MANCHESTER UNITED NOT EVEN ONE SEASON FOR DAVID MOYES AS MANAGER

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BRAIN CONTROL CHANGES IN A FLASH OF LIGHT

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DUTCH DOUBLES BALLET BLENDS OLD AND NEW

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SPORTS

HEALTH + SCIENCE

CULTURE

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014

Energy map tilts in favor of U.S. and its neighbors

HOUSTON

At front line, NATO finds ambivalence over Ukraine

OVER CONSTANTA, ROMANIA

But challenges remain in cutting reliance on oil and gas from crisis zones
BY CLIFFORD KRAUSS

A hollowed-out alliance leaves member states shy to confront Russia

BY STEVEN ERLANGER

ENERGY, PAGE 15

At a time when Russia is saber-rattling and the Middle East is in turmoil, a geopolitical energy shift is underway with the potential to make the world less energy-reliant on those trouble spots. The United States is poised to surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia as the worlds top oil producer. Canadas oil sands have vaulted the country to energy superpower status. Mexico is embarking on a constitutional energy overhaul that its president promises will propel the countrys economy. And there is no shortage of cheerleaders. The North American production outlook is incredibly bright, said Jason Bordoff, a former senior energy adviser in President Obamas White House. Everything we see on the ground suggests reasons to be optimistic. But as bright as the future may appear, energy executives and other experts say it is time for a reality check before declaring energy independence for the United States and its nearest neighbors. Gushing oil and natural gas give North America hopes of becoming what some call Saudi America, but fossil fuels development is always contentious for its environmental costs. The Keystone XL pipeline, intended to connect Canadas oil sands to American refineries, has been tangled in politics and regulatory concerns for years. Grassroots environmental movements have stopped natural gas drilling in New York State and Quebec, and they threaten the expansion of oil company operations, pipelines and port terminals in the Western United States and Canada. So far, the United States government has been wary of letting American producers export oil and gas though the problems in Ukraine may be altering that thinking.

Death in Ukraine

MAURICIO LIMA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Hundreds of mourners gathered outside a church in Slovyansk on Tuesday at the funerals of three men killed on Sunday in a shootout. PAGE 5

Affirmative action is dealt a blow in U.S.

WASHINGTON

Supreme Court upholds Michigan voter initiative to ban racial preferences

BY ADAM LIPTAK

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of a voter initiative to ban racial preferences in admissions to Michigans public universities, a step that could make it easier for other states to drop

the widespread use of race as a tool to assemble a more diverse student body. This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote in a controlling opinion. It is about who may resolve it. There is no authority in the Constitution of the United States or in this courts precedents for the judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit this policy determination to the voters. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a member of the courts liberal wing, read an impassioned dissent from the bench. She said

the initiative put minorities to a burden not faced by other applicants should they contest an admissions decision. The Constitution does not protect racial minorities from political defeat, she wrote. But neither does it give the majority free rein to erect selective barriers against racial minorities. The concept of affirmative action was introduced in the United States in the 1960s to combat discrimination in hiring and promotions. In a landmark 1978 case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the court upheld the principle while defining its limits, say-

ing that universities could not set specific quotas for minorities. But writing in dissent in the Bakke case, Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice, offered a pointed defense of the historic need for the approach. In light of the sorry history of discrimination and its devastating impact on the lives of Negroes, bringing the Negro into the mainstream of American life should be a state interest of the highest order, he wrote. To fail to do so is to insure that America will forever remain a divided society.
COURT, PAGE 4

