NATO assembles

Plus an NYT columnist in the hot seat and Japan's economic downswing [View this email in your browser]( [The Week Evening Review]( NATO bands together, Japan's economy slips, and cooking gets a spotlight   Good evening, While today's Morning Report highlighted Russia's "satellite killer" up in space, for most NATO members, the Russian threat is much closer to home. European nations are ramping up efforts to "give the Russians pause," from building bunkers to expanding armies. After Donald Trump encouraged Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to any financially slacking NATO country, perhaps these measures are more necessary than ever. Summer Meza The Week Digital     TODAY'S BIG QUESTION How are NATO's front lines deterring Russia? As Russia's war on Ukraine drags into its third year, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has become the backbone of Western support for Ukraine as it fends off Russia's advances. NATO once worked to keep Russian expansion in check throughout the Cold War and has now rallied to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Russia and Ukraine continue battling, several NATO states have begun fortifying their Russia-facing fronts in response to Putin's active bellicosity and the broader sense of preemptive necessity. Sometimes working in consort, other times simply engaging in contemporaneous preparation for a shared potential future, these NATO nations are getting ready for anything Russia might someday throw at them. What did the commentators say? Finland, with its long history of Soviet repulsion, is in a "better condition than most of the other 28 European alliance members" in preparing for conflicts to its east, international affairs analyst Minna Alander said to The Times UK. While it is the newest NATO state, Finland has spent decades expecting its neighbor would "deviate back to its historic norm" of regional bullying, making it an "encouraging example." Nearby Estonia is also bracing for potential future conflict. Estonian foreign intelligence service's Kaupo Rosin has called for NATO members to "deter Russia by stepping up their military spending," saying it could "influence the Russian calculation." Working with Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia has begun bolstering the "most militarily exposed section of NATO's eastern flank" by constructing "well over 1,000 concrete bunkers," The Times UK said. Famously neutral Sweden embarked on a "once-in-a-lifetime political swerve" by applying to join NATO shortly after Russia's war began, Foreign Policy said. While not an official member yet, Sweden has already begun limited use of Link 22, "a secure digital radio system that ties together NATO planes and ships," in the hopes of being the group's "eyes and ears in the region." What next? Russia has extended its saber-rattling beyond Ukraine, including the placement of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on a wanted list, which is widely believed to be in response to Estonia's removal of Soviet monuments. At the same time, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shocked experts by encouraging Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to any NATO country that doesn't fulfill its financial membership obligations.   Advertisement by Betterment [Betterment is the automated investing app that puts your money to work](   Statistic of the day 11,000: The approximate number of square miles of ice that Greenland lost between the mid-1980s and mid-2010s due to global warming, a new study said. This represents an area that is 36 times larger than New York City and comes as the country is largely ceding its ice to wetlands and shrubs. CNN     The Explainer One NYT columnist vs. gender-affirming care Opinions are ubiquitous. Everyone has one. The New York Times opinion columnist Pamela Paul is full of them, as her job demands. Since joining the Times' Opinion pages in 2022, Paul has received formidable resistance from the trans community for a series of columns that have been called a "long line of … transphobic opinion pieces," said the Human Rights Campaign in a press release. One recent article, published this month, was a sprawling, nearly 5,000-word, two-page spread about youth and gender-affirming care. The trans community responded in force. Where gender meets politics"Of course, politics should not influence medical practice, whether the issue is birth control, abortion or gender medicine. But unfortunately, politics has gotten in the way of progress," said Paul in the article, titled "Gender Dysphoric Kids Deserve Better Care" in the print edition of the Times. Paul interviewed experts and drew profiles of individuals who gender-transitioned while young and have since detransitioned, that is, reversed their gender to its previous iteration. Paul highlighted a handful of detransitioners to support the thesis that, done