csmonitor--2020-12-16--What do ‘Elegy’ and ‘Nomadland’ say about Hollywood’s view of rural life?

“ Rural people want to be known for pulling their weight , ” says Dee Davis of the Center for Rural Strategies , “ not people who have to be taken care of , or who are jokes , or who are bigots.
” By perpetuating a narrative about extreme poverty in Appalachia , for example , some viewers wouldn ’ t suspect that millionaires live there , too .
Black and Indigenous people , and LGBTQ individuals , are seldom represented , either .
Those living in small-town America worry about how they ’ re portrayed by filmmakers who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Others argue that the outsider storytellers can bring fresh perspectives to socioeconomic issues .
But there ’ s also widespread agreement that Hollywood should venture into the outer reaches of red states more often and try to tell nuanced stories about what unites and divides us .
White , rural voters have been excoriated in some quarters of the media for voting for Donald Trump .
Consequently , popular culture depictions of those in the outlying areas are often viewed through a political lens .
Hollywood exerts a powerful influence on perceptions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movies – “ Hillbilly Elegy , ” “ Nomadland , ” and “ Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ” – are provoking fresh conversation about portrayals of the rural underclass .
When two filmmakers made a recent documentary about poverty and rural identity in Appalachia , the first thing they did was track down a man named Billy Redden .
In 1971 , a Hollywood casting director for the horror movie “ Deliverance ” discovered Mr. Redden , then a teenager , at his school in Georgia .
The director was looking for someone to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s now-famous scene , in which he plucks a banjo while sitting on a back-porch swing , remains a reference point for how some people describe poor , rural America .
“ You can ’ t make a movie about media representations of Appalachia without telling the story of ‘ Deliverance , ’ ” says Ashley York , co-director of the 2018 documentary “ Hillbilly.
” Though the role brought Mr. Redden brief fame , he ’ s disturbed by the thriller ’ s lingering impression of mountain people as destitute rapists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ done it had he known that , ” says Ms. York .
Almost 50 years since “ Deliverance , ” Hollywood still exerts a powerful influence on perceptions of America ’ s countryside .
Three recent movies – “ Hillbilly Elegy , ” “ Nomadland , ” and “ Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ” – are provoking fresh conversation about their portrayals of the rural underclass .
It ’ s a touchy topic .
White , rural voters have been excoriated in some quarters of the media for voting for Donald Trump .
Consequently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the countryside are often viewed through a political lens .
Those living in small-town America worry about how they ’ re portrayed by filmmakers who ’ ve parachuted into a locale .
Others argue that the outsider storytellers can bring fresh perspectives to socioeconomic issues .
But there ’ s also widespread agreement that Hollywood should venture into the outer reaches of red states more often and try to tell nuanced stories about what unites and divides us .
“ One of the things that drives the fury of Trump voters is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , belittled by who they perceive as the elite , ” says Ty Burr , movie critic at The Boston Globe .
“ The things we don ’ t address in the movies and in popular culture are issues of class , issues of ethnicity .
You ’ ve got to be intersectional with this stuff .
It ’ s not just , poor people living in the country love Trump and the middle class and upper-middle class people in the cities and suburbs love Biden .
Maybe it ’ s a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sequel to the hit comedy “ Borat ” doesn ’ t exactly reflect that complexity .
In the guise of the titular journalist from Kazakhstan , actor Sacha Baron Cohen visits two Trump voters in an unspecified small town .
The subjects of Mr. Cohen ’ s candid-camera prank come across like a modern-day version of “ Li ’ l Abner.
” As they pore over QAnon conspiracy theories in their cabin home , the movie invites audiences to laugh at the sweet-natured duo ’ s simpleminded gullibility .
Those tropes of rural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and lazy are one reason why Dee Davis founded the Center for Rural Strategies .
The nonprofit based in Whitesburg , Kentucky , strives to present accurate portraits of rural cultures as a way to deepen public debate and improve economic conditions for countryside communities .
In 2003 , Mr. Davis marshaled a successful campaign to dissuade CBS from producing a “ catfish-out-of-water ” reality television show called “ The Real Beverly Hillbillies.
” But other shows such as MTV ’ s reality series “ Buckwild ” and TLC ’ s “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perpetuated stereotypes .
“ Rural people want to be known for pulling their weight , not people who have to be taken care of , or who are jokes , or who are bigots , ” says Mr. Davis .
“ They may not vote the way you want them to vote .
But if you run into a ditch in front of a Trump voter ’ s house , they ’ re still going to find a way to pull you out of there and they ’ re going to offer you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Wrong Turn ” and “ The Hills Have Eyes ” suggest that urban visitors to the countryside will be set upon and eaten by rural people .
According to some scholars , such portrayals are rooted in the idea that urbanized capitalism represents the progress of civilization .
Thus hillbillies are savages who can be left behind .
Then again , when Hollywood rails against capitalism or materialism , the reverse happens .
Movies serve up beatific visions of small towns as hearths of the nation in which salt-of-the-earth communities eschew the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and bake apple pies for each other .
Think “ It ’ s a Wonderful Life , ” “ The Spitfire Grill , ” “ Doc Hollywood , ” or anything on the Hallmark channel .
“ In both cases , whether overromanticized or overvilified , it hides the complexity of what ’ s really going on in terms of the intertwining of the fates of urban and rural [ areas ] , and the mobility of people between the two , and the shared values that occur across both , ” says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ studies and pop culture at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg .
One new movie that film critics have lauded for its realistic depiction of rural America is Chloé Zhao ’ s “ Nomadland.
” ( Following an Oscar-qualifying limited release this month , it will be released nationwide on Feb .
19 . )
Filmed in Nebraska , the drama follows a former school teacher ( played by Frances McDormand ) who becomes a gig-economy itinerant worker after her factory town literally shuts down during a recession .
The Chinese director offers a humanized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ includes real-life RV park dwellers playing themselves .
Mr. Burr , the film critic , says the characters in the movie may not be fully aware of how the system that they ’ re in is making their lives poorer .
In that respect , the cinéma vérité of “ Nomadland ” presents an alternative to some of the prevalent narratives about poverty in Hollywood movies .
“ They [ often ] become these dramatic stories of the ways in which individuals , through their own determination and heroic efforts , overcome the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stephen Pimpare , senior lecturer in American politics and public policy at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester and author of “ Ghettos , Tramps , and Welfare Queens : Down and Out on the Silver Screen.
” “ So it winds up retelling what I would argue is this fiction , that poverty is the fault of the individual and something that can be remedied by altering individual behavior.
” Unlike some of its predecessors , “ Hillbilly Elegy , ” from Netflix , tells an aspirational story .
The prestige @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s memoir about how he worked his way up from a poor Appalachian family to earn a law degree at Yale University .
But many critics lambasted the conservative author ’ s views on overcoming poverty , which include personal responsibility and hard work .
While promoting the movie , director Ron Howard has repeatedly emphasized that his adaptation – starring Amy Adams as Mr. Vance ’ s drug-addicted single mother and Glenn Close as his no-nonsense grandmother – is apolitical .
The movie ’ s only overt nod to Mr. Vance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which he complains to his Indian , Ivy League girlfriend about the difficulty Appalachian Hill People encounter when trying to overcome their socioeconomic status .
She pointedly reminds him that her immigrant father arrived in America with nothing .
Arguments about “ Hillbilly Elegy ” tend to fixate on whether poverty should be alleviated through overhauling systems versus focusing on individual choices , says David French , author of “ Divided We Fall ” and a senior editor at The Dispatch .
In fact , a careful reading of Mr. Vance ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the two poles .
He ’ s long argued for systemic fixes and rejected the rugged individualist brand of conservatism .
“ The interesting thing about ‘ Hillbilly Elegy , ’ the movie especially , is that it does not give you the impression that what J.D .
had to do was lift himself up by his own bootstraps , ” says Mr. French , who recently interviewed Mr. Vance and Mr. Howard about the film .
“ He gives you the impression that people had to yank him up – like his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] dramatic intervention into his life.
” In the case of Appalachia , some observers say that movies such as “ Hillbilly Elegy ” and “ Winter ’ s Bone ” depict such a narrow slice of life that viewers miss out on the culture and demographic diversity of a region of 25 million people that stretches from New York to Alabama .
By perpetuating a narrative about extreme poverty in the region , some viewers wouldn ’ t suspect that millionaires live there , too .
Black and Indigenous people , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ either .
When Ms. York teamed up with Sally Rubin to co-direct the documentary “ Hillbilly , ” the progressive-leaning filmmakers set out to contrast the real Appalachia to media portrayals .
Their aim was to humanize the region ’ s white voters – including Ms. York ’ s pro-Trump family members – during a fraught political moment .
“ In Hollywood in the last five years , there has been a movement to diversify the industry , to be more inclusive .
...
The poor white people from the Appalachian Mountains are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people that it ’ s OK to make fun of , ” says Ms. York , who was born in Eastern Kentucky but now lives in Los Angeles .
“ I really hope that this ‘ Hillbilly Elegy ’ moment can really help us take a step forward in the media culture and in doing something that ’ s thoughtful .
”

