csmonitor--2020-04-07--‘No longer a luxury’: As life moves online, the offline fall behind

“ It ’ s encouraging to see ISPs rising to the occasion , ” says Tyler Cooper , editor-in-chief of BroadbandNow , a company that helps people find and compare internet service providers .
“ The internet is no longer a luxury .
It ’ s really a prerequisite for participating in modern life.
” The result is a sharp divide along racial and class lines over who has broadband ; one that , like many economic divides , is becoming starker as the pandemic wears on .
As the lockdown continues , a number of internet service providers are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some it is simply a matter of access , as broadband isn ’ t as ubiquitous in rural areas as it may seem in cities and suburbs .
But having the option of purchasing high-speed internet is only part of the puzzle .
You also need to be able to afford it .
As the coronavirus pandemic forces Americans out of their workplaces , classrooms , and social spaces , and into their homes , the internet has become , for many , the only link to society .
But 42 million Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ internet .
When Amy Olsen wants to have a video chat with her family , she has to drive four miles to the parking lot of the Lowell , Vermont , town clerk to use the free Wi-Fi .
None of Lowell ’ s 879 or so residents have access to direct broadband service , according to BroadbandNow , a company that helps people find and compare internet service providers .
The closest anyone there can get is “ fixed wireless , ” which uses outdoor directional antennas to broadcast radio signals to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you need to live close enough to an antenna .
Ms. Olsen doesn ’ t .
Instead she uses a sluggish satellite connection , which is fine for sending email and downloading web pages , but not for much else .
Video , she says , is “ slow and bouncy.
” Ms. Olsen is far from alone .
As endless social media feeds and YouTube videos emphasize that “ We ’ re all in this together , ” a huge swath of the population is finding itself digitally erased from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a quarter of all rural residents , lack access to broadband , according to a February 2020 report from BroadbandNow .
Even among those who live in places where broadband is offered , for many , it remains out of reach : Just 41 % of households with incomes below $ 20,000 have broadband at home .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .
As the coronavirus pandemic forces Americans out of their workplaces , classrooms , and social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the internet has become , for many , the only link to society .
Amid a steady stream of news stories about teleconferencing , remote learning , and Netflix binging , those without reliable online access are finding themselves shut out .
“ When you ’ re online and most of your people are online , it feels like we ’ re all online , ” says Jessamyn West , a Vermont librarian who teaches people how to use computers .
“ But the whole world is bigger than what ’ s on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bipartisan quartet of lawmakers urged Congress to include dedicated broadband funding for students and low-income families in the fourth coronavirus response package .
In a letter to congressional leaders , two Republicans , Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Rep. Roger Marshall of Kansas , and two Democrats , Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont , wrote that , absent legislation , “ small providers may be unable to continue to help ensure that the communities they serve can access distance learning and telehealth services.
” Several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broadband access and economic prosperity .
An analysis conducted by Microsoft published last April found that U.S. counties with the highest unemployment also had the lowest broadband usage .
“ Low-income areas tend to be more rural , ” says Tyler Cooper , BroadbandNow ’ s editor-in-chief .
“ That creates sort of a vicious cycle.
” Municipal broadband initiatives , however , can help turn this vicious cycle into a virtuous one .
Mr. Cooper cites Chattanooga , Tennessee , where , in 2010 , the city ’ s Electric Power Board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Today , the city boasts download speeds of 1 gigabit per second , about 40 times the national average .
“ Ten years ago , that town was kind of a ghost town , ” says Mr. Cooper .
“ When this network came into play , all of a sudden you had these really attractive prospects for companies.
” Within five years , Chattanooga , whose population stands at about 180,000 , had generated between 2,800 and 5,200 new jobs , according to a study by the utility , and its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new nickname : “ Gig City.
” Of course , having the option of purchasing high-speed internet is only part of the puzzle .
You also need to be able to afford it .
A recent study by the U.K. internet comparison site Cable found that prices in the United States , the country that created the internet , ranked 119th out of 195 nations , with an average internet package costing $ 67.69 a month .
The same package in Mexico , by comparison , costs $ 33.15 , and in Canada @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a sharp divide along racial and class lines over who has broadband ; one that , like all such divides , is becoming starker as the pandemic lockdown wears on .
According to a 2015 Pew report , just 54 % of black Americans and 50 % of Hispanic residents have broadband at home , compared with 72 % of their white counterparts .
According to the report , more Americans are relying on their smartphones to get online , which works fine for consuming content , but is difficult for , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We ’ re all participating in this mass experiment .
We ’ re shifting large amounts of our economy into this online world , ” says Mr. Cooper .
“ Without a doubt this crisis will show us pretty definitively the importance of broadband in the home.
” America ’ s digital divide is not just about access to technology , says Ms. West , but what she calls “ digital readiness , ” which she defines as “ the combination of skills , but also trust plus willingness ” to use technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , can you click a button ?
” she says .
“ It ’ s , do you understand how the systems work so that you can use the tools ?
” “ The skills are one set of things you teach people , ” says Ms. West .
“ But even if somebody told you how to do copy and paste , if you don ’ t know how to evaluate a website , or you don ’ t know how to go through all the hurdles of putting your credit card @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not-as-ready position to do the things you need to do.
” For students , the sudden shift to online learning can widen this gap .
Now , some students are having their education streamed to them on home computers in their parents ’ home offices , while others are making do with their phones in crowded apartments .
“ Education was in some ways the great leveler for a universal basic level of study , ” says Ms. West .
“ Everyone gets a clean bathroom and a meal they can afford and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less toward everybody.
” For Ms. Olsen , a librarian at the Lanpher Memorial Library in Hyde Park , Vermont , and the president of the Vermont Library Association , her lack of reliable internet access forced her family to make a wrenching choice : Her two children , students at the University of Vermont in Burlington , are spending the lockdown not back at home , but with friends who have broadband .
“ It was a hard decision , ” she says .
“ I can call , but I can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the lockdown drags on , a number of internet service providers are attempting to ensure access .
Comcast , for instance , has agreed not to disconnect anyone ’ s service or charge late fees .
Along with Charter Communications , the company has agreed to open free Wi-Fi hotspots across the country .
Comcast , Charter , and Spectrum are also offering free trial periods of 60 or 90 days to low-income households .
And , around the country , many school districts are repurposing their buses as mobile Wi-Fi hotspots , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connected .
“ It ’ s encouraging to see ISPs rising to the occasion , ” says Mr. Cooper .
“ The internet is no longer a luxury .
It ’ s really a prerequisite for participating in modern life.
” Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .

