| | | | Europe Gets Antsy About Russia's Massive Military Drills | | NATO officials might say they are calm and confident about the massive Russian military exercises scheduled to begin Thursday, but Moscow's seeming lack of candor about their scale is just one factor stoking concerns in Eastern Europe, suggest Robin Emmott and Andrius Sytas for Reuters.
"NATO believes the exercises, officially starting on Thursday in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, are already underway. It says they are larger than Moscow has publicized, numbering some 100,000 troops, and involve firing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles," they write.
"Codenamed Zapad or 'West', NATO officials say the drills will simulate a conflict with the U.S.-led alliance intended to show Russia's ability to mass large numbers of troops at very short notice in the event of a conflict." 1) "Russian leadership has to believe there is a credible, acute, serious threat to the country's vital national interests or to the Russian ruling elite's grip on power." And 2) "Russian leaders have to be sure they would prevail in a confrontation with the states against which they want to use force, or at least ensure a stalemate."
"Neither of these conditions is present at the moment."
| | Why Russia Thumbs Its Nose at West Over North Korea | | | Official trade figures between Russia and North Korea might be relatively small, but Moscow is unlikely to embrace strict sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear program anytime soon. The reason? It gives Vladimir Putin another opportunity to thumb his nose at the West, suggests Hannah Thoburn in The Atlantic.
"Resisting U.S. calls for strict sanctions on Pyongyang is yet another way for Putin to demonstrate to both his public and the international community that he will not give in to Western pressure to change his behavior in Ukraine," Thoburn says. "A North Korea that shrivels under harsh sanctions is not an acceptable option for Moscow. To allow such a scenario would be to admit its own vulnerability to similar measures. The Kremlin is certainly not thrilled about North Korea's nuclear ambitions, but for now it is more important for birds of an anti-Western feather to flock together." | | What Germany's "Boring" Politics Mask | | Angela Merkel may be coasting to reelection as Germany's chancellor this month. But the popular narrative that politics in Germany is boring masks the troubling rise of far-right populists, Der Spiegel writes.
"Among the outcomes of Merkel's 12-year stint in the Chancellery is a divided country in which a radical and extremely vocal minority no longer feels represented, neither by the chancellor nor by her [Social Democratic Party] challenger."
"For decades, the country was able to avoid significant infection with the right-wing populist virus that was spreading throughout Europe and, as the election of Donald Trump demonstrates, in the U.S. It was considered taboo to publicly proclaim support for right-wing parties," Der Spiegel notes.
"But Germany now finds itself faced with a historic turning point. On September 24, it looks as though a party that has racist and nationalist tendencies will win seats in the Bundestag. [Alternative for Germany] is currently between 8 and 11 percent in public opinion polls. And the party won't just change the face of the German parliament, but likely also its culture of political debate."
| | Why China's Unicorns Are Growing So Fast | | China has a young, extremely deep pool of internet users – and that's helping the country develop big companies at a far faster clip than the United States, the South China Morning Post's Sarah Dai reports, citing a new report released in Beijing.
"China's 710 million internet users, roughly equal to the combined internet population in the U.S. and India, provides a deep pool of consumers that can help elevate winning concepts. The average age of web users in China is 28, or about 14 years younger than the U.S. average, according to Boston Consulting," Dai reports.
As a result, so-called unicorns – companies worth at least $1 billion – "took four years to develop from scratch, whereas the average unicorn cycle in the U.S. was seven years…In many cases unicorns in China were thrust into the big leagues in an ultra-short span of time, with 46 percent reaching the $1 billion valuation in as little as two years from launch." - Explaining China's edge. The semi-official Global Times adds: "Alongside the age advantage, other areas enjoyed by China over the U.S. include high growth of Net users and in online consumption, much faster penetration of various emerging applications, notably mobile payments, and greater vitality in China's internet economy that significantly shortens the time required for local businesses to become unicorns, the report revealed."
| | The World's "Healthiest" Nation Is… | | Singapore is the best performing country in a new index that ranks countries on 37 indicators -- from infant mortality rates to vaccination coverage, sanitation, TB incidence and homicide rates. Iceland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands round out the top five.
The study, published in the Lancet, looks at 37 of the 50 health-related U.N. Sustainable Development Goal indicators in 188 countries.
The United States ranked 24th overall, scoring maximum points in nine categories, including for hygiene, water quality and low TB incidence, but it scored badly on factors including suicide mortality, homicide rates, child sexual abuse and alcohol use. | | | | | | |
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