The Week Magazine June 17, 2022

Vladimir Putin is a fortunate man. One hundred days into his genocidal assault on Ukraine, many important people in the West are fretting not that he’ll win his war—but that he’ll lose. It’s quite a diverse club. French President Emmanuel Macron, who fancies himself a Putin whisperer, warned again last week that “we must not humiliate Russia.” Instead, we must reward Putin’s pitiless efforts to erase a peaceful, democratic neighbor from the map by awarding him a nice chunk as a consolation prize: the Donbas and southern Ukraine along the Black Sea. Henry Kissinger, the ancient guru of realpolitik, has joined Macron in urging Ukrainian concessions. So has The New York Times editorial board, which recently advised Ukraine it will need to make “painful territorial decisions” in exchange for peace.…

What happened In the wake of the massacre of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old with an assault rifle, a bipartisan group of senators this week inched toward consensus on a package of measures aimed at reducing gun violence. But Republicans declared that key reforms sought by Democrats were off the table, and final passage of any legislation remained in doubt. Negotiators zeroed in on proposals to extend background checks for gun buyers under 21, provide incentives for states to establish red-flag laws to prevent the sale of guns to people judged to be dangerous, and to increase funding for school security and mental health programs. Not in consideration were universal background checks, banning assault rifles or large-capacity magazines, or raising the minimum age…

Cassandra Ridder was heartbroken when her son Brody came home from school with a nearly empty yearbook. The Colorado sixth-grader had asked classmates to sign his book, but only two or three did. To fill the empty space, Brody scrawled a note to himself: “Hope you make some more friends!” When older students heard about Brody’s yearbook, over 100 gathered at his homeroom, leaving messages of encouragement, phone numbers, and invitations to hang out. “It made me feel like I was not alone.” Brody said. Texas 14-year-old Harini Logan was crowned champion last week in the first in-person Scripps National Spelling Bee in three years. Following an eight-way tie in 2019, Scripps implemented a new lightning-round tiebreaker system, which made Harini especially nervous. “I go slow,” Harini said. “That’s my…

What happened Ukraine struggled to hold on to its remaining eastern territory this week, as President Volodymyr Zelensky conceded that Russian forces had captured one-fifth of his country. The Kremlin said Russia had “liberated” 97 percent of Luhansk province in the eastern Donbas region and had restored roads and rail so that “full-fledged traffic” could flow between Russia and the territories it has occupied. Ukrainian forces did take back half of the Luhansk city of Sievierodonetsk, which had mostly fallen to Russia a week ago, but their control was tenuous. To boost morale, Zelensky visited the front lines and met with relocated refugees from the destroyed port of Mariupol. Russian forces, meanwhile, put those Ukrainians who were still living in Mariupol’s ruins under quarantine because of a suspected cholera…

What happened Voters in two of the country’s most liberal cities rallied behind law-and-order messaging this week, sending a stark warning to Democrats about police reform’s diminishing appeal. In San Francisco, District Attorney Chesa Boudin was recalled by a 60-40 margin, just three years after his election energized the “progressive prosecutor” movement as Boudin promised to send fewer people to prison. His reforms drew mounting backlash as homelessness, burglaries, car thefts, drug use, and overdoses soared. Liberals signaled a similar change of heart in Los Angeles, where Rick Caruso, a billionaire mall developer who ran as a crime fighter, forced a runoff in a mayoral race against Rep. Karen Bass, once on the short list to be President Biden’s vice president. Outspending Bass 10 to 1, Caruso, who recently…

“One of the most common things abusers say to victims is that ‘nobody will believe you,’” said Charlotte Colombo in The Daily Beast. Sadly, Amber Heard just found that to be true “in the most public, humiliating way possible.” A Virginia jury ruled last week that the actress had defamed her ex-husband Johnny Depp in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” In a televised, seven-week trial, Heard gave harrowing testimony that the Pirates of the Caribbean star had headbutted her, strangled her, ripped chunks of her hair out, and sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle. In a text to a friend that became evidence, Depp said he wanted to kill Heard, adding, “I will f---her burnt corpse…