“It’s encouraging to see ISPs rising to the occasion,” says Tyler Cooper, editor-in-chief of BroadbandNow, a company that helps people find and compare internet service providers. “The internet is no longer a luxury. It’s really a prerequisite for participating in modern life.”
The result is a sharp divide along racial and class lines over who has broadband; one that, like many economic divides, is becoming starker as the pandemic wears on. As the lockdown continues, a number of internet service providers are taking steps to ensure access.
Turmoil has a way of underscoring the divide between the haves and have-nots. With much of the country staying home, many Americans have been able to shift their lives online – but some 42 million people cannot.
For some it is simply a matter of access, as broadband isn’t as ubiquitous in rural areas as it may seem in cities and suburbs. But having the option of purchasing high-speed internet is only part of the puzzle. You also need to be able to afford it.
As the coronavirus pandemic forces Americans out of their workplaces, classrooms, and social spaces, and into their homes, the internet has become, for many, the only link to society. But 42 million Americans don’t have access to high-speed internet.
When Amy Olsen wants to have a video chat with her family, she has to drive four miles to the parking lot of the Lowell, Vermont, town clerk to use the free Wi-Fi.
None of Lowell’s 879 or so residents have access to direct broadband service, according to BroadbandNow, a company that helps people find and compare internet service providers. The closest anyone there can get is “fixed wireless,” which uses outdoor directional antennas to broadcast radio signals to residential Wi-Fi gateways. But for that, you need to live close enough to an antenna. Ms. Olsen doesn’t.
Instead she uses a sluggish satellite connection, which is fine for sending email and downloading web pages, but not for much else. Video, she says, is “slow and bouncy.”
Why We Wrote This Turmoil has a way of underscoring the divide between the haves and have-nots. With much of the country staying home, many Americans have been able to shift their lives online – but some 42 million people cannot.
Ms. Olsen is far from alone. As endless social media feeds and YouTube videos emphasize that “We’re all in this together,” a huge swath of the population is finding itself digitally erased from the conversation. Some 42 million Americans, and a quarter of all rural residents, lack access to broadband, according to a February 2020 report from BroadbandNow. Even among those who live in places where broadband is offered, for many, it remains out of reach: Just 41% of households with incomes below $20,000 have broadband at home.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.
As the coronavirus pandemic forces Americans out of their workplaces, classrooms, and social spaces, and into their homes, the internet has become, for many, the only link to society. Amid a steady stream of news stories about teleconferencing, remote learning, and Netflix binging, those without reliable online access are finding themselves shut out.
“When you’re online and most of your people are online, it feels like we’re all online,” says Jessamyn West, a Vermont librarian who teaches people how to use computers. “But the whole world is bigger than what’s on the internet.”
On Monday, a bipartisan quartet of lawmakers urged Congress to include dedicated broadband funding for students and low-income families in the fourth coronavirus response package. In a letter to congressional leaders, two Republicans, Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Rep. Roger Marshall of Kansas, and two Democrats, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, wrote that, absent legislation, “small providers may be unable to continue to help ensure that the communities they serve can access distance learning and telehealth services.”
A vicious cycle
Several studies have demonstrated a strong link between broadband access and economic prosperity. An analysis conducted by Microsoft published last April found that U.S. counties with the highest unemployment also had the lowest broadband usage.
“Low-income areas tend to be more rural,” says Tyler Cooper, BroadbandNow’s editor-in-chief. “That creates sort of a vicious cycle.”
Keith Srakocic/AP View caption Hide caption Workers install fiber-optic high-speed internet cable, March 28, 2020, in East Palestine, Ohio. The workers said the installation is a continuation of scheduled work that started before the current COVID-19 outbreak.
Municipal broadband initiatives, however, can help turn this vicious cycle into a virtuous one. Mr. Cooper cites Chattanooga, Tennessee, where, in 2010, the city’s Electric Power Board began offering fiber-optic connections to all residents. Today, the city boasts download speeds of 1 gigabit per second, about 40 times the national average.
“Ten years ago, that town was kind of a ghost town,” says Mr. Cooper. “When this network came into play, all of a sudden you had these really attractive prospects for companies.”
Within five years, Chattanooga, whose population stands at about 180,000, had generated between 2,800 and 5,200 new jobs, according to a study by the utility, and its lightning-fast broadband speeds had earned it a new nickname: “Gig City.”
Of course, having the option of purchasing high-speed internet is only part of the puzzle. You also need to be able to afford it. A recent study by the U.K. internet comparison site Cable found that prices in the United States, the country that created the internet, ranked 119th out of 195 nations, with an average internet package costing $67.69 a month. The same package in Mexico, by comparison, costs $33.15, and in Canada it costs $34.86.
The result is a sharp divide along racial and class lines over who has broadband; one that, like all such divides, is becoming starker as the pandemic lockdown wears on. According to a 2015 Pew report, just 54% of black Americans and 50% of Hispanic residents have broadband at home, compared with 72% of their white counterparts. According to the report, more Americans are relying on their smartphones to get online, which works fine for consuming content, but is difficult for, say, composing a résumé.
“We’re all participating in this mass experiment. We’re shifting large amounts of our economy into this online world,” says Mr. Cooper. “Without a doubt this crisis will show us pretty definitively the importance of broadband in the home.”
Meg Kinnard/AP View caption Hide caption Wi-Fi-enabled school buses – like this one seen at an apartment complex in Winnsboro, South Carolina, on March 27, 2020 – are being sent to rural and lower-income areas around South Carolina to help homebound students with distance learning.
Prerequisite for modern life?
America’s digital divide is not just about access to technology, says Ms. West, but what she calls “digital readiness,” which she defines as “the combination of skills, but also trust plus willingness” to use technology.
“It’s not just, can you click a button?” she says. “It’s, do you understand how the systems work so that you can use the tools?”
“The skills are one set of things you teach people,” says Ms. West. “But even if somebody told you how to do copy and paste, if you don’t know how to evaluate a website, or you don’t know how to go through all the hurdles of putting your credit card online, you’re in a not-as-ready position to do the things you need to do.”
For students, the sudden shift to online learning can widen this gap. Now, some students are having their education streamed to them on home computers in their parents’ home offices, while others are making do with their phones in crowded apartments.
“Education was in some ways the great leveler for a universal basic level of study,” says Ms. West. “Everyone gets a clean bathroom and a meal they can afford and an education that is geared more or less toward everybody.”
For Ms. Olsen, a librarian at the Lanpher Memorial Library in Hyde Park, Vermont, and the president of the Vermont Library Association, her lack of reliable internet access forced her family to make a wrenching choice: Her two children, students at the University of Vermont in Burlington, are spending the lockdown not back at home, but with friends who have broadband.
“It was a hard decision,” she says. “I can call, but I can’t see their faces.”
As the lockdown drags on, a number of internet service providers are attempting to ensure access. Comcast, for instance, has agreed not to disconnect anyone’s service or charge late fees. Along with Charter Communications, the company has agreed to open free Wi-Fi hotspots across the country. Comcast, Charter, and Spectrum are also offering free trial periods of 60 or 90 days to low-income households. And, around the country, many school districts are repurposing their buses as mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, to help ensure that their students stay connected.
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“It’s encouraging to see ISPs rising to the occasion,” says Mr. Cooper. “The internet is no longer a luxury. It’s really a prerequisite for participating in modern life.”
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.


csmonitor--2020-04-09--A(n) historical take on the evolving use of a/an

Few people would disagree that the spread of the coronavirus is historic , having “ great and lasting importance.
” ( We hope that it will soon be historical , “ concerning past events , ” too . )
English speakers do disagree , though – sometimes vehemently – about how to use these two words with the indefinite articles a/an .
Is it “ a historic event ” or “ an historic event ” ?
And what ’ s behind the argument ?
The difficulty dates back to the Norman Conquest of England , in 1066 .
Before William @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chock-full of guttural h ’ s , as in the first word of the poem “ Beowulf ” : “ Hwaet !
” ( What ! )
The language of the conquerors , Norman French , was full of h ’ s , too , but only when written down .
Since it was descended from Latin , it often spelled words such as honour , humor , and herb with “ h ” as Latin had , even while it dropped the sound in pronunciation .
The French word for “ modest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was often written humble but pronounced “ umble.
” English adopted these words and continued to spell and say them the same way for hundreds of years .
In the late 19th century , Baron Aldenham , director of the Bank of England , complained when the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary dismissed his pronunciation of humour – “ yumour ” – as “ obsolete.
” Meanwhile , some dialects of English had dropped nearly all their h ’ s , not just those in words derived from French .
Such “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as terribly low class and ill-bred ; think of Eliza Doolittle in “ My Fair Lady.
” The Victorian middle classes adopted “ h ” as a way to differentiate themselves from the Elizas of the world , pronouncing the letter when it began a word .
Victorians got so “ h ” happy , though , that they started to hypercorrect , enunciating “ h ” wherever they found it , even in some of the French-derived words – hospital and hotel , for example .
Though the pronunciation and social significance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 19th century , our familiar rules for indefinite articles still applied .
If you aspirated “ h ” in hotel , it was “ a hotel , ” because we use “ a ” before consonant sounds .
If you dropped the “ h ” and said “ otel , ” you used “ an , ” since in that case the word begins with a vowel sound .
Not all French-derived words made the jump at the same time , however .
Many English people said “ an otel ” right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say “ an erb ” when talking about herbs .
Multisyllabic French-derived words like habitual , historical , and historic are laggards in this transition to the enunciated “ h. ” They are stressed on the second syllable , so that “ an historic ” rolls off the tongue more easily than “ a historic.
” A third of English speakers thus still write “ an ” with these words .

Few people would disagree that the spread of the coronavirus is historic, having “great and lasting importance.” (We hope that it will soon be historical, “concerning past events,” too.) English speakers do disagree, though – sometimes vehemently – about how to use these two words with the indefinite articles a/an. Is it “a historic event” or “an historic event”? And what’s behind the argument?
The difficulty dates back to the Norman Conquest of England, in 1066. Before William the Conqueror invaded, Old English was chock-full of guttural h’s, as in the first word of the poem “Beowulf”: “Hwaet!” (What!) The language of the conquerors, Norman French, was full of h’s, too, but only when written down. Since it was descended from Latin, it often spelled words such as honour, humor, and herb with “h” as Latin had, even while it dropped the sound in pronunciation. The French word for “modest or lowly,” for example, was often written humble but pronounced “umble.”
English adopted these words and continued to spell and say them the same way for hundreds of years. In the late 19th century, Baron Aldenham, director of the Bank of England, complained when the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary dismissed his pronunciation of humour – “yumour” – as “obsolete.” Meanwhile, some dialects of English had dropped nearly all their h’s, not just those in words derived from French. Such “h”-dropping came to be seen as terribly low class and ill-bred; think of Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady.”
The Victorian middle classes adopted “h” as a way to differentiate themselves from the Elizas of the world, pronouncing the letter when it began a word. Victorians got so “h” happy, though, that they started to hypercorrect, enunciating “h” wherever they found it, even in some of the French-derived words – hospital and hotel, for example.
Though the pronunciation and social significance of “h” changed radically in the 19th century, our familiar rules for indefinite articles still applied. If you aspirated “h” in hotel, it was “a hotel,” because we use “a” before consonant sounds. If you dropped the “h” and said “otel,” you used “an,” since in that case the word begins with a vowel sound.
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Not all French-derived words made the jump at the same time, however. Many English people said “an otel” right into the 1940s, and Americans still say “an erb” when talking about herbs.
Multisyllabic French-derived words like habitual, historical, and historic are laggards in this transition to the enunciated “h.” They are stressed on the second syllable, so that “an historic” rolls off the tongue more easily than “a historic.” A third of English speakers thus still write “an” with these words.


csmonitor--2020-04-29--Trust deficit: The roots of Russia’s standoff with the West

