| | | | Fareed: Trump's Art of the Pandering | | President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital was "puzzling for a person who claims to be a great dealmaker," Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column. "He made a massive, preemptive concession to one side in a complicated negotiation without getting anything for it in return."
"If this move were part of a larger strategic plan, that would be one thing. In that case, Trump's announcement would have been carefully plotted out, coupled with serious policy changes from Israel, or it would have been part of a series of measures to reassure both sides," Fareed says. "Instead, it appears to be a one-off decision, designed largely to delight core elements of Trump's base at home — evangelical Christians and pro-Israel donors. The only strategic aspect appears to be that it will help shore up the GOP base on the eve of Roy Moore's senatorial contest in Alabama. That's not diplomacy; that's pandering."
"There are ways to solve the Jerusalem problem, such as by carving out some neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city and allowing the Palestinians to claim those as their capital. Trump's announcement did not specifically foreclose this possibility, which makes the choice even more puzzling. It actually achieves little on the ground, all while offending millions of Palestinians, hundreds of millions of Arabs and public opinion almost everywhere. When China, European allies, the pope, and the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan all voice strong opposition, it is surely worth questioning the wisdom of the policy."
| | A Big Brexit Breakthrough. Now the Hard Part | | The agreement Friday between Britain and the European Union is a major breakthrough that allows Brexit divorce negotiations to move on to talks about future relations. But British Prime Minister Theresa May now faces a significant hurdle, The Economist writes: her own party.
"Brexiteers have accepted all the concessions she has made thus far because they are set on the ultimate goal of leaving the EU in March 2019. But as they consider the terms of the joint report, they may jib at the implicit promise that Britain will maintain close regulatory alignment with many of the single market's rules even after leaving the club. That seems inconsistent with their dream of tearing up all Brussels regulations and opening the way to free-trade deals with lots of third countries. In future talks this contradiction could come to haunt Mrs May," The Economist says.
"Despite all the tributes Mrs May has won this week, her troubles may thus have only just begun. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said that more clarity was needed on what trade deal Britain wanted to secure. He added that, if breaking up was hard, breaking up and building a new relationship was much harder. The clock is ticking towards March 29th 2019, when Brexit is due to happen. It will be tough agreeing to a legally watertight, time-limited transition to a new trading relationship. Furthermore, few experts think that a new trade deal can be wrapped up (and ratified) within two years."
| | 3 Ways to Handle North Korea (that Don't Involve Bombing It) | | Diplomacy is undoubtedly the best way forward with North Korea. But that doesn't mean the US military shouldn't be preparing ways to curtail the threat posed by Pyongyang's missile program, writes former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis in the Nikkei Asian Review. There are three things the United States can and should be doing:
Improve missile defenses. "The truly innovative idea would be to go after the missiles as they are launched in what is generally called the 'boost phase.' This is a difficult shot, but there are new solutions emerging that would use airborne sensors off the coast deployed on drones, kept in place for prolonged periods, and possibly equipped with either missiles or lasers."
Think aggressively about cyber. "North Korea is…largely insulated from the web, and therefore getting a cyber tool into their networks would be difficult and might require covert physical activity on the ground -- quite risky. But clearly the threat is growing rapidly and it may be time to explore a more aggressive posture."
A naval blockade. "The best case, naturally, would be to use the United Nations Security Council Sanctions process to obtain a formal resolution for a blockade as was done most recently off Libya during the conflict there in 2011. While not in the cards politically at the moment, the next nuclear test -- especially if it is indeed over the ocean -- may finally persuade China to permit such a move. It would required a significant number of warships -- dozens -- but could be conducted by an international coalition." - Russia: North Korea wants to talk. Per The Guardian: "North Korea is open to direct talks with the US over their nuclear standoff, according to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said he passed that message to his counterpart, Rex Tillerson, when the two diplomats met in Vienna on Thursday.
| | America's Latest "Star Wars" Vision | | Fighter planes mounted with lasers might not be the sole preserve of sci-fi movies for too much longer, at least if the U.S. military gets its way, the Wall Street Journal's Doug Cameron reports.
US aerospace firm Lockheed Martin has secured a deal "to develop a laser for a supersonic F-15 jet capable of disabling a missile or drone from a mile or more away. It is the landmark piece of a Pentagon push to develop a low-cost solution to outmatch adversaries such as China that are fielding ever-more capable missiles and drones in greater numbers," Cameron reports.
"Lasers fired from trucks or a Navy ship already have been tested, but fitting one to a jet is viewed by military leaders as a crucial breakthrough in providing defenses that can be employed in large numbers."
"The lasers have been tested on missiles, drones and artillery rounds. They burn up a hostile projectile's electronic systems rather than completely destroy it like a missile. The advantage is they don't run out of ammunition, so long as they have a power supply. The energy cost of $1 to $5 a shot compares with $100,000 to $200,000 for a defensive missile."
| | Kids Here Read Better than Anywhere Else… | | Primary school children in Russia have the highest reading literacy levels in the world, according to a new study by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland and Finland round out the top five.
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, conducted every five years since 2001, "assesses the reading achievement of young students in their fourth year of schooling—an important transition point in their development as readers."
The latest study involved around 319,000 students across 50 countries. The United States ranked 15th overall, while the bottom five performing nations were South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait and Oman.
Also interesting: "Girls had higher average achievement than boys in 48 of the 50 PIRLS 2016 countries, and boys did not have higher achievement in any countries. The gender gap in reading achievement has favored girls since 2001 and does not appear to be closing."
| | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment