. “In earlier seasons our subjects tion came from two members of the pal- returned this season as Charles, said We see only a glimpse of the wedding, as both private and public figures, their clining for years, and he left Bahrain in
were not given to this kind of self-reflec- ace staff. But “The Crown” gives the job they tried to not take sides in the million- with Diana all but drowning in her fa- personal lives inextricably intertwined August for what the government called
tion, so this was very helpful,” Annie to Diana’s grandmother, the harsh Lady dollar question surrounding Charles mously over-pouffed meringue of a with the history of their country. “Once at the time “a private visit abroad.”
Sulzberger, the production’s head of re- Fermoy, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and Diana’s operatically disastrous dress, but we are thrust right into you’ve spent time with these charac- His nephew declared a week of
search (and the sister of The Times’s Mother known for testifying in court marriage: Whose fault was it? “The scenes showing her doubts and unhap- ters,” he said, speaking of his job as au- mourning, the state news agency said.
publisher, A.G. Sulzberger), said in an against her own daughter, Diana’s Crown” gives evidence for both posi- piness beforehand. (As one of her sis- thor of this ongoing drama, “you don’t Prince Khalifa will be buried after his
interview from London. mother, during Diana’s parents’ bitter tions, and neither position. ters said to her back then, it was too late pass judgment on them.” body returns from abroad.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 | 3
World
Pro-Beijing forces get free rein in Hong Kong
resignations on Thursday, many ex-
HONG KONG
pressed a sense of uncertainty about
what they could do next.
Lam Cheuk Ting, who unfurled the
Opposition lawmakers
banners mocking the chief executive,
resign en masse in protest struck a defiant note at first. He said he
would keep the banners, because he
over ouster of 4 colleagues
would have “plenty of use for them in the
future” as he continued to criticize Mrs.
Lam. (Mr. Lam is not related to Mrs.
BY VIVIAN WANG AND TIFFANY MAY
Lam.)
Hong Kong’s legislature opened, unusu- But when asked about his plans after
ally, on time. resigning, he said he needed time to dis-
The meetings had been starting late cuss with colleagues, as well as his fam-
for months, consistently delayed by de- ily.
mands for roll calls from the pro-democ- He also has legal considerations. Mr.
racy opposition that had few other ways Lam will face trial after he was arrested
to stall the agenda of the Beijing-backed in August on accusations that he insti-
government. But just before Thursday’s gated a mob attack during last year’s
session, those opposing lawmakers had protests, even though a New York Times
all resigned after the ouster of four col- investigation showed that he had acted
leagues the day before. as a mediator, and was later among
Unfazed, the remaining pro-Beijing those beaten and injured by the attack-
camp got to work, reviewing a bill on ers.
parking spaces and discussing flu vac-
cines. The opposition could only stand The government could now push
outside for one final protest, hanging through contentious proposals,
two banners criticizing Hong Kong’s
such as voting rights for Hong
chief executive — and then taking them
down just a few minutes later before se- Kong residents who live in
curity could do so. mainland China.
The scene encapsulated the city’s new
political landscape, with the opposition
almost totally gutted. The pro-Beijing Eight other opposition lawmakers
lawmakers were already preparing were arrested earlier this month over a
which policies to fast-track, free of any heated meeting in May, when legislators
encumbrances, while the pro-democra- physically clashed over control of a key
cy bloc was left grasping for a next committee.
move. The imbalance made it all but cer- No establishment lawmakers were
tain that the government could push arrested.
through contentious proposals, such as “This year is stunning enough,” Mr.
voting rights for Hong Kong residents Lam said. “Let’s not talk about next year
who live in mainland China. yet.”
The collapse of the legislative opposi- Some departing lawmakers said they
tion was just the latest blow to Hong planned to return to their day jobs, find-
Kong’s beleaguered pro-democracy ing ways to channel them into forms of
VINCENT YU/ASSOCIATED PRESS
movement, after China imposed a new Empty seats in the legislature after the opposition lawmakers resigned. The opposition’s collapse is just the latest blow to Hong Kong’s beleaguered pro-democracy movement. protest.
national security law this summer that Dennis Kwok, one of the four ousted
helped silence mass antigovernment legislators, said he would continue
demonstrations and set off widespread The proposal had been loudly criticized mocracy camp to win a majority, as working as a lawyer, taking on human
uncertainty about the fate of the city. In by opposition lawmakers as an attempt Hong Kong’s system is set up to favor rights cases. Wu Chi-wai, who resigned,
the months since, the Legislative Coun- to bolster the numbers of pro-Beijing the establishment. said he would stay on as leader of his po-
cil had been one of the last bastions of voters, particularly after the establish- Some politicians seemed almost glee- litical party.
formalized, legal dissent in the city. ment suffered a major defeat in the dis- ful at the new state of affairs. Carrie But Mr. Wu acknowledged that their
Now, it is unclear what avenues of re- trict council elections last year. Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said efforts outside of the legislature would
sistance remain, as Beijing exerts ever Mrs. Ip said she also wanted to intro- on Wednesday that the government felt most likely be more fragmented.
more control over the Chinese territory. duce motions to clarify that Hong Kong “all the more excited” that its bills could The pro-democracy camp had dis-
People in both camps have been left had never had separation of powers. be passed efficiently. cussed keeping their seats, to be able to
wondering whether the resignations Pro-democracy groups had claimed the Mr. Leung, the former chief execu- question government officials, draw on
would be an effective form of protest, or separation was an important element of tive, said Hong Kong could finally see the resources of their offices and have
amount to unilateral disarmament. “one country, two systems,” the political “what the proper functioning of a legis- access to official information, said Clau-
“I think it’s the wrong move for them, framework that gives Hong Kong civil lative council should look like.” dia Mo, another lawmaker who stepped
but it’s up to them,” said Leung Chun- liberties that do not exist in mainland “We need patriots. All countries need down.
Ying, one of the city’s former chief exec- China. But Mrs. Ip and other allies say patriots holding these key political posi- But she said the group ultimately de-
utives and a vocal supporter of Beijing. the system has always been dominated tions,” he said. “I think it’s an important cided that it was more important to
“I think they’ll be in the wilderness for a by the executive branch. opportunity and an important window show solidarity with their ousted col-
long time.” And she was eager to promote for the government to get things debat- leagues, and to make clear that they saw
The mass resignation, the first in the changes to Liberal Studies, the high ed and approved, hopefully.” the legislature increasingly as a rubber
legislature’s history, was prompted by school curriculum that many establish- The window could be brief. Hong stamp for Beijing.
the central Chinese government’s deci- ment figures blame for turning young Kong is scheduled to hold legislative Even some lawmakers who sup-
sion on Wednesday to give the Hong people against the government. The elections next fall for all 70 seats. The ported the disqualification of the four
Kong authorities broad power to re- government has already appointed a elections were set to take place this Sep- lawmakers expressed concern about
ANTHONY WALLACE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
move lawmakers deemed insufficiently Pro-Beijing supporters outside the Legislative Council. Establishment lawmakers are task force to overhaul the course of tember, but the government postponed the mass resignation, indicating that the
loyal. already preparing policies to fast-track, free of any encumbrances. study. “We won’t be likely to run into the them, citing the coronavirus pandemic Legislative Council could lose legitima-
Minutes later, Hong Kong officials dis- same obstructionist roadblocks as be- — though critics said it was an attempt cy without an opposition faction. Felix
qualified four pro-democracy lawmak- fore,” Ms. Ip said. “I think we can return to forestall sweeping pro-democracy Chung, the leader of the pro-Beijing Lib-
ers accused of supporting foreign at- In the immediate aftermath, even pro- nounced that it would make full use of its to a more normal state of affairs.” wins. eral Party, told reporters that the depar-
tempts to undermine the government. establishment lawmakers seemed dis- new dominance to advance a slew of pri- While the pro-democracy lawmakers, Even so, it is unclear whether any dis- tures were “not healthy.”
The remaining 15 members of the oriented. Andrew Leung, the president orities that otherwise would have met as the minority, never had much power senting figures will stand for those “Everywhere in the world, the gov-
“pan-democratic camp” — a coalition of of the Legislative Council, said the de- fierce resistance. to block a government-backed proposal, seats. The government had already dis- ernment always has opposition voices,”
representatives of different parties and parting lawmakers still had items on the Regina Ip, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, they had deployed filibusters, calls for qualified a dozen pro-democracy fig- Mr. Chung said, as word spread on
independents who support greater de- agenda that he had to determine how to said she looked forward to expanding quorum and other legislative tactics to ures, including sitting lawmakers, from Wednesday of likely resignations. “If
mocracy — then announced they would handle. voting rights in city elections to Hong hamstring proceedings. It has always running. they all leave, I don’t know what will
quit in solidarity. But the establishment quickly an- Kongers who live in mainland China. been nearly impossible for the pro-de- As the 15 lawmakers handed in their happen to Hong Kong.”
The Melbourne towers where lockdown meant locked in
LOSS OF FREEDOM, LOSS OF LIFE
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Ebyon Hassan, 32, was still foggy from a
nap when she peered out the window af-
ter receiving a frantic phone call from
BY BESHA RODELL
her sister.
AND CHRISTINA SIMONS
“It was like a nightmare,” Ms. Hassan,
In the late afternoon of July 4, dozens of who is originally from Somalia, said in
police vehicles pulled up at a public- an interview outside her building in
housing tower in Melbourne, Australia’s early October. “There were so many cop
second-largest city. It was, witnesses cars; they had taken over the car parks.
said, like a scene from an action movie There were so many lights. And you
— but instead of responding to a terror- think, ‘What have I done?’”
ist threat, the officers were responding Ms. Hassan’s father was out for his af-
to a coronavirus spike. ternoon walk. He was healthy at the
Minutes earlier, Daniel Andrews, the time, though prone to pneumonia. “So
premier of the state of Victoria, had an- we had been very vigilant,” she said.
nounced expanded stay-at-home orders Still, by July 7, three days after the
that would begin just before midnight. lockdown began, he had tested positive.
For one group, though, the lockdown “No one came to check on him until the
would be immediate, and far more re- 16th,” Ms. Hassan said. He was given the
strictive. Hence the sudden police pres- option of leaving their apartment and
ence at the north Melbourne tower and being isolated elsewhere. But he kept
eight others, housing 3,000 people in all. thinking about his best friend, who had
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTINA SIMONS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
While most Melbourne residents never returned after contracting the vi- Left, one of nine towers in Melbourne, Australia, where residents were confined for two weeks in July. Right, Ebyon Hassan, a resident of one tower whose father died of the virus.
could leave their homes briefly to exer- rus and being removed from his home.
cise and shop for necessities, the resi- “My father was a very spiritual man,
dents of the towers were effectively and so afraid of dying alone,” Ms. Has- inside her building who were panicking. “What we had, those clothes, those “They think we’re incapable,” she brother tested positive for the virus.
placed, without warning, under house san said. “He refused to go.” Some had run out of medication. Oth- are the clothes we had,” she said. “We said, “but really it was the community “For my mum, she was very worried,”
arrest for up to 14 days. The authorities On July 23, a few days after the build- ers had no food, or were receiving items can’t go shopping for more. We weren’t itself that rallied and made sure people he said, “not being able to be there for
said the towers had “explosive poten- ing’s strict 14-day lockdown lifted, Mr. that were not halal, or in some cases ex- allowed to receive packages. What could were looked after. We did it ourselves.” us.” Everything that people in the build-
tial” because of their population density, Hassan finally agreed to go to the hospi- pired. The state health and human serv- we do?” ing knew about the prevalence of the vi-
but the concentration of infections was tal. He died a week later. He was 62. ices department was not providing in- Ms. Shanino, who was not at home LOCKED IN, LOCKED OUT rus came via word of mouth.
not out of line with rates in other areas of Ms. Hassan is devastated by the loss formation or help. when the lockdown began, decided not Barry Berih, 26, who was born in Aus- “Some people got sick and died,” Mr.
the city, and private residential towers of her father, but she is also reeling from Mohammed Yousef, the father of a to return. She turned to others in the tralia to Eritrean immigrant parents, Berih said. “Some of their loved ones
were not treated with similar alarm. a sense of betrayal at the way she and toddler and an 8-month-old, said the community who were looking to fill the said his mother was at work when the weren’t allowed out to their funerals.”
