WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

By the time Western officials had figured out what and where the Kerch Strait was, the Russian leader had sewn up his naval operation, taking around two dozen Ukrainian sailors prisoner (shooting and wounding at least three of them), and impounded their vessels. Not bad for a Sunday outing. Meanwhile, over in the EU cocoon, Germans debated whether the U.N. refugee compact would be legally binding and the French squabbled over the price of gasoline. And the U.S.? Lost somewhere in Trumpland. In case there were any lingering doubts over the efficacy of Western efforts to rein in Russia, Moscow’s latest aggression made it pretty clear that the attempts to coax Vladimir Putin into de-escalating the confrontation with Ukraine have failed. No degree of sanctions, German-led “dialogue,” or even genuflection has made much of an impression on (him). Arguably, the situation has gotten worse; the more brazen Putin becomes, the more helpless the West appears.

Matthew Karnitschnig, Politico EU

There are two contradictory truisms about people under the influence of alcohol. One is that, intoxicated, they become their real selves: mean or weepy, loving or angry, violent or desperate. (According to the Roman historian Tacitus, ancient Germanic tribes would hold wartime negotiations drunk, reasoning that it made all parties incapable of hiding anything.) But the other thing we like to say about drunks — often while shepherding someone ... out of a party or a bar — is that “He’s not himself ” or “This isn’t like her.”

So which is it: Are we always ourselves, or are our selves tenuous, warped by company and context? “Influence” suggests some alchemy between the two — between an internal self and an outside pressure — and makes no claims about which is stronger. Power is overtly coercive, but influence is wily: It can slip into your consciousness without your noticing and start renovating.

Annalisa Quinn, The New York Times