“ When you wonder why Putin often opposes the West , and Russians tend to support him , you need to see that side of it , ” says Yevgeny Bazhanov , a retired professor .
Western examples also soured Russian perspectives .
The 1999 war over Kosovo illustrated to Russians that NATO was not simply a defensive alliance .
The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent Middle East misadventures created the impression that the U.S. was an aggressor that didn ’ t know what it was doing .
The 2008 financial crash tarnished the U.S. economic model .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ what Russians see as historic wrongs inflicted by the West .
Western leaders gave Mikhail Gorbachev assurances NATO would not be expanded into the former Soviet sphere , but following the USSR ’ s demise , U.S. President Bill Clinton took office and adopted other plans .
It ’ s difficult to hold a conversation with any Russian foreign policy specialist today without getting dragged into arguments with the underlying assumption that the other side – be it Russia or the West – must change its behavior .
But most agree that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a relentless coronavirus pandemic , the replay of the Cold War is a serious obstacle to international efforts to stave off global disaster .
It was Dec. 25 , 1991 , when the USSR abruptly ceased to exist .
Just before midnight , the Soviet red hammer-and-sickle banner was pulled down from the Kremlin for the last time , and up fluttered an unfamiliar white-blue-red tricolor that proclaimed the birth – or rebirth – of Russia .
It was truly an inflection point .
The Soviet Union , the communist behemoth that had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order for decades , had simply evaporated .
It had already abandoned its Eastern European empire and dissolved its military alliance .
Now its rivalry with the United States , complete with a hostile anti-capitalist ideology , a costly nuclear arms race , and multiple proxy wars around the world , was gone .
Commentators hailed this not merely as an end to a divided world with its permanent threat of nuclear war , but as a chance to create an inclusive , ideology-free order that might improve the lot of all humankind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within reach thanks to the discovery , as the walls crumbled and the Cold War stereotypes receded , that most Russians were surprisingly , enthusiastically pro-Western .
Vladimir Pozner , an American-Russian who grew up in New York , then spent 30 years working in the bowels of the Soviet propaganda machine before becoming a TV personality in both the U.S. and Russia , recalls it as the most exhilarating moment of his life .
“ There was this emotional upsurge in the country .
People felt like they were coming out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he says .
“ Many of us thought , finally , we are going to become part of the world – as we always really wanted to be – be accepted , be participants .
It was a really enthralling vision.
” Things have , conspicuously , not turned out that way .
Tracking polls that showed Russians overwhelmingly pro-American in the 1990s now show majorities of Russians suspicious of the U.S .
Even though today ’ s Russia is a capitalist country , without an empire or an antagonistic ideology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as negative as they ever were toward the old USSR .
It ’ s difficult to hold a conversation with any Russian foreign policy specialist today without getting dragged into polemics : angry accusations , defensive responses , and the underlying assumption that the other side must change its behavior before a more constructive global order becomes feasible .
But most agree that , in a world facing common challenges like climate change , the persisting danger of nuclear conflict , and a relentless coronavirus pandemic , the replay of the Cold War @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to stave off global disaster .
Some even offer a few practical ideas for how Russia and the West might at least formulate some new priorities to minimize confrontation and maximize cooperation .
“ I do believe that most of the issues between us can be solved , not by one vanquishing the other , but by finding new terms of mutual acceptance , ” says Andrei Klimov , deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee of Russia ’ s upper house of parliament .
“ My dream is , maybe during my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politicians on both sides sit down together with a readiness to formulate pragmatic answers to the questions that vex our relationship.
” From the Russian perspective , the evolution of disillusionment with the West was a natural progression .
Alexei Gromyko , as director of the official Institute of Europe , often serves in an advisory role to today ’ s Russian leaders .
On an overcast afternoon in mid-March , the institute , an ornate 19th-century building near the Kremlin , was empty amid the beginnings of Russia ’ s coronavirus shutdown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office , willing to talk about how he sees East-West relations .
In his view , today ’ s inflamed geopolitical crisis was rooted in the post-Cold War failure to create a security system , primarily in Europe , that would fully include Russia .
Western leaders gave Mikhail Gorbachev strong verbal assurances NATO would not be expanded into the former Soviet sphere but , as Mr. Gromyko ruefully notes , Mr. Gorbachev failed to get that in writing .
Following the USSR ’ s demise , U.S. President Bill Clinton took office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was not lost on the Russians .
“ After the collapse of one pillar of the former bipolar world order , it became fashionable in the West to think that the world order could become unipolar , with the U.S. at the helm , ” he says .
“ In the 1990s , Russia descended into its worst crisis since 1917 .
It not only ceased to be a superpower , it suffered political , economic , and social collapse as well .
It was not even clear that Russia would survive physically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interests and views didn ’ t matter anymore , Clinton made the decision to enlarge NATO to the east.
” “ But just because Russia couldn ’ t do anything about it at the time doesn ’ t mean that we accepted it .
We never did .
Since then the process of NATO expansion has been unstoppable , and so has the subsequent chain of events.
” The Western alliance has since taken in all of the former Soviet Union ’ s Warsaw Pact allies , as well as the three former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Russians signaled repeatedly to Western counterparts that inducting Ukraine or Georgia into the alliance would be a red line .
At its 2008 Bucharest Summit , NATO shelved those countries ’ applications , but issued a statement insisting they would eventually join .
A few months later Georgia attacked the Russian-backed statelet of South Ossetia , which belongs to Georgia but had de facto independence since the early ’ 90s .
Russia staged a military intervention and drove Georgian forces back .
In early 2014 , after a disorderly change of power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Russia again intervened , seizing the Crimean Peninsula – where the main base for Russia ’ s Black Sea naval fleet is located – and orchestrating a referendum in which Crimeans voted to join Russia .
Moscow subsequently stirred up , armed , and gave military support to anti-Kyiv separatists in Ukraine ’ s east .
Mr. Gromyko insists Russia has nothing to apologize for .
The idea of Ukraine joining NATO is as unthinkable for Moscow as , say , Mexico joining a Chinese-led military alliance would be for Washington , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not that we view NATO as an existential threat right now , ” he says .
“ But Russia can not accept that a country next door would be a member of a military alliance that is hostile to Russia , ” he says .
“ We are not opposed to Ukraine being democratic .
It ’ s fine with us if a neighbor has a different political and social system .
But not a member of an adversarial bloc .
Security is the central issue.
” He says that , at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NATO expansion has reached its natural limit .
If that can be formalized , he suggests , it might ease the standoff over Ukraine and lead to wider negotiations for a more stable security order in Europe .
But he is not optimistic about relations with the U.S. Only one of the Cold War-era networks of nuclear arms-control agreements remains in force , and it will soon expire .
And the U.S. keeps ramping up sanctions .
“ Even if we have a breakthrough on Ukraine tomorrow , we are quite sure that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Mr. Gromyko says .
“ Sanctions have taken on a life of their own , and new ones have no direct connection with the situation between Ukraine and Russia.
” Sanctions have also hastened Russia ’ s drift into China ’ s strategic and economic embrace .
But the pivot wasn ’ t just about the Kremlin ’ s desire to show the West it has alternatives , say Russian experts .
“ The process of strengthening ties with China has been going on since 1989 , ” says Mr. Klimov .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ current crisis.
” The public ’ s view of Russia ’ s standoff with the West is not well covered , and the story gets told in the voices of political leaders .
But Russian experts note that Russians ’ disenchantment with their system played a role in the USSR ’ s collapse , while the widespread perception of the West as a superior civilization conditioned the pro-American orientation of Boris Yeltsin ’ s post-Soviet government .
Yevgeny Bazhanov , now retired , was a longtime professor and for some years the rector @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russian diplomats .
He recalls watching students over the years morph from admirers of the West into hardened critics .
That tendency was informed by the examples they perceived the U.S. setting , he says .
“ You can blame Putin , or some kind of Russian stubbornness , but that wasn ’ t the main thing , ” he says .
“ In the early ’ 90s we wanted to be a prosperous , democratic country , and the West was the model for our development .
But reforms enacted on Western @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
People started to believe that the West didn ’ t want Russia to succeed .
It looked like the U.S. wanted Russia to become a junior partner , like Germany or the U.K .
But most Russians wanted to follow an independent policy , to be friends and partners with the West , but to be ourselves.
” He says several events led many Russians to question not only the idea of U.S. leadership , but competence .
The 1999 war over Kosovo illustrated to them that NATO was not simply a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Iraq , and subsequent Middle East misadventures , created the impression the U.S. was an aggressor , and one that didn ’ t seem to know what it was doing .
The 2008 financial crash tarnished the U.S. economic model .
“ When you wonder why Putin often opposes the West , and Russians tend to support him , you need to see that side of it , ” says Mr. Bazhanov .
“ Citizen diplomacy ” might be the best antidote to the war of words , says Mr. Pozner .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ respect .
For the past three years he has given lectures at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies , in Monterey , California , addressing mainly Russia-studies students , but also holding events with wider audiences .
He travels Russia to give public talks , and hosts one of the most popular public affairs shows on state TV .
“ Sometimes Americans ask me , how can you live with your government when it does things like poisoning the Skripals , or interfering in our elections ?
I answer that , like most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russian secret services are doing , but I am dubious about these accusations , ” Mr. Pozner says .
“ In Russia , people are long accustomed to our authorities blaming the ‘ foreign hand ’ when things go wrong .
It ’ s convenient because it displaces blame and tars critics with enemy associations .
I ’ m sorry , I just don ’ t believe that anything Russia did could have swayed an American election .
It ’ s a bit depressing to hear Americans talking like this , as if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and uncritically believing something their secret services tell them.
” During the 1980s Mr. Pozner took part in “ Space Bridge ” programs that brought ordinary Americans together with Soviets over a satellite link , and let them converse .
“ The whole Cold War mood simply evaporated as they started comparing their lives , their hopes , talking about their families , even emptying their handbags to show each other what kind of stuff they had .
The real Cold War disappeared shortly thereafter .
I am convinced that if you get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not become friends but they will find terms of coexistence , ” he says .
It ’ s hard to guess at the future .
Most Russian experts agree the coronavirus pandemic is an urgent global wake-up call , and fostering international cooperation an existential issue .
But before Russia and the West can establish areas of cooperation , it is probably necessary to address the gaping “ trust deficit , ” or the urge to see everything the other side does through a dark prism .
An example is Russia ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the U.S. , during the pandemic ’ s worst days .
What might have been greeted as a good deed – albeit with the ulterior motives that usually apply with aid – was almost universally treated in Western media as a propaganda ploy and an attempt to disrupt European unity .
“ During the old Cold War , the West was genuinely united and self-confident .
They not only claimed to be right , they were fully convinced of it , ” says Fyodor Lukyanov , editor of Russia in Global @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Today , many Western countries face deep internal discord and uncertainty .
There are serious strains within the alliance .
“ I believe this urge to disproportionately blame Russia comes from that new place of insecurity and lack of confidence .
I doubt there is much we can do to change this atmosphere of acrimony and recrimination until they start to fix their own problems .
Amid this crisis we all need to work on that , and Russia too will need to change itself to survive .
Maybe after we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of dialogue .
”

