| | | | When Economies Lag, Discontent Follows. China Is Not Immune | | Dissent is not exactly encouraged in China, but The New York Times reports on a wave of labor protests, including sit-ins, an uptick in formal disputes, and government detentions of critics. This comes amid slower economic growth, after China's 6.6% GDP uptick in 2018—which would be the envy of advanced economies like the US—was, for China, a significant lag.
Labor protests may seem particularly sharp when aimed at a communist regime, but they could also threaten President Xi Jinping's overarching aim, seen by SOAS China Institute Director Steve Tsang as shoring up state control while preventing liberal-democratic values from spreading.
Labor unrest is another challenge for China to manage as it integrates into the global capitalist economy while maintaining its own model of economic governance—and it shows that even China isn't immune to the political effects of a slowdown. | | Putin's Ukrainian Chessboard | | With a March 31 presidential election looming in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has an array of options to complicate things there, Konstantin Skorkin writes in Foreign Affairs. He could annex more territory, offer to give it back, or maintain the status quo—but Ukraine remains an opportunity to for Putin to divide the West (over how aggressively it wants to oppose him there) and cause confusion.
Full-scale war remains possible, thanks in part to relatively low domestic ratings for Putin, Skorkin writes, while Gwendolyn Sasse notes at Carnegie Europe that domestic politics in Ukraine remain complicated, dominated by identity and the country's simmering war. That should only offer Russia more opportunity to use Ukraine to achieve strategic aims. | | Germany's Economy Looks Vulnerable, and the US/China Trade War Isn't Helping | | | Cracks are appearing in Europe's economic engine block, The Economist writes, citing a slowdown amid short-term factors like emissions regulations and longer-term challenges like global trade and technology catching up to Germany's traditional strengths.
Not helping matters is the trade war between two of Germany's major trading partners, the US and China. Economic troubles and the global protectionist trend are driving a push for industrial protectionism in Germany, The Economist writes, noting elsewhere that traditionally strong German exports (which make up half its GDP) have become a net weight on growth.
Fears about what this could mean for Europe appear validated by the EU's downgraded forecast, from 1.9% to 1.3%, for 2019 eurozone growth over concerns about Germany. | | When it comes to global finance, the US isn't as clean as it pretends, Franklin Foer writes in an Atlantic piece detailing America's intersection with global kleptocracy—as a popular destination for oligarchic or otherwise dirty money, and as a source of legal and lobbying advice on money movement and political matters—concluding that America, despite its far-reaching financial controls, "has legitimized a political economy of shadows" worldwide. His implication: kleptocratic values have infected the US.
At the same time, America has turned to financial leverage to achieve its foreign-policy aims: Tufts Prof. Daniel Drezner writes at The Washington Post of a growing debate about the value of, and collateral damage inflicted by, sanctions as a growing tool used by America to achieve political aims. | | Is Socialism Still Fringe? | | President Trump's proclamation America must never be a "socialist" drew half-hearted applause from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday night, but The Wall Street Journal editorializes that socialism is no longer fringe: In the US, the Democratic Party's leftward tilt has placed it well within the bounds of socialism, with some of its prominent voices advocating things like Medicare for all, and higher taxes on higher incomes.
But if the policies have become more popular, that doesn't mean the label has: The Washington Post's Aaron Blake points out that Americans' views on "socialism" are roughly unchanged since 2010, concluding the Democrats' new wave of more-liberal proposals "doesn't coincide with any real surge in support for socialism in recent years." | | | | | | |
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