“Rural people want to be known for pulling their weight,” says Dee Davis of the Center for Rural Strategies, “not people who have to be taken care of, or who are jokes, or who are bigots.”
By perpetuating a narrative about extreme poverty in Appalachia, for example, some viewers wouldn’t suspect that millionaires live there, too. Black and Indigenous people, and LGBTQ individuals, are seldom represented, either.
Those living in small-town America worry about how they’re portrayed by filmmakers who’ve parachuted into a locale. Others argue that the outsider storytellers can bring fresh perspectives to socioeconomic issues. But there’s also widespread agreement that Hollywood should venture into the outer reaches of red states more often and try to tell nuanced stories about what unites and divides us.
At a time when the United States is divided along political and urban-rural lines, what do three recent films about country lives add to the conversation?
White, rural voters have been excoriated in some quarters of the media for voting for Donald Trump. Consequently, popular culture depictions of those in the outlying areas are often viewed through a political lens.
Hollywood exerts a powerful influence on perceptions of America’s countryside. Three recent movies – “Hillbilly Elegy,” “Nomadland,” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” – are provoking fresh conversation about portrayals of the rural underclass.
When two filmmakers made a recent documentary about poverty and rural identity in Appalachia, the first thing they did was track down a man named Billy Redden.
In 1971, a Hollywood casting director for the horror movie “Deliverance” discovered Mr. Redden, then a teenager, at his school in Georgia. The director was looking for someone to play a so-called inbred. Mr. Redden’s now-famous scene, in which he plucks a banjo while sitting on a back-porch swing, remains a reference point for how some people describe poor, rural America.
“You can’t make a movie about media representations of Appalachia without telling the story of ‘Deliverance,’” says Ashley York, co-director of the 2018 documentary “Hillbilly.”
Why We Wrote This At a time when the United States is divided along political and urban-rural lines, what do three recent films about country lives add to the conversation?
Though the role brought Mr. Redden brief fame, he’s disturbed by the thriller’s lingering impression of mountain people as destitute rapists.
“He wouldn’t have done it had he known that,” says Ms. York.
Almost 50 years since “Deliverance,” Hollywood still exerts a powerful influence on perceptions of America’s countryside. Three recent movies – “Hillbilly Elegy,” “Nomadland,” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” – are provoking fresh conversation about their portrayals of the rural underclass.
Courtesy of Ashely York and Sally Rubin View caption Hide caption Ashley York (left) and Sally Rubin co-directed the 2018 documentary “Hillbilly.” The filmmakers, here in a selfie, set out to contrast the real Appalachia with media portrayals.
It’s a touchy topic. White, rural voters have been excoriated in some quarters of the media for voting for Donald Trump. Consequently, popular culture depictions of those in the countryside are often viewed through a political lens. Those living in small-town America worry about how they’re portrayed by filmmakers who’ve parachuted into a locale. Others argue that the outsider storytellers can bring fresh perspectives to socioeconomic issues. But there’s also widespread agreement that Hollywood should venture into the outer reaches of red states more often and try to tell nuanced stories about what unites and divides us.
“One of the things that drives the fury of Trump voters is that they feel looked down on and stereotyped, belittled by who they perceive as the elite,” says Ty Burr, movie critic at The Boston Globe. “The things we don’t address in the movies and in popular culture are issues of class, issues of ethnicity. You’ve got to be intersectional with this stuff. It’s not just, poor people living in the country love Trump and the middle class and upper-middle class people in the cities and suburbs love Biden. Maybe it’s a lot more complicated than that.”
The recent sequel to the hit comedy “Borat” doesn’t exactly reflect that complexity. In the guise of the titular journalist from Kazakhstan, actor Sacha Baron Cohen visits two Trump voters in an unspecified small town. The subjects of Mr. Cohen’s candid-camera prank come across like a modern-day version of “Li’l Abner.” As they pore over QAnon conspiracy theories in their cabin home, the movie invites audiences to laugh at the sweet-natured duo’s simpleminded gullibility.
Those tropes of rural Americans as ignorant, wild, drunken, and lazy are one reason why Dee Davis founded the Center for Rural Strategies. The nonprofit based in Whitesburg, Kentucky, strives to present accurate portraits of rural cultures as a way to deepen public debate and improve economic conditions for countryside communities. In 2003, Mr. Davis marshaled a successful campaign to dissuade CBS from producing a “catfish-out-of-water” reality television show called “The Real Beverly Hillbillies.” But other shows such as MTV’s reality series “Buckwild” and TLC’s “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” have perpetuated stereotypes.
“Rural people want to be known for pulling their weight, not people who have to be taken care of, or who are jokes, or who are bigots,” says Mr. Davis. “They may not vote the way you want them to vote. But if you run into a ditch in front of a Trump voter’s house, they’re still going to find a way to pull you out of there and they’re going to offer you supper.”
Yet the recent horror franchises “Wrong Turn” and “The Hills Have Eyes” suggest that urban visitors to the countryside will be set upon and eaten by rural people. According to some scholars, such portrayals are rooted in the idea that urbanized capitalism represents the progress of civilization. Thus hillbillies are savages who can be left behind.
Then again, when Hollywood rails against capitalism or materialism, the reverse happens. Movies serve up beatific visions of small towns as hearths of the nation in which salt-of-the-earth communities eschew the rat-race lifestyle, uphold simple virtues, and bake apple pies for each other. Think “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Spitfire Grill,” “Doc Hollywood,” or anything on the Hallmark channel.
“In both cases, whether overromanticized or overvilified, it hides the complexity of what’s really going on in terms of the intertwining of the fates of urban and rural [areas], and the mobility of people between the two, and the shared values that occur across both,” says Emily Satterwhite, a professor of Appalachian studies and pop culture at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
Searchlight Pictures/AP View caption Hide caption In “Nomadland,” Frances McDormand stars as a woman living rootlessly across the American West after the Great Recession. Film critics have lauded the movie for its realistic depiction of rural America.
One new movie that film critics have lauded for its realistic depiction of rural America is Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland.” (Following an Oscar-qualifying limited release this month, it will be released nationwide on Feb. 19.) Filmed in Nebraska, the drama follows a former school teacher (played by Frances McDormand) who becomes a gig-economy itinerant worker after her factory town literally shuts down during a recession. The Chinese director offers a humanized portrayal of the rural underclass, which includes real-life RV park dwellers playing themselves. Mr. Burr, the film critic, says the characters in the movie may not be fully aware of how the system that they’re in is making their lives poorer. In that respect, the cinéma vérité of “Nomadland” presents an alternative to some of the prevalent narratives about poverty in Hollywood movies.
“They [often] become these dramatic stories of the ways in which individuals, through their own determination and heroic efforts, overcome the obstacles in their way,” says Stephen Pimpare, senior lecturer in American politics and public policy at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester and author of “Ghettos, Tramps, and Welfare Queens: Down and Out on the Silver Screen.” “So it winds up retelling what I would argue is this fiction, that poverty is the fault of the individual and something that can be remedied by altering individual behavior.”
Unlike some of its predecessors, “Hillbilly Elegy,” from Netflix, tells an aspirational story. The prestige drama is based on J.D. Vance’s memoir about how he worked his way up from a poor Appalachian family to earn a law degree at Yale University. But many critics lambasted the conservative author’s views on overcoming poverty, which include personal responsibility and hard work.
While promoting the movie, director Ron Howard has repeatedly emphasized that his adaptation – starring Amy Adams as Mr. Vance’s drug-addicted single mother and Glenn Close as his no-nonsense grandmother – is apolitical. The movie’s only overt nod to Mr. Vance’s views is a scene in which he complains to his Indian, Ivy League girlfriend about the difficulty Appalachian Hill People encounter when trying to overcome their socioeconomic status. She pointedly reminds him that her immigrant father arrived in America with nothing.
Arguments about “Hillbilly Elegy” tend to fixate on whether poverty should be alleviated through overhauling systems versus focusing on individual choices, says David French, author of “Divided We Fall” and a senior editor at The Dispatch. In fact, a careful reading of Mr. Vance’s book reveals that it sits somewhere between the two poles. He’s long argued for systemic fixes and rejected the rugged individualist brand of conservatism.
“The interesting thing about ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ the movie especially, is that it does not give you the impression that what J.D. had to do was lift himself up by his own bootstraps,” says Mr. French, who recently interviewed Mr. Vance and Mr. Howard about the film. “He gives you the impression that people had to yank him up – like his grandmother, and specifically with [her] dramatic intervention into his life.”
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
In the case of Appalachia, some observers say that movies such as “Hillbilly Elegy” and “Winter’s Bone” depict such a narrow slice of life that viewers miss out on the culture and demographic diversity of a region of 25 million people that stretches from New York to Alabama. By perpetuating a narrative about extreme poverty in the region, some viewers wouldn’t suspect that millionaires live there, too. Black and Indigenous people, and LGBTQ individuals, are seldom represented, either. When Ms. York teamed up with Sally Rubin to co-direct the documentary “Hillbilly,” the progressive-leaning filmmakers set out to contrast the real Appalachia to media portrayals. Their aim was to humanize the region’s white voters – including Ms. York’s pro-Trump family members – during a fraught political moment.
“In Hollywood in the last five years, there has been a movement to diversify the industry, to be more inclusive. ... The poor white people from the Appalachian Mountains are sort of that last remaining group of people that it’s OK to make fun of,” says Ms. York, who was born in Eastern Kentucky but now lives in Los Angeles. “I really hope that this ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ moment can really help us take a step forward in the media culture and in doing something that’s thoughtful.”


