Vladimir Putin’s Outlaw State

Vladimir Putin’s Outlaw State

President Vladimir Putin is fast turning Russia into an outlaw nation. As one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, his country shares a special responsibility to uphold international law. Yet, his behavior in Ukraine and Syria violates not only the rules intended to promote peace instead of conflict, but also common human decency.

This bitter truth was driven home twice on Wednesday. An investigative team led by the Netherlands concluded that the surface-to-air missile system that shot down a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine in July 2014, killing 298 on board, was sent from Russia to Russian-backed separatists and returned to Russia the same night. Meanwhile, in Syria, Russian and Syrian warplanes knocked out two hospitals in the rebel-held sector of Aleppo as part of an assault that threatens the lives of 250,000 more people in a war that has already claimed some 500,000 Syrian lives.

Russia has tried hard to pin the blame for the airline crash on Ukraine. But the new report, produced by prosecutors from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine, confirms earlier findings. It uses strict standards of evidence and meticulously documents not only the deployment of the Russian missile system that caused the disaster but also Moscow’s continuing cover-up.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, told The Times last week that his government is determined to bring both Russia and the individuals who fired the missile to justice.


Some Western officials have accused Russia of war crimes, charges that could be pursued through international channels, even if Moscow blocks a formal referral to the International Criminal Court. New sanctions against Russia also should be considered. Mr. Putin will undoubtedly fight any such action, using his veto on the Security Council, but whatever his response, the United States should lend its support to Ukraine’s quest for accountability.

There seems no holding Mr. Putin to account in Syria. For months he has pretended to negotiate on a political solution to a five-year-old civil war between his client, President Bashar al-Assad, and rebels backed by the United States and some Arab nations. But despite pleas from Secretary of State John Kerry, who has spent an enormous amount of time and effort negotiating two separate (and short-lived) cease-fires, Russian and Syrian forces, backed by Iranian ground troops, have continued the slaughter.

Over recent days, Mr. Putin has again shown his true colors with air attacks that have included powerful bunker-busting bombs that can destroy underground hospitals and safety zones where civilians seek shelter. On Sept. 19, Russia bombed an aid convoy, which like hospitals and civilians are not supposed to be targeted under international law.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kerry threatened to withdraw an American team from Geneva where the two sides had established a center to collaborate on a cease-fire. But that is likely to have little effect, and Mr. Kerry has few, if any, diplomatic cards to play.

President Obama has long refused to approve direct military intervention in Syria. And Mr. Putin may be assuming that Mr. Obama is unlikely to confront Russia in his final months and with an American election season in full swing. But with the rebel stronghold in Aleppo under threat of falling to the government, administration officials said that such a response is again under consideration.

Mr. Putin fancies himself a man on a mission to restore Russia to greatness. Russia could indeed be a great force for good. Yet his unconscionable behavior — butchering civilians in Syria and Ukraine, annexing Crimea, computer-hacking American government agencies, crushing dissent at home — suggests that the furthest thing from his mind is becoming a constructive partner in the search for peace.

Interpreting the U.S. Presidential Race for Chinese: It’s Not Really Like ‘House of Cards’

Interpreting the U.S. Presidential Race for Chinese: It’s Not Really Like ‘House of Cards’

As Election Day approaches in the United States, the Chinese are paying closer attention to the selection of the next president.

Government censorship, the language barrier and an unfamiliarity with American political conventions have left many Chinese confused about the process. Many seem to have derived their sense of how the system works from “House of Cards,” the Netflix series about an unscrupulous politician who stops at nothing, not even murder, to scheme his way to power. The show was enormously popular in China.

Last year, You Tianlong, a Chinese doctoral student in justice studies at Arizona State University, co-founded a podcast called Xuanmei, or “U.S. Election,’’ aimed at younger, urban Chinese. Mr. You and his partners — Hua Jianping, who writes on American politics, and Zhuang Qiaoyi, who holds a master’s degree in international relations from Syracuse University — and their guests discuss topics that have ranged from voter registration to how campaign managers tap into data to advance candidates’ prospects.

An estimated 70,000 people listen the podcasts every month. In August, Mr. You published “Get Elected: A Very Short Introduction to the U.S. Presidential Election” (Taihai Publishing House, Beijing) with Mr. Hua and Lin Yao, who has a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.

In an interview, Mr. You explained that the Chinese are more interested in the United States presidential election than ever, but don’t always understand it.

What do Chinese get wrong about the American political process?

I feel that the biggest misunderstanding is that many Chinese take “House of Cards” too seriously. American politics is complicated, even for Americans. For many Chinese, it’s just too confusing. So people take a shortcut. “House of Cards’’ is so real for them that it filters their impressions of American politics.

