| | | | Fareed: Actually, Trump Has a Point on China | | The White House may seem to have grown even more chaotic in recent weeks. But that shouldn't overshadow the fact that on one important issue, President Trump is right, Fareed says in his latest Washington Post column: China is a trade cheat.
"Many of the Trump administration's economic documents have been laughably sketchy and amateurish. But the Office of the US Trade Representative's report to Congress on China's compliance with global trading rules is an exception worth reading," Fareed says.
"In measured prose and great detail, it lays out the many ways that China has failed to enact promised economic reforms and backtracked on others, and uses formal and informal means to block foreign firms from competing in China's market. It points out correctly that in recent years, the Chinese government has increased its intervention in the economy, particularly taking aim at foreign companies."
"The Trump administration may not have chosen the wisest course forward — focusing on steel, slapping on tariffs, alienating key allies, working outside the WTO — but its frustration is understandable. Previous administrations exerted pressure privately, worked within the system and tried to get allies on board, with limited results. Getting tough on China is a case where I am willing to give Trump's unconventional methods a try. Nothing else has worked."
| | Ex-Envoy: He Has a Point on Syria, Too | | President Trump might not have a deep understanding of the nuances of the Syrian conflict, but his instincts could be right. This is a complicated civil war over which the United States has little control. It's time for America to plan for leaving sooner, not later, argues Robert Ford in The Hill.
"Trump appears to have understood that there is indeed mission-creep underway in Syria and he is uncomfortable. In February, US air units bombed Syrian government forces advancing toward a gas field in southeastern Syria held by Syrian rebel fighters who have been fighting ISIS with the Americans. These airstrikes were not against ISIS; they were not even against ISIS allies. Instead, they aimed at helping one faction in the Syrian civil war hold an economic asset contested in the broader Syrian civil war," writes Ford, US ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014.
"There are some inside the administration and think-tank community who urge US forces to stay longer-term in Syria in order to block, or at least diminish, Iranian influence. They have not been able to explain how that force presence in eastern Syria would be able to compel Iranians 350 miles away in western Syria to depart. What good is it to keep the Iranians out of, say, Kobani or Raqqah when they are already entrenched in Damascus?"
| | Team Trump's Biggest Critic? Trump | | | The announcement Friday by the US Treasury of "additional sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin, along with 12 companies they own or control," underscores an odd feature of the Trump presidency, writes Joshua Keating for Slate. The biggest critic of Team Trump's foreign policy seems to be…President Trump.
"Even as he has continued to publicly defend his overtures to Putin and has been reluctant to criticize or even acknowledge the evidence of Russian interference in 2016, his administration has taken a number of steps that are arguably more aggressive toward Moscow than its predecessors' actions.
"The sanctions imposed by Obama have not been lifted and more have been added, for election-related issues as well as human rights violations. Russia has been publicly called out by the US for helping Syria carry out chemical weapons attacks and helping North Korea evade sanctions. The administration has begun providing lethal aid to the government of Ukraine—a step the Obama administration was not willing to take..."
"Even more than a year into his presidency, Trump sometimes acts as if he's on the outside lobbing criticism rather than the one directing policy." | | The Situation in Gaza Is Grim. It Might Get Worse Soon | | At least seven people were reportedly killed Friday along the Israel-Gaza border in the latest clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces. But with Palestinians out of patience with Israel and their own leaders, the situation looks poised to get much worse, argues Hussein Ibish for Bloomberg View.
"One of the most densely populated places on earth, Gaza is now barely habitable. Hunger is rampant. Water is undrinkable. Unemployment is close to 50 percent. Health-care is scanty at best. Electricity is available just two to four hours per day," Ibish says.
"With Hamas's militancy and Abbas's diplomacy both thoroughly discredited, Palestinian civilians are desperate for a new political dynamic. The recent 'March of Return' protests originally promised that, but Hamas has thus far managed to hijack them. Yet if the protest movement leads to another war with Israel, the result could prove catastrophic for Hamas's political viability. And if widespread unrest spreads to the West Bank, that could fatally undermine the Palestinian Authority.
"The Palestinian public is out of patience and nearly out of hope. That's a combustible formula."
| | From Spy Dust to Stingrays | | An admission by the US government that it has found evidence of Stingray devices in the Washington area – which can be used to track cell phones – has raised more questions than it answers. Chief among them is whether they are being used by foreign spies.
AP's Frank Bajak explains: "The devices work by tricking mobile devices into locking onto them instead of legitimate cell towers, revealing the exact location of a particular cellphone. More sophisticated versions can eavesdrop on calls by forcing phones to step down to older, unencrypted 2G wireless technology. Some attempt to plant malware."
"They can cost anywhere from $1,000 to about $200,000. They are commonly the size of a briefcase; some are as small as a cellphone." - When spy tech goes mainstream. Kristie Macrakis, a professor at Georgia Tech who specializes in the history and science of espionage, emails Global Briefing that it's difficult to say for sure who might be using such devices, not least because the Stingray is another example of a once secret national security tool that has gone mainstream.
"Just as Hummers were once limited to the battlefield abroad, then became part of the militarized police force, and then available to the public, so too with the Stingray," Macrakis says. "This type of cell phone tracking device was initially used for national security abroad and was then adopted by law enforcement across the United States."
Macrakis adds that further complicating the question of whether China, Russia -- or someone else -- might have deployed such devices is the fact that it's not just foreign intelligence services that might want to. "During the Cold War, Russia used METKA, often dubbed 'spy dust,' in Moscow. METKA was a chemical tracking device used to keep track of possible US spies. So, it's difficult to assume anything."
| | Saudi Movies, Coming to a Screen Near You? | | US theater company AMC announced this week it had been granted the first cinema operating license by the Saudi Ministry of Culture. But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Los Angeles is a reminder the Kingdom has even bigger silver screen dreams, writes Alexandra Zavis for the Los Angeles Times.
"By developing a local film industry, Saudi officials hope to expand entertainment options and create jobs in a country of 32 million people, the majority of whom are under 30, many with money to burn. But the Kingdom's ambitions don't stop there. Officials say the country has the market size, infrastructure, talent and wealth to become a movie-making hub for the Arabic-speaking world," Zavis writes.
"Saudi Arabia has not allowed commercial cinemas since the early 1980s, part of a religious backlash against Westernizing influences that accompanied the flood of petrodollars that poured into the country during the 1970s."
"Most Saudis watch movies on the internet, satellite television or old-school DVDs. There are also regular screenings at universities, cultural centers and private homes. And many Saudis travel to nearby countries such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to get their big-screen fix. The Saudi authorities would like them to spend that money at home." | | | | | | |
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