The long, slow financial decline of the American middle class

BY DAVID LEONHARDT AND KEVIN QUEALY

On the radar screen, the Russian Il-20, an electronics surveillance plane known to NATO as the Coot, was buzzing around an American guided-missile destroyer, the Donald Cook, sent into the Black Sea by the Obama administration early this month, after Russia annexed Crimea and Russian forces massed on the border of Ukraine. Days before, a Russian Su-24 fighter jet buzzed the destroyer for 90 minutes, making 12 passes as low as 500 feet, which the Pentagon called provocative and unprofessional. So when the Il-20 appeared, Turkey, a NATO member, sent fighters up quickly to drive it away. All this could be monitored from a NATO Awacs plane on an 11-hour mission hovering over the Romanian border and refueled in the air. The mission of the destroyer and of the Awacs, said Maj. Gen. Andrew Mueller, who commands NATOs fleet of 17 Awacs planes, is to send a quick message of deterrence and resolve to Russia and to reassure NATO members bordering it. My goal, General Mueller said, is to reassure the allies that NATO is reliable, ready and relevant. Ukraine, he said, made us re-emphasize the mission we were built for were augmenting NATO defenses inside NATO. Wed gotten away from that a bit with Afghanistan and Libya, General Mueller said. Ukraine made us reinforce our core mission. But the unpleasant reminder of NATOs founding mission, to protect the West against Moscow, has also been an unpleasant reminder of an alliance that has been hollowed out militarily, that has cut defense spending sharply since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and that is no longer as prepared as before to defend its member states. The United States is now responsible for 75 percent of all NATO defense spending, and only a handful of European countries meet the alliance target of military budgets of 2 percent of gross domestic product.
NATO, PAGE 5

The Upshot

More at nytimes.com/upshot

NICOLE BENGIVENO/THE NEW YORK TIMES

CASPER HEDBERG FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

AMERICAN MIDWEST

Kathy Washburn of Mount Vernon, Iowa, earns $33,000 at a hardware store where she has worked for 23 years.

SWEDEN

Jonas Frojelin, center, a firefighter who is married and has two children, said the financial crisis had no effect on our lives.

The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction. While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the past three decades. Middle-class incomes in Canada substantially behind in 2000 now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn
ONLINE AT INY T.COM

more than poor Americans. The stagnation of income has left many Americans dissatisfied with the state of their country. Only about 30 percent of people believe that it is headed in the right direction, polls show. Things are pretty flat, said Kathy Washburn, 59, of Mount Vernon, Iowa, who earns $33,000 at an Ace Hardware store where she has worked for 23 years. You have mostly lower level and high and not a lot in between. People need to
MIDDLE CLASS, PAGE 4

PAWEL SUPERNAK/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonias president, calls NATO defense spending poor.
RUSSIAS MILITARY PROWESS IN UKRAINE

Military experts say Russia skillfully combined cyberwarfare and the use of highly trained special forces. PAGE 5

INSIDE TO DAY S PA P E R

Obamas strategic shift to Asia

The presidents expected agreement with the Philippines that would help facilitate a stronger American military presence there could antagonize China. WORLD NEWS, 3 A hedge fund mogul and Valeant plan to buy the maker of Botox, while Novartis plans a revamping that includes a deal with GlaxoSmithKline. BUSINESS, 14

Squares money problem

Credit card companies already collect fees when someone swipes a card. The question, analysts say, is how start-ups like Square can become more than just middlemen. nytimes.com/dealbook Although millions of Americans have signed up under the Affordable Care Act, many of the unenrolled say cost is the issue. nytimes.com/us

Deal frenzy for drug industry

Choosing to skip health insurance

Officials in the United States are increasingly challenging companies such as Airbnb, and the firms are fighting back. BUSINESS, 15

Sharing sites balk at regulation

An apple a day, and other myths

When it comes to cancer, scientists are finding little evidence that fruits and vegetables are protective or that fats are bad. nytimes.com/science

South Africa is facing a crisis of democratic accountability, and the president is merely the tip of the iceberg, T.O. Molefe writes. OPINION, 6
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South Africas corruption crisis

Not just playing around anymore

ISSEI KATO/REUTERS

A SEARCH IN DARKNESS

Flares being released off the port of Jindo on the South Korean coast on Tuesday where the passenger ferry Sewol sank last week. The confirmed death toll from the disaster has reached 113, officials said, with about 190 people still missing.
IN THIS ISSUE

Far from the zombie attacks and alien uprisings that dominate the video game industry, the Games for Change festival is focused on video games with altruistic goals. nytimes.com/arts
TUESDAY

:HIKKLD=WUXUU\:?a@e@m@d@k"

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No. 40,780 Business 14 Crossword 13 Culture 10 Opinion 6 Science 8 Sports 12

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