U.S.
BIRTHRATES MAPPING STARS WES ANDERSON
RIGHT-WING PUSH GAIA’S MISSION IN THE DIRECTOR’S WORLD,
FOR MORE BABIES COMES TO AN END IT’S ALL ABOUT DETAILS
PAGE 6 | WORLD PAGE 11 | SCIENCE PAGE 14 | CULTURE
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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2025
The clock France faces
is ticking battle after
for Taiwan leader of far
Yingtai Lung right barred
NEWS ANALYSIS
PARIS
OPINION
TAITUNG, TAIWAN Taiwan’s cabdrivers Le Pen’s disqualification
are famously chatty, and after I settled
into the back seat of a taxi in the is-
from presidential run puts
land’s south recently, my cabby turned rule of law in cross hairs
to me and cheerfully asked how my
day was going, before abruptly declar- BY ROGER COHEN
ing, “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.”
He was voicing a concern shared Last year, Marine Le Pen spoke menac-
across Taiwan since President Trump ingly of the possible fallout from her trial
pulled back on America’s strong sup- on embezzlement charges. “Tomorrow,
port for Ukraine and added insult to potentially, millions and millions of
injury by humiliating its president, French people will see themselves de-
Volodymyr Zelensky, at the White prived of their candidate for the presi-
House in late February. Now people in dency.”
Taiwan are wondering: If the United After a court disqualified her on Mon-
States could do that to Ukraine to cozy day from running for public office for
up to Russia, will it do the same to us five years, those millions of French vot-
to cozy up to China? ers are adrift and angry. France is a de-
For decades, Taiwan’s leaders have mocracy governed by the rule of law, as
framed our standoff with China — the verdict demonstrated. But it is un-
which claims Taiwan as its own terri- clear how far its troubled Fifth Republic
tory and vows to can resist an inevitable gale of political
The island take it, by force if protest before the 2027 election.
necessary — as a Unlike President Trump, who met
can no longer defense of freedom with convictions, indictments and crimi-
shelter under and democracy, nal cases on the way to his election last
the delusion underpinned by the year, possibly even benefiting from per-
that the U.S. expectation that the ceived persecution, Ms. Le Pen could
will defend it United States would find no political path past the verdict of
against China. back us up if China the French legal system.
were to invade. This “The independence of our justice sys-
created a false sense tem and the separation of powers stand
of security, allowing PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARIANO HERRERA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES at the heart of our democracy,” said
Taiwan’s politicians and people to The historic building Casa Orsola was repurchased by the Barcelona City Council from an investment fund to prevent the evictions of several families living there. Valérie Hayer, a centrist lawmaker in
delay a national reckoning over the the European Parliament. “Nobody is
best way for us to deal with China in above the law.”
City of lost homes and hope
order to ensure the long-term survival That view is certain to come under
of our democracy. sustained attack in a global envi-
With Mr. Trump casting aside demo- ronment where questioning of the legiti-
cratic values and America’s friends, macy of legal systems has become fre-
Taiwan must begin an immediate, quent — across Europe, but particularly
serious national conversation about in Mr. Trump’s United States. Mr. Trump
how to secure peace with China on affordable homes out of reach for many. has called for the impeachment of
BARCELONA, SPAIN
terms that are acceptable to us, rather The problem is complex, perhaps no judges who rule against him and called
than letting bigger powers decide our more so than in Barcelona, which has them “lunatics.”
future. become ground zero for Spain’s housing “When the radical left can’t win via
In online comments and daily con- Residents face evictions dilemma — and a crucible for the chal- democratic vote, they abuse the legal
versations, Taiwan’s people are ex- lenges of trying to fix it. And with the system to jail their opponents,” Elon
pressing growing doubt over America’s
and surging rental costs as summer tourist season fast approach- Musk, Mr. Trump’s billionaire aide, said
commitment to Taiwan and asking: If investors snap up property ing, the city is facing more urgency to after the verdict.
the United States no longer seems find solutions. European societies, given their his-
willing to support a friendly nation like BY LIZ ALDERMAN Despite efforts to help residents at- tory, are sensitive to the revival of far-
Ukraine in defending its freedom, did tain affordable housing, investors have right movements. France, like Ger-
all those tens of thousands of young In 33 years, Marga Aguilar never found ways to get around restrictions. many, has a visceral memory of how
Ukrainians who fought and died for missed a rent payment on her apart- As authorities scramble to address the fragile democratic institutions are and
their country do so in vain? An infor- ment in a Modernist-style building in scale of the predicament, experts warn how once the rule of law goes, the way is
mal poll in early March by an online the heart of Barcelona. The owner of the it will take time to turn around a prob- open to dictatorial power.
