| | | | Fareed: What Bono Told Me About Populism | | "When confronting a challenging problem, it's sometimes useful to listen to someone who looks at it from an entirely different angle," Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column. "That's why I found it fascinating to talk about the rise of populism and nativism with Bono last weekend at a summit in Kiev."
"The Irish singer-activist-philanthropist sees the same forces that we all do, particularly in Europe, but he zeroes in on something intangible yet essential. The only way to counter the dark, pessimistic vision being peddled by nationalists and extremists, Bono says, is to have an uplifting, positive vision. Homing in on the trouble in his part of the world, he told me, 'Europe needs to go from being seen as a bore, a bureaucracy, a technical project, to being what it is: a grand, inspiring idea.'"
| | The Danger of Britain's Navel-Gazing | | | European Council President Donald Tusk said this week that key aspects of the Brexit plan proposed by British Prime Minister Theresa May "will not work" in their current form. One of the biggest challenges to securing an agreement? British navel-gazing, the Financial Times suggests in an editorial.
"Throughout the Brexit debate, too much attention has been paid to British politics—particularly the wants and whims of the Tories. But other European countries face great political challenges, too," the paper says. "Populist forces are on the rise from Italy to Sweden. The common thread is a revolt against Brussels. The EU27 leaders are not out to punish the UK, yet they cannot agree to a deal that confers advantages to leavers. The EU therefore has to insist on the rule book and the privileges of membership." | | Why That Russia-Turkey Deal Was a Big Deal | | | The agreement this week between Russia and Turkey on a demilitarized zone in Syria did more than halt an offensive by Bashar al-Assad's forces, writes Patrick Cockburn for The Independent. It also underscored how the balance of power has shifted in Moscow's favor—and away from Washington.
"The agreement signed by Russia and Turkey last Monday deciding the future of Idlib province is a token of how far Russia has come out on top in Syria. Putin is able to sign a bilateral agreement with Turkey, the second largest military power in NATO, without any reference to the US or other NATO members," Cockburn writes.
"Russian dominance in the northern tier of the Middle East may be opportunistic but is being reinforced by another process. President Trump may not yet have started any wars, but the uncertainty of US policy means that many countries in the world now look for a reinsurance policy with Russia because they are no longer sure how far they can rely on the US. Putin may not always be able to juggle these different opportunities unexpectedly presented to him, but so far he has had surprising success." | | Brazil Should Stop Flirting with a Strongman | | Far-right Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has extended his lead in the polls despite still recovering in hospital from a stabbing earlier this month, Reuters reports. But Brazilians will be making a terrible mistake by picking him as their leader in next month's election, The Economist argues. After all, the region has been down the strongman road before.
"To Brazilians desperate to rid themselves of corrupt politicians and murderous drug dealers, Mr Bolsonaro presents himself as a no-nonsense sheriff," The Economist writes.
But "Latin America has experimented before with mixing authoritarian politics and liberal economics. Augusto Pinochet, a brutal ruler of Chile between 1973 and 1990, was advised by the free-marketeer 'Chicago boys.' They helped lay the ground for today's relative prosperity in Chile, but at terrible human and social cost. Brazilians have a fatalism about corruption, summed up in the phrase 'rouba, mas faz' ('he steals, but he acts'). They should not fall for Mr Bolsonaro—whose dictum might be 'they tortured, but they acted.' Latin America has known all sorts of strongmen, most of them awful. For recent proof, look only to the disasters in Venezuela and Nicaragua."
| | How Trump's Tariffs Hurt America (They're Not Just Bad Economics) | | President Trump's use of tariffs isn't just about questionable economics, Paul Krugman writes for The New York Times. By placing whim above process, he is doing lasting damage to the United States.
"America has thrown away its negotiating credibility. In the past, countries signing trade agreements with the United States believed that a deal was a deal. Now they know that whatever documents the US may sign supposedly guaranteeing access to its market, the president will still feel free to block their exports, on specious grounds, whenever he feels like it," Krugman writes.
"In short, while the Trump tariffs may not be that big (yet), they have already turned us into an unreliable partner, a nation whose trade policy is driven by political cronyism, and which is all too likely to default on its promises whenever it's convenient."
| | The Other Threat from Kim | | US pressure on North Korea has largely focused on deterring it from developing its nuclear strike capability. But Dan Blumenthal writes in The National Interest that while the missile tests may have stopped, there's little reason to believe another threat isn't continuing to evolve: weapons proliferation.
"Since North Korea's economy depends on the revenue proliferation provides, the country has developed a complex and sophisticated network that funds and transfers these weapons through a network of front companies that ship parts of missiles and weapons of mass destruction, which are later assembled in-country by North Korean scientists," Blumenthal writes.
"Much of the debate during the period of maximum pressure and 'fire and fury' centered on whether or not Kim could be deterred from using his nuclear weapons against the United States and [its] allies. That debate was hardly satisfactory, given the fact that a weaponized ICBM was a new development that requires new thinking about what deterrence meant." | | | | | | |
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