“When you wonder why Putin often opposes the West, and Russians tend to support him, you need to see that side of it,” says Yevgeny Bazhanov, a retired professor.
Western examples also soured Russian perspectives. The 1999 war over Kosovo illustrated to Russians that NATO was not simply a defensive alliance. The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent Middle East misadventures created the impression that the U.S. was an aggressor that didn’t know what it was doing. The 2008 financial crash tarnished the U.S. economic model.
Why are U.S.-Russia relations still so fueled by suspicion – and still fueling global turmoil? The Russian view, rarely heard in the West, begins with post-Soviet hopes that crumbled as desires for the new era went disregarded. Part 6 of our series “ Navigating Uncertainty .”
Defanging the hostility in part requires understanding what Russians see as historic wrongs inflicted by the West. Western leaders gave Mikhail Gorbachev assurances NATO would not be expanded into the former Soviet sphere, but following the USSR’s demise, U.S. President Bill Clinton took office and adopted other plans.
It’s difficult to hold a conversation with any Russian foreign policy specialist today without getting dragged into arguments with the underlying assumption that the other side – be it Russia or the West – must change its behavior. But most agree that, in a world facing common challenges including a relentless coronavirus pandemic, the replay of the Cold War is a serious obstacle to international efforts to stave off global disaster.
It was Dec. 25, 1991, when the USSR abruptly ceased to exist.
Just before midnight, the Soviet red hammer-and-sickle banner was pulled down from the Kremlin for the last time, and up fluttered an unfamiliar white-blue-red tricolor that proclaimed the birth – or rebirth – of Russia.
It was truly an inflection point. The Soviet Union, the communist behemoth that had defined one pole of a binary world order for decades, had simply evaporated. It had already abandoned its Eastern European empire and dissolved its military alliance. Now its rivalry with the United States, complete with a hostile anti-capitalist ideology, a costly nuclear arms race, and multiple proxy wars around the world, was gone.
Why We Wrote This Why are U.S.-Russia relations still so fueled by suspicion – and still fueling global turmoil? The Russian view, rarely heard in the West, begins with post-Soviet hopes that crumbled as desires for the new era went disregarded. Part 6 of our series “Navigating Uncertainty.”
Commentators hailed this not merely as an end to a divided world with its permanent threat of nuclear war, but as a chance to create an inclusive, ideology-free order that might improve the lot of all humankind.
It was a world that seemed within reach thanks to the discovery, as the walls crumbled and the Cold War stereotypes receded, that most Russians were surprisingly, enthusiastically pro-Western. Vladimir Pozner, an American-Russian who grew up in New York, then spent 30 years working in the bowels of the Soviet propaganda machine before becoming a TV personality in both the U.S. and Russia, recalls it as the most exhilarating moment of his life.
“There was this emotional upsurge in the country. People felt like they were coming out of a cocoon after a very long time,” he says. “Many of us thought, finally, we are going to become part of the world – as we always really wanted to be – be accepted, be participants. It was a really enthralling vision.”
Things have, conspicuously, not turned out that way. Tracking polls that showed Russians overwhelmingly pro-American in the 1990s now show majorities of Russians suspicious of the U.S. Even though today’s Russia is a capitalist country, without an empire or an antagonistic ideology, American attitudes toward Russia have turned as negative as they ever were toward the old USSR.
It’s difficult to hold a conversation with any Russian foreign policy specialist today without getting dragged into polemics: angry accusations, defensive responses, and the underlying assumption that the other side must change its behavior before a more constructive global order becomes feasible.
But most agree that, in a world facing common challenges like climate change, the persisting danger of nuclear conflict, and a relentless coronavirus pandemic, the replay of the Cold War is a serious obstacle to international efforts to stave off global disaster. Some even offer a few practical ideas for how Russia and the West might at least formulate some new priorities to minimize confrontation and maximize cooperation.
“I do believe that most of the issues between us can be solved, not by one vanquishing the other, but by finding new terms of mutual acceptance,” says Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament. “My dream is, maybe during my lifetime, that we will see normal politicians on both sides sit down together with a readiness to formulate pragmatic answers to the questions that vex our relationship.”
A Russia ignored
From the Russian perspective, the evolution of disillusionment with the West was a natural progression.
Alexei Gromyko, as director of the official Institute of Europe, often serves in an advisory role to today’s Russian leaders. On an overcast afternoon in mid-March, the institute, an ornate 19th-century building near the Kremlin, was empty amid the beginnings of Russia’s coronavirus shutdown. But Mr. Gromyko was in his office, willing to talk about how he sees East-West relations.
In his view, today’s inflamed geopolitical crisis was rooted in the post-Cold War failure to create a security system, primarily in Europe, that would fully include Russia. Western leaders gave Mikhail Gorbachev strong verbal assurances NATO would not be expanded into the former Soviet sphere but, as Mr. Gromyko ruefully notes, Mr. Gorbachev failed to get that in writing. Following the USSR’s demise, U.S. President Bill Clinton took office and adopted other plans. That lesson was not lost on the Russians.
“After the collapse of one pillar of the former bipolar world order, it became fashionable in the West to think that the world order could become unipolar, with the U.S. at the helm,” he says. “In the 1990s, Russia descended into its worst crisis since 1917. It not only ceased to be a superpower, it suffered political, economic, and social collapse as well. It was not even clear that Russia would survive physically. So, perhaps believing that Russian interests and views didn’t matter anymore, Clinton made the decision to enlarge NATO to the east.”
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File View caption Hide caption Under Mikhail Gorbachev, Russians exercise their freedom of expression during a demonstration in Manyezh Square in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, in July 1990. The demo is anti-Communist, pro-democracy.
“But just because Russia couldn’t do anything about it at the time doesn’t mean that we accepted it. We never did. Since then the process of NATO expansion has been unstoppable, and so has the subsequent chain of events.”
The Western alliance has since taken in all of the former Soviet Union’s Warsaw Pact allies, as well as the three former Soviet Baltic republics. Mr. Gromyko says the Russians signaled repeatedly to Western counterparts that inducting Ukraine or Georgia into the alliance would be a red line. At its 2008 Bucharest Summit, NATO shelved those countries’ applications, but issued a statement insisting they would eventually join.
A few months later Georgia attacked the Russian-backed statelet of South Ossetia, which belongs to Georgia but had de facto independence since the early ’90s. Russia staged a military intervention and drove Georgian forces back.
In early 2014, after a disorderly change of power in Kyiv brought pro-Western nationalists to power, Russia again intervened, seizing the Crimean Peninsula – where the main base for Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet is located – and orchestrating a referendum in which Crimeans voted to join Russia. Moscow subsequently stirred up, armed, and gave military support to anti-Kyiv separatists in Ukraine’s east.
Mr. Gromyko insists Russia has nothing to apologize for. The idea of Ukraine joining NATO is as unthinkable for Moscow as, say, Mexico joining a Chinese-led military alliance would be for Washington, he suggests.
“It’s not that we view NATO as an existential threat right now,” he says. “But Russia cannot accept that a country next door would be a member of a military alliance that is hostile to Russia,” he says. “We are not opposed to Ukraine being democratic. It’s fine with us if a neighbor has a different political and social system. But not a member of an adversarial bloc. Security is the central issue.”
He says that, at least in Europe, people have concluded that NATO expansion has reached its natural limit. If that can be formalized, he suggests, it might ease the standoff over Ukraine and lead to wider negotiations for a more stable security order in Europe.
But he is not optimistic about relations with the U.S. Only one of the Cold War-era networks of nuclear arms-control agreements remains in force, and it will soon expire. And the U.S. keeps ramping up sanctions.
“Even if we have a breakthrough on Ukraine tomorrow, we are quite sure that U.S. sanctions will not be lifted,” Mr. Gromyko says. “Sanctions have taken on a life of their own, and new ones have no direct connection with the situation between Ukraine and Russia.”
Sanctions have also hastened Russia’s drift into China’s strategic and economic embrace. But the pivot wasn’t just about the Kremlin’s desire to show the West it has alternatives, say Russian experts. “The process of strengthening ties with China has been going on since 1989,” says Mr. Klimov. “That ship sailed well before the current crisis.”
Watching the Western example
The public’s view of Russia’s standoff with the West is not well covered, and the story gets told in the voices of political leaders. But Russian experts note that Russians’ disenchantment with their system played a role in the USSR’s collapse, while the widespread perception of the West as a superior civilization conditioned the pro-American orientation of Boris Yeltsin’s post-Soviet government.
Yevgeny Bazhanov, now retired, was a longtime professor and for some years the rector of the Diplomatic Academy, which trains Russian diplomats. He recalls watching students over the years morph from admirers of the West into hardened critics. That tendency was informed by the examples they perceived the U.S. setting, he says.
“You can blame Putin, or some kind of Russian stubbornness, but that wasn’t the main thing,” he says. “In the early ’90s we wanted to be a prosperous, democratic country, and the West was the model for our development. But reforms enacted on Western advice produced economic disaster and mass misery. People started to believe that the West didn’t want Russia to succeed. It looked like the U.S. wanted Russia to become a junior partner, like Germany or the U.K. But most Russians wanted to follow an independent policy, to be friends and partners with the West, but to be ourselves.”
He says several events led many Russians to question not only the idea of U.S. leadership, but competence. The 1999 war over Kosovo illustrated to them that NATO was not simply a defensive alliance. The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and subsequent Middle East misadventures, created the impression the U.S. was an aggressor, and one that didn’t seem to know what it was doing. The 2008 financial crash tarnished the U.S. economic model.
“When you wonder why Putin often opposes the West, and Russians tend to support him, you need to see that side of it,” says Mr. Bazhanov.
“Citizen diplomacy” might be the best antidote to the war of words, says Mr. Pozner. He may be uniquely qualified in that respect. For the past three years he has given lectures at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, in Monterey, California, addressing mainly Russia-studies students, but also holding events with wider audiences. He travels Russia to give public talks, and hosts one of the most popular public affairs shows on state TV.
“Sometimes Americans ask me, how can you live with your government when it does things like poisoning the Skripals, or interfering in our elections? I answer that, like most Russians, I have no idea what Russian secret services are doing, but I am dubious about these accusations,” Mr. Pozner says. “In Russia, people are long accustomed to our authorities blaming the ‘foreign hand’ when things go wrong. It’s convenient because it displaces blame and tars critics with enemy associations. I’m sorry, I just don’t believe that anything Russia did could have swayed an American election. It’s a bit depressing to hear Americans talking like this, as if they were in the Soviet Union, and uncritically believing something their secret services tell them.”
During the 1980s Mr. Pozner took part in “Space Bridge” programs that brought ordinary Americans together with Soviets over a satellite link, and let them converse.
“The whole Cold War mood simply evaporated as they started comparing their lives, their hopes, talking about their families, even emptying their handbags to show each other what kind of stuff they had. The real Cold War disappeared shortly thereafter. I am convinced that if you get people together to dialogue, they may not become friends but they will find terms of coexistence,” he says.
The “trust deficit”
It’s hard to guess at the future. Most Russian experts agree the coronavirus pandemic is an urgent global wake-up call, and fostering international cooperation an existential issue.
But before Russia and the West can establish areas of cooperation, it is probably necessary to address the gaping “trust deficit,” or the urge to see everything the other side does through a dark prism. An example is Russia’s efforts to provide coronavirus assistance to Italy, and the U.S., during the pandemic’s worst days. What might have been greeted as a good deed – albeit with the ulterior motives that usually apply with aid – was almost universally treated in Western media as a propaganda ploy and an attempt to disrupt European unity.
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“During the old Cold War, the West was genuinely united and self-confident. They not only claimed to be right, they were fully convinced of it,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a Moscow-based foreign policy journal. “Today, many Western countries face deep internal discord and uncertainty. There are serious strains within the alliance.
“I believe this urge to disproportionately blame Russia comes from that new place of insecurity and lack of confidence. I doubt there is much we can do to change this atmosphere of acrimony and recrimination until they start to fix their own problems. Amid this crisis we all need to work on that, and Russia too will need to change itself to survive. Maybe after we come through this we can find modes of dialogue.”


