The New York Times International - 28 08 2020

2020·10.45 MB·English

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BEYOND RIESLING TAKING FLIGHT FARM HAZARDS INTENSIFY
GERMAN WINES BETTYE LAVETTE’S LABORERS AT RISK FROM
WORTH TRYING RESURGENCE SMOKE, HEAT AND VIRUS
BACK PAGE | LIVING PAGE 14 | CULTURE PAGE 7 | BUSINESS
..
INTERNATIONAL EDITION | FRIDAY, AUGUST28, 2020
Rewriting In the race
America’s for vaccines,
racist past first might
not be best
Dozens of candidates
to defeat coronavirus
Charles M. Blow
may form a second wave
BY CARL ZIMMER
OPINION Seven months into the coronavirus pan-
demic, with more than 30 vaccines rap-
So far the Republican National Con- idly advancing through the rigorous
vention isn’t so much presenting a stages of clinical trials, a surprising
record of America and an administra- number of research groups are placing
tion as it is inventing one. bets on some that have not yet been giv-
The speakers at this week’s event en to a single person.
haven’t admitted to the pathological The New York Times has confirmed
pursuit of a white nationalist, white that at least 88 candidates are under ac-
power agenda that has become a sig- tive preclinical investigation in labora-
nature of Donald Trump’s presidency. tories across the world, with 67 slated to
So what we’ve heard bears little rela- begin clinical trials before the end of
tion to the fullness of truth and is not 2021.
the correct distillation of a record. Those trials may begin after millions
Instead, we have been feted to a of people have already received the first
parade of Black and brown faces that wave of vaccines. It will take months to
have sought to soft- see if any of them are safe and effective.
The Black en or even erase Nevertheless, the scientists developing
Trump’s overt his- them say their designs may prompt
speakers at
tory of racism to more powerful immune responses or be
this week’s
falsify an American much cheaper to produce or both —
Republican
story into one in making them the slow and steady win-
convention which liberals are ners of the race against the coronavirus.
had a job worse racial offend- “The first vaccines may not be the
to do: erase ers than conserva- most effective,” said Ted Ross, the direc-
WAKIL KOHSAR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
history and tives. Tragedy in the night The death toll is expected to rise after overnight flash flooding in Charikar, a city of 200,000 people in northern Afghanistan, killed dozens of tor of the Center for Vaccines and Immu-
cloud reality. In this inside-out people and destroyed many homes. The disaster is the latest blow for a country already suffering from the coronavirus and widespread Taliban attacks. PAGE 3 nology at the University of Georgia, who
world, Trump has is working on an experimental vaccine
been an exemplar on he hopes to put into clinical trials in 2021.
racial inclusion and Many of the vaccines at the front of
his defeat would usher in an era of Collateral victim in a bigger fight the pack today try to teach the body the
racial division. same basic lesson. They deliver a so-
This is the Rip Van Winkle approach called spike protein that covers the sur-
to campaigning: Just pretend that face of the coronavirus, which appears
people were asleep the entire time you to prompt the immune system to make
called Mexicans rapists, said Islam and the company that owns it, antibodies to fight it off.
SASSNITZ, GERMANY
hates us, called Haiti and African Fährhafen Sassnitz, are puzzling and in- But some researchers worry that we
nations shithole countries, separated furiating. They threaten to turn Sassnitz may be pinning too many hopes on a
migrant children from their parents into collateral damage as the town strategy that has not been proved to
German town fears threat
and locked them in cages, tried to struggles to create enough jobs to keep work. “It would be a shame to put all our
deport the Dreamers and attacked of U.S. sanctions over young people from leaving. eggs in the same basket,” said David
Black Lives Matter. “They are firing their cannons at Veesler, a virologist at the University of
Russian pipeline project
That is exactly what happened, sparrows,” said Edgar Taraba, as he un- Washington.
particularly on the first day of the loaded a morning’s catch of flounder In March, Dr. Veesler and his col-
convention. and sole from his dinghy. “There is noth- leagues designed a vaccine that consists
BY MELISSA EDDY
Former football player Herschel ing left here to take.” of millions of nanoparticles, each one
AND STEVEN ERLANGER
Walker, a Black man, said: The port, called Mukran, is a shadow studded with 60 copies of the tip of the
“It hurt my soul to hear the terrible Sitting on the Baltic Sea, the small east- of its former self, run by a company that spike protein, rather than the entire
names that people call Donald. The ern German town of Sassnitz has been is 90 percent owned by the Sassnitz gov- thing. The researchers thought these
worst one is racist. I take it out as a working for years to revive its enor- ernment. The rest is owned by the bundles of tips might pack a stronger
personal insult that people would think mous port, in part by supporting a Rus- northeastern state of Mecklenburg- immunological punch.
I’ve had a 37-year friendship with a sian pipeline being laid offshore to de- Western Pomerania. When the researchers injected these
racist.” liver natural gas to Germany. The Trump administration, supported nanoparticles into mice, the animals re-
Walker’s personal relationship with But the port, one of the last great in- by Poland and the Baltic nations, has sponded with a flood of antibodies to the
Trump is meaningless here. The per- frastructure projects undertaken by the long opposed the pipeline, seeing it as an coronavirus — much more than
sonal doesn’t negate the pattern. His- former East Germany, now finds itself instrument for Russian leverage over produced by a vaccine containing the
tory is full of racist white people, white caught up in a geopolitical competition Germany, Ukraine and Central Europe. entire spike. When the scientists ex-
LENA MUCHA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
supremacists, even enslavers, who between the United States and Russia, a Edgar Taraba, right, and Peter Klemer in Sassnitz, Germany. “They are firing their One U.S. fear is that Russia, which has a posed vaccinated mice and monkeys to
developed friendships with Black clash that local officials and residents cannons at sparrows,” Mr. Taraba said of potential U.S. sanctions on the town’s port. history of using gas supplies as a politi- the coronavirus, they found that it com-
people. say is threatening the town and region cal tool, could cut off energy supplies at pletely protected them from infection.
Racism, at its base, lacks logic, so with economic ruin. will. The researchers shared their initial
racists constantly have to make excep- At issue are so-called secondary sanc- tions because of its role in supplying nancially,” and effectively excluded But defenders of the project say that results this month in a paper that has yet
tions and exemptions. One such ex- tions being proposed by powerful U.S. provisions to a Russian pipe-laying ship from the global financial system. The Russia is more dependent on the income to be published in a scientific journal.
BLOW,PAGE11 senators to target companies doing involved in the project. That sort of sup- port would essentially be turned into an from the gas than Germany is on its sup- Icosavax, a start-up company co-
business with Russia and the Kremlin- porting work is a specific target of the international pariah, with all its busi- ply, and that Washington is angling to founded by Dr. Veesler’s collaborator,
The New York Times publishes opinion controlled gas giant Gazprom as they proposed new sanctions. ness drying up — not just its work sup- sell Europe its more expensive liquefied Neil King, is preparing to begin clinical
from a wide range of perspectives in work finish the pipeline, Nord Stream 2, The penalty, if the sanctions are im- plying the Russian ship. natural gas. trials of the nanoparticle vaccine by the
hopes of promoting constructive debate which is 94 percent complete. posed, would mean being cut off from To German officials and residents in Officials in Berlin and Brussels are fu- end of this year.
about consequential questions. The port would fall under the sanc- the United States “commercially and fi- Sassnitz, the sanctions against the port GERMANY,PAGE4 VACCINE,PAGE4
Grab a Monet face mask
and a timed gallery ticket
ca’s largest museum, will in many ways
America’s largest museum
reopen as a very different place.
is reopening in New York Perhaps most notably, it will now be a
with new safety protocols mainly New York institution, given the New York Times
pandemic’s travel restrictions. Whereas
70 percent of the Met’s seven million an-
Events
nual visitors were tourists, now the mu-
BY ROBIN POGREBIN
seum expects those moving through its
An Italian Renaissance study will be galleries to be largely local residents.
closed to visitors because it is too small Like all New York museums that are Make the most of your time indoors.
to allow for social distancing. reopening, the Met also has to play by Better understand the world outside.
Timed tickets will be scanned by the state’s rules, with 25 percent occu-
Our virtual gatherings are free to attend,
hand-held devices in the Great Hall. pancy, timed ticketing and masks. (The
and new events are added daily.
And, for the first time, there will be Met is selling its own masks based on its
valet parking for bicycles, since many collection, including Monet’s “Water Lil-
people are avoiding mass transit. ies” and van Gogh’s “Bouquet of Flow- Explore the full schedule:
It is tempting to hope that all will be ers in a Vase”). The museum will also re- timesevents.nytimes.com
business as usual when the Metropoli- quire visitors to have their tempera-
tan Museum of Art in New York finally tures taken before entry.
swings open its Fifth Avenue doors to In the past, the museum could expect
the general public on Saturday, after be- on a busy day more than 5,000 visitors
ing closed five months because of the co- per hour — especially with tour buses
ronavirus outbreak. arriving early in the morning. Now the
New banners by Yoko Ono grace the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As its But because the pandemic continues museum will limit the crowd to an
coronavirus shutdown ends, visitors are expected to come mostly from New York City. to convulse the globe, the Met, Ameri- MUSEUM,PAGE2
NEWSSTAND PRICES Issue Number
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2 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
page two
Crowds
waited in
line for her
tofu soup
HEE SOOK LEE
1959-2020
BY GILLIAN FRIEDMAN
Hee Sook Lee’s recipe for soondubu, a
steaming bowl of soft tofu in a spicy,
bright-red beef bone broth, was so se-
cret, she wouldn’t even share it with her
husband.
While he and her young sons slept,
Ms. Lee, who owned a restaurant in Los
Angeles, spent many long nights in the
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VINCENT TULLO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Employees making final preparations for the reopening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Occupancy will be limited to 25 percent of capacity to comply with state rules, and visitors’ temperatures will be taken. kitchen experimenting with spices until
the dish was just right: the tofu just silky
enough that it melted not on the spoon
America’s largest museum beckons but on the tongue; the broth adding just
the right kick of gochugaru, or Korean
red chili pepper.
Soon it was time to introduce the soup
at her restaurant, and when she did, she
MUSEUM,FROM PAGE1 Left, “Perseus With the Head of Medusa” could not have foreseen its impact: It
hourly rate of 2,000 and reduce its hours, in a sculpture gallery at the Met. Just would help her establishment grow into
closing Tuesdays and Wednesdays. about every part of the museum will be a national chain while the dish itself
School groups are not yet permitted. accessible to visitors. would become something of an Ameri-
The Met has been eager to reopen, not can cultural phenomenon.
only for its own recovery — having pro- Ms. Lee, the founder of the BCD Tofu
jected a $150 million loss — but for the York, possibly forcing the museum to House chain, died on July 18 in a hospital
larger cultural life of New York City. shut down once more? in Los Angeles. She was 61. Her eldest
“The Met plays a very important role These are the questions that have son, Dr. Eddie Lee, said the cause was
within New York — it’s such a strong sig- been keeping Mr. Sullivan up at night. “I ovarian cancer. Dr. Lee helped his
nal for getting back to a certain level of worry — did we get all the details mother manage the business in recent
normalcy and getting back to life,” said right?” he said. “Did I miss something? years as its interim chief executive.
Max Hollein, who became the Met’s di- Am I forgetting something?” Beginning in 1996 with one restaurant
rector two years ago. “In that sense, it’s But there have also been purely joyful in Los Angeles, on Vermont Avenue in
a signature institution. It has that kind aspects of the process, Met staff mem- Koreatown, the BCD Tofu House chain,
of responsibility, but it also has that abil- bers said, such as opening the exhibition known for drawing line-out-the-door
ity to carry a city forward.” of Jacob Lawrence’s rarely seen series crowds, now has 13 restaurants in 12 cit-
Other museums in the city will be re- of paintings, “Struggle: From the His- ies across the United States. Some are
opening this week, including the Mu- tory of the American People” (1954-56), open 24 hours a day, for those who work
seum of Modern Art and the Museum of which highlights the experiences of odd hours or for young people hungry
the City of New York, and more have an- women and people of color. after a night on the town and craving
nounced opening dates, including the “We’re trying to do right by him,” said Ms. Lee’s secret soondubu or other Ko-
Whitney (Sept. 3), the Bronx Museum of Randall Griffey, a curator of the show, rean dishes on the menu.
the Arts (Sept. 9), the Brooklyn Mu- speaking of the artist, who died in 2000. “The secret is in the seasoning,” Dr.
seum, El Museo del Barrio (Sept. 12) “The Met has been very vocal about Lee said of the soup in a phone inter-
and the Guggenheim (Oct. 3). The Met commitments to Black representation view. “That’s all I can say, or it won’t be a
Cloisters will reopen on Sept. 12. and equity, and we’re very lucky to re- secret anymore.”
These museums have been learning open with something like this — it’s al-
from other institutions, including the most regrettably timely.”
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which The Met will finally be able to do a
reopened in May, the first in the United number of things: showcase its 150th
States to do so, and some in Europe that anniversary show, “Making the Met,
have been back in operation since the 1870-2020,” which focuses on the institu-
spring. To the extent that the Met is the tion’s history; open its rooftop garden
largest of its peers, the museum is at a exhibition of Héctor Zamora; and unveil
distinct advantage: two million square its costume exhibit, “About Time: Fash-
feet of floor space to allow for social dis- ion and Duration,” which was supposed
tancing. Smaller New York institutions to happen in May — along with its annu-
must reopen in more circumscribed al gala — but will now open in October.
ways. The Tenement Museum will have While the Met’s Gerhard Richter
a phased reopening beginning Sept. 12, show at the Breuer building will not re-
SPENCER WEINER/LOS ANGELES TIMES
and the Drawing Center will reopen by open — another museum, the Frick Col- Hee Sook Lee in 2007. Her BCD Tofu
appointment only, starting Oct. 7. lection, has taken over the space — four House expanded to 13 U.S. locations.
To be ready, once Gov. Andrew M. paintings from the artist’s important
Cuomo gave the state’s museums the “Birkenau” series will be on view in the
green light to open — which he did on main building starting in September. Hee Sook Hong was born in Seoul,
Aug. 14 — the Met has been preparing in In anticipation of its reopening, the South Korea, on June 24, 1959, one of
minute detail, training staff members Met has dedicated, for the first time, the four daughters of Young Pyo Hong, a
how to interact with patrons and making facade spaces usually used for exhibi- teacher, and Chun Ja Park, a home-
sure ticket systems were operational. tion banners to display art: two new maker.
Will Sullivan, the head of visitor expe- banners that Yoko Ono created in re- When Hee Sook was in middle school,
rience, who has worked at the Met for sponse to the pandemic featuring the a stroke left her father paralyzed. To
more than 25 years, said that he was words “Dream” and “Together.” support the family, her mother began
part of a task force of New York muse- Despite all the careful planning, there washing dishes in restaurants and sell-
ums that have been working together on are bound to be kinks; the Met — like ing items at flea markets. After high
how to reopen safely and effectively. museums everywhere — is in uncharted school, Hee Sook began working, too, to
“We are now at the point of taking territory. bring in extra income.
months and months of work,” Mr. Sulli- “I think about hurricanes, blizzards, In 1983, she married Tae Ro Lee, a
van said, “and bringing it to life.” 9/11, blackouts — all sorts of big New lawyer who had become a restaurateur.
Some galleries may dictate circula- York City events that took place and They moved to Los Angeles in 1989 so
tion patterns, and a few cramped “Our goal was really that you have the service, organized with Transportation of external affairs and an avid cyclist, having to get the doors open or closed that her sons could learn English and
spaces, like the intimate Italian Renais- Met experience,” Mr. Hollein said, Alternatives, a bicycle and pedestrian who thought up the idea. and take care of the staff,” Mr. Sullivan, gain better educational opportunities.
sance wood-inlay study, may be closed. “meaning that you don’t just have one advocacy group. The bikes — each of To be sure, there are reasons to be the Met’s visitor experience executive, Once there, Ms. Lee began looking for
Otherwise, just about every part of the wing open, but you see this great institu- which will be sanitized — will be parked nervous. said. a way to earn a living. She enrolled in the
Met will be accessible when the mu- tion in all its different aspects, and it’s a in the plaza just north of the main steps. Will people come? Will they submit to “But I never could have pictured graphic design program at Santa Mon-
seum reopens — first to members on museum that you know and that you “This is one more way to make the temperature checks, wear masks and something like this,” he added. “We’re ica College and graduated in 1994.
