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☆ Why Gaza Protests on U.S. College Campuses Have Become So Contagious
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But campus protests overseas have been sporadic and smaller, and none have started a wider student movement. In Britain, for example, small groups of students temporarily occupied university buildings on the campuses of the University of Manchester and the University of Glasgow. The protest wave may yet spread to foreign universities. On Wednesday, students set up a protest encampment on the campus of Sydney University in Australia. On Friday classes were canceled at Sciences Po, an elite university in Paris, because of a student protest there.

Organizations: University of Manchester, University of Glasgow, Sydney University, Sciences Po Locations: United States, Britain, Australia, Paris

☆ Israel’s Account of Attack on Aid Convoy Raises Wider Legal Questions, Experts Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s account of its attack on a World Central Kitchen convoy raises significant legal questions even if the strike was the result of a series of mistakes, experts say. The Israeli military announced on Friday that its preliminary investigation had revealed a string of errors that led to the deaths of seven aid workers. It took responsibility for the failure, saying that there were “no excuses” and citing “a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making and an attack contrary to the standard operating procedures.”But the description of events that has emerged raises broader questions about the military’s ability to identify civilians and its procedures for protecting them, legal experts told The New York Times — including new concerns about whether Israel has been complying with international law in its conduct of the war in Gaza more generally. The law: When in doubt, presume civilian status, and give humanitarian aid heightened protectionThe first, most basic principle of international humanitarian law is that civilians cannot be targets of a military attack. Militaries must have procedures in place to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets.

Persons: “ Organizations: New York Times Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ A Very Royal Scavenger Hunt
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In 1933, a new craze took New York society by storm: the scavenger hunt. It’s easy to see why: scavenger hunts were amusing, challenging and competitive. They offered unpredictable outcomes — you try obtaining a live monkey on short notice after dark — but they were also social, allowing people to bond over the thrill of the hunt and the status of finishing before other competitors. Actual scavenger hunts have largely faded from fashion. The internet, in other words, has made it possible to turn aspects of reality — not only the most opaque, mysterious bits, but also the most sensational, outrageous or emotive elements — into massively multiplayer online scavenger hunts.

Persons: Elsa Maxwell, Taylor, It’s Organizations: Waldorf, Social, Twitter Locations: New York, United States

☆ How a Slow-Moving Court Became the Center of the World’s Hottest Debate
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel had many unpredictable consequences, but the elevation of the International Court of Justice to global public attention is a particularly unexpected one. In December, South Africa brought a case against Israel alleging violations of the Genocide Convention, and last week the court held hearings on a separate matter regarding Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. And although the court’s enforcement powers are limited, its public hearings, at a time of intense interest in the conflict, give it considerable power to shape, and reflect, global opinion. The court’s conspicuous role is partly a coincidence of timing: The U.N. General Assembly requested that the court in The Hague issue a nonbinding advisory opinion on the legality of Israel’s occupation back in January 2023. It’s unlikely we’d be discussing those hearings in detail if war had not broken out in the meantime, and if South Africa had not filed its genocide case in the same court.

Organizations: International Court of Justice, Convention, General Assembly Locations: Israel, South Africa, Gaza, The Hague

☆ Navalny and the Mirage of a Different Russia
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In late April 2015, while on a reporting trip to Moscow, I paid a visit to the offices of the anti-corruption campaign run by Aleksei Navalny. At the time, his political party was preparing for Russia’s 2016 elections, and his international profile was growing. I didn’t meet Navalny, but I spent time talking to several of the young people who were working on his political campaign and anti-corruption initiative. The melting snow on the path to the campaign building was treacherous, with thin crusts of ice over dirty slush that soaked over the tops of my boots. Many of them stayed working as darkness fell outside, and I wondered if the looming threat of government retaliation lent urgency to their tasks.

Persons: Aleksei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Putin Locations: Moscow, Russia, Crimea

☆ History, by and of Women
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This week, I’ve been spending time in what I’ve come to think of as the Anne de Courcy extended universe. De Courcy, a British journalist and prolific author of popular history books, writes about the past through the stories of women of the era. But she often uses groups of lesser-known (though usually still very rich) women to tell the story of particular periods or events. “The Fishing Fleet” chronicles British colonialism through a group of women who were both privileged and oppressed. As young women, they faced lives of poverty and isolation if they did not manage to marry, and legal and social subjugation even if they did, thanks to the repressive patriarchal system of the time.

