A reading at a library in Providence, Rhode Island, was interrupted Monday evening when a group of people with a swastika flag slammed into the building’s windows, shouting insults and chanting “white power.”

That Red Ink Public Librarywhich describes itself as a “non-profit public library, reading room, and organizing space” hosted a reading of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto on Red Book Day, marking the 174th anniversary of the manifesto’s publication. .

IN video stream During the event, someone is reading the manifesto when a sudden knock is heard off-screen, followed by several insults. The person tries to continue reading while a group is heard outside shouting insults and “white power”.

After several interrupted attempts to continue reading, another person stands in front of the microphone and sums up.

“Thank you all for joining us,” he says. “Fifty Nazis just went outside, so we’re going to finish this.” It continues with a short read and then exits the video frame just before the end of the broadcast.

In a series of posts about Twitterthe library said its event was “interrupted by a mob of fascists and Nazis”.

“They appeared on our sidewalk, banged on our glass windows, shouted terrible insults and tried to attack our members,” the library said. “Because they outnumbered us maybe 10 to 1, there was little we could do other than tell them to go home and try to stay safe indoors.”

The Providence Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night. Providence Journal reported that about 15-20 people had gathered near the event site and that no one had been injured or arrested.

The library said on Twitter that the group outside “continued to put on a show” until the Providence cops arrived.

“Although we did not seek help from the police, only the threat of state violence put an end to this mess,” the library said. “While we knew and wanted to highlight the relevance and importance of The Manifesto today, we didn’t want it to be so edgy, so ugly.”

From time to time, a group outside the building yells “131”, which refers to the 131 brigade or the National Social Club, which Anti-Defamation League describes as a neo-Nazi group with chapters in the United States. Members of the group “see themselves as soldiers at war with a hostile, Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the extinction of the white race,” according to the anti-hate organization.

Another videos the events show the group flying a red and white flag with a black swastika.

“There is no place for hate in our communities or state,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said in a post on Twitter. “The video of the group waving Nazi flags last night at the PVD is unacceptable and disgusting. I support those who condemn the actions of last night.”

IN statement Jorge Elorza, mayor of Providence, said on Tuesday that the city is “home to many different people, cultures and ideas, and there is no room in our city for hate-filled acts designed to intimidate and inspire fear.”

“My administration is committed to ensuring that every resident feels safe and protects the rights of people who gather peacefully,” said Mr. Elorza.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, members of the Nationalist Social Club participate in demonstrations and counter-protests, and also appear at public events.

The group, which began in 2019 as the New England Nationalist Club, “seeks to form an underground network of white men who are ready to fight against their perceived enemies through local direct action,” according to the anti-hate organization.

IN joint statementThe Greater Rhode Island Jewish Alliance, the Greater Rhode Island Board of Rabbis, and the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center said the demonstration outside the library was a “disturbing incident” and that similar episodes are occurring with increasing frequency in the state and region.

“This is disgusting,” the statement said. “Our common humanity is based on a society that does not hate or discriminate. We must respond collectively and convincingly, exposing hatred to the light.”

The Red Ink Public Library plans to hold a “community emergency forum” on Saturday to develop safety plans.

WASHINGTON — The United States and its allies were quick to impose economic sanctions on Russia Tuesday for what President Biden condemned as the start of an “invasion of Ukraine,” unveiling a set of coordinated punishments as Western officials confirmed Russian troops had begun crossing Ukraine. border.

Speaking from the White House, Mr. Biden denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin and said that the immediate consequences of his aggression against Ukraine are the loss of a key gas pipeline and the end of global funding for two Russian banks and several of the country’s elite.

“Who in the name of God, thinks Putin, gives him the right to proclaim new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors?” Mr. Biden said Tuesday afternoon, joining a cascade of criticism from world leaders earlier in the day. “This is a flagrant violation of international law and requires a tough response from the international community.”

Mr. Biden warned Mr. Putin that more sanctions would follow if the Russian leader did not withdraw his troops and make diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.

But that prospect remained hazy by the end of the day as Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken canceled plans to meet with Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday, saying it “didn’t make sense” to negotiate while Russian troops were in position. move.