csmonitor--2020-04-07--Party crashers or tech terrorists? New hackers target Zoom.

Ceri Weber had just begun to defend her dissertation when the chaos began : Echoes and voices interrupted her .
Someone parroted her words .
Then Britney Spears music came on , and someone told Ms. Weber to shut up .
Someone threatened to rape her .
Hackers had targeted the meeting on the video conference platform Zoom while Ms. Weber was completing the final step of her doctoral degree at Duke University .
The harassment lasted 10 minutes – the result of an increasingly common form of cyberattack known as `` Zoom bombing . ''
As tens of millions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stay connected during the coronavirus pandemic , many have reported uninvited guests who make threats , interject racist , anti-gay , or anti-Semitic messages , or show pornographic images .
The attacks have drawn the attention of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies .
`` It seemed like someone was just being silly , '' but then the intrusions `` started to get more serious and threatening , '' Ms. Weber recalled .
`` I was really in the zone and kept presenting . ''
She said she was more concerned about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been scared .
She was interrupted despite having selected `` mute all '' in the settings for the meeting she conducted from her home in Durham , North Carolina .
A Massachusetts high school reported that someone interrupted a virtual class on Zoom , yelled profanity , and revealed the teacher 's home address .
Another school in that state reported a person who accessed a meeting and showed swastika tattoos , according to the FBI .
The agency 's field office in Boston recommended that users of video-teleconference platforms prioritize their security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over screen-sharing features and meeting invitations .
In New York , Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to Zoom with questions about how users ' privacy and security are being protected .
In a separate later , Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sought information about how the company handles users ' personal data and guards against security threats and abuse .
Zoom has referred to trolls as `` party crashers , '' which some critics have taken as a sign the company is downplaying the attacks .
In a statement issued last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Press it takes the security of meetings seriously and encourages users to report any incidents directly to Zoom .
The company suggested that people hosting large , public meetings confirm that they are the only ones who can share their screen and use features like mute controls .
`` For those hosting private meetings , password protections are on by default , and we recommend that users keep those protections on to prevent uninvited users from joining , '' the company said .
Zoom recently updated the default screen-sharing settings for education users @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only ones who can share content .
Despite the update , Nevada 's Clark County School District , which includes all public schools in Las Vegas , and the New York City Department of Education , which is responsible for the largest school district in the U.S. , have told teachers to stop using Zoom .
Zoom-bombing was always a threat given how the video conferencing app was configured – geared more toward user-friendliness than privacy , said Justin Brookman , director of privacy and technology policy at Consumer Reports .
When shelter-at-home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for tens of millions of families , it became a juicy target for mischief , he said .
For years , `` the usability issues outweighed the potential security issues because society was less reliant on them .
Obviously , that has changed dramatically over the last month , '' Mr. Brookman added .
Some Zoom-bombers have been able to randomly guess meeting IDs and crash conferences not configured to keep out interlopers , he said .
In other cases , inexperienced users have exposed meeting IDs online , including U.K. Prime Minister @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a Zoom Cabinet meeting that showed the ID and everyone 's screen name .
Mr. Brookman said Zoom can do more to boost privacy protections for a massive user base that now ranges from elementary school children to senior citizens discussing their wills with attorneys .
`` A lot of people , including us , are critical of how they enable hosts to surveil users to make sure they are paying attention to the screen , or reading DMs , or recording the call when it 's not entirely clear , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Georgia told a local TV station that her son was `` embarrassed and a little hysterical '' after someone hacked into his online class and showed pornography to the children and teacher .
The Rev .
Jason Wells was holding a publicly advertised forum recently on Zoom when a troll entered and used the chat box to post a racial slur so many times that it made the feature unusable for other participants .
`` I would not say this was a random vandal hoping to interrupt somebody , '' said Mr. Wells @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New Hampshire Council of Churches in Concord and co-chair of a state chapter of the Poor People 's Campaign , part of a movement pioneered by the Rev .
Martin Luther King Jr .
The intruder was eventually removed and blocked .
As the Rev .
Laura Everett delivered a sermon via Zoom for Boston 's First Baptist Church , a user who had seen the church service advertised entered the video conferencing session and shouted homophobic and racist slurs .
Ms. Everett said she had tweeted the link to the sermon because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ church to be open to every weary soul who is looking for a word of comfort . ''
That 's where the tension arises : Zoom meetings can be password protected so only those who know the password can enter .
But if the church doors are open to all , how can you require a password ?
`` This was , for all intents and purposes , a house of worship that was violated , '' she said .
`` Zoom and every other business bears the primary responsibility for users ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Malachi Garza reported an attack on a Zoom conference she hosted for roughly 200 participants , including formerly incarcerated people who have experience with solitary confinement and are struggling with the pandemic 's stay-home orders .
The conference organized by the philanthropic Solidare Network was interrupted by racist , anti-transgender language , and pornographic images were flashed on a shared screen .
Zoom needs to `` tell the truth and call this what it really is , '' Mr. Garza said .
`` It 's racial terror , not party crashers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Associated Press .
Mr. Morrison reported from New York .
AP Technology Writer Frank Bajak in Boston also contributed to this report .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ s free .

