| | | | Fareed: Why the Cancer of Extremism Keeps Growing | | The attack in New York this week is a reminder that while ISIS is losing on the battlefield, its ideology is still gaining ground in many parts of the world, Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column. Particularly in parts of Asia.
"Why is this happening? There are many explanations," Fareed writes during a visit to Singapore. "Poverty, economic hardship and change produce anxieties. 'People are disgusted by the corruption and incompetence of politicians. They are easily seduced by the idea that Islam is the answer, even though they don't know what that means,' a Singaporean politician explained to me. And then, the local leaders make alliances with the clerics and give platforms to the extremists, all in search of easy votes. That political pandering has helped nurture a cancer of Islamist extremism."
"Asia continues to rise, but so does Islamist radicalism there. This trend can be reversed only by better governance and better politics — by leaders who are less corrupt, more competent and, crucially, more willing to stand up to the clerics and extremists. Saudi Arabia's new crown prince spoke last week of turning his kingdom to 'moderate Islam.' Many have mocked this as a public-relations strategy, pointing to the continued dominance of the kingdom's ultra-orthodox religious establishment. A better approach would be to encourage the crown prince, hold him to his words and urge him to follow up with concrete actions. This is the prize. Were Saudi Arabia to begin religious reform at home, it would be a far larger victory against radical Islam than all the advances on the battlefield so far."
| | Trump Needs to Share the Love in Asia | | As President Trump heads to Asia for a five-nation visit, most of the attention will inevitably focus on the China leg of his trip. But that can't be allowed to overshadow the other important stops he will make, writes Elizabeth Economy for the Council on Foreign Relations. U.S. allies need to be reminded that they are important, too.
"The region is full of U.S. allies and partners, all of whom are awaiting a signal from the president, demonstrating that they matter—or at least that he remembers their names. Although the vice president, defense secretary, and secretary of state have all made forays to the region trying to underscore a continued U.S. commitment, the president's words will carry special weight," Economy says.
"The president can allay regional fears that the United States is commitment-phobic, by reinforcing at each stop that Washington's allies and partners are the cornerstone of U.S. engagement in the region. Reiterating the U.S. commitment to freedom of navigation, free trade, and political freedoms will also reassure regional actors that it still makes sense to buy into a regional order underpinned by a U.S. alliance system." - Not so big in Japan. Trump's first stop is Japan, where he will get a warm welcome from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that is expected to include a steak dinner and golf with the world's number 4 player. But a recent Pew survey suggests Trump will have a harder time winning over the Japanese public.
"Today, just 57% of Japanese see the U.S. favorably—down 15 percentage points from a year ago…Support for the U.S. in Japan is now at its lowest level since 2008," Bruce Stokes writes for Pew. "Few Japanese trust U.S. President Donald Trump. Roughly a quarter (24%) express confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs." - Low expectations. Trump's reputation as a dealmaker has been tarnished since he took office, adding pressure on his trip to China to produce a big diplomatic victory, writes Minxin Pei for the Nikkei Asian Review. But he's unlikely to get it.
"[T]he yawning gap between what Trump wants and what [Chinese President Xi Jinping] can give can only mean that the outcome will be mixed at best," Pei says. "Xi will not let Trump go home totally empty-handed, but will deny him the big concessions on trade and North Korea Trump craves. The most likely outcome of the summit is a series of specific agreements between Chinese and American companies that will allow Trump to claim new job opportunities for his blue-collar voters."
| | The Most Gender Equal Country Is… | | | Iceland is the world's most gender equal country, according to the World Economic Forum's latest "Global Gender Gap Report," thanks to its strong record on political empowerment of women and wage equality. Rounding out the top five are Norway, Finland, Rwanda (where 61 percent of parliamentarians are female, the highest proportion in the world), and Sweden.
The annual index rates 144 countries based on progress towards gender parity "across four thematic dimensions—Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment."
The United States ranked 49th overall, although it was joint top for gender parity in educational achievement. Yemen had the least gender parity of all countries tracked, followed by Pakistan, Syria, Chad and Iran. | | Don't Panic About the North Korea EMP Threat | | North Korea's warning that it could detonate a hydrogen bomb that would allow for a "super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack" set off another round of debate in the U.S. about the danger. Experts recently warned Congress that such an attack would cripple the electrical grid and kill as many as 90 percent of Americans within a year. But such fears are likely overblown, suggests Brian Barrett for Wired.
"North Korea attacking the U.S. with an EMP would be a fantastically high-risk maneuver, with uncertain gains. And even if it did incapacitate much of the U.S. power grid, it wouldn't prevent a counterstrike," Barrett writes. "U.S. military equipment is hardened, and its response could come from plenty of places other than North America."
Such a provocation would also "be out of character for Kim Jong Un, who despite the public bluster has historically known where the boundaries are, and managed not to cross them. His main objective is the survival of his regime; exploding a nuclear weapon above the United States would almost certainly assure its destruction."
| | Why the Arab World Is Getting Less Religious | | The Arab world is becoming less religious – and the region's leaders are taking note, The Economist writes, citing data from pollster Arab Barometer.
"Voters who backed Islamists after the upheaval of the Arab spring in 2011 have grown disillusioned with their performance and changed their minds. In Egypt support for imposing sharia (Islamic law) fell from 84% in 2011 to 34% in 2016. Egyptians are praying less, too," The Economist says. "In places such as Lebanon and Morocco only half as many Muslims listen to recitals of the Koran today, compared with 2011. Gender equality in education and the workplace, long hindered by Muslim tradition, is widely accepted. 'Society is driving change,' says Michael Robbins, an American who heads Barometer.
"But so, too, is a new crop of Arab leaders, who have adjusted their policies in line with the zeitgeist. They are acting, in part, out of political self-interest. The region's authoritarians, who once tried to co-opt Islamists, now view them as the biggest threat to their rule. By curbing the influence of clerics they are also weakening checks on their own power. Still, many Arab leaders seem genuinely interested in molding more secular and tolerant societies, even if their reforms do not extend to the political sphere." | | | | | | |
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