Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good Seeing this newsletter as a forward? Sign up here. February 13, 2024 |
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Trump to NATO: Pay or Get Invaded |
"Europe's fears of an isolationist America under a second Trump presidency are becoming reality," the Financial Times writes in an editorial after former President Donald Trump told supporters at a campaign rally on Saturday that he would encourage Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to NATO countries that haven't met their 2%-of-GDP defense-spending benchmark. It's not the first time Trump has called into question America's commitment to NATO and its bedrock, Article V provision mandating that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. As columnist Marc Champion writes for Bloomberg, NATO's collective-defense promise is about trust and credibility. Trump's words are enough to undermine it. Trump has always taken a landlord mentality to US allies, Champion notes. The Economist takes it further, writing: "Mr Trump is scarcely the first president to complain of freeriding allies—and to do so has been justified. But he is turning a democratic alliance into a mobster's racket: no money, no American protection." CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh writes: "Trump's comments come at a devastatingly bad time for Europe." Trump-supporting Republicans are "persistently trying to derail vital aid to Ukraine. If the desired $60 billion does not arrive, or is delayed much longer, it will have an irrevocably detrimental impact on Ukraine's practical defenses at the frontlines, political cohesion in Kyiv, and nationwide morale. Damage is already being done. And it is (Russian President Vladimir) Putin who benefits. … (M)ake no mistake: the lack of a guarantee of American support massively undermines NATO's effectiveness. It calls into question the alliance's cohesion and therefore its existence. Trump knows that. He is not simply saying the US won't help NATO allies who haven't paid. He is saying he would encourage Russia to attack, invade, inflict the horrors of Mariupol upon US allies. It may be noise, it may be aimed at whipping up the faithful in front of his podium. But it was heard loudly, especially in European capitals and Moscow." Le Monde writes in an editorial: "The alarmed reactions of several European leaders ... to Trump's remarks show that his threats are finally being taken seriously. In fact, they should serve as an electroshock. For too long, and even under Trump's presidency (2017-2021), Europeans have been under illusions about both the reality of the Russian threat and the priority of absolute US protection within an alliance conceived nearly 75 years ago in a totally different international context." |
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Coming to Bookshelves: Fareed's 'Age of Revolutions' |
On Sunday's GPS, Fareed made an exciting announcement: His latest book, "Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present," will be published on March 26. As Fareed described it on Sunday: "I am extremely proud of this book. It has taken me almost 10 years to complete. In it, I lay out the revolutions in technology, in economics and politics and identity that are shaping the world today—and how revolutions throughout history shed light on our present moment. It's a deeply researched book about the changes we're living through, but it's full of great stories and lighter moments that I think you will find very accessible." You can pre-order the book now. |
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Gaza and the world are waiting to see if a ceasefire deal can be brokered between Israel and Hamas, as negotiations continue through intermediaries. The rescue of two Israeli hostages held in Rafah, the Gazan city on the Egyptian border, has reverberated through Israel and has alleviated some political pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, Ben Caspit writes for Al-Monitor. Meanwhile, attention has turned to Rafah and speculation that Israel could launch a larger operation there. At The Wall Street Journal, Margherita Stancati and Abeer Ayyoub depict the situation on the ground, writing that Rafah "is now a city of tents, and the epicenter of one of the worst humanitarian disasters in years. Yet a deadly mix of war, politics and logistics is choking off emergency aid, and the scale of suffering has raised international pressure on Israel ahead of an anticipated offensive. More than 1.3 million civilians, which amounts to over half of the Gaza Strip's population, have fled fighting … and crowded into Rafah, normally home to about 300,000 residents. Families shelter from rain and cold beneath plastic sheets strung up along roadsides. … People make fires with plastic refuse to bake flatbread." |
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After congressional Republicans nixed a compromise on immigration policy, Fareed argued on Sunday's GPS that the bill would have gone a long way to addressing the heart of America's immigration problems: an asylum system ill-fit for current times. What's more, Fareed argued, GOP opposition appeared disingenuous, as some Republicans changed their minds as to whether US asylum law needs changing. "The most obvious proof that Trump realizes that this bill would give the administration powerful tools to address this crisis is that he is so dead set that it should not pass," Fareed said. "Were it to pass, it might well solve large parts of the border problem—which would not serve him politically. He wrote on social media, 'This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats.' The rest of the West is facing a similar challenge and is grappling with how to adjust immigration and asylum laws. Many countries have taken significant steps. Yet in America, one of its major political parties is determined to inflame the crisis rather than douse it, fiddling while the country burns, hoping that at least it can inherit the smoldering ruins." |
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Carlson Gets a Lesson, of Sorts, From Putin |
"Russian President Vladimir Putin spent the first 30 minutes of his two-hour interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson giving a revisionist historical tirade on the founding myths of Russia and Ukraine, the breakup of the Soviet Union and NATO expansionism," as The Washington Post's Francesca Ebel describes Carlson's interview with Putin last week. CNN's Chris Wallace commented that the interview "turned out to be anything but an interview. Putin droned on for two hours and seven minutes, while Tucker sat there like an eager puppy." Unsurprisingly, Carlson has come under wide criticism. At The Wall Street Journal, Russia reporter Matthew Luxmoore calls the interview "a missed opportunity for Carlson, who now heads his own startup." Calling Carlson a "useful idiot," Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman notes that Putin has sought to make common cause with the far right and cultural conservatives in the US and Europe. Of the interview itself, Rachman writes: "One could sense Carlson's rising panic during Putin's extended opening monologue, as the Russian leader treated Middle America to a lecture on the crucial significance of Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kyiv in 1019. The whole encounter would have been funny if the background to this bizarre conversation was not so tragic." Putin consistently has used revisionist historical arguments to justify his invasion of Ukraine. The New Yorker's Masha Gessen, the Russian-born journalist who has covered Russia and Putin extensively for decades, writes: "The content of Putin's conversation with Carlson was barely distinguishable from the content of Putin's rare speeches and so-called press conferences and hotlines—annual hours-long, highly orchestrated television productions. Putin's obsession with history is genuine, as is his belief in a narrative that justifies, indeed makes inevitable, Russia's war against Ukraine. … It's telling, too, that Putin took the time to accuse Poland of both allying with Nazi Germany and inciting Hitler's aggression. As he has done with Ukraine in the past, he is positioning Poland as an heir to Nazism. He mentioned Poland more than thirty times in his conversation with Tucker. If I were Poland, I'd be scared." |
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