To the public-housing residents, her community were treated. (Govern- surprise of the lockdown didn’t allow for gaps, and a local mosque soon began or- lockdown began. Mr. Berih eventually contracted the
many of them immigrants, it felt like dis- ment officials declined requests for in- parents to prepare. ganizing deliveries of food and other ne- “At about 7 p.m., she called me and virus as well, but neither he nor his
crimination. Complaints flooded the om- terviews.) “We didn’t have time to get the sup- cessities to the towers. said, ‘I can’t get back into the house. The brother became seriously ill. The great-
budsman in Victoria, who is conducting “It looked like cages, like a prison,” plies we needed, like diapers or for- She said that no one she knew argued police won’t let me in.’” Her driver’s li- er toll was on his mental health.
an investigation. she said. “We thought we were in a free mula,” he said. “It was a shock. There that there should not have been a lock- cense still had a previous address on it, “As migrants, many people who live
Melbourne’s broader lockdown — one country. Covid taught us that we aren’t were 500 police surrounding us, like we down of some sort. “But it’s how it was and she was denied access. here come from war-torn countries,” he
of the longest and strictest in the world free.” were criminals.” done,” she added. “The people who were “She couldn’t get her work clothes or said.
— finally ended on Oct. 28 after 111 days. Unable to use communal laundry fa- making the decisions had never been to anything. I wasn’t allowed to bring them “They felt that Australia was a safe
But while the rest of the city celebrates A COMMUNITY FORCED TO RALLY cilities, families were given bags to this place before. Why did they treat us down to her,” said Mr. Berih, who works space for them. Many of them have been
its freedom, the residents of the towers Almost immediately after the police ar- leave dirty clothes outside their doors to that way? Why was it so disorganized? as a youth counselor. She was not al- here for 30 years. They’ve raised their
are still contending with feelings of rived, Hiba Shanino, a 21-year-old legal be washed. Ms. Hassan, the woman Why were we given no notice when the lowed back in the building for two kids here. I was born here. And now that
trauma, anger and confusion. practice student whose parents are whose father later died, said her family rest of the city was treated fairly, with weeks. this is over, it isn’t the only challenge. It’s
Here are some of their stories. from Eritrea, began to hear from people never got the laundry back. respect?” Early in the lockdown, Mr. Berih’s how do we resolve this, after the fact?”
..
4 | SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
Trump borrows tactics from autocrats Illustrating
the issue in
MOSCOW
an ‘arrogant
The U.S. has long lectured
dad voice’
leaders who deny defeat
and try to change results
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
BY ANDREW HIGGINS
When the strongman ruler of Belarus
Australian prime minister
declared an implausible landslide vic-
tory in an election in August, and had under fire for not letting
himself sworn in for a sixth term as pres-
a woman have her say
ident, the United States and other West-
ern nations denounced what they said
was brazen defiance of the voters’ will.
BY DAMIEN CAVE
President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko’s
victory, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo It may go down in Australia as the “man-
said last month, was “fraud.” Mr. Pom- terruption” of the year.
peo added: “We’ve opposed the fact that In the wake of a television investiga-
he’s now inaugurated himself. We know tion that revealed allegations of sexism
what the people of Belarus want. They and inappropriate behavior in Austral-
want something different.” ia’s governing Liberal Party, Anne Rus-
Just a month later, Mr. Pompeo’s boss, ton, the minister for families and social
President Trump, is now borrowing services, was asked at a news confer-
from Mr. Lukashenko’s playbook, join- ence what it’s like to be a woman in Par-
ing a club of truculent leaders who, re- liament.
gardless of what voters decide, declare But Prime Minister Scott Morrison,
themselves the winners of elections. who appeared at her side, just couldn’t
That club counts as its members far seem to let her answer the question.
more dictators, tyrants and potentates Before she could speak a full sen-
than leaders of what used to be known tence, Mr. Morrison jumped in to criti-
as the “free world” — countries that, led cize a term used to describe a rule intro-
by Washington, have for decades lec- duced by his predecessor in 2018 that
tured others on the need to hold elec- prohibited sexual relations between
tions and respect the results. staff and ministers. The term: “bonk
The parallel is not exact. Mr. Trump ban,” which he insisted made light of a
participated in a free and fair democrat- serious issue.
ic election. Most autocrats defy voters He carried on at full paternal volume
before they even vote, excluding real ri- in the news conference on Tuesday, ap-
vals from the ballot and swamping the parently without noticing that he had
SERGEY PONOMAREV FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
airwaves with one-sided coverage. Opposition supporters demonstrating in Belarus against the results of a presidential election in August. The United States and others denounced the voting as fraudulent. cut her off. When he was done, he ges-
But when they do hold genuinely com- tured to her to carry on.
petitive votes and the result goes “It’s stunning,” said Nina Funnell, a
against them, they often ignore the re- dence in democratic institutions and the racies,” said Serhii Plokhy, a Harvard sometimes concede defeat, particularly Trump recognized Venezuela’s chief op- leading Australian activist for survivors
sult, denouncing it as the work of courts, attacking the press and vilifying historian who has studied former com- if they can engineer a succession that position leader and congressional of sexual assault and harassment. “It’s
traitors, criminals and foreign sabo- opponents. munist states like Ukraine. “Even in mil- promises to guarantee their personal speaker, Juan Guaidó, as the country’s stunning how oblivious he is to the way
teurs, and therefore invalid. By refusing Like Mr. Trump, those leaders feared itary dictatorships, the dictators more and financial security. legitimate leader, another major blow to in which his own behavior reproduces
to accept the results of the Nov. 3 elec- that accepting defeat would expose often than not honor the results of elec- Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who seized Mr. Maduro. Dozens of America’s Euro- the very problem that they are there to
tion and working to delegitimize the them to prosecution, once they left of- tions and they retire if they lose them.” power in 1973 in a military coup in Chile, pean and Latin American allies followed discuss, which is obvious systemic gen-
vote, Mr. Trump is following a similar fice. Mr. Trump does not have to worry That the United States has fallen in accepted defeat in a 1988 constitutional suit within days. der inequality.”
strategy. about being charged with war crimes with such bad company has stirred dis- referendum that would have allowed Mr. Trump condemned Mr. Maduro’s For many, Mr. Morrison had revealed
There is little indication that Mr. and genocide, as Mr. Milosevic was, but may and mockery among not only Mr. him to stay in office, and relinquished “usurpation of power” and said that all himself to be exactly the kind of leader
Trump can overcome the laws and insti- he does face a tangle of legal problems. Trump’s political foes but also citizens of the presidency in 1990 after an opponent options, including military intervention, that many women had suspected: a
tutions that ensure the verdict of Ameri- Michael McFaul, the U.S. ambassador countries long accustomed to having won a presidential vote. were on the table to remove Mr. Maduro bloke’s bloke who assumes he knows
can voters will carry the day. The coun- to Russia under President Barack leaders who overstay their welcome. But he remained commander in chief from office and install Mr. Guaidó to the what’s best and works hard to protect
try has a free press, a strong and inde- Obama and a frequent critic of Mr. After decades of “preaching democra- and was made a senator-for-life immune presidency. his mates even if they are accused of
pendent judiciary, election officials dedi- Trump, described the president’s “re- cy to everyone else,” said Patrick Gath- from prosecution. (Still, he was arrested Now, Mr. Trump is also refusing to ac- misconduct.
cated to an honest counting of the votes fusal to accept the results of the elec- ara, a cartoonist and political commen- in 1998 in Britain after an extradition re- cept the election results. Almost immediately, the video clip of
and a strong political opposition, none of tion” as “his parting gift to autocrats tator in Kenya, the United States has quest by a Spanish judge investigating Temir Porras, a former minister in the his interruption took off online. In com-
which exists in Belarus or Russia. around the world.” been exposed as “drinking wine and his alleged crimes while president.) Venezuelan government who has since ments on Facebook, hundreds of women
Still, the United States has never be- An early draft of the playbook used by preaching water.” A 2018 study, based on elections left Mr. Maduro’s party, said Mr. Trump’s expressed exasperation.
fore had to force an incumbent to con- leaders who never admit defeat was around the world since 1950, found that refusal to recognize the U.S. vote “dele- “There he goes again, butting in with
cede a fair defeat at the polls. And written in 1946 by the Socialist Unity only 12 percent of dictators who submit gitimizes” America’s role as an interna- that arrogant dad voice,” one wrote.
The United States has never
merely by raising the possibility that he Party, a communist outfit in the then So- to elections and lose at the polls leave of- tional arbiter of democracy. “The arrogance of this is so frustrat-
would have to be forced out of office, Mr. viet-controlled eastern lands of Ger- before had to force fice peacefully. But military dictators, “The argument of ‘moral superiority’ ing,” wrote another.
Trump has shattered the bedrock demo- many. Trounced in the first German an incumbent to concede the study found, are generally more will- that the United States had,” he said,
cratic tradition of a seamless transition. election after World War II, the party, a fair defeat at the polls. ing to concede defeat because they can “without a doubt is affected by Trump’s
The damage already done by Mr. known as the SED, greeted its defeat return to the barracks and avoid getting behavior.”
Trump’s obduracy could be lasting. Ivan with a bold headline in its newspaper — arrested or killed. Geoff Ramsey, the Venezuela director
Krastev, an expert on East and Central “Great Victory for SED!” — and took In November 2010, President Laurent “It is rare for dictators to step down, for the Washington Office on Latin
Europe at the Institute for Human Sci- over ruling East Germany for the next Gbagbo of Ivory Coast refused to accept but when they do it is because, like Pino- America, a Washington-based research
ences in Vienna, said Mr. Trump’s refus- 45 years. his loss in an election, suppressing pro- chet, they have a feasible alternative, group, said: “How does the U.S. govern-
al to concede would “create a new mod- It never risked a competitive election tests with live ammunition, killing doz- such as rejoining the military, that al- ment expect to call for free and fair elec-
el” for like-minded populists in Europe again. ens and dragging the country into a lows them to avoid accountability for hu- tions in Venezuela when our own presi-
and elsewhere. When the Moscow-installed leader of brief civil war in which over 3,000 peo- man rights abuses,” the study, by One dent won’t recognize the results of a
“When Trump won in 2016 the lesson Hungary, Matyas Rakosi, watched as ple died. Earth Future, a research group, said. clean electoral process in our own coun-
was that they could trust democracy,” he the Communist Party lost elections in Like Mr. Trump, he freely used gov- Mr. Trump’s refusal to accept the re- try? It’s a propaganda gift to Maduro
said. “Now, they won’t trust democracy, 1945, he turned “pale as a corpse, ernment machinery to challenge the sult of the election has resonated with and every other autocrat around the
and will do everything and anything to slumped into his chair, without saying a election result, insisting he had not been particular force in Latin America. world, and I guarantee they are loving
ROHAN THOMSON/GETTY IMAGES
stay in power.” In what he called “the Lu- word,” according to a party official who defeated. The crisis stretched out over Mr. Trump used almost every tool in every minute of this.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Austral-
kashenko scenario,” leaders will still was present and later described what almost five months and brought Ivory his foreign policy arsenal against Vene- Mr. Maduro certainly hasn’t missed ia with Anne Ruston in January.
want to hold elections but “never lose.” happened to Hungarian historians. Coast to its knees economically. zuela’s president, Mr. Maduro, who the opportunity to gloat in recent days.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia Within a year most of his opponents With French military support, the fraudulently manufactured a victory in “Donald Trump, here we don’t lose elec-
has been doing that for two decades. were dead, in prison or terrified into si- president-elect, Alassane Ouattara, fi- a May 2018 election despite his deep un- tions because we are the truth,” an up- Some critics on social media even
Among the anti-democratic tactics lence — and he was running the country. nally assumed power as Mr. Gbagbo — popularity and an economic crisis. beat Mr. Maduro said in a national ad- compared the prime minister to a pro-
Mr. Trump has adopted are some that Nobody expects Mr. Trump to follow whose campaign slogan had been “We The vote was denounced by most dress. fessional wrestler.
were commonly employed by leaders that gruesome example. But by insist- win or we win” — was dragged out of his Western and Latin American nations as Mr. Morrison was addressing the ac-
like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, ing he won a vote that results show he bunker in Abidjan, the capital. neither free nor fair, and immediately Reporting was contributed by Adam cusations against two senior leaders —
Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and Slobo- clearly lost, he has broken sharply with This year, Mr. Ouattara changed the brought fresh American sanctions. To Nossiter from Paris; Julie Turkewitz Attorney General Christian Porter and
dan Milosevic of Serbia — refusing to the norms of countries that view them- constitution to allow him to run for a punish Mr. Maduro, Mr. Trump banned from Bogotá, Colombia; Anatoly Kur- Alan Tudge, the population minister. He
concede defeat and hurling unfounded selves as mature democracies. third term, and declared this month that transactions in Venezuelan bonds, and manaev from Caracas, Venezuela; Abdi dismissed the claims as old news, noting
accusations of electoral fraud. The tac- “Trump’s behavior is without prece- he won in a landslide. imposed crippling sanctions on Vene- Latif Dahir from Nairobi, Kenya; and that the alleged behavior had occurred
tics also include undermining confi- dent among leaders in Western democ- Even veteran dictators, however, zuelan oil. And in January 2019, Mr. Monica Mark from Johannesburg. before he became prime minister in 2018
through an intraparty revolt.
