This week

• Ukraine’s ultimatum: six days to accept territorial concessions or lose U.S. support. Russian drones violate NATO airspace. The last U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty expires in 75 days, and no one’s negotiating a replacement. Now what?
• How much does North Korea depend on China and Russia for its future? Rachel Minyoung Lee on nuclear weapons, technology transfers, and a newly emboldened Kim Jong Un.
• Why are investors down on artificial intelligence? Daron Acemoglu on excesses of enthusiasm, returns on investment, and the distinctive nature of human reasoning.

Weather report

• The polar vortex collapses over the north. Peak-summer hits the south.

+ Cultural intelligence

• What’s plunderphonics?
• & The week in new music

144 hours

On Wednesday, the U.S. administration delivered a 28-point peace plan to Ukraine with a message and a deadline. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had until Thanksgiving—six days—to accept terms that would cede Ukrainian territory to Russia, limit the size of Ukraine’s military, and bar the country from NATO membership. If he refused, Ukraine risked losing American support. “You’re going to have to like it,” President Donald Trump told reporters when asked about Zelenskyy’s response.

The plan itself reads like a diplomatic artifact from another era. The United States would recognize Russia’s control of Crimea and the Donbas “de facto.” Ukraine would withdraw from parts of Donetsk it still holds, creating a demilitarized buffer zone. A “Peace Council” chaired by Trump would monitor compliance. The United States drafted the entire framework exclusively with Russian input. No one consulted European allies.

Watch what happened to produce this moment. Trump began his second presidency in January by threatening Russia with “further sanctions and high tariffs” if President Vladimir Putin refused to negotiate. By May, he was publicly accusing Putin of spreading “bullshit.” In July, he announced a major deal to send Patriot air defense batteries to Ukraine and threatened Russia with new sanctions. In August, he hosted Putin in Alaska—without inviting Zelenskyy—and discussed territorial concessions. In October, he declared that Ukraine “can win all of Ukraine back in its original form.” Now, Ukraine gets the ultimatum.

What’s happening?

New music

‘Not There Yet’

And now, some big-room U.K. club music—from DJ Sabrina the Teenaged DJ. This track follows the ups and downs of a relationship, though somehow with a joyful smile throughout. The samples that give it its title? Just the latest in the great history of plunderphonics.

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