“To put it simply, Russia has just announced that it is taking a big chunk out of Ukraine,” Mr. Biden said, adding, “He is making a rationale for taking more territory by force.”

The global backlash began early Tuesday morning, just hours after Mr. Putin recognized the self-proclaimed secessionist states in eastern Ukraine and Russian troops began moving into their territory, according to NATO, European Union and White House officials. This was the first major deployment of Russian troops across an internationally recognized border since the start of the current crisis.

At a press conference in Moscow, Mr. Putin said he had not made the decision to send troops “right now.” But officials said the invasion began overnight, just hours before Mr. Putin’s parliament formally granted him authority to deploy military forces abroad. Ukrainians near territory controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists have been under fire for several days now, and as Ukrainian troops hid in their trenches and civilians hid in basements, the country’s military said one soldier had been killed and six wounded so far.

Financial markets around the world fluctuated on Tuesday after the actions of Russia and the reaction of Western governments. In the United States, the news drove stocks lower, leaving the S&P 500 in corrective territory, more than 10 percent below its January peak. Oil prices, which rose to nearly $100 a barrel ahead of the global turmoil, settled at $96.84 a barrel, up 1.5 percent.

Mr. Biden and his colleagues in Germany, England and other European countries described the global sanctions package as harsh. They include United States financial directives barring Russia from borrowing money in Western markets and blocking the financial transactions of two banks and the families of three wealthy Russian elites.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspend the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.. The $11 billion pipeline from Russia to Germany – completed but not yet operational – is critical to Moscow’s plans to boost energy sales to Europe. Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the European Union and the British government approved sanctions against lawmakers in Moscow who voted to authorize the use of force, as well as Russian elites, companies and organizations.

“It will be very painful,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles.

The governments of Japan, Taiwan and Singapore also issued a joint statement saying they would restrict technology exports to Russia in an attempt to pressure Mr. Putin to undermine his ambitions to compete in high-tech industries.

But action in Washington and other capitals around the world has been limited in scope and out of step with the wider economic warfare that some, including members of Congress and other Ukraine supporters, have repeatedly demanded in recent weeks.

Mr. Biden and his colleagues said they must balance the need to take quick and tough action with the possibility of even tougher sanctions on Russia if Mr. Putin escalates the conflict in an attempt to capture more territory claimed by the separatists. or even the whole country – a war in which tens of thousands of people could die.

“This is the start of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said, adding that “we will continue to tighten sanctions if Russia does.”

European leaders have also vowed to act harder if Putin’s forces continue to advance. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the British sanctions just “the first tranche.”

Mr. Biden’s use of the word “invasion” was significant. In the past, he has angered the Ukrainian leadership when he suggested that “minor intrusions” could be punished with lesser penalties. Now that Mr Putin has ordered troops into eastern Ukraine, Mr Biden is choosing his words to make it clear that there is nothing peripheral to the operation.

But this still leaves open the question of how to calibrate the sanctions, because there have been no mass casualties so far. John Finer, deputy national security adviser to the president, said Tuesday morning that the administration could hold back. some of his promised punishments in the hope of deterring further, much more brutal Mr. Putin’s aggression to take over the rest of the country.

“We have always envisioned waves of sanctions that will unfold over time in response to steps Russia is actually taking, not just statements it is making,” Mr Finer said on CNN. “We have always said that we will monitor the situation on the ground and respond quickly and firmly.”

What is important is that it remains unclear how far Mr. Putin is willing to go when he argues that Ukraine itself is a fake country, erroneously cut off from Russia. On Tuesday, he ominously announced that he recognizes the sovereignty of the so-called Donetsk and Lugansk republics not only over the territory they control, but also over the much larger part of Ukraine they claim, home to 2.5 million people.

At a hastily convened press conference on Tuesday, Mr Putin demanded that Ukraine swear never to join NATO, renounce advanced weapons supplied by the West, recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and negotiate directly with Luhansk and Donetsk separatists, which are being considered in Kiev. and Western capitals as illegitimate proxies of the Kremlin.

“The most important thing is the degree of demilitarization of Ukraine known today,” Putin said. “It’s the only objectively controllable factor that can be observed and reacted to.”

