 June 2, 2023 |
 | Writer, Briefings |
Good morning. We’re covering Ukraine’s and Sweden’s bids to join NATO and Pride Month in Israel. |
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Could Ukraine join NATO? |
At meetings yesterday in Oslo and Bulboaca, Moldova, top world officials discussed Ukraine’s application for membership in NATO. The talks demonstrated how Russia’s invasion has forged closer ties among Western nations, expanding and strengthening the military alliance — precisely what the Kremlin wanted to prevent. |
As the war threatens to settle into a stalemate, Western countries that have spent billions arming Ukraine are turning their focus to longer-term means of providing support and to shaping Ukraine’s relationship with NATO, which the country has sought to join since 2008. |
The world is watching for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive that officials believe could reframe broader debates about the war. Unless Ukraine makes unexpectedly large gains in that counteroffensive, a cease-fire could play to Moscow’s advantage, given that Russia is still likely to occupy large swaths of Ukraine. |
Details: In Oslo, foreign ministers discussed whether NATO might provide long-term security guarantees to Ukraine that would be short of full membership but could serve as a pathway to that outcome. In Moldova, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that his country was “ready to join NATO” and awaiting the alliance’s approval. |
Sweden: The country’s NATO application, which must be approved by unanimous consent, is still pending after months of obstruction by Turkey. Hungary, an alliance member that has maintained good relations with Russia, has also not given Sweden its approval. |
In other news: The Russian border town of Shebekino is facing the frontline reality of the war against Ukraine. |
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Protests in Senegal over opposition leader’s sentencing |
Clashes erupted between protesters and security forces in Senegal’s largest cities after a court sentenced Ousmane Sonko, the country’s leading opposition figure, to two years in prison for “corrupting youth.” The ruling throws the nation’s political future into uncertainty less than a year before its next presidential contest. |
Sonko was accused of raping a massage parlor employee in Dakar, the capital, and of issuing death threats against her. Though the court acquitted him of those charges, his conviction of “corrupting youth” — a charge related to an accusation that he had a sexual relationship with the woman, who was under 21 at the time — renders him ineligible to run in the election. |
Sonko, who denounced the allegations as an attempt by Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, to sideline him, cannot appeal because he did not appear in court for the hearings or the verdict, citing threats to his safety. Ismaïla Madior Fall, Senegal’s justice minister, said Sonko could be arrested at any time. |
Statement: Bamba Cissé, a lawyer for Sonko, said that he would not surrender “because we’re against a judiciary system perverted by political leaders.” He continued: “For two years, Senegal has been told that Mr. Sonko was involved in a rape affair. Today, we have the proof that it was a plot.” |
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Conflict shrouds Jerusalem’s Pride parade |
The annual Pride and Tolerance Parade in Jerusalem is normally relatively staid, especially compared with Tel Aviv’s carnival-like iteration. But yesterday’s event occurred at a fraught moment for Israel, five months after the most hard-line and religiously conservative government in the country’s history took power. |
The march, in which 30,000 people reportedly participated, went off peacefully under heavy security, with about 2,000 police officers deployed along the short route. At the same time, Lehava, an extremist organization that promotes strict separation of Jews and non-Jews, held a small counterdemonstration nearby against what it called the “abomination parade.” |
The parade came amid a backlash from liberal Israelis against the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their main target has been a government plan for a judicial overhaul that critics say would damage Israel’s democratic system and leave minorities, like the L.G.B.T.Q. community, more vulnerable. |
The latest: The Netanyahu government has not, so far, passed any laws impinging on L.G.B.T.Q. rights, despite a promise made to parties in its coalition to amend the current anti-discrimination law to allow businesses to refuse to provide a service contrary to their religious beliefs. |
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THE LATEST NEWS |
| Around the World |
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| From the U.S. |
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| The Week in Culture |
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| A Morning Read |
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Binge eating disorder, in which a person regularly eats an objectively large amount of food in a short period of time, is the most common eating disorder in the U.S., but it is often overlooked. |
Often, people will exhibit symptoms for decades before receiving a diagnosis. “For so long, they’ve been told things like ‘Oh, this is just emotional eating’ or ‘You’re out of control’ or ‘It’s because you have no willpower’ or ‘Gluttony’s a sin,’ or whatever these things are that people explain it away, without realizing that they have a treatable condition,” one expert said. |
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC |
Inside one of soccer’s most innovative clubs: Arnie Slot turned down the chance to manage a Premier League team to continue building something special at Feyenoord. |
The Barcelona star who watches eight soccer games every weekend: From humble beginnings in Uruguay to relishing his “beautiful” duels with Vinícius Júnior, this is Ronald Araújo in his own words. |
Soccer chairman offered his club’s stadium as collateral to buy another team: Leeds United was relegated from the Premier League as its owner tried to buy an Italian club. |
From The Times: We built a game to test your basketball knowledge. Can you guess where these passes are going? |
SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA |
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Mourning Sierra Leone’s Cotton Tree |
A 230-foot kapok tree known as the Cotton Tree, a symbol of freedom at the center of Sierra Leone’s foundation story, was felled in a heavy storm. Only the splintered base of the tree remains in the center of Freetown, the capital. |
The tree, which was roughly 400 years old, became part of Sierra Leone’s history at the end of the 18th century, when Africans formerly enslaved in the U.S., England, Jamaica and Canada returned to Africa as free men and women. According to tradition, the tree offered shelter and became synonymous with refuge. |
As Freetown developed into a modern capital, the tree stood at the center of a roundabout, near the president’s official residence and the High Court. |
Its toppling last week was a reminder of the country’s vulnerability to extreme weather. “For us, the Cotton Tree wasn’t just a tree, it was a connection between the past, present and the future and we must strive to immortalize it,” President Julius Maada Bio tweeted. |
Parts of the tree will be preserved in museums and official buildings. — Lynsey Chutel, a Briefings writer in Johannesburg |
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