csmonitor--2020-12-16--A year after COVID appeared in China, normalcy makes a comeback

Workers have returned to factories , students are back in the classroom and once again long lines form outside popular hot pot restaurants .
In major cities , wearing a surgical mask – though no longer required outside of subways and other crowded places – has become a habit .
In many ways , normal life has resumed in China , the country where COVID-19 first appeared one year ago .
“ It feels like life has recovered , ” said moviegoer Meng Xiangyu , when Beijing theaters re-opened with 30 percent of their seating after a six-month hiatus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s ruling Communist Party has withdrawn some of the most sweeping anti-disease controls ever imposed , but remains on guard against fresh outbreaks and cases from abroad .
Health authorities report a dozen or so imported cases every day .
The challenge is jobs : The economy is growing again , but the recovery is uneven .
Many big manufacturers are back to normal , but consumer spending remains tepid and smaller companies are contracting or closing .
By mid-December , the country had reported just six cases per 100,000 people .
China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but show no symptoms in its confirmed case counts .
Questions persist about how officials initially tried to cover up the outbreak and whether it was larger than the government has acknowledged .
The lockdown came too late to prevent the then-unnamed disease from ravaging the city of Wuhan and seeping out to the rest of China and overseas .
But since March , when COVID-19 was largely curbed at home , authorities have moved swiftly to stamp out any reappearance , locking down neighborhoods and conducting widespread testing .
“ What was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safest place of all , ” said Chen Jin , who sells barbecue skewers at an outdoor night market in Wuhan .
His business hasn ’ t recovered but he hopes to see more customers in 2021 .
Life has changed .
Virtually everyone has a smartphone app that indicates if they have been in an infected area .
It must be shown to gain admission to many office buildings , shopping centers , and tourist sites .
Some attractions limit the number of daily visitors .
With each passing day , though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
People remain cautious – a few still use a tissue or glove to avoid touching elevator buttons – but the pervasive fear has largely evaporated .
Crowds thronged popular destinations with little or no social distancing during the last major holiday in October , as domestic travel bounced back to 80 percent of the year before .
For some , though , it ’ s impossible to shake a new-found unease .
Wuhan native Zhu Tao used to think about his future and that of his country .
“ We now do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our family , the three of us , can live through this year , ” he said .
In the early days , authorities squelched warnings about the outbreak , reprimanding several Wuhan doctors for “ rumor-mongering ” after they alerted friends on social media .
They delayed releasing critical information about the virus , even as hundreds of patients showed up at hospitals and the potential dangers became increasingly evident .
Once the Communist Party leadership mobilized , it moved decisively .
The Jan. 23 lockdown announcement came in the middle of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China , with no warning or public debate .
No one could enter and no one could leave the city of Wuhan , home to 11 million people .
In the ensuing days , it was expanded to most of the rest of Hubei province .
As Wuhan hospitals overflowed , patients with mild symptoms were sent home , where they infected others .
Police rounded up citizen-journalists posting online video reports detailing the dire conditions .
State media focused on the heroic efforts to save people but not the shortcomings that made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has held up its relative success in controlling the pandemic as validation for its one-party rule .
And in a sense , the crisis illustrates the strength of the system , and its dark side .
The virus has been kept at bay – but only because of the government ’ s power to dictate monumental changes , and its willingness to use surveillance and censorship to control its people .
This story was reported by The Associated Press .
AP video journalist Emily Wang and video producer Olivia Zhang contributed .

Workers have returned to factories, students are back in the classroom and once again long lines form outside popular hot pot restaurants. In major cities, wearing a surgical mask – though no longer required outside of subways and other crowded places – has become a habit.
In many ways, normal life has resumed in China, the country where COVID-19 first appeared one year ago.
“It feels like life has recovered,” said moviegoer Meng Xiangyu, when Beijing theaters re-opened with 30 percent of their seating after a six-month hiatus. “Everything feels fresh.”
China’s ruling Communist Party has withdrawn some of the most sweeping anti-disease controls ever imposed, but remains on guard against fresh outbreaks and cases from abroad. Health authorities report a dozen or so imported cases every day.
The challenge is jobs: The economy is growing again, but the recovery is uneven. Many big manufacturers are back to normal, but consumer spending remains tepid and smaller companies are contracting or closing.
By mid-December, the country had reported just six cases per 100,000 people. China does not include people who test positive but show no symptoms in its confirmed case counts.
Questions persist about how officials initially tried to cover up the outbreak and whether it was larger than the government has acknowledged. The lockdown came too late to prevent the then-unnamed disease from ravaging the city of Wuhan and seeping out to the rest of China and overseas.
But since March, when COVID-19 was largely curbed at home, authorities have moved swiftly to stamp out any reappearance, locking down neighborhoods and conducting widespread testing.
“What was the most dangerous place is now the safest place of all,” said Chen Jin, who sells barbecue skewers at an outdoor night market in Wuhan. His business hasn’t recovered but he hopes to see more customers in 2021.
Life has changed. Virtually everyone has a smartphone app that indicates if they have been in an infected area. It must be shown to gain admission to many office buildings, shopping centers, and tourist sites. Some attractions limit the number of daily visitors.
With each passing day, though, those restrictions seem less strictly enforced. People remain cautious – a few still use a tissue or glove to avoid touching elevator buttons – but the pervasive fear has largely evaporated.
Crowds thronged popular destinations with little or no social distancing during the last major holiday in October, as domestic travel bounced back to 80 percent of the year before.
For some, though, it’s impossible to shake a new-found unease. Wuhan native Zhu Tao used to think about his future and that of his country. “We now do not care about anything other than how our family, the three of us, can live through this year,” he said.
In the early days, authorities squelched warnings about the outbreak, reprimanding several Wuhan doctors for “rumor-mongering” after they alerted friends on social media. They delayed releasing critical information about the virus, even as hundreds of patients showed up at hospitals and the potential dangers became increasingly evident.
Once the Communist Party leadership mobilized, it moved decisively. The Jan. 23 lockdown announcement came in the middle of the night, and as often in China, with no warning or public debate. No one could enter and no one could leave the city of Wuhan, home to 11 million people. In the ensuing days, it was expanded to most of the rest of Hubei province.
As Wuhan hospitals overflowed, patients with mild symptoms were sent home, where they infected others. Police rounded up citizen-journalists posting online video reports detailing the dire conditions. State media focused on the heroic efforts to save people but not the shortcomings that made those efforts necessary.
The Communist Party has held up its relative success in controlling the pandemic as validation for its one-party rule.
And in a sense, the crisis illustrates the strength of the system, and its dark side.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
The virus has been kept at bay – but only because of the government’s power to dictate monumental changes, and its willingness to use surveillance and censorship to control its people.
This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP video journalist Emily Wang and video producer Olivia Zhang contributed.


csmonitor--2020-12-16--Capitalism over culture? Moscow’s artists face eviction amid urban renewal.

