C M Y K Nxxx,2019-05-12,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

WASHINGTON — Threenations that have long definedthemselves as bitter adversariesof the United States — NorthKorea, Iran and Venezuela —

decided last weekthey could take onPresident Trump.

Each one is bet-ting that Mr. Trump is neither assavvy a negotiator nor as readyto use military force as he claims.Each also poses a drasticallydifferent challenge to a presidentwho has little experience inhandling international crises, hasstruggled to find the right bal-ance of diplomacy and coercionand has not always been consis-tent in defining his foreign policy.

The rising tensions with allthree serve as reminders thatMr. Trump’s constant talk abouttaking care of problems that hehas accused his predecessors ofaggravating, or failing to con-

front, is difficult to convert intoreal-world solutions — as eventsof recent days have shown.

The confrontation with Iranappears to be the most volatile atthe moment, with tensions esca-lating by the day. On Friday, thePentagon said it was sendinganother naval ship and Patriotmissile interceptor battery to theMiddle East, in addition to anearlier dispatch of a carriergroup and bombers, because ofpotential threats from Iran orallied Arab militias.

That standoff has been brew-ing ever since Mr. Trump moveda year ago to pull out of the Irannuclear deal. Tehran announceda partial withdrawal of its ownlast week, threatening to resumenuclear fuel production unlessEurope acts to undercut Ameri-can sanctions that have devastat-

Rogue Nations Make a Wager:They Can Handle the President

By DAVID E. SANGER and EDWARD WONG

Continued on Page 16

NEWSANALYSIS

LONDON — Less than twoweeks before pivotal elections forthe European Parliament, a con-stellation of websites and socialmedia accounts linked to Russiaor far-right groups is spreadingdisinformation, encouraging dis-cord and amplifying distrust inthe centrist parties that have gov-erned for decades.

European Union investigators,academics and advocacy groupssay the new disinformation effortsshare many of the same digital fin-gerprints or tactics used in previ-ous Russian attacks, including theKremlin’s interference in the 2016U.S. presidential campaign.

Fringe political commentarysites in Italy, for instance, bear thesame electronic signatures as pro-Kremlin websites, while a pair ofGerman political groups shareservers used by the Russian hack-ers who attacked the DemocraticNational Committee.

The activity offers fresh evi-

dence that despite indictments,expulsions and recriminations,Russia remains undeterred in itscampaign to widen political divi-sions and weaken Western institu-tions. Despite online policing ef-forts by American technologycompanies, it remains far easier

to spread false information than tostop it.

Russia remains a driving force,but researchers also discoverednumerous copycats, particularlyon the far right. Those groups of-ten echo Kremlin talking points,

Hackers Sow Discord as Vote Looms in EuropeBy MATT APUZZO

and ADAM SATARIANO

Both Russian sites and far-right groups have been spreading dis-information ahead of European parliamentary elections.

ROBIN UTRECHT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page 8

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Syrian security of-ficers hung Muhannad Ghabbash from hiswrists for hours, beat him bloody, shocked himwith electricity and stuck a gun in his mouth.

Mr. Ghabbash, a law student from Aleppo,repeatedly confessed his actual offense: or-ganizing peaceful antigovernment protests.But the torture continued for 12 days, until hewrote a fictional confession to planning abombing.

That, he said, was just the beginning.He was flown to a crammed prison at Mezze

air base in Damascus, the Syrian capital,where he said guards hung him and other de-tainees from a fence naked, spraying themwith water on cold nights. To entertain col-leagues over dinner, he and other survivorssaid, an officer calling himself Hitler forcedprisoners to act the roles of dogs, donkeys andcats, beating those who failed to bark or braycorrectly.

In a military hospital, he said, he watched anurse bash the face of an amputee who beggedfor painkillers. In yet another prison, he

counted 19 cellmates who died from disease,torture and neglect in a single month.

“I was among the lucky,” said Mr. Ghab-bash, 31, who survived 19 months in detentionuntil a judge was bribed to free him.

As Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad,closes in on victory over an eight-year revolt, asecret, industrial-scale system of arbitrary ar-rests and torture prisons has been pivotal tohis success. While the Syrian military, backedby Russia and Iran, fought armed rebels forterritory, the government waged a ruthlesswar on civilians, throwing hundreds of thou-sands into filthy dungeons where thousandswere tortured and killed.

Nearly 128,000 have never emerged, andare presumed to be either dead or still in cus-tody, according to the Syrian Network for Hu-man Rights, an independent monitoringgroup that keeps the most rigorous tally.Nearly 14,000 were “killed under torture.”Many prisoners die from conditions so direthat a United Nations investigation labeledthe process “extermination.”