Persons: I’ve, Anne de Courcy, De, Diana Mosley, Coco Chanel, “ Debs, ”, Irene, Cynthia, Alexandra Curzon, Curzon, Mosley, Cynthia’s, Oswald, Chanel, Alexandra, Duke of Windsor Organizations: British, Marvel Locations: De Courcy, British, India

☆ How Shrinking Populations Fuel Divisive Politics
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Amanda Taub | Lauren Leatherby | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the 2000 film “Almost Famous,” Cameron Crowe’s comedy-drama about rock musicians in the 1970s, the character played by Zooey Deschanel at one point gives her younger brother some advice. “Listen to ‘Tommy’ with a candle burning, and you’ll see your whole future,” she says. I’m going to borrow that thought for today’s newsletter: Stare at this annotated map with — or without — a candle burning, and you’ll see your whole future. So will that of Brazil, China, Chile, Japan and Russia, among others. And that change could have extremely negative consequences for those societies, without mitigation.

Persons: ” Cameron Crowe’s, Zooey Deschanel, Tommy ’, ”, I’m, Lauren Leatherby, Europe’s Locations: Brazil, China, Chile, Japan, Russia

☆ What Murder Mysteries Solve
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But why, if that was my purpose, would I find solace in such an inherently violent genre? I now realize that what I really craved, and found in abundance in these novels, was solutions. The heart of this genre is not the murders that precipitate the plot, but the process by which they are solved — and, above all, the promise that they will be. The Detection Club, a literary society, was formed in 1930 by a group of prominent British mystery writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and G.K. Chesterton. But when it came to the process of solving the crimes, rules were rules.

Persons: Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, “, ” Organizations: God Locations: Israel, Gaza, G.K, Chesterton

More than 40,000 people have been sheltering in or around the center, according to the U.N. There was no immediate confirmation of the Israeli order by UNRWA. The United Nations did not directly blame Israel. The United Nations said Wednesday’s strike was the third direct hit on that compound. An estimated 1.7 million Gazans have fled their homes during the war, according to the United Nations, many of them displaced multiple times.

Persons: Khan Younis, Philippe Lazzarini, U.N, “, Israel, Wednesday’s, Mr, Lazzarini, Younis, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA, Israeli Authorities Locations: Gaza, Khan, Egypt, Israel

☆ Good News for Rich Uncles and Orphaned Heiresses.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

You may remember that I’ve been blitzing my way through murder mysteries this winter. As it turns out, one Agatha Christie mystery is fun, two are interesting, but once you get past three or four, they start to raise real questions about the economic incentives of the early 20th century. (There may have been some others as well? After a point they all begin to blur together.) And with surprising regularity, the culprits’ elaborate schemes of murder and misdirection are specifically designed to obtain an inheritance.

Persons: Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Poirot, Roger Ackroyd Organizations: ABC, Sun

☆ What Might Happen Next in the Genocide Case Against Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Depending on the angle from which you view it, the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice can embody either the promises or the failures of one of the primary aims of the international human rights project: making rights a matter of law, not just of power. Last week, the court, which is the United Nations’ top judicial body, heard initial arguments in the case brought by South Africa in late December, which accuses Israel of “acts and omissions” that are “genocidal in character” against Palestinians in Gaza. This is only the fourth time that a country has brought a genocide case before the I.C.J. And the other three have been filed in just the last four years: a 2019 case against Myanmar alleging genocide against the Rohingya minority; a 2022 case alleging Russia had abused the Genocide Convention as a pretext for an illegal invasion of Ukraine, and that Russia appeared to be planning acts of genocide in Ukraine; and the current case against Israel. Israel categorically denies the accusation, and the 17 judges sitting in this case are now deliberating whether to order “provisional measures,” a temporary order that would ask Israel to take proactive steps to ensure genocide doesn’t occur in the future, while the case is pending.

Persons: Israel, ” Organizations: Israel, International Court, United Nations Locations: South Africa, Gaza, Myanmar, Russia, Ukraine, Israel

There are moments in life that stick in memory as a fulcrum between before and after. Rohit, Arti’s new husband, was with her, his presence a tangible sign of his support. But even as Arti awaited the starting gun, the crowd of candidates beside her made painfully clear how much competition she faced. So many candidates had traveled to the exam site, on a remote campus in Uttar Pradesh State, that there was nowhere to house them all. Arti, Rohit and Meena had slept in a local gurudwara, a Sikh place of worship, packed in with the other hopefuls and their chaperones.

