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. July 10, 2024 |
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Dealing With Trump: A Guide for Allies |
How to "Trump-proof" one's relationship with the United States?
That's the big question in Washington this week, as NATO leaders gather for a summit marking the alliance's 75th anniversary, Michael Birnbaum, Emily Rauhala, Missy Ryan and Jon Hudson write for The Washington Post.
"Alliance policymakers have moved control of major elements of military aid to Ukraine away from U.S. command to the NATO umbrella," the Post's reporters write. "They appointed a new NATO secretary general who has a reputation as being especially agile with Trump's unpredictable impulses toward the alliance. They are signing decade-long defense pledges with Ukraine to try to buffer military aid to Kyiv from the ups and downs of politics. And they are pushing up their defense spending, Trump's single biggest anger point when it comes to NATO."
Indeed, as US allies watch America's presidential election from afar this summer and fall, they will recall vividly former President Donald Trump's caustic statements about America's friends as freeloaders and the reports that he nearly pulled the US out of NATO during his presidency. The Economist remarks: "While all eyes were on Mr Biden's stumbling performance at their recent debate, Mr Trump repeated his threat not to defend NATO allies against Russia 'if you don't pay.'"
Other than the pre-election maneuverings the Post describes, how can US allies best handle themselves if Trump indeed returns to the White House? The Economist offers some practical advice: spend more on defense, work more closely with Pacific allies (and "woo" India) to face multiple threats, and help Ukraine defeat Russia's invading army.
In an essay for The Atlantic, Michael Fullilove—executive director of the Lowy Institute, an Australian international-affairs think tank—offers more guidance. Past leaders lent useful examples: Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for instance, disagreed with Trump; former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe successfully courted him.
Fullilove writes, drawing lessons: "Criticizing Trump is risky for an ally's national interest. Sympathizing with him is risky for one's self-respect. The best way to thread the needle is to be pragmatic. Don't sneer, but don't gush, either. Assemble your arguments carefully and make sure they relate to Trump's interests. Fight your corner where required, preferably in private. Find common ground with Trump where you can, without betraying your values or doing something you will later regret. A lot of leaders will find the prospect of fraternizing with Trump distasteful. But they need to grimace and bear it. The alternatives—to turn away from the United States or hug Trump tight—are worse. Allied leaders will also need to work closely with other parts of the U.S. system, including Congress, the agencies, and the military. And they should work much more closely with one another. … They should build up their own national capabilities … As beneficiaries of [the liberal international order Trump criticizes], U.S. allies will have to serve as its bodyguards." |
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Biden's Defiance Is Met With Skepticism |
Facing calls to drop out of the presidential race following his rough debate performance, President Joe Biden told congressional Democrats in a letter on Monday that he'll stay in. The defiance displayed has been met with skepticism.
At The New York Times, left-leaning columnist Maureen Dowd lamented pressure from a White House press aide to tweak her transcription of something Biden had said during his interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos; Dowd described the White House as in a "bunker" of defensiveness about the president's public performances. The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which criticizes Biden frequently, accused him of sounding "almost" like Trump in lambasting party "elites" who think he should step aside.
The skepticism was phrased sharply by Ari Emanuel, the Democratic donor and Endeavor talent agency CEO whose brothers have served in high-level Democratic positions, in an op-ed for The Economist. Emanuel wrote Monday: "If Mr Biden is right to say there's nothing more important than stopping Mr Trump from returning to the White House, then he's wrong when he says the best—or only—way to do that is by keeping his own name on the ballot. The idea that Mr Biden 'alone can fix it' [a quote taken by Emanuel from Trump's 2016 Republican National Convention speech] is a self-aggrandising delusion on a Trumpian scale. No wonder the audience at the president's post-debate rally sounded just like a MAGA crowd from 2016. 'Lock him up!' they chanted. It was a true through-the-looking-glass moment."
At the same time, not everyone is enthusiastic about alternatives. At The New Statesman, left-leaning commentator Jill Filipovic writes that replacing Biden on the presidential ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris would be preferable but risky; either way, Democrats "are in uncharted waters here." At CNN Opinion, historian and political analyst Julian Zelizer advises Democrats to remember the chaos of their open 1968 nominating convention before making any drastic moves. |
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Extreme Heat's Toll on Gig Workers |
Last month, as India suffered through a heat wave that brought 121-degree Fahrenheit temperatures to New Delhi, the global tech publication Rest of World highlighted the impact on gig workers and delivery drivers, whose economic circumstances necessitate outdoor work.
Itika Sharma Punit wrote, with photographs by Nipun Prabhakar and Ishan Tankha: "Laddu Singh, a 35-year-old Uber driver, told Rest of World that he has to drive his rickshaw in the extreme heat due to financial constraints. 'I only got a quarter of the rides during the heat wave compared to what I usually get,' Singh said, adding that he drinks at least 10 liters of water a day and eats half as much as usual because the heat suppresses his appetite. Devender Kumar, a food delivery worker for Swiggy, has lately been busier than usual. He drives almost 200 kilometers each day 'because no one likes cooking in the kitchen or going out to eat in such extreme conditions' … Kumar refills his bottle at restaurants, hotels, and sometimes even banks. 'In high-end societies, they have water coolers near the guard's room, so we get chilled water,' he said, adding that customers don't usually offer water to delivery workers despite the heat." |
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