“They relate to circumstances that oc-
curred that were pertinent to the prime
K-pop band hugs a panda. China isn’t charmed. minister at the time,” he said, adding
that there would be no additional inves-
tigation from his government.
“These things happen in Australia,”
national treasure,” one Weibo user he declared. “People do things and they
Antics at the zoo offend,
wrote. “In South Korea they were tor- regret them.”
but Blackpink’s reputation tured like this, not properly raised. Susan Harris Rimmer, a law professor
Please send them back.” at Griffith University who worked for
is unlikely to suffer much
Others on Twitter were incredulous the government in Canberra, the Aus-
that the group’s interaction with the ani- tralian capital, from 2005 to 2008, said
mals could raise such a fuss. “Never the allegations against both men — and
BY YAN ZHUANG
thought I would live to see the day peo- Mr. Morrison’s response — all point
The dust from the last K-pop contro- ple will get mad at Blackpink interacting once again to Australia’s willingness to
versy had barely settled when the wildly with pandas,” one person commented. let government institutions be run like
popular girl group Blackpink was The situation escalated when the gentleman’s clubs of yesteryear.
dragged into the spotlight for the wrong China Wildlife Conservation Associa- The culture, she said, prioritizes pro-
reason — again. tion announced that it had formally writ- tection for the powerful over profession-
The cause of the furor? A baby panda ten to the Everland Zoo, where the pan- alism for all.
named Fu Bao. das are on loan, requesting that it “im- “It’s what someone called a mate-oc-
Fu Bao’s name means “lucky treas- mediately stop allowing nonprofession- racy,” Professor Harris Rimmer said. “It
ure,” but the 3-month-old giant panda als to have contact with panda cubs.” depends on who is doing it. There’s a def-
cub — the first to be born in South Korea The association said the zoo had “vio- erence to privacy, and there’s something
— had the opposite effect when the lated the professional requirements for to be said for that, but it creates an idea
ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK JUNG YEON-JE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
members of the group were filmed cud- Left, Blackpink performing in California last year. Right, Fu Bao, the first giant panda cub to be born in South Korea. the protection of giant pandas by organ- that the workplace is different and spe-
dling him in a video clip teaser on Nov. 5 izing performance-related personnel to cial, and normal rules don’t apply.”
for an upcoming episode of their online have close contact with giant panda Professor Harris Rimmer said that
reality show, “24/365 With Blackpink.” that members of the band were wearing an army of fiercely loyal followers who for not recognizing the sacrifices of Chi- cubs and producing entertainment pro- even compared to many of its developed
The seemingly innocuous cuddling of makeup while touching Fu Bao and did have sometimes turned to political ac- nese soldiers who fought on the side of grams.” peers, Australia remained a step or 10
a baby panda at a zoo near Seoul has not wear gloves when touching the tivism — but also internet users in North Korea during the Korean War, For K-pop bands, the cycle of contro- behind. Mr. Morrison, she added, ought
drawn a sustained flurry of criticism snout of an adult panda, which some China, who are fiercely protective of the while honoring the shared suffering of versy has become par for the course and to look to Britain, where Parliament re-
from Chinese internet users who ac- news outlets said was the cub’s mother. nation’s image and history. Americans and Koreans. Some K-pop does not seem to dent their bottom lines. quested an independent study in 2015 on
cused the band of putting a “national The hashtag “Korean artists wrongly Last month, Blackpink — Jisoo, Jen- fans were befuddled about why a South After Chinese news outlets published how to make the legislative body more
treasure” at risk. Only trained profes- handled panda cubs” has been viewed nie, Rosé and Lisa — swiftly re-edited a Korean band would acknowledge mem- critical articles about BTS and a flurry of inclusive and professional.
sionals, who generally wear gloves, millions of times and received tens of music video after one member was bers of an army that fought on the op- multinational companies including The final report listed 43 recommen-
masks and other protective gear, are al- thousands of comments. shown wearing a nurse’s costume and posing side. Samsung, Fila and Hyundai distanced dations focused on equality of participa-
lowed to handle the animals, which are Blackpink quickly removed the video high heels, drawing criticism that the In the case of Fu Bao, commentators themselves or scrubbed the group from tion, infrastructure and culture. Among
classified as a vulnerable group, accord- from its YouTube channel and said in a band was sexualizing the profession, ac- were quick to point out the fact that the their Chinese marketing, BTS never other things, it has led to some improve-
ing to wildlife organizations. statement that the band would delay the cording to local news reports. baby panda was the offspring of two gi- publicly responded. A few days later, ments for women, including an allow-
One Chinese newspaper accused the release of the next episode of its online And in July, the group faced a back- ant pandas lent to South Korea by China some of the articles were quietly re- ance of proxy voting during parental
band of putting the cub in harm’s way show. The group noted that all members lash from Indian fans after including an in 2016 as part of a global “panda diplo- moved online. leave.
because of “a risk of transmitting had worn gloves, masks and protective image of the Hindu god Ganesha in a macy,” which the country uses to In October, BTS’s management com- “We need to have our version of the
zoonotic infections as some of the mem- clothing when handling the panda cub. music video. That scene, too, was strengthen diplomatic ties. China re- pany, Big Hit Entertainment, raised ‘Good Parliament’ report,” Professor
bers own pet dogs and cats.” The occasional eruptions of outrage quickly excised. tains ownership of the pandas, even more than $800 million in South Korea’s Harris Rimmer said. “It was an effort to
Commentators on Weibo, China’s against perceived flubs by K-pop stars The boy band BTS was excoriated by those born overseas. largest initial public offering since 2017. think about Parliament as an exemplary
equivalent of Twitter, were even aghast tend to involve not only K-pop fandom — Chinese social media users last month “I like Blackpink, but pandas are our And the K-pop beat goes on. workplace, and we’ve never done that.”
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 | 5
world
Russians harass U.S. vessels off Alaska
ALASKA,FROM PAGE1 notified the U.S. government that part of
In the air, U.S. jets in Alaska typically its exercise would include a portion of
scramble to intercept about a half-dozen the fishing zone. But federal officials did
approaching Russian aircraft a year, not alert commercial fishing operators
outliers on the long-range nuclear to the planned exercise.
bomber patrols that Russia resumed in Coast Guard officials said they have
2007. But this year that number has ris- been working to make sure future notifi-
en to 14 — on pace to set a record since cations reached the right people. They
the Cold War era. In the most recent have also said that U.S. fishing vessels
case, last month, the United States re- were not required to follow any orders
sponded to the approach of two Russian from a foreign entity to depart American
bombers and two Russian fighters that fishing grounds.
came within 30 nautical miles of But in a memo last month to those in-
Alaskan shores. volved in the North Pacific fishing in-
Russians have refurbished and re- dustry that outlined what had tran-
stored dozens of military posts in the spired in the Bering Sea, the Coast
Arctic region, including on Wrangel Is- Guard also cautioned that “safety of life
land, some 300 miles from the coast of at sea should always be paramount in
Alaska, and have laid plans for control- managing the safe navigation of any
ling emerging navigation routes that vessel on the high seas, and is the re-
would funnel traffic through the Bering sponsibility of the mariner with first-
Strait between Alaska and Russia. hand situational awareness.”
This summer, Russia’s military oper- Alaska already draws a relatively
ated in the Bering Sea, home to Ameri- large portion of U.S. military spending,
ca’s largest fishery, where boats haul up with bases serving the Air Force and the
pots crawling with red king crab, and Army in or around both Anchorage and
trawlers dump nets filled with 200 tons Fairbanks. Jets in Alaska scrambled re-
of pollock onto their decks. The area is peatedly this year to intercept Russian
the U.S. pathway to the Arctic waters aircraft moving toward U.S. airspace.
where extraction companies have But jets taking off from inland bases can
worked for years to capture the billions take more than 90 minutes to reach the
of dollars of oil and gas resources coast of Alaska, said Maj. Gen. Scott
trapped under the sea floor. Clancy, a Canadian officer who is the di-
U.S. territorial waters extend 12 nauti- rector of operations at NORAD.
cal miles from the nation’s shores, but General Clancy said the encounters
commercial vessels operate even far- were professional. In the encounter last
ther out within the U.S. exclusive eco- month, the four Russian aircraft loitered
nomic zone, a territory stretching some in the area for about 90 minutes and
200 miles offshore in which the country never crossed into U.S. airspace. But
can harvest fish or natural resources General Clancy said it was clear the
without foreign competition but cannot Russians were both testing the capabili-
prohibit the passage of international ties of NORAD and demonstrating their
vessels. own, increasing the frequency and also
STEVE ELLIOTT
Russian military leaders have touted Russian warships in U.S. fishing territory in the Bering Sea, as seen by Steve Elliott, captain of the trawler Vesteraalen. “It was frightening,” another captain said. the complexity of their approaches.
the exercises in the Bering Sea as unlike Lt. Gen. David Krumm, commander
any they had done before in the region. of the multiforce Alaskan Command and
They said the goal of the effort was to miles between the coasts of Alaska and At that point, he said, a Russian mili- The Russians, who were running a a stronger U.S. presence in the Arctic also the 11th Air Force, said that while
prepare forces to secure economic de- Russia in the Bering Strait. tary ship joined in and issued similar or- military exercise known as Ocean and has warned about increasing Rus- the Arctic used to provide a natural buf-
velopment in the Arctic region, and U.S. The August exercises occurred well ders. “At this point, I’m going, ‘What’s Shield that involved some 50 warships sian activity there, said the fishing boats fer between the nations of the Far North,
officials have acknowledged that the south of the narrow strait, in an area going on here? Are we getting invad- and 40 aircraft operating throughout the should not have been forced to leave U.S. the new possibility of ice-free passage
Russians have a right to pass through where the sea is hundreds of miles wide. ed?’” Captain Thomas said in an inter- Bering Sea, were adamant, and their fishing territory. He said he was sur- has changed that.
the waters. Tim Thomas, a U.S. captain on the view. warnings grew more intense. U.S. offi- prised by the scale of Russia’s recent ag- “We’re at a pivotal point in the time-
Disputes over activities in exclusive fishing vessel Northern Jaeger, encoun- Captain Thomas said he contacted the cials have since said that a Russian sub- gressive actions in the Bering Sea, not- line of the Arctic,” he said at a recent
economic zones around the world are tered the Russian activities on Aug. 26 Coast Guard, but the officers there, he marine launched a cruise missile from ing that during the same exercise in Au- convention of the Alaska Federation of
not unusual, especially in the lucrative when his ship was operating more than said, seemed to be unaware of the Rus- the Bering Sea that day. gust, fighter planes from the North Natives.
Arctic region, where several nations 20 nautical miles inside the U.S. eco- sian operations. They told him he was As he considered the safety of the 130 American Aerospace Defense Com- General Krumm said the United
have contested the extent of their rights nomic zone. After a Russian plane di- responsible for the safety of his crew. people on his boat, Captain Thomas ulti- mand, or NORAD, had scrambled to re- States would need to invest in opera-
to dominate maritime economic activi- rected Captain Thomas to take his boat But he was reluctant to leave: They mately decided to leave. He estimates spond to three groups of Russian air- tions, equipment and training to pre-
ties. out of the area, he said, he responded were finding some of the best fishing of the forced departure cost his company craft that approached Alaska. pare for the changing environment.
Before a 1990 boundary agreement, that he was within the U.S. zone, not on the season, and the Russians had or- more than $1 million in revenue. “I think they were testing us — flexing
the issue was especially contentious in the Russian side, and that the Russians dered him not to return to those produc- Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, a Re- their military muscle,” the senator said. Ivan Nechepurenko contributed report-
the Bering Sea, which narrows to just 55 could not order them to leave. tive grounds for nine days. publican, who has pressed for years for Coast Guard officials said Russia had ing from Moscow.
..
6 | SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
The president in private: ‘He knows it’s over’
on Mr. Trump’s mind right now as set-
WHITE HOUSE MEMO
tling scores both inside and outside the
administration.
White House advisers have sent
Without a grand strategy
warnings to any government employees
he dabbles in improbable who might be looking for other jobs,
have placed loyalists in the upper ranks
scenarios for his survival
of the Pentagon, and have been open to
calls for intelligence officials to declas-
sify documents related to the investiga-
BY MAGGIE HABERMAN
tion into a possible conspiracy between
At a meeting at the White House, Presi- the Trump campaign in 2016 and Rus-
dent Trump had something he wanted to sian officials.
discuss with his advisers, many of And the president is considering fir-
whom have told him his chances of ing the C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel, al-
changing the results of the 2020 election though some administration officials
are thin as a reed. said he might not go through with it.
