Russia has developed nuclear weapons capable of penetrating U.S. defense systems, the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, said Thursday, sharpening rhetoric against the West and raising the prospect of a new arms race with Washington.
In language reminiscent of the Cold War, Mr. Putin used his annual state- of-the-union address to boast about Russia’s military prowess and show off a series of new armaments, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and underwater drones.
“Efforts to contain Russia have failed,” he said to Russia’s political elite gathered in the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hal
.. Mr. Putin said would consider any nuclear attack on its allies an attack on Russia and would launch an immediate response
.. “Russia’s growing military might is a reliable guarantee of peace on our planet because it ensures the strategic balance in the world.”
.. The Trump administration has warned that Russia and China are moving to modernize and expand their nuclear arsenals in a bid to “return to Great Power competition.”
.. The U.S., he said, had exploited Russia’s economic, political and military weakness after the collapse of the Soviet Union to ignore Moscow’s views, including by moving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization closer to Russia’s borders.
“No one listened to us. Listen to us now,”
.. Mr. Putin said the Syria campaign had allowed the military to show off the results of a modernization program he launched in 2011. “The whole world knows the names of our newest airplanes, submarines, air-defense systems,” he said.
.. Ivan Konovalov, an independent defense analyst in Moscow, said the speech demonstrated how quickly Russia’s arms industry is developing.
“It is developing some of the best weapons in the world, and the United States, if they want to maintain parity, has to answer the challenge quickly,” he said.
The Perfect Candidate for Therapist in Chief
What Oprah chiefly did was establish herself as a good listener, and, through interviews with authors, quick-cure physicians, exercise gurus and nutritionists, she became a broker of other people’s problems.
.. Oprah could have risen to her stratospheric renown only in a therapeutic age—an age in which repression is illness, confession the cure, with impulse satisfaction, self-esteem and personal happiness the paramount goals. If the triumphant therapeutic culture has a national therapist, Oprah Winfrey, surely, is it.
.. at a time when actual qualifications no longer seem to count heavily in presidential politics, her possible candidacy doesn’t seem in the least fantastic.
When Sexual Assault Victims Are Charged With Lying
Police detectives treated small inconsistencies in her account — common among trauma victims — as major discrepancies. Instead of interviewing her as a victim, they interrogated her as a suspect. Under pressure, Marie eventually recanted
.. In Marie’s case, and with some of the other cases, the victims hadn’t acted the way the police thought a victim should act. Their affect seemed off, or they declined help from an advocate, or they looked away instead of making eye contact. As a result, their stories became suspect.
.. Police should not interrogate victims. They should listen.
.. Victims can report a rape but request that the police not pursue criminal charges. The idea is to give more control to victims, who might otherwise be reluctant to involve themselves with law enforcement.
.. The detective who founded the program believes it will help the police in the long term by increasing the number of people who come forward and allowing police to collect information that could be used in future investigations if a victim changes his or her mind.
.. her starting point isn’t believing: “I think it’s listen to your victim. And then corroborate or refute based on how things go.”
Trump’s voters won’t mind if he doesn’t keep all his promises
Pence discussed tax reform, ethics reform, infrastructure improvements, better trade deals and a cheaper replacement for Obamacare. No mention of building walls, rounding up illegal immigrants or banning Muslims.
.. Pence’s outline was not exactly the hell and brimstone that critics warned — and Trump often promised — a Trump presidency would bring to Washington’s institutions. Nor did it sound like it would furnish the radical break with the status quo that Trump supporters say they want.
.. they liked Trump for something deeper and less specific than the promises he made — “Make America great again” meant putting strength, grit and change on their side, not enacting a particular policy agenda.
.. as long as he shows that he has their back and makes a sincere effort to get things done — even if that requires compromise — his voters say they’ll keep faith in him.
.. a comprehensive energy plan, taxes and Obamacare.
.. Presidents usually do try to keep their campaign promises, research has found, making a good-faith effort to do about two-thirds of what they said they would do while seeking the job.
.. For a lot of Trump supporters, Obamacare contributed to a sense that Washington was no longer looking out for them. They believed their concerns burdening some people with new costs for the benefit of others wasn’t heeded.
.. What was most appealing about Trump — for at least me — was that he had our back.”
For Ripepi and others, “having our back” is not about economic misfortune but rather a perceived loss of strength in the fabric of America. Not in terms of politics and policy, necessarily; he worries that his children and future grandchildren will not be able to experience the same things he did, while living in the same community that his father and his father’s father did. Will his kids be able to find livelihoods near home and enjoy the same traditions he did?
.. voters like Ripepi told me, people from less mobile, socially conservative places felt they had no voice. Under Trump, they believe they will.
.. To many voters, economic arguments were more important than Trump’s explosive rhetoric. When China subsidizes steel production, it cripples manufacturing and makes it impossible for American companies to compete, said Hughes
.. How many Trump supporters really sound, now that he’s won the election, is hopeful — the same way Obama voters sounded after his victory in 2008.
.. “If he takes it slow and steady and shows us he is working for everyone’s best interest rather than just special interests, we’ll be patient,” Hughes said.