Ceri Weber had just begun to defend her dissertation when the chaos began: Echoes and voices interrupted her. Someone parroted her words. Then Britney Spears music came on, and someone told Ms. Weber to shut up. Someone threatened to rape her.
Hackers had targeted the meeting on the video conference platform Zoom while Ms. Weber was completing the final step of her doctoral degree at Duke University. The harassment lasted 10 minutes – the result of an increasingly common form of cyberattack known as "Zoom bombing."
As tens of millions of people turn to video conferencing to stay connected during the coronavirus pandemic, many have reported uninvited guests who make threats, interject racist, anti-gay, or anti-Semitic messages, or show pornographic images. The attacks have drawn the attention of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
"It seemed like someone was just being silly," but then the intrusions "started to get more serious and threatening," Ms. Weber recalled. "I was really in the zone and kept presenting." She said she was more concerned about others in the chat who could have been scared. She was interrupted despite having selected "mute all" in the settings for the meeting she conducted from her home in Durham, North Carolina.
A Massachusetts high school reported that someone interrupted a virtual class on Zoom, yelled profanity, and revealed the teacher's home address. Another school in that state reported a person who accessed a meeting and showed swastika tattoos, according to the FBI.
The agency's field office in Boston recommended that users of video-teleconference platforms prioritize their security by ensuring that hosts have sole control over screen-sharing features and meeting invitations.
In New York, Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to Zoom with questions about how users' privacy and security are being protected. In a separate later, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sought information about how the company handles users' personal data and guards against security threats and abuse.
Zoom has referred to trolls as "party crashers," which some critics have taken as a sign the company is downplaying the attacks.
In a statement issued last week, the company told The Associated Press it takes the security of meetings seriously and encourages users to report any incidents directly to Zoom. The company suggested that people hosting large, public meetings confirm that they are the only ones who can share their screen and use features like mute controls.
"For those hosting private meetings, password protections are on by default, and we recommend that users keep those protections on to prevent uninvited users from joining," the company said. Zoom recently updated the default screen-sharing settings for education users so that teachers are by default the only ones who can share content.
Despite the update, Nevada's Clark County School District, which includes all public schools in Las Vegas, and the New York City Department of Education, which is responsible for the largest school district in the U.S., have told teachers to stop using Zoom.
Zoom-bombing was always a threat given how the video conferencing app was configured – geared more toward user-friendliness than privacy, said Justin Brookman, director of privacy and technology policy at Consumer Reports.
When shelter-at-home mandates suddenly converted Zoom into a lifeline for tens of millions of families, it became a juicy target for mischief, he said.
For years, "the usability issues outweighed the potential security issues because society was less reliant on them. Obviously, that has changed dramatically over the last month," Mr. Brookman added.
Some Zoom-bombers have been able to randomly guess meeting IDs and crash conferences not configured to keep out interlopers, he said.
In other cases, inexperienced users have exposed meeting IDs online, including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who tweeted a screenshot of a Zoom Cabinet meeting that showed the ID and everyone's screen name.
Mr. Brookman said Zoom can do more to boost privacy protections for a massive user base that now ranges from elementary school children to senior citizens discussing their wills with attorneys.
"A lot of people, including us, are critical of how they enable hosts to surveil users to make sure they are paying attention to the screen, or reading DMs, or recording the call when it's not entirely clear," Mr. Brookman said.
A mother in Georgia told a local TV station that her son was "embarrassed and a little hysterical" after someone hacked into his online class and showed pornography to the children and teacher.
The Rev. Jason Wells was holding a publicly advertised forum recently on Zoom when a troll entered and used the chat box to post a racial slur so many times that it made the feature unusable for other participants.
"I would not say this was a random vandal hoping to interrupt somebody," said Mr. Wells, who is executive director of the New Hampshire Council of Churches in Concord and co-chair of a state chapter of the Poor People's Campaign, part of a movement pioneered by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The intruder was eventually removed and blocked.
As the Rev. Laura Everett delivered a sermon via Zoom for Boston's First Baptist Church, a user who had seen the church service advertised entered the video conferencing session and shouted homophobic and racist slurs. Ms. Everett said she had tweeted the link to the sermon because she wanted "the doors of the church to be open to every weary soul who is looking for a word of comfort."
That's where the tension arises: Zoom meetings can be password protected so only those who know the password can enter. But if the church doors are open to all, how can you require a password?
"This was, for all intents and purposes, a house of worship that was violated," she said. "Zoom and every other business bears the primary responsibility for users' safety."
In Oakland, California, Malachi Garza reported an attack on a Zoom conference she hosted for roughly 200 participants, including formerly incarcerated people who have experience with solitary confinement and are struggling with the pandemic's stay-home orders.
The conference organized by the philanthropic Solidare Network was interrupted by racist, anti-transgender language, and pornographic images were flashed on a shared screen.
Zoom needs to "tell the truth and call this what it really is," Mr. Garza said. "It's racial terror, not party crashers."
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
This story was reported by The Associated Press. Mr. Morrison reported from New York. AP Technology Writer Frank Bajak in Boston also contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It’s free.


csmonitor--2020-04-08--Home theater: Hunker down with films starring Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart was my favorite actor when I was a kid growing up in the 1960s .
I had a big poster of him from “ Casablanca ” taped to my bedroom wall , and I would unfailingly set my alarm clock to catch his old movies on late-night television .
He was a tough guy – a prerequisite in a movie star for me in those days .
It wasn ’ t until later that I discovered he came from a moneyed family and attended a ritzy prep school .
And what kind of name for a tough guy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is apparently a myth , however , that Bogie , in a bit role on Broadway , spoke the line “ Tennis , anyone ?
” Whew !
Bogart is still my favorite actor , which is why I wanted to offer him up this week for some much-needed movie balm .
The truth is , he was always much more than a tough guy in the movies , even when he was playing a tough guy , which was often .
His gangsters and private detectives and outlaws were never routine : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dark wit , even a sadness .
His first great performance was in Raoul Walsh ’ s “ High Sierra ” in 1941 , where , opposite Ida Lupino , he played Roy Earle , a soulful gangster past his prime .
The performance was unlike anything the crime genre had featured before .
Later that year he appeared as Sam Spade in his big breakthrough , “ The Maltese Falcon , ” inaugurating a long and celebrated collaboration with its writer-director , John Huston .
Editor ’ s note : As a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is free .
No paywall .
For those who think Bogart lacked versatility , I recommend two of his best Huston films , “ The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ” and “ The African Queen.
” The roles could not be further apart .
In “ The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ” ( 1948 ) , one of the greatest American movies ever made , Bogart plays Fred C. Dobbs , one of a trio of prospectors – the others are played by Tim Holt and , indelibly , John ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are torn apart by greed after discovering gold in the Mexican mountains .
There was often a slightly menacing edge to even Bogart ’ s most sympathetic characters – think of Rick in “ Casablanca.
” In “ Sierra Madre , ” Bogart gives a classic portrayal of mounting paranoia that presaged his work as Captain Queeg in “ The Caine Mutiny.
” When Bogart boasts that “ Nobody puts one over on Fred C. Dobbs , ” his self-delusion crackles .
( Unrated ) As Charlie Allnutt , the scruffy tramp steamer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 1951 ) , Bogart is playing opposite Katharine Hepburn ’ s Rose , a priggish British spinster missionary with whom he escapes downriver from the Germans in the run-up to World War I .
Thrown together by fate , Charlie and Rose are perhaps the greatest odd couple in movie history .
She can barely tolerate this cigar-chomping river rat – a tipoff , of course , that they are made for each other .
Bogart is at his funniest in this film .
( He won the Oscar for best actor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ innocent , Charlie ’ s slovenly cluelessness is supremely endearing .
He just wants to do right by “ Rosie , ” and when she finally comes around , it ’ s as if the skies parted .
Hepburn is at her comic best here , too .
Reportedly , while on location in Africa , she had big trouble figuring out how to play the character .
Finally Huston told her to play Rosie as if she were Eleanor Roosevelt , and from then on it was literally smooth sailing .
Hepburn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ piece of direction she ever got .
( Rated PG ) Howard Hawks ’ “ The Big Sleep ” ( 1946 ) has Bogart in one of his most entertainingly iconic performances as Raymond Chandler ’ s hard-boiled private eye Philip Marlowe .
It was his second film playing opposite Lauren Bacall – the first was “ To Have and Have Not ” two years earlier – and the smoke coming off the screen isn ’ t only from cigarettes .
( They were married six months after shooting ended . )
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little sense .
When Hawks and his co-screenwriters ( one of whom was William Faulkner ) asked Chandler for clarification , he apparently wasn ’ t much help .
But what “ The Big Sleep ” demonstrates is that if a movie is as endlessly enjoyable as this one , who needs sense ?
Bogie and Bacall had a logic all their own .
( Unrated ) These films are available to rent on Amazon ’ s Prime Video , YouTube , Google Play , and iTunes .