He then proceeded to press them on The president has nursed a burning
whether Republican legislatures could anger at Fox News for calling Arizona
pick pro-Trump electors in a handful of for Mr. Biden on election night and has
key states and deliver him the electoral entertained suggestions from allies to
votes he needs to change the math and start some kind of competing conserva-
give him a second term, according to tive-leaning news network, whether by
people briefed on the Wednesday dis- trying to join forces with an existing
cussion. property like the One America News
It was not a detailed conversation, or Network or Newsmax, or forming a dig-
really a serious one, the people briefed ital network of his own, as Axios re-
on it said. Nor did it reflect any obses- ported.
sive desire of Mr. Trump’s to remain in In a tweet on Thursday, Mr. Trump
the White House. continued his attacks on his once loyal
“He knows it’s over,” one adviser said. supporters, declaring that Fox News’s
But instead of conceding, they said, he is “daytime ratings have completely col-
floating one improbable scenario after lapsed.” “Weekend daytime even
another for staying in office while he WORSE,” he added. “Very sad to watch
contemplates his uncertain post- this happen, but they forgot what made
presidency future. them successful, what got them there.
There is no grand strategy at play, ac- They forgot the Golden Goose. The big-
cording to interviews with a half-dozen gest difference between the 2016 Elec-
advisers and people close to the presi- tion, and 2020, was @FoxNews!”
dent. Mr. Trump is simply trying to sur- Several Republicans expressed doubt
vive from one news cycle to the next, on Thursday that Mr. Trump would ever
seeing how far he can push his case be able to put together anything that
against his defeat and ensure the contin- could overtake Fox.
TAMIR KALIFA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
ued support of his Republican base. Supporters of President Trump at a “Stop the Steal” protest in Dallas, a widespread campaign based on the claim that the election has been stolen from the incumbent. Some advisers had hoped that Mr.
By dominating the story of his exit Trump would accept the state of the race
from the White House, he hopes to keep by this weekend, but a looming recount
his millions of supporters energized and watching television coverage about the more have become vocal that the time in Georgia may delay that. The presi-
engaged for whatever comes next. final weeks of his presidency. His mood has come, amid the growing pandemic, dent has told some advisers that if the
The president has insisted to aides is often bleak, advisers say, though he is to allow a transition to take place. race is certified for Mr. Biden, he will
that he really defeated Joseph R. Biden not raising his voice in anger, despite the “Look, I’m worried about this virus. quickly announce a 2024 campaign.
Jr. on Nov. 3, but it is unclear whether he impression left by his tweets, which are I’m not looking at what the merits of the The president’s goal for now is to de-
actually believes it. And instead of con- often in capital letters. case are,” said Gov. Mike DeWine, Re- lay certification of the election results, a
ducting discreet requests for recounts, But the work of government has been publican of Ohio, about Mr. Trump’s law- process that has begun in some states.
Mr. Trump has made a series of spurious reduced to something of a sideshow for suits in an appearance on Thursday on But his approach to lawsuits aimed at
claims, seizing on conspiracies fanned the president. CNN. “It would appear that Joe Biden is delaying that certification has been as
on the internet. Late Thursday, The New He has not made any public appear- going to be the next president of the scattered as his own thinking about the
York Times and other news organiza- ances except for a visit to Arlington Na- United States.” future.
tions called Arizona for Mr. Biden, mak- tional Cemetery on Veterans Day since Advisers say there may be additional
ing any hopes harbored by Mr. Trump an angry statement on Nov. 5. lawsuits filed, but it is not entirely clear
Mr. Trump hopes to keep his
even more distant. And he has not spoken about the co- when. It also is not clear who is leading
Earlier on Thursday, he falsely ronavirus pandemic or mentioned it on millions of supporters energized. the legal efforts.
claimed on Twitter that Dominion vot- Twitter despite the staggering growth in Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s per-
ing machines switched hundreds of positive cases and the number of West sonal lawyer, has been a source of enor-
thousands of his votes to Mr. Biden, cit- Wing aides and outside advisers who Karl Rove, the architect of President mous frustration for Trump advisers.
ing a report he had seen on the One have been diagnosed with the virus in George W. Bush’s presidency and an in- Advisers have tried to tell Mr. Trump
America News Network, a fringe cable the past weeks. formal adviser to Mr. Trump, wrote in that the fraud Mr. Giuliani is offering
channel, something even his supporters Several advisers have bluntly told Mr. The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday hope of proving simply does not exist.
called ridiculous and a federal agency Trump that the chances of changing the that “closing out this election will be a Advisers have nudged the president
JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
overseeing cybersecurity disavowed in Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, shown speaking about election election’s outcome are almost nonexist- hard but necessary step toward restor- to stop talking about “fraud” because
a statement. challenges in Pennsylvania, has been a source of frustration for Trump advisers. ent. That message came through in a ing some unity and political equilib- that has legal implications that his team
Advisers said his efforts were in keep- meeting with him last weekend at the rium.” has not been able to back up.
ing with one of his favorite pastimes: White House to which the president’s He added that after Mr. Trump’s “days So Mr. Trump has taken to pronounc-
creating a controversy and watching to that whether he actually does it or not, it could guarantee a lucrative book deal or son-in-law, Jared Kushner, dispatched in court are over, the president should do ing the election “rigged,” one of his fa-
see how it plays out. will freeze an already-crowded field of speaking fees. aides, though he has generally backed his part to unite the country by leading a vorite words but one with dangerous im-
As a next step, Mr. Trump is talking possible Republican candidates. And, In the meantime, Mr. Trump has spent Mr. Trump’s desire to keep fighting. peaceful transition and letting griev- plications in terms of how his own sup-
seriously about announcing that he is Republicans say, it will keep the wide his days toggling between his White While most Republicans have de- ances go.” porters view the election’s ultimate out-
planning to run again in 2024, aware support he showed even in defeat and House residence and the Oval Office, clined to publicly oppose the president, A peaceful transition is not as much come.
Support for fraud claims starts to waver
Mr. Trump has a long memory, a pen- spite clear evidence to the contrary. he said. “That’s a devastating develop-
A growing number
chant for seeking revenge on those who Now, he wants Republicans to ignore the ment for our country.”
of Republican officials cross him and overwhelming support election results to declare him the 2020 Mr. Murphy said undermining the le-
among the base of Republican voters. winner anyway. gitimacy of Mr. Biden’s win had real-
have begun to speak out
The fact that so few prominent Republi- When Secretary of State Mike Pom- world consequences. “If there is a lin-
cans are willing to break publicly with peo predicted on Wednesday, with a gering belief among 40 percent of the
him, even in defeat, is the latest sign of grin, that there would be “a smooth tran- country that Joe Biden’s election was
BY SHANE GOLDMACHER
his enduring hold on the Republican sition to a second Trump administra- fraudulent, it does make it very hard to
AND EMILY COCHRANE
Party — now and into the future. tion,” Mr. Trump favorably reposted the do even the nonpartisan things, like dis-
The first small cracks have begun to ap- “When you look at the number of video on Twitter. tribute a vaccine,” he said.
pear in the Republican wall of support votes that he got, you look at the kind of The political and rhetorical safe space The Trump campaign continues to
for President Trump and his unfounded enthusiasm that he engenders, I mean that many Republicans have retreated bombard supporters with urgent re-
claims of voter fraud in the 2020 elec- — he’s going to be a very, very signifi- to is a call to “count every legal vote,” in- quests for cash for his “election defense
tion, with a growing number of elected cant figure, whether he’s in the White sinuating there are many illegal ballots fund,” but the fine print of those appeals
officials and party leaders signaling that House or not,” said Senator Josh Haw- that no evidence has shown exist. shows that the president is actually
they would indulge Mr. Trump’s conspir- ley, Republican of Missouri. “I don’t (There are also more extreme Demo- looking ahead to his own future, collect-
acy theories for only so long. A few were know who else would be considered the cratic fears of G.O.P. state legislatures’ ing cash primarily for a new political ac-
willing to openly contradict him. leader, if not for him.” appointing rogue electors who might ig- tion committee, not an account devoted
Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio said on No prominent potential Republican nore the results in their states, but Mr. to legal and recount expenses. The first
Thursday that it was time to call Joseph candidate for president in 2024 — in- Biden’s campaign has been dismissive 60 percent of every donation goes to Mr.
R. Biden Jr. the “president-elect.” The cluding Mr. Hawley — has criticized Mr. of such talk.) Trump’s new PAC, Save America, and 40
ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Republican attorney general of Arizona Trump for his refusal to acquiesce to the For now, Senate Republicans are es- percent goes to the Republican National
said that Mr. Trump would not end up transition of power. Most have stayed si- pecially leery of crossing Mr. Trump be- Committee. Only after the PAC gets
winning his state, despite the presi- lent or given Mr. Trump, who has spoken fore the two runoffs in Georgia on Jan. 5 $5,000 from an individual would any
dent’s protestations (it turns out the at- privately about running again in four that will determine control of the cham- money go to the Trump recount fund.
torney general was correct — the state years, latitude and support without par- ber, realizing that they must mobilize Bob Bauer, a top lawyer for Mr. Biden,
was called for Mr. Biden late Thursday). roting his most baseless conspiracies. Mr. Trump’s base without him on the has dismissed Mr. Trump’s legal filings
And in Washington, several Republican Vice President Mike Pence, who fol- ballot. There are fears that Mr. Trump and tweets as “theater.” As Mr. Trump
senators have begun to say that Mr. Bi- lowed Mr. Trump to the lectern on elec- might attack either Senator Kelly Loeff- continues to whip up fears of a stolen
den should be entitled to classified intel- tion night, tried to sound as if he were ler or Senator David Perdue for being in- election, even some aides and allies pri-
ligence briefings as the incoming com- standing firmly with the president with- sufficiently loyal. vately acknowledge that Mr. Trump has
mander in chief or that it was time to out echoing false claims of victory. Both senators signed an unusual joint lost.
recognize that he would soon be certi- But with Mr. Biden now leading in statement calling for the resignation of The reality is that Mr. Trump is not
fied as president-elect. enough states to deliver him as many as the Republican secretary of state in just the president but also a major pub-
Asked when he believed Mr. Trump 306 Electoral College votes — the same Georgia, a move widely interpreted as lisher and distributor. In the week after
should accept the result, Senator amount Mr. Trump won in 2016 and de- currying Mr. Trump’s favor. the election, his postings dominated
Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chair- clared a “landslide” — and with no credi- “It’s pretty clear that the president Facebook, accounting for the 10 most
man of the Senate Finance Committee, ble evidence of electoral malfeasance, doesn’t give a damn about the Senate engaged status updates in the United
even set a deadline for the president to Republicans are gingerly beginning to majority or those two senators, so they States, and 22 of the top 25. “I WON
acknowledge reality: Dec. 13 — the day acknowledge the reality of Mr. Biden’s know it would not be anything to turn on THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” was his
before the Electoral College delegations win. The former vice president was them and crush turnout,” said Brendan top post. Mr. Trump also posted the most
cast their votes for president. leading by more than 20,000 votes in Buck, who served as a top adviser to the engaged link on Facebook that week, a
DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Influential party financiers and strat- Wisconsin, 53,000 in Pennsylvania and Top, President Trump has a long memory and a penchant for seeking revenge on those last two Republican House speakers, solicitation for cash to fight the election
egists have begun to weigh in, as well. 148,000 in Michigan — comparable to or who cross him. Above, Sheldon Adelson is a Republican megadonor whose family owns Paul D. Ryan and John A. Boehner. results.
“The president does a disservice to larger than Mr. Trump’s winning mar- a newspaper that has criticized the president’s pushback on the election. “We’ve always been talking about how Inside the Republican Party, the presi-
his more rabid supporters by insisting gins in those states four years ago. the president has taken over the party. dent remains a singular influence. He ef-
that he would have won the Nov. 3 elec- “There is an inevitable logic to this,” But here is an example where is he hold- fectively anointed Ronna McDaniel for
tion absent voter fraud,” said an editori- said Ari Fleischer, the White House “dangerous path” in an interview with vendors, issued a joint statement de- ing base G.O.P. voters hostage to force another term as head of the Republican
al in The Las Vegas Review-Journal, a press secretary under President George CBS’s “60 Minutes,” according to ex- claring, “There is no evidence that any Republicans to participate in his cha- National Committee with a tweet.
newspaper owned by the family of the W. Bush, who has congratulated Mr. Bi- cerpts released Thursday. He said he voting system deleted or lost votes, rade.” Several R.N.C. members echoed Mr.
