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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 Dictators Biden puts still exploit an ‘optimistic U.S. racism face’ on his politics

NEWS ANALYSIS GENEVA Charles M. Blow President insists on staying positive, despite his critics accusing him of naïveté OPINION BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR Any Americans who believe that their country’s race problem stops at the Another American president might water’s edge should disabuse them- have been frustrated, or even angry. selves of the notion. Moments after spending more than The race problem in the three hours across a table from Presi- is also an international problem in that dent Biden this week at their first sum- dictators and authoritarian regimes use mit, President Vladimir V. Putin of Rus- it as a way to point out American hypoc- sia delivered his usual list of grievances risy on human rights, as a means of to reporters. deflecting from their horrible treatment He denied Russian culpability for of their own people and as a way to buck cyberattacks targeting U.S. interests, American chastisement. accusing the United States of carrying Until America sufficiently deals with out more. He said America’s human its own race problem, it will remain rights record was worse than his coun- somewhat handicapped on the world try’s. And he accused the Biden admin- stage. istration of a military buildup near On Wednesday, at a news conference . after his meeting with President Biden, It was vintage Putin, and it seemed to President of reinforce the idea that the high-profile brushed aside criti- diplomatic exchange on the banks of Putin is cism of how his gov- Lake Geneva had done little to change a not the ernment was treating relationship that has deteriorated for a pro-democracy SEBASTIAN SCHEINER/ years. only leader group in his country Protests outside the Israeli prime minister’s official residence in gradually grew to thousands of raucous demonstrators demanding that resign. But if Mr. Biden was annoyed by his to refer to by comparing that counterpart’s performance, there was America’s group to Black Lives no sign of it during his own subsequent treatment of Matter: news conference, or at a later conversa- Black people. “America just tion with reporters under the wing of Air recently had very Force One before he left Switzerland to severe events, well- conclude his eight-day, three-country known events, after Siege at Netanyahu’s castle diplomatic tour of Europe. the killing of an African American. An Mr. Biden’s response to his Russian entire movement developed, known as JERUSALEM week when he hosted , the adversary underscored a persistent fea- Black Lives Matter. I’m not going to former United States ambassador to the ture of his presidency: a stubborn opti- comment on that, but here’s what I do , at the official residence mism that critics say borders on worri- want to say: What we saw was disorder, as if he were still the head of govern- some naïveté and that allies insist is an destruction, violations of the law, etc.” How sustained protests ment. essential ingredient to making progress. He continued: Unlike in Washington, there is no set “The country has put a different face “We feel sympathy for the United at his residence may have time by which an outgoing Israeli prime on where we’ve been and where we’re States of America, but we don’t want helped oust Israeli leader minister must move out and hand the going — and I feel good about it,” Mr. Bi- that to happen on our territory. We’re house over to the victor, and it can often den said before boarding his plane, chid- doing our utmost in order to not allow it BY ISABEL KERSHNER take weeks. But the Netanyahu family’s ing the news media for being too skepti- to happen.” relocation plans, if they exist, have be- cal. “I mean, look, guys, I’m going to Russia has a long history of invoking Ensconced as unusually long-term ten- come a subject of feverish speculation drive you all crazy because I know you America’s domestic race problem. As ants in the official prime minister’s resi- for a number of reasons. want me to always put a negative thrust Julia Ioffe pointed out in The Atlantic in dence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem, For starters, Mr. Netanyahu has ac- on things.” 2017, Russia and the Soviet Union have Benjamin Netanyahu and his family cused his successor, , The important thing, he said, is to “put an 80-plus-year history of involvement turned the 1930s stone-clad mansion who was sworn in on Sunday, of commit- on an optimistic front and optimistic and exploitation of America’s race into what many critics described as an ting the “fraud of the century” by using face” while remaining realistic about the problem. In fact, as Ioffe put it, “When- imperial fortress. the votes for his right-wing constituen- prospects for real change over the long ever the Soviet Union was criticized for Over the past 12 years of his premier- cy to lead an ideologically diverse coali- run. its human rights abuses, the rebuttal ship, Balfour Street became synony- tion that Mr. Netanyahu has branded as “If you were in my position, would you became, ‘And you lynch Negroes.’” mous with Mr. Netanyahu and his fam- a “dangerous left-wing” government. say: ‘Well, I don’t think, man, anything The Russian efforts have gone be- ily. To ask what was happening at Bal- ABIR SULTAN/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK He has embraced his new role as a is going to happen. This is going to be yond embarrassing the United States to four was to wonder aloud about what Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to bring down the of his successor as fighting opposition leader with alacrity really rough. I think it’s going to really using race as a way to interfere in its new political machination they might be prime minister, Naftali Bennett, which he has branded as “left wing.” while at the same time swearing to his be bad’?” Mr. Biden asked the reporters. presidential election in 2016. As The up to, or what family scandal might be own base that he will be back in power “You’d guarantee nothing happens.” New York Times reported in 2018, the underway. “sooner than you think,” making it Mr. Biden’s life has been filled with Russians’ “efforts on and But in the past year, Balfour Street dressed up in costumes, chanting, beat- compound save for a couple of discarded sound as if it may hardly be worth up- sorrow and disappointment, including specifically targeted Black suddenly began to stand for something ing pots and drums and blowing horns. placards and a portable toilet just out- rooting the family from the residence the deaths of his wife and daughter as a American communities and appear to extra: the most raucous and sustained That yearlong demonstration ended side the security barrier on the side- that detractors said they had turned into young senator and the loss of his son BLOW, PAGE 11 protest movement in ’s contempo- on Sunday night after Parliament voted walk. their castle. Beau to cancer just as the older Mr. Bi- rary history. Every Saturday night, Mr. Netanyahu, the country’s longest- Some had already begun to Mr. Bennett, for his part, seems in no den was contemplating a run for the publishes opinion demonstrators came to Mr. Netanyahu’s serving prime minister, out of office and wonder whether the Mr. Netanyahu hurry to move in. presidency. from a wide range of perspectives in doorstep to call for his resignation and installed a new government. might be reluctant to leave the palatial A resident of Ra’anana, a prosperous But despite the tragedies, much of his hopes of promoting constructive debate condemn corruption. They came in the By Monday morning, there was little home where he has lived for more than a suburban town in central Israel, he has public life has been marked by a deter- about consequential questions. thousands with humorous signs, trace of the drama that has rocked the decade. Such views were bolstered this ISRAEL, PAGE 5 BIDEN, PAGE 5

