| | | | Fareed: This Isn't How a U.S. President Talks | | Donald Trump's warning that further North Korean threats will be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" was not the type of language America expects nor needs from its president, Fareed says.
"As John McCain pointed out yesterday, when you threaten something, you have to be sure you have the intention, the capacity, and a strategy to carry it out. We were used to seeing this kind of empty braggadocio from the likes of Saddam Hussein and his minister of information. And we're used to it from the North Koreans," Fareed says.
"But the United States is held to a different standard – this is not the kind of rhetoric the United States of America uses. We are measured, we are careful, we match our words with deeds. We do not go out and make these types of outlandish claims, which frankly will not be met.
"You have to remember that one of the things the Kim Jong Un regime has been dealing with is the reality that its existence is threatened by the most powerful country in the world. The United States has made it very clear over the years that it would like to see the back of the Kim regime.
"And now the regime's only ally in the world, China, has sided with the United States by voting to back sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. So forget all the talk about this being a crazy regime. Suppose you just wanted to survive? What's the one thing that protects you? Nuclear weapons. It's the one insurance policy the Kim regime can buy.
"So what North Korea has been trying to signal with its missile tests is that it is ready if anyone goes after the regime in any way, or if the United States and its allies try to separate the Kim family from the rest of the regime in some way.
"It's one more sign that while this is a leadership that many might be tempted to dismiss as crazy, it is rationally pursuing its core objective, which is survival of the regime." "Beijing's support for Pyongyang comes at a growing cost," Metzl writes. "North Korea is increasingly hostile to China and its nuclear weapons program undermines the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which China supports. China's relationship with North Korea makes Beijing complicit in the 'crime against humanity' currently underway in North Korea, and its instability and technological unevenness create the possibility of a future nuclear accident that would contaminate northeast China."
| | America Is Losing Out in the Nuclear Game | | | Nuclear energy will be an increasingly important part of America's energy mix in the coming decades as it looks to reduce carbon emissions. But a lack of potential projects means that the United States risks falling behind its international competitors in meeting demand, suggests Jamie Horgan in the American Interest. "Between them, China and Russia are actively exporting nuclear energy around much of the developing (and some of the developed) world, taking advantage of rising global energy demand and a dearth of American leadership. As climate concerns become more integrated into national energy policies, demand for nuclear energy in particular -- the only source of scalable zero-emissions baseload power -- is certain to grow," Horgan writes. "At the same time, new nuclear technologies are going to mature, allowing for safer, cheaper, and in some cases smaller reactors, alleviating many of the concerns (justified and otherwise) that so many people seem to have with nuclear power around the world. This is an opportunity for the United States to do what it does best: innovate and thrive." | | Is the End Nigh for Netanyahu Era? | | | Benjamin Netanyahu has long dominated Israeli politics, becoming "nearly synonymous with the state on the world stage," writes Isabel Kershner in the New York Times. But two high-profile cases have left one of the country's longest-serving prime ministers looking far from invincible. "Now with one of Mr. Netanyahu's closest former aides having turned state's witness in two cases involving suspicions of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Israelis across the political spectrum are trying on the idea of the curtain coming down on Mr. Netanyahu's durable political career," Kershner says. "Mr. Netanyahu has fought off swirling scandals for much of his public life, but experts say that Friday's signing of a state's witness agreement by Ari Harow, who served as Mr. Netanyahu's chief of staff and directed his 2015 re-election campaign, could be a game changer." | | Putin's "Addiction to Victories" | | | Faced with a stagnant economy and falling incomes, Vladimir Putin has increasingly turned to foreign policy to bolster his standing ahead of next year's presidential election, argues Leon Aron in the Wall Street Journal. That "addiction to victories" could prove to be dangerous -- and a tough habit to break. "Doubly so if one perceives them, as Mr. Putin does, as a means to right an enormous wrong done to his country -- and to remain in power. America's newly adopted anti-Russian sanctions, though morally correct and damaging in the long term, will not change Mr. Putin's strategy today. If anything, he could up the ante," Aron writes. "[T]he largest score would be to invade, most likely by proxy, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, thereby exposing NATO as a paper tiger, unable or unwilling to mount a military response. As the world passes the 55th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, Mr. Putin may overreach and miscalculate, bringing Russia and the U.S. to the brink of war, just as Nikita Khrushchev did." | | | South African President Jacob Zuma may have survived Tuesday's no-confidence vote, but the writing is on the wall for the ruling African National Congress party, Bloomberg editorializes. "Voters have begun to see through it all. Last August, they punished the ANC by giving the opposition control of three of South Africa's biggest urban centers, including Johannesburg and Pretoria. The ANC's continued support for a leader who lacks the public's trust -- Zuma's poll ratings have hit all-time lows -- seems likely to fuel their anger," Bloomberg argues. "In December, Zuma hopes to hand over the reins as party leader to his ex-wife, and to isolate the ANC's would-be reformers, before presidential elections in 2019. Rather than engineer this succession, he may in the end trigger his party's collapse. In view of this week's vote, it would be hard to deny that the party has it coming -- but so turbulent a transition is not what the country needs. "What a waste. Somewhere, Nelson Mandela is weeping." | | The Most Optimistic Country Is… | | | China is the most optimistic country, with almost nine-in-ten Chinese believing their country is on the right path, UPI reports, citing a survey by Ipsos Public Affairs of more than 18,000 adults across 26 countries. China was one of seven nations surveyed "in which more than half of the population had a positive view of their country's current track. China was followed by India (74 percent), Saudi Arabia (71 percent), South Korea (66 percent), Canada (58 percent), Russia (57 percent) and Serbia (51 percent)," UPI says.
"At the bottom of the list was Mexico, where only 8 percent believe their country is on the right track. "The United States placed tenth, with only 43 percent of the population having a positive view. But Americans ranked slightly better than Germans (42 percent) and Israelis (41 percent.)" | | | | | | |
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