Thursday and Friday, then to the gen- love.” museum accessible to visitors,” said observe distancing guidelines? Will the opening the doors to a completely differ- The idea to open a restaurant came to
eral public on Saturday. The Met will test out a free bike valet Kenneth Weine, the Met’s vice president virus eventually surge again in New ent world.” her one Sunday in the mid-1990s while
sitting with her family in the pews of
Berendo Street Baptist Church. During
the service, her sons’ stomachs began to
Indian performer known for his soulful voice growl, and they begged to go to the soon-
dubu restaurant across the street after
church.
“My brothers and I would love eating
Indian citizens: the Padma Vibhushan head of the household and took over his there,” Dr. Lee said. “That got her think-
PANDIT JASRAJ
in 2000, the Padma Bhushan in 1990 and musical education. ing that tofu soup really would be some-
1930-2020
the Padma Shri in 1975. Last year, he be- Never interested in school, Pandit thing unique that she could focus on.”
came the first Indian musician to have a Jasraj started skipping classes to listen She decided to name the restaurant
minor planet named after him: Pandit- to the classical music being played at a BCD Tofu House, short for Buk Chang
BY SHALINI VENUGOPAL BHAGAT
jasraj, which orbits the sun between small roadside restaurant. His brother Dong, a neighborhood in Seoul, where
Pandit Jasraj, an acclaimed Indian clas- Mars and Jupiter. Pandit Pratap Narayan decided to teach her father’s aunt ran a tofu restaurant.
sical vocalist who enraptured audiences Mr. Jasraj spent six months of each him to play the tabla, hand drums simi- Ms. Lee became fiercely dedicated to
around the world, died on Aug. 17 at his year in the United States and Canada, lar to bongos, and, when he was barely 7, the business, waking up in the early
home in New Jersey. He was 90. traveling among several music schools he started performing with his brothers morning hours to handpick produce at
A spokeswoman for Mr. Jasraj, who he helped found. This year, he left India around the country. the wholesale market downtown.
did not say where in New Jersey he died, on Feb. 15 and was at his home in New At 14, he gave up playing the tabla. “A “Anything she put out on a table, it had
said the cause was cardiac arrest. Jersey when the coronavirus pandemic very senior musician brought my rela- to be perfect,” said Dr. Lee, “whether it
Mr. Jasraj’s soulful voice and multi- struck. He remained there, teaching vis- tionship with my percussion instrument was the temperature of the rice, the col-
octave range made him one of the most iting disciples and giving performances to an abrupt end by deriding me for or of the kimchi, the saltiness of the tofu
famous performers in Indian classical on Zoom. beating a dead animal’s skin and there- seasoning.”
music. An exponent of the north Indian After his death, his body was repatri- fore utterly unqualified to talk about the And people came. “Today, tourists
style of Hindustani classical music, he ated to Mumbai, where he was cremated finer points of music,” he wrote on his from South Korea arrive by the busload
was the last surviving member of a gen- on Aug. 20 with state honors, including a website. “I decided then that I would at BCD Tofu House and snap photos,”
eration of virtuoso singers that included 21-gun salute. henceforth only sing.” The Los Angeles Times wrote in 2008.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Kumar Gand- In addition to his daughter, he is sur- He spent nearly 14 hours each day “Visiting dignitaries, sports stars and
harva, Kishori Amonkar, Bade Ghulam vived by his wife of 58 years, Madhura practicing his singing. His first public actors frequently dine at the restaurant.
MILIND SHELTE/THE INDIA TODAY GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Ali Khan and Mallikarjun Mansur. He Pandit Jasraj performing in Mumbai in 2019. Over an eight-decade career, Mr. Jasraj Pandit Jasraj; his son, Shaarang Dev concert as a singer was in the court of Even though the restaurant is open
continued performing until very re- won numerous awards, including three of the highest civilian honors for Indian citizens. Pandit; and three grandchildren. King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah of Ne- around the clock, there is almost always
cently. Pandit Jasraj was born in the city of pal, in 1952. “After my very first rendi- a wait.”
He was also a teacher, instructing Hisar, in the northern state of Haryana, tion, King Tribhuvan awarded me 5,000 During the coronavirus pandemic,
generations of musicians in the nuances terview with The Hindustan Times. “It who was accompanying him on the tan- on Jan. 28, 1930, to Pandit Motiram and mohurs,” he said in an interview this Ms. Lee continued to provide health
of the 19th-century style known as was a good omen,” he said. pura, a long-necked string instrument, Krishna Bai. He was the youngest of year in which he referenced the gold benefits to laid-off workers and addi-
Mewati gharana. In May 1998, at the beginning of the recalled in a 2019 interview. “It got so three sons in a family of classical musi- coins. “I was quite stunned by the ges- tional wages to those who stayed to help
Indian history is replete with stories Indian summer, Mr. Jasraj was invited windy that the backdrop and marigold cians. His grandfather, father, uncles ture. It was more than I could count.” with takeout orders. And knowing that
of musicians who were said to summon to sing at an outdoor gathering at the garlands hung around were ripped off and brothers were all renowned singers He is credited with popularizing Ha- during a health crisis people might need
rains or light lamps by singing ragas. home of a senior bureaucrat in Delhi. Af- and sent flying. The dust storm turned and composers of the Mewati gharana, veli Sangeet, a form of devotional music hot soup more than ever, Ms. Lee kept
Mr. Jasraj was one such artist. ter performing for more than two hours, into a downpour, and all the dignitaries and his father was his first teacher. dedicated to the Hindu god Krishna that the BCD Tofu House outlet on Wilshire
During an early morning concert in he decided to sing the Dhulia Malhar ran for cover. When it wouldn’t subside, When he was 4 and living in Hyder- is traditionally sung in temples. Boulevard in Los Angeles open 24 hours
Varanasi, India, in 1996 on the grounds raga, the first in a series usually sung the concert was shifted to a room in- abad, in south-central India, his father Among those paying tribute was a day.
of the Sankat Mochan temple, he was before the onset of monsoons, when the side.” died suddenly on the day his father was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who ex- In addition to Dr. Lee, she is survived
immersed in the Todi raga when a deer air is filled with fine dust. Over an eight-decade career, Mr. Jas- to be appointed royal musician in the pressed his condolences on Twitter, by two other sons; her husband; and her
bounded up to the stage and stayed to “As he sang, the climate began to visi- raj won numerous awards, including court of Osman Ali Khan. His eldest writing that Mr. Jasraj’s death “leaves a sisters, Myung Hee Hong, Sung Hee
listen until the end, he recalled in an in- bly change,” his daughter, Durga Jasraj, three of the highest civilian honors for brother, Pandit Maniram, became the deep void in the Indian cultural sphere.” Hong and Sung Im Lee.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 3
World
Sweden raises alarm
over Russia exercises
to Russia and embracing the Pentagon’s
STOCKHOLM
revamped defense strategy that focuses
more on potential threats from Russia
and China and less on terrorism.
Stockholm deploys
Over the past two years, the United
warships as Baltic Sea States and its NATO allies have posi-
tioned about 4,500 soldiers in the three
military activity increases
Baltic States and Poland, and have sta-
tioned several thousand other armored
troops mostly in Eastern Europe.
BY THOMAS ERDBRINK
In Brussels, allied defense ministers
AND ANDREW E. KRAMER
last year approved a plan to ensure that
Tourists in Sweden heading out Tuesday by 2020, at least 30,000 troops, plus ad-
to enjoy summer weather on Gotland, a ditional attack planes and warships,
scenic island in the Baltic Sea, were would be positioned to respond to Rus-
jolted when armored personnel carriers sian aggression within 30 days.
and other military vehicles boarded The tensions are part of an expanding
their ferry, which was then escorted by rivalry, and corresponding military
Swedish fighter jets and a warship. buildup, between Washington and Mos-
In addition to being a tourist destina- cow.
tion, Gotland is also a strategically im- Two U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers fly-
portant site, sometimes referred to as ing a long-range training mission over
Sweden’s “fixed aircraft carrier.” The the Black Sea in late May prompted Rus-
Swedish military deployed four war- sian fighter jets to scramble and inter-
ships and an unspecified number of cept the American warplanes. At least
ground forces and warplanes in re- three times in the past two months, Rus-
sponse to a major Russian naval exer- sian fighter jets intercepted U.S. Navy
cise that has set off alarms regionally. P-8 surveillance planes over the Medi-
A United States Air Force C-130 terranean.
landed briefly in the Gotland town of And last week, Russian fighter jets in-
Visby on Saturday, said Therese Fager- tercepted three U.S. RC-135 reconnais-
stedt, a press officer at the Swedish sance planes over the Baltic and Black
Armed Forces Headquarters. But she seas, the Russian Defense Ministry
denied the flight had any connection said. The Russian jets eventually flew
with the Swedish military activities. away without incident.
Russia may have been prompted by NATO held its annual exercise in the
WAKIL KOHSAR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
The death toll is expected to rise after flash floods in Charikar, Afghanistan, killed dozens of people. Many residents were believed to be trapped under collapsed homes. recent NATO exercises in the area, mili- Baltics in June, with Sweden and Fin-
tary experts said, as well as the unrest in land participating, though they are not
Belarus and President Trump’s decision members of the alliance.
Deadly floods in the night to redeploy troops from Germany to Po- Over 8,600 soldiers, 50 ships, a heli-
land. copter carrier and two submarines were
The result, Jan Thornqvist, chief of involved. But it has not held exercises of
joint operations with the Swedish that size since, a NATO spokesman said.
Armed Forces, said in a statement, is
“extensive military activity in the Baltic
“The Russians are showing
Afghan news media showed flattened navirus, but the true number is likely to destroyed in Charikar were built in an Sea, conducted by Russian as well as
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
buildings, scattered debris and mangled be significantly higher because of lim- area prone to flooding, said Mohammad Western players, on a scale the likes of that they’re willing to go there.
cars. ited testing and the government’s di- Khalil Fazli, a member of the Parwan which have not been seen since the Cold They are trying to scare off
Afghanistan suffers Rescue workers sifted through the minished presence in more rural areas. provincial council. War.” the West.”
wreckage, as many residents were be- Since the start of the year, more than Nearly the entire city was devastated, Russia’s Defense Ministry described
another blow as dozens are lieved to be trapped under collapsed 17,000 people have been affected by Mr. Fazli said. “There are houses de- its exercise as a mock amphibious land-
homes. One hospital reported receiving heavy floods and rains across Afghani- stroyed by flash floods in every corner ing of marines, with the first step being Western analysts suggested that Rus-
killed in a northern city
78 bodies and 105 wounded people. The stan, with nearly 2,000 homes de- of the city,” he said. their deployment on three large assault sia could be reacting more to the recent
death toll in the city was expected to stroyed, according to a United Nations Esmatullah Mohammadi, another vessels. protests in Belarus, warning outside
rise. report released in April. member of the provincial council, said Those ships, the Korolyov, the Kali- powers about involving themselves in
BY THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFF
The flooding is just the latest blow for Scientists have pointed to climate the government should not have let peo- ningrad and the Minsk, set sail on Tues- the uprising.
AND FAHIM ABED
Afghanistan, which has been ravaged change as more frequent flooding has ple build their houses there, “because day from the Kaliningrad region, a Rus- The Kremlin has long accused the
When the heavy rains came overnight, by the coronavirus and bloodied by Tal- struck Asian countries, including China, everyone knows that it is a route of flash sian enclave on the Baltic wedged be- United States of promoting revolutions
setting off flash floods in northern Af- iban attacks across the country since a where riverbanks have been breached floods.” tween Poland and Lithuania, accompa- in former Soviet republics, particularly
ghanistan, the deluge quickly turned Feb. 29 peace agreement between the Heavy rains in northern and eastern nied by two minesweepers and a Georgia and Ukraine.
deadly and caught many residents off United States and the insurgent group. Afghanistan are common at this time of corvette, or small warship. “The Russians are showing that
Scientists have pointed to climate
guard because they were sleeping. Tariq Arian, a spokesman for Afghan- year. On Tuesday night, three people The flotilla plans to sail up the coast- they’re willing to go there,” said Karlis
On Thursday, officials said the floods istan’s interior ministry, said on Tuesday change as more frequent flooding were killed and three others wounded in lines of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Neretnieks, a retired, high-ranking offi-
had killed 151 people in 13 provinces. In that 88 civilians had been killed in the has struck Asian countries, a series of flash floods in eastern War- former Soviet republics that are NATO cer and former president of the Swedish
Charikar, home to nearly 200,000 and preceding two weeks, and he blamed the including China and Indonesia. dak Province, said Mohammad Sardar members, and near the territory of Swe- Defense University. “They are trying to
the capital of Parwan Province, north of Taliban for most of the deaths. Bakhtyari, a local official. Dozens of den and Finland, which are neutral scare off the West.”
Kabul, the initial toll was nearly 80. That same day, a Taliban car bomb in houses and acres of agricultural land countries. The marines will then stage a Mr. Neretnieks said that President
Mahmood Samadi, a Charikar resi- the northern province of Balkh killed at and waters have strained the Three were destroyed. mock amphibious assault on Russian Vladimir V. Putin’s government, already
dent, said he woke to the sound of water least eight civilians, as well as two Af- Gorges Dam; North Korea, where the But the dense population and the fact territory near St. Petersburg, the mili- dealing with protests in Siberia, is wor-
rushing through his neighborhood and ghan commandos whose unit was based government declined to accept interna- that the downpour happened overnight tary said. ried that the possible fall of President
quickly decided to get his family out of nearby. More than 60 people were tional aid for fear of letting the coro- combined to deadly effect in Charikar. Pavel Felgenhauer, a military com- Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus
the city. When he returned, nearly half wounded, and the blast destroyed or navirus in; Bangladesh, where tor- A spokesman for President Ashraf mentator for an independent Russian might cause further demonstrations in
his house was flooded and six homes on damaged several buildings, including rential rains recently submerged at Ghani said that the Afghan government newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, said the ex- Russia. “They now want to divert do-
his street had been destroyed. an agricultural center and an animal least a quarter of the country; and Indo- had pledged emergency support for ercise is part of operation Ocean Shield, mestic attention and create an outside
“I don’t know about the exact casu- clinic. nesia, where flash floods left hundreds Charikar. a long-running effort to lift the Russian threat.”
alties in our street, but I know many peo- Nearly 1,300 civilians were killed in of thousands homeless earlier this year. Flash flooding in Charikar earlier this navy’s preparedness. While the deployment of what the
ple were killed and wounded,” Mr. fighting during the first six months of In Afghanistan, weak governance month affected 495 families, 152 of He said it did not appear to be related Russian military itself described as a
Samadi said. the year, according to the United Na- puts residents in additional peril: With which needed humanitarian assistance, to current Russian military exercises battle-ready landing force was unset-
The flash floods left a trail of mud, top- tions. A similar number of Afghans were little official oversight, urban planning according to a report from the Interna- near the border with Belarus involving tling, Mr. Thornqvist said in a statement
pled houses and bodies. Photos in the reported to have died from the coro- is often neglected. Many of the houses tional Organization for Migration. 6,000 troops and 1,500 armored vehi- published on the Swedish Armed
cles. Forces’ website on Monday that the risk
Another analyst said the Russian ex- of a military attack was still very low,
ercise was a response to increased though the conditions were unpredict-
U.K. soccer star convicted of assault NATO activity in Eastern Europe. Inev- able. “We are witnessing a deteriorated
itably, the analyst, Ivan Konovalov, di- security situation in the vicinity of Swe-
rector of the Center for Studies of Stra- den,” he said.
tegic Trends in Moscow, said, “our activ- This was not the first time that Rus-
In fact, it may take years for the case ity rises, too.” sian military activity had set off alarms
BY MARC SANTORA
to go to the country’s court of appeal, ac- Tensions between Russia and the in Sweden. In 2017 the government an-
AND ILIANA MAGRA
cording to a Greek legal expert. West ramped up sharply in 2014, after nounced the reintroduction of compul-
A star athlete. An $82,000 restaurant bill The trial and conviction, only days af- Russia annexed Crimea and intervened sory military service “to resist an armed
before a boozy encounter on a sun- ter the altercation, played out so quickly militarily in eastern Ukraine. The Krem- attack against Sweden from a qualified
soaked island. A fight, arrests and — because of a Greek legal process that al- lin staged major military exercises opponent,” a letter from the Swedish
less than a week later — a conviction. lows for speedy trials of those consid- along its western borders, stirring long- Civil Contingencies Agency said.