platform popular with Taiwan college building had always treated her and the lem that has been years in the making. “After Ms. Le Pen, the next direct tar-
students asked whether, given the other tenants as if they were family, and “Housing must be a right, not a busi- get of a big political battle is going to be
latest developments involving Ukraine, kept rents reasonable. ness,” said Salvador Illa, the president of the rule of law,” said Alain Duhamel, a
survey respondents were still willing But when the owner died recently, Ms. Catalonia, the Spanish region that en- prominent political scientist. “There will
to defend Taiwan against a Chinese Aguilar, 62, got a brutal awakening. A compasses Barcelona. “The need to ad- be accusations that this is a government
attack or preferred surrender. Most Dutch investment fund swooped in to dress it is urgent.” of judges, attacks on our highest court,
opted for surrender. buy the building — called Casa de la Pa- Barcelona’s woes mirror the pain not just from the National Rally but the
Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, pallona because it is crowned with a mo- Marga Aguilar had lived in her apartment for more than 30 years when she received lashing other European cities: Resi- center right,” he said, naming Ms. Le
appears oblivious to these sentiments. saic sculpture of a butterfly — with an eviction notice. Her 92-year-old father has lived with her since the pandemic. dential real estate has increasingly been Pen’s party.
Rather than reaching out to all sides in plans to convert the apartments into lu- turned into financial assets by invest- But, he added, “French magistrates
LUNG, PAGE 10 crative temporary rentals. Tenants re- ors. A surge in global tourism and work- are resolutely independent.”
ceived eviction notices, asking them to “We don’t know where we’re going to go tenth of the country’s housing stock has ers’ crossing borders has landlords fa- Jordan Bardella, Ms. Le Pen’s care-
The New York Times publishes opinion leave the next month. — we can’t afford to live anywhere else.” been plucked by investors or converted voring short-term rentals over pro- fully groomed protégé, pronounced
from a wide range of perspectives in “My legs started to buckle,” said Ms. Spain is confronting a housing crisis to tourist rentals. tected long-term tenants. Cities need French democracy dead, killed by the
hopes of promoting constructive debate Aguilar, whose 92-year-old father had that has rapidly become one of the most The scarcity has helped drive up more homes, but high costs and com- court. It is not; and to Mr. Bardella will
about consequential questions. moved in with her during the pandemic. acute in Europe. Since 2015, nearly one- prices much faster than wages, making SPAIN, PAGE 8 FRANCE, PAGE 5
An outsider who became
the arbiter of who was in
“I’m not cool — I’m the squarest per-
Graydon Carter’s odyssey son you’ve ever met,” he says, uncon-
vincingly.
from railroad to top editor We both started at Time magazine in
glitters with celebrity feuds
The joys.
the early ’80s, a louche era of bars in of-
fices, clouds of cigarette smoke, cascad-
BY MAUREEN DOWD ing illicit affairs, sumptuous dining cart
and expense accounts so lavish that a
The tribulations.
After our interview, Graydon Carter top editor would think nothing of send-
emailed me. ing someone from Paris to London to
“Oh God, did I do OK yesterday? Too fetch a necktie left in a hotel room.
boring? Too indiscreet? Drank too I knew Mr. Carter only slightly back
The twists.
much? Didn’t drink enough?” then, but he sure looked confident and
This was something I had failed to no- debonair to me. Unlike a lot of the men at
tice about Mr. Carter during his plummy, Time, he wasn’t condescending to the
Graydon Carter’s powerful quarter-century astride a glit- few female writers there. My impres-
memoir recalls his tering Vanity Fair. This one-time social sion, when I met him, was of a Canadian
time as an editor arbiter, who ran a wildly successful who seemed to want to dress and talk
at the height of magazine in the peak era for glossies, like a Brit, with dandy aspirations and
society, though he has social anxiety. an upper-crust pronunciation of rather
now says of him- How could the man who caused so as rah-ther.
self, “I’m the much social anxiety, when he merci- “It was a British suit,” he affirmed,
squarest person lessly decided who was in and who was laughing. “Well, you know, nobody’s go-
DANA SCRUGGS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
you’ve ever met.” out for the most exclusive parties on the
planet have social anxiety?
ing to buy a Canadian suit.”
CARTER, PAGE 2 Modern Love
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