| | | | How Presidential Phone Calls Usually Work | | | President Trump seems to have followed unconventional protocols even before his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began, Michael McFaul writes in a Washington Post column. McFaul, who served on President Obama's National Security Council and as ambassador to Russia, writes that aides typically brief a president and supply talking points before calls with foreign leaders, which happen in the Oval Office with NSC staff listening in. It appears none of that was the case here, McFaul writes; Trump spoke with Zelensky from the White House residence, not the Oval Office, and does not appear to have been working from a script. | | After 70 years of communist rule, China's current expansionism is often attributed to the ambitions of President Xi Jinping, Richard McGregor writes for Foreign Policy. But decades of economic growth simply enabled Xi to pursue long-held goals, McGregor writes; if anything can threaten one-party rule moving forward, he adds, it's economic trouble.
China has three big items on its to-do list, Keyu Jin writes at Project Syndicate: raise per-capita income, ensure its Belt and Road Initiative succeeds, and avoid war with the West. The last is a shared responsibility, she argues, cautioning against Western beliefs that conflict is inevitable.
At its 70th-anniversary parade, Beijing put on an impressive display of military technology, Andrew S. Erickson writes for The National Interest; China is now a "missile superpower," able to hit more targets in the US and possessing cruise missiles that will reshape the regional order. | | Hong Kong Escalates—Again | | The shooting of a protester by Hong Kong by police "marks a dangerous escalation for a force which prides itself on its restraint in the face of intense provocation," The Economist writes. "Sadly, it was not a surprise," as police had warned this might eventually happen, with demonstrations turning more violent. (Police have said the shooting was in self-defense, while pro-democracy lawmakers have questioned that claim, the Hong Kong Free Press reported.)
The protest movement's leaderless nature makes things more combustible, South China Morning Post columnist Alex Lo argues: While there are no leaders to call authoritatively for de-escalation, fringe activist can easily stoke anger on social media. Hong Kong's government may want to negotiate, but the movement has no one to sit across the table from authorities, he writes. | | The Risk of Exaggerating Terrorism | | | Security officials can learn a lesson from public-health experts, Charles Kurzman writes at Foreign Policy: not to exaggerate the threat. Health officials "have long tried to balance preparedness and panic," he notes, assessing danger with empirical evidence. (Kurzman writes of the SARS epidemic, pointing out that health officials predicted the disease would recur without posing a large-scale threat.) National-security officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly warned that jihadist terrorism merits alarm. Bigotry toward Muslims has been the cost of that tendency, Kurzman writes. | | | | | | |
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