Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Jason Miks.

August 17, 2018

Weekday editions of Global Briefing will return from September 4.

The Real Reason Trump Went After Brennan?

Anyone who believes that Donald Trump's decision to revoke John Brennan's security clearance was about trying to silence the former CIA director is probably misreading the President's motives, writes Eli Lake for Bloomberg. More likely, he is looking for a "deep state" foil—and Brennan is falling for the trap.

"It's no secret that the President is now campaigning against what his supporters deride as a 'deep state,' a permanent national security bureaucracy that he believes undermines his presidency. The term is often used in reference to police states like Egypt or Pakistan," Lake writes.

"[R]unning against the deep state provides Trump a rhetorical crutch. It's a built-in excuse for failing to deliver on his 2016 campaign promises. Sitting presidents usually have to run as incumbents. Trump can try to run for re-election as an outsider. And is there a better poster boy for the alleged deep state than Brennan?"

Why Trump Shouldn't Give Kim What He Wants

North Korea is angling for a formal peace treaty. The Trump administration should be wary of giving Kim Jong Un's regime what it wants, writes Robert Kelly for The National Interest. It's about more than just formally ending the Korean War.

"'Peace' in Korea does not require this treaty, nor will the treaty bring a meaningful reduction in tension or spur sudden demobilization on both sides," Kelly writes. "A cold peace is possible—just as there was between the United States and Soviet Union in the Cold War, but we already have that. A treaty is not necessary for that."

"By formally recognizing that the war ended in stalemate, the allied side would be effectively recognizing North Korea as an emergent state from the Korean civil war, and, implicitly, its right to exist..."

"The Trump summit was a big North Korean win; and a peace treaty would be another big win for the country."

When Turkey and the Midterms Collide

If all politics is local, maybe diplomacy is, too. Just ask America's evangelicals, suggests Demetri Sevastopulo in the Financial Times, and how they feel about the tough US response for Turkey following the detention of a US pastor.

"In recent months, Democratic voters have flocked to the polls in larger-than-normal numbers to pick their midterm candidates. Mr Trump wants to propel even more evangelicals to vote on November 8 by securing the release of Mr Brunson, as he tries to stave off the possibility of the Democrats taking control of Congress," Sevastopulo writes.

"The president has already rewarded evangelicals for their faith. They have praised his picks for the Supreme Court, and applauded his successful efforts to secure the release of an American aid worker in Egypt and several Korean-Americans who were detained in North Korea. They have also welcomed his decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem."

The Frustrating Truth About the US Soldiers' Remains Issue

The apparent progress over securing the return of remains of missing US soldiers is welcome. But it shouldn't be treated as in any way tied to progress on denuclearization, writes Josh Rogin for The Washington Post, however much the Kim regime might try to make you think otherwise.

"If Pyongyang's game is to draw out the diplomatic process and pocket concessions without ever moving to denuclearize, the remains recovery issue fits their purposes perfectly. It gives Trump political space while the Kim regime and the South Korean government try to persuade him to declare an end to the Korean War," Rogin writes.

"By playing off Trump's own rhetoric, Kim has skillfully turned the remains- recovery issue into a key deliverable and a way to assert that Trump-Kim diplomacy is succeeding. But the administration can't claim real progress on the nuclear file until, at minimum, Kim hands over a declaration of his nuclear assets, a Pompeo request that Pyongyang has yet to fulfill."

America Needs a Word with
Saudi Arabia

The Trump administration has made clear it wants to counter Iran's influence in the Middle East. In that case, it should tap one of its allies on the shoulder, suggests Colin Clarke for Lawfare, and tell it to get over its Qatar obsession.

"Saudi Arabia's preoccupation with attempting to dominate Qatar has diverted resources and attention from countering Iran's growing influence in the region. Moreover, it lends credence to Iranian claims of a US-Israeli-Gulf conspiracy to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal as a prelude to provoking a war. And if the goal is to attenuate Iran, the continued obsession with Qatar is having the opposite effect—it is, naturally, forcing Doha into closer relations with Tehran as a means of mitigating the negative economic consequences of the continued blockade," Clarke writes.

"The most obvious effect of the blockade has not been to isolate Iran but to weaken the Gulf Cooperation Council, one of the primary bulwarks against Iranian expansion. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia's punitive campaign against its tiny neighbor has been perceived as unnecessarily vindictive by large segments of the Arab and Islamic world."

Please Stop Calling Them Trolls

Media and US lawmakers have taken to referring to Russians engaged in electoral interference as "trolls." That term isn't just wrong, it's risky, argues Joshua Geltzer for CNN Opinion.

To dismiss Moscow's "elaborate architecture" as "'troll farms' is to give entirely the wrong impression by suggesting that the motivation and organization bore some resemblance to lulz-seeking, disorganized Internet hooligans. The ranks of Moscow's social media army were nothing of the sort," Geltzer writes.

"The difference isn't merely semantic—it's conceptual, and it's critical to protecting the health of our democracy. The best way to deal with trolls—real trolls—is to ignore them. That takes away their fun. It stalls their momentum. It leads them to look for other targets—or, better still, to turn on each other.

"The opposite is true for a sophisticated state actor like the Kremlin."

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