“ A new generation of city officials has decided to weigh and measure everything in terms of its monetary value , ” says Sergei Alexandrov , a well-known Russian painter who has received his final eviction notice .
“ It doesn ’ t matter anymore how famous you are , or what work you have done .
Now you ’ re not needed .
Or at least the state doesn ’ t believe that culture is its concern anymore.
” When the Soviet Union collapsed , the system of subsidized workshop space for recognized artists continued under the patronage of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that era appears to be over .
The Soviet state regarded everything in terms of production .
It recognized that artists and other creative people needed special conditions to ply their craft .
Accomplished artists were handed workshops and given lucrative state orders to fill .
Ever since the Soviet era , Moscow has been a haven for Russian artists , who have received subsidized , specially built studios to practice their crafts .
But that has come to an end in the past few months , as hundreds of artists have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ renovation project that is rearranging the entire Moscow landscape in favor of big real estate developers .
When Yana Gavrilkevich , a painter and art teacher , got the notice that she was being evicted from her art studio , it was “ a catastrophe.
” And she was not the only one being turned out .
Most of the units in the large , 1960s-era apartment building in eastern Moscow in which her studio sits are simple ones .
But the entire top floor consists of 14 large , high-ceilinged studios , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and quite different in design from the apartments below .
Generations of artists have worked here , painting , sculpting , illustrating , and such , enjoying the perks of a now-defunct system that once gave them work , premises , and a high social status .
But now the artists – not just in this building , but hundreds all across the city – are being kicked out of their subsidized studios , as Moscow officials appear to have decided that the care and feeding of culture is no longer their problem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we work .
It ’ s also where most of us keep our working materials and collected art , ” says Ms. Gavrilkevich , who inherited a studio here from her father , a noted Soviet portrait artist .
“ It ’ s not just a workplace , it ’ s a place of artistic continuity , memory .
And now we ’ re just to be thrown out into the street.
” The workshops are now mostly empty , as their former occupants bow to the inevitable demolition of the building under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city housing with new buildings , as part of a much larger urban renovation project that is rearranging the entire Moscow landscape in favor of big real estate developers .
But while the regular inhabitants of the building are being provided alternative housing by the city , the artists are being shown the door , with the implicit message that it ’ s time to start adjusting to life under capitalism .
“ A new generation of city officials has decided to weigh and measure everything in terms of its monetary value , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russian painter , who has received his final eviction notice from the small studio he has occupied for decades .
“ It doesn ’ t matter anymore how famous you are , or what work you have done .
Now you ’ re not needed .
Or at least the state doesn ’ t believe that culture is its concern anymore.
” The workshops came into being as part of a generous Soviet system that trained large numbers of artists in specialized schools and put them to work decorating public spaces with ideologically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other adornments ; illustrating film sets and book covers ; and much more .
But it also provided them with private studio space where they could pursue their own projects .
Most of the Moscow workshops now under threat were established in the 1960s , a time of relative economic prosperity and a great deal of political and cultural ferment in the USSR .
The Soviet state regarded everything in terms of production .
The world was a big factory populated with workers fulfilling their assigned roles in socialist society .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed special conditions to ply their craft .
Accomplished artists were handed workshops by the Union of Artists , and also given lucrative state orders to fill .
Even today , a walk around any Russian urban space will reveal many of those old gems .
Not just the grand monuments to Soviet heroes and the palatial metro stations , but also murals calling for world peace that cover entire apartment blocs , sculptured fountains in parks , and mosaics dedicated to children ’ s play in kindergartens or to book-learning in schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Soviet artists is regarded as dross today , some of it is highly prized and can be found in top museums and art galleries .
“ The later Soviet period gave us these workshops , but it also stimulated very fruitful nonconformist trends in art , ” says Ms. Gavrilkevich .
“ State investments into culture may have served an ideological goal , but they also drove an explosion of creativity.
” Today , the workshops are assigned by the Moscow Union of Artists , which holds leases on all the threatened studios @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three months ago , the Moscow government told them to leave .
The final notices arrived in early December .
Around 500 studios are currently on the chopping block , involving about 700 artists .
That ’ s the lion ’ s share of some 900 such workshops that remain in the entire city .
The Moscow government is carrying out the evictions with little public discussion , and it has so far attracted scant notice in the Moscow media .
In response to questions from the Monitor , the city property department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Under the terms of contracts concluded with the city , in the event of reconstruction or demolition of the building where the public organization is located , it must vacate the occupied non-residential premises.
” The statement added , without explanation , “ It is possible to place these creative workshops within the previously provided areas.
” That note of official ambiguity is giving hope to some , but Yelena Yanchuk , a Communist deputy of the Moscow City Council , says nothing is likely to change unless public opinion gets engaged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ At some point Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that no artists will be thrown into the street , ” she says .
“ But he made that remark in passing , and no clear instructions followed .
So , maybe the city officials are waiting for orders .
Meanwhile , the situation looks like a mass ban on the artists ’ profession.
” Mr. Alexandrov , who has exhibited his Russian tradition-themed paintings in the U.S. and other countries , says the tragedy is that the state is depriving artists of their few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia still lacks the developed art markets , rich benefactors , foundation grants , and other buffers that are available to help struggling artists in Western countries .
“ We want to integrate into the modern world , but our state has no idea how to aid us in that transition , ” he says .
“ We have the impression that we are just not needed ; we are disposable .
For many artists , these evictions will be a professional death blow.
” When the Soviet Union collapsed , the system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continued under the patronage of longtime Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov .
“ Under Luzhkov , many artists were evicted from places that had become prime real estate , but the city always found them alternative workshops , ” says Denis Rudikh , an artist and Moscow Union of Artists activist .
“ The state stopped purchasing artistic production , but made it possible for us to survive by seeking private orders , teaching , doing things that kept body and soul together , but also enabled one to still have the identity of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ graduates of Russia ’ s still-prestigious art schools find lucrative employment in the private sector today , in advertising , film , media , and corporate PR .
It ’ s possible they regard the older Moscow artists clinging to their Soviet-era workshops as dinosaurs .
But some of those artists retort that consumerism has sucked the essential creativity out of art .
“ I teach young children , and the more I teach , the more I sense a growing lack of empathy , a disconnect in emotional development , ” says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over a long period of time , but here it just exploded into being overnight .
It seems like everything in this world is in the here and now .
Take what you can get today , and there is no room for emotional growth , tradition , or continuity .
“ In retrospect , it feels like the Soviet system , for all its faults , gave us space to create , time to reflect , and art that was intended for everyone .
”

“A new generation of city officials has decided to weigh and measure everything in terms of its monetary value,” says Sergei Alexandrov, a well-known Russian painter who has received his final eviction notice. “It doesn’t matter anymore how famous you are, or what work you have done. Now you’re not needed. Or at least the state doesn’t believe that culture is its concern anymore.”
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the system of subsidized workshop space for recognized artists continued under the patronage of longtime Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. But that era appears to be over.
For culture to thrive in a society, artists need patronage. In Russia, the most viable avenue for that support is the state. Should Moscow be kicking artists out of subsidized studios in favor of urban development?
The Soviet state regarded everything in terms of production. It recognized that artists and other creative people needed special conditions to ply their craft. Accomplished artists were handed workshops and given lucrative state orders to fill.
Ever since the Soviet era, Moscow has been a haven for Russian artists, who have received subsidized, specially built studios to practice their crafts. But that has come to an end in the past few months, as hundreds of artists have been evicted from their workspaces amid an urban renovation project that is rearranging the entire Moscow landscape in favor of big real estate developers.
When Yana Gavrilkevich, a painter and art teacher, got the notice that she was being evicted from her art studio, it was “a catastrophe.” And she was not the only one being turned out.
Most of the units in the large, 1960s-era apartment building in eastern Moscow in which her studio sits are simple ones. But the entire top floor consists of 14 large, high-ceilinged studios, specially built for artists in Soviet times and quite different in design from the apartments below. Generations of artists have worked here, painting, sculpting, illustrating, and such, enjoying the perks of a now-defunct system that once gave them work, premises, and a high social status.
But now the artists – not just in this building, but hundreds all across the city – are being kicked out of their subsidized studios, as Moscow officials appear to have decided that the care and feeding of culture is no longer their problem.
Why We Wrote This For culture to thrive in a society, artists need patronage. In Russia, the most viable avenue for that support is the state. Should Moscow be kicking artists out of subsidized studios in favor of urban development?
“This is not merely where we work. It’s also where most of us keep our working materials and collected art,” says Ms. Gavrilkevich, who inherited a studio here from her father, a noted Soviet portrait artist. “It’s not just a workplace, it’s a place of artistic continuity, memory. And now we’re just to be thrown out into the street.”
The workshops are now mostly empty, as their former occupants bow to the inevitable demolition of the building under a grand Moscow plan to replace old city housing with new buildings, as part of a much larger urban renovation project that is rearranging the entire Moscow landscape in favor of big real estate developers. But while the regular inhabitants of the building are being provided alternative housing by the city, the artists are being shown the door, with the implicit message that it’s time to start adjusting to life under capitalism.
“A new generation of city officials has decided to weigh and measure everything in terms of its monetary value,” says Sergei Alexandrov, a well-known Russian painter, who has received his final eviction notice from the small studio he has occupied for decades. “It doesn’t matter anymore how famous you are, or what work you have done. Now you’re not needed. Or at least the state doesn’t believe that culture is its concern anymore.”
Fred Weir View caption Hide caption Denis Rudikh (left) and Yana Gavrilkevich stand in a studio in a soon-to-be demolished apartment building in eastern Moscow, Dec. 1, 2020. Both artists, along with at least a dozen others, were evicted from their own studios in the building by the city, without compensatory space.
Cultivated by the Soviets
The workshops came into being as part of a generous Soviet system that trained large numbers of artists in specialized schools and put them to work decorating public spaces with ideologically themed murals, monuments, posters, and other adornments; illustrating film sets and book covers; and much more. But it also provided them with private studio space where they could pursue their own projects. Most of the Moscow workshops now under threat were established in the 1960s, a time of relative economic prosperity and a great deal of political and cultural ferment in the USSR.
The Soviet state regarded everything in terms of production. The world was a big factory populated with workers fulfilling their assigned roles in socialist society. It recognized that artists and other creative people needed special conditions to ply their craft. Accomplished artists were handed workshops by the Union of Artists, and also given lucrative state orders to fill.
Even today, a walk around any Russian urban space will reveal many of those old gems. Not just the grand monuments to Soviet heroes and the palatial metro stations, but also murals calling for world peace that cover entire apartment blocs, sculptured fountains in parks, and mosaics dedicated to children’s play in kindergartens or to book-learning in schools. While much of the output of Soviet artists is regarded as dross today, some of it is highly prized and can be found in top museums and art galleries.
“The later Soviet period gave us these workshops, but it also stimulated very fruitful nonconformist trends in art,” says Ms. Gavrilkevich. “State investments into culture may have served an ideological goal, but they also drove an explosion of creativity.”
Today, the workshops are assigned by the Moscow Union of Artists, which holds leases on all the threatened studios that are valid until 2025. But three months ago, the Moscow government told them to leave. The final notices arrived in early December.
Around 500 studios are currently on the chopping block, involving about 700 artists. That’s the lion’s share of some 900 such workshops that remain in the entire city. The Moscow government is carrying out the evictions with little public discussion, and it has so far attracted scant notice in the Moscow media.
In response to questions from the Monitor, the city property department offered a brief, unsigned response: “Under the terms of contracts concluded with the city, in the event of reconstruction or demolition of the building where the public organization is located, it must vacate the occupied non-residential premises.”
The statement added, without explanation, “It is possible to place these creative workshops within the previously provided areas.”
That note of official ambiguity is giving hope to some, but Yelena Yanchuk, a Communist deputy of the Moscow City Council, says nothing is likely to change unless public opinion gets engaged with the plight of the artists.
“At some point Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that no artists will be thrown into the street,” she says. “But he made that remark in passing, and no clear instructions followed. So, maybe the city officials are waiting for orders. Meanwhile, the situation looks like a mass ban on the artists’ profession.”
Mr. Alexandrov, who has exhibited his Russian tradition-themed paintings in the U.S. and other countries, says the tragedy is that the state is depriving artists of their few remaining Soviet-era perks at a time when Russia still lacks the developed art markets, rich benefactors, foundation grants, and other buffers that are available to help struggling artists in Western countries.
“We want to integrate into the modern world, but our state has no idea how to aid us in that transition,” he says. “We have the impression that we are just not needed; we are disposable. For many artists, these evictions will be a professional death blow.”
Left fallow by capitalists?
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the system of subsidized workshop space for recognized artists continued under the patronage of longtime Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
“Under Luzhkov, many artists were evicted from places that had become prime real estate, but the city always found them alternative workshops,” says Denis Rudikh, an artist and Moscow Union of Artists activist. “The state stopped purchasing artistic production, but made it possible for us to survive by seeking private orders, teaching, doing things that kept body and soul together, but also enabled one to still have the identity of an artist.”
Of course, many graduates of Russia’s still-prestigious art schools find lucrative employment in the private sector today, in advertising, film, media, and corporate PR. It’s possible they regard the older Moscow artists clinging to their Soviet-era workshops as dinosaurs. But some of those artists retort that consumerism has sucked the essential creativity out of art.
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 teach young children, and the more I teach, the more I sense a growing lack of empathy, a disconnect in emotional development,” says Ms. Gavrilkevich. “Western consumerism developed over a long period of time, but here it just exploded into being overnight. It seems like everything in this world is in the here and now. Take what you can get today, and there is no room for emotional growth, tradition, or continuity.
“In retrospect, it feels like the Soviet system, for all its faults, gave us space to create, time to reflect, and art that was intended for everyone.”


