| | | | What America Needs to Learn from Last Week | | The attack in Pittsburgh at a synagogue and an apparently racially motivated shooting at a shop in Kentucky are just the latest reminders that the terrorist threat has evolved. Jihadist organizations are no longer the biggest danger, write Peter Bergen and David Sterman for Foreign Affairs. It's radicalized individuals America should be most worried about.
"Ubiquitous firearms, political polarization, images of the extensive apocalyptic violence tearing apart societies across the Middle East and North Africa, racism, and the rise of populism have combined with the power of online communications to drive up violence across the political spectrum," they write.
"Whether expressed in right-wing, left-wing, jihadist, or black nationalist ideological terms, today's acts of political violence share a common lineage in the above mixture and together have resulted in almost 200 deaths since the 9/11 attacks. The death toll is even higher if one includes other deadly attacks with less traditionally political or clear motivations ranging from the new ideological misogyny of 'incel' violence…to a spate of deadly school shootings. Addressing this threat will require a broad process of renewing US society, a task far more difficult than disrupting a foreign terrorist organization's operational capacity." | | Team Trump, Be Wary
of the New BFF | | Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro is expected to push for closer ties with the United States. That might not be such a good thing for America, suggests Eric Farnsworth for The National Interest.
"From a transactional perspective, deepening relations with the Bolsonaro administration may well serve a number of short-term policy goals, as defined by the Trump administration," Farnsworth writes, noting Bolsonaro's pledge to rethink ties with China and take a tough line on Venezuela.
"But there is much more at stake. The core tenet of US foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere since the end of dictatorships and authoritarian rulers at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s has been democratic transition and strengthening…In the Americas, effective policy has been built on a bipartisan basis in support of democratic institutions and shared values. It's an imperfect record to be sure, but it served as the driving vision for Washington's regional interests."
| | Do Brazilians ♥ Bolsonaro? It's Complicated | | | Critics of Jair Bolsonaro will have to face an uncomfortable truth if they are to understand how such a radical candidate could triumph in Sunday's election, suggests Maurício Santoro for The Guardian: The mainstream failed the country.
"It's vital that we don't stigmatize Bolsonaro's supporters as crazy or stupid. Opinion polls show that most voters supported Bolsonaro because they want huge changes to Brazil's political system, not because they agree with his more radical remarks," Santoro writes.
"The rise of Bolsonaro is the result of five years of deep political and economic crisis in Brazil; the worst recession since the return of democracy; and corruption scandals embroiling the most important parties. Crime has become rampant, with more than 60,000 murders a year. Moderate leaders failed to address these key social demands, allowing Bolsonaro to present himself as a rebel and outsider railing against the establishment." | | The Inoculation of History Fallacy | | | Brazil wasn't the only place Sunday where "elites have long been too willing to assume that a dark past would somehow pave the way for a brighter future," writes Yascha Mounk for Slate. A country's extremist past doesn't necessarily inoculate it from an ugly future. Just look at the most recent state election in Germany. "Alternative for Germany…took 13 percent of the vote in Hesse, a state that should provide them with less fertile hunting ground. Thanks to this latest victory, the party is now represented in every single state parliament in the country. While Germans are far from handing the levers of power over to right-wing populists, the widespread belief that the Nazi past would make it impossible for a far-right populist party to establish itself in the country has clearly turned out to be deeply naïve…" Mounk writes. | | What Khashoggi's Death Says About Yemen | | | The killing of Jamal Khashoggi, and the shifting Saudi narrative over what happened, raise a broader issue than the death of this journalist, writes Sudarsan Raghavan for The Washington Post. After all, if the Kingdom wasn't forthright over Khashoggi's death, what might it be hiding about the devastation in Yemen? "In Saudi Arabia's version of its war in neighboring Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition carefully chooses targets for its airstrikes. The rapidly rising civilian death counts reported by the United Nations and humanitarian groups are highly exaggerated. So are the accounts of an impending famine caused by war," Raghavan writes. "But now that narrative is wearing thin, critics say." "As these doubts multiply, they are raising questions anew about whether the Trump administration can trust what Saudi Arabia is telling US officials about its conduct of the war in Yemen, especially its role in civilian casualties and human rights violations. Administration officials rely on the Saudi information in urging US lawmakers to allow more weapons sales and other military assistance to the kingdom." | | Europe Should Go Easier on Britain | | From the "divorce bill, [to] the protection of EU citizens' rights, [to] supervision by the European Court of Justice," Britain has largely had to accept the European Union's demand in Brexit negotiations, writes Peter Müller for Spiegel Online. But if Europe wants to avoid the disaster of Britain walking away without a deal, it needs to ease up a little.
"The UK may be leaving the EU, but it will continue to be part of Europe. When it comes to protecting Europe against terrorism and to our common defense through NATO, a strong Britain is in the EU's interest. The same holds true for relations with the people of Britain. Even after Brexit, many Germans will still feel closer to Britain than they will with some other EU member states, like Romania or Bulgaria," Müller writes.
"This doesn't mean, of course, that the EU should seriously consider every insane demand made by [Theresa] May's Tory Party. What it does mean, however, is that both sides must finally refrain from creating additional obstacles in areas where solutions are within reach." | | | | | | |
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