Republican megadonor Sheldon Adel- den on his win on Fox News. “None of was troubled that “Republican officials changed votes, or was in any way com- Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Trump’s fraud claims on Thursday. “It is
son. “That’s simply false.” Mr. Adelson these recounts and allegations are going who clearly know better are going along promised.” Connecticut, said Republican fealty to possible the true winner will never be
and his wife, Miriam, have given more to turn this election around.” with this.” Mr. Trump’s strategy is a familiar one Mr. Trump revealed that the party was known,” said Rob Steele, an R.N.C.
than $75 million to super PACs support- Democrats argue that indulging Mr. On Thursday, the president made new that he has deployed since the first full “now a full-on cult of personality.” member from Michigan, where some
ing Mr. Trump. Trump’s recalcitrance is undercutting baseless accusations about a voting day of his administration. Then, he de- “I think they understand that Trump Republican lawmakers are demanding a
Karl Rove, the Republican strategist, faith in the nation’s democratic institu- software company. Groups representing manded that his press secretary, Sean will continue to dominate their politics “thorough audit” of the election.
published a Wall Street Journal op-ed tions and undermining the incoming Bi- government election and security offi- Spicer, march out to the White House for the next decade and they’ve all made
essay under the headline, “This Election den administration’s legitimacy. cials, including in the Trump adminis- Briefing Room to declare his inaugura- a decision that they can’t survive per- Luke Broadwater and Reid J. Epstein
Result Won’t Be Overturned.” Former President Obama called it a tration, as well as private sector election tion crowd was the largest in history, de- sonally if they get crosswise with him,” contributed reporting from Washington.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 | 7
world
Worries grow as Biden team is kept in the dark
TRANSITION,FROM PAGE1
ray of complex problems: bruised rela-
tionships with foreign allies, a weak
economy and a sluggish recovery, per-
haps the most high-risk period yet of the
coronavirus and a need to distribute a
vaccine to 330 million Americans.
The president-elect’s team is con-
cerned that it is being shut out of plan-
ning for the vaccine distribution, a huge
undertaking that the incoming adminis-
tration expects to inherit the moment
Mr. Biden is sworn in. His advisers said
that they have not had access to the de-
tails of Warp Speed, the project that has
vaccine distribution planning well un-
derway, and that they understand little
about its workings.
It is focusing on logistical challenges
and policy questions, one senior Biden
adviser said, like how to prioritize who
gets a vaccine and how to make distribu-
tion equitable along racial and socioeco-
nomic lines — a priority of Mr. Biden’s,
but one rarely discussed by Mr. Trump.
“Every day Senate Republicans con-
tinue to indulge the president in the de-
lusion he didn’t just lose the election,
they are undermining faith in our de-
mocracy, putting our national security
at risk and impeding the response to the
Covid-19 health and economic crises,”
said Senator Chuck Schumer of New
York, the Democratic leader.
Mr. Trump’s stonewalling is already
creating modest risks in the president-
elect’s dealings with foreign leaders:
Mr. Biden made his first contacts on un-
secured telephone lines, without State
Department translators or briefings
about what those leaders might seek
from him.
China on Friday congratulated Mr. Bi-
den on his election, signaling a start to
its relations with the incoming adminis-
tration after years of hostility and dis-
trust under Mr. Trump. “We congratu-
late Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Wang
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s Min- President Trump’s administration has held off on efforts to begin the transition to a Biden administration, but some Republican senators have said the president-elect should get access to intelligence briefings.
istry of Foreign Affairs, said at a daily
news conference. “We respect the
choice of the American people.” deep roots in the bureaucracy, are let Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican Obama’s team was ready with detailed Mr. Biden classified intelligence brief- other consequences, like delaying the
Aides to Mr. Biden said that so far, the into the government departments that a of Alaska, said she believed the Trump briefings and simulations of potential ings, in their first significant sign of rec- start of background checks for many
risks were manageable. Mr. Biden’s dec- Biden administration will run starting at administration should share vaccine crises (including a pandemic flu), and ognition of Mr. Biden and the need for a senior and midlevel officials, said John
ades of experience in Washington, in- noon Jan. 20. Some issues can wait until distribution plans with Mr. Biden, en- Mr. Trump’s advisers were unwilling to transition. B. Bellinger III, a former Bush adminis-
cluding 17 years as the chairman or a formal “ascertainment” is declared, suring that “as the president-elect is receive them. “I see no problem,” Senator Charles E. tration official.
ranking member of the Senate Foreign giving them access to the offices and able to come in and bring with him a Mr. Trump’s incoming national securi- Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the “We felt behind from the beginning,”
Relations Committee, means little will classified material that some parts of transition team, that there is that flow of ty adviser, Michael T. Flynn, who was Senate Finance Committee, said on Mr. Bellinger said.
take him by surprise. But given the the administration have prepared, in- information that we typically see when fired within a month, did sit for reviews Thursday when asked about whether Senior national security officials
global tumult in the past four years, as cluding the Department of Homeland we have transitions.” of urgent national security threats with Mr. Biden should receive those brief- awaiting background checks could not
one Biden adviser put it, “The risk is Security and the intelligence agencies. Other matters also have a short time Susan Rice, his predecessor. ings. start their jobs until the spring and sum-
that we don’t know what we don’t know.” Combating Covid-19 may be the most fuse. The last remaining arms control With Mr. Trump unwilling to recog- Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican mer of 2001, a delay that made it difficult
Deprived of access to secure govern- urgent issue for Mr. Biden. His team treaty between the United States and nize the election result and authorize the of South Carolina, told reporters, “Yes, I to hold senior-level meetings and make
ment communications by the Trump ad- hopes to carry out a national testing Russia, called New START, expires days ascertainment initiating formal transi- think so,” when pressed as well. tough policy decisions, including those
ministration, Mr. Biden’s team of more strategy, but it will have to start from after the inauguration. Mr. Biden has ex- tion, the White House Communications Senator James Lankford, Republican regarding Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Mr.
than 500 former officials and outside ex- scratch because the Trump administra- pressed a willingness to renew it, but his Agency is forbidden to run secure lines of Oklahoma and a member of a key Sen- Bellinger said. Citing those transition
perts has embraced workarounds, talk- tion does not have one. Biden advisers national security staff has had no access to Mr. Biden’s house in Delaware. That ate oversight committee, told reporters delays, the 9/11 commission made rec-
ing over encrypted apps like Signal to are seeking guidance from groups in- to the detailed discussions between the creates a risk that his conversations that without an update from the General ommendations to smooth presidential
shield their conversations from the Chi- cluding the Rockefeller Foundation, national security adviser, Robert C. could be vulnerable to foreign eaves- Services Administration by Friday, he transitions and expedite clearances.
nese and meeting in outdoor coffee which has drafted a national testing O’Brien, and his Kremlin counterpart. dropping. planned to push for answers on the Detailed briefing memos from the
shops with government officials they An array of newer threats persist, as His team cannot use the government process for beginning to share informa- outgoing administration are also impor-
once worked alongside. well, like terrorist plots or brewing transition email system, and intelli- tion with transition officials. tant, Mr. Bellinger said, even if a new ad-
“They are undermining faith
The conversations are circumspect cyberattacks. The 9/11 commission con- gence agencies have warned that the “Both sides had access to the intel in- ministration is planning big policy
because of rules on both sides limiting in our democracy.” cluded that the short transition caused transition operation is a prime target for formation through the whole cam- changes.
their exchanges of information, partici- by the Florida recount in 2000 ham- Chinese, Russian, North Korean, Irani- paign,” Mr. Lankford said, refusing to “Incoming administration officials al-
pants said. But the Biden team will be pered the Bush administration’s ability an and other hackers. confirm that Mr. Biden is the president- ways want to fix policies they think are
relying on deep connections and old plan and is joining with states and cities to deal with Qaeda plots. At the time, The refusal of the General Services elect because of the Trump campaign’s broken,” he said. “But it is important for
friendships that have kept up through- to expand testing efforts. President-elect George W. Bush dis- Administration to recognize Mr. Biden outstanding legal challenges and the them to know what the outgoing admin-
out the Trump administration, often Access to the Trump vaccine distribu- cussed the dangers of abbreviated brief- as the president-elect has also all but need for states to formally certify re- istration was already doing and why
with parts of the bureaucracy that Mr. tion plan will become increasingly im- ings in an interview with The New York halted transition work inside the Penta- sults. “Both sides need to have access to problems that may look easy to fix from
Trump has referred to as the “deep portant as Mr. Biden’s inauguration ap- Times at his ranch eight days before his gon and intelligence agencies. the information, because we don’t know the outside may not be quite so easy.”
state.” proaches so his team can take over with- first inauguration. Even as congressional Republicans who the president is going to be, so allow
It may be weeks before Mr. Biden’s so- out hiccups, said the senior adviser, who In many ways, what is happening avoided acknowledging Mr. Biden’s vic- that part of this process to still continue Reporting was contributed by Julian E.
called agency review teams, made up of spoke on the condition of anonymity to now, officials said, is a reverse of four tory, they began to push back at the just for the sake of national security.” Barnes, Emily Cochrane, Luke Broadwa-
longtime government officials with discuss internal transition details. years ago — when President Barack Trump administration’s refusal to grant The prolonged transition will have ter and Zolan Kanno-Youngs.
When Trump leaves office, prosecution risk will rise
Trump’s past use of his presidential vestigation, his office could not prove ney’s office and is now a white-collar de-
BY WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
power — pardoning those close to him that a crime had been committed. fense lawyer.
AND BENJAMIN WEISER
charged with federal crimes — suggests Some legal experts said it would send It is unknown whether Mr. Vance’s
President Trump has lost more than an that he would make liberal use of the the wrong message if Mr. Vance had evi- prosecutors have obtained the coopera-
election. When he leaves the White pardon pen on behalf of associates, fam- dence to justify charges but decided to tion of any insiders for their investiga-
House in January, he will also lose the ily members and possibly even himself, walk away from a prosecution of Mr. tion, but another consequence of Mr.
constitutional protection from prosecu- as he claimed he has the right to do. Trump. Trump’s departure from office and loss
tion afforded to a sitting president. But his pardon power does not extend “That would put the president above of the power of the presidency could be
After Jan. 20, Mr. Trump, who has re- to state crimes, like the possible vio- the law,” said Anne Milgram, a former that it would be easier for them to do so.
fused to concede and is fighting to hold lations under investigation by Mr. assistant district attorney in Manhattan In addition to Mr. Vance’s inquiry, Mr.
onto his office, will be more vulnerable Vance’s office, in Manhattan. and Democratic attorney general in Trump also faces continuing scrutiny by
than ever to a pending grand jury inves- Mr. Vance’s inquiry could take on out- New Jersey and a frequent critic of Mr. New York State’s attorney general —
tigation by a New York State district at- size importance if the incoming Biden Trump. who he has also claimed has targeted
torney into the president’s family busi- administration, in seeking to unify the And because Mr. Trump has repeat- him out of partisan rancor.
ness and its practices, as well as his country and avoid the appearance of re- edly complained that the investigation In his lawsuit seeking to block the
taxes. taliation against Mr. Trump, shies away was part of a broad partisan witch hunt, grand jury subpoena, Mr. Trump’s law-
The two-year inquiry, the only known from new federal investigations. any decision to end it once the president yers quoted 2018 campaign statements
active criminal investigation of Mr. Such a move would not bind the dis- left office could be seen as a tacit ac- by the attorney general, Letitia James, a
Trump, has been stalled since last fall, trict attorney, an independent elected knowledgment that such criticism was Democrat, saying they were part of a
when the president sued to block a sub- state official. justified. “campaign to harass the president.”
poena for his tax returns and other Mr. Vance’s lawyers acknowledged Few facts have been publicly dis- They cited one statement, for exam-
records, a bitter dispute that for the sec- during the court fight over the subpoena closed about the course of the district at- ple, in which she said Mr. Trump should
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
ond time is before the U.S. Supreme that the Constitution bars them from torney’s investigation or the people or President Trump has fought for more than a year to prevent a New York State district worry because “we’re all closing in on
Court. A ruling is expected soon. prosecuting a president while in office, potential crimes being examined be- attorney based in Manhattan, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., from obtaining his tax returns. him.”