csmonitor--2020-12-16--Electricity’s clean giants sizzle – quietly

Five years after the groundbreaking Paris climate accord , governments still find themselves scrambling to confront the crisis .
At the recently concluded Climate Ambition Summit 2020 , United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged countries to declare themselves to be in a state of climate emergency .
Nearly 40 already have .
But amid that alarm one part of the solution has been quietly underway .
Companies that produce clean electricity ( wind and solar power , which doesn ’ t result in the release of climate-warming carbon dioxide ) have been growing at a spectacular rate , attracting enthusiastic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Far from being small feel-good boutique businesses with little energy to add to the grid , these companies are emerging as clean power giants .
Their origins come from both the world of electric utilities , with little-recognized names like Enel , NextEra Energy , Iberdrola , and Orsted , as well as from oil and gas behemoths such as Britain ’ s BP , which see that the future of energy is in renewable sources .
The clean energy companies aren ’ t tiny upstarts : The value of NextEra stock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ExxonMobil in value last fall .
In the United States , renewable electricity from wind , solar , and hydropower already makes up nearly 18 % of the total output .
That ’ s up from almost none 10 years ago .
Globally , wind and solar produce about 9 % of the electricity generated , a figure that should grow to 56 % by 2050 , according to BloombergNEF , which researches clean energy .
A dramatic drop in the cost of solar panels and wind turbines is making clean energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against abundant natural gas , and is restructuring the energy marketplace .
Spending on renewable electrical power may for the first time exceed spending on oil and gas drilling , predicts Goldman Sachs .
In his campaign , U.S. President-elect Joe Biden promised to look much more kindly on clean energy efforts .
A newly formed renewable energy trade group , the American Clean Power Association , with some 800 member companies , officially debuts Jan. 1 , and will try to hold him to his promises .
Around the world new records @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being set .
In October , the Australian state of South Australia , with its 1.76 million people , briefly was powered by solar energy alone .
Solar now consistently provides about half the state ’ s electrical needs .
Because solar and wind provide variable levels of output ( periods of lack of sunlight or wind ) , how to store electricity has presented a challenge .
That ’ s why a recent report from Wood Mackenzie and the Energy Storage Association is so encouraging .
It shows that some 476 megawatts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the third quarter of 2020 , an increase of 240 % from the previous high , set in the second quarter .
Numbers and stats can overwhelm .
But their message is clear : The conversion to a world powered by electricity from renewable , nonpolluting sources is underway .
Clean energy still faces challenges .
But incubated by government incentives , private efforts have grown up , changing the way we light our lives and helping to slow the warming of our planet .

Five years after the groundbreaking Paris climate accord, governments still find themselves scrambling to confront the crisis. At the recently concluded Climate Ambition Summit 2020, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged countries to declare themselves to be in a state of climate emergency. Nearly 40 already have.
But amid that alarm one part of the solution has been quietly underway. Companies that produce clean electricity (wind and solar power, which doesn’t result in the release of climate-warming carbon dioxide) have been growing at a spectacular rate, attracting enthusiastic investors that even include cautious pension funds.
Far from being small feel-good boutique businesses with little energy to add to the grid, these companies are emerging as clean power giants. Their origins come from both the world of electric utilities, with little-recognized names like Enel, NextEra Energy, Iberdrola, and Orsted, as well as from oil and gas behemoths such as Britain’s BP, which see that the future of energy is in renewable sources. The clean energy companies aren’t tiny upstarts: The value of NextEra stock, for example, briefly surpassed that of ExxonMobil in value last fall.
In the United States, renewable electricity from wind, solar, and hydropower already makes up nearly 18% of the total output. That’s up from almost none 10 years ago. Globally, wind and solar produce about 9% of the electricity generated, a figure that should grow to 56% by 2050, according to BloombergNEF, which researches clean energy.
A dramatic drop in the cost of solar panels and wind turbines is making clean energy more and more cost competitive, even against abundant natural gas, and is restructuring the energy marketplace. Spending on renewable electrical power may for the first time exceed spending on oil and gas drilling, predicts Goldman Sachs.
In his campaign, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden promised to look much more kindly on clean energy efforts. A newly formed renewable energy trade group, the American Clean Power Association, with some 800 member companies, officially debuts Jan. 1, and will try to hold him to his promises.
Around the world new records for the generation of clean energy are being set. In October, the Australian state of South Australia, with its 1.76 million people, briefly was powered by solar energy alone. Solar now consistently provides about half the state’s electrical needs.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Because solar and wind provide variable levels of output (periods of lack of sunlight or wind), how to store electricity has presented a challenge. That’s why a recent report from Wood Mackenzie and the Energy Storage Association is so encouraging. It shows that some 476 megawatts of storage was deployed in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2020, an increase of 240% from the previous high, set in the second quarter.
Numbers and stats can overwhelm. But their message is clear: The conversion to a world powered by electricity from renewable, nonpolluting sources is underway. Clean energy still faces challenges. But incubated by government incentives, private efforts have grown up, changing the way we light our lives and helping to slow the warming of our planet.