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said Ukraine had amassed 60,000 troops to attack Russian-backed separatist enclaves in the country’s east, a move Ukraine denies having any plans. Mr. Pankov’s remarks suggested little that a peaceful end to the conflict between the two countries was not far off.

“Negotiations have stalled,” he said in a televised speech. “The Ukrainian leadership has taken the path of violence and bloodshed.”

Mr. Biden’s announcement of new sanctions was equally grim. He said the United States is imposing a “total lockdown” on two major Russian financial institutions and “comprehensive sanctions” on Russian debt.

“This means that we have cut off the Russian government from Western finance,” he said. “He can no longer raise money in the West and cannot trade his new debt in our or European markets.”

He also said the United States would impose sanctions on the Russian elite and their family members to ensure that those closest to Putin are not spared the financial problems that are expected to hit ordinary Russian citizens hard.

Duleep Singh, deputy national security adviser, called the sanctions announced on Tuesday “only a sharp pain that we can inflict.”

Mr. Singh called the two banks “the Kremlin’s famed piggy bank” and the financier of “Russian military activities.” Banks will be prohibited from doing business in the US or Europe, and their assets in the US will be frozen.

Mr Singh said that sanctions against the Russian elite and their families would punish those “involved in the Kremlin’s corruption proceeds, and now they will share the pain.”

US officials have been worried for weeks that imposing tough sanctions on Russia could also have repercussions in the United States, including higher gas prices. Jen Psaki, a White House press secretary, said Americans should be prepared for the outcome of a conflict with Russia.

Asked about Mr. Biden’s proposed summit meeting with Mr. Putin, Ms. Psaki said the administration remains open to diplomacy. “It remains an option,” she said of a potential meeting, but only if Russia deescalates its fighting against Ukraine.

By the end of the day, there were no immediate signs of a major military escalation in eastern Ukraine, but terrified Ukrainians were boarding buses from breakaway areas as President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his country to “keep a cool head” during the crisis.

Mr. Zelenskiy insisted that Ukraine would not cede territory, and his defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, appeared to be preparing his country’s troops for battle.

“There will be a difficult test ahead,” Mr. Reznikov said in a grim statement released by the military. “There will be losses. You will have to go through pain and overcome fear and discouragement.”

Michael D. Shire and Zolan Canno-Youngs reported from Washington, Richard Perez-Peña from New York, and Anton Troyanovsky from Moscow.

WASHINGTON. When the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine in 2014, US officials hoped they would deter President Vladimir Putin from further aggression.

Some officials now argue that the sanctions have prevented Mr. Putin from ordering Russian troops outside of their halt in the Crimean peninsula and eastern Donbas. But Mr. Putin held on to Crimea, and on Monday he ordered more troops into rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, where thousands of Russian soldiers were active, and said the Kremlin would recognize the enclaves as independent states.

Now President Biden, who as vice president helped oversee Ukraine’s politics in 2014, must weigh what sanctions can force Mr. Putin to stop his new offensive, which the White House judged be an “invasion”. The White House is taking a step-by-step approach, trying to match each piece of action with Mr. Putin’s actions.

“I am going to start imposing sanctions in response, far beyond the steps we and our allies and partners took in 2014,” Mr. Biden said Tuesday, announcing new set of sanctions. “And if Russia goes further with this invasion, we are ready to go further.”

While U.S. officials have been studying the effects of sanctions imposed since 2014 and honing methods, Putin has had years to make his country’s $1.5 trillion economy more isolated so that part of Russia is protected from harsh punishments. . Speaking to reporters on Friday, he boasted that his country had become more self-sufficient in the face of “illegal” Western sanctions. according to This is reported by the Russian news service TASS. He added that in the future it will be “important for us to increase the level of our economic sovereignty.”

And, perhaps most importantly, Mr. Putin and his closest aides and associates in Moscow may not be hit hard by the sanctions themselves, analysts say.

Mr. Putin’s decision on Monday to speed up the deployment of troops shows that he has come to believe that the cost of new sanctions is bearable, despite US claims of “enormous consequences” for his country. Several of his top aides made the point in orchestrated speeches to Putin at his Security Council meeting Monday in Moscow.

If Russian officials maintain this attitude, the Biden administration may decide it will have to impose the most severe sanctions that will cause suffering to many ordinary citizens, or look for a non-economic option, such as providing more military assistance to the country. insurgency in Ukraine. Mr Biden said he won’t send American troops defend Ukraine.

Some of Putin’s radical nationalists were already on the Treasury’s sanctions list and agree that they and their families will no longer have significant ties to the United States or Europe for the rest of their lives, he said. Alexander GabuevChairman of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

“They are all-powerful in today’s Russia,” he said. “There is a lot of posh wealth here. They are completely secluded. They are kings, and this can only be ensured in Russia.”

In addition, because of their role in state-owned enterprises and their business connections, they are “the very guys who are directly benefiting from the fact that the economy becomes more isolated, more disconnected from the outside world,” he added.

They have also adopted a siege mentality based on ideological notions about the United States and its sanctions policy, which Mr. Putin regularly promotes. “He says, ‘It’s not because of my actions, but because we’re rising as a power, and the Americans want to punish us for opposing hegemonism,'” Mr. Gabuev said. “I think it’s sincere. Most of my contacts in the government believe this.”

The sanctions announced by the United States on Tuesday include fines against three sons of senior officials close to Mr. Putin and two state-owned banks, as well as further restrictions on Russia’s ability to raise revenue through the issuance of government debt. The costs are not expected to be widely felt in Russia – both banks are political institutions and do not engage in retail operations – but US officials may end up announcing more painful moves.

The announcement follows an executive order issued by Mr. Biden Monday night that bans business dealings between Americans and organizations in Russia-backed eastern enclaves in Ukraine. The Biden administration will also have the power to impose sanctions on anyone working in these areas, the US official said.

Updated

February 22, 2022 7:01 pm ET

On Tuesday, the UK announced it was freezing the assets of five Russian banks and imposing sanctions on three Russian billionaires and some members of parliament. And Germany said it termination of certification the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was supposed to connect with Russia.

Officials from the White House, State Department and Treasury have spent weeks coordinating a response with European leaders and major financial institutions and say they can act almost as soon as Russia escalates its actions.

Some experts say that if the Biden administration takes the most stringent measures that officials have proposed—primarily barring the country’s leading banks, including Sberbank and VTB, from dealing with non-Russian entities—Russia could face a financial panic that causing a stock market crash and rapid inflation. The effect is likely to affect not only billionaire oligarchs, but also middle- and low-income families. Russian enterprises will also not be able to receive payment for the export of energy resources.

In addition to isolating Russian state-owned banks, the escalation of sanctions prepared by US officials will also make it impossible for them to acquire critical technology from US companies.

If the United States imposes the most severe sanctions, “there will be unexpected and unpredictable consequences for global markets,” said Maria Snegovaya, a visiting fellow at George Washington University and co-author of the paper. Atlantic Council Document about US sanctions against Russia.

Edward Fishman, a senior State Department sanctions official in the Obama administration, called Biden’s actions a modest first step, intended as a “nose shot.”

Understand how the Ukrainian crisis unfolded

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Failed diplomatic efforts. That United StatesNATO and Russia were involved in whirlwind of diplomacy prevent the escalation of the conflict. In December, Russia put forward a series of demands, including guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO. The West rejected these demands and threatened economic repercussions.

Mr. Fishman said the administration’s action against one of the two target banks – VEB, the country’s main development bank – was the first time the United States had completely shut down a state-owned Russian financial institution. “I interpret this as a warning that the Biden administration is ready to cut off other large Russian banks from the US financial system,” Mr. Fishman said.

“Biden is giving Putin an opportunity to step back from the abyss,” he added. “But he also makes it clear that if Putin unleashes a full-scale war, the economic costs will be enormous.”

A severe economic downturn could test Mr. Putin’s control over his country. But many analysts are skeptical that the United States and its European allies will pursue the toughest options they have considered, as they may be discouraged by fears of collateral damage to their own economies.