Mr. Trump has contended that the in- but the district attorney has said noth- cause the inquiry is shielded by grand Last year, Ms. James’s office opened a
vestigation by the district attorney, Cy- ing about what might happen, once Mr. jury secrecy. civil fraud investigation into Mr.
rus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat based in Trump leaves the White House. But during the legal battle over Mr. analysis of some of his tax return data oversaw enforcement at New York’s De- Trump’s businesses. As recently as last
New York City, is a politically motivated Danny Frost, a spokesman for Mr. Vance’s subpoena, which sought eight obtained by the newspaper. partment of Taxation and Finance. month, Mr. Trump’s son Eric, after
fishing expedition. But if the Supreme Vance, declined to comment. It remains years of Mr. Trump’s personal and cor- Mr. Trump, before and during his That, in large measure, is because months of delays, was questioned under
Court rules that Mr. Vance is entitled to unclear whether the office will deter- porate tax returns and other records presidency, declined to publicly release prosecutors must prove that the defend- oath by the office’s lawyers.
the records, and he uncovers possible mine that crimes were committed and from his accounting firm, prosecutors his tax returns, breaking with 40 years ant actually intended to evade taxes, Mr. Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant
crimes, Mr. Trump could face a reckon- choose to prosecute Mr. Trump or any- suggested in court papers that they of White House tradition, and he vig- Comiskey said. district attorney in Manhattan who
ing with law enforcement — further in- one in his orbit. were investigating a range of potential orously fought attempts by Congress And tax cases can be boring for jurors. teaches legal ethics and criminal law at
flaming political tensions and raising Mr. Vance’s actions in the coming financial crimes. Those include insur- and state lawmakers to obtain them. “They involve a complicated set of New York Law School, said Ms. James’s
the startling specter of a criminal con- months are likely to put him under in- ance fraud and criminal tax evasion, as The district attorney’s inquiry, which rules and numbers, and it’s hard for ju- earlier statements made it appear there
viction, or even prison, for a former creasing political scrutiny. Mr. Trump well as grand larceny and scheming to began in the summer of 2018, was first rors — or anyone — to keep their focus was some truth to the accusation that
president. will leave the White House amid calls for defraud — which together are New York thought to focus on hush money pay- through days and days of testimony,” people who were investigating Mr.
“He’ll never have more protection him to face criminal charges and a State‘s equivalent of federal bank fraud ments made on behalf of Mr. Trump just said Amy Walsh, who handled tax cases Trump were “at least capitalizing on
from Vance than he has right now,” said drumbeat of strident criticism from the charges. days before the 2016 presidential elec- as a federal prosecutor and later as a de- that from a political perspective.”
Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at left that he has evaded any legal conse- And prosecutors argued in court that tion to an adult film star who had fense lawyer at a firm that specialized in The only way for Mr. Vance to avoid
the University of Texas. quences for his conduct over the years. the documents they had demanded from claimed she had an affair with him. tax matters. that perception, Professor Roiphe said,
“Vance has been the wild card here,” On the one hand, Mr. Vance could face the accounting firm, Mazars USA, rep- But the subpoena for Mr. Trump’s tax The challenge in presenting such was “to have a rock-solid case with over-
Professor Vladeck added. “And there is pressure to forsake any charges to allow resented “central evidence” for their in- returns underscores an apparent great- cases to a jury is compounded without a whelming evidence, which will help con-
very little that even a new administra- the country to move forward after a con- vestigation. er focus on potential tax crimes, which cooperating witness who can explain vince the public that they’re holding the
tion that wants to let bygones be by- tentious election. On the other, the dis- But they have provided little in the tax experts, former prosecutors and de- complex financial strategies and former president accountable for crimi-
gones could do formally to stop him.” trict attorney was sharply criticized for way of specifics beyond citing multiple fense lawyers agree can be among the records, or emails or other statements nal acts.”
A lawyer for the president, Jay Seku- his 2012 decision not to seek an indict- news reports that detailed a range of po- toughest cases for the government to containing admissions, experts said. Ms. James, in response to criticism
low, declined to comment through a ment against Mr. Trump’s children, tential criminal conduct by the presi- win at trial. “They need a smoking gun or they from Mr. Trump last year, tweeted that
spokesman. Ivanka Trump and Donald J. Trump Jr., dent and his associates, including a se- “The burden of proof is substantial,” need someone to flip,” said Daniel J. her office “will follow the facts of any
The district attorney’s investigation after they were accused of misleading ries of 2018 New York Times articles said William J. Comiskey, a former long- Horwitz, who brought tax and complex case, wherever they lead.” She added:
of a sitting president has taken on even investors in a condo-hotel project. Mr. that outlined possible tax crimes com- time state prosecutor of white-collar fraud cases during more than eight “Make no mistake: No one is above the
greater significance because Mr. Vance has said that after a two-year in- mitted by Mr. Trump based on a detailed and organized crime cases who later years in the Manhattan district attor- law, not even the President.”
..
8 | SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Business
Harley-Davidson to leave India Risks high
as chances
for stimulus
NEW DELHI
bill narrow
Manufacturing difficulties
and low per capita
incomes affect sales
WASHINGTON
BY KARAN DEEP SINGH
Central banks issue
Bhupender Singh crouched over a fuel
tank inside a Harley-Davidson show- warnings as lawmakers
room. A row of motorcycles gleamed in
signal more aid is unlikely
the afternoon sun; one metallic red, an-
other with a black matte finish and a
slightly taller variant in blue.
BY JEANNA SMIALEK,
The motorcycles were not for sale —
EMILY COCHRANE,
they were there for repairs. The dealer-
NICHOLAS FANDOS
ship’s front door was locked. Harley-Da- AND ALAN RAPPEPORT
vidson, the proudly American company,
is giving up on India because of weak Two of the world’s most powerful central
sales, after more than a decade of pursu- bankers have said that economic risks
ing a huge but ultimately frustrating from the coronavirus remain high, and
place to do business. they have cautioned against putting too
“It’s all over now,” said Mr. Singh, a much faith in a quick fix from a vaccine,
service representative. “There are no delivering a sober message as U.S. law-
bikes to sell anymore.” makers signaled that another stimulus
The closure has dealt a blow to India’s package was unlikely before year’s end.
ambitions to lure manufacturers, a cam- “The next few months could be chal-
paign modeled on China’s success called lenging,” U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Je-
“Make in India.” It has set back Harley- rome H. Powell said on Thursday during
Davidson’s efforts to expand its popu- a webcast panel discussion, where he
larity overseas. And it strands a small appeared alongside his European coun-
but devoted group of Harley devotees terparts. Both Mr. Powell and Christine
who are wondering how they will keep Lagarde, head of the European Central
their prized rides rumbling. Bank, warned that while recent
“It’s like losing someone in your fam- progress toward a vaccine was welcome
ily,” said Sandeep Bharadwaj, the chief news, it was too soon to write off loom-
executive of a bus manufacturing firm, ing risks to the global recovery as co-
who spent more than $40,000 on his Fat ronavirus cases surge globally, causing
Boy motorcycle. “We had a mental as- renewed lockdowns in some jurisdic-
surance that they were physically tions.
present and they could help us with “From our standpoint, it’s just too
spare parts.” soon to assess with any confidence the
Companies looking for the next boom implications of the news for the path of
have long eyed India, a country of 1.3 bil- the economy, especially in the near
lion people with an aspirational middle term,” Mr. Powell said.
class. Setting up shop there, however, On Monday, the pharmaceutical com-
remains difficult. Roads and railways pany Pfizer announced encouraging re-
are inadequate in many areas. Land sults from its vaccine trials, nudging
policies flummox construction. India’s stock markets toward new heights. On
excessive bureaucracy is notorious. Thursday, stocks ceded some of their re-
With his “Make in India” campaign, cent gains, with losses deepening after
Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed Mr. Powell and Ms. Lagarde spoke.
to reduce bureaucratic hurdles, invest in While Mr. Powell acknowledged the
infrastructure and take other steps to vaccine progress, he cautioned that
draw high-end manufacturing jobs and “significant challenges and uncertain-
design work. ties” remain around timing, production,
Even before the pandemic, the cam- distribution and the efficacy for differ-
paign had been disappointing. Manufac- ent groups.
turing contributes less to India’s eco- Ms. Lagarde, explaining that she did
nomic output than it did a decade ago. not want to be “exuberant” about the
The government has struggled to build treatment, also pointed to “uncertain-
an ecosystem for manufacturers, in- ties — about the logistics, about the
cluding infrastructure and industrial transportation, about the rolling out,
parks. Small suppliers who might help a about the fabrication” and about how
big manufacturer flesh out a supply many people will actually be vaccinated
PHOTOGRAPHS BY REBECCA CONWAY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
chain have a hard time getting credit. Clockwise from top: Indian Harley-Davidson owners on a group ride on the outskirts of Mumbai; a celebration at the end of the ride; Gaurav Gulati, who said he had invested $1.2 in 2021.
“Harley came to produce for your million in a Harley-Davidson outlet in New Delhi and is paying $20,000 in monthly rent. “What am I going to do?” Mr. Gulati asked. Economic risks in the United States
market,” said C.P. Chandrashekhar, an remain acute as millions remain out of
economist and former professor at the work, government support fades and
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New shipped from the United States. declined. Under Jochen Zeitz, its new Mr. Gulati wanted to go big. He On a recent morning, Preetam the country sets records for virus cases
Delhi. “If they’re not happy, they’ll just But sales dropped after an initial president and chief executive, the com- scoured the city for an ideal spot and set- Thakoor, a real-estate developer, and and hospitalizations, prompting cities
get up and leave.” surge, and the India operation suffered pany is downsizing dealerships, re- tled on an abandoned warehouse that he other riders from his Harley club took and states to impose new restrictions on
A spokesman for the Commerce Min- from executive turnover. Harley-Da- stricting production to a handful of mod- would transform into a chic Harley store their bikes for a weekend ride. They activity.
istry in New Delhi said that the govern- vidson sold a total of 2,470 bikes in India els and scrapping discounts to portray with a cafe, a workshop, garage, lockers rode in full gear, wearing American flag
ment is trying to reduce the red tape for in the 12 months that ended in March, al- the bikes as an exclusive luxury item. and even a shower for riders. By the bandannas, dog tags and custom-made
companies. most half the number it reached five “That’s always a tricky proposition time his outlet opened two years later, jackets emblazoned with their initials.
Despite the difficulties, any foreign years ago, according to the Society of In- because customers can get turned off,” two of the company’s bosses in India had “It’s not about the machine,” said Mr.
manufacturer interested in India has to dian Automobile Manufacturers, a non- said Stephen Brown, a Chicago-based come and gone. Thakoor, who bought the popular Street
explore setting up shop here. The coun- profit representing automotive manu- senior director at Fitch Ratings, a credit Mr. Gulati is one of 33 dealers who 750 model in 2014. “It’s the whole com-
try has some of the steepest trade barri- facturers. ratings agency. “It’s a delicate balance said they invested nearly $27 million in munity, the bond that makes it special.”
ers among the world’s large nations. The company’s motorcycles also re- that they’re walking right now.” their dealerships. He is sitting on a $1.2 Four years ago, Mr. Thakoor rode
President Trump has repeatedly cited mained out of reach for many. Harley’s The Harley name will not disappear million investment, which he made from India’s northernmost corner in
the high duties on Harley-Davidson top model exceeds $88,000 in Delhi after from India entirely. The company said partly from his own savings and partly Kashmir to its southernmost tip,
motorcycles in his trade negotiations taxes and licensing fees. That is 41 times last month that it struck a deal to “sell after borrowing from banks. He is still Kanyakumari, a journey of more than
with New Delhi. India’s average yearly income, accord- and service” its motorcycles through paying about $20,000 in monthly rent. 1,700 miles.