But no conclusion. ered to have been caught in the act. dormant fears of Russian armored col-
The saga of Harry Maguire, the cap- Christos Mylonopoulos, a professor of umns rolling across Europe. Thomas Erdbrink reported from Stock-
tain of Manchester United who was law at the University of Athens and the In response, NATO reinvigorated holm and Andrew E. Kramer from Mos-
found guilty by a Greek court on Tues- president of the European and Interna- plans to counter an old foe, strength- cow. Reporting contributed by Eric
day on multiple charges, has captivated tional Criminal Law Institute, said that ening ties to allied armies, increasing Schmitt from Washington and Christina
Britain even though much about the in- because Mr. Maguire has been con- the number of troops and spies devoted Anderson from Stockholm.
cident remains shrouded in confusion. victed of only misdemeanor crimes un-
After the verdict convicting him of ag- der Greek law, the court has up to eight
gravated assault, resisting arrest and years to hear the case again.
attempted bribery, Mr. Maguire, 27, ap- Manchester United said that because
pealed the decision and posted a quote the court accepted Mr. Maguire’s ap-
on social media attributed to Buddha. peal, he is presumed innocent and is free
“Three things cannot be hidden: the to travel as he awaits a full retrial.
sun, the moon and the truth.” But for Mr. Maguire, the fallout has
For many observers of the high-pro- been immediate. He was suspended
file scandal, the truth of the moment from playing for England’s national
POOL PHOTO BY CARL RECINE
varies depending on the vantage point. Harry Maguire, left, was convicted in a Greek court of aggravated assault, resisting team for at least two matches, and his
The case presented by Greek pros- arrest and attempted bribery and given a suspended 21-month, 10-day jail sentence. future has been thrown into question.
ecutors goes like this: Manchester United has defended its
Late one night last week, on the white- star player, for whom it paid more than
washed streets of the old town on the is- tried to provoke Mr. Maguire by singing Mr. Morley said. “We thought we were $100 million in acquiring him from
land of Mykonos, plainclothes police of- songs about one of the most tragic mo- either being robbed or kidnapped. Ev- Leicester City, an English Premier
ficers were drawn to a disturbance. Mr. ments in Manchester United history, the erybody was very scared.” League rival. The team said in a state-
Maguire and members of his party were 1958 crash of the team’s airplane in Mu- The men who stopped the minibus ment on Wednesday that he would re-
belligerent and confronted the police, nich that killed 23 members of the team, might have been police officers, but if so, main the team’s captain for the time be-
verbally abusing and physically assault- its staff and journalists. Mr. Maguire and his friends were un- ing.
ing them, officials said. The next night, Mr. Maguire’s group aware of it, the defense maintained. It The coverage of the saga has been
During the subsequent one-day trial was confronted again by the same men. portrayed the police as the aggressors, driven by reports of the lavish lifestyle
on the nearby isle of Syros, the capital of Mr. Maguire’s friend, Ashden Morley, but the court was not convinced. enjoyed by a privileged few.
the Cyclades island chain, the court was told the court that Mr. Maguire’s sister, Mr. Maguire was found guilty and In particular, the details of the $82,000
told that Mr. Maguire tried to use his ce- Daisy, had been approached by “two Al- sentenced to 21 months and 10 days in tab for one five-hour long bacchanal at
lebrity and wealth to get out of trouble, banian-looking” men as some of the jail, although the sentence was sus- the ritzy SantAnna Beach Club has been
according to media accounts. group went to buy kebabs. pended for three years while legal chal- combed over by numerous news ac-
“Do you know who I am?” he said, ac- He testified that Ms. Maguire’s eyes lenges play out. Two of Mr. Maguire’s as- counts in British and Greek media.
cording to the prosecutor’s account. “I “rolled” in her head, leading the group to sociates were also found guilty and sen- More than $60,000 of the bill covered
am the captain of Manchester United. I fear she had been slipped or injected tenced to 13 months in prison, also sus- expensive champagne, the reports said.
am very rich. I can give you money. I can with some form of a “rape drug.” pended for three years. Most of the rest was spent on lobster,
pay you, please let us go.” Mr. Maguire and his friends tried to “I remain strong and confident re- steak and cocktails.
Mr. Maguire’s defense team denied he leave in a minibus that the soccer star garding our innocence in this matter —
said any such thing. In their telling, Mr. had rented, but they were stopped by a if anything, myself, family and friends Marc Santora reported from London and
ANTONIA SEHLSTEDT/SWEDISH ARMED FORCES, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Maguire’s party had been confronted group of men in two cars. are the victims,” Mr. Maguire said in a Iliana Magra from Athens. Tariq Panja Swedish JAS-37 fighter jets and a Swedish Navy corvette off the island of Gotland. In
the previous night by hooligans who “The door was pulled open by a man,” statement. contributed reporting from London. addition to being a tourist destination, Gotland is also a strategically important site.
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4 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
Under threat of U.S. sanctions In the race for vaccines,
first might not be best
GERMANY,FROM PAGE1
rious that the Trump administration is
using the same type of sanctions against
an ally and a European project in which VACCINE,FROM PAGE1 viable. Valneva has already met those
American companies play no part as it U.S. Army researchers at the Walter standards, and it’s not clear that Chi-
employs against companies doing busi- Reed Army Institute have created an- nese vaccines would.
ness with North Korea or Iran. other spike-tip nanoparticle vaccine and The United Kingdom has arranged to
Even those German officials who are are recruiting volunteers for a clinical purchase 60 million doses of Valneva’s
critical of Nord Stream 2 say America is trial that they also plan to start by the vaccine, and the company is scaling up
being a counterproductive bully by end of 2020. Other companies and uni- to make 200 million doses a year.
threatening such secondary sanctions versities are creating spike-tip-based
against a close ally’s state-owned com- vaccines as well, using recipes of their FASTER AND CHEAPER PRODUCTION
pany, and that the European Union, own. Even if the first wave of vaccines works,
through existing regulations and diver- many researchers worry that it won’t be
sification, could handle an unexpected IMMUNE PUNCH possible to make enough of them fast
Russian cutoff. Antibodies are only one weapon in the enough to tackle the global need.
Secondary sanctions are a way of immune arsenal. Blood cells known as T “It’s a numbers game — we need a lot
turning up the pressure on sanctioned cells can fight infections by attacking of doses,” said Florian Krammer, a virol-
countries and projects by going after other cells that have been infiltrated by ogist at Icahn School of Medicine at
those who do business with them. The the virus. Mount Sinai in New York.
goal is to isolate the target of the sanc- “We still don’t know which kind of im- Some of the most promising first-
tions, but the economic pain inflicted on mune response will be important for wave products, such as RNA vaccines
third parties, like the port at Sassnitz, protection,” said Luciana Leite, a vac- from Moderna and Pfizer, are based on
can be severe. cine researcher at Instituto Butantan in designs that have never been put into
The senators threatened the port’s São Paulo, Brazil. large-scale production before. “The
“board members, corporate officers, It’s possible that vaccines that arouse manufacturing math just doesn’t add
shareholders, and employees, to crush- only antibody responses will fail in the up,” said Steffen Mueller, the chief scien-
ing legal and economic sanctions, which long run. Dr. Leite and other re- tific officer of Codagenix.
our government will be mandated to im- searchers are testing vaccines made of Many of the second-wave vaccines
pose.” several parts of the coronavirus to see if wouldn’t require a large scaling-up of
In Sassnitz, which Mr. Taraba remem- they can coax T cells to fight it off. experimental manufacturing. Instead,
bers as a once-thriving fishing commu- “It’s a second line of defense that they could piggyback on standard meth-
nity with discos and bars crowded with might work better than antibodies,” said ods that have been used for years to
now-vanished Swedish tourists, atten- Anne De Groot, the chief executive of make safe and effective vaccines.
tion is focused on the future of the ailing Epivax, a company based in Provi- Codagenix, for example, has entered
port and what that means for the town. dence, R.I. into a partnership with the Serum Insti-
Many of the best jobs in the region, Epivax has created an experimental tute of India to grow the recoded coro-
like casing pipes for Nord Stream 2 or vaccine with several pieces of the spike naviruses. The institute already makes
installing and servicing turbines for off- protein, as well as other viral proteins, billions of doses of live weakened virus
shore wind farms, are linked to the port that it plans to test in a clinical trial in vaccines for measles, rotaviruses and
and would be affected by the sanctions December. influenza, growing them in large tanks
against it. The effectiveness of a vaccine can of cells.
also be influenced by how it gets into our Tapping into well-established meth-
body. All of the first-wave vaccines now ods could also cut down the cost of a co-
“It has confirmed every
in clinical trials have to be injected into ronavirus vaccine, which will make it
stereotype about capitalist muscle. A nasal spray vaccine — similar easier to get it distributed to less
Americans that they learned to FluMist for influenza — might work wealthy countries.
under communism.” better, since the coronavirus invades Researchers at Baylor College of
our bodies through the airway. Medicine, for example, are doing pre-
Several groups are gearing up for clinical work on a vaccine that they said
The senators proposing the sanctions clinical trials of nasal spray vaccines. might cost as little as $2 a dose. By con-
— Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Ar- One of the most imaginative approaches trast, Pfizer is charging $19 a dose in a
kansas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — comes from a New York company called deal with the U.S. government, and
sent a letter to the port’s owners on Aug. Codagenix. It is testing a vaccine that other companies have floated even
5 threatening “crushing legal and eco- contains a synthetic version of the coro- higher prices.
nomic sanctions” if the facility contin- navirus that it made from scratch.
ued to provide “significant goods, serv- The Codagenix vaccine is a new twist
All of the first-wave vaccines
ices, and support” for the pipeline. Earli- on an old formula. For decades, vaccine
er sanctions caused a Swiss-Dutch com- makers have created vaccines for dis- now in clinical trials have to be
pany to stop laying the last 50 miles of eases such as chickenpox and yellow fe- injected into muscle. A nasal
pipes off Denmark. ver from live but weakened viruses. Tra- spray vaccine might work better.
A senior Republican congressional ditionally, scientists have weakened the
aide said the new sanctions are nar- viruses by growing them in cells of
rowly focused to try to stop the comple- chickens or some other animals. The vi- To make the vaccine, the Baylor team
tion of the pipeline. They are attached to ruses adapt to their new hosts, and in engineered yeast to make coronavirus
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LENA MUCHA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
the National Defense Authorization Act Top, tourists at the harbor of Sassnitz, Germany. Visitors from Sweden in the once-thriving fishing community have become rare. the process they become ill-suited for spike tips. It’s precisely the same
and have bipartisan support. That Above, sections of pipe at the port. Potential American sanctions aim to prevent Russia from finishing a major pipeline project. growing in the human body. method that has been used since the
means they are almost certain to be- The viruses still slip into cells, but 1980s to make vaccines for hepatitis B.
come law whenever Congress votes on they replicate at a glacial pace. As a re- The Indian vaccine maker Biological E
the act, the aide said, requesting ano- A German legislator, Norbert Christian Pegel, the energy minister governing natural gas imports, supplies sult, they can’t make us sick. But a small has licensed Baylor’s vaccine and is
nymity to talk about proceedings that Röttgen, has opposed the pipeline for for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and pipelines, as well as a transit agree- dose of these weakened viruses can de- planning Phase 1 trials that will start
are still in the legislative process. much the same reasons as Washington. called the senators’ threat “like some- ment with Ukraine, the ability of Russia liver a powerful jolt to the immune sys- this fall.
The aide said the target of the sanc- But he also opposes sanctions against thing out of the Wild West.” The letter “is to influence European politics by cutting tem. “They now already know they can
tions was Russia, not Germany, but that allies, let alone against a tiny port. very abrasive in tone and manner, and it off gas supplies is much diminished, Ms. Yet there are relatively few live weak- make a billion doses a year,” said Maria
allies sometimes had to make choices to “Sanctions are for enemies, not for al- is not clear about where I face a risk to- Westphal said. ened viruses, because making them is a Elena Bottazzi, a Baylor virologist. “It’s
gain access to the American market, lies, partners and friends,” he said. day and where risks could arise in the Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassa- struggle. “It’s really trial-and-error easy-breezy for them, because it was ex-
noting that months of diplomacy with Officials in Sassnitz hope that a new future.” dor to Poland who worked on sanctions based,” said J. Robert Coleman, the chief actly the same bread-and-butter vac-
Germany and the European Union had high-speed ferry to Sweden will help Combined with other measures per- policy from 2013 to 2017, said that while executive of Codagenix. “You can never cine technology that they have been
failed to come up with a solution. compensate for the decline in cargo ceived to be anti-German, like President he opposed Nord Stream 2, now that it is say exactly what the mutations are do- working with for years.”
“The U.S. administration is disre- transport and bring more tourists, but Trump’s recent decision to withdraw nearly complete it would be better to ing.” Even if the world gets cheap, effective
specting Europe’s right and sovereignty they fear that jobs could dry up under some troops from Germany, the reaction pass conditional sanctions that would The Codagenix scientists came up vaccines against the Covid-19 coro-
to decide itself where and how we sanctions, said Stefan Grunau, who sits to the sanctions has been one of shock hit Russia hard if it interfered with the with a different approach. They sat navirus, that won’t mean that all of our
source our energy,” said Heiko Maas, on both the town council and the port and outrage, said Kirsten Westphal, an flow of gas to Europe. “There’s a better down at a computer and edited the coro- pandemic worries are over. With an
the German foreign minister. Ger- company board. analyst with the German Institute for way to go than to fight the Germans on navirus’s genome, creating 283 muta- abundance of other coronaviruses lurk-
many’s Energy Ministry said in an “This is a structurally weak region International and Security Affairs. this one,” he said. tions. They then created a piece of DNA ing in wild animals, another pandemic
email that it considered secondary sanc- that is desperately searching for ways to “It is another step up in escalation, be- Mr. Fried, now with the Atlantic Coun- containing their new genome and put it may be not far off. Several companies —
tions a violation of international law. generate new jobs,” Mr. Grunau said. cause it exerts massive pressure on cil in Washington, said: “We have a in monkey cells. The cells then made including Anhui Zhifei in China, Osivax
The European Union’s foreign policy The senators’ letter has also unrav- German infrastructure and administra- Putin problem; we don’t have a German their rewritten viruses. In experiments in France and VBI in Massachusetts —
chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles, said he eled the good will toward the United tions,” she said.There is a sense that as problem.” on hamsters, the researchers found that are developing “universal” coronavirus
was “deeply concerned at the growing States in Sassnitz, Mr. Grunau said. “It with Iran, Washington is substituting the vaccine didn’t make the animals sick vaccines that might protect people from
use of sanctions, or the threat of sanc- has confirmed every stereotype about sanctions for foreign policy and “weap- Melissa Eddy reported from Sassnitz, but did protect them against the coro- an array of the viruses, even those that
tions, by the United States against Euro- capitalist Americans that they learned onizing interdependence,’’ she said. Germany, and Steven Erlanger from navirus. haven’t colonized our species yet.
pean companies and interests.” under communism.” Given European Union regulations Brussels. Codagenix is preparing to open a Many scientists see their continuing
Phase 1 trial of an intranasal spray with vaccine work as part of a long game —
one of these synthesized coronaviruses one that the well-being of entire nations
as early as September. Two similar vac- will depend on. Thailand, for example, is
New clue on why men are hit harder cines are in earlier stages of develop- preparing to purchase Covid-19 vac-
ment. cines developed overseas, but scientists
The French vaccine maker Valneva there are also carrying out preclinical
plans to start clinical trials in November research of their own.
