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Category: Politics

China plans new Middle East summit as diplomatic role takes shape

China plans new Middle East summit as diplomatic role takes shape

The Wall Street Journal reports: When Arab leaders met Xi Jinping at a regional summit in Riyadh last December, the Chinese head of state pitched an unprecedented idea: a high-level gathering of Gulf Arab monarchs and Iranian officials in Beijing in 2023, people familiar with the plan said. Days later, Tehran signed on as well. By Friday, China had brokered a deal to restore relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which had gone seven years without ties. The broader summit…

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Half a million Israelis join latest protest against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, organizers say

Half a million Israelis join latest protest against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, organizers say

CNN reports: Half a million Israelis took to the streets in the tenth consecutive week of protests against plans by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the country’s judicial system, organizers claimed. Israel has a population of just over 9 million, so if organizers’ estimates are correct, about 5% of Israelis came out to voice their opposition to the proposed reforms. Nearly half of the protesters – about 240,000 – gathered in Tel Aviv, the organizers said. In Jerusalem,…

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Syria’s catastrophe upon catastrophe

Syria’s catastrophe upon catastrophe

Yassin al-Haj Saleh writes: In the first few days after the earthquake that devastated southern Turkey and northwestern Syria in early February, only vehicles carrying the dead bodies of Syrian refugees crossed the Turkish border into Syria—not aid and equipment to rescue people from the rubble of collapsed buildings, not vitally needed medical supplies, not temporary shelters to protect the frightened and injured from the extreme cold. These were naturally the most crucial days for search-and-rescue efforts, but it was…

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In a sea of data there is a dwindling supply of vital economic data

In a sea of data there is a dwindling supply of vital economic data

The Wall Street Journal reports: In recent months, markets have been laser-focused on every scrap of economic data for evidence on whether inflation is coming down or a recession is approaching. Unfortunately, that data suffers from a growing problem: reduced responses from the people whose activity it seeks to measure. “There’s more data than there has ever been in the history of the world,” said Torsten Slok, the chief economist of Apollo Global Management Inc. “But the Fed has a…

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Does President Biden mean what he says on climate?

Does President Biden mean what he says on climate?

Abigail Dillen writes: In his recent State of the Union address, President Biden acknowledged the “existential threat” posed by climate change, citing an obligation to our children and grandchildren to confront it. Now, his administration is about to test its fidelity to that obligation. It will soon decide whether to approve a major drilling project in Alaska that could pump 280 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, derailing the administration’s ability to meet its own climate commitments. The Biden administration has set the most…

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White House denies reports that Alaska oil drilling project has been approved

White House denies reports that Alaska oil drilling project has been approved

The Guardian reports: The Biden administration has denied reports that it has authorized a key oil drilling project on Alaska’s north slope, a highly contentious project that environmentalists argue would damage a pristine wilderness and gut White House commitments to combat climate crisis. Late Friday, Bloomberg was first to report citing anonymous sources that senior Biden advisers had signed off on the project and formal approval would be made public by the Interior Department next week. The decision to authorize…

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Silicon Valley Bank chief pressed lawmakers to weaken bank risk regulations

Silicon Valley Bank chief pressed lawmakers to weaken bank risk regulations

The Lever reports: Eight years before the second-largest bank failure in American history occurred this week, the bank’s president personally pressed Congress to reduce scrutiny of his financial institution, citing the “low risk profile of our activities and business model,” according to federal records reviewed by The Lever. Three years later — after the bank spent more than half a million dollars on federal lobbying — lawmakers obliged. On Friday, California regulators shut down the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a…

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Saudi deal with Iran worries Israel, shakes up Middle East

Saudi deal with Iran worries Israel, shakes up Middle East

The Associated Press reports: News of the rapprochement between long-time regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran sent shock waves through the Middle East on Saturday and dealt a symbolic blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the threat posed by Tehran a public diplomacy priority and personal crusade. The breakthrough — a culmination of more than a year of negotiations in Baghdad and more recent talks in China — also became ensnared in Israel’s internal politics, reflecting…