And none of the Western officials even offered to stifle the lifeblood of the Russian economy by cutting off lucrative energy exports. Experts say a move against Russia’s energy revenues will have the biggest impact, but it will also lead to a dangerous political situation for Mr. Biden and other world leaders as oil and gas prices soar at a time of high global inflation.

The Russian government has spent years trying to realign its budget and finances so it can withstand further sanctions, an effort fueled by high market prices for oil and gas. It has relatively low debt and relies less on loans from foreign entities than it did before 2014. Most importantly, the central bank accumulated foreign exchange reserves in the amount of 631 billion dollars, which is the fourth largest such reserve in the world.

Some important Russian state-owned enterprises and private companies have indeed benefited from US sanctions. The Kremlin’s policy of replacing Western imports with Russian and non-Western products is boosting the profits of these enterprises. And some of Mr. Putin’s allies and their families have succeeded in these initiatives. One example is Dmitry Patrushev, the Minister of Agriculture, whose family has become richer thanks to the new agricultural policy, Mr. Gabuev said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who strengthening the ties of their people with Russia, could help Mr. Putin bypass some sanctions or support the Russian economy by increasing energy purchases. When the two leaders met in Beijing at the start of the Winter Olympics, their governments announced a 30-year deal under which China would buy gas through a new pipeline through Siberia. Chinese companies can also fill some of the gaps in the supply chain left by the halting of exports of certain technologies from the US to Russia, although these companies cannot replicate more advanced US products.

Chinese leaders are likely to be wary of their large state-owned banks continuing to deal openly with any US-sanctioned Russian banks, but China has ways to cover up some transactions.

“They have developed a lot of electronic payments and digital workarounds,” said Daniel Russell, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and leader of the Asia Society. “There are all sorts of pretty complex barter systems that they use. Thirdly, they can hide behind a lot of black market stuff.”

WASHINGTON. Since the 1950s, when Senator Arthur Vandenberg declared that “politics stops at the water’s edge,” the titans in Congress have been key partners in America’s foreign policy, not as “pushing people” to presidents, but as co-creators of Pax Americana and Pax Americana. post-war order.

But the spiral Ukrainian conflict pointed out how much Congressional power had fallen in the foreign policy arena following the death of Senator John McCain, the move of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. from Capitol Hill to the White House, and the emergence of a brand of partisanship that stretched far beyond the water’s edge.

There have been loud voices this week calling on President Biden to act decisively to counter Russian aggression. But other lawmakers have used the crisis to their advantage, sharply criticizing the president and blaming the Biden administration for President Vladimir Putin’s attack on his neighbor.

Perhaps more telling is the relative calm on the part of both Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, who are shackled by divisions within their ranks and seemingly content with the White House taking the lead, credit or blame.

“Congress will stand ready to take further action if additional action is deemed necessary,” Maryland Representative Steny H. Hoyer, House Majority Leader, said Tuesday afternoon, mirroring the stance of many of his non-intervention colleagues.

Such caution is in line with the legislature’s reluctance to challenge the president’s expanding powers abroad.

“When you put your name next to an action, you will be judged for that action, and Congress is full of risk-averse people,” said Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University who studies Congress and foreign policy. . “Foreign policy is a minefield of unintended consequences. It’s hard to put your name next to something when you don’t know how it ends.”

After a month of trying and failing to reach a consensus, bipartisan senators on Tuesday got back to work on a multifaceted legislative response to Russian aggression that would provide emergency funds for Ukraine’s defense, weaken Moscow’s economy, and create a new task force to find ways to seize the wealth of Russian oligarchs and perhaps the wealth of Mr. Putin himself.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said the emergency spending bill and the bipartisan sanctions bill, which had been long delayed in Congress, could be passed when lawmakers return from presidential recess.

“I want a hell of a sanctions regime next week,” he told reporters at a press conference in South Carolina.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said negotiations began Monday night and picked up pace Tuesday after senators argued to no avail over the past month over the size, shape and timing of legislative sanctions.