India dropped the tariffs on Harleys ing to the World Bank. Hero, the local company, which it said Neither Harley nor its new India part- In the middle of that ride, he ran out of
from 75 percent to 50 percent in 2018. People in India overwhelmingly pre- would also “develop and sell” motor- ner, Hero MotoCorp, have approached cash after Mr. Modi announced a sudden
FREDERICK FLORIN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Still, the government charges an addi- fer cheaper, lighter bikes that are easy to cycles under the Harley brand. With the Mr. Gulati to continue the term for his ban on high-value Indian bank notes, Christine Lagarde pointed to uncertain-
tional 31 percent tax on two-wheelers, maneuver along the country’s potholed, closure of its own factory, the fate of the dealership, he said. His dealership part of a national effort to stamp out cor- ties in the release of a coronavirus vaccine.
one of the highest levies in the world. traffic-choked roads. The most expen- Street 750, Harley’s most-popular bike agreement expires at the end of the year. ruption and get more Indians to use dig-
Harley-Davidson decided to put its sive bike from Hero MotoCorp, one of in India, is not clear. Harley is also laying “I am devastated,” said Mr. Gulati, as ital currency.
motorcycles together inside the country. the country’s biggest manufacturers of off about 70 workers. he gazed at the outer wall of his store, A fellow Harley rider flew down from Yet prospects for another relief pack-
The Milwaukee-based company sent motorcycles and scooters, costs around India’s Harley enthusiasts are won- which he decorated with red old-style Mumbai to the southern city of Chennai age before year’s end narrowed on
knockdown kits — packages of parts to $1,500. dering what it means to them. bricks and graffiti. “It’s a mental torture. to deliver him cash. That camaraderie is Thursday as Democrats and Republi-
be assembled — for low-powered mod- Harley-Davidson’s moves in India are In 2014, Gaurav Gulati, a longtime Where did I put my trust and faith? “a feeling you can’t describe in words,” cans continued to disagree over the
els, like the Street 750, to its factory out- part of a broader restructuring. Harley’s Harley rider, was enticed by the compa- What am I going to do?” Mr. Thakoor said. scope and cost of a bill and as a top Re-
side New Delhi. The signature, higher- average customer is aging fast. Its sales ny’s managing director in India to open Despite all of this, some of Harley’s publican indicated that Senator Mitch
end motorcycles were still being have been stagnant and profitability has a dealership in New Delhi. die-hard fans in India are not giving up. Vindu Goel contributed reporting. McConnell, the majority leader, was no
longer planning to rely on Treasury Sec-
retary Steven Mnuchin to cut a deal with
Democrats, reflecting his party’s wari-
Millions of Americans on the brink of abyss ness that Mr. Mnuchin had been too ea-
ger to concede.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California
and Senator Chuck Schumer of New
gency Unemployment Compensation have depleted any savings they built York, the minority leader, cited record-
BY BEN CASSELMAN
program, which ends in late December. when the $600 supplement was avail- breaking infections across the country,
Two critical U.S. unemployment pro- Already, Mr. Williams is struggling to able. A partial federal eviction moratori- along with the election of Joseph R. Bi-
grams are set to expire at the end of the get by on his $275 weekly benefit check, um is scheduled to expire at the end of den Jr., to justify their position that any
year, potentially leaving millions of the maximum allowed in Tennessee. He the year, although it could be extended. package must be much larger than what
Americans vulnerable to eviction and has fallen behind on rent, racked up And benefits checks won’t just shrink, as Republicans had been suggesting.
hunger and threatening to short-circuit thousands of dollars in credit card debt they did over the summer — they will But in holding firm to their respective
an economic recovery that has already and turned to a food pantry run by a disappear. positions — Democrats demanding $2.4
lost momentum. church. “The safety net still has kind of held trillion as a starting point, with Republi-
As many as 13 million people are re- Even with the benefits, “I may have up until now, and I think we have been cans proposing a fraction of that amount
ceiving payments under the programs, got behind on this or that, robbing Peter maybe lulled into a sense of compla- — congressional leaders appeared to be
which Congress created last spring to to pay Paul this month,” he said. “But cency,” said Andrew Stettner, an expert closing the door on the possibility of a
expand and extend the regular unem- without it, I’m dead in the water.” on unemployment benefits at the Cen- year-end compromise.
ployment system during the coronavi- The expanded unemployment pro- tury Foundation, a progressive policy “My view is, the level at which the
rus pandemic. Leaders of both major grams are some of the last vestiges of research group. “We’re just putting peo- economy is improving further under-
parties have expressed support for re- the trillions of dollars in aid that Con- ple in this really precarious financial po- scores that we need to do something at
newing the programs in some form, but gress provided through a series of emer- sition where the damage of unemploy- about the amount that we put on the
Congress has been unable to reach a gency measures in the spring. That ment can just hit really hard.” floor in September and October,” Mr.
deal to do so. It remains unclear how the spending — which included direct Nearly four million Americans are re- McConnell told reporters, referring to
results of the Nov. 3 election will affect checks to most U.S. households, $600 a ceiving benefits under the pandemic the targeted $500 billion packages Sen-
prospects for an agreement. week in supplemental unemployment compensation program. That number ate Republicans tried to pass before the
That means that for now at least, peo- benefits and hundreds of billions of dol- has doubled in the past month and is ex- election.
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
ple like Randy Williams must prepare lars in support for small businesses — A county constable delivering an eviction order in Phoenix. The expiration of emer- pected to keep rising as more people The price tag Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schu-
for the possibility that they are weeks offset the pandemic’s financial toll for gency federal programs could leave millions vulnerable to eviction. reach the end of their state benefits, mer were discussing, he said, “is not a
away from losing their only income. many families, and helped fuel an eco- which last 26 weeks in most of the coun- place I think we’re willing to go, but I do
Mr. Williams, 56, lost his job as a man- nomic recovery that was initially try. think there needs to be another pack-
ager at a Memphis-area Cracker Barrel stronger than many forecasters ex- and studies have found that millions of standard threshold for long-term unem- If the program ends at the end of the age.”
in the first weeks of the pandemic. His pected. Americans fell into poverty as aid dried ployment, rose 1.2 million in October, to year, some workers will be able to con- Key supports for displaced workers
state jobless benefits ran out last month, Much of that assistance expired over up. Employment data released Nov. 6 3.6 million. tinue to receive benefits under a federal and closed businesses have expired, and
leaving him to rely on a 13-week exten- the summer, however. Economic gains showed that the number of people out of The year-end benefits cliff could be program not tied to the pandemic. But while households have been using sav-
sion under the federal Pandemic Emer- have slowed significantly since then, work for more than six months, the even more damaging. Many families AID,PAGE9 STIMULUS,PAGE9
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 | 9
business
Expiration of U.S. aid
leaves millions at risk
AID,FROM PAGE8 her bills, but barely.
those benefits aren’t available in some “With the unemployment gone, we
states, including Tennessee, and don’t would have to find other ways to bring
cover some types of workers, like income in or we wouldn’t be able to pay
freelancers. the bills,” she said. “It would be pay the
Congress last spring created a sepa- rent, pay the electric and, OK, I guess
rate emergency program, Pandemic we’re eating ramen noodles for the
Unemployment Assistance, to cover month.”
people left out of the normal unemploy- With her health concerns, going back
ment system, such as freelancers and to work in home health care is off the ta-
self-employed workers, as well as those ble for the time being. So are many other
unable to work because of pandemic-re- types of work. So she and her son are
lated child care issues and similar obsta- driving for the food-delivery app Door-
cles. There were 9.3 million people in Dash on alternating evenings, trying to
that program in mid-October, according cushion the loss of her benefits next
to federal data, although some experts month.
on the unemployment system believe A registered Democrat, Ms. Kulwicki
that figure overstates the total. voted for former Vice President Joseph
By any measure, millions are in dan- R. Biden Jr. in the presidential election,
ger of losing their benefits. Many econo- but is angry at both parties for failing to
mists warn that the harm would extend reach an agreement to help people like
not just to individual workers but to the her.
broader economy. “I don’t appreciate Washington play-
“Those households then have to dra- ing politics with my life,” she said.
matically cut back on their spending, Congress may still extend the pro-
they then fall further behind on their grams before they expire. Senator
rent, and that means that their landlords Mitch McConnell, the majority leader,
suffer and the businesses that they said this month that a new aid package
would have been buying from will suf- would be the Senate’s top priority now
fer,” said Jesse Rothstein, an economist that the election was over, although he
at the University of California, Berkeley. has provided few details on what would
Conservative economists have long be included.
argued that unemployment benefits can “Hopefully the partisan passions that
be counterproductive because they dis- prevented us from doing another rescue
courage recipients from seeking or ac- package will subside with the election,”
cepting jobs. That argument has been he said. “And I think we need to do it, and
persuasive with many Republican law- I think we need to do it before the end of
makers, who fought to end extended the year.”
benefits during the last recession a dec-
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN QUINTON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
At the Crooked Well in south London, top left and right, a good week in December usually brings in double the revenue of the best week in the summer. England is supposed to ade ago and who have been skeptical of
re-emerge from lockdown on Dec. 2. Above left, the beer taps at the Euston Flyover, a Fuller’s pub in central London. Fuller’s has announced plans to lay off 500 employees. offering more generous benefits during
the current crisis.
Glasses decidedly half empty Progressives, including Mr. Roth-
stein, have countered that the disincen-
tive effects of benefits are small, espe-
cially when jobs are scarce, and that giv-
ing workers a lifeline lets them seek out
off 500 employees. Greene King, a chain opening in time for the holidays: Tur- better jobs. In recent years, researchers
LONDON
based in Scotland, planned to cut 800 keys have been ordered, and pubs have have also used new data sources to
jobs, and Marston’s said 2,150 of its fur- been asked to buy Christmas trees from study what happens when benefits run
loughed employees would lose their local sellers. out, and have found clearer evidence
Uneasy under lockdown,
jobs. Mr. Johnson has said that when the that losing benefits creates significant
pubs in England count While revenues have yo-yoed, some lockdown ends, England will return to hardship for families.
LYNDON FRENCH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
pubs came up with a new pitch to get the three-tiered system of local restric- Bruce Meyer, a University of Chicago “I don’t really have too much faith in the
the days until Christmas
customers through the door: They be- tions, with the third tier the strictest. economist and longtime critic of unem- government we have right now,” Victoria
came work spaces. For a set price, of- “Tier 3 is a nightmare for us,” Mr. Skin- ployment benefits, said he remained un- Passmore said.
ficeless office workers sick of working ner said, because different households convinced by many of the traditional
BY ESHE NELSON
from home could rent a table. can’t socialize. progressive arguments for unemploy-
At the Crooked Well, a neighborhood At the Crooked Well, during the day Fuller’s shared that sentiment. Leav- ment insurance. But he said he found But negotiations have repeatedly
pub in the south of London that prides when the pub used to be closed, there ing lockdown for Tier 3 wouldn’t be the new data compelling. failed, and it remains far from certain
itself on its food, the Christmas menu is was unlimited tea and coffee, a break- good, especially because pubs that don’t “Unemployment insurance does not that this attempt will succeed. The after-
already decided. There will be venison fast and lunch service, three different serve “substantial meals” have to close. help you get a better job — it keeps you math of the election — including Presi-
and beef stews. But whether the stews Wi-Fi networks to ensure the best con- “It’s such an important part of our trad- out of work and lets your skills deterio- dent Trump’s refusal so far to accept the
will actually be served is another ques- nection, and a pint of beer or a glass of ing year, we have to be open for Christ- rate,” he said. “But it keeps you from result, and runoff elections in Georgia
tion. wine to mark the end of the workday, all mas,” Ms. Jones added. starving.” that will decide control of the Senate —
Under a new lockdown planned to last for just 15 pounds ($20) a day. The Crooked Well has been shoring The threat of losing benefits is ampli- is likely to capture Washington’s atten-
a month, pubs in England have closed Jerry Magloire, the manager of the Eu- The new service was a success. Some up its finances with a small-business fied during a pandemic. Matt Weis, chief tion, and Mr. Trump may see little incen-
again. From Nov. 5 to Dec. 2, restau- ston Flyer, was furloughed while develop- customers chose to set up their laptops grant, a government-backed loan and a program officer at the National Able tive to push for a stimulus deal.
rants, gyms and nonessential shops are ing a “work from pub” plan. basking in the natural light of the Vic- cut in business taxes. It also began a Network, a Chicago-based nonprofit or- Aneta Markowska, chief financial
being shuttered by the government’s ef- torian building’s large windows, or in crowdfunding campaign in September, ganization, said he had long counseled economist for the investment bank Jef-
forts to suppress a second wave of the corners under warm lamp lights. There raising £21,000 in 28 days. Some of the job seekers to look for a “survival job” — feries, said that while she expected an-
coronavirus pandemic. and, on the other, bolster an economic was soft music, a quiet hush and strong money will go toward awnings and out- one that will pay the bills while they look other aid package eventually, any delay
Britain’s first lockdown lasted more recovery. coffee. door heaters to fend off the rainy and for more permanent work. But that is a could be costly, as businesses fail and
than three months, followed by an ever- When the virus swept through Britain Last month, Young’s added a booking windswept British winter. More impor- harder argument to make when many workers leave the labor force, in some
changing array of restrictions since. No in March and April, filling hospital beds option for working from 11 of its loca- tant, it will pay for a lawyer to help the sources of stopgap work, like seasonal cases permanently. “Timing does mat-
one knows how long this lockdown will and killing thousands, a lockdown shut- tions in London, offering charging pub’s owners prepare for a review of retail and fast food, could carry health ter,” Ms. Markowska said. “There is the
really last. ting schools, offices and nonessential points, internet, sustenance and the odd their rent with their landlord in January. risks. potential for permanent scarring during
The two nights before it took hold, “we shops was accepted with stoicism. But printer for between £10 and £20 a day. “We have a very aggressive landlord,” “It’s just putting people in a really, re- that time that is then that much harder
were crazy busy. It was like the whole of the pub closings caused the most gloom. Fuller’s, which owns more than 200 Mr. Skinner said. The landlord, he said, ally tricky situation,” Mr. Weis said. “Do to reverse. It’s not simply a matter of
London was out,” said Hector Skinner, It was the first outright closing in their pubs in Britain, just began to roll out its has warned the pub against seeking pro- I preserve my health and the health of turning the lights back on.”
one of the owners and the manager of history. Describing the move as “ex- “work from pub” offering. tection under a moratorium that bars my family by staying home and not Victoria Passmore is trying to avoid
the Crooked Well. “Now, I don’t know. I traordinary,” Mr. Johnson said it took eviction from commercial properties for working? OK, fine, how do I do that? letting short-term unemployment turn
really don’t know. I feel like it’s going to away “the ancient inalienable right of unpaid rent, a government benefit to I’ve got bills to pay.” into a long-term setback.
