| | | | Today's Israeli election isn't about security, diplomacy, or the two-state solution, Haaretz editorializes: It's about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in the corruption scandal that hangs over him, but the paper implies Israelis will make a critical choice about the rule of law, casting the election as a referendum on Netanyahu "as a culture of government."
A Netanyahu win would show voters don't care so much about corruption scandals, bucking a global trend, write Merriden Varrall and Louis Raymond of The Interpreter; the election is about nothing other than Netanyahu's enduring ability to sway Israeli voters, writes The New York Times' Roger Cohen—a sharp critic who nonetheless notes that things in Israel, under Netanyahu's watch, have been good. | | Can Europe's Nationalists Unite Against Unity? | | Far-right politicians convened in Milan this week, as Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi seeks to form a pan-European coalition of nationalists ahead of next month's European Parliament elections. The coalition faces two problems, The Economist writes: disagreements over economic policy, and the fact that they're nationalists—making cross-border cooperation an inherently ironic proposition.
Nationalist parties from Eastern Europe and France are missing from the movement, and The Atlantic's Rachel Donadio writes that it's difficult to tell whether the new effort is a "blip on the radar" or the beginning of a new nationalist future for Europe. | | US, China Fight for Influence in the Pacific | | | Forget the South China Sea and disputes over Huawei: Pacific islands are an overlooked arena of competition between the US and China. As China invests in tiny island nations and (possibly) eyes the construction of new ports, there's plenty at stake, Kathrin Hille writes in the Financial Times.
Since World War II, the US has dominated Pacific waters, but if China can win over island governments, that dominance will be threatened, opening the door for Chinese maritime expansion and a switch of allegiances that could threaten a US sphere of influence—something to keep in mind, as trade and 5G dominate US/China headlines. | | Turkey's Choice: Russian Missiles or American Planes? | | Turkey must choose, a bipartisan group of US senators writes in The New York Times: The NATO member has ordered both the American F-35 fighter plane and the missile system Russia developed to shoot it down, the S-400—and it can't have both.
Deploying the S-400 could let Russia figure out how the F-35 works, the senators write; it would also bring Russian advisers into a NATO-allied military, as Turkey would need Russian assistance in using the missiles. (The senators promise that if Turkey goes ahead with the S-400 purchase, no F-35s will arrive, and Turkey will face sanctions.) It's a choice, all seem to agree, with serious consequences for NATO, and it comes at a time when Turkey's illiberal trend has put some distance between it and Western allies. | | Remittances Hit a Record High—and an Industry Grows Around Them | | Remittances (money sent back home by immigrants) to low-and middle-income countries hit an all-time high in 2018, the World Bank said this week. The total reached $529 billion, greater than foreign investment as a source of outside cash for the developing world.
Money is also getting cheaper to send, The Economist writes, thanks to a fintech industry that's sprung up around cross-border transfers. The average cost of sending $200 is 7%, according to the World Bank, but the best of these firms only charge 2%--so it seems the industry has a future, and immigrants will stand to save. | | | | | | |
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