| | | | Fareed: Brexit Is an EU Reckoning—Not Just a British One | | "As we watch Britain go through the paroxysms of Brexit, it is easy to view its decision to leave the European Union as an act of foolishness, a self-inflicted wound that will impoverish Britons for years," Fareed writes in his latest column in The Washington Post. "But the Brexit debacle also shines a light on Europe itself, and what one sees is a continent and a political project that have stopped working — at least for many of the people at its Western European core."
The EU's post-Soviet expansion ensured an intra-European migration crisis, as citizens naturally moved in large numbers from poorer countries to richer ones. Its single currency, the Euro, has limited countries' flexibility when crises hit.
So as Britain prepares to leave, Brexit "should also cause Europeans overall to take stock of their project, a great idea that has gone awry. The European Union needs more than tinkering; it needs to return to first principles, rediscover its central purpose and question which aspects of its current system are no longer working, affordable or manageable," Fareed writes. | | President Trump will hold another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un next month, and while the news broke suddenly Friday, the same big question remains: Can the two sides get on the same page when it comes to "denuclearization," and if not, what can another meeting produce?
Pyongyang has insisted it won't relinquish its own nukes unless "the US nuclear threat to Korea" is lifted--meaning an end to Washington's nuclear-security umbrella over the South. It's unclear whether Trump is willing to move on that front, and consequently, how far talks can get. | | Former Envoy to Counter ISIS Reveals How Trump Decided to Leave Syria | | | It was a "snap decision" after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan—one that left allies "bewildered" and fighting partners on the ground in a state of "denial," Brett McGurk, the former top US envoy to the international coalition fighting ISIS, writes in a Washington Post op-ed of how President Trump chose to withdraw US troops from Syria.
Trump made the un-vetted decision even as US officials were assuring allies of a continued US commitment, writes McGurk, who resigned his post after concluding the new orders were impossible for him to carry out. McGurk isn't alone in his concern: BuzzFeed reports local forces are wary of the US pullout, as secretive American efforts have resulted in the deaths and arrests of hundreds of ISIS members continuing to plan and launch attacks. | | A Himalayan Experiment in Universal Income | | Universal basic income—essentially, money for all—has at least been talked about more in mainstream politics, in recent years: Mark Zuckerberg backed it in 2017, the same year Benoit Hamon, a candidate for president in France's major left-leaning party, ran on the idea; in the US, the California Democratic Party gave it a nod in its 2018 platform.
The idea may get a tryout in Sikkim, one of India's smallest states, as the governing party announced plans to implement the program by 2022, The Telegraph reports—noting it will be the largest experiment in universal basic income to date, if it goes through. But it's a very specific setting for such an idea: The state of 610,577 generates tourism revenue from 2.5 million visitors per year and sells off 90 percent of its hydropower production, the South China Morning Post notes.
| | China's 5G Fight Continues | | 5G is the next wave of wireless connectivity—and it's also the next wave of global competition over technology. At the center of it is Huawei, the tech giant that has sparked concerns over (and denied) spying for China.
As countries look to enhance their mobile networks, controversy over Huawei is rising: Germany has considered banning Huawei from being part of its 5G transition, and this week China's ambassador to Canada warned of possible "repercussions" if Ottawa does the same.
It's an acute issue for Canada, which is grappling with Chinese retaliation over its arrest of a Huawei executive for extradition to the US, but the warning may signal an escalation in China's defense of its tech giant throughout the West. | | | | | | |
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