csmonitor--2020-12-16--Turning its back on Europe, Britain seeks US springboard

Mr. Johnson is also aligning “ global Britain ” with the United States on China policy ; at Washington ’ s behest , and despite the importance of U.K. trade with China , the government is limiting the involvement of the Chinese firm Huawei in Britain ’ s future 5G telecom network .
Britain could prove a useful ally to incoming U.S. President Joe Biden on two other matters close to the American ’ s heart .
To make up for the loss of its place at the EU top table , Mr. Johnson wants to strengthen his ties with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spending this year in a reminder of what a reliable NATO ally Britain is .
One field where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seems keen to make an international mark is climate change .
He will be hosting the next follow-up summit on the 2015 Paris accord in November , and has recently pledged some ambitious carbon emission targets .
The two issues seem unrelated .
But as the United Kingdom charts its own diplomatic course for the first time in decades , London is looking for a new role .
Without one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world stage .
Could Britain ’ s departure from the European Union on Dec. 31 signal a boost for the fight against climate change ?
Consider this intriguing equation : Brexit ( Britain ’ s imminent departure from the European Union ) equals a boost for the international fight to slow climate change .
Also , very possibly , a spur for two other items on incoming American President Joe Biden ’ s wish list : a reinvigoration of NATO and a new Western consensus on how to constrain China ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t a direct one .
And it ’ s receiving scant attention given the more immediate , economic implications of Britain leaving the EU , the trading bloc it joined in the 1970s and which accounts for the lion ’ s share of its trade .
But these longer-term effects are a likely result of the core political challenge Britain will face after leaving the EU on Dec. 31 : to find a new , post-Brexit identity that maintains the country ’ s relevance , and influence , on the world stage .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Secretary of State Dean Acheson said of the British that they had “ lost an empire and failed to find a role.
” Britain ’ s EU membership helped square that circle ; not only did its economy thrive , but the United Kingdom also became a pivotal member of the union , along with France and Germany , and offered a valuable bridge to Washington .
Now London has lost that role .
And with the empire long gone , the government of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson again faces the need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s where climate change comes in .
It so happens that Mr. Johnson will be hosting the next international follow-up summit on the 2015 Paris climate accord in the Scottish city of Glasgow .
It was delayed due to the pandemic , but is scheduled for next November .
Earlier this year he was being criticized for not taking preparations for the conference seriously enough , and for a lack of ambitious plans to promote cleaner energy at home .
But he is now rectifying that .
In recent months , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carbon emissions to more than two-thirds below 1990 levels by the end of this decade , and has championed an expansion of wind-powered electricity generation and other carbon-free energy sources .
In a move timed to coincide with a virtual , interim summit held last weekend , aimed at encouraging greater progress ahead of the Glasgow meeting , he also announced that Britain was ending all government subsidies for fossil fuel projects overseas .
It is becoming clear that as governments worldwide pay more and more attention to the climate issue , Mr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a major opportunity to demonstrate Britain ’ s post-Brexit international leadership and assert the new identity that Cabinet ministers have been describing as “ global Britain.
” Still , to lend genuine heft to that role Britain will need to reinforce its historically close ties with the United States , a task it hopes won ’ t be made more difficult by Mr. Johnson ’ s close personal relationship with President Donald Trump .
Leading the referendum campaign to leave the EU in 2016 , Mr. Johnson held out the promise of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. that would offset any economic damage from Brexit .
But it has since become clear that such a deal will mean protracted negotiations , U.S. commercial conditions that could prove unpopular with British voters , and then ratification by the U.S. Congress .
So in the meantime , the focus in London has shifted to other ways of strengthening the alliance with Washington – as a diplomatic and political substitute for Britain ’ s old seat at the EU ’ s top table .
Thus the relevance of NATO : Britain , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partner in Europe , remains a key member of the transatlantic security alliance .
Mr. Johnson sent an important signal last month when he scotched a government plan to cut military spending and insisted instead on an additional $ 21 billion in funding .
That means Britain ’ s military expenditure will rise to about 2.2 % of its gross domestic product , well above the European average , and a dollars-and-cents recognition of Washington ’ s long-standing view that its NATO allies do not pull their financial weight .
The move was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s continuing viability as a military ally .
It has also positioned the U.K. as a key European player in advance of Mr. Biden ’ s expected reengagement with NATO , an alliance that Mr. Trump once dismissed as “ obsolete.
” Mr. Johnson knows that , in American eyes , European security is a less pressing priority than the potential threat posed by China .
So he appears hopeful that he can align “ global Britain ” with Washington on this front , too .
Despite the importance of Britain ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now magnified by Brexit – he signaled where his priorities lay a few months ago by doing a policy U-turn , at the Trump administration ’ s behest , so as to limit the involvement of the Chinese firm Huawei in Britain ’ s future 5G telecommunications network .
Ultimately , Britain now would like to join the U.S. in forging a coherent China strategy that all the Western allies could share .
This would try to strike a balance between recognizing the benefits of economic engagement , as well as the need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as climate change , and an unapologetically tough stand against unfair trade practices and violations of human rights .
And ironically , however personally chummy Mr. Johnson was with the outgoing American president , this is a policy approach that “ global Britain ” suspects will find greater favor with his successor .

Mr. Johnson is also aligning “global Britain” with the United States on China policy; at Washington’s behest, and despite the importance of U.K. trade with China, the government is limiting the involvement of the Chinese firm Huawei in Britain’s future 5G telecom network.
Britain could prove a useful ally to incoming U.S. President Joe Biden on two other matters close to the American’s heart. To make up for the loss of its place at the EU top table, Mr. Johnson wants to strengthen his ties with Washington, and he has boosted military spending this year in a reminder of what a reliable NATO ally Britain is.
One field where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seems keen to make an international mark is climate change. He will be hosting the next follow-up summit on the 2015 Paris accord in November, and has recently pledged some ambitious carbon emission targets.
When Britain leaves the European Union at the end of the year, it will need a new identity to maintain international influence. London will need Washington’s help with that.
The two issues seem unrelated. But as the United Kingdom charts its own diplomatic course for the first time in decades, London is looking for a new role. Without one, it risks losing its influence on the world stage.
Could Britain’s departure from the European Union on Dec. 31 signal a boost for the fight against climate change?
Consider this intriguing equation: Brexit (Britain’s imminent departure from the European Union) equals a boost for the international fight to slow climate change.
Also, very possibly, a spur for two other items on incoming American President Joe Biden’s wish list: a reinvigoration of NATO and a new Western consensus on how to constrain China’s growing reach.
The equation isn’t a direct one. And it’s receiving scant attention given the more immediate, economic implications of Britain leaving the EU, the trading bloc it joined in the 1970s and which accounts for the lion’s share of its trade.
Why We Wrote This When Britain leaves the European Union at the end of the year, it will need a new identity to maintain international influence. London will need Washington’s help with that.
But these longer-term effects are a likely result of the core political challenge Britain will face after leaving the EU on Dec. 31: to find a new, post-Brexit identity that maintains the country’s relevance, and influence, on the world stage.
Way back in 1962, former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson said of the British that they had “lost an empire and failed to find a role.” Britain’s EU membership helped square that circle; not only did its economy thrive, but the United Kingdom also became a pivotal member of the union, along with France and Germany, and offered a valuable bridge to Washington.
Now London has lost that role. And with the empire long gone, the government of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson again faces the need to find a new international role.
That’s where climate change comes in. It so happens that Mr. Johnson will be hosting the next international follow-up summit on the 2015 Paris climate accord in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It was delayed due to the pandemic, but is scheduled for next November.
Earlier this year he was being criticized for not taking preparations for the conference seriously enough, and for a lack of ambitious plans to promote cleaner energy at home. But he is now rectifying that. In recent months, he has pledged that Britain will cut carbon emissions to more than two-thirds below 1990 levels by the end of this decade, and has championed an expansion of wind-powered electricity generation and other carbon-free energy sources.
In a move timed to coincide with a virtual, interim summit held last weekend, aimed at encouraging greater progress ahead of the Glasgow meeting, he also announced that Britain was ending all government subsidies for fossil fuel projects overseas.
It is becoming clear that as governments worldwide pay more and more attention to the climate issue, Mr. Johnson sees next year’s summit as a major opportunity to demonstrate Britain’s post-Brexit international leadership and assert the new identity that Cabinet ministers have been describing as “global Britain.”
Still, to lend genuine heft to that role Britain will need to reinforce its historically close ties with the United States, a task it hopes won’t be made more difficult by Mr. Johnson’s close personal relationship with President Donald Trump.
Leading the referendum campaign to leave the EU in 2016, Mr. Johnson held out the promise of a comprehensive post-Brexit free-trade agreement with the U.S. that would offset any economic damage from Brexit. But it has since become clear that such a deal will mean protracted negotiations, U.S. commercial conditions that could prove unpopular with British voters, and then ratification by the U.S. Congress.
So in the meantime, the focus in London has shifted to other ways of strengthening the alliance with Washington – as a diplomatic and political substitute for Britain’s old seat at the EU’s top table.
Thus the relevance of NATO: Britain, as America’s most important military partner in Europe, remains a key member of the transatlantic security alliance.
Mr. Johnson sent an important signal last month when he scotched a government plan to cut military spending and insisted instead on an additional $21 billion in funding. That means Britain’s military expenditure will rise to about 2.2% of its gross domestic product, well above the European average, and a dollars-and-cents recognition of Washington’s long-standing view that its NATO allies do not pull their financial weight.
The move was a reminder to the U.S. of Britain’s continuing viability as a military ally. It has also positioned the U.K. as a key European player in advance of Mr. Biden’s expected reengagement with NATO, an alliance that Mr. Trump once dismissed as “obsolete.”
Mr. Johnson knows that, in American eyes, European security is a less pressing priority than the potential threat posed by China. So he appears hopeful that he can align “global Britain” with Washington on this front, too.
Despite the importance of Britain’s own trade relationship with Beijing – now magnified by Brexit – he signaled where his priorities lay a few months ago by doing a policy U-turn, at the Trump administration’s behest, so as to limit the involvement of the Chinese firm Huawei in Britain’s future 5G telecommunications network.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Ultimately, Britain now would like to join the U.S. in forging a coherent China strategy that all the Western allies could share. This would try to strike a balance between recognizing the benefits of economic engagement, as well as the need to work with the Chinese on issues such as climate change, and an unapologetically tough stand against unfair trade practices and violations of human rights.
And ironically, however personally chummy Mr. Johnson was with the outgoing American president, this is a policy approach that “global Britain” suspects will find greater favor with his successor.


csmonitor--2020-12-16--Electric cars are on the rise in cities. Can power grids cope?