Another misunderstanding is derived from the negative propaganda many Chinese have absorbed over the years, that is, that American politics is controlled by money or big capitalists and that politicians are just puppets controlled by capitalists. It’s possible that there are serious problems in American politics. But as far as plutocratic politics is concerned, it’s not as bad as people in China imagine.

On the other hand, some liberal intellectuals in China believe that the United States is good in every way. Its political system is good and its people’s voices are heard. They attribute every achievement of the United States to its superior political system.

I feel that many Chinese aren’t really observing American politics as much as they’re projecting their own biases onto American politics.

Are people in China are better informed about the presidential election than four or eight years ago?

Obama Nominates First Ambassador to Cuba in Over 50 Years

Obama Nominates First Ambassador to Cuba in Over 50 Years

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday nominated the first United States ambassador to Cuba in more than a half-century, defying opponents of his policy of rapprochement with the government of President Raúl Castro in an effort to further cement a new relationship between the countries before he leaves office.

Mr. Obama selected Jeffrey DeLaurentis, a career Foreign Service officer who has served since 2014 as chief of mission for the United States in Havana, to fill the post. He will have to be confirmed by the Senate, where Mr. Obama’s efforts to repair relations with Havana have been met with Republican resistance.

In a sharply worded statement issued shortly after Mr. Obama announced Mr. DeLaurentis’s selection, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, said the nomination should not advance.

“Just like releasing all terrorists from Guantánamo and sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Iranian regime, rewarding the Castro government with a U.S. ambassador is another last-ditch legacy project for the president that needs to be stopped,” said Mr. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants. “This nomination should go nowhere until the Castro regime makes significant and irreversible progress in the areas of human rights and political freedom for the Cuban people, and until longstanding concerns about the Cuban regime’s theft of property and crimes against American citizens are addressed.”

The United States re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba and reopened the American Embassy there over a year ago, 55 years after a bitter rupture between the nations that persisted until Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro announced a historic détente in 2014. In the months leading up to the announcement, as secret talks between White House and Cuban officials entered their final stages, Mr. Obama dispatched Mr. DeLaurentis to Cuba to lead the United States’ interests section.

“Jeff’s leadership has been vital throughout the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba, and the appointment of an ambassador is a common sense step forward toward a more normal and productive relationship between our two countries,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.

In making the formal nomination on Tuesday, days before Congress departs for the November elections and weeks before an unpredictable end-of-year session, Mr. Obama was signaling he is willing to use his influence to try to overcome the remaining opposition to his Cuba policy and secure one last major piece of it before he leaves office.

Anticipating resistance from lawmakers, White House officials argued that installing an ambassador in Cuba was not a concession to the government there, but a move that would strengthen the hand of the United States in advocating human rights improvements and American national security interests. It is also in keeping with Mr. Obama’s strategy to engage with foreign adversaries to prod broader changes in their governments and societies.

“Having an ambassador will make it easier to advocate for our interests, and will deepen our understanding even when we know that we will continue to have differences with the Cuban government,” the president said. “He is exactly the type of person we want to represent the United States in Cuba, and we only hurt ourselves by not being represented by an ambassador.”

Mr. Obama received credentials last year from José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez, the first Cuban ambassador to the United States since 1961. The Obama administration has since moved to relax restrictions on commerce, trade and travel to Cuba, and direct commercial flights from the United States to the island nation commenced over the summer.

Still, efforts to lift the trade embargo have not advanced on Capitol Hill, where Congress would have to vote to repeal the ban.

“The decision to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba has been widely supported, and the number of Americans traveling to Cuba is increasing dramatically,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democat of Vermont, said in a statement. "We need an ambassador who knows Cuba, who is respected by the Cuban government, and who will stand up for U.S. interests and values. Jeff is that person.”

The Children of Aleppo, Syria, Trapped in a Killing Zone

The Children of Aleppo, Syria, Trapped in a Killing Zone

They cannot play, sleep or attend school. Increasingly, they cannot eat. Injury or illness could be fatal. Many just huddle with their parents in windowless underground shelters — which offer no protection from the powerful bombs that have turned east Aleppo into a kill zone.

Among the roughly 250,000 people trapped in the insurgent redoubt of the divided northern Syrian city are 100,000 children, the most vulnerable victims of intensified bombings by Syrian forces and their Russian allies.

Though the world is jolted periodically by the suffering of children in the Syria conflict — the photographs of Alan Kurdi’s drowned body and Omran Daqneesh’s bloodied face are prime examples — dead and traumatized children are increasingly common.

The routine in east Aleppo, where shellshocked children are exhumed from rubble and left writhing in bloody clothes on dirty hospital gurneys, is a confluence of Syria’s young population, failed diplomacy and the reality of a war that appears to be worsening after more than five years.

‘The Worst We Have Seen’

“They’re trapped, and they have no way of escaping,” said Alun McDonald, a spokesman for the Middle East operations of Save the Children, the international charity. “That’s one reason we’re seeing such big numbers of child casualties.”