Humphrey Bogart was my favorite actor when I was a kid growing up in the 1960s. I had a big poster of him from “Casablanca” taped to my bedroom wall, and I would unfailingly set my alarm clock to catch his old movies on late-night television. He was a tough guy – a prerequisite in a movie star for me in those days. It wasn’t until later that I discovered he came from a moneyed family and attended a ritzy prep school. And what kind of name for a tough guy is “Humphrey” anyway? It is apparently a myth, however, that Bogie, in a bit role on Broadway, spoke the line “Tennis, anyone?” Whew!
Bogart is still my favorite actor, which is why I wanted to offer him up this week for some much-needed movie balm. The truth is, he was always much more than a tough guy in the movies, even when he was playing a tough guy, which was often. His gangsters and private detectives and outlaws were never routine: They had a sly knowingness, a dark wit, even a sadness. His first great performance was in Raoul Walsh’s “High Sierra” in 1941, where, opposite Ida Lupino, he played Roy Earle, a soulful gangster past his prime. The performance was unlike anything the crime genre had featured before. Later that year he appeared as Sam Spade in his big breakthrough, “The Maltese Falcon,” inaugurating a long and celebrated collaboration with its writer-director, John Huston.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.
Why We Wrote This Film critic Peter Rainer used to have a poster of Humphrey Bogart on his wall as a teen. “Bogart is still my favorite actor,” he says, “which is why I wanted to offer him up this week for some much-needed movie balm.”
For those who think Bogart lacked versatility, I recommend two of his best Huston films, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and “The African Queen.” The roles could not be further apart.
“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”
In “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948), one of the greatest American movies ever made, Bogart plays Fred C. Dobbs, one of a trio of prospectors – the others are played by Tim Holt and, indelibly, John’s father, Walter Huston – who are torn apart by greed after discovering gold in the Mexican mountains. There was often a slightly menacing edge to even Bogart’s most sympathetic characters – think of Rick in “Casablanca.” In “Sierra Madre,” Bogart gives a classic portrayal of mounting paranoia that presaged his work as Captain Queeg in “The Caine Mutiny.” When Bogart boasts that “Nobody puts one over on Fred C. Dobbs,” his self-delusion crackles. (Unrated)
“The African Queen”
As Charlie Allnutt, the scruffy tramp steamer captain in “The African Queen” (1951), Bogart is playing opposite Katharine Hepburn’s Rose, a priggish British spinster missionary with whom he escapes downriver from the Germans in the run-up to World War I. Thrown together by fate, Charlie and Rose are perhaps the greatest odd couple in movie history. She can barely tolerate this cigar-chomping river rat – a tipoff, of course, that they are made for each other. Bogart is at his funniest in this film. (He won the Oscar for best actor.) Because he is a total innocent, Charlie’s slovenly cluelessness is supremely endearing. He just wants to do right by “Rosie,” and when she finally comes around, it’s as if the skies parted. Hepburn is at her comic best here, too. Reportedly, while on location in Africa, she had big trouble figuring out how to play the character. Finally Huston told her to play Rosie as if she were Eleanor Roosevelt, and from then on it was literally smooth sailing. Hepburn would later say it was the best piece of direction she ever got. (Rated PG)
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“The Big Sleep”
Howard Hawks’ “The Big Sleep” (1946) has Bogart in one of his most entertainingly iconic performances as Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled private eye Philip Marlowe. It was his second film playing opposite Lauren Bacall – the first was “To Have and Have Not” two years earlier – and the smoke coming off the screen isn’t only from cigarettes. (They were married six months after shooting ended.) The convoluted plot for this movie makes very little sense. When Hawks and his co-screenwriters (one of whom was William Faulkner) asked Chandler for clarification, he apparently wasn’t much help. But what “The Big Sleep” demonstrates is that if a movie is as endlessly enjoyable as this one, who needs sense? Bogie and Bacall had a logic all their own. (Unrated)
These films are available to rent on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes.


Hung up on time

Week 1 in the age of the coronavirus , we took away our daughter ’ s clock .
This was not explicitly virus-related .
We had been worrying for some months that our third grader was developing an unhealthy obsession if not with the object , then with time itself .
It came out in predictable ways .
In the middle of our never-ending bedtime process , she ’ d be just getting drowsy when she would jolt herself upward and swing her head toward the numbers on the clock .
She needed to check just how long she ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explain .
We ’ d leave her alone in her room , but soon she would march downstairs in her nightgown , announcing with growing panic that it had been 15 minutes .
Thirty minutes .
A full hour !
Mornings were no better .
I had gotten into my own pattern of squeezing in mama time before the get-ready-for-school rush .
I set my alarm to sound before the roosters so I could exercise ( while catching up on work-related podcasts ) , follow up on emails ( a never completed task @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we had left dishes because we ’ d eaten too late ) , and glance at the paper ( never fully read ) .
But my daughter ’ s clock was threatening everything .
She was waking herself up earlier and earlier , those evil blue digits encouraging her progress .
She was just an early riser , she protested , when we suggested she should let herself sleep .
Besides , she did not want to have to rush in the morning .
She wanted to be up before her little sister @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , among other benefits . )
She wanted time to get ready .
She wanted time to read .
She wanted us .
Part of me loved seeing her , tangle-haired and sleepy-eyed , padding downstairs to the kitchen , where I had set up my morning office .
But I felt my own time disappearing ; the emails , school forms , morning news , and to-do lists piled up accusingly in my mind .
But then we received notice that our kids would not be returning to school – at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an idea .
We ’ re going to try something , I told my daughter that morning .
She looked at me with alarm .
( I have a habit of “ trying things ” – chicken raising , zero waste , tofu – that creates some level of discord in my family . )
Since there ’ s no school , I said , we should just get rid of bedtime .
Her eyes turned into grand saucers .
For a moment she could not speak .
Then she exploded into squeals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ ve ever had !
” she shouted , running to tell the news to her little sister .
I went with the moment .
“ And you know , ” I added nonchalantly , “ since there ’ s no bedtime , there ’ s no need for a clock .
We ’ ll just take it out of your room so it doesn ’ t bother you.
” The clock , I explained .
There was no need for it anymore .
She stared at me , aghast .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time to get up ?
What if I wake up in the middle of the night ?
What if I am lying awake ?
What if time is passing and I don ’ t know it ?
” I led her to the sofa and sat down .
She crawled onto my lap , an increasingly unwieldy position .
She has gotten so big .
You will know when it ’ s time to wake up , I assured her .
You will know when it ’ s morning because there will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worry because , for a little while , all of those external things – the appointments , the recess bell , the agitated parents demanding why it takes 20 minutes to find socks without “ bumps ” or how it can possibly be a challenge to locate homework completed in the same spot every single evening – are gone .
She had , in the midst of all this strangeness , an opportunity .
She looked at me .
Then she nodded .
As with everyone , our life proceeded to change dramatically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are personal fears , and global ones , to confront .
But I have also noticed that , for the first time in as long as I can remember – and perhaps ironically – our daughter has started to sleep , and awaken , without anxiety .
I have also noticed that we are relearning life as a family .
Days feel longer .
The unimportant and inconsequential have retreated silently into the sidelines of our existence .
Wants are reprioritized .
My old nemesis , time , quietly urges me to do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do – of course I have time to call my parents and grandparents , to read that extra story .
Life does go on without school , without travel , without that tightly gripped illusion of control over the future .
I took the clock out of our room , as well .
I do not miss it .

Week 1 in the age of the coronavirus, we took away our daughter’s clock.
This was not explicitly virus-related. We had been worrying for some months that our third grader was developing an unhealthy obsession if not with the object, then with time itself.
It came out in predictable ways. In the middle of our never-ending bedtime process, she’d be just getting drowsy when she would jolt herself upward and swing her head toward the numbers on the clock. She needed to check just how long she’d been lying down, she would explain.
We’d leave her alone in her room, but soon she would march downstairs in her nightgown, announcing with growing panic that it had been 15 minutes. Thirty minutes. A full hour!
Mornings were no better. I had gotten into my own pattern of squeezing in mama time before the get-ready-for-school rush. I set my alarm to sound before the roosters so I could exercise (while catching up on work-related podcasts), follow up on emails (a never completed task), tidy up the kitchen (we had left dishes because we’d eaten too late), and glance at the paper (never fully read).
But my daughter’s clock was threatening everything. She was waking herself up earlier and earlier, those evil blue digits encouraging her progress.
She was just an early riser, she protested, when we suggested she should let herself sleep. Besides, she did not want to have to rush in the morning. She wanted to be up before her little sister. (The bathroom was uncontested then, among other benefits.) She wanted time to get ready. She wanted time to read. She wanted us.
Part of me loved seeing her, tangle-haired and sleepy-eyed, padding downstairs to the kitchen, where I had set up my morning office. But I felt my own time disappearing; the emails, school forms, morning news, and to-do lists piled up accusingly in my mind.
But then we received notice that our kids would not be returning to school – at least not in person. And I had an idea.
We’re going to try something, I told my daughter that morning.
She looked at me with alarm. (I have a habit of “trying things” – chicken raising, zero waste, tofu – that creates some level of discord in my family.)
Since there’s no school, I said, we should just get rid of bedtime.
Her eyes turned into grand saucers. For a moment she could not speak. Then she exploded into squeals. “That is the best idea you’ve ever had!” she shouted, running to tell the news to her little sister.
I went with the moment.
“And you know,” I added nonchalantly, “since there’s no bedtime, there’s no need for a clock. We’ll just take it out of your room so it doesn’t bother you.”
She stopped her jumping.
“What?”
The clock, I explained. There was no need for it anymore.
She stared at me, aghast.
“How will I know it’s time to get up? What if I wake up in the middle of the night? What if I am lying awake? What if time is passing and I don’t know it?”
I led her to the sofa and sat down. She crawled onto my lap, an increasingly unwieldy position. She has gotten so big.
You will know when it’s time to wake up, I assured her. You will know when it’s morning because there will be dawn. She did not have to worry because, for a little while, all of those external things – the appointments, the recess bell, the agitated parents demanding why it takes 20 minutes to find socks without “bumps” or how it can possibly be a challenge to locate homework completed in the same spot every single evening – are gone. She had, in the midst of all this strangeness, an opportunity.
She looked at me. Then she nodded.
As with everyone, our life proceeded to change dramatically. It is still changing. There are personal fears, and global ones, to confront. But I have also noticed that, for the first time in as long as I can remember – and perhaps ironically – our daughter has started to sleep, and awaken, without anxiety.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
I have also noticed that we are relearning life as a family. Days feel longer. The unimportant and inconsequential have retreated silently into the sidelines of our existence. Wants are reprioritized. My old nemesis, time, quietly urges me to do those things it once commanded me not to do – of course I have time to call my parents and grandparents, to read that extra story. Life does go on without school, without travel, without that tightly gripped illusion of control over the future.
I took the clock out of our room, as well. I do not miss it.