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The story behind Germany’s embarrassing intelligence leak

The story behind Germany’s embarrassing intelligence leak

Der Spiegel reports: It was May 13, 2021, Ascension Day, in the Bavarian town of Weilheim, and a local club was having a party. The pandemic had put a bit of damper on the festivities, but 10 guests showed up nonetheless. It was a cozy gathering. The party had been organized by Reno S., a soldier in the German military, the Bundeswehr, and a functionary in the right-wing radical party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Among the invitees was a businessman…

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Big Oil shuts the door on Ukraine’s foremost energy campaigner

Big Oil shuts the door on Ukraine’s foremost energy campaigner

Bill McKibben writes: 🔴BREAKING:Just found out I've been banned from #CERAWeek,the world's most influential energy conference 🛢️.Are they afraid of a strong advocate for ending #War and #FossilFuels? I will not be quiet; we need #ClimateJustice now, and together the energy majors won't stop us! pic.twitter.com/97iHBlUsGN — Svitlana Romanko (@SvitlanaRomanko) March 6, 2023 You may recall that last year, days after the invasion of Ukraine, this newsletter launched the (ultimately successful) campaign to get the Biden administration to invoke the…

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Biden admin paradox: Boost oil — and cut CO2?

Biden admin paradox: Boost oil — and cut CO2?

E&E News reports: The Biden administration’s seemingly contradictory energy and climate strategy was on full display here Wednesday: Try to pivot away from fossil fuels, but promote them for now. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm faced that paradox as she addressed energy leaders and insiders gathered in a hotel ballroom, praising the uptick in U.S. oil and gas exports during Russia’s war in Ukraine while touting a clean energy shift. “Europe is poised to reach the spring without major outages or…

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Russia-linked individuals working to trigger insurrection against Moldovan government, U.S. believes

Russia-linked individuals working to trigger insurrection against Moldovan government, U.S. believes

CNN reports: The US intelligence community believes that individuals with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in Moldova to try to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government, with the ultimate goal of seeing a more pro-Russia administration installed there, White House officials said Friday. The US believes that Russia is working to weaken the Moldovan government which is seeking closer ties with the European Union, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said,…

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Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to restore ties, in talks hosted by China

Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to restore ties, in talks hosted by China

The New York Times reports: After years of open hostility and proxy conflicts across the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties, they announced on Friday, in a significant pivot for the two regional rivals that was facilitated by China. China hosted the talks that led to the breakthrough, highlighting Beijing’s growing role as a global economic and political power, and counterbalance to Washington — particularly in the Middle East, a region that was long…

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Can Georgia Republicans really fire a prosecutor for indicting Trump?

Can Georgia Republicans really fire a prosecutor for indicting Trump?

Norman L. Eisen and Fred Wertheimer write: Under the Georgia Constitution, district attorneys are elected to four-year terms from the electorate in local judicial circuits, and they have immunity from private suits for actions arising from their performance of their duties. Powers of review and oversight of attorneys for allegations of misconduct is, in Georgia, like throughout the country, exclusively reserved for judges. This separation of powers works the same way in many other state constitutional frameworks. For example, when…

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Trump is losing his grip on the grassroots

Trump is losing his grip on the grassroots

Seth Masket writes: Republican grassroots leaders are increasingly losing interest in former President Donald Trump — and eyeing Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential campaign. That’s according to a new survey I conducted with GOP county chairs across the country, the first survey in an ongoing project that will be featured in POLITICO Magazine over the next year. It’s designed to track the shifting state of what’s often called the “invisible primary,” that lengthy, and critical, period between now and…

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Global freedom has declined for the 17th consecutive year

Global freedom has declined for the 17th consecutive year

The 2023 edition of Freedom in the World from Freedom House reports: The global struggle for democracy approached a possible turning point in 2022. The gap between the number of countries that registered overall improvements in political rights and civil liberties and those that registered overall declines was the narrowest it has ever been through 17 consecutive years of deterioration. The most serious setbacks for freedom and democracy were the result of war, coups, and attacks on democratic institutions by…

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