The spending bill would increase lethal aid to Ukraine, help the Department of Defense fund troop deployments to NATO countries in northern and western Ukraine, and prepare Ukraine’s neighbors to receive refugees. The sanctions bill targets the fabulously wealthy oligarchs who supported the Putin government by sending their children to schools in the West and their money into yachts in European ports and luxury apartments in London and Manhattan.

“There is a consensus among Democrats and Republicans that one of the weaknesses of Putin’s world is the lavish lifestyle of the oligarchs he supports to maintain his power,” Mr. Graham said. But he also warned the wider Russian public: “You can expect bad things to happen to you.”

Mr Blumenthal said Germany’s actions this week stop work on a major gas pipeline from Russia to Western Europe removed the main stumbling block in the sanctions bill. Some Republicans pushed for sanctions to damage the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, but the Biden administration strongly opposed such actions before the Russian attack, fearing that it would split the transatlantic alliance and damage NATO unity before the invasion.

Updated

February 22, 2022 6:25 pm ET

But a month ago, Mr. Blumenthal was among senators who vowed that a bipartisan vote on sanctions against Russia would take place within a week or two to prove U.S. unity and resolve—and to marginalize voices on the far right that question America’s interests in the conflict or, even worse, side with Mr. Putin.

“To be frank, I was disappointed that we couldn’t get together,” Mr. Blumenthal said on Tuesday.

There is no guarantee that unity is near. Foreign policy has become a graveyard for legislative ambitions. Repeated attempts to revoke or revise military permits issued in 2001 and 2002 gained momentum but died. Republican efforts to change or cancel President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran have come to nothing. Democrats’ efforts to block President Donald Trump’s “urgent” arms sales to the Middle East have also been unsuccessful.

The ever-expanding powers of the imperial president were met mainly by the inaction of the legislature.

But the current crisis may be different, said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who has worked for nine years to no avail to restore the power of Congress to declare war. Mr. Biden has broad powers to impose crippling sanctions on his own, but in some areas, such as cutting Russia off from international banking computer system known as SwiftCongress may have to pass legislation. And after so many tough speeches, legislators will want to show that they can unite.

“Congress would rather not act if it’s not necessary and would rather leave it up to the president if there is a reliable way to do it,” Mr. Kane said. “But at the moment there is no reliable way to do this.”

Understand how the Ukrainian crisis unfolded

Card 1 of 7

Failed diplomatic efforts. That United StatesNATO and Russia were involved in whirlwind of diplomacy prevent the escalation of the conflict. In December, Russia put forward a series of demands, including guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO. The West rejected these demands and threatened economic repercussions.

Mr. Graham, an outspoken ally of Mr. Trump, did say on Tuesday, amid gunfire from many of his fellow Republicans in the Biden administration, “We have one president at a time. President Biden is the President of the United States, and to the extent that I can help him fight back against Putin, I will.”

But other Republicans were less accommodating.

“Joe Biden has refused to take meaningful action and his weakness has emboldened Moscow,” Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn said Tuesday, echoing Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz who wrote on Monday: “Biden-Harris officials are hugely are directly responsible for this crisis.”

The Republican leadership of the House of Representatives even photographed Mr Biden’s back as he left the East Room of the White House after announcing the latest round of sanctionsand stated, “This is what weakness looks like on the world stage.”

The criticism is nothing new, notes Mark Salter, a longtime aide, adviser and biographer of Mr. McCain. The senator, who died of brain cancer in 2018, was able to manage foreign and military policy from Capitol Hill thanks to an exceptional strength of personality. He could be critical of the presidents of both parties, but he was consistent in his defense of a strong transatlantic alliance to counter authoritarianism.

It’s that consistency that frays, Mr. Salter said, and cheap attempts at attention don’t help. Republicans who were silent when Mr. Trump launched a relentless attack on NATO and leaned towards Mr. Putin are now talking about Mr. Biden’s weakness towards Russia. Leaders failed to condemn isolationist voices in the party, such as Mr. Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, who tweeted: “What kind of neocons are drooling over our 18-year-old men torn to pieces in the war?” ?

On the conservative radio on tuesdayex-president praised Mr Putin as “smart” and “brilliant”, echoing the Russian dictator’s description of his invading troops as peacekeepers.