At 89, his scribblings are making the rounds Stories that stay with you. SEOUL art supplies and congee made with left- overs from military bases. “One cup of that and a glass of soju, Experience the power of The New York Times in print. and I would be very happy,” he recalled, Subscribe to the International Edition. Exhibitions keep coming through a translator, during a recent af- nytimes.com/powerinprint ternoon visit. for a South Korean painter A pink scarf wrapped around his neck, aiming to secure his legacy Park — now known as Park Seo-bo — was sitting in the Gizi, a sprawling resi- BY ANDREW RUSSETH dence, work space and gallery in Seoul where he has lived with family since In 1951, as the Korean War dragged on, a 2018. Some of his works — radiantly col- young artist named Park Jae-hong ored abstractions vibrating with thin headed toward Seoul. The conflict had lines — hung nearby. cut short his first year at art school, and Today he is a “figure of towering influ- he had been forced into service, first by ence, as a teacher and as an artist,” said the North, then by the South, stationed Alexandra Munroe, the senior curator in coastal Masan. He had survived air- for Asian art at the Guggenheim Mu- craft attacks, meager rations, bitter cold seum in New York. — and had managed to get discharged. In November he will turn 90. Back in the capital, trying to raise tu- Though Park walks with an elegant ition money, Park asked soldiers from wooden cane, he was full of energy as he KYUNGBUM KIM the United States if he could do their por- sipped tea and uncorked stories about The painter Park Seo-bo is a key figure in the Dansaekhwa (“monochrome painting”) traits. He traded their dollars for won — his remarkable career as it nears new movement, a merging of Korean and international influences. South Korea’s currency — and bought PARK, PAGE 2

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