Dec 16 2018
Amid serious challenges to America’s rule of law, and with partisanship overriding the national interest, this was a week when the US Senate found its voice and began to push back. In other peace-and-stability news, UK Prime Minister Theresa May lived to govern another day, Chinese hackers triumphed in their intelligence-gathering efforts, and the US border reports its first migrant child fatality.
As The World Turns
Senators strike back
In a dramatic move, 44 former US Senators penned an open letter urging sitting Senators to stand up in defense of democracy and its institutions. They see what many of us do – an erosion of the Senate’s constitutional duty to act as a check against the executive branch’s worst instincts. This is happening at a time when the executive branch will face more scrutiny from the House of Representatives, and when global powers like China and Russia continue to threaten America’s place in the world.
While critics point to a Senate that’s likely too polarized to rise to the occasion, some early moves look promising, like the vote to end aid for Saudi Arabia’s fight in Yemen, a war that has pushed millions of Yemenis to the brink of starvation. The vote also admonished the current administration’s reluctance to acknowledge the Saudi government’s involvement in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Click to read my reflections on Khashoggi’s work.)
France kills the man it hunted, China gets the data it wanted
I hope the world doesn’t ever become numb to urban terrorism, but after wall-to-wall coverage of the attacks in Brussels’ airport, Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, Ariana Grande’s Manchester concert, or Paris’ Bataclan theatre, we simply may not want to know or hear any more. And so, while this week’s terror attack in Strasbourg, France, didn’t flood our news stream, I did note that police found and killed the terror suspect only 2 days after his attacks at a famed Christmas market. We may not (yet) be able to de-radicalize such terrorists, or to prevent their attacks 100% of the time, but law enforcement is upping its game.
The Marriott hotel chain experienced a cyberattack that collected personal details of as many as 500 million guests. US intelligence experts suspect it’s part of a Chinese intelligence-gathering effort to build a data lake that it can mine for its counter-intelligence and other spying operations against the United States.
And while we citizens might hope for more to be done to protect our personal data, this is the new battlefield between global powers, and no country would want to sanction or be sanctioned in this espionage. As this New York Times piece notes, “Even the Office of Personnel Management hacking was viewed by American intelligence officials with some admiration. ‘If we had the opportunity to do the same thing, we’d probably do it,’ James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence, told Congress afterward.”
Om Is Where The Heart Is
Doggedness wins out
UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May won a no-confidence vote within her Conservative Party this week, and will thus continue her Brexit negotiations with the European Union. This article posits that “profound weakness—yet surprising stability—has come to define her premiership,” in large part because of her doggedness, and because nobody wants her job right now. With a parliament, and a citizenry, that’s adamant about what it doesn’t want, but can’t agree on what it does want in the Brexit deal, PM May faces an uphill battle in getting to yes for the greater good.
PM May’s struggles are vexing, but not surprising. In reading and reviewing The End of Power by Moises Naim, I learned how power was morphing in the business, political and geopolitical arenas. More diverse segments of people want (and can have) a bigger say, and leaders struggle to reconcile the deluge of competing interests.
The US border’s first reported fatality
The debate over illegal immigration at America’s Southern border took a deadly turn this week, when a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died from dehydration and shock, hours after being taken into Border Patrol custody.
It seems to need the helplessness and vulnerability of a child, for people to pay attention again, doesn’t it? Authorities will investigate, not only because it’s protocol, but because somewhere in the American psyche, in the American soul, there’s still a voice that says, “not the children. For heaven’s sake, please let’s spare the children from our insanity.”
News and Views
In the next issue:
I’m taking two weeks off from work, so Peace Matters will rest too.
There will probably be lots of peace-related news that breaks while I step away…so I’ll summarize those stories in my first issue in 2019.
Have a wonderful holiday with your loved ones. ‘Tis a time for spreading peace on earth and goodwill to men, and I hope your heart swells with the peace and joy of the season.
Till then…
Live well and lead large – Maya
(featured image of US Capitol from washington.org.)