“This is the strongest peacekeeping force; we could use that on our southern border,” Trump said, adding, “There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They are going to keep the world in perfect order.

Such sentiments are a far cry from the internationalist coalition formed by Mr. Vandenberg, a Michigan Republican, to support the post-war Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, the creation of NATO and mutual defense agreements through the UN.

“Even in the glory days of ‘politicians stop at the water’s edge’, if there ever was one, there has always been political opportunism,” Mr. Salter said. “Right now, it’s just disgusting.”

National civil rights leaders hailed the conviction of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers on federal hate crime charges as a victory for racial justice. But they also called it a reflection of the determination of Mr Arbery’s mother, who vowed to keep fighting for her son.

The three defendants — Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan — who were already convicted of murder in state court last year — faced a series of charges that essentially said they were motivated by deep-rooted racism. In a week-long trial, federal prosecutors released a mass of racially hostile texts and social media conversations to prove what men think of black Americans.

Prosecutors said the ruminations motivated the defendants in February 2020 when they stalked and shot Mr Arbery while he was jogging in an area near Brunswick, Georgia.

Reverend Al Sharpton called the verdict “setting a precedent” on Twitter. “Even in the Deep South, the Feds will accuse you of hate action,” he wrote. “I applaud Ahmad’s parents for the forced trial.”

Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, noted that the verdict came a day before the second anniversary of Mr. Arbery’s death. “Two years ago, none of us knew about Ahmad Arbery,” he said. “But tomorrow, two years ago, his story shook the conscience of our nation and the world. Ahmaud Arbery was lynched in broad daylight, and today’s verdict brings us one step closer to justice.”

Sherilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, noted the persistence of Mr. Arbery’s mother, who, along with other family members, pleaded with the judge not to accept the two defendants’ plea deals, but rather move forward. with federal court.

“The tenacity, courage and determination of Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Ahmad Arbery, deserve recognition and praise,” said Ms Ifill. “She was determined to move forward with this prosecution.”

Mark H. Morial, executive director of the National Urban League, said it was clear that the three men’s racial hatred of black Americans motivated their actions and their callousness. “They saw no value in the life of a black person,” Mr. Morial said. “The deed was done from their own words.”

Ben Crump, a lawyer for Mr Arbery’s family, said the lawsuit ended an agonizing two-year journey to justice. This included ensuring that their son was humanized every step of the way.

“For the past 24 months, they have dedicated themselves to getting justice for their son. They had to relive his brutal murder, watch and listen as he was demonized in court, and fight to tell the world who Ahmad Arbery was and who he might have been if his young life had not been cut short so brutally.”

Mr. Crump added: “Ahmad Arbery has been denied the opportunity to define his own legacy, but America, we have the power to ensure that it advances our fight for equal justice and dispels hatred in this world. This is how we continue to honor Ahmad and ensure that his death is not in vain.”

A divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver, applied the strictest form of judicial review to the law, but upheld it.

“Colorado has a strong interest in protecting both the dignity of members of marginalized groups and their vested interests in accessing the commercial market.” Judge Mary Beck Briscoe wrote on behalf of the majority, adding that the law narrowly aimed at satisfying these interests.

“Certainly,” Judge Briscoe wrote, “LGBT consumers can get wedding website design services from other companies; however, LGBT consumers will never be able to receive wedding-related services of the same quality and nature as those offered by applicants.”

Judge Briscoe added that “Colorado may ban speeches that promote illegal activities, including illegal discrimination.”

in disagreement, Chief Judge Timofey M. Tymkovichquoting George Orwell, said that “there is a remarkable — and new — position by the majority that the government can force Ms. Smith to publish messages that violate her conscience.”

“We seem to have gone from ‘live and let live’,” he wrote, ‘to ‘you can’t talk like that’.

Kristen Wagoner, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Ms. Smith, said the anti-discrimination law violates the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. “Colorado has used its law as a weapon to silence people it disagrees with, force them to speak out it approves, and punish anyone who dares to disagree,” the statement said.

Jennifer S. Pizer, a lawyer at Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization focused on the LGBT community, said in a filing that the Supreme Court must “reaffirm and apply the longstanding constitutional precedent that our freedoms of religion and speech are not a license to discriminate” . when doing business.”