A stroll down Stockholm ’ s longest street that takes its name from the mythical Valhalla , where Norse gods feast and fight until doomsday , gives a hint of the battle today ’ s power grids face to keep pace with government goals to electrify transport .
Early this month , a man selling Christmas trees looked on as workers installed 10 public vehicle charging stations with two power outlets each in Valhallavägen , which is around 2.17 miles long .
It ’ s progress , but not enough .
Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 122 % in the European Union , accounting for about 8 % of new car sales , industry figures show .
In Sweden , electric vehicles ( EVs ) made up nearly 28 % of the market for the first three quarters of the year , with 56,559 fully-electric or plug-in hybrids sold .
Sales of petrol and diesel cars will be banned in Sweden from 2030 , so many more of the nearly 5 million passenger cars registered today will gradually be replaced by zero-emission EVs .
Kristofer Fröjd , head of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s power distributor , said Stockholm has fewer than 4,000 public charging stations and will require 25,000 by 2030 .
Apart from the quantity , there are other issues as Sweden ’ s power grid is already stretched to capacity at times , especially during the peak demand winter months .
On the coldest days , operators will have to balance the demand for domestic heat – and Christmas tree lights – with transport needs , which means that within two or three years , as EV numbers climb , drivers will have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public stations .
“ The grid in Sweden is robust , but it ’ s very , very old , ” Mr. Fröjd said .
“ We can ’ t jeopardize the health of our grid.
” National transmission grid operator Svenska Kraftnät plans to spend up to 150 billion Swedish krona ( $ 17.9 billion ) rebuilding about 3,107 miles , or roughly a third , of Sweden ’ s grid , by 2030 .
Officials say that will not be soon enough to prevent capacity coming under strain from around 2022 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ T & E ) says it is not inevitable that EVs create grid problems .
In a report in June last year , it said using old vehicle batteries for energy storage would boost capacity and that charging overnight and during off-peak hours would spread out demand .
But significant investment is still necessary .
The European Union as a whole , will require 2.9 million public chargers for up to 44 million EVs by 2030 , up from 200,000 chargers at the end of 2019 , at a cost of 20 billion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ T & E estimates .
A further 60 billion euros will be needed for private chargers at home .
Private investors could help .
But Hannes Weckmann , a director at consultancy AlixPartners , said they are cautious because charging station use is so low for now .
Simon Webber , a portfolio manager at Schroders , which has about $ 650 billion in assets under management , said he is “ a little bit wary ” of investing because so many players , from utilities to supermarket chains , have public charging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not all be profitable .
“ It ’ s a bit unclear to me what the success of the business models will be , ” Mr. Webber said .
Some auto industry executives worry investment in charging will be concentrated in richer , Western member states and the difficulty of finding public charging stations in Eastern European countries will depress demand .
For automakers , that would mean having to sell more electric cars in affluent markets to meet EU-wide carbon reduction targets .
“ If there ’ s no charging infrastructure , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cars , ” said Mattias Bergman , CEO of Swedish auto industry group BIL Sweden .
Sweden has begun preparing for soaring electricity consumption , expected as data centers , heavy industry , and a rising population , as well as greater EV use , increase demand by an estimated 43 % by 2045 from now .
That is equivalent to one and a half times Denmark ’ s power use , Ellevio ’ s Mr. Fröjd says .
By 2045 , EVs will consume nearly 10 % of Sweden ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 0.4 % now , Per Eckemark , Svenska Kraftnät ’ s grid executive manager said .
Sweden ’ s challenges are echoed elsewhere in the EU and beyond .
A study published by Britain ’ s car lobby group in September estimated Britain alone will need 2.8 million public chargers by 2035 , at a cost of 16.7 billion pounds ( $ 22.07 billion ) versus less than 20,000 today .
Jacob Briggs , a senior analyst at energy consultant Cornwall Insight , says the cost of connecting charging station depends on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ In one region you could be charged 30,000 pounds for the connection and all the capacity you need for that site , or 300,000 pounds or 3 million elsewhere , ” Mr. Briggs said .
That could lead to a very uneven distribution of charging points .
Back in Stockholm , Eva Sunnerstedt , who runs Stockholm ’ s EV policy , said the city is working to streamline the planning process and the optimum places for chargers , but there is an element of guesswork .
“ We don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evolve , so right now we ’ re testing this , ” she said .
This story was reported by Reuters .

A stroll down Stockholm’s longest street that takes its name from the mythical Valhalla, where Norse gods feast and fight until doomsday, gives a hint of the battle today’s power grids face to keep pace with government goals to electrify transport.
Early this month, a man selling Christmas trees looked on as workers installed 10 public vehicle charging stations with two power outlets each in Valhallavägen, which is around 2.17 miles long.
It’s progress, but not enough.
Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles during the first nine months of 2020 rose by 122% in the European Union, accounting for about 8% of new car sales, industry figures show.
In Sweden, electric vehicles (EVs) made up nearly 28% of the market for the first three quarters of the year, with 56,559 fully-electric or plug-in hybrids sold.
Sales of petrol and diesel cars will be banned in Sweden from 2030, so many more of the nearly 5 million passenger cars registered today will gradually be replaced by zero-emission EVs.
Kristofer Fröjd, head of business development at Ellevio, Stockholm’s power distributor, said Stockholm has fewer than 4,000 public charging stations and will require 25,000 by 2030.
Apart from the quantity, there are other issues as Sweden’s power grid is already stretched to capacity at times, especially during the peak demand winter months.
On the coldest days, operators will have to balance the demand for domestic heat – and Christmas tree lights – with transport needs, which means that within two or three years, as EV numbers climb, drivers will have to put up with slower charging at public stations.
“The grid in Sweden is robust, but it’s very, very old,” Mr. Fröjd said. “We can’t jeopardize the health of our grid.”
National transmission grid operator Svenska Kraftnät plans to spend up to 150 billion Swedish krona ($17.9 billion) rebuilding about 3,107 miles, or roughly a third, of Sweden’s grid, by 2030.
Officials say that will not be soon enough to prevent capacity coming under strain from around 2022.
Environmental group Transport & Environment (T&E) says it is not inevitable that EVs create grid problems.
In a report in June last year, it said using old vehicle batteries for energy storage would boost capacity and that charging overnight and during off-peak hours would spread out demand.
But significant investment is still necessary.
The European Union as a whole, will require 2.9 million public chargers for up to 44 million EVs by 2030, up from 200,000 chargers at the end of 2019, at a cost of 20 billion euros ($24.30 billion), T&E estimates. A further 60 billion euros will be needed for private chargers at home.
Private investors could help. But Hannes Weckmann, a director at consultancy AlixPartners, said they are cautious because charging station use is so low for now.
Simon Webber, a portfolio manager at Schroders, which has about $650 billion in assets under management, said he is “a little bit wary” of investing because so many players, from utilities to supermarket chains, have public charging projects, the risk is they will not all be profitable.
“It’s a bit unclear to me what the success of the business models will be,” Mr. Webber said.
East-West divide?
Some auto industry executives worry investment in charging will be concentrated in richer, Western member states and the difficulty of finding public charging stations in Eastern European countries will depress demand.
For automakers, that would mean having to sell more electric cars in affluent markets to meet EU-wide carbon reduction targets.
“If there’s no charging infrastructure, they’re not going to sell the cars,” said Mattias Bergman, CEO of Swedish auto industry group BIL Sweden.
Sweden has begun preparing for soaring electricity consumption, expected as data centers, heavy industry, and a rising population, as well as greater EV use, increase demand by an estimated 43% by 2045 from now.
That is equivalent to one and a half times Denmark’s power use, Ellevio’s Mr. Fröjd says.
By 2045, EVs will consume nearly 10% of Sweden’s total electric power output, up from 0.4% now, Per Eckemark, Svenska Kraftnät’s grid executive manager said.
Sweden’s challenges are echoed elsewhere in the EU and beyond.
A study published by Britain’s car lobby group in September estimated Britain alone will need 2.8 million public chargers by 2035, at a cost of 16.7 billion pounds ($22.07 billion) versus less than 20,000 today.
Jacob Briggs, a senior analyst at energy consultant Cornwall Insight, says the cost of connecting charging station depends on the capacity of the grid behind it.
“In one region you could be charged 30,000 pounds for the connection and all the capacity you need for that site, or 300,000 pounds or 3 million elsewhere,” Mr. Briggs said.
That could lead to a very uneven distribution of charging points.
Back in Stockholm, Eva Sunnerstedt, who runs Stockholm’s EV policy, said the city is working to streamline the planning process and the optimum places for chargers, but there is an element of guesswork.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
“We don’t know how driver behavior is going to evolve, so right now we’re testing this,” she said.
This story was reported by Reuters.