Persons: Arti Kumari’s, Meena, Rohit, Arti’s, Arti Organizations: Uttar Pradesh State Locations: Uttar Pradesh

☆ Giving Thanks When the World is on Fire
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

I am thankful that my children have never felt the pain of burying a beloved sibling. Thankful that if we needed a hospital, it would have electricity and sterile equipment and supplies like anesthesia available. Thankful that my children are alive. But also sad and angry that we live in a world where these things are blessings to be counted, and where so many cannot do so. I want to hear about things you have read (or watched or listened to) that have had the biggest impact on you this year.

Persons: Jenny Sidhu, Barbara Kingsolver, Beth Macy, Dopesick Organizations: Purdue Pharma Locations: Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Rocklin, Calif

☆ A Major Economic Challenge
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There is one change, so simple it can be described in just six words, that could lift millions of people out of poverty and expand the world’s fifth-largest economy: Get more Indian women paid jobs. In many other countries, female labor-force participation has propelled economic growth. But India has one of the world’s lowest rates of formal employment for women. The percentage of women doing paid work has dropped sharply in recent years. Much of the country’s recent economic growth has been concentrated in small, family-owned firms that employ few outsiders.

Persons: ”, Shrayana Bhattacharya Organizations: World Bank Locations: India, China, “

For Nasreen, getting to New Delhi after she ran away from her family and the betrothal they had arranged for her was a daring feat. In the winter, the air pollution was among the worst in the world, clinging to skin and choking lungs. In her family’s flat, she cooked on a stove that added to the heat and smoke. When she could get outside, she had to walk a gantlet of leering men who lined the sidewalks. Delhi inspired her to dream of a bigger life and connected her to people who could help her reach for it.

Persons: Nasreen, Bindu Locations: New Delhi, Delhi

For Indian families, a modest wedding is an oxymoron. It was no different for Arti Kumari’s parents, despite their limited means as an NGO worker and a subsistence farmer. As the wedding day grew closer, Arti was still waiting for notice of the date of her athletic test for the federal security force job she hoped to win. She would be marrying without a job — not the future she and her mother had worked so hard for. Nevertheless, her wedding would be an ornate, multiday affair.

Persons: Arti Kumari’s, Meena, Anil, Arti Locations: India’s

☆ Reading List: Scams and Scammers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In financial frauds, the core promise is always essentially the same: profit without risk. But the details of how that promise gets packaged are telling. Madoff and Holmes profited by promising wealth and validation to elites who feared that not having enough of one meant they couldn’t really have the other. Bankman-Fried, by contrast, seems to have invented himself as the fulfillment of a very different desire: success outside the bounds of powerful institutions. In retrospect it was a perfect pitch for cryptocurrency speculators who wanted to believe that they, too, could make a fortune without any traditional financial background or connections.

Persons: Bernie Madoff’s, Elizabeth Holmes, John Carreyrou, meritocracy, Madoff, Holmes, Zeke Faux Organizations: Apple Locations: Silicon, America, cryptocurrency

Arti Kumari, 22, crouched on a dusty dirt track in a runner’s lunge, waiting to spring forward as soon as her mother started the clock. Although Arti had risen before dawn to train, the oppressive heat bore down on her. It was May, and northern India was experiencing its worst heat wave in 45 years. She, like millions of other young people in India, dreamed of getting a job with India’s central government. Arti had already beaten the odds and passed the written exams for India’s Central Industrial Security Force, or C.I.S.F., a paramilitary corps responsible for guarding critical infrastructure.

Persons: Arti Kumari, Arti Organizations: Central Industrial Security Force Locations: India

☆ The Laws of War Have Limits. What Does That Mean for the Hamas-Israel War?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It has been 26 days since Hamas launched its attacks on Israel. But like any tool, international law has limitations as well as strengths. I’m going to dig into those by trying to answer some of the broad questions I’ve heard from readers and other commentators. The laws of war are not designed to outlaw fighting completely, or even to ban all killings of civilians. In practical terms, as sad as it is, that means that acts of war can be horrifying without necessarily being illegal.