On Tuesday, a pair of Democratic lawmakers asked the Treasury Department’s inspector general to investigate the revolving door between the country’s biggest accounting firms and key political positions at the Treasury Department.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington were guided by investigation published by The New York Times in September details how giant accounting firms bring in the best lawyers in government to develop tax rules that benefit their clients.

The Times found at least 35 examples of lawyers from the country’s largest accounting firms leaving to work for the government, mostly in the Treasury Department’s tax policy department, and then returning to their old firm.

The Times found that while in government, many of these lawyers provided tax breaks to clients of their former firms, softened efforts to limit tax havens, and endorsed loopholes exploited by their former firms. In almost half of the cases, officials were promoted to partners after returning to their former firm.

This pattern has been repeated in both Democratic and Republican administrations, including the administrations of Donald J. Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

From October two deputies collected information from five audit firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte, RSM and KPMG – with a detailed description of this phenomenon.

“Following our own investigation, which has confirmed these claims and raised new concerns about the accounting giants who are using these revolving door schemes, we urge you to immediately launch an investigation into this matter,” the two lawmakers wrote. in their letter. It was sent to the Ministry of Finance. Acting Inspector General Richard C. Delmarand this Inspector General of the Internal Revenue Service J. Russell George.

“The accounting giants are abusing public trust and taking advantage of the revolving door between public service and private profits,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

Deputies disclosed firms’ responseswho collectively recognized 24 such cases.

“But these revelations only reveal the tip of the iceberg,” the lawmakers wrote. “Neither the firms nor the Treasury provided meaningful information about the responsibilities of their employees and clients either in the firms or while in government.”

In their letter, they cited an episode disclosed by The Times of a Deloitte tax lawyer who lobbied to loosen proposed Treasury rules to end Offshore taxation strategy proposed by various accounting firms. He then joined the Treasury and oversaw the very rules that eventually included the changes he had been pushing for while working in the private sector. He soon returned to Deloitte and became a partner.

In their letter, the lawmakers asked the agency to investigate a number of issues, including the extent to which firms, “through Treasury and IRS officials, may have an adverse effect on department and agency policy or may receive information.” or influence that gives their clients an unfavorable advantage.” They also asked for information about employees’ “rewards” upon returning to their firms, as well as the policies of the Treasury Department, the IRS, and the firms to prevent abuse.

Out of a desire to be closer to his brother Harry, who was 16 years older, Mr. Feuerstein started playing chess when he was 14 years old; he saw his brother playing with his friends.

He got into the game. He quickly organized a chess club at William Howard Taft High School and began challenging other schools for matches. After graduating in 1953, he attended Baruch College in Manhattan where he received a degree in business. During this time, he participated in local tournaments whenever he could.

It was a golden age for the game in the United States, especially in New York, which produced a generation of future stars. These included William Lombardi, who won the World Junior Championship in 1957 with the only perfect score in the history of the tournament; the Byrne brothers, one of whom, Robert, later became a world championship contender and chess columnist for The New York Times; and Bobby Fischer, the most outstanding talent of all.

Mr. Feuerstein might have been lost or overwhelmed in such company, but he kept to himself.

At the 1956 U.S. Junior Championships, he placed third behind Mr. Fisher. He then overtook Mr. Fisher in the U.S. Junior Blitz Championship, in which each player had five minutes for the entire game.

The third Rosenwald tournament, played in October 1956 at the Manhattan Chess Club, is usually remembered for Mr. Fischer’s remarkable victory over Donald Byrne, Robert’s younger brother. But Mr. Fischer finished eighth, and Mr. Feuerstein was third, just behind Arthur Bisguier, another New York prodigy who had won the US Championship two years earlier.

Then, in the 1957-58 championship, Mr. Feuerstein shared sixth place with former champion Arnold Denker and future grandmaster Edmar Mednis. Mr. Fischer, then only 14 years old, won the championship, defeating Mr. Feuerstein for the first and only time. During his career Mr. Feuerstein has had one win, one loss and three draws with Mr. Fischer.