csmonitor--2020-04-15--Home theater: Spend quality time with the elegant Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier is , along with Cary Grant , probably the most elegant of all Hollywood movie stars .
He is also one of its greatest actors .
He brought dignity and grace to virtually all of his roles .
Because I was the writer and co-producer of a 1997 A & E Biography documentary about Poitier , I ’ d like to try something a bit different and begin this column with a few anecdotes about his life and career .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surprise to some that Poitier was born dirt poor in a small island in the Bahamas .
He dropped out of school at 13 , eventually making his way to New York City , where he was homeless for a time .
He was initially rejected by the American Negro Theater because his West Indian accent was so thick no one could understand him .
His first Broadway appearance was a bit part in an all-black production of “ Lysistrata.
” On opening night he was so nervous he could barely get his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to give up acting and go back to dishwashing .
The next day the newspaper reviews appeared and only he escaped censure from the critics .
Believing his nervousness was intentional , they hailed the arrival of a new comic talent .
As a struggling young actor in an industry that rarely afforded black performers a chance to shine except as song-and-dance entertainers , Poitier consistently refused to accept demeaning roles .
His remarkable debut performance playing a doctor in the racially themed “ No Way Out ” ( 1950 ) should have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at that time was not ready for that .
Seventeen years later , in 1967 , he appeared in three of that year ’ s top 10 grossing movies : “ In the Heat of the Night , ” “ To Sir , With Love , ” and “ Guess Who ’ s Coming to Dinner.
” A few years after the A & E documentary aired , never having met him , I was asked to host a gala celebration for Poitier at the Motion Picture Academy ’ s Samuel Goldwyn Theater @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on stage remains a highlight of my career .
In 2011 , not having had any interaction with him in the interim , I spotted Poitier at a Governors Awards dinner sponsored by the academy .
He was with Oprah Winfrey , who was being honored that night .
I wanted to approach him afterward and thank him again for that celebratory evening but was afraid he might not remember me .
I didn ’ t want to tarnish what had been so important a moment for me .
But I went ahead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over at me and gave me a big broad smile and said : “ I remember it fondly , ” stretching that last word into three mellifluous syllables .
Of the many Poitier films I would single out , including “ The Defiant Ones ” ( 1958 ) and the less well-known “ Edge of the City ” ( 1957 ) and “ Paris Blues ” ( 1961 ) , the following are three of the strongest .
“ In the Heat of the Night ” “ In the Heat of the Night @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best picture , is probably Poitier ’ s most honored , and best , movie .
He plays Virgil Tibbs , a Philadelphia police detective who becomes involved in a small town Mississippi murder investigation , facing off against the incessantly gum-chewing local police chief played by Rod Steiger .
Years after seeing it , I can ’ t remember who finally committed the murder .
But the real show here is the peerlessly entertaining Poitier-Steiger byplay .
There ’ s also a groundbreaking-for-its-time moment when Tibbs , slapped in the face by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
( Unrated ) “ A Raisin in the Sun , ” a 1961 adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry ’ s award-winning play about a struggling black family in Chicago , has some of Poitier ’ s strongest work .
Acting doesn ’ t get any better than the scene in which he pleads with his mother ( played by the formidable Claudia McNeil ) for a better life .
( Unrated ) Poitier won the best actor Oscar for “ Lilies of the Field ” ( 1963 ) , the first black performer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Smith , an itinerant handyman who is roped into building a chapel in rural Arizona for a group of Roman Catholic nuns who have emigrated from Germany .
Yes , it ’ s hokey as all get out .
But the hokum is part of its appeal , and Poitier is at his most irresistibly engaging .
Amen .
( Unrated ) “ In the Heat of the Night ” and “ A Raisin in the Sun ” are available for rent on Amazon ’ s Prime Video , YouTube , Google Play @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Field ” is available on iTunes .

Sidney Poitier is, along with Cary Grant, probably the most elegant of all Hollywood movie stars. He is also one of its greatest actors. He brought dignity and grace to virtually all of his roles.
Because I was the writer and co-producer of a 1997 A&E Biography documentary about Poitier, I’d like to try something a bit different and begin this column with a few anecdotes about his life and career.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.
Why We Wrote This When looking for diverting films, one option is to seek out masters of their craft. Film critic Peter Rainer, a longtime champion of Sidney Poitier, notes that the Hollywood great brought dignity and grace to virtually all of his roles.
It may come as a surprise to some that Poitier was born dirt poor in a small island in the Bahamas. He dropped out of school at 13, eventually making his way to New York City, where he was homeless for a time. He was initially rejected by the American Negro Theater because his West Indian accent was so thick no one could understand him.
His first Broadway appearance was a bit part in an all-black production of “Lysistrata.” On opening night he was so nervous he could barely get his lines out. Mortified, he vowed to give up acting and go back to dishwashing. The next day the newspaper reviews appeared and only he escaped censure from the critics. Believing his nervousness was intentional, they hailed the arrival of a new comic talent.
As a struggling young actor in an industry that rarely afforded black performers a chance to shine except as song-and-dance entertainers, Poitier consistently refused to accept demeaning roles. His remarkable debut performance playing a doctor in the racially themed “No Way Out” (1950) should have made him a star, but Hollywood at that time was not ready for that. Seventeen years later, in 1967, he appeared in three of that year’s top 10 grossing movies: “In the Heat of the Night,” “To Sir, With Love,” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
A few years after the A&E documentary aired, never having met him, I was asked to host a gala celebration for Poitier at the Motion Picture Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Talking with him on stage remains a highlight of my career. In 2011, not having had any interaction with him in the interim, I spotted Poitier at a Governors Awards dinner sponsored by the academy. He was with Oprah Winfrey, who was being honored that night. I wanted to approach him afterward and thank him again for that celebratory evening but was afraid he might not remember me. I didn’t want to tarnish what had been so important a moment for me. But I went ahead anyway and introduced myself. He looked over at me and gave me a big broad smile and said: “I remember it fondly,” stretching that last word into three mellifluous syllables.
Of the many Poitier films I would single out, including “The Defiant Ones” (1958) and the less well-known “Edge of the City” (1957) and “Paris Blues” (1961), the following are three of the strongest.
“In the Heat of the Night”
“In the Heat of the Night,” the 1967 Oscar winner for best picture, is probably Poitier’s most honored, and best, movie. He plays Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia police detective who becomes involved in a small town Mississippi murder investigation, facing off against the incessantly gum-chewing local police chief played by Rod Steiger. Years after seeing it, I can’t remember who finally committed the murder. But the real show here is the peerlessly entertaining Poitier-Steiger byplay. There’s also a groundbreaking-for-its-time moment when Tibbs, slapped in the face by a wealthy white racist, slaps back. (Unrated)
“A Raisin in the Sun”
“A Raisin in the Sun,” a 1961 adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning play about a struggling black family in Chicago, has some of Poitier’s strongest work. Acting doesn’t get any better than the scene in which he pleads with his mother (played by the formidable Claudia McNeil) for a better life. (Unrated)
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“Lilies of the Field”
Poitier won the best actor Oscar for “Lilies of the Field” (1963), the first black performer to do so. He plays Homer Smith, an itinerant handyman who is roped into building a chapel in rural Arizona for a group of Roman Catholic nuns who have emigrated from Germany. Yes, it’s hokey as all get out. But the hokum is part of its appeal, and Poitier is at his most irresistibly engaging. Amen. (Unrated)
“In the Heat of the Night” and “A Raisin in the Sun” are available for rent on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes. “Lilies of the Field” is available on iTunes.