The people living in besieged rebel-held areas of Aleppo have shown a high level of resilience, moving schools and hospitals underground for protection. So too, life has continued on the government-held western side of the city, where, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 49 children were killed by rebel mortar fire in July alone.

But lately on the eastern side, Mr. McDonald said, “the bombing has become so intense, with such high-powered bombs, that even underground shelters aren’t safe anymore.”

Save the Children has said that at several hospitals and ambulance centers it supports in eastern Aleppo, half of the casualties have been children since the bombings escalated after the collapse of a short-lived cease-fire last week.

The battle for control of Aleppo appeared to intensify on Tuesday. Pro-government forces stepped up a new ground offensive, attacking from four directions and advancing in a central area near the city’s ancient citadel, further squeezing the insurgent-held areas.

It signifies a new determination on the part of the government and its allies to retake all of the city, but the battle could be long and grinding and take months or even years, international officials warned. Even with militia allies from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, the government has not in the past quickly taken territory and managed to hold it.

Hanaa Singer, the Unicef representative in Syria, said precise numbers of child casualties in east Aleppo had yet to be determined. Nonetheless, she said by telephone from Damascus, “it’s definitely the worst we have seen for children.”

Just a few weeks ago, Ms. Singer said, Unicef planned to publicize how east Aleppo children were enrolled to go back to school, with photos of students walking to class past piles of rubble. That plan was scrapped.

“Children are not going to school now,” she said.

Shimon Peres of Israel Dies at 93; Built Up Defense and Sought Peace

Shimon Peres of Israel Dies at 93; Built Up Defense and Sought Peace

Shimon Peres, one of the last surviving pillars of Israel’s founding generation, who did more than anyone to build up his country’s formidable military might, then worked as hard to establish a lasting peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors, died on Wednesday in a Tel Aviv area hospital. He was 93.

His death was announced by his son Nehemya Peres, who is known as Chemi, and his personal physician and son-in-law Dr. Rafi Walden, outside the Sheba Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized for the last two weeks.

Mr. Peres died just over two weeks after suffering a stroke. Doctors kept him largely unconscious and on a breathing tube since then in hopes that it would give his brain a chance to heal. But he deteriorated as the nation he once led watched his last battle play out publicly and leaders from around the world sent wishes for his recovery.

As prime minister (twice); as minister of defense, foreign affairs, finance and transportation; and, until 2014, as president, Mr. Peres never left the public stage during Israel’s seven decades.

He led the creation of Israel’s defense industry, negotiated key arms deals with France and Germany and was the prime mover behind the development of Israel’s nuclear weapons. But he was consistent in his search for an accommodation with the Arab world, a search that in recent years left him orphaned as Israeli society lost interest, especially after the upheavals of the 2011 Arab Spring led to tumult on its borders.

Chosen by Parliament in 2007 to serve a seven-year term as president, Mr. Peres had complicated relations with the hawkish government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, elected in 2009. While largely a ceremonial post, the presidency afforded Mr. Peres a perch with access and public attention, and he tried to exert his influence.

For someone who was dogged for decades by a reputation for vanity and back-room dealing, Mr. Peres ended his years in public office as a remarkably beloved figure, promoting the country’s high-tech prowess and cultural reach, a founding pioneer who set an example for forward thinking.

Never at a loss for a bon mot in his Polish-accented Hebrew, English and French, Mr. Peres said of his transformation: “For 60 years, I was the most controversial figure in the country, and suddenly I’m the most popular man in the land. Truth be told, I don’t know when I was happier, then or now.”

Historic Handshake

In his efforts to help Israel find acceptance in a hostile region, Mr. Peres’s biggest breakthrough came in 1993 when he worked out a plan with the Palestine Liberation Organization for self-government in Gaza and in part of the West Bank, both of which were occupied by Israel.

After months of secret negotiation with representatives of the P.L.O., conducted with the help of Norwegian diplomats and intellectuals, Mr. Peres persuaded his old political rival Yitzhak Rabin, then the prime minister, to accept the plan, which became known as the Oslo Accords.

Mr. Peres, who was serving as foreign minister, signed the accords on Sept. 13, 1993, in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House as Mr. Rabin and their old enemy Yasir Arafat, the chairman of the P.L.O., looked on and, with some prodding by President Bill Clinton, shook hands.

It was a gesture both unprecedented and historic. Up to that time, Israel had refused to negotiate directly with the P.L.O. Mr. Peres broke the taboo, and the impasse.

“What we are doing today is more than signing an agreement; it is a revolution,” he said at the ceremony. “Yesterday a dream, today a commitment.”

“We are sincere,” he pledged to the Palestinians. “We mean business. We do not seek to shape your lives or determine your destiny. Let all of us turn from bullets to ballots, from guns to shovels.”