Men showed much weaker activation on a far less futuristic design. “We are At Chulalongkorn University, re-
BY APOORVA MANDAVILLI
of T cells, and that lag was linked to how addressing the pandemic with a rather searchers have been investigating sev-
The coronavirus may infect anyone, sick the men became. The older the men, conventional approach,” said Thomas eral potential candidates, including an
young or old, but older men are up to the weaker their T cell responses. Lingelbach, the chief executive of Val- RNA-based vaccine that will go into
twice as likely to become severely sick But “women who are older — even neva. Phase 1 studies by early 2021. The vac-
and to die as women of the same age. very old, like 90 years old — these wom- Valneva makes vaccines from inacti- cine is similar to one that Pfizer is now
Why? The first study to look at im- en are still making pretty good, decent vated viruses that are killed with chemi- testing in late-stage clinical trials, but
mune response by sex has turned up a immune response,” Dr. Iwasaki added. cals. Jonas Salk and other early vaccine these scientists want the security of
clue: Men produce a weaker immune re- Compared with health care workers makers found this recipe to work well. making their own version.
sponse to the virus than do women, the and healthy controls, the patients all Chinese vaccine makers already have “While Thailand has to plan for buy-
researchers concluded. had elevated blood levels of cytokines, three such coronavirus vaccines in ing vaccines, we should do our best to
The findings, published on Wednes- proteins that rouse the immune system Phase 3 trials, but Dr. Lingelbach still produce our own vaccine as well,” said
day in Nature, suggest that men, partic- to action. Some types of cytokines were sees an opportunity for Valneva to make Kiat Ruxrungtham, a professor at Chu-
ularly those over age 60, may need to de- elevated in all men but only in some its own. lalongkorn University. “If we are not
pend more on vaccines to protect women. Inactivated virus vaccines have to successful this time, we will be capable
against the infection. Women who had high levels of other meet very high standards for purifica- to do much, much better in the next pan-
“Natural infection is clearly failing” to cytokines became more seriously ill, the tion to make sure all the viruses are not demic.”
spark adequate immune responses in researchers found. Those women might
men, said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunolo- do better if given drugs that blunt these
gist at Yale University who led the work. proteins, Dr. Iwasaki said.
The results are consistent with what’s The study has limitations. It was
known about sex differences and the small, and the patients were older than
ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
body’s immune responses. A nurse holding a phone to a Covid-19 patient’s ear so he could speak with his daughter. 60 on average, making it difficult to as-
Women mount faster and stronger A new study finds that women produce a more powerful immune response than men do. sess how the immune response changes
immune responses, perhaps because with age.
their bodies are rigged to fight patho- “We know that age is proving to be a
gens that threaten unborn or newborn could also influence decisions about were admitted to the hospital soon after very important factor in Covid-19 out-
children. dosing. they were infected with the coronavirus. comes, and the intersection of age and
But over time, an immune system in a “You could imagine scenarios where a The researchers collected blood, naso- sex must be explored,” said Sabra Klein,
constant state of high alert can be harm- single shot of a vaccine might be suffi- pharyngeal swabs, saliva, urine and a vaccine expert at the Johns Hopkins
ful. Most autoimmune diseases — char- cient in young individuals or maybe stools from the patients every three to Bloomberg School of Public Health.
acterized by an overly strong immune young women, while older men might seven days. The study also did not offer a reason
response — are much more prevalent in need to have three shots of vaccine,” Dr. The analysis excluded patients on for the differences between men and
women than in men, for example. Altfeld said. ventilators and those taking drugs that women. Because the women were past
“We are looking at two sides of the Companies pursuing coronavirus affect the immune system “to make sure menopause, on average, “it is doubtful
same coin,” said Dr. Marcus Altfeld, an vaccines have not yet released clinical that we’re measuring natural immune that sex steroid hormones are involved,”
immunologist at the Heinrich Pette In- data analyzed by the trial participants’ response to the virus,” Dr. Iwasaki said. Dr. Klein said.
stitute and at the University Medical sex, but the U.S. Food and Drug Admin- The researchers also analyzed data Still, the new findings are “exciting”
Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Ger- istration has asked them to do so, as well from an additional 59 men and women because they begin to explain why men
many. as by racial and ethnic background, said who did not meet those criteria. fare so much worse with the coro-
The findings underscore the need for Dr. William Gruber, a vice president at Over all, the scientists found, the navirus. “The more robust T cell re-
companies pursing coronavirus vac- Pfizer. women’s bodies produced more T cells, sponses in older women could be an im-
LUCA SOLA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
cines to parse their data by sex, Dr. Alt- Dr. Iwasaki’s team analyzed immune which can kill virus-infected cells and portant clue to protection and must be A university dean of health sciences volunteered to receive an experimental coronavirus
feld and other experts said. The findings responses in 17 men and 22 women who stop the infection from spreading. explored further,” Dr. Klein said. vaccine in Soweto, South Africa. Researchers hope to lower the cost of treatment.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 5
world
Disenchanted Republicans put Arizona in play
Phoenix and accounts for about 60 per-
Party’s rightward lurch
cent of votes cast in the state, is king.
has suburban women General elections typically boil down to
a contest over who can entice the coun-
looking at the Democrats
ty’s many affluent suburban voters, who
in recent years have delivered signifi-
cant rebukes to the Republican Party.
BY ELAINA PLOTT
Before Mr. Trump, Republican presi-
Cindy McCain, the widow of the Republi- dential candidates had won Maricopa
can senator John McCain, appeared last County four cycles in a row by at least 10
week in a video at the Democratic Na- points; in 2016, Mr. Trump won by just
tional Convention detailing her hus- three. And in the 2018 Senate race, Ms.
band’s “unlikely friendship” with Jo- Sinema affirmed voters’ willingness to
seph R. Biden Jr. She praised the Demo- swing left when she won the county by
cratic nominee for his willingness to four points.
reach across the aisle, calling it “a style Nevertheless, Ms. Ward has contin-
of legislating and leadership that you ued to embrace Mr. Trump’s base-cen-
don’t find much anymore.” tric strategy in her leadership of Ari-
Before the clip aired, Kelli Ward, the zona’s Republican Party, even as Mr. Bi-
chairwoman of the Arizona Republican den has climbed in the polls.
Party, who in 2016 lost a bitter Senate This was in some ways to be expected.
primary challenge to Mr. McCain, In 2016, Ms. Ward became the year’s
filmed her own video to share her most prominent Republican primary
thoughts on Mrs. McCain’s appearance. challenger when she took on Mr. Mc-
“Well, I just say: Not a Republican,” Cain, highlighting her support for poli-
Ms. Ward asserted as her husband, cies like Mr. Trump’s proposed Muslim
wearing a red “Make America Great ban while appearing on ultra-right-wing
Again” hat, nodded alongside her. platforms like Infowars.
Those dueling images — the widow of Mr. McCain defeated Ms. Ward, but
Arizona’s most popular Republican her following became such that he de-
since Barry Goldwater lauding the cided to cut an ad highlighting how as a
Democratic presidential nominee’s state senator, she had entertained con-
character, and the state party’s current stituents’ concerns about “chemtrails,”
leader denouncing her in response as a the conspiracy theory that claims the
“pretend Republican” who wants to government injects dangerous chemi-
“cause the destruction of this great na- cals into the sky via the contrails of air-
tion” — succinctly reflected the political planes.
identity crisis currently unfolding in Ar- Ms. Ward, a family doctor with a mas-
izona. ter’s degree in public health, was back
on the Senate Republican primary trail
in 2018. Again she lost, this time to
“Right now, we’re losing
Martha McSally, but not before ponder-
Republicans and we’re losing ing on social media whether Mr. McCain
independents. And there’s been had deliberately timed an announce-
no effort to appeal to them.” JONATHAN J. COOPER/ASSOCIATED PRESS ment about his brain cancer to sabotage
her campaign. (Mr. McCain died on Aug.
25, 2018, just hours after Ms. Ward’s
The party’s rightward lurch in the comments.)
Trump era has left a growing number of Ms. Ward won her position atop the
Republicans in the state disenchanted state party in 2019, and some Republi-
and caused Arizona, a longtime Republi- cans in Arizona argue that her tone and
can stronghold, to suddenly resemble a instincts have shifted since her cam-
battleground. paign days.
That’s in large part because of wom- “I think that chairman Kelli Ward is
en: In 2018, 16 percent of Republican very different from candidate Kelli
women broke with their party to help Ward,” said Lisa James, a veteran of Re-
make Kyrsten Sinema the state’s first publican politics in Arizona. “As a candi-
Democratic senator since 1995. Most date, she tended to appeal to a certain
strategists in the state believe President wing of the party, but as a chairman, she
Trump’s chances there in November knows you have to appeal to the entire
hinge on bringing such voters back into tent.”
the fold. In reality, rather than try to adapt the
And if the tenor of the Republican Na- party to Arizona’s increasingly moder-
tional Convention is any indication — ate bent, Ms. Ward has seemed more
speeches about protecting “quiet neigh- committed to hardening its allegiance to
borhoods” on Monday; attempts to ap- the president and his brand of politics.
peal to suburban women and mothers Republicans’ shakier footing in Ari-
FRANCISCO KJOLSETH/THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
on Tuesday; a lineup of prominent Re- Top, Kelli Ward, center, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, has pushed the state party to harden its allegiance to President Trump, rather than adapt to the state’s zona is not just a product of the presi-
publican women including Kellyanne increasingly moderate bent. Above from left, Cindy McCain, widow of the Republican Senator John McCain, and the late senator, at left, with Joseph R. Biden Jr. dent or a rightward shift in party leader-
Conway, Karen Pence and Joni Ernst on ship. Demographic changes across the
Wednesday — Mr. Trump is beginning state, including a growing Latino popu-
to agree. occasional conspiracy theory, more were critical to the president’s success trajectory could have disastrous conse- Republican strategist in Arizona and a lation and an influx of left-leaning mil-
In Arizona, Mrs. McCain serves as an closely resembles the kind of voter the in 2016. quences for Mr. Trump’s path to re-elec- former staff member for Mr. McCain. lennials, have also weakened the party.
avatar of sorts for many Republican party has been devoting its resources to. And for now, at least in Arizona, Mr. tion. And according to some Republi- “And right now, we’re losing Republi- But should the party continue to alien-
women — educated suburbanites, in- It is the state-level iteration of Mr. Trump’s approach is not working so cans in the state, it currently shows no cans and we’re losing independents. ate more moderate members in the
cluding lifelong party members who Trump’s national strategy, targeting well. Recent polls show Mr. Biden lead- signs of changing. And there’s been no effort to appeal to months ahead, some Republicans be-
have perhaps felt alienated by the par- core supporters while Mr. Biden ag- ing the president by as many as seven “In a red state like ours, you’ve got to them.” lieve it will become impossible in future
ty’s Trumpist turn. But Ms. Ward, a de- gressively courts moderate Republican percentage points. hold your Republicans, and convince For most statewide campaigns in Ari- elections to offset those demographic
vout Trump loyalist who dabbles in the and independent women in states that With 11 electoral votes at stake, this your independents,” said Wes Gullett, a zona, Maricopa County, which includes shifts through plays to the base alone.
The man in charge vows to take charge
pion for gender equality, seeing no con- crat-run cities,” as Ms. Noem put it.
NEWS ANALYSIS
tradiction in making this case for a man “Joe Biden would double down,” Mr.
with a long trail of sexist and demean- Pence said, “on the very policies that
ing comments about women and multi- are leading to violence in America’s cit-
BY MATT FLEGENHEIMER
ple allegations of sexual misconduct. ies.”
AND KATIE GLUECK
Several speakers, including Mr. Some Trump allies plainly see a polit-
The America that many speakers de- Pence’s wife, Karen, paid tribute to the ical opportunity in the recent develop-
scribed on Wednesday at the Republi- women’s suffrage movement and im- ments in Wisconsin, where the Demo-
can National Convention did not sound plied Mr. Trump was a steward of the cratic governor declared a state of
like a desirable place: fractious, violent, cause. Ms. Conway and Ms. McEnany emergency following protests that at
functionally lawless in some pockets. relayed choice anecdotes of Mr. times turned destructive, after the po-
But their case that only President Trump’s support for them profession- lice shooting of a Black man, Jacob
Trump could shield Americans from all ally and personally. Blake. “We will have law and order on
this was complicated by a nettlesome “I want my daughter,” Ms. McEnany the streets of this country for every
fact. He is in charge, at present — at the said, “to grow up in President Donald J. American of every race and creed and
controls of government through the pur- Trump’s America.” color,” Mr. Pence declared.
portedly real-time conditions these sup- It is true that gauzy framing has long Mr. Blake was paralyzed after a
porters outlined. And they would all like been a bipartisan tradition at party con- white officer fired on him multiple
to keep him there. ventions. But often this week, Republi- times, igniting outrage among many
“America,” Vice President Mike cans have engaged in something closer Americans as the latest example of po-
Pence told a Republican convention to a wholesale rewriting, spinning al- lice violence in a year brimming with
crowd sternly from Fort McHenry in ternate histories that assume the coun- brutal episodes. Two people were later
Baltimore, “needs four more years of try’s crises have passed, Senator killed in a shooting related to the dem-
President Donald Trump.” Bernie Sanders is their caricature- onstrations, and a white teenager who
The third night of the Republican con- ready progressive opponent and Mr. was not believed to be among the pro-
vention steered into a bit of messaging Trump, depending on the issue, is not in testers was arrested and charged.
jujitsu that has become a dominant a position of authority. As he has for months, Mr. Biden
theme of the week: Mr. Trump’s ability The political decision facing Ameri- sought to walk a careful line between
to turn back Trump-era ills that have, in cans? It is a choice “between the far- expressing solidarity with protesters
this telling, been largely out of his left Democratic socialist agenda versus and condemning chaos. In a video he
hands to date. protecting and preserving the Ameri- released Wednesday, he denounced
And so the president, the argument can dream,” Representative Elise Ste- systemic racism and urged all Ameri-
has gone, can be relied upon now to fanik, Republican of New York, said cans to empathize with the pain Black
DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
safeguard Americans against the President Trump presided over a naturalization ceremony that was displayed during the Republican National Convention. Wednesday. parents, like Mr. Blake’s family, often
threats they see all around them, in the The coronavirus? “It was awful,” face. But he also called for calm.
nation he leads. Larry Kudlow, the president’s top eco- “Burning down communities is not
“People that can afford to flee have Wis., after another police shooting of a that images of chaos and violence will his convention address. nomic adviser, said on Tuesday, relegat- protest, it’s needless violence,” he said.
fled,” Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota Black man — is particularly jarring, all help persuade swing voters, especially If calls for national order were often ing it misleadingly to the past tense “Violence that endangers lives. Vio-
said of cities like Portland, Ore., and the more because Mr. Trump has also in the suburbs, to embrace the presi- the night’s central feature, several and, like others this week, paying no lence that guts businesses and shutters
New York. “But the people that can’t — strained throughout the convention to dent’s emphasis on “LAW and OR- speeches seemed calibrated to appeal mind to the administration’s well-docu- businesses that serve the community.
good, hard-working Americans — are display himself in various scenes of DER,” as he tweeted on Wednesday. to women and people of faith. mented mishandling of the pandemic, That’s wrong.”
left to fend for themselves.” presidential busyness: issuing a par- It is not entirely “Make America White evangelical Americans have in a convention where Republicans Even before the convention, Republi-
Mr. Pence was more explicit in draw- don, meeting with freed hostages, pre- Great Again,” the president’s initial po- been among Mr. Trump’s most loyal turned blame for the costs of the virus cans sought to cast Mr. Biden as radi-
ing a connection to the Democratic siding over a naturalization ceremony. litical creed, which might suggest constituencies, and speakers con- on China. cally anti-law enforcement, falsely
nominee: “You won’t be safe,” he said, In the process, Mr. Trump and his team something of a failure to do so in his stantly highlighted Mr. Trump’s opposi- Demonstrations over racial justice? claiming that he wants to defund the
“in Joe Biden’s America.” have effectively ignored distinctions first term (though it remains a favored tion to abortion rights and what they “Make no mistake,” Patricia McClos- police, a proposal Mr. Biden has repeat-
Even as president, Mr. Trump has of- between campaign activity and official campaign saying anyway). It is not described as his support for religious key, who joined her husband earlier this edly rejected.
ten appeared most comfortable in the business — less line-blurring than os- quite “Keep America Great,” one of his liberty. Some of the most prominent fe- year in pointing guns at protesters out- Up until this point, Mr. Trump has
role of back-seat driver, jeering his own tensible law-violating — co-opting pub- newer taglines, because so much of the male voices on Wednesday, including side their home in St. Louis, said Mon- struggled to define Mr. Biden, lobbing
government like a common bystander, lic resources for political gain. Republican case has centered on the top White House aides like Kellyanne day, “no matter where you live, your an onslaught of sometimes-contradic-
insisting that someone really ought to Through it all, the intended takeaway present turmoil. Conway and Kayleigh McEnany, are family will not be safe in the radical tory attacks at him all summer while
do something about all this. (“When he has seemed clear: Mr. Trump is in con- Perhaps Mr. Pence hinted best at the well-regarded among evangelical and Democrats’ America.” Left unsaid: The remaining behind him in the polls.
has an opinion,” Mr. Pence said, “he is trol of the good but not responsible for awkwardness of the pitch with a recent conservative Catholic women. two appear to have felt unsafe recently But Mr. Trump has succeeded many
liable to share it.”) the bad, worthy of praise for America’s revision to the slogan. “We’re going to Mindful of Mr. Trump’s polling deficit in a Trump-led America. times before in negatively defining his
The effect during a week like this one successes and exoneration for its strug- Make America Great Again, again,” he with women, convention organizers Of course, Mr. Trump’s supporters opponents, and Democrats acknowl-
— as a public health crisis proceeds gles. told delegates in Charlotte, N.C., on also saw to it that Wednesday’s pro- have often reasoned that he cannot be edge he still has time to do so with Mr.
apace and unrest consumes Kenosha, In particular, Republicans are betting Monday and repeated on Wednesday in gramming positioned him as a cham- blamed for what happens in “Demo- Biden before November.
