| | | | A Pyrrhic Victory for Republicans? | | Republicans might regret getting what they wished for with their House special election win in Georgia, suggests David Frum in The Atlantic.
"A loss in Georgia would have sent a message of caution. The victory discredits that argument, and empowers those who want Trumpism without restraint, starting with the president himself," Frum says.
"Donald Trump may still grumble that congressional Republicans are mean. Congressional Republicans will continue to complain on background that the White House is crooked, chaotic, and compromised by Russia. But the high tension of the past has subsided; the distinctions between pro-Trump and anti-anti-Trump -- between country club, Tea Party, and Trumpist factions -- all are fading away. The Republicans of the Georgia Sixth were offered a safe and limited way to distance themselves from Trump, perhaps even to curb his excesses. They rejected it. He is theirs; they are his."
| | How U.S. Could Stumble Into War | | The U.S. shooting down of a Syrian warplane – and the Kremlin's angry response – have dramatically increased the risk that the United States might stumble into a conflict with Russia, writes Nikolas Gvosdev in the National Interest.
"[T]he U.S.-Russia relationship will now depend on the nerves and split-second reactions of pilots and ground controllers, not the plans and preferences of presidents and diplomats," Gvosdev argues. "It also bears an unsettling resemblance to the plot of the 1959 nuclear postapocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon, in which an accidental shot at the Soviet base in Latakia, Syria, is the proximate cause of the nuclear war between the superpowers."
| | Why Saudi Arabia's Shake-Up Matters | | | The surprise announcement by Saudi Arabia's King Salman that he is elevating his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to crown prince could have deep ramifications for the kingdom and the Middle East, write Sudarsan Raghavan and Kareem Fahim for the Washington Post.
His ascension, "along with other recent appointments made by his father, completes a shift to a younger generation of leaders within the ruling family, one that could usher in economic and social change to a nation where it is still illegal for women to drive, where cinemas are banned and coffee shops are segregated. The young prince already is promoting a plan to create jobs for women and modernize a society where nearly two-thirds of the population is younger than 30 and women make up 22 percent of the workforce." | | China's Trump Honeymoon Over Already? | | China's honeymoon with the Trump administration might be over already, suggests Steven Lee Myers in the New York Times, following a tweet by President Trump that thanked Beijing for its "efforts" over North Korea, but adding that it hadn't worked out.
"Trump had previously suggested he was holding off on getting tough on China's trade policies in return for [President Xi Jinping]'s help with reining in North Korea, often engaging in public flattery of the leader," Myers says. "Now, Mr. Xi and his colleagues in Beijing must ask -- again -- whether Mr. Trump is serious about the threats he made on the campaign trail.
"The prospect of a rockier relationship is particularly sensitive now as Mr. Xi prepares to preside over the Communist Party's 19th National Party Congress in the fall." - China's troubling word choice. Anyone looking for clues about how China sees its place in the world should start with the words of the country's leaders, writes Jamil Anderlini in the Financial Times. The trouble is that their choice of words have some troubling historical echoes.
Official translations of comments by President Xi Jinping refer to "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," Anderlini says.
"But the official translation of this crucial slogan is deeply misleading. In Chinese it is 'Zhonghua minzu weida fuxing' and the important part of the phrase is 'Zhonghua minzu' -- the 'Chinese nation' according to party propaganda. A more accurate, although not perfect, translation would be the 'Chinese race.'"
"The dangerous question for the rest of the world is at what point China will feel it has reached peak rejuvenation and what that will look like for everyone who is not included in the great family of the Chinese race."
| | Hill: What North Korea Really Wants | | The idea that North Korea's nuclear weapons program is a pragmatic effort to preserve the regime is misplaced, argues Christopher Hill for Project Syndicate. Instead, Kim Jong Un's regime has its eye on a unified Korean peninsula on its own terms. Negotiations won't change that. After all, they've been tried before.
"In September 2005, five world powers, including the U.S., offered North Korea an unimpeded civilian nuclear program, energy assistance, economic aid, and diplomatic recognition, as well as a promise to establish a regional mechanism for maintaining peace and security in Northeast Asia. A U.S. commitment not to attack North Korea with conventional or nuclear weapons was also included in the deal."
"All North Korea had to do to secure these benefits was abandon its nuclear-weapons programs and accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. But the North was not willing to allow for a credible verification protocol. Instead, it attempted to limit verification to that which was already known. In the end, it walked away from the agreement, rather than work to find an acceptable way forward."
| | The World Has a Really Big Obesity Problem: Study | | The world is facing a growing obesity epidemic, and with an estimated 10 percent of the world's population classified as obese, it is hitting developing and developed countries alike, writes Julia Belluz, citing a new report funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"Since 1980, the obesity prevalence has doubled in more than 70 countries around the world -- mainly in low- and middle-income regions -- and it has steadily increased in nearly every other country," Belluz writes for Vox.
"Of the 20 largest countries in the world, the U.S. had the worst rate of childhood obesity, with 13 percent of children now obese. Egypt had the highest adult obesity prevalence, where 35 percent of adults are now obese."
| | Australians Don't Like America's President. But It Has Been Worse… | | President Trump's image problem – including with young adults – isn't confined to the United States. But he's still more popular than one of his predecessors, according to a new poll by the Lowy Institute.
"Six in ten Australians say Donald Trump causes them to have an unfavorable opinion of the United States, with most younger adults (70% of those under 45 years of age) and a majority of women (68%) seeing Mr Trump as a negative factor in their opinions," the poll finds.
Still, that's an improvement on a decade ago. Back then, 69% said that George W. Bush was a negative factor in their view of the United States, compared with 60% who said the same of Trump this year. | | | | | | |
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