willy-nilly, gender-affirming care is not always the correct answer. One of her Opinion page kin, David French, lauded Paul's story on Threads. A vociferous reactionThe ripostes to Paul's article and French's upvote were quick and striking. Straight people, queer people, cisgender people and trans people cried foul. It was disingenuous of Paul to trumpet a handful of detransitioners as representative of a root problem with gender-affirming care for youth, critics said. Pooled data from "numerous studies demonstrates a regret rate ranging from 0.3% to 3.8%" for people who have gender-transitioned, said Cornell University. Trans content creator and activist Erin Reed of the Substack "Erin in the Morning" wrote a detailed retort, fact-checking four of Paul's claims. "More detransitioners are going public with their decisions," said Paul. "They deserve our compassion." Paul's paper, though — the news pages, not the opinion ones — has also noted how rare detransitioned individuals are and how often they are used as political pawns to reduce access to gender-affirming care. The back-and-forth shows no sign of dissipating.     QUOTE OF THE DAY "We are no cowards. If you can't stand five persons of the AfD as part of the audience, we will lose our fight." Berlinale jury member Christian Petzold, the German director of "Barbara" and "Phoenix," on the international film festival disinviting the far-right group from its opening ceremony     Talking Points Japan no longer third-biggest economy Japan sent shockwaves through the global market on Thursday when it revealed that it unexpectedly slipped into a recession, allowing Germany to overtake it as the world's third-largest economy. Japan's gross domestic product shrank by 0.4% in the last quarter of 2023, the Japanese Cabinet Office said, far below the 1.4% growth estimate. This followed a third quarter of 2023 in which GDP growth shrank by 3.3%. What makes this all the more surprising is that two days ago Japan's stock market crossed 38,000 points for the first time since 1990. And most experts agree that the Nikkei will continue to trend upward. Inflation and domestic demand Thursday's report questions the Bank of Japan's "preference for inflation in Japan to be driven by domestic demand, which is more sustainable and stable," Clement Tan said for CNBC. However, the recession "suggests high inflation is hurting domestic consumption in spite of the prospect of higher wages and perhaps strengthening the case for looser monetary policy for much longer." Japan's economy is polarized because of higher prices, and "when corporate profits jump, the prices of goods also go up, but wages have not kept up and consumers are reluctant to spend," Shinichiro Kobayashi, the principal economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, said to The New York Times. Another factor is the cooling-off of the Japanese yen, which "eats into profits on exports when earnings are repatriated," Justin McCurry said for The Guardian. Bad news as good newsNot all agree Japan is in a recession. "Given that consumer confidence is improving with the real income recovering gradually, I expect the [Bank of Japan] will maintain their outlook of 'Japan's economy is likely to continue recovering moderately,'" Norihiro Yamaguchi, a senior Japan economist at Oxford Economics, said to the Times. There may be reason to believe the country's economy is stronger than it may seem. The way the market responded to the report "seems to be a case of bad news being good news," Vasu Menon, the managing director of investment strategy at Singapore's OCBC Bank, said to Bloomberg. The weaker-than-anticipated economy also means that the Bank of Japan may not increase its interest rates. When combining this with the series of recent corporate reforms in Japan, it "still makes a case for more upside for Japanese equities," Menon said.   Advertisement by Betterment [Betterment is the automated investing app that puts your money to work](   Poll watch Just under one in five Americans believe Taylor Swift is conspiring with President Joe Biden to help him win the 2024 election, a new poll from Monmouth University said. The poll surveyed 902 adults and found that 18% believed Swift and Biden were working together as part of a covert operation.     INSTANT OPINION Today's best commentary 'The Mayorkas impeachment is just the latest GOP stunt'Chris Lehmann in The NationImpeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was just "another low parody of constitutional oversight" by the House GOP, says Chris Lehmann. Their flimsy case against Mayorkas' handling of the border will get rejected by the Senate. But the point of this first-ever impeachment of a Cabinet member was never to "root out" corruption, as the nation's founders envisioned. It was about appeasing Donald Trump, the "Caligulan bully" turning the GOP into a "brown-shirted theater" of grievance. 