Europe – Page 260 – Prologue Journal

Russians Poured Over Ukraine’s Border. There Was Little to Stop Them.

New York Times The stunning incursion into the Kharkiv Region lays bare the challenges facing Ukraine’s weary and thinly stretched forces as Russia ramps up its summer offensive. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/world/europe/ukraine-russia-advance-kharkiv.html

Slovakian Charged in Shooting ‘Was Against Everything’

New York Times People who know the suspect described a ‘weird and angry’ loner who wrote erotic poetry, and whose resentments ranged across the political spectrum. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/world/europe/slovakia-shooter-suspect.html

A Would-be Assassin Stirs Europe’s Violent Ghosts

New York Times Political violence and polarization stalk Europe today, with ominous echoes of the past. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/world/europe/a-would-be-assassin-stirs-europes-violent-ghosts.html

Premier League’s Dramatic Final Day Masks a Bigger Issue

New York Times Soccer’s leaders have landed on the wrong solution. Again. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/world/europe/premier-league-arsenal-man-city.html

Why a Tactic Used by Czars Is Back With a Vengeance

New York Times Authoritarian governments have long sought to target dissidents abroad. But the digital age may have given them stronger motives, and better tools, for transnational repression. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/world/europe/transnational-repression-hong-kong-uk.html

Zelensky Signs Law Allowing Convicts to Fight for Ukraine

New York Times The tactic echoes one that Russia has used and Ukraine has ridiculed in the past. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/world/europe/ukraine-convicts-zelensky.html

Speculation Swirls in Slovakia, With Details About Fico Attack Scant

New York Times The authorities have released little about the attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico, about the identity of the assailant or even about who is leading the country in the interim. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/world/europe/slovakia-fico.html

As Supernatural Claims Spread Online, Vatican Updates Its Rules on Them

New York Times People have long claimed sightings of the Virgin Mary or bleeding crucifixes, and some endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church have become hugely popular pilgrimage destinations. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/world/europe/vatican-apparitions-supernatural.html

Police in France Shoot Dead Man Who Tried to Set Synagogue on Fire

New York Times The synagogue, in Rouen, northern France, sustained “significant damage,” but nobody other than the assailant was harmed, the authorities said. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/world/europe/france-synagogue-fire-man-shot.html

‘Taking Venice’ Offers a Glimpse at Conspiracy Theories Around the 1964 Biennale

New York Times The documentary offers a glimpse of how the arts were treated very differently in midcentury America. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/movies/taking-venice-documentary-amei-wallach.html