Persons: I’ve Organizations: Hamas Locations: Israel, Gaza

As Nasreen Parveen ran, her mind focused on nothing but putting one foot in front of the other. Occasionally, for the briefest flash, she remembered the high window ledge and her decision not to jump. Finally, after more than four miles of running on torn, blistered feet, Nasreen reached the bus station. From there, a bus brought her to a train station in the nearest city. Staring at the ticket counter, Nasreen could think of only one place to go: New Delhi, India’s capital, where she had lived with her family.

Persons: Nasreen Parveen, Nasreen Locations: New Delhi

☆ What I Read and Watch to Decompress
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“India’s Daughters,” the special newsletter series that I created with my colleagues Emily Schmall and Shalini Venugopal Bhagat, premiered last week. There will be a new chapter on Friday, and you can catch up with the first installment here if you missed it. Longtime readers will probably guess that “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen, is at the top of my decompress-and-disconnect list. As someone who isn’t a particularly fervent fan of even real tennis matches, I find fictional ones pleasantly untaxing. I want to hear about things you have read (or watched or listened to) that you recommend to the Interpreter community.

Persons: “, ”, Emily Schmall, Venugopal Bhagat, I’ve, Jane Austen, that’s, Lydia Bennet, Witch, Melinda Taub, Amal El, Mohtar, “ Beckham, ” Netflix’s, David Beckham, Will, Kirsten Dunst, Paul Bettany, Nora Ephron, Margot Miller, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr Organizations: The Times, Times, Wimbledon Locations: Israel, Gaza, Geneva, ”, “ Beckham, Easton , Md

Nasreen Parveen decided to run for her life at the same moment she decided not to end it. But as she prepared to jump, she looked out and received a stunning, seemingly impossible glimpse into the future. The young woman plummeted to the ground, hit hard on her back and then lay in the dirt, grievously injured. Nasreen decided that the step into thin air, the drop and the dirt were not for her. But she was equally certain that she could not live the life that her family was trying to bind her to.

Persons: Nasreen Parveen, Nasreen

☆ The Litany of #MeToo News Continues. Is anything really changing?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The endless, relentless eruptions of sexual abuse and harassment scandals can sometimes seem like a particularly grim form of Zeno’s dichotomy paradox. Back in the 5th century B.C., the Greek philosopher described how a runner on the path to a particular destination must first traverse half the distance, and then half the remaining difference, and then half the remaining distance, and so on — to infinity. By that logic, the runner can take steps toward a goal but will never actually reach it. Similarly, each time a powerful man is held accountable for sexual misconduct, it seems like progress. Take the news from the past eight days.

Persons: Robert Hadden Organizations: British, of Surgery, Columbia University Locations: England

☆ What I’m Reading: Eclectic Edition
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” has long been a well-known saying, but now, thanks to this interesting new paper in the American Political Science Review, it’s also political science. The authors investigate whether hostility to immigrants, particularly Muslims, has actually helped to generate support for L.G.B.T.+ rights among otherwise conservative nativist voters. They found that citizens “strategically liberalize” their stance on L.G.B.T.+ rights when they are told that people from an ethnic out-group — for example, Muslim immigrants in Europe — oppose such protections. (Here again, Trump is a useful exemplar: Although he embraced gay rights in the Pulse speech as a cudgel against Muslims, in practice his administration dismantled L.G.BT. protections, including rolling back rules against workplace discrimination and banning transgender people from the military.)

Persons: Bethany Allen, Ebrahimian, Allen, smartly, “, ”, it’s, Donald Trump, Trump Organizations: Science Locations: Beijing, China, “ Beijing, Europe

☆ Coups Are on the Rise. Why?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Following the news lately is enough to make one wonder if coups might be contagious. The recent surge is particularly surprising because coups, particularly successful ones, had been relatively rare in the decades following the end of the Cold War. “If you told me a decade ago that would be happening today, I would not have thought that that was a reasonable expectation,” said Erica De Bruin, a Hamilton College political scientist who wrote a book in 2020 about coup prevention. Coups are not actually “contagious” in the sense that one directly causes another, experts say. “We are seeing more coups not because of a contagion, but because of a more permissive environment,” said Naunihal Singh, a political scientist at the U.S.

Persons: ”, Erica De Bruin, Naunihal Singh Organizations: Hamilton College, U.S . Naval, College Locations: Gabon, Niger

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