Good morning. We're covering proposed sanctions against Russia and China's pandemic surveillance. |
| China has honed its powers to track its 1.4 billion people.Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press |
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China's pandemic controls may outlive the virus |
The foundation of the controls is the country's health code. Based on location, travel history, test results and other health data, people are assigned a color — green, yellow or red — that determines whether they are allowed into buildings or public spaces. Legions of local officials now have the power to quarantine residents or restrict their movements. |
Now, officials are turning their sharpened surveillance against other risks, including crime, pollution and "hostile" political forces. This amounts to a potent techno-authoritarian tool for Xi Jinping, China's leader, as he intensifies his campaigns against corruption and dissent. |
Concerns: Zan Aizong, a former journalist in Hangzhou, said that more surveillance could help the authorities break up dissenters' activities. He has refused to use the health code, but it means that moving around is difficult, and he finds it hard to explain his reasoning to workers at checkpoints. |
| Sanctions could be viewed as punishing the Russian people.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times |
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U.S. plays hardball with Russia |
In an effort to deter an invasion of Ukraine, President Biden has threatened punishing sanctions on Russia that could cause a stock market crash, severe inflation or other forms of financial panic that would inflict pain on Russia's people and could roil other major economies, particularly those in Europe. |
The pain caused by the sanctions could also foment anger against Vladimir Putin, Russia's leader. But resilience is part of Russia's national identity, and three reactionary security officials dedicated to restoring Soviet glory have Putin's ear. |
Yesterday, in a sign of hope for further diplomacy, Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said the country had sent an "urgent demand" to NATO to clarify its stance, days after the U.S. and its allies formally rejected Moscow's demands. |
Some analysts warn that Russia might retaliate over the sanctions by cutting off natural gas shipments to Europe or by carrying out cyberattacks against American and European infrastructure. Ukrainian officials criticized the Biden administration for its warnings of an imminent Russian attack, saying they had needlessly spread alarm. |
Tussles: Lithuanian efforts to punish Belarus's authoritarian leader by halting the transportation of potash, a key fertilizer ingredient exported by Belarus, may play into Russia's hands. |
| Kurdish forces checked documents as they searched for escaped prisoners and ISIS fighters.Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times |
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U.S. allies retake control of prison in Syria |
On Saturday, Kurdish-led counterterrorism forces backed by U.S. Special Operations troops went house to house in the narrow alleys of the Ghweran neighborhood of Hasaka, a majority-Arab city, throwing flash grenades into homes where they believed ISIS fighters were hiding. Clearing operations to find ISIS sleeper cells continued yesterday. |
Journalists for The Times saw several dozen bodies, some dressed in orange prison jumpsuits, being removed over the weekend by Kurdish militiamen near the prison, an indication of the scale of fighting. |
Background: The latest round of fighting began this month after an attack by ISIS on the prison, which housed more than 3,000 ISIS members and almost 700 minors. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish militia, said that the remaining militants in the prison were believed to be holding teenage detainees — "cubs of the caliphate" — as human shields. |
| Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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| Alana Holmberg for The New York Times |
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| Clara Tuma for The New York Times |
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"I work in a beautiful old place, I bring something to the city that I love, I keep alive an amazing tradition," she said. "But I also get to shout in the name of women, which is my contribution to feminism." |
| Sundance Institute |
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A second year of Sundance at home |
The Sundance Film Festival — virtual for the second year in a row — wrapped this past weekend. "At a time when many of us are worried about the health of movies," the film critic A.O. Scott writes, "it offers proof of life." |
Among the notable films: Jesse Eisenberg's directorial debut, "When You Finish Saving the World," about an Indiana teenager struggling with romance; "Navalny," a suspenseful documentary about the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny; "Nanny," which subjects its protagonist, a Senegalese immigrant living in New York, to supernatural and psychological scares; and Mariama Diallo's "Master," a campus drama about a Black student and a Black professor in hostile surroundings. |
One of Scott's favorite films was Sara Dosa's "Fire of Love," which tells the story of a French couple who studied volcanoes. The film's scenes of violent eruptions and serene lava flows were captured by the couple's cameras before their deaths in 1991. |
| Andrew Purcell for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. |
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Our editors recommend these 12 new books, including a therapist's look at Zen Buddhism and a romp on a Greek island. |
That's it for today's briefing. Thanks for joining me. — Natasha |
The latest episode of "The Daily" is about the U.S. beef industry. |
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