| | | | Fareed: America Faces an Asylum Crisis | | "Given President Trump's mean-spirited and often bigoted attitudes on immigration," Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column, "it pains me to say that he is right that the United States faces a crisis with its asylum system."
Numbers of asylum seekers have skyrocketed, and lax criteria "need to be rewritten and substantially tightened," Fareed writes, calling for a broad correction of the system.
"Democrats have spent most of their efforts on this topic assailing the Trump administration for its heartlessness. Fine. But that does not address the roots of this genuine crisis," Fareed writes. If they don't come up with answers, Fareed argues, Trump's harsh rhetoric will only gain more traction. | | Trump's 'Dismissive' Moment With Putin | | | In telling Russian President Vladimir Putin not to meddle in US elections, President Trump "was dismissive and half-hearted when the moment called for a serious and firm statement," The Washington Post writes, questioning whether the president is "capable" of defending core democratic values on the world stage, at a time when they most need defending.
Trump's comments are part of a pattern, writes Politico's Anita Kumar—"each time he refuses to conform to expected behavior toward Russia, it inevitably causes a firestorm in Washington," though his advisers conclude it won't hurt him, in the long run—while Washington Monthly's Martin Longman points to a more sinister overtone. Before Trump today referenced "get[ting] rid" of journalists, he previously refused to criticize the murder of journalists in Russia, Longman writes, noting a 2015 interview. Trump is unable to show "any moral leadership and actually sides with the world's worst monsters," Longman concludes. | | Iran's Insurgent Strategy | | In its escalating standoff with the US, Iran's strategy "makes perfect sense if it is thought of as a form of insurgency," Steven Metz writes an a World Politics Review column.
While Iran has sought to avoid an all-out war, Metz posits that Tehran wants to goad President Trump into overreaction, so it can portray itself as a "victim of American aggression" and gain international support. "Insurgents always assume that if they can survive, eventually things will shift in their favor," he writes, suggesting Iran should be viewed as a kind of regional insurgency. Unfortunately for the Trump administration, no counterinsurgency strategies look too appealing.
It's one way to look at Iran's approach, which Michael Eisenstadt of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy observes is historically flexible and "favors indirection, ambiguity, measured actions, and patience." | | | Writing in Foreign Policy, Hady Amr, Ilan Goldenberg, and Natan Sachs suggest the Trump administration "shelve its fantasy plan, which the Palestinian leadership has already rejected, and instead focus on something much more tangible"—peace and security in Gaza.
It would be difficult, but there might be an opportunity for real improvement, they suggest. The US could leverage its diplomatic weight to get Hamas to stand down a bit, the Palestinian Authority to take over some governance responsibilities, and Israel to allow some Gazans to work within its borders, for instance. It may not bring a Nobel prize, they write, but such a diplomatic effort could make a difference. | | "China doesn't represent an existential threat to the survival of democracy or the US-led international order," Jessica Chen Weiss argued on a recent episode of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' "Deep Dish" podcast. "Although China has sought to make it easier for authoritarianism to survive alongside democracy, that's not the same thing as a determined effort to spread autocracy around the world."
That's the topic of her essay on China in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, in which she argues that China just wants its own system to survive—not to export it. The US risks overestimating the threat, she writes, "countering Chinese influence everywhere it appears in the name of fighting an ideological battle"—a "dangerously misguided" response. The best way for the US to promote democracy, she writes, is to live by its values and partner with like-minded allies. | | | | | | |
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