| | | | Fareed: The Strongman Playbook Is Spreading | | Strongmen have a playbook for consolidating their power. And across the globe, even democratic leaders are starting to make use of it, Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column.
In countries as disparate as China, Turkey and the Philippines, leaders "have taken to using the same ingredients -- nationalism, foreign threats, anti-corruption and populism -- to tighten their grip on power. Where the judiciary and media are seen as obstacles to a ruler's untrammeled authority, they are systematically weakened," Fareed says.
"Consider Turkey, a country that in the early 2000s seemed on a firm path toward democracy and liberalism, anchored in a desire to become a full-fledged member of the European Union. Today, its ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has eliminated almost all obstacles to total control. He has defanged the military and the bureaucracy, launched various kinds of tax and regulatory actions against opponents in the media, and declared one potential opposition group, the Gulenists, to be terrorists. The rulers of the Philippines and Malaysia appear to be copying from that same playbook.
"This is not the picture of democracy everywhere, of course, but these tendencies can be spotted in far-flung areas of the world. In countries such as India and Japan, which remain vibrant democracies in most respects, there are elements of this new system creeping in -- crude nationalism and populism, and increasing measures to intimidate and neuter the free press." - On GPS this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN: Fareed sits down for a one-on-one interview with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to discuss U.S.-Turkey ties, Turkish democracy, and Erdogan critic Fethullah Gulen.
| | Trump and Xi's Lose-Lose Meeting | | The Trump administration was happy to tout the more than $250 billion in business deals announced during the President's trip to China, argues Michael Schuman for Bloomberg View. "But there's the rub. Trump didn't do U.S. businesses any favors by failing to address the major issues they face in China."
"American CEOs want the Chinese government to open its gargantuan market more widely to foreign business, better protect their intellectual property, stop extracting technology in exchange for access and treat their companies as equals to their Chinese rivals.
"Trump barely flicked at any of these problems (at least publicly). In fact, he went even further, practically absolving China of any responsibility for treating the U.S. unfairly," Schuman writes.
"For his part, Xi was only too happy to dodge. Trump's soft-glove approach has ensured China can continue to pursue a nationalistic agenda to upgrade key industries, amply subsidized by the state. Yet Xi shouldn't feel too proud of himself. The same reforms Trump should have been pushing would help the Chinese leader achieve his goals, too." - No more Mr. Nice Guy. President Trump ended his diplomatic approach to his ongoing Asia trip with an attack on the "chronic trade abuses" by countries in the region that left many in the audience "visibly stunned," write Oliver Holmes and Tom Phillips for The Guardian. Trump was speaking at the APEC meeting in Vietnam.
"The speech was markedly different from the reserved tone of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who spoke directly after Trump, although to much louder applause and cheers from the audience," they write.
"Xi did not directly respond to Trump's challenge on trade but sought to paint himself as a champion of economic openness, globalization and the fight against climate change, in contrast to the isolationist U.S. president."
| | Does Britain's Brexit Chaos Have a Silver Lining? | | Prime Minister Theresa May's government and parliament have lost control over Britain's post-Brexit course, argues Philip Stephens in the Financial Times. The only potential silver lining? That "the political chaos wrought by the referendum is the only thing that could stop Brexit happening."
"A majority of MPs think Brexit is a mistake but feel obliged to pursue it lest they be accused of defying what the tabloids declare to be 'the will of the people.' This is what happens when the subtle checks and balances of representative democracy are subordinated to the crude majoritarianism of referendums. Germans, ever mindful of what happened in the 1930s, understand this," Stephens writes.
"Brexit represents the biggest upheaval since 1945 in Britain's political and economic life -- an enterprise of enormous complexity and consequence. It is all-consuming. Yet the project is being steered, if that is the right word, by an administration drained of political authority by a misjudged election and by a Conservative party at war with itself." - Boring Brexit Bad for Britain. Britons' attention may be consumed by Brexit, but Europe finds the issue boring. That's a bad sign for Britain – and suggests a poorer and less influential future, Kim Willsher writes for the Los Angeles Times.
"Britain faces a firm reality of economics and politics set forth by the 27 countries it wants to leave behind, though not entirely. For many from the remaining EU countries, emphasizing other issues -- such as support for Spain's move to keep the Catalonia region from seceding -- rightly places Brexit behind what is now more important for those sticking with the bloc," Willsher writes.
"That stands to be a problem for Britain, which is expected to pay the EU tens of billions of dollars to leave — how much remains undetermined — and is struggling to set up trade deals and nail down other details for business and worker relations. Uncertainty about what might happen has made many people jittery."
| | America's Damaging Retreat from Its Neighbors | | From the tough immigration talk, to the pullout from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to the disengagement from regional multilateral bodies, the Trump administration has accelerated the declining influence of the United States in Latin America. As rival nations look to fill the void, America's interests will be hurt, suggest Christopher Sabatini and William Naylor in Foreign Affairs.
"The problem is no longer one of neglect, but of malice, ad hoc policy responses, and blatant disinterest. The administration has reacted to short-term pressures without any hint of a broader, long-term strategy," they write. "It has shown hostility on immigration and little concern for the issues that Latin American citizens and governments care about, including economic development, trade integration, and multilateral cooperation. Trump has even been disdainful or dismissive of the United States' traditional allies, such as Mexico and Argentina. His brazen mismanagement is doing tremendous damage -- not only undermining U.S. economic and security interests but also destroying the hard-fought bipartisan legacy that Washington had brokered in the southern hemisphere on trade, human rights, and democracy." | | | | | | |
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