'Using the SAT, ACT in college admissions isn't "racist." What else has the left got wrong?'Ingrid Jacques in USA TodayCritics have insisted for years that standardized college entrance exams are "racist, inequitable and unfair," says Ingrid Jacques. But it looks like the "progressive groupthink" was wrong. Dartmouth researchers found that making SAT and ACT testing optional to boost diversity, as many schools did when Covid-19 hit, made it harder for low-income and minority applicants to get in. Turns out the tests are a "consistent measuring device of student preparation, regardless of where they're from." 'Taking Rafah is essential to defeat Hamas'The Wall Street Journal editorial boardPresident Joe Biden promised support for destroying Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack, says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. But his administration is joining in the "diplomatic pressure on Israel to stay out of Rafah, Hamas' final stronghold." Arguing there are "too many civilians in Rafah" bows to Hamas' strategy of hiding among innocents. "Rafah is Hamas' last stand as a governing force," so it's pulling "every political lever to stop Israel." The Biden administration shouldn't cooperate.     Picture of the day Diving in Doha Ginni Van Katwijk, of the Netherlands, competes in the women's final of the 20-meter-high diving event at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Xinhua/Shutterstock     Good day 👨‍❤️‍👨 … for Greek same-sex couples. Greece's parliament is expected to legalize same-sex marriage and equal parental rights for same-sex couples on Thursday, "a first for an Orthodox Christian country," The Associated Press said. The bill is expected to pass Thursday "despite opposition from the influential Greek Church."     Bad day ❌ … for Rachel Dolezal. The former NAACP chapter president, who caused outrage in 2015 for posing as a Black woman despite being white, finds herself in controversy again. Dolezal, who later changed her name to Nkechi Diallo and became a teacher, has been fired from her school in Arizona over content posted on her OnlyFans account.     Puzzles [Daily crossword]( Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes [sudoku]( and [codewords](. [Play here](     The Week recommends [The cinematic power of real cooking]( "The Taste of Things," the 2023 movie from director Tran Anh Hung, won the best director award at Cannes and was recently released in U.S. theaters. How Tran films not only the movie's food but the cooking itself is a pleasurable relief. Love in the kitchenThe movie takes place in the late 1880s and centers on two protagonists: Dodin (Benoit Magimel), a chef, and Eugenie (Juliette Binoche), his kitchen assistant. They have been cooking for guests for 20 years and are lovers. Food, of course, occupies a central position in their lives. And, so, "The Taste of Things" opens with an extended sequence of kitchen action. The actors are actually cooking. "The dishes come together like dazzling, sometimes ingeniously surprising set-pieces," said Justin Chang in the Los Angeles Times. Bringing cooking to vivid lifeDoing any kind of real-deal cooking proper justice, let alone dishes from two centuries ago, required Tran to bring in the big toques. He hired French chef Pierre Gagnaire who, along with Michel Nave, planned the dishes ahead and set them up for cooking on-set. Yes, movies are artifice. When they capture the honest stride of real life, though, the echo resounds at a different amplitude. Tran strove to create cooking that "felt distinct from the static overhead 'beauty shots' of food on Instagram and in broadcast TV," wrote Simran Hans in Financial Times. Gagnaire, the movie's consulting chef, concurred. "The sound of pastry cracking," he said, is "the total opposite of Instagram, where it's all shiny but there's no warmth, and no tenderness." [Read more](     WORD OF THE DAY technosexuality An area of human sexuality in which "our sexual and romantic lives would be mediated by machines," The New York Times said. Technology has become so "entwined with human desire" that it is difficult to separate it "from the technology we use to express it."     In the morning Tomorrow morning will feature a dazzlingly diverse lineup, including moon exploitation, King Tut, tiny humanoid robots and a headbanging horse. Much to look forward to indeed. Thanks for reading, Summer     Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Harold Maass, Scott Hocker, Justin Klawans, Kelsee Majette, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz, Anahi Valenzuela and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek. Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images; Andreas Rentz / Getty Images   © Future US, Inc • [theweek.com]( [Unsubscribe from this newsletter]( [Privacy Policy]( The Week is published by Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036.