Wednesday Briefing: The NATO summit begins

July 10, 2024

	By Daniel E. Slotnik

Good morning. We’re covering the NATO summit in Washington and the U.S. says Russia is struggling in Ukraine.

Plus, camel racing in Saudi Arabia.

Signage of the NATO summit showing the 75th anniversary of the alliance.

Thirty-eight world leaders are in Washington for the NATO summit. Eric Lee/The New York Times

At the NATO summit, the attention is on Biden

The 75th anniversary of NATO was intended to remind potential adversaries of its members that a larger group of Western allies would stand against aggression.

Instead, the summit, which began yesterday in Washington, feels overshadowed by uncertainty. Will President Biden continue to vie for a second term, and what could happen if Donald Trump returns to the presidency?

Biden is hosting the three-day event while under intense scrutiny for signs that he can’t manage another four years. Democratic lawmakers met privately yesterday to discuss their concerns about Biden’s candidacy, but they appeared unwilling to push him aside.

When he was in office, Trump threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO, and once declared the alliance “obsolete.” This year, he said he would let the Russians do “whatever the hell they want” to any member country he saw as an insufficient contributor. The U.S.’s European allies have begun discussing what a second Trump term might mean for the alliance, and whether it could continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia without support from the U.S.

NATO’s new leader: Mark Rutte, who is set to take over as the alliance’s secretary general in October, is known as a pragmatist.

People standing and working near and inside of a trench in a field.

A trench line in eastern Ukraine. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

U.S. says Russia is struggling against Ukraine’s defenses

Russia is unlikely to gain much territory in Ukraine in the coming months, signifying a major change in the dynamic of the war, U.S. officials said.

Through the spring and early summer, Russia has suffered thousands of casualties as its poorly trained troops struggled to break Ukrainian lines, which have been reinforced with Western munitions. Though Ukraine seems unlikely to reclaim all of the territory that Russia has already seized, Western efforts to strengthen Ukraine appear to be working.

As NATO leaders meet in Washington, they are expected to coordinate weapon deliveries to Ukraine, promise new funding and strengthen a pledge that Ukraine could eventually join the alliance.

Concerns: Russia could make significant headway through a shift like instituting a draft, U.S. officials said. There are also worries about Ukraine’s ability to keep its infrastructure secure, and what the U.S. presidential election could mean for American support.

Narendra Modi stands next to a Russian flag as Vladimir Putin presents him with an award.

It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Russia in five years. Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA, via Shutterstock

Modi’s friendly visit with Putin

During a visit to Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India warmly embraced Vladimir Putin, and told Moscow’s Indian community that “Russia is India’s true friend,” according to Russian state media.

The visit was noted in Kyiv, which was reeling from Monday’s devastating attack on the largest pediatric hospital in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, condemned Modi’s visit as “a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow.”

Context: Western efforts to isolate Russia have been unsuccessful, and New Delhi’s relationship with Moscow has benefited both countries. Since the war began, India has become the No. 2 importer of Russian crude oil, despite sanctions.

MORE TOP NEWS

Yulia Navalnaya stands in the middle of a crowd on a street in daylight, a small bouquet of flowers wrapped in paper and plastic and held in front of her.

Yulia Navalnaya, Aleksei Navalny’s widow. Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Russia: A court ordered the arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Aleksei Navalny. Navalnaya left Russia in 2021.
Middle East: U.N. and Israeli officials say aid convoys are being attacked in Gaza by groups seeking to sell cigarettes smuggled inside the shipments.
France: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left leader, and his party won the most seats in Parliament, but his unpopularity could keep him from leading a coalition.
Britain: With Keir Starmer as the new prime minister, Britain and the U.S. are back in sync. But for how long?
Indonesia: A former official accused of enslaving 656 people on his estate under the guise of drug treatment has been acquitted on charges of human trafficking.
Tesla: The company’s once-dominant share of electric vehicle sales in the U.S. fell below 50 percent, new estimates show.
Haiti: As the new prime minister of a country where gangs have killed thousands of people, Garry Conille has arguably one of the toughest jobs of any leader in the region.
Space: The Ariane 6, Europe’s long-awaited rocket, launched successfully.
Hajj: A large number of pilgrims rely on illicit tour operators to skirt the official permit process, often putting themselves in danger.
Alec Baldwin: A judge ruled that the actor’s role as a producer of “Rust” was not relevant to his trial in the shooting of the film’s cinematographer.
Taylor Swift: Her newest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” has notched its 11th straight week at No. 1.

Sports News

Spain’s players celebrated scoring a goal against France yesterday. Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Soccer: Spain beat France, 2-1, in the Euro semifinals.
Wimbledon: Carlos Alcaraz won his match, and more from day 9.
Slap: Slap fighting has overcome intense opposition to become a big-money event.

MORNING READ

Five camels race along a track with robot jockeys carrying camel whips riding atop them.

The competitors being ridden by remote-controlled robot jockeys. Saudi Camel Racing Federation

Kasseem Dean, the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop producer known as Swizz Beatz, is one of the newest competitors in Saudi Arabia’s camel-racing scene. He’s spent millions on creating his team of camels, “Saudi Bronx,” and has won many trophies.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Sloth hugs: Attractions that allow visitors to interact with the animals have surged. Experts are sounding alarms.
Tainted love: Jesse Darling won the Turner Prize. But does he still want to be an artist?
Accidental find: Archaeologists in Bulgaria made an unexpected discovery in an ancient Roman sewer: A well-preserved marble statue.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

A film is projected onto a wall of a museum above a television screen displaying a man talking.

Inside the museum of Yad Vashem. Amit Elkayam for The New York Times

Preserving memories of the Holocaust

How can you convey and safeguard victims’ stories? Through the preservation of objects as singular as a print made by a concentration camp inmate using an old tire, or as ordinary as a hairbrush.

Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, has collected a staggering repository of Holocaust-related artifacts. Preserving this history has gained urgency as the Holocaust becomes ever more distant and antisemitism and extremism rise around the world, Yad Vashem officials said. A new center, inaugurated on Monday in Jerusalem, is intended to safeguard these artifacts and their stories for future generations.

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That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Dan

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