The World Was Watching
October 1, 2020
The Good News
- Let Iron Man take you to the ICU: Jet suit paramedic tested in the Lake District ‘could save lives’ (BBC)
- This Plastic-Eating Enzyme Is a Recycling Breakthrough (Vice). A breakdown breakthrough.
“Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” — Thomas Jefferson
“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” ― Desmond Tutu
The World Was Watching
(Mario Tama via Getty Images)
Regardless of your politics, Tuesday night’s presidential debate was a tough watch. There wasn’t much in the way of meaningful policy discussion, as most of the hour and a half was spent watching two old men hurl insults as moderator Chris Wallace pleaded with the president to stop interrupting his opponent. You’ve likely formed your own opinion on who came out on top — but today’s Pnut