Now, even as the war winds down, the

Memos were sent to Syria’s head of military intelligence reporting detainees’ deaths. Some information was blacked out to protect evidence for possible prosecutions.COMMISSION FOR INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Muhannad Ghabbash in Turkey this year.After organizing peaceful protests, he wasdetained, and tortured, for 19 months.

LAURA BOUSHNAK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

INSIDE SYRIA’S TORTURE PRISONSBy ANNE BARNARD

Continued on Page 10

An officer at an institution in Damascus called himself Hitler and entertainedcolleagues at dinner by forcing prisoners to act like dogs, donkeys and cats.

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,325 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019

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After years of war and suffering, Dar-furis have seized Sudan’s new freedomsto join a protest against the militarythat once terrorized them. PAGE 6

INTERNATIONAL 4-17

Darfur Makes Itself HeardA Honduran migrant paid coyotes todeliver her son to her in Texas. Heended up being held in New York, andshe saw him eight months later. PAGE 18

NATIONAL 18-27

A 7-Year-Old’s Border OdysseyThe embrace of market forces by Presi-dent Mauricio Macri of Argentina hasenraged people who have lost aid andsee no signs of economic revival. PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

Sliding Back Into Populism?A quarter-century ago there were 350Glamour Shots stores offering big-hairmakeovers and photography sessions.Now there are five. PAGE 1

SUNDAY STYLES

After ‘Before and After’ Chris Hughes PAGE 1

SUNDAY REVIEW

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COLFAX, Wis. — PresidentTrump came to Wisconsin late lastmonth to boast about the state’sunemployment rate, which hasbeen at or near 3 percent for morethan a year. “It’s never been thislow before. Ever, ever, ever,” hesaid. (Fact check: true.)

It’s a message that strikes achord with Bubba Benson, wholives paycheck to paycheck butsays that is still better than wherehe was a few years ago after get-ting laid off from a shoe ware-house “when all the jobs went toMexico.” His new job at a plasticsmanufacturing plant covers thebills and pays good overtime.There are even a few extra bucksin his paycheck now, which hecredits to Mr. Trump’s tax cut.

“It didn’t let me go out and buy anew house,” Mr. Benson said as heleaned on the bar at the Outhouse,a watering hole on Main Street inthis village of about 1,100 people.“But that wasn’t what it was for.”

As 21 candidates compete to be-come the Democratic Party’snominee in 2020, Mr. Trump isrunning on the strongest economyof any president seeking re-elec-tion since Bill Clinton in 1996, andarguably since Richard M. Nixonin 1972. Job creation is strong andlast month the unemployment

In Rural North,Economy Offers

Path for TrumpBy JEREMY W. PETERS

Continued on Page 21

WASHINGTON — A yearlongtrade war between the UnitedStates and China is proving to bean initial skirmish in an economicconflict that may persist for dec-ades, as both countries battle forglobal dominance, stature andwealth.

Progress toward a trade agree-ment nearly collapsed this pastweek, with both sides hardeningtheir bargaining positions. Andeven if a trade deal is reached, itmay do little to resolve tensionsbetween the world’s two largesteconomies.

The United States is increas-ingly wary of China’s emergingrole in the global economy and thetactics it uses to get ahead, includ-ing state-sponsored hacking, ac-quisitions of high-tech companiesin the United States and Europe,subsidies to crucial industries anddiscrimination against foreigncompanies.

The Trump administration hasbegun trying to limit China’s eco-nomic influence in the UnitedStates and abroad, warning aboutChina’s ambitions in increasinglystark terms. Mike Pompeo, thesecretary of state, compared Chi-na’s ambitions to Russia and Iranin a speech in London lastWednesday, saying Beijing poses“a new kind of challenge; an au-thoritarian regime that’s integrat-ed economically into the West inways that the Soviet Union neverwas.”

The United States has beenerecting barriers to limit Chinese

Trade StandoffIs Initial VolleyIn China Battle

Global Tug of War MayPersist for Decades

By ANA SWANSONand KEITH BRADSHER

Continued on Page 20

TRIP CANCELED Rudolph Giuliani,facing Democratic criticism, willskip a visit to Ukraine. PAGE 27

Today, rain and drizzle, breezy,chilly, high 53. Tonight, rain anddrizzle, chilly, low 48. Tomorrow, pe-riodic rain, breezy, chilly, high 50.Weather map appears on Page 24.

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