Modi Is Upending Gandhi Model Of Inclusive, Secular India, Emphasizing Hindu Nationalism And Triggering A Backlash: The world is watchin CNN International, 18 December 2019, Has India’s Narendra Modi gone too far with controversial new citizenship law? Extract/Summary: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian government has stripped the country’s only Muslim-majority state of Kashmir of…
House Should Delay Sending Impeachment Articles To Senate, Until It Agrees to Hold Legitimate Impeachment Trial Bulwark, Charles Sykes, 16 December 2019, Impeach and Withhold Senate Republicans have said they intend to violate their impeachment-trial oaths. The House shouldn’t let them. Extract/Summary, It is beginning to dawn on Democrats that the moment…
China’s Persecution of Uighurs Intensifies: Internment Camps Prove Forced Labor NYT, 16 December 2019, China’s Detention Camps for Muslims Turn to Forced Labor Extract/Summary: China’s ruling Communist Party has said in a surge of upbeat propaganda that a sprawling network of camps in the Xinjiang region is providing detainees job training, offering an escape from…
Trump’s Incoherent, Contradictory, Self-Defeating China Trade Strategy NYT, Paul Krugman, 17 December 2019, How Trump Lost His Trade War—On speaking loudly and carrying a small stick. Extract/Summary: Trade wars rarely have victors. They do, however, sometimes have losers. And Donald Trump has definitely turned out to be a loser. Of course, that’s not the way…
Hyper-Partisanship, Tribalism Make Mockery of Impeachment: Should Democrats Have Adopted Different Strategy? NYT, Elizabeth Drew, 16 December, The Impeachment Process Is Barely Functioning Extract/Summary: The current proceedings have demonstrated how fragile the Constitution’s impeachment clause is. The idea of the clause was to hold a president accountable for misdeeds (Note: Treason, Bribery, or other High…
UK Elections Create Potential For Perfect Storm, Threatening United Kingdom of England, Scotland and Wales AP, Jill Lawless, 14 December 2019, Johnson’s win may deliver Brexit but could risk UK’s breakup Boris Johnson’s election victory may help him take Britain out of the European Union, although it only postpones Brexit until the end of 2020,…
UK Elections: A Warning To Democrats National Interest, Alex Berezow, 13 December 2019, The UK Election Should Serve as a Warning to Democrats Extract/Summary: The British Conservative prime minister, Boris Johnson, is a controversial figure with a penchant for self-aggrandizement, philandering, and telling flat-out lies. He has reshaped the Tory Party in his own image…
Iraqi Protests: Hong Kong 2.0? Iraq’s prime minister resigns as the death toll rises in anti-government protests: Iraq’s prime minister just resigned, but there’s still a long way to go towards meeting protesters’ demands for political reform. Extract/Summary: Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announced plans to resign in the wake of a rapidly rising death toll…
Coming North Korea Crisis, Amidst Fraying US Alliances With South Korea and Japan Washington Post, Josh Rogin 29 November 2019, We’re headed for a crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The Trump administration isn’t ready. Extract/Summary: North Korea has announced that it plans to end nuclear talks with the US at the end of this year…
UK Elections Pose Constitutional Issues, Including Possible Breakup Of The UK; UK, United In Name Only New Statesman, Michael Kenny, 27 November 2019, The English Question and Brexit In the coming years the people of these islands will be roiled by a succession of constitutional crises. Extract/Summary: Not since the election held in December 1910…
West Has Modi Problem, Indian Prime Minister Has Badly Tarnished India’s Human Rights Bona Fides FT, 11 November 2019, India’s Narendra Modi has had a free pass from the west for too long: Threats to minority rights and democratic norms are ignored to preserve a comforting illusion Extract/Summary: The world’s democracies are desperate to believe…
Trump Crosses New Red Line, Upending Code of Military Justice and Chain of Command, While Ignoring Military Counsel Politico, 26 November 2019, Trump’s strain with Pentagon inspires talk of more departures Extract/Summary: Navy Secretary Richard Spencer’s ouster was just the latest collision between military leaders and the president, who has repeatedly ignored or overruled their…
Hong Kong Democrats Give Xi Jinping Black Eye. Beijing Is Stunned, But Inalterably Opposed to Concessions DW, Joseph Yu-shek Cheng 26 November 2019, Hong Kong: What’s the significance of the local election results? Extract/Summary: Pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong scored a stunning victory in the district council elections held this weekend. Despite the outcome, Beijing…
Macron, Trump Both Berate NATO – Dangerous Divisions Remain Politico, 25 November 2019, NATO’s Next Threat: Its Own Leaders: Political rifts are undermining military progress in the defense alliance. Extract/Summary: There are two NATOs. There’s the slick military machine that plans, trains and coordinates to adapt to new security threats to Europe and…
Lech Walesa Laments “Pax Americana’s” Collapse, Demise of US as Defender of the Liberal Global Order, as Well as Champion of Freedom and Democracy Washington Times, 21 November 2019, Cold War hero Lech Walesa laments fall of America’s ‘good empire’ Extract/Summary: Lech Walesa, the onetime Polish shipyard electrician and founder of Solidarity who helped ignite a…
