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. March 12, 2024 | |
|
European officials have bickered over how to handle the growing Russian threat to Ukraine, with US assistance blocked in Congress and Moscow's army now enjoying the battlefield advantage, laments Washington Post columnist Lee Hockstader. But amid the customary European infighting, Brussels is pushing to use 2–3 billion euros in profits from Russia's frozen assets to help Ukraine now, Laura Dubois, Henry Foy, and Paola Tamma report for the Financial Times. Such money had originally been discussed as future reconstruction funding, but the FT reports it could go to Kyiv this year. Accelerated help would be for the best, according to Dara Massicot of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who writes in a Foreign Affairs essay that Ukraine is running out of time. As Kyiv's forces must ration ammunition over a long front, Russian breakthroughs are becoming more likely, Massicot writes. For its part, Kyiv needs to solve its shortage in manpower. "Without a surge in Western military aid and major changes to Kyiv's strategy, Ukraine's battlefield position will continue to worsen until it reaches a tipping point, possibly by this summer," Massicot writes. "On the present course, in which Ukrainian ammunition and manpower needs are not met, Ukrainian units are likely to hollow out, making Russian breakthroughs a distinct possibility. But this is no time for despair; it is time for urgent action. Russian forces have vulnerabilities that can be exploited and advantages that can be eroded over time, but only if Ukraine gets what it needs now." |
|
|
'Will Gaza Ever Recover?' |
Gaza's fate remains in flux, in both the near term and the long. As Israel contemplates a major offensive in the town of Rafah, US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain at odds over the idea, as CNN's Nadeen Ebrahim reports. Longer-term American wishes for Gaza involve reforming and rejuvenating the moribund Palestinian Authority, which currently governs parts of the West Bank, and installing it in Gaza as a way to achieve Palestinian self-rule. At The Conversation, the University of Richmond's Dana El Kurd details a big challenge: The PA is already held in low regard by Palestinians, and being propped up by Washington could make it even less legitimate in their eyes. More broadly, Daniel Byman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Georgetown University asks in a Foreign Policy essay if Gaza will ever truly stabilize. Its economy and infrastructure have been destroyed, and whoever is installed to govern the territory will face dual security threats: from the Israel Defense Forces, which will likely continue to conduct operations against Hamas, and from Hamas itself. Foreign aid could foster corruption, and other violent groups could rise. "A postwar Gaza may join the ranks of Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and other states that suffer near-constant low-level strife, endemic crime, and humanitarian crisis after humanitarian crisis," Byman warns, urging the US, Europe, and other international actors to look well beyond the end of fighting. |
|
|
The Middle East may look very depressing these days. War continues in Gaza, and Iranian proxies cause trouble across the region. But on Sunday's GPS, Fareed pointed out that a sweeping change in Arab politics gives reason for hope. A different set of capitals now enjoys the political sway in the region, as large countries Egypt, Iraq, and Syria have given way to the Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, which have leveraged their vast oil wealth to attain greater influence. Recent Arab protests against Israel have been bitter, but among Middle East leaders, there has been a movement toward reconciliation with Israel and away from Arab terrorism. "This sea change … will not solve the Israeli–Palestinian issue," Fareed said. "But it does suggest there is some support for peace, stability and moderation in a region that desperately needs it." |
|
|
Previewing Mexico Under 'Claudia' |
"Thousands of activists from the National Regeneration Movement (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional, or MORENA), the political party founded by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO) in 2011, waited several hours before being able to hear, mostly through a giant screen, the woman everyone now calls 'Claudia,' who was greeted with shouts of 'la presidenta,' Spanish for '(female) president,'" Anne Vigna, Mexico correspondent for Le Monde, wrote earlier this month, depicting the scene in Mexico City's central square as Claudia Sheinbaum, the city's former mayor, launched her bid for the presidency. Sheinbaum is the favorite to win Mexico's June 2 election and become her country's first female president, vigna notes. Although Sheinbaum hails from the same party as the populist AMLO, Vigna writes that she's not quite the same; a focus on feminism, for instance, is among the stances that sets her apart. As Frida Ghitis explores further at the World Politics Review, Sheinbaum wants to perpetuate AMLO's legacy of social welfare, but where AMLO sought to tighten control of Mexico's national oil company Pemex and boost energy jobs, Sheinbaum is an environmentalist, holds a doctorate in energy engineering, and was a member of the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As Mexico City mayor, she turned to the police, rather than the military (AMLO's choice) to deal with drug gangs. If Steinbaum wins, Ghitis writes, "it will become clear" that she and AMLO "are, and have been all along, very different leaders, with different styles and priorities." |
|
|
Will Americans Start Driving Smaller Cars? |
The electric-vehicle era rapidly approaches, and The Economist wonders if Americans—known the world over for their love of behemoth trucks and SUVs—will start driving smaller cars in the near future. As NPR's Camila Domonoske detailed last year, the Biden administration has been eyeing tighter emissions and fuel-economy standards to nudge the EV conversion along. One reason Americans' vehicles are so big, The Economist writes, is that "light trucks" are exempt from the tighter fuel-economy standards applied to cars. By 2002, the magazine writes, light trucks made up a larger share of US vehicle sales than cars. "The rule favouring big petrol-guzzlers is about to change," the magazine writes. The EPA, "which sets limits on cars' emissions, announced in April 2023 that it planned to tighten standards across the board and narrow the definition of a light truck. The agency is due to publish final rules this year. The CO2-emission limit for cars is currently 161 grams per kilometre, compared with 276 grams for light trucks, a 71% difference; the EPA is expected to cut that gap to 22% by 2032, forcing manufacturers to use more efficient engines in their big models, which will raise the price of big cars relative to smaller ones. … Yet this may make little difference to the size of cars. Many popular vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, would still count as light trucks and continue to benefit from lower efficiency standards, and hence lower costs and prices." |
|
|
| You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for Fareed's Global Briefing.
To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or sign up to manage your CNN account | |
® © 2024 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.
1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