Some pubs came up with a new
go on for longer.” freeborn people of the United Kingdom help renters during the pandemic that Gail Kulwicki, a home health aide in When she lost her job at a health infor-
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to to go to the pub.” pitch to get customers through has been extended twice to the end of Muskegon, Mich., has a history of health mation company in June, Ms. Passmore,
sell the new lockdown to pandemic- In those early days of the pandemic, the door: They became work the year. problems, so when the coronavirus be- 33, a single mother in Chicago, took the
weary Britons by saying it would, hope- there was a point when Mr. Skinner and spaces. During lockdown, the pub will open gan spreading in the United States, her opportunity to change careers. She has
fully, allow families to be together over his co-owner, Matt Green-Armytage, fig- only on Sundays to sell boxes with large employer told her to stop coming into been working toward her certification
the holidays. But, he conceded, “Christ- ured their business was only a month shareable meals, ranging from £38 for a work. She has been unemployed ever as an information technology specialist,
mas is going to be different this year, away from folding. They asked family At the Euston Flyer, a Fuller’s pub whole roasted chicken with all the trim- since. and has started a business with her sis-
very different.” members for financial support, laid off near its namesake train station, Jerry mings to £120 for a leg of lamb that will The $1,200 stimulus check and $600 a ter selling healthy juices. She is count-
And that’s the problem for the hospi- some staff members and eventually Magloire, the manager, was working out serve a whole table and have plenty of week in extra unemployment benefits ing on those to support her once her un-
tality industry, which fears losing out on opened a BBQ takeaway service at the the pricing in late October for his “work leftovers for the week. were a help early on. Ms. Kulwicki, who employment benefits run out.
a crucial month. Some 20 to 30 percent Crooked Well. That kept some money from pub” plan. He was ready to try any- And there’s a financial cushion thanks is 71 and lives with her adult son, was “I hate to say it, I don’t really have too
of a year’s revenue is made around coming in until they were allowed to re- thing to increase the number of to the extra revenue brought in over able to pay off some bills and pad her much faith in the government we have
Christmas and the holidays, according open. customers, he said. A week later, Mr. summer and fall from the work-space savings. But with that money gone, she right now, so I am not expecting any ex-
to the British Beer and Pub Association. Then came a boom. In August, the Magloire was back on furlough. initiative and a refurbishment of the up- is getting by on her remaining unem- tension,” Ms. Passmore said. “We have
At the Crooked Well, a good week in De- government encouraged people to leave The second lockdown isn’t expected stairs event space into a second dining ployment benefits, plus Social Security to figure it out for ourselves. There’s not
cember would bring in double the take in their houses and go out to eat, offering to to be as economically painful as the first room with eight tables. The staff has and a small pension. It is enough to pay much help coming from higher up.”
the best summer week. pay up to half of their meals in pubs and one. For one, it’s less strict. Pubs and been furloughed after the government
If pubs can’t reopen in December, restaurants. By 8 p.m. on the first night restaurants can stay open this time for extended the wage-subsidy program.
“then these businesses won’t survive of the “Eat Out to Help Out” discount, takeout, and after a government U-turn, But Mr. Skinner is still worried about the
January and February, which are like the Crooked Well had run out of food. that includes alcohol. rent.
graveyard months for us,” said Emma Two months later, virus rates had be- That doesn’t mean they will. Fuller’s “We put ourselves in quite a good fi-
Est.
McClarkin, the chief executive of the in- gun to soar again. Facing new restric- has decided to shut all their pubs nancial position, but the rent isn’t going
dustry trade group, which represents tions including a 10 p.m. curfew, the pub throughout this lockdown. “The experi- to go away,” he said. If the lockdown 1926
about 20,000 pubs. industry was again fighting for survival, ence that you get in that pub doesn’t nec- lasts only a month, “we can handle it,” he
Britain’s pubs have been whipped Ms. McClarkin said. Last month, Young essarily lend itself to takeaway,” said added. “But if it continues for longer and
around by the government’s attempts & Co.’s Brewery and Fuller’s, two large Jane Jones, the company’s marketing longer, then things really do start to get [phone] [email protected]
to, on the one hand, curtail the pandemic pub chains, each announced plans to lay director. Instead they are focused on re- scary and bleak again.”
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STIMULUS,FROM PAGE8 and the nation’s health care system be- for a vaccine could itself reduce appetite Homologation services
“The main risk we see to
ings that they built up earlier in the year fore he takes office. It had been unclear for a big government package. International sales
to keep up with their bills, there is a risk that is clearly the further how actively Mr. Biden, the incoming The two sides will also have to reach Diplomatic sales
that many will struggle to make ends spread of disease here head of the party, would involve himself an agreement on crucial spending legis-
meet as they run through those nest in the United States.” in negotiations before his inauguration. lation to prevent a lapse in government
eggs. Mr. Powell and his colleagues have Nearly everything said in the halls of funding on Dec. 11, with either an agree-
been clear that more support will be Congress these days appears to be ment on the dozen annual must-pass
needed, in particular as the pandemic “The main risk we see to that is aimed, at least in part, at voters in a pair bills or another stopgap spending bill. The world's most
accelerates shifts in the economy — like clearly the further spread of disease of runoff Senate elections in Georgia in There is a possibility that lawmakers
trusted perspective.
increased remote work and automation here in the United States,” Mr. Powell January that will determine control of will wrap additional relief funding into a
— and leaves some workers perma- said. the Senate. Economists at Goldman larger package with that legislation.
nently displaced. “We’ve got new cases at a record lev- Sachs suggested that Republicans Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa,
“We’re recovering, but to a different el, we’ve seen a number of states begin might be eager to secure a deal before chairman of the Senate Finance Com-
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economy,” Mr. Powell said, warning that to reimpose limited activity restrictions, the Jan. 5 vote to avoid claims that the mittee, suggested that Republicans
a “substantial group of workers” are and people may lose confidence that it is Republican-controlled Senate pre- were in no mood to compromise, signal-
to The New York Times.
“going to need support as they find their safe to go out.” vented help from reaching households ing that Mr. Mnuchin would no longer be
way in the post-pandemic economy, be- Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer huddled — but Democrats might have an incen- leading talks with Ms. Pelosi.
Save 50%.
cause it’s going to be different in some with Mr. Biden by phone on Thursday, tive not to compromise much, with that “There hasn’t been any discussion yet
fundamental ways.” stressing afterward that they were on vote imminent. between McConnell and Pelosi, but Mc-
Mr. Powell said that while the United the same page about the “urgent need” “The political atmosphere is less con- Connell is not going to rely on Mnuchin
States’s recovery has been faster and for Congress to provide bipartisan funds ducive to a deal than it seemed a week anymore to do the dealing,” Mr. Grass- nytimes.com/globaloffer
stronger than anticipated and is ex- to support the unemployed, workers, ago,” Alec Phillips and his colleagues at ley told reporters on Thursday morning.
pected to continue, it has been uneven — small businesses, state and local gov- Goldman Sachs wrote in a research note “I think he’s intending to take it over and
and it remains incomplete. ernments facing huge budget deficits, on Thursday, noting that the prospect try to get something going.”
..
10 | SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
science lab
xxx
PAULO OLIVEIRA/ALAMY
MARINE MYSTERY
The shark. On the beach. With a sword.
The first victim washed up in September 2016. The police ate student at the University of Valencia and a founder of water duels that had previously been confined to fisher-
in Valencia, Spain, saw a blue shark dying in the surf. They LAMNA, a Spanish consortium that studies sharks. “I was men’s tales.
called Jaime Penadés-Suay, who soon suspected foul play. never sure if this was some kind of joke.” Historically, whalers, fishermen and scholars saw
The shark had what looked like a bit of wood embedded But since then at least six more sharks have washed up swordfish as gladiators. But modern scientists were skep-
in its head. He pulled. Out slid a broken fragment from a on Mediterranean coasts, each impaled with a similar mur- tical.
swordfish sword that had lanced straight through the vic- der weapon, almost always in the head. “Now at least we have evidence that they might use it
tim’s brain. Taken together these cases offer what may be prelimi- really as a weapon, intentionally,” said Patrick Jambura, a
“I thought it was crazy,” said Mr. Penadés-Suay, a gradu- nary scientific evidence of high-speed, high-stakes under- graduate student at the University of Vienna.
JOSHUA SOKOL
MÁRCIO L. CASTRO AND RODRIGO TEMP MÜLLER
THE SMART MEMBER OF THE FAMILY
ADAM SEWARD/ALAMY Undersize dinosaur could have run
rings around its much larger cousins
MAKING IT THROUGH THE ARCTIC NIGHT
On the tundra, musk oxen march Some 230 million years ago, in the forests of what humans
to a different circadian drummer would eventually call Brazil, a small bipedal dinosaur zipped
after its prey. It had a slender head, a long tail and sharp
In the distant reaches of northeastern Greenland, musk
teeth, and it was about the size of a basset hound.
oxen amble across the tundra, grazing as they go. They need
RUSSOTWINS/ALAMY STANFORD UNIVERSITY & CASCADIA RESEARCH COLLECTIVE Buriolestes schultzi, as paleontologists have named it, is
to gather enough energy to survive cold, dark winters.
one of the earliest known relatives of huge dinosaurs 100
Most creatures on the planet live in lock step with the DO-IT-YOURSELF CONSTRUCTION HANGING ON
million years later, like brachiosaurus, quadrupeds with
planet’s daily cycle of light and dark. There’s a time of day Spider silk is stronger than steel, Hitching a ride on a blue whale,
brains around the size of a tennis ball.
for eating, a time of day for sleeping, a time for digestion. and it forms entirely on its own with plenty of snacks for the road Buriolestes’s brain, illustrated above, was large relative to
Researchers used GPS collars to track 19 free-roaming
its body size, scientists said in a paper in the Journal of
musk oxen for up to three years, said Floris van Beest, an Pound for pound, spider silk is stronger than steel and In 2014, Jeremy Goldbogen, a marine biologist at Stanford
Anatomy. “Carnivorous animals generally need more cogni-
Arctic ecologist at Aarhus University in Denmark and an tougher than Kevlar. But it doesn’t start out that way. University, stuck video cameras on blue whales. The footage
tive capabilities,” said Rodrigo Müller of the Universidade
author of a paper in Royal Society Open Science. The silk starts out in a liquid form that is transformed as it showed dozens of Remora australis were skimming and
Federal de Santa Maria.VERONIQUE GREENWOOD
“We don’t find very strong circadian rhythms,” Dr. van is excreted by the spider. It doesn’t just turn into a solid. The twisting across the whales’ bodies, even at high speeds.
Beest said, meaning that the animals didn’t seem to be protein building blocks in silk, called spidroins, fold them- Remoras hitch rides with cetaceans, sharks and other
repeating themselves every 24 hours. Some oxen completely selves and interlace, creating a highly organized structure. larger creatures of the deep, attaching to them by means of
lose their patterns in the sunnier months, eating frequently This remarkable process of self-assembly is about as “sucking discs” on their heads and eating dead skin, para-
but more or less at random.VERONIQUE GREENWOOD strange as a garden hose spitting out a stream of perfect sites and leftovers off their hosts’ bodies.
snowflakes. Scientists have spent years trying to mimic it in For a study published in the Journal of Experimental ONLINE:TRILOBITES
the hopes that it will someday revolutionize the construction Biology, Dr. Goldbogen and others investigated how remoras Daily nuggets of science
of ultra-strong, sustainable materials. maneuver while their whale hosts are on the move. for mobile readers:
“You can really generate materials with unique properties They found that remoras cluster in low-drag areas pro- nytimes.com/trilobites
by exploiting this self-assembly process,” said Ali Malay, a tected from the rapid water flow and use their sucker discs
structural biologist and biochemist at the Riken Center for to keep low-pressure zones between them and the host’s
Sustainable Resource Science in Japan. He doesn’t have the body.CARA GIAIMO
process entirely figured out, but in a paper published in
Science Advances, he and his colleagues lay out a new way
to tackle the spider silk puzzle, mimicking its creation with
chemical tools in the lab.KATHERINE J. WU
“You had to be looking at the right place at the right millisecond. Unless you were very, very lucky, you’re not going to see one of these.”
Shami Chatterjee,a Cornell University astronomer, on other scientists discovering that a source of a pulse of energy known as a fast radio burst was a star in our galaxy.