csmonitor--2020-12-16--Biden's blueprint for a working in a virus-free White House

Three blocks from the White House , office space for more than 500 Biden transition staffers sits mostly idle .
The government is shipping out laptops so staffers can work from home .
President-elect Joe Biden , surrounded by just a handful of aides in Delaware , is using Zoom to oversee his plans to assume power .
But Mr. Biden soon will be entering a no-Zoom zone at the White House – just one sign of the challenges his new administration will face when it moves to Washington in the midst of a pandemic .
After months of making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign and transition team have taken toward COVID-19 , Mr. Biden ’ s prudence will be tested by technology and tradition when he arrives on Jan. 20 .
White House computers don ’ t allow the popular video conference software Zoom or rival systems like Google Meet and Slack .
Government-issue cellphones only gained texting capabilities a few years ago .
And many employees will need to be present at the White House to access classified information .
Mr. Biden ’ s team has limited experience with staffing a physical office during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mid-March , clearing out its Philadelphia headquarters and sending staff back to their families in Washington , New York , and beyond .
His transition team plotted out his path to power entirely online .
The closest Mr. Biden ’ s team has come to experimenting with in-person work was election night , when a small selection of masked and socially distanced aides in Wilmington monitored returns in hotel conference rooms , a far cry from running a White House 24/7 .
Even now , the most prominent use of the 100,000-plus square @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transition is for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to receive the highly classified President ’ s Daily Brief .
Telework is possible for some White House staff , and improvements in both secure and unclassified videoconferencing have been made over the past two decades .
But the lack of in-person coordination could pose an additional challenge to the new government facing a multitude of crises .
Further complicating matters , the Biden team must devise health and safety protocols from scratch .
The Trump administration was , at best , a cautionary tale in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a pandemic .
Despite relying on an aggressive testing regimen that is not available in other workplaces , the West Wing under President Donald Trump has been the locus of at least two significant outbreaks of COVID-19 since Mr. Trump himself came down with the virus five weeks before Election Day .
Besides the first family , the dozens in Trump world who have tested positive include the White House chief of staff , the vice president ’ s chief of staff , the White House press secretary , and the president ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have had to isolate after potential exposure .
The full scale of the infections is not publicly known .
The problems stemmed in large part from the Trump White House flouting its own guidelines for COVID-19 safety , including holding large events , allowing frequent travel , and above all , not requiring face masks .
The Biden team believes that some of the greatest risk can be mitigated simply by adhering to scientific advice : holding safer events , requiring face coverings , and continuing regular testing .
White House veterans say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a safe workspace is attainable but will require intense discipline , among both White House staff and the hundreds of government employees from other federal agencies who support it .
Detailed planning is still underway , but some early considerations are to curtail the number of staffers who have unfettered access to the West Wing , encourage remote work where possible and even have staffers use secure teleconferencing between individual offices to minimize use of shared spaces .
Mr. Biden ’ s team may get a blueprint of sorts for its use of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is beginning to roll out inoculations for some critical government staffers , including military aides to the president , Secret Service agents , and Situation Room watch officers .
Mr. Biden himself appears likely to receive at least a first dose of the vaccine before taking office , relying on the advice of the nation ’ s top infectious-disease expert .
Dr. Anthony Fauci called for Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris to swiftly receive the vaccine .
“ For security reasons , I really feel strongly that we should get them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Dr. Fauci said on ABC News on Tuesday .
“ You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January.
” Moving the Bidens into the White House – a stressful process even in normal times – will be more complicated this year .
There will be a top-to-bottom cleaning of the West Wing in the hours after Mr. Trump vacates the premises and before Mr. Biden ’ s team moves in .
Public health experts say it ’ s crucial that extra steps be taken during that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White House ventilation system , hardened against chemical and biological threats , poses less of a concern than in typical buildings , but the Biden team is not taking any risks .
`` Having full air exchange , filtration , and open ventilation will be important between the cleaning and the moving in of the new presidential family , ” said Dr. Abraar Karan , a global health specialist at Brigham and Women ’ s Hospital and Harvard Medical School .
Typically , the entire move is completed in about five or six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ author of “ The Residence : Inside the Private World of the White House.
” For security reasons , moving day is carried out by White House household staff – an undertaking that enlists everyone from building engineers to kitchen staff .
“ In the past , there ’ s literally one moving truck in the South Lawn entrance and one in the north entrance , ” she said .
“ It ’ s very much an all-hands-on-deck situation.
” This story was reported by The Associated Press .

Three blocks from the White House, office space for more than 500 Biden transition staffers sits mostly idle. The government is shipping out laptops so staffers can work from home. President-elect Joe Biden, surrounded by just a handful of aides in Delaware, is using Zoom to oversee his plans to assume power.
But Mr. Biden soon will be entering a no-Zoom zone at the White House – just one sign of the challenges his new administration will face when it moves to Washington in the midst of a pandemic.
After months of making a virtue of the cautious approach his campaign and transition team have taken toward COVID-19, Mr. Biden’s prudence will be tested by technology and tradition when he arrives on Jan. 20.
White House computers don’t allow the popular video conference software Zoom or rival systems like Google Meet and Slack. Government-issue cellphones only gained texting capabilities a few years ago. And many employees will need to be present at the White House to access classified information.
Mr. Biden’s team has limited experience with staffing a physical office during the pandemic. His campaign went all-virtual in mid-March, clearing out its Philadelphia headquarters and sending staff back to their families in Washington, New York, and beyond. His transition team plotted out his path to power entirely online.
The closest Mr. Biden’s team has come to experimenting with in-person work was election night, when a small selection of masked and socially distanced aides in Wilmington monitored returns in hotel conference rooms, a far cry from running a White House 24/7.
Even now, the most prominent use of the 100,000-plus square feet of office space reserved for the transition is for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to receive the highly classified President’s Daily Brief.
Telework is possible for some White House staff, and improvements in both secure and unclassified videoconferencing have been made over the past two decades. But the lack of in-person coordination could pose an additional challenge to the new government facing a multitude of crises.
Further complicating matters, the Biden team must devise health and safety protocols from scratch. The Trump administration was, at best, a cautionary tale in how not to run a workplace during a pandemic.
Despite relying on an aggressive testing regimen that is not available in other workplaces, the West Wing under President Donald Trump has been the locus of at least two significant outbreaks of COVID-19 since Mr. Trump himself came down with the virus five weeks before Election Day.
Besides the first family, the dozens in Trump world who have tested positive include the White House chief of staff, the vice president’s chief of staff, the White House press secretary, and the president’s campaign manager. Still more aides have had to isolate after potential exposure. The full scale of the infections is not publicly known.
The problems stemmed in large part from the Trump White House flouting its own guidelines for COVID-19 safety, including holding large events, allowing frequent travel, and above all, not requiring face masks. The Biden team believes that some of the greatest risk can be mitigated simply by adhering to scientific advice: holding safer events, requiring face coverings, and continuing regular testing.
White House veterans say the task of making the West Wing a safe workspace is attainable but will require intense discipline, among both White House staff and the hundreds of government employees from other federal agencies who support it.
Detailed planning is still underway, but some early considerations are to curtail the number of staffers who have unfettered access to the West Wing, encourage remote work where possible and even have staffers use secure teleconferencing between individual offices to minimize use of shared spaces.
Mr. Biden’s team may get a blueprint of sorts for its use of COVID-19 vaccines from the Trump White House, which is beginning to roll out inoculations for some critical government staffers, including military aides to the president, Secret Service agents, and Situation Room watch officers.
Mr. Biden himself appears likely to receive at least a first dose of the vaccine before taking office, relying on the advice of the nation’s top infectious-disease expert. Dr. Anthony Fauci called for Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris to swiftly receive the vaccine.
“For security reasons, I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can,” Dr. Fauci said on ABC News on Tuesday. “You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January.”
Moving the Bidens into the White House – a stressful process even in normal times – will be more complicated this year.
There will be a top-to-bottom cleaning of the West Wing in the hours after Mr. Trump vacates the premises and before Mr. Biden’s team moves in. Public health experts say it’s crucial that extra steps be taken during that changeover.
One former official said the White House ventilation system, hardened against chemical and biological threats, poses less of a concern than in typical buildings, but the Biden team is not taking any risks. "Having full air exchange, filtration, and open ventilation will be important between the cleaning and the moving in of the new presidential family,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, a global health specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Typically, the entire move is completed in about five or six hours, said Kate Andersen Brower, author of “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House.” For security reasons, moving day is carried out by White House household staff – an undertaking that enlists everyone from building engineers to kitchen staff.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
“In the past, there’s literally one moving truck in the South Lawn entrance and one in the north entrance,” she said. “It’s very much an all-hands-on-deck situation.”
This story was reported by The Associated Press.