Two steps forward, one step back in Israel
The Weekly Brief - November 22, 2019
Just a quick note, there will be no Weekly Brief next week on account of the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope you enjoy the time with your friends and families, and that the holiday will be a wonderful reminder that, in the words of Sam Gamgee, “There’s some good in this world... And it’s worth fighting for.”
Part of that good for me is the imminent arrival of a new baby in the house, so this week’s brief may appear somewhat, well, briefer.
Hong Kong = Tiannamen?
Hong Kong protests were indeed shifting to what looked like a Tiannamen 2.0 this week as security forces surrounded a university campus, trapping thousands of protesters. No one, as of this moment, seems willing to budget, so it’s anybody’s guess as to how this is going to unfold.
In a long overdue show of support, the House of Representatives and the Senate both passed resolutions supporting the protesters. Not sure how that’ll impact on US-China trade negotiations, but it’s one of the strongest “the world is watching” messages yet sent to China.
Iranian upheaval
And while the world’s attention has been focused on Hong Kong and protests in Latin America, protests in Iran have largely gone ignored. And these protests, by several reports, have been large and widespread; some of the largest in recent memories.
So why didn’t you hear about it? That may be because the American news cycle has been dominated by impeachment hearings this week, but it’s also largely because there isn’t a strong Western media presence in Iran and the Iranian regime shut down the Internet this last week. The Internet is coming back on line and the Ayatollahs have claimed that order has been restored, but we have no idea what that means in terms of human cost.
Two steps forward, one step back in Israel
President Trump has not been content to slaughter just one or two sacred cows in the Middle East Peace Process (moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and acknowledging Israeli rights to the Golan).
This week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Israeli settlements were not seen by the administration as a violation of international law. It’s a stunning reversal of years of American policy to call for a limit or halt on settlements in the West Bank as part of the Peace Process. This latest move, while welcomed by Israel and its supporters has been roundly condemned by just about everybody else.
Ol’ Bibi Netanyahu may not have the opportunity to capitalize on such a diplomatic coup as America green lighting Israeli settlements because he was just indicted on criminal charges today. This indictment has been years in the making so it's somewhat bizarre that Netanyahu has labeled the indictment a coup attempt, but it will certainly shake up the future trajectory of Israeli politics.
America’s cities on the rebound?
A lot of reporting this week on the state of American cities, and there was a lot of good news. The Manhattan Institute leads off with a list of 10 successful cities in the Midwest that are proving naysayers wrong.
Detroit, long the byword of Rust Belt urban blight seems to be making a turnaround as well, and cities across the country are experimenting with how to cut down on waste and become more sustainable. But even as American cities seek to get ahead of major economic and demographic trends, they’re falling behind on staffing as Baby Boomers retire.
Hot takes and trends
So those record high markets last week? Yeah, some aren’t buying the hype.
A major component of the critique surrounding the Trump administration’s handling of undocumented migrant children was quietly, but significantly laid to rest this week as news outlets found that major data driving their narrative was from the Obama, not Trump, years.
The Wilson Center puts together an excellent infographic on the resources that will command the future: rare earth minerals. You’ll be hearing more about these soon.
Remember a few weeks ago, I shared a story of a report from a bunch of scientists suggesting that population control be used to address climate change? Well, several African countries (the region that has the fastest growing populations) see such a suggestion as a sick new imperialism. They’re right.
The ongoing tale of Jeffrey Epstein took an interesting twist as the FBI has opened a criminal investigation on the matter.
Americans are all concerned about rising health care costs and its become an issue presidential candidates are staking their campaigns on, but what if a couple of simple fixes could significantly cut costs?
But Tim, you didn’t address the impeachment hearings and Democratic debate! Nope. I didn’t. Happy Thanksgiving.