| | | | That North Korea Meeting Was Missing Something Important… | | | A co-hosted US-Canadian meeting in Vancouver this week to discuss North Korea was missing something important, writes Gary Mason in the Globe and Mail: Countries that can actually do something to pressure Pyongyang.
"Inexplicably, the event didn't include global powers Russia or China, North Korea's most influential neighbors. Instead, countries such as Greece, Belgium, Colombia and Luxembourg were asked to attend – as if any of them have the clout to help resolve the Korean conflict. The absence of China was particularly perplexing," Mason writes.
"This is a superpower the United States has been urging to apply more sanction pressure on North Korea in an effort to get Mr. Kim to abandon his nuclear ambitions. Instead, the summit hosts gave China more reason to maintain the status quo, even to harbor grievances and promulgate a storyline that the gathering was creating divisions in the international community more than it was building alliances." | | The Problem With That New Terrorism Report: NYT | | | A new report by the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice attempts to link "immigrants to terrorism," Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Ron Nixon report for The New York Times. "But the statistics were notable as much for what they did not contain as for what they did." "They included cases…in which foreigners were extradited to the United States to face trial. That means they did not, in fact, enter the country 'through our immigration system,' as the White House fact sheet asserted," Davis and Nixon write. "The statistics also included terrorism-related charges for attacks or other offenses carried out overseas, rather than in the United States. Additionally, they omitted domestic terrorism episodes that have accounted for a substantial number of terrorism-related deaths over the same 15-year period. During Capitol Hill testimony last year, the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, told lawmakers that the bureau had "about 1,000" open domestic terrorism investigations and an equal number into terrorist groups such as the Islamic State. In a bulletin released last May, the F.B.I. reported that white supremacist groups were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016, 'more than any other domestic extremist movement.' "Tuesday's report highlighted cases in which the offender entered through the diversity lottery or because of family ties to legal immigrants, but the White House official could not say what proportion of people in each of those categories had been convicted of terrorism." | | As Americans Look Away, Is This the Next Korean Peninsula? | | Afghanistan has largely faded from domestic US political discussion. But a shift in strategy this winter underscores how the US drawdown in Iraq and Syria is freeing up military assets that can be redeployed in Afghanistan, Max Bearak reports for the Washington Post. And that is making something else increasingly clear: America is in this for the really long haul.
"[F]or the first time in 16 years, the cold has not slowed the war in the air. US and Afghan forces conducted 455 airstrikes in December, an average of 15 a day, compared with just 65 the year before. Even in December 2012, when there were nearly 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan, barely 200 strikes took place," Bearak writes.
"In the coming years, the US military hopes to double the size of Afghanistan's special operations commando force and to triple the size of the Afghan air force. It has already committed to sending roughly 3,000 more American troops, bringing its total to 14,000 to 15,000. Many will embed with beleaguered Afghan ground forces. With more ground troops, more and more aircraft will be required to provide cover."
"In private conversations, foreign officials here say the US military may be in Afghanistan indefinitely, as it is on the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere."
| | Why Americans Should Care About Big Brother in China | | China's increasing use of facial recognition technology is more than just a domestic issue, argues Ashley Deeks for Lawfare. What happens in China is unlikely to stay in China, which has implications for international law – and the United States.
"One challenge relates to US intelligence collection. If the Chinese government can recognize every person on the street and easily track a person's comings and goings, this will make it even harder for foreign intelligence agencies to operate inside the country. Not only will US and other Western intelligence agents be even easier to follow (electronically), but the Chinese government will also be able to identify Chinese nationals who might be working with Western intelligence services—perhaps using machine learning and pattern detection to extract patterns of life. China's facial recognition efforts thus facilitate its counterintelligence capacities," Deeks writes.
"A second challenge is posed by the fact that this technology surely will spread to other (probably authoritarian) countries. China seems committed to becoming a (maybe the) leader in artificial intelligence, and is promoting startups that focus in this area. No doubt China will seek to export AI technology to other states that seek a high level of government and social control over their populations. Sooner or later, the United States therefore will need to decide what it thinks about the use of pervasive video surveillance and, more specifically, whether this kind of surveillance violates basic human rights norms."
| | Hungary's Big Lesson for America? | | America's rising body mass index shaved almost a year off life expectancy at age 40 and "accounted for 186,000 excess deaths" in 2011, according to a new study in scientific journal PNAS. Julia Belluz suggests for Vox that a junk food tax in Hungary could provide a template for addressing obesity in the United States.
"In 2011, Hungary put a 4-cent tax on packaged foods and drinks that contain high levels of sugar and salt in certain product categories, including soft drinks, candy, salty snacks, condiments, and fruit jams," Belluz writes.
"The World Health Organization has looked at the Hungary tax, and found that junk food consumption decreased both because of the price increase and also the educational campaigns around the tax — an effect also seen with soda taxes."
Belluz adds: Researchers believe the Hungary model is the "ideal since it considers the broader nutritional value of foods, not just calories (as Mexico is doing). That has also had an impact on junk food manufacturers in Hungary, causing about 40 percent of them to tweak recipes in ways that make them healthier."
| | Why 2018 Will Be Different for Venezuela | | Worsening food shortages in Venezuela have sparked a "wave of looting by hungry mobs…and pushed some store owners to arm themselves with guns and machetes, stirring fear that the turmoil could spread to the capital Caracas," Reuters reported Wednesday. José R. Cárdenas argues in Foreign Policy that this year could be a tipping point for the country – and finally see the end of Chavismo.
"It is difficult not to become inured to the daily drumbeat of catastrophic news coming out of Venezuela.
"After all, Venezuela under Chavismo — the movement founded by the late strongman Hugo Chávez — has been this century's longest ongoing train wreck. Prognostications about a final reckoning have marked the past five years, at least," Cárdenas argues.
"What makes 2018 different, however, are two new, important variables that haven't existed before: One, a more active US policy under US President Donald Trump; and two, changing political dynamics in Latin America."
"Relying on friendly governments to provide diplomatic cover for his authoritarianism is getting increasingly difficult for [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro, given the region's ongoing political shift towards more pragmatic, market-friendly leadership. With six presidential elections scheduled for 2018 — including Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Paraguay — that political realignment will likely continue." | | | | | | |
