Good morning. The preliminary deal to end the war between the United States and Iran is on the rocks. Switzerland said talks there had been postponed, and Israel struck in Lebanon again. Read the latest news. And it’s Juneteenth, a day of celebration and a day to consider Shirley Chisholm’s admonition not to measure America by its achievement, but by its potential. If you’re off work for the holiday, I’ve got some ideas for what to eat and drink. But we’re going to start with the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Fear factorUkraine struck Moscow yesterday with a furious drone attack that appeared to be the largest of its kind in the more than four years since the war began. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was clear about its intent. “If Ukraine burns, then your Moscow will burn as well,” he said. The strikes destroyed an oil refinery, filling the skies with greasy, toxic smoke. They shuttered four airports. They closed down part of the highway that rings the city, which is home to 13 million people. The objective, my colleagues Paul Sonne and Nataliya Vasilyeva said, was to bring the war home for Russians who live far from the front lines of eastern Ukraine. The attack “seemed likely to feed fears among Russians that the Kremlin’s ability to isolate society from the impacts of the war was sharply eroding,” they wrote. The effects are mounting. Ukrainian drone attacks on other refineries have led to lines and rationing at gas stations across Russia. The war has started to take its toll on the Russian economy, too. It has now run longer than World War I. Russia is pounding Ukraine as well. Earlier this week it bombarded Kyiv, the capital, leaving a historic cathedral at one of Ukraine’s holiest sites in flames, killing five people and injuring 35 others. But the attack on Moscow has made Russian hard-liners apoplectic. They want the Kremlin to deploy the full might of Russia’s military to stop Ukraine from continuing its attacks within the country. “We must strike the enemy mercilessly, without hesitation,” one told the Russian news outlet RTVI. He called on Moscow to “eliminate the entire leadership, destroy all command centers, bring the entire industrial sector to its knees.” Which is a good reminder that this war is far from over, and could get much worse. Paul and Nataliya wrote a terrifying sentence about that: “How much further Russia, which has the world’s largest nuclear stockpile, can go with its conventional arsenal is unclear.” Read their article here. It’s a free link.
Nicole Taylor, who contributes to our Cooking site, wrote a great cookbook a few years ago about Juneteenth, the holiday that heralds the day in 1865 when those enslaved in Texas first learned that they were free, more than two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It’s called “Watermelon and Red Birds” and is worth seeking out. After its publication, Nicole shared a few recipes from the book with us, and I want to share them with you. Maybe you could try her grilled peach and molasses chicken today, with a very green coleslaw with grilled poblanos, and wash it down with watermelon ginger beer? I wouldn’t sneeze at Millie Peartree’s recipe for Charleston red rice to go with it, either. Nor at Nicole’s strawberry slab pie for dessert. Cook, anyway. Make something delicious. The idea is to take a moment to celebrate freedom in all of its bitter sweetness, with good food, family and friends. And not just on Juneteenth, by the way. Here’s Nicole to play us off: Even on the days that are not demarcated as holidays or holy days or special days, we should do special things for ourselves and the ones we hold dear. These small everyday traditions, these molecules of the ordinary, can have power and meaning, if we allow them to. Rituals of leisure and care are as much a testament to what Juneteenth has made possible as voting rights and desegregated buses are. Have a great weekend. Browse more recipes for Juneteenth here.
Iran Peace Deal
“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance said, adding, “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
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