The Week Magazine March 3, 2023

The contrast could not have been more stark. Both President Biden and President Putin gave major speeches this week on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and they described different worlds. President Biden’s presence in Kyiv was in itself a bold statement of Western solidarity, with German media likening it to President Kennedy’s 1963 trip to walled-in West Berlin. Just as Kennedy assured West Germans that he was a Berliner in spirit, Biden promised Ukrainians that the U.S. and its NATO allies would “have Ukraine’s back,” not just today, but “tomorrow and forever.” Meanwhile in Moscow, an isolated Putin was giving his own, much angrier speech, saying that Russia, not Ukraine, was the one fighting for its very existence (see The world at a glance, p.8). “It’s they…

What happened President Biden made a daring and dramatic show of support for Ukraine this week, with a surprise visit to Kyiv and a speech in Poland where he vowed that support from the U.S. and its allies “will not waver.” On the cusp of the war’s first anniversary, Biden arrived in Kyiv after a long, clandestine trip that required him to leave Washington on an Air Force jet in predawn darkness, land in Poland, and travel to the Ukrainian capital via a 10-hour train ride. He spent five hours in Kyiv, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, visiting the U.S. Embassy, and walking along the Wall of Remembrance war memorial amid the sound of air-raid sirens. Biden, the first U.S. president to travel to a war zone not occupied…

What happened Nearly three weeks after a train derailment unleashed the toxic chemical vinyl chloride in East Palestine, Ohio, state and federal officials sought to reassure residents that their air and water was safe. Since the 141-car train derailed on Feb. 3, residents in the town of about 5,000 people have complained of ailments ranging from nausea and rashes to difficulty breathing. Ohio officials this week opened a dedicated health clinic to treat those who fear their symptoms are related to the accident, while the Centers for Disease Control sent a team of experts. Also this week, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered the train company, Norfolk Southern, to conduct and pay for all necessary cleanup of the area’s soil and water. “This order represents one of EPA’s strongest authorities…

The greater adjutant stork, an ugly, 5-foot-tall scavenger that feeds on carrion, was long viewed as a pest in India and its nests were destroyed—until conservationist Purnima Devi Barman vowed to change the image of the endangered bird known locally as the hargila. In 2014, Barman formed the “hargila army,” a group of 10,000 women who teach villagers about the storks’ unique role in the ecosystem. Now Assam state has 1,000 of the birds. “If given a chance,” Barman said, “women can make a big difference.” Miriam Payne set off from the Canary Islands in mid-December on a solo voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for mental health charities in her native East Yorkshire, England. For two months, the 23-year-old rowed for more than 15 hours a day…

American teens are mired “in a state of emotional catastrophe,” said Moira Donegan in The Guardian. A CDC report released last week paints a deeply disturbing picture of the mental health of high schoolers. Among the more than 17,000 teens surveyed in 2021, 42 percent said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. The malaise is far more widespread than in a similar survey in 2011, and affects both genders—but “in nearly every measure, girls are faring dramatically worse.” A majority of girls—57 percent—reported persistent despair, versus 29 percent of boys. Nearly 1 in 3 girls seriously considered suicide (up from 19 percent in 2011), and 13 percent say they attempted it in the past year. Fourteen percent of girls report being raped in the past year—a “horrifying”…

Good week for: Japan, after a new cartographic survey of the archipelago nation will roughly double its number of islands to more than 14,000. Previous surveys neglected to count small islands in lakes and rivers, and new islands have been created by volcanic activity. Smells, with a proposal from state Sen. Bill Soules to make “the aroma of green chile roasting in the fall” the official state aroma of New Mexico, making it the first state with an official aroma. Honesty, after Rep. George Santos was asked in an interview why he thought he could get away with telling so many lies while running for Congress. “I ran in 2020 for the same exact seat, and I got away with it then,” Santos said. Bad week for: Irreconcilable differences, after…