| | | | America Needs to Decide the "Best" Kind of Defeat: Fisher | | | The spike in violence in Kabul over the past two weeks has thrust Afghanistan back into the international spotlight. But these days, the question is increasingly not what victory might look like, but which kind of defeat is best, writes Max Fisher in The New York Times. "All options involve acknowledging the war as failed, American aims as largely unachievable and Afghanistan's future as only partly salvageable," Fisher writes. What might the "best" defeat look like? Fisher lays out six possibilities, including: Nation-building without the nation: That would mean "accepting a central government that acts more like a horse trader among local strongmen and warlords." The Somalia model: "In a sign of how far hopes have fallen, the war-torn East African country of Somalia is increasingly being raised as worthy of emulation. "The Afghan government would retreat to major cities. Formally, it would switch to a federal system, as Somalia did in 2012. But power would effectively flow to whichever warlords and strongmen — potentially including the Taliban — rose up in the countryside." But the most likely? Fisher suggests perpetual stalemate. "Neither the government nor the Taliban is strong enough to retake control. Outside actors like the United States and Pakistan may be unable to impose their vision of victory, but they can easily afford, both politically and financially, to forestall losing indefinitely." | | Why US Should Listen to Jordan | | | If the United States is to have any chance of helping revive "progress towards a lasting Middle East peace," then it would do well to watch Jordan, suggest Brian Katulis and Alia Awadallah for The Hill. Just look at the adept way the kingdom handled President Trump's Jerusalem announcement. "While other nations blew off steam or sought to capitalize on resentment, Amman's statements and actions were designed to be constructive and move the focus back to achieving a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," they write. "Jordan has a special role in Jerusalem. The kingdom's 1994 peace treaty with Israel defines clear responsibilities for Jordan as custodian of Jerusalem's Muslim holy sites, and Jordan considers these responsibilities crucial to fostering respect between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. That's why when disputes in Jerusalem arose in recent years, Jordan has been particularly involved in developing appropriate policy responses." Meanwhile, "Jordan's close ties with Palestinians give it an understanding of political dynamics among Palestinians that other countries lack." Watch Fareed's interview with Jordan's King Abdullah II on GPS this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN. | | The Great Wall in the Way of China's #MeToo Moment | | | Chinese women inspired by the #MeToo movement are increasingly speaking out over sexual harassment. But Jiayang Fan writes in the New Yorker that "a far more determined sense of patriarchy and hierarchical order" and an image-conscious government are making it even harder for women to make their voice heard on sexual harassment. "Last year, after the Weinstein story broke, the state-run China Daily published an online piece stating that the virtues of Chinese culture insured a comparatively low incidence of sexual harassment. The piece met with a backlash on social media, decrying the falsity of the claim," Fan writes. "But its publication suggests a narrative that the government has a vested interest in selling to the public." "In the workplace as well as in schools, there are no standardized guidelines on how to handle sexual assault. On social media, phrases like 'anti-sexual harassment' have been erased, and online petitions are intermittently deleted. The use of the 'MeToo China' hashtag has also been blocked, forcing members to use creative homonyms, in order to evade censors." | | | Western leaders should consider taking a leaf out of French President Emmanuel Macron's playbook if they want to inoculate themselves against economic populism, suggests Jeremy Ghez for Politico EU. The key? Protecting people, not jobs. "It's a fool's errand to try to protect jobs in the face of galloping technology and globalization. Claiming otherwise is the worst kind of lie a politician can tell a vulnerable, disenfranchised population," Ghez writes. "Instead, Macron has recognized that in a global economy, the welfare state should seek to protect not jobs, but individuals. And he has acknowledged that the most detrimental inequality in modern societies is not in income levels, but professional preparation. "And so he has called for the state to invest heavily in education and training to help prepare workers to compete in global labor markets. He is also seeking to provide individuals with the support — like health care and child care — that boosts productivity." "If Macron is to succeed, he will have to rip the banner of 'disruption' from the populists and reveal them for what they really are: a conservative force that wants to protect an unsustainable status quo." | | The World's "Most Democratic" Country Is… | | | Norway is "the most democratic country" in the world, according to the latest edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, maintaining a position it has held since 2010. Western European nations dominated the top positions in this year's index, which assesses countries based on five broad categories – electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. Countries in the region accounted for 14 of the 19 countries considered "full democracies." Norway was followed by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Denmark. The United States ranked 21st overall, scoring relatively poorly on "functioning of government" and earning the title "flawed democracy" for a second year. The report warns that if President Trump "is unable to reverse the trend towards increasing social polarization, US democracy will be at greater risk of further deterioration, especially given the interplay of this trend with other, long-standing drivers of democratic decline." The star performer of the index? The Gambia, which climbed 30 places. "After 22 years of rule by Yahya Jammeh, a dictator who suppressed political freedoms, centralized powers within his ethnic group and used the army to instill fear, the country enjoyed its first-ever democratic transfer of power last year." | | Renewables Flex Their Muscles in Europe | | | The European Union now gets around a third of its electricity from renewable sources, more than coal. That has big implications far beyond the continent, writes Akshat Rathi for Quartz. "At the current rate of growth, the European bloc can increase the proportion of renewables in its electricity mix to 50% by 2030, according to a new report (pdf) published by think tanks Sandbag and Agora Energiewende," Rathi writes. "Even if you don't live in the EU, how the bloc goes through its energy transition is worth paying attention to. The EU is big, rich, and plural. And though the European Commission provides an overarching structure for the behavior of its 28 members, those countries largely operate independently. The messy ways the EU achieves its ambitious climate change-related goals will provide a blueprint for other blocs, such as the African Union, and large countries like India and the US." | | | | | | |
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