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6 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
ABDUL AZIZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
ABDUL AZIZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES WAGGONNER & BALL
Clockwise from above left: Sister Barbara Hughes, who decided to join the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1955, lived in their convent until 15 years ago, when Hurricane Katrina flooded the building; the convent’s seal in terrazzo; the plan for the Mirabeau Water Garden.
How an old convent may help save New Orleans
ing acres from that height, and she the Mississippi. Her father worked as an sell the slow-draining land as real es- During that same time, a New Or- all may be one” — and instead of selling
NEW ORLEANS
pointed to landmarks that survived. excavator for a crew that traveled up tate. leans architect named David Wag- they decided to lease the site to the city
“It’s grown up a bit now, but there’s and down the river, dredging its bottom It was a mistake. “While they feared gonner had set out to find a solution to for a dollar a year.
the lemon tree,” she said. “A sister and shoring up levees. and hated the swamp, those low-lying the city’s water problem. He traveled to As part of the plan, Mr. Waggonner
Nuns offer to the city
planted it just outside the kitchen.” In summers the Sisters of St. Joseph areas did a fine job of storing excess wa- the Netherlands, where the Dutch were and his associate Mr. Diaz drew up an
their former home so it can In coming years the grounds will lie would visit Morganza to teach religion ter — be it from rain, storm surge or pioneering a new approach to rising ambitious plan to recreate the old wet-
largely submerged under an urban lake classes for Catholic children, which she river overtopping,” said Richard Cam- seas: Instead of fighting the water, they lands in a new urban landscape, sur-
be converted to wetlands
that will rise when floodwaters drench attended. Then in 1955, when she turned panella, a geographer and author with are finding ways to welcome it by creat- rounded by thousands of acres of resi-
the city — a shelter from storms, as the 19, she decided to join the order. the Tulane University School of Archi- ing lakes and reservoirs to absorb dential neighborhoods.
convent always was, in a sense. She moved to New Orleans, where tecture. floods. The site, which will become the Mira-
BY MATTHEW TEAGUE
The project is complex for topo- she settled into the motherhouse — the That mistake was compounded as in- “Water comes first, and we have to beau Water Garden, will collect 10 mil-
Fifteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina graphical reasons. The nearby Bayou order’s principal convent — called Mira- ventors and investors devised more effi- recognize that,” Mr. Waggonner said re- lion gallons of storm water into a slow-
flooded a convent in the heart of New St. John sits below sea level, for in- beau. There she learned how the Sisters cient pumps. The spongy soil settled cently at his office in New Orleans’s Gar- draining lake, in the Dutch style, rather
Orleans, scattering its nuns. Now the stance, and the convent site sits lower had come from France in the 1850s, and lower and lower as it dried, so that today den District. “Remember, the creation than shunting it immediately into the
Sisters of St. Joseph are using the ruins still. kept as their motto a verse from the about half the city sits below sea level, myth starts with water covering the gulf. It will slow the city’s sinking, Mr.
of their motherhouse to create one of the But over the decades, the site has ab- Gospel of John: “That all may be one.” and there is a never-ending battle with earth.” Waggonner said, by recharging the
largest urban wetlands in the United sorbed more than rainwater. water. Pumps shunt rainfall, and levees The difficulty of the Dutch approach, groundwater underfoot. Water-friendly
States. It will absorb millions of gallons “This land has imbibed the lives of all hold back the sea. The complex system in a dense city like New Orleans, is find- trees and grasses, over time, will grow
Developers would have paid
of runoff during storms and will, the the people who came here,” Sister creates an ever-deepening bowl. ing land where floodwater can settle. once again.
nuns hope, help save their city. Hughes said. “Some lived here, some millions for the 25 acres, but the In 2005, with the arrival of Hurricane Mr. Waggonner’s search for such The city plans to start converting the
Two storms hit Louisiana’s coast this worked here, some came as children to nuns are leasing the site to the Katrina, the bowl was breached. treasure brought him to the nuns. site in about four months at a cost of
week — Tropical Storm Marco on Mon- the school. There’s a sacredness in that.” city for a dollar a year. The Sisters fled that storm, mostly to After the flooding and the fire, the Sis- $16.3 million, using money from the Fed-
day, followed by Hurricane Laura, Only a few nuns survive today, and Baton Rouge. When they returned they ters had demolished what was left of the eral Emergency Management Agency.
which made landfall well west of New they are aging, but those who remain found the first floor of their three-story convent and decided to find another pur- The project — the bureaucracy, the
Orleans early Thursday — pouring rain are determined to see this last endeavor New Orleans is famous now for being convent ruined by floodwater. They pose for the land. The truth was, they re- building — will take a long time. But Sis-
and reminding New Orleans residents through. a city below sea level. Even people who spent more than a million dollars, raid- alized, they were a dying congregation. ter Hughes already sees it in her mind’s
of the city’s vulnerability to floods. City “I’m not a religious man,” said Ramiro live there often wonder why its founders ing their retirement fund, to gut the first Their numbers in New Orleans had de- eye. “This corner here will have a small
leaders have long scrambled to find Diaz, one of the architects designing it. chose to settle in a natural bowl cen- floor and remove muck and mold. clined to just 40 or so nuns from 120, and memorial for the Sisters,” she said. “A
ways to cope with the downpours that “But when I hear the nuns talk about turies ago. Then in 2006, before they could move they were aging. They did not need place people can pray.”
have so imperiled the city over the their love for the city, their love for the But they did not. Humans sank New back in, lightning struck the roof and sprawling grounds. The beginning of the Christian story,
years. land — it’s beautiful.” Orleans, in a war with water. burned the third floor. Then water from The site of the convent is one of the she said, is an act of sacrifice for salva-
Sister Barbara Hughes recently re- Sister Hughes grew up on the Missis- For many years, even after the Civil Bayou St. John, scooped up and dropped largest privately owned parcels in New tion. The Sisters want to embody that for
called the devastation that past floods sippi River, mostly in Morganza, La., War in the 1860s, the entire city sat by helicopters fighting a nearby fire, de- Orleans — a full 25 acres — and develop- the city, she said.
brought as she walked the grounds of about two hours northwest of New Or- above sea level. But developers saw an stroyed the second. ers would have paid millions of dollars “It’s not that anything miraculous
her old convent. She is 84 and barely five leans. Morganza is known for its spill- opportunity in the city’s marshes: They Their repairs had been for nothing. for it. But the nuns remembered their ever happened here,” she said. “We just
feet tall, but she could see all 25 low-ly- way, designed to relieve flooding from could “reclaim” wetlands, they said, and Their motherhouse was gone. commitment to neighborliness — “that want to be good neighbors.”
Officials weighed use of ‘heat ray’ to repel migrants
Borders for anyone, including many ally, without passing laws in Congress, off from war-torn countries like Syria or
WASHINGTON
criminals, to come in!” has radically reshaped immigration in Somalia.
“Doubling down on divisive poison the United States,” said Omar Jadwat, And from the earliest days of his pres-
says one thing to voters: that even after the director of the Immigrants’ Rights idency, Mr. Trump has used national se-
Talks in 2018 underscore
all his devastating failed leadership has Project at the American Civil Liberties curity concerns to justify a crackdown
government determination cost us — and even though Joe Biden Union. “They have effectively shut on immigration from around the globe,
has been showing him the way for down the asylum system at the border. imposing a travel ban on several pre-
to shut down U.S. border
months — Donald Trump still has no They’ve reintroduced religious, racial dominantly Muslim countries only days
strategy for overcoming the pandemic, and national origin discrimination into after taking office in January 2017. A ver-
the overwhelming priority for the Amer- our immigration system. These are real, sion of that travel ban remains in place
BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR
ican people,” said Andrew Bates, a radical shifts.” and served as the template for other
Fifteen days before the 2018 midterm spokesman for Mr. Biden’s presidential travel bans put in place during the pan-
elections, as President Trump sought to campaign. demic.
The president’s fiercest critics
motivate Republicans with dark warn- Mr. Biden has not called for “open bor- Processing of visa applications from
ings about caravans heading to the ders” or embraced getting rid of Immi- concede that on immigration, many countries had already slowed to a
United States border, he gathered his gration and Customs Enforcement, as he can rightly claim that he crawl before the health crisis as the ad-
homeland security secretary and White some on the Democratic left flank have did much of what he said ministration aggressively put in place
House staff to deliver a message: “Ex- sought. He has said that he would roll what the president called “extreme vet-
he would do.
treme action” was needed to stop the mi- back Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, ting” of people from countries deemed
grants. promising to restore asylum rules, end to harbor terrorists.
That afternoon, at a separate meeting separation of migrant families at the The Trump administration has also
with top leaders of the Department of border, reverse limits on legal immigra- Because of the president’s policies, moved aggressively to reduce the flow
ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Homeland Security, Customs and Bor- Deportees arriving at a shelter in Nogales, Mexico, just across the border from Arizona. tion and impose a 100-day moratorium Central American migrants fleeing per- of legal immigrants who have for dec-
der Protection officials suggested de- President Trump’s immigration policies are taking center stage during his campaign. on deportations. secution and violence in their home ades sought to live and work in the
ploying a microwave weapon — a “heat But Mr. Biden and Democratic con- countries now must wait, often for United States.
ray” designed by the military to make gressional candidates are bracing for months, in squalid camps on the Mexico It has drafted new regulations aimed
people’s skin feel as if it is burning when underscored how Mr. Trump’s obsession the central promise of his 2016 run, to ef- what they expect will be a concerted fo- side of the border while the United at making it harder for poor immigrants
they get within range of its invisible with shutting down immigration has fectively cut off America from foreign- cus on one of the most polarizing issues States considers their requests for asy- to qualify for entry into the United
beams. driven policy considerations, including ers who he said posed security and eco- in American politics — made even more lum. For decades, asylum seekers were States, arguing that they would be a fi-
Developed by the military as a crowd his suggestions of installing flesh-pierc- nomic threats. divisive by Mr. Trump’s embrace of ugly, allowed to remain in the United States nancial burden on the country. And it
dispersal tool two decades ago, the Ac- ing spikes on the border wall, building a Through hundreds of regulations, pol- xenophobic language about foreigners. while their cases were decided. has aggressively sought to eliminate
tive Denial System had been largely moat filled with snakes and alligators icy directives and structural changes, Some of Mr. Trump’s biggest immi- Mr. Trump derides that as “catch and programs that allowed American com-
abandoned amid doubts over its effec- and shooting migrants in the legs. the president has profoundly reshaped gration promises from 2016 have fallen release,” which he says allowed hun- panies to lure foreign workers to the
tiveness and morality. The Republican National Convention the government’s vast immigration bu- short. No “big, beautiful wall” stretches dreds of thousands of migrants to fraud- United States for jobs.
Two former officials who attended the on Tuesday night featured a small citi- reaucracy. the length of the southern border, paid ulently claim persecution as a means of David Lapan, who served briefly as
afternoon meeting at the Department of zenship naturalization ceremony at the His campaign will also concentrate on for by Mexico. Instead, the president entering the United States and then dis- the top spokesman at the Department of
Homeland Security on Oct. 22, 2018, said White House clearly intended to try to making searing, and often false, attacks spent billions of dollars of taxpayer appearing into the country illegally. He Homeland Security in 2017, said that the
the suggestion that the device be in- soften the president’s image as a heart- against former Vice President Joseph R. money to replace about 300 miles of ex- repeatedly said it was his top priority to president’s success in pushing through
stalled at the border shocked attendees, less opponent of immigrants. Biden Jr., telling voters that the presi- isting barriers with a hulking wall built end the practice. his immigration agenda would make it
even if it would have satisfied the presi- In 2018, the president’s hard immigra- dent’s rival wants to fling open the na- of steel slats. Advocates say he has largely suc- difficult for Mr. Biden, should he win in
dent. tion policies may well have backfired tion’s borders to criminals and disease- Like the heat ray, many ideas — in- ceeded, aided in part by the coronavirus November.
Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of when suburban women recoiled at the carrying immigrants who will take cluding the moat and shooting migrants pandemic. The president has used “If the president is not re-elected, and
homeland security, told an aide after the images of children separated from their hard-working Americans’ jobs. in the legs — were thwarted by the pres- emergency powers intended for public Joe Biden becomes the president, he
meeting that she would not authorize families and migrants in cages. A Demo- “The public health necessity and the ident’s own officials. Other policy pro- health crises to turn away all asylum and his administration are going to have
the use of such a device and that it cratic wave that November driven by economic necessity of controlling immi- posals have been blocked by federal seekers, effectively ending the role of their hands full on a number of fronts,
should never be brought up again in her such voters swept Republicans from gration has placed the view of the Demo- judges who have ruled that they vio- the United States as a place of refuge for Covid chief among them,” Mr. Lapan
presence, the officials said. control of the House. crat left even more radically outside the lated existing laws, administrative rules those fleeing their homes. said. “Trying to undo the damage that
Alexei Woltornist, a spokesman for But for his core supporters, Mr. pale of mainstream American thought,” or the Constitution. Those deeply rooted changes are a has been done to the immigration sys-
the department, said Wednesday that Trump’s immigration agenda is again at Stephen Miller, the architect of the pres- But even the president’s fiercest crit- “bell that can never be unrung,” one sen- tem is going to be a further challenge.
“it was never considered.” the heart of his campaign, and the un- ident’s immigration policies, said this ics concede that on immigration, the ior aide said. And how much is the next administra-
It is not known whether Mr. Trump rest roiling cities from Portland, Ore., to week in an interview. president can rightly claim that he did Even before the pandemic, Mr. Trump tion able to focus on that, given the pano-
knew of the microwave weapon sugges- Kenosha, Wis., could give it more punch. The president tweeted last month that much of what he said he would do. had lowered the annual cap for refugees ply of challenges that they’re going to
tion, but the discussion in the fall of 2018 The pitch: He has delivered on perhaps “the Radical Left Democrats want Open “The Trump administration, unilater- to a trickle, shutting the United States face?”
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THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 7
Business
Love of a bargain gets the U.K. moving Palantir,
a tech power
The first is habit creation, he said. that few
A government program
When someone does something and re-
to subsidize eating out ceives a reward, like the half-off dis-
count, the next time the same situation really know
is paying off, for now
arises, the memory of the reward en-
courages a repetition of the action —
and this continues until the situation
BY ESHE NELSON
alone, even without the reward, can trig-
As it readies for an I.P.O.,
When the British government told peo- ger the action.
ple they no longer had to stay home, it The government’s dining discount investors try to discern the
needed a convincing pitch to get every- could be particularly effective at getting
company’s true value
one back outside and, crucially, spend- people out to eat on their lunch breaks,
ing money. Mr. Vlaev said. “It’s a very powerful way
The answer: half-price food. For the to change people by habituating their
BY CADE METZ, ERIN GRIFFITH
month of August, the government has behavior, because they then act on auto-
AND KATE CONGER
been paying for a 50 percent discount on pilot,” he said.
all meals eaten in restaurants, pubs or The second force is known as “psy- About a month before he became presi-
cafes, up to 10 pounds ($13) per person, chological commitment,” Mr. Vlaev dent, Donald J. Trump met with the lead-
on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednes- said: To get people to agree to a large ers of the country’s top technology com-
days. request, you get them to agree to some- panies at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
It’s a discount that Britons have taken thing small first. People in Britain might The meeting included the chief execu-
up with relish. agree to take advantage of the restau- tives of Amazon, Apple, Google, Micro-
“Last Wednesday, my God, was pan- rant discount, but once they are out and soft and other companies like Tesla and
demonium,” said David Williams, a co- enjoying themselves, the government Oracle. And then there was Alex Karp,
owner of Baltic Market, which houses can more easily ask them to return to of- chief executive of a company, called
about a dozen street food and drinks fices, gyms, theaters and so on. Palantir Technologies, that few outside
vendors inside a converted 19th-cen- So far, the experiment is working. Silicon Valley and government circles
tury brewery in Liverpool. “There were had heard of.
more people in the queue than there Palantir, the only privately held com-
Once it’s too cold to dine
were inside of the building.” pany represented in the room, had be-
In the first three weeks of the Eat Out outdoors, or unemployment come a major player among govern-
to Help Out program, 64 million meals — rises as the furlough program ment contractors. And, indicative of its
enough for nearly the entire British pop- ends in October, what then? growing prominence, one of its
ulation of about 67 million — were eaten founders, the venture capitalist Peter
using the discount, costing the govern- Thiel, had supported Mr. Trump during
ment £336 million ($441 million). A survey by CGA found that nearly 40 the 2016 election and had helped set up
When Rishi Sunak, Britain’s top fi- percent of people using the Eat Out to the meeting.
nance official, announced the discount Help Out discount were dining out for Now, as Palantir prepares to go public
last month, he described it as “a first-of- the first time since the national lock- in what could be the largest stock mar-
its-kind” means of supporting the 1.8 down began in late March — a sign it is ket listing of a tech start-up since Uber
million people working in the hospitality winning over people who had gotten last year, many are wondering: What
industry. Between April and June, the used to staying at home. The discount exactly does this influential but little-
sector’s economic output plunged 87 was also encouraging families and older known company do?
percent. “They need our support, and customers to go back out, Ms. Nicholls Offering software — and, crucially,
with this measure we can all eat out to of UKHospitality said. There have been teams of engineers that customize the
help out,” he said. no reports of spikes in coronavirus software — Palantir helps organizations
On the first day, Aug. 3, food sales rose cases tied to the program. make sense of vast amounts of data. It
100 percent, compared with the previ- But even if the customers want to helps gather information from various
ous Monday, according to CGA, a con- keep coming back, restaurants face a lot sources like internet traffic and cell-
sultancy that tracks data on eating and of uncertainty. phone records and analyzes that infor-
drinking out in Britain. Half of Britain’s restaurants are still mation. It puts those disparate pieces
“People, and myself included, under- closed, Ms. Nicholls said. Across the together into something that makes
estimated the effect it was going to hospitality industry, businesses that are sense to its users, like a visual display.
have,” Mr. Williams said of the discount, open are making only about 70 percent But it can take plenty of engineers and
which includes nonalcoholic drinks. of their pre-pandemic revenue. The gov- plenty of time to make Palantir’s tech-
“Most restaurants in Liverpool now, you ernment has reduced the VAT, a type of nology work the way customers need it
can’t even get a table for the whole of Au- sales tax, on food and nonalcoholic to. And that mix of technology and hu-
gust, Monday to Wednesday.” drinks, but this reduction will expire in man muscle may lead to some confusion
Before the national lockdown, Baltic January. The government also put a on Wall Street about how to value the
Market was open only Thursdays to moratorium on forfeiture of commercial company. Is Palantir a software com-
Sundays. At the start of August, it properties because of unpaid rent for six pany, which is traditionally a very prof-
opened on Wednesday to take advan- months, effectively allowing businesses itable business, or is it a less-profitable
tage of the discount, and after two weeks to delay rent payments until the end of consulting firm? Or is it both?
the owners decided to open seven days a September, when the next three months “For investors, it is a bit of a Rubik’s
week for the rest of the month. of rent will be due. Cube,” said Daniel Ives, managing direc-
The restaurant industry is grateful for That heavy rent debt, building up tor of equity research at Wedbush Secu-
the rush of customers, but there are con- ALEXANDER INGRAM FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES over the last six months, is “the single rities.
cerns about whether a temporary dis- Soho, London. Since Aug. 3, 64 million meals have been eaten using the British government’s Eat Out to Help Out program. biggest outstanding issue” facing Palantir, which was founded in 2003,
count can start a sustainable recovery. restaurants and the hospitality industry has long described its technology as
The government’s offer, aided by generally, Ms. Nicholls said. ideal for tracking terrorists, often em-
some pleasant weather this August, has On a recent Tuesday evening, the dinner crowd, and anyone without a res- ularly substantive, compared with the And while the Eat Out to Help Out pro- bracing an unconfirmed rumor that it
encouraged customers to return to Soho area of central London had taken ervation faced a long wait, he said. £190 billion the government intends to gram can help change consumer behav- helped locate Osama bin Laden. The
restaurants, especially the outdoor seat- on a festive atmosphere. Rain held off, On this Tuesday evening the restau- spend on the economic recovery from ior, it doesn’t address how each estab- name Palantir is a nod to spherical ob-
ing offered by many establishments. If and streets were closed to traffic to al- rant was fully booked — and again for the pandemic. lishment will make up for reduced ca- jects used in the “Lord of the Rings”
diners retreat back to their homes once low restaurants to put tables outside. Wednesday. After spending months warning of the pacity because of social distancing books to see other parts of fictional Mid-
it’s too cold to dine outdoors, however, or Bunting made the socially distanced ta- But the revenue isn’t the same. The dangers of indoor public spaces, the measures, or what will happen when it’s dle-earth.
unemployment rises as the furlough bles appear more cheerful and less like a pre-theater rush has gone. Before social government now has to persuade peo- too cold to dine outside. A recent survey Funded in part by In-Q-Tel, the invest-
program ends in October, what then? stark reminder of the health risks. distancing, the restaurant could seat 52 ple that it’s safe to return to their previ- by the Office for National Statistics ment arm of the Central Intelligence
“At the moment I’m trying to really On several streets there wasn’t a sin- people. Now, fully booked means 40 din- ous habits. Throughout this crisis, the found that just 43 percent of people felt Agency, the company built its flagship
enjoy everything about it,” Mr. Williams gle empty table — and they were as ers at a time — nearly one-quarter fewer government has turned to behavioral comfortable eating indoors. software technology, Gotham, with an
said. “But I just can’t help but feel we’re noisy as on any pre-pandemic summer customers. economists to help devise different Baltic Market now has a capacity of eye toward use inside the C.I.A.
in a bit of a honeymoon period with it all, evening. It almost disguised the fact The British economy fared worse parts of its response — and their princi- 150 to 200 people, at best a third of the Palantir’s technologies can also help
and that come October, with alfresco that central London is nearly devoid of than any other in Europe during the sec- ples seem to be hard at work in the Eat number it could have fit in before. To ac- track the spread of the coronavirus, as it
dining ending and furlough ending, it’s office workers and tourists, with most ond quarter of the year, because of a Out to Help Out program. commodate more people through the is now doing for the Centers for Disease
going to be a very, very different land- theaters and other attractions still shut. longer lockdown period and heavy reli- “There are two psychological forces fall and winter, the owners say, they are Control and Prevention. And they can
scape and story.” Before the pandemic, “this was the ance on consumer spending. To dig itself at play,” said Ivo Vlaev, a professor of be- building heated booths so more people help find undocumented immigrants,
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of place to be,” said Stani Visciano, the out of this hole, the country needs peo- havioral science at Warwick Business can keep dining outside. which is how Immigration and Customs
UKHospitality, a trade group, added: maître d’ at Lina Stores, an Italian ple to return to bars and restaurants and School, who has been advising the gov- “That’s what the big worry is,” Mr. Enforcement, under orders from the
“People are making hay while the sun restaurant in Soho. On a typical night, a cafes and coffee shops in large numbers. ernment and National Health Service on Williams said. “Obviously, we don’t live White House, is using these technolo-
shines, and seeing it as an opportunity line of customers would already be wait- The government set aside £500 million its communication in response to the in California or Dubai, we live in the U.K. gies, according to recently released fed-
to build back a degree of resilience” in ing when the restaurant opened at 5. for the half-off discount, an amount that pandemic. (He didn’t work on the meal So there’s a finite amount of time that eral documents.
case the crowds thin out in the fall. The pre-theater crowd morphed into the economists didn’t consider to be partic- discount plan.) you want to eat a bowl of pasta outside.” PALANTIR,PAGE8
Battling heat, smoke and virus to feed America
dust that is settling on the trees in Cen- ers. Most of them are immigrants from water. “We are taking a lot of care of
STOCKTON, CALIF.
tral California, climate change is adding Mexico. Mostly, they earn minimum each other,” Ms. Hernández said.
to the hazards already faced by some of wage ($13 an hour in California). Mostly, Like many of her co-workers, she
the country’s poorest, most neglected la- they lack health insurance and they live doesn’t have health insurance, so seeing
Climate change increases
borers. So far this year, more than 7,000 amid chronic pollution, making them a doctor is an unaffordable luxury. Twice
the brutality of summer fires have scorched 1.4 million acres, and susceptible to a host of respiratory ail- last year in a heat wave, Ms. Hernández
there is no reprieve in sight, officials ments. was sick: nausea, headache, stomach
work on California farms
warned. Climate change exacerbates these ache. “I learned,” she recalled. “I said,
Summer days are hotter than they horrors. By noon one day last week, tem- ‘No more.’”
were a century ago in the already peratures had soared to 100 degrees Work stopped shortly after noon. It
BY SOMINI SENGUPTA
scorching San Joaquin Valley; the Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in Lodi, was 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Ms.
Work began in the dark. At 4 a.m., Bri- nights, when the body would normally in the valley’s northern stretch. Still, Hernández drove home, showered, pre-
seida Flores could make out a fire burn- cool down, are warming faster. Heat Leonor Hernández, 38, mother of three, pared to meet with her 12-year-old son’s
ing in the distance. Floodlights illumi- waves are more frequent. And across teacher about remote learning. School,
nated the fields. And shoulder to shoul- the state, fires have burned over a mil- she hoped, would save her children from
A respiratory ailment is named
der with dozens of others, Ms. Flores lion acres in less than two weeks. One re- the fields. “School is very important to
pushed into the rows of corn. Swiftly, cent scientific paper concluded that cli- for the area: Valley Fever. me,” she said.
they plucked. One after the other. First mate change had doubled the frequency Not far from the cherry orchard, the
under the lights, then by the first rays of of extreme fire weather days since the residents of the Shady Rest mobile
daylight. 1980s. was at work. Dressed as usual in an home park came home in the afternoon
By 10:30 a.m., it was unbearably hot. Smoke gets stuck in the valley when oversized full-sleeved shirt and hat, ban- to find neither shade nor rest. The power
Hundreds of wildfires were burning to the wind blows it in from the north and danna covering all but her eyes, water had gone off because, the residents said,
BRIAN L. FRANK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
the north, and so much smoke was set- south. bottle stuffed into her pocket, she A farmworker in California harvesting corn in the predawn hours during a heat wave. the electricity supply in the complex is
tling into the San Joaquin Valley that the Still, hundreds of thousands of men walked up and down the cherry orchard, Most workers earn the minimum wage ($13 an hour in California). insufficient for the number of trailers.
local air pollution agency issued a health and women like Ms. Flores continue to scooping up stray branches hacked off That meant no water. No air-condition-
alert. Ms. Flores, 19, who had joined her pluck, weed, and pack produce for the after the harvest, hoisting them into a ing. And, with no internet, no school.
mother in the fields after her father lost nation here, as temperatures soar into bin. The ground had to be cleared for the California is one of two states, along tive to work as fast as possible, even if it “All you want to do is shower, cook and
his job in the early days of the coro- the triple digits for days at a time and the next spraying of pesticides, smoke or no with Washington, with heat standards means skipping a water break. stay cool, but you can’t,” said Laura Vil-
navirus pandemic, found it hard to air turns to a soup of dust and smoke, smoke. for outdoor workers. Employers must “It’s the price of cheap food,” said Ar- lagran, who came home from her shift at
breathe in between the tightly planted stirred with pollution from truck As the week progressed and more provide shade, usually a bench with a mando Elenes, secretary-treasurer of a tree nursery, covered in grime and
rows. Her jeans were soaked with sweat. tailpipes and chemicals sprayed on the acres burned, the air grew increasingly canopy, and drinking water. Many labor the United Farm Workers of America, sweat.
“It felt like a hundred degrees in fields, not to mention pollution from the toxic. Her head and chest hurt. She was contractors stop work when it gets too which advocated for heat standards in The owner, Lal Singh Toor, said he did
there,” Ms. Flores said. “We said we old oil wells that dot parts of the valley. coughing. The San Joaquin Valley Air hot, but the law doesn’t require a halt at California 15 years ago after a spate of not know why the power was out. The
don’t want to go in anymore.” I drove through the valley last week, Pollution Control District urged resi- any given temperature threshold. farmworker deaths. The union is push- complex, he said, has a 400 amp electri-
She went home, exhausted, and slept from Lodi, just below Sacramento, to dents to stay indoors. The problem of intensifying heat un- ing for similar national legislation. cal service, a level usually adequate for
for an hour. Arvin, nearly 300 miles to the south, dur- Good advice, in theory, Ms. derscores a more basic problem. If you In the cherry orchard, Ms. Hernández two to three large single-family homes.
All this to harvest dried, ocher-col- ing a calamitous wave of heat, fire and Hernández said. “But we need to work, work fewer hours, you make less. And yelled out to one of her co-workers, an Shady Rest has 49 units.
ored ears of corn meant to decorate the surging coronavirus infections. I and if we stay indoors we don’t get paid,” for those who get paid at piece rates — older woman whose face and arms were The San Joaquin Valley is a vast bowl
autumn table. wanted to see it through the eyes of she said. “We have bills for food and rent wine grape pickers generally get paid by exposed to the elements and wet with of industrial farmland nestled between
Like the gossamer layer of ash and those worst affected: agricultural work- to pay.” the bin — there can be a perverse incen- sweat. She told her to take a break, drink FARMWORKERS,PAGE8
UPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws ..
8 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
business
Palantir, a tech power
that not many really know
PALANTIR,FROM PAGE7 automatically identify buildings, vehi-
In recent years, Palantir has tried to cles and people in the footage.
expand its work in the private sector, The anonymous memo to Mr. Kernan,
serving big-name businesses like JP- obtained by The New York Times, said
Morgan Chase, Airbus and Ferrari and that although Palantir had come late to
offering new software tools that busi- Maven, the company had grown to
nesses can use on their own. A little “touch almost every aspect” of the
more than half of Palantir’s revenue project through contracts worth about
comes from commercial businesses, ac- $40 million a year.
cording to a filing with the Securities The document accused Maven leader-
and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. ship of skirting Pentagon rules and
The 2,500-employee company holds ethics in giving preferential treatment
about a 3 percent share of what has be- to the start-up, whose employees had
come a $25 billion “data analytics” mar- developed unusually close relationships
ket, according to PitchBook, a company with their partners inside the military.
that tracks the performance of private The memo and related emails showed
companies. “That is a small but signifi- the company’s considerable influence
cant share,” said a PitchBook analyst, inside the government.
Brendan Burke. Among other complaints, the memo
Palantir has raised more than $3 bil- claimed that a Palantir employee had
lion in funding and is valued by private sat in on a meeting where government
market investors at $20 billion, but it has officials — some of whom did not know
not turned a profit since it was founded the Palantir employee was in the room
in 2003. In 2019, Palantir’s revenues — discussed future contracts and their
topped $742.5 million, a nearly 25 per- dollar amounts, which could give the
cent increase over the previous year. company an “astounding” advantage
But it lost more than $579 million, about when bidding for new work.
the same as it lost in 2018, according to
the financial documents made public on
The company has considerable
Tuesday.
The company recently announced influence inside the government.
that it was moving its headquarters to
Denver from Silicon Valley, which could
cut expenses. After the memo was sent, the Defense
A Palantir spokeswoman declined to Department began a formal inquiry into
comment for this article. Project Maven, according to two people
Though the company has won an im- familiar with the matter, who were not
pressive array of federal contracts — in allowed to speak about it publicly. The
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN L. FRANK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Agricultural workers in the San Joaquin Valley, California, live amid chronic pollution from fires, truck tailpipes, chemicals sprayed on the fields and old oil wells. the last four years, it landed at least $741 outcome is not yet known. A Defense
million in guaranteed money and poten- Department spokesman for Project Ma-
tially as much as $2.9 billion, according ven declined to comment.
Battling heat, smoke and virus to the documents — it has also stoked Palantir’s unusual business model is
controversy among competitors and not always a perfect fit for military con-
federal employees. tracts. Though Palantir sells a combina-
In 2016, the company sued the Army tion of software and consulting services,
over the procurement process for a new all costs are folded into a single software
FARMWORKERS,FROM PAGE7 version of an intelligence analysis sys- license negotiated with the customer. In
the Pacific Coast ranges and the Sierra tem, claiming the process was unlawful other words, the consulting work done
Nevadas. Table grapes, wine grapes, and wasteful. Palantir ended up winning by its engineers is layered into the soft-
watermelons, carrots, and blueberries the contract, which accounts for $1.7 bil- ware licensing fees, according to com-
are all grown and packed here. So are lion of the $2.9 billion in potential federal pany financial documents.
acres and acres of almonds and walnuts. contract money it has won since 2016. Typically, the government pays for
Geography and industry curse the In April, an anonymous government consulting work separately from soft-
valley with some of the country’s worst official sent a lengthy memo to Joseph ware licenses.
air. Rates of asthma and chronic ob- D. Kernan, the under secretary of de- This means customers often pay for
structive pulmonary disease run high, fense for intelligence, describing the in- technology that is not yet built. “It is
according to doctors at Clinica Sierra ner workings of a flagship Pentagon op- very unusual,” said Jeff Peters, head of
Vista, a network of medical centers in eration, Project Maven. global business development at Esri, a
the valley. Kidney functions decline with An effort to remake American mili- longtime government contractor that
prolonged dehydration among many ag- tary technology through artificial intelli- competes with Palantir. “The business
ricultural workers, doctors in the region gence, Project Maven has drawn on the model is different from almost any other
say. Diabetes — associated with eating expertise of more than 20 American technology company.”
inexpensive, starchy food — is common. companies, including Palantir.
There’s even a respiratory ailment The project points to how Palantir
named for the area: Valley Fever, works with customers. It often deploys
caused by coccidioides fungus in the specialists, called “forward deployed
soil. engineers,” who spend weeks, months
Dr. Olga Meave, chief medical officer or years customizing and expanding its
at the Clinica Sierra Vista, spoke of the software for the task at hand. The com-
battery of ailments that agricultural pany builds whatever software needs to
workers face. “They’re going to be more be built — databases and software con-
prone to chronic respiratory ailments,” nections and on-screen visual displays
she said. that help people get their work done.
Little wonder, then, that coronavirus The details of Palantir projects can
infection rates in the valley are among vary. It usually connects different
the highest in California. Latinos are dis- sources of data and provides a way for
proportionately infected. everyday employees to search through
“Work is seasonal,” said Jose Rodri- it. But in Project Maven, it is offering
guez, head of a Stockton-based group Residents of the Shady Rest mobile home park in Stockton, Calif. Inadequate power cut children off from online classes this month. tools that help seasoned artificial intelli-
called El Concilio, which provides serv- gence specialists build complex mathe-
ices for agricultural workers. “If they matical systems, called deep neural net-
don’t work, they’re not going to make it res could feel it. “It’s really bad,” she Alejandro Díaz clipped the last grapes focating,” Mr. Pacheco said. “You can’t works, that can recognize objects in im-
through the year.” Hunger runs high. said. “You can smell the smoke and it hanging on the vines. Snip. Toss. Unload breathe.” ages.
Twice as many people showed up for his hurts your head.” buckets into bins to make inexpensive Mr. Díaz’s face was wet with sweat. Inside Project Maven, Palantir pro-
group’s food distribution session last By Thursday, ash fell over Kern table wine. If he and his work partner, Dust from the vines filled in the grooves. vides software that holds enormous
week as he had food for. County, the valley’s southernmost Rafael Pacheco, could put in a few hours He said they would stop at 11 a.m., before amounts of video footage captured by
In the fields outside Stockton last stretch. The sun struggled to break before the heat roasted them, they it got to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. “My flying drones operated by the Army and
JIM WILSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES
week, the air became thicker and smoki- through. might pocket $100 each. life,” Mr. Díaz said, “is worth more than the Air Force. A.I. specialists then use Palantir’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.
er each day. By the week’s end, Ms. Flo- In the fields near the town of Arvin, It was muggy among the vines. “Suf- another round of grapes.” this software to build systems that can It has announced a move to Denver.
Does that app really need to know where you are?
transmission by the app to Chinese phone’s camera and microphone. But I sion of mobile operating system it is
server computers, he found the exist- have mostly used the app to scroll using, and are sharing that data with
ence and subsequent removal of the through people’s cooking videos and third parties. Marketers who gain
code suspicious. have posted only two videos. And the access to that information can then
But Sinan Eren, the chief executive app doesn’t really need to know that stitch together a profile about you and
of Fyde, a security firm in Palo Alto, much about me. So I eventually dis- target you with ads across different
Calif., said the references to servers in abled access to those sensors. apps — a practice known as app track-
Brian X. Chen China did not alarm him. Plenty of Even if giving access makes life ing.
apps have legitimate reasons for rely- easier, it may be worth putting up with So what to do? To limit this invisible
ing on some Chinese servers — for some hassle if you don’t trust the com- data harvesting, I recommend using
example, having users in Asian coun- pany. Mr. Eren, who said he no longer so-called tracker blockers.
tries and wanting to stream video to trusted Facebook after a series of data Mr. Eren’s app, Fyde, which is free
TECH FIX
them quickly cost-effectively. scandals, uses the Facebook-owned for iOS and Android devices, automati-
“It’s not realistic for anybody to say messaging service WhatsApp. But to cally blocks such trackers, for exam-
Is TikTok, the Chinese-owned social that they’re not going to use any Chi- avoid sharing his address book with ple. Disconnect also offers tracker
network that is used mostly by teen- nese servers, ever,” Mr. Eren said. Facebook, he said, he manually added blocking apps, Privacy Pro and Dis-
agers to post dance videos, a national TikTok said that the code discovered his contacts to WhatsApp. connect Premium, for iPhone and
security threat? by Disconnect was obsolete and that it That all sounds like a lot of work. Android devices.
It depends on whom you ask. had updated its app as part of a con- But there’s good news: Apple and I prefer Fyde. In my tests constantly
President Trump has said it is and tinuing effort to eliminate unused Google are making it easier to reduce running the tracker blockers, it con-
has threatened to ban the app in the features. “We have not shared data the amount of data we share with apps. sumed less battery than Disconnect’s
United States. with the Chinese government, nor In Apple’s next version of its mobile apps did.
GLENN HARVEY
But security experts are more reluc- would we if asked,” the company said operating system, iOS 14, which is due Apple said that in iOS 14, apps would
tant to draw conclusions. While there in a statement. said. “It doesn’t matter who collects it example, needs to know your location for release this fall, apps requesting be required to ask people for permis-
is no direct evidence that TikTok has On Tuesday, after The New York in the first place.” so it can figure out where you are and your location will present you with the sion to perform tracking.
done anything malicious with people’s Times called about the code, TikTok Here’s what you can do to set up give directions. option to share just an approximate
data, sharing information could be also published a blog post titled “Pro- your app defenses. In other instances, the need is less location. BE CURIOUS.
fundamentally less safe with a com- viding peace of mind” and said it was clear. GasBuddy, an app that helps you Google said that in Android 11, its This last step is less technical: Stay
pany that might allow the Chinese working on “efforts around cleaning up MINIMIZE DATA SHARING. find nearby gas stations with the low- mobile operating system due for re- informed. If you wonder how a com-
authorities to intercept it. inactive code in the app to reduce When you open a newly installed app est prices, asks for permission to know lease this year, apps requesting loca- pany manages to offer its app, do some
So I asked two companies that offer potential confusion or misconceptions.” on your phone, notifications may pop your location. You could allow it to pull tion would present people with the research on the business. Read its
mobile security products to take a Whether or not TikTok’s code was up asking for permission for access to your device’s precise location from its choice of granting access just once, website and send the company ques-
close look at TikTok’s app to see what doing something nefarious, there is a sensors and data such as your camera, GPS sensor. But it would be safer just which would prevent constant location tions to gain a basic understanding of
they could glean about it. They had broader lesson here. photo album, location and address to enter your ZIP code so it has less sharing with an app. (Apple has of- what’s happening with your data and
very different takes. As increasingly digital creatures, we book. precise information about your where- fered that option for about a year.) what steps you should take to min-
Disconnect, a San Francisco security often don’t think twice about giving the When that happens, ask yourself abouts. Google also said that if any apps imize sharing.
firm, analyzed the code of the TikTok apps that we love permanent access to these questions: Then there is the question of were not used for a long period after If it’s a free app that relies on ads for
app for iOS. In July, the app’s code information about ourselves. So the •Does this app need access to my data whether an app needs permanent being granted access to sensors and revenue, you can usually assume that
contained references to servers in debate about TikTok is a reminder that or sensor for it to work properly? access to our data and sensors — data, Android 11 would automatically your data is part of the transaction.
China. Last weekend, Disconnect we must be on guard about the data we •Does the app need access to this meaning it always has permission to reset them to require permission “It’s not about what they collect
reviewed the app’s latest version and share with any app — whether from an sensor or data all the time or just get information like our location and again. today — it’s the drip over time,” Mr.
saw that the lines of code referring to American company or a Chinese one — temporarily? photos even when we are not using Jackson said. “Before you know it,
Chinese servers had been removed. and get in the habit of denying re- •Do I trust this company with my features related to that data. BLOCK APP TRACKING. these apps have this huge profile about
Patrick Jackson, the chief technol- quests to our personal data. data? Usually the answer is no. As a Many apps are constantly pulling you that they’ve sold to so many peo-
ogy officer of Disconnect, said that “We should be minimizing the Sometimes it makes sense to grant brand-new TikTok user, for example, I information from our devices, such as ple. Once the horse is out of the barn,
while he did not witness any data amount of data we share,” Mr. Jackson access. An app like Google Maps, for had granted it permanent access to my the model of our phone and what ver- it’s going to be hard to rein it back in.”
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THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 9
Opinion
What my life has become as an activist in Russia
As a
founding
member of
the activist
band Pussy
Riot, I’ve
fought for
years against
autocracy.
My country
has only slid
deeper.
CASEY KELBAUGH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
that maybe he had done this to him- oppressive, Cold War-style politics and Above, the
Nadya Tolokonnikova
self. And in the same way, they delayed ready to become a forward-looking author. At left,
the transfer while the trace of toxins country focused on building infrastruc- Ms. Tolokon-
vanished from his blood. It was horri- ture, better schools and health care. nikova with
ble to sit by his bed there in Berlin, as Since the 2018 election, Mr. Putin’s Pyotr Verzilov
By now, you have probably seen the Aleksei’s wife, Yulia, is doing now, and popularity has been on the decline, when he was
news that Aleksei Navalny, another think I may never fully get back this hitting an all-time low of 59 percent in hospitalized in
leading critic of Russia’s president, person I call Petya, this person I love, May. Berlin for
Vladimir Putin, appears to have been this vital, funny, kind person. Our president has only just recently poisoning in
poisoned. It must seem so horrible, but What political end could be worth had the law changed so that he can 2018.
also, perhaps like the kind of thing that doing this to another human being? I stay in power until 2036, but his pro-
does happen “over there,” in Russia, in will tell you that there were times I gram of repression didn’t start out this
Belarus, in authoritarian states. would just go outside for a walk, be- blatantly. These things happen in
It’s much more horrible up close. cause what else could you do, and pieces, bit by bit, small acts. And each
Sometimes I find it hard to believe this there were times we would tell a joke one may even seem relatively benign
is my life. I have known too many by his hospital bed, something to try to at first, perhaps bad, but not fatal. You
attacked in a similar way as my friend have a laugh, to cut the tension, to cut get angry, maybe you speak out, but
Aleksei seems to have been. And in the awfulness of this thing that was you get on with your life. The promise
what feels like a terrible instance of happening. of our democracy was chipped away in
déjà vu, it was less than two years ago Three fellow dissidents whom I’ve pieces, one by one: corrupt cronies
that we were working with the same known personally have been murdered appointed, presidential orders issued,
activists to arrange the same flight to (Boris Nemtsov, Anastasia Baburova, REUTERS actions taken, laws passed, votes
the same hospital in Germany to evac- Stanislav Markelov) and two beaten rigged. It happens slowly, intermit-
uate and treat the father of my child, almost to death (Mikhail Beketov and we in Russia and my friends in Belarus thoritarianism: The greed and corrup- tently; sometimes we couldn’t see how
Pyotr, when he was unconscious from Oleg Kashin). I myself was sent to are living with day to day. You learn to tion of this president and a handful of steadily. Autocracy crept in, like the
poisoning. prison for two years just for singing a live with it, to fight it as you can, deal families that are close to him affects coward it is.
We were getting the same run- song, and many, many activists in my with it how you can, but it becomes everyone, every day. Inequality is
around from doctors in Russia, who country have been sentenced to more your life. skyrocketing in Russia. Unrest is NADYA TOLOKONNIKOVAis an artist and
were putting out the same type of time and suffered far worse fates. This And of course it’s not just activists growing. Many Russians are tired of activist and a founder of the band
ridiculous stories that it wasn’t poison, is the reality I live with day to day, that who are targeted by Mr. Putin’s au- backward-looking, post-imperial, Pussy Riot.
California, we can’t go on like this
housing to energy to climate change to California’s efforts to reduce emis- efforts to solve its many problems, trouble? Neither socialism nor
Virus, heat,
disaster planning, and the compound- sions. At the Republican convention, including the virus outbreak, have Trumpian neglect and incompetence,
fire, black- ing ruin is piling up like BMWs on the Kimberly Guilfoyle, a fund-raising often been frustrated or undone by but something more elemental to life in
405. official for the Trump re-election cam- Trump’s shortcomings. the Golden State: A refusal by many
outs. It’s just
Consider: To keep the pestilence at paign who is also Newsom’s ex-wife, Still, it’s worth remembering that Californians to live sustainably and
another
bay, many of California’s children shouted the opposite claim — that Trump has been president only since inclusively, to give up a little bit of
summer in began attending school online last “socialism” had turned the state into a 2017, and the seeds of California’s their own convenience for the col-
Farhad Manjoo
week. But to satisfy surging energy disaster of “discarded heroin needles undoing were planted long before. By lective good.
the nation’s
demand linked to record-shattering in parks, riots in streets, and blackouts reducing the cause of California’s This is a hobbyhorse of mine, but
most heat (and a host of other mysterious in homes.” many issues to cartoon villains, both I’m committed to riding it until people
populous reasons), state utilities had to impose I found Guilfoyle’s speech hilariously Guilfoyle and Newsom obscured the in my home state begin to change their
rolling blackouts, forcing schools to unhinged and off base, and Newsom bigger picture. ways. Californian suburbia, the ideal of
state.
Across much of California in the last come up with energy contingency certainly has a point — California’s What is California’s fundamental much of American suburbia, was built
two weeks, many of my friends and plans to add to their virus contingency and sold on the promise of endless
neighbors have faced a dead-end plans, now that millions of students excess — everyone gets a car, a job, a
choice: Is it safer to conduct your life face the threat of intermittent electrici- single-family home and enough water
outdoors and avoid the coronavirus, or ty. and gasoline and electricity to light up
should you rush inside, the better to For decades, California has relied on the party.
escape the choking heat, toxic smoke conscripted prisoners as a cheap way But it is long past obvious that infini-
and raining ash? to fight its raging fires. But to stave off tude was a false promise. Traffic,
Such has been the gagging un- coronavirus outbreaks in our long- sprawl, homelessness and ballooning
winnability of life in the nation’s most overcrowded prisons, authorities housing costs are all consequences of
populous state in the sweltering sum- released thousands of inmates earlier our profligacy with the land and our
mer of 2020, in what I have been as- this year. Now, as climate change has other resources. In addition to a hotter,
sured is the greatest country ever to ushered in a new era of “megafires” drier climate, the fires, too, are fanned
have existed. The virus begs you to that includes some of the largest by an unsustainable way of life. Many
open a window; the inferno forces you blazes the state has ever faced, the blazes were worsened by Californians
to keep it shut. early release of inmates has left the moving into areas near forests known
When the coronavirus first landed in state dangerously short of prisoners to as the “urban-wildland interface.”
America, California’s lawmakers re- exploit in battling the flames. Once people move near forested land,
sponded quickly and effectively, be- As California’s problems grow, we fires tend to follow — either because
coming a model for the rest of the risk becoming a national piñata. At the they deliberately or inadvertently
nation. But as the early wins faded and Democratic National Convention last ignite them, or because they need
the cases spiked, each day this sum- week, Gov. Gavin Newsom phoned in electricity, delivered by electrical wires
mer has felt like another slide down an from Watsonville, Calif., near the scene that can cause sparks that turn into
inevitable spiral of failure. The virus of a wildfire, to castigate Donald conflagrations.
keeps crashing into California’s many Trump and the Republican Party for JIM WILSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES As the fires blazed around us this
other longstanding dysfunctions, from ignoring climate change and fighting Climate change has ushered in a new era of megafires in California. MANJOO,PAGE11
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10 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
opinion
Medics save lives. Let them.
Philip Caruso
A.G. SULZBERGER,Publisher
DEAN BAQUET,Executive Editor MARK THOMPSON,Chief Executive Officer
JOSEPH KAHN,Managing Editor STEPHEN DUNBAR-JOHNSON,President, International
TOM BODKIN, Creative Director CHARLOTTE GORDON, V.P., International Consumer Marketing Six months after the coronavirus
SUZANNE DALEY, Associate Editor HELEN KONSTANTOPOULOS, V.P.,International Circulation began surging across the United
HELENA PHUA, Executive V.P., Asia-Pacific States, closing down cities, businesses
KATHLEEN KINGSBURY, Editorial Page Editor SUZANNE YVERNÈS, International Chief Financial Officer and schools, it is still ravaging Ameri-
can communities. The death toll has
risen past 175,000. Hospitals are in-
creasingly overwhelmed. So far, the
federal government has abdicated
responsibility, so Americans should
look to one organization that has
3 TRUMP SUPPORTERS TARGET GERMANY shown it can have a significant impact
on saving lives: the U.S. military.
One issue must be clear: No soldier,
There is something profoundly skewed in America’s
sailor, airman or Marine medic should
The United
foreign relations when senators threaten “crushing be charged with policing public health
States needs legal and economic sanctions” against a port city of a guidelines like wearing masks or
allies. Pun- keeping social distance, even though
close European ally.
these remain the most important tools
ishing Berlin
That was what three Trump-supporting Republicans to fight Covid-19. Their contribution
over a Russian — Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ron must be simply saving lives through
gas pipeline their mastery of logistics, crisis man-
Johnson of Wisconsin — did in a letter sent this month
agement and healing sickness.
is a needless to a German port largely owned by the Baltic coastal I am an Air Force Reserve major
provocation. town of Sassnitz and the state of Mecklenburg-Western who, for almost three months last
spring, helped coordinate military
Pomerania. They vowed to economically destroy the
assistance in support of the Federal
port, town and region unless the port ceased support
Emergency Management Agency
for the construction of a gas pipeline between Russia (FEMA) to a desperate New York City.
and Germany. I saw firsthand how the military can
fight Covid-19: triaging hot spots,
That pipeline, Nord Stream 2, has been controversial
rapidly deploying units and shifting
from the start. It is intended to double the volume of resources in unstable environments.
CHRISTOPHER LEE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
natural gas piped under the Baltic Sea directly from At the time, Mayor Bill de Blasio noted
that “the military is the best logistical Active duty medical staff from the Army and Air Force at a Covid-19 testing site at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio last month.
Russia to Germany and the European network, bypass-
organization in the nation,” with its
ing Ukraine and Eastern Europe and thus reducing the ready fleet of ships, aircraft and trucks.
transit fees they collect. And New York State’s governor, An- been the pattern since New York. important role in holding back the Ebola orchestrating the procuring and deliv-
drew Cuomo, highlighted the Army The federal agencies responsible for virus in West Africa. ery of supplies to far-flung corners of
Many critics in Europe and the United States have
Corps of Engineers’ singular efficiency domestic public health disasters — The military is already playing a part the United States and its territories.
argued that the pipeline will make Europe, and Ger-
in mobilizing active duty personnel to FEMA and the Department of Health & among the patchwork of states cringing Although it must keep medical units and
many in particular, in the words of President Trump, “a help his state. Human Services (H.H.S.) — are compe- under the force of Covid-19. The Penta- personnel ready to respond to any
captive to Russia,” and would help finance global mis- The result? More than 4,000 sol- tent and well trained, but not organized gon has deployed medical forces to unexpected war abroad, that capability
diers, sailors, airmen and Marines or equipped to manage a crisis on the Texas and California. The Defense is reinforced by airlift and ground re-
chief by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Mr. Trump
came to New York’s aid — many of scale of Covid-19. Their resources — a Logistics Agency is coordinating the sources in the Reserve and National
has been especially worked up by the notion that the them Reserve doctors, nurses and combined $113 procurement and distribution of ventila- Guard, which can move more equip-
United States is paying a disproportionate share of the medics who left their own ailing com- The U.S. billion and 6,500 tors and personal protective equipment ment, supplies and people on short
munities to help save thousands of public health profes- to medical professionals around the notice.
cost of protecting Europe from Russia while Germany military, with
lives in the city. sionals — can’t rival country. The Air Force has developed As the resumption of infection and
is cutting gas deals with Moscow. In just under two weeks, a herculean its experience the military’s $738 and fielded aeromedical evacuation deaths proceeds, inexplicable White
in disasters
The Trump administration has also been pushing effort by the Navy moved its hospital billion budget and systems to ease the transfer of Covid-19 House decisions to shift the main virus-
ship Comfort from dry dock in Virginia and its 130,000 medical patients. In May, after early missteps fighting effort to state governments,
American exports of liquefied natural gas, which it likes
to the city. It took only 15 days after multiple personnel. slowed the progress of the Trump ad- which lack the necessary resources,
to call “freedom gas.” Texas, Mr. Cruz’s state, would be
President Trump’s national emergency medical corps, Though use of the ministration’s effort to accelerate vac- have made the job extremely and un-
the biggest beneficiary. declaration to open the Javits New could do more military for domes- cine development, it brought in a four- necessarily difficult. Too many hospitals
German and European Union supporters of the pipe- York Medical Station — an extraordi- to end the tic law enforcement star Army general, Gustave F. Perna, to remain in danger of being over-
nary joint city, state and federal effort raises important help lead the effort. And the military’s whelmed, with hot spots in Florida,
line argue that Europe is already buying huge amounts pandemic.
to transform a huge convention center constitutional ques- cybernetwork defenders are helping Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee
of Russian gas, and that only the route is changing to into a hospital. Almost 800 additional tions, it can be a protect American pharmaceutical and almost 30 other states.
make supplies more secure. To soften the blow to Reserve service members worked major asset in disas- companies from theft of Covid-19 vac- At a time when many Americans have
alongside New York City’s medical ter response. Military medical person- cine research. lost faith in their government, the mili-
Ukraine from the loss of transit fees, the Germans pre-
professionals at hospitals in its hard- nel have a history of rushing to save But the military can do much more, tary is among the country’s most
vailed on Russia to agree to a five-year extension of est-hit communities, where Covid-19 others at great risk, and to improvise starting with what its organizations and trusted institutions.
shipping gas through Ukraine. has disproportionately stricken New when lives are at stake. Over the years, training are designed for: crisis man- It is armed with the best of America’s
Yorkers of color. And the rate of deaths, at least 75 medics, some of them consci- agement. medical personnel and resources, and it
These arguments have gone back and forth for many
once among the highest in the country, entious objectors, have received the The Pentagon and U.S. Northern can do more to help.
years, fanned by a perception of Russia as an enemy shrank to one of the lowest. country’s Medal of Honor for their Command, working in tandem with
that must be punished and isolated. The Obama admin- The lesson is that a national catastro- actions. And as much as any other FEMA and H.H.S., can meet the nation- PHILIP CARUSO, a major in the United
phe like this requires federal resources federal health agency, the military has wide need for flowing resources from States Air Force Reserve, previously
istration, including Joe Biden, also opposed the con-
to coordinate, especially in the hardest- had “combat” experience against pan- hot spot to hot spot, augmenting ex- served on active duty in the U.S. Air
struction of Nord Stream 2, though it did so diplomat-
hit cities and states. But that has not demics; in 2014 and 2015 it played an hausted civilian doctors and nurses, and Force.
ically. Bipartisan opposition in Congress finally led to a
threat of sanctions under the 2020 National Defense
Authorization Act, which halted construction on the
last stretch of the pipeline and compelled Russia to Don’t be dense, beware Mike Pence
deploy its own pipe-laying ships. They could complete
the project in about a year.
Whether Nord Stream 2 amounts to the “grave threat noe. When Harrison’s fans yelled
“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!” the Demo-
to European energy security and American national
crats were supposed to retort:
security” that Senators Cruz, Cotton and Johnson in- “Rumpsey Dumpsey, Rumpsey
voke is questionable. Russian gas already flows Dumpsey. Colonel Johnson killed Te-
cumsey.” Neither of those slogans was
through Ukraine and another undersea pipeline, Nord
really true, but everyone apparently
Stream 1, and more will soon reach Europe through a Gail Collins
loved yelling them. They were, you must
Turkish pipe. admit, more fun to shout than “Promises
At the same time, Europe has no shortage of gas, and Made, Promises Kept.”
People have generally paid attention
the European gas market has grown far more capable
to the vice-presidential nomination only
of getting the gas it needs from sources other than It’s possible you failed to notice, but the when they’re waiting to see who’ll get it.
Russia. Countries from Germany to Croatia are build- Republican convention this week has a But now that Kamala Harris is such a
theme for each night. The list sounds a sensation, maybe the office will have
ing liquefied natural gas terminals to handle imports
little like a Lord-of-the-Rings theme more glamour.
from around the world — not only from the United park: Land of Promise, Land of Oppor- I’ve been into veep-watching for a
States, but countries like Qatar, Nigeria and Australia. tunity, Land of Heroes and Land of long time — when I can’t sleep I try
Greatness. counting them all, like sheep. If it’s real
Germans argue that it is Russia that needs the in-
You know Donald Trump’s big day is insomnia I try to add one little factoid.
come from Europe more than Europe needs Russia’s going to be Land of Greatness, right? Like: William King,
gas. Pushing Russia away, they say, would turn Russia Well, obviously. But do you think even Just the man the only bachelor vice
more toward the east and strengthen its ties to China. the president felt a little wave of irony you don’t president, was very
when he gave Mike Pence responsibility best friends with
The shock and fury provoked in Germany by the want to see
for Land of Heroes? James Buchanan, the SAMUEL CORUM FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
senators’ letter has been deafening. “Completely out- Lots of ways you could celebrate next in line. only bachelor presi- Vice President Mike Pence.
rageous,” “blackmail,” “declaration of economic war” Pence’s renomination. Male fans might dent. Yeah, people
consider announcing that they’ll be talked. But not for
are just a few of the reactions from German and E.U.
following his lead and will go to events long since King died 25 days into his F.D.R. went for number three. given that, when Nixon was running to
officials. Even those who oppose Nord Stream 2 have where alcohol is served only when term. Now there’s a history lesson Pence succeed him, Eisenhower was asked
been stunned by the arrogance and audacity of being they’re accompanied by their wives. Pence is very, very conservative on should keep in mind. about any major ideas his vice presi-
The presidential campaign themes are social issues — or at least as conserva- Thomas Marshall, who was Woodrow dent had contributed to the adminis-
treated like a lawless colony.
“Keep America Great” and “Promises tive as it’s possible to be when your Wilson’s veep, used to tell the story of tration. And Ike replied, “If you give
That fury may be where the real threat to American Made, Promises Kept.” A “Little Wom- running mate is a well-known former two brothers: “One ran away to sea; the me a week, I might think of one.”
national security lies. By effectively substituting sanc- an, Big Chaperone” T-shirt for the vice womanizer who conducted his adulter- other was elected vice president. And The real change began with Walter
president’s female followers might be ous affair with one future wife on the nothing was ever heard of either of them Mondale, Jimmy Carter’s second-in-
tions, bluster and threats for foreign policy the Trump
next. front pages of the New York tabloids. again.” You could appreciate his attitude command. “Mondale became an
administration and its acolytes in Congress have alien-
The vice presidency has had its ups In his current job Pence is pretty since he was frozen out of everything in across-the-board troubleshooter,”
ated the very allies the United States needs to shape a and downs. We started out very well much tied up with the White House the Wilson administration, even after Goldstein said in a phone interview.
viable resistance to Mr. Putin or any other dangerous indeed with John Adams and Thomas crises of the day, but it’s important to the president himself was paralyzed Having a relatively powerful, activ-
Jefferson. Then, whoops, Aaron Burr. remember he’s very possibly a Republi- from a stroke. ist vice president worked very well
actor.
You may remember him as the guy who can presidential nominee for 2024. If we But these are stories from the old when the guy in question was Mon-
More than likely, Nord Stream 2 will be completed shot Alexander Hamilton. The only have an election in 2024. One of the days, when a vice president counted dale. But pitfalls abounded. You may
soon. Only a 90-odd mile stretch of pipe remains to be thing we can say about comparing reasons he’s worth watching is trying to himself reasonably lucky if he was given remember that the Republican Dan
Aaron Burr and Mike Pence is that our imagine what he’d do if the boss decided a project — an agency or an issue — that Quayle made headlines when he cor-
laid, and in their anger the Germans may be less likely
current vice president is very unlikely to ignore the election results this No- gave him an excuse for coming into rected a schoolchild for spelling “pota-
to back away. But even if the senators’ threat to destroy to ever be featured as a lead character in vember. work in the morning. The job turned into to” without an e at the end. “There you
Sassnitz is not carried out, it’s already done great dam- a Broadway musical. Back in days of yore nobody cared something very different in modern go,” he advised the kid after adding the
One of my favorite veeps is Richard much about the vice presidency. John times. Joel Goldstein, a professor at extra vowel. There was some applause
age.
Johnson, a 19th-century adventurer Nance Garner said it was “not worth a Saint Louis University who has written from the adults in the room, which just
A critical American ally has been alienated, widening
who was Martin Van Buren’s Number bucket of warm spit.” Garner, who a book about the vice presidency, notes goes to show you that politicians
a trans-Atlantic rift that is one of Mr. Putin’s major Two. Johnson was apparently picked served for eight years under Franklin that Richard Nixon almost never per- should not always trust the instincts of
pursuits. Interest in American “freedom gas” has no solely because Van Buren was running Roosevelt, apparently figured that formed the traditional job of presiding the base.
against William Henry Harrison, who F.D.R. would retire after two terms and over the Senate, preferring to travel and Quayle was, by the way, from Indi-
doubt fallen; Russia has been nudged closer to China.
was famous for defeating the feared hand over the nomination to his second- do political work for his boss, Dwight ana. As was Thomas Marshall and —
That’s not what foreign policy is meant to achieve. chief Tecumseh at the battle of Tippeca- in-command. Imagine his surprise when Eisenhower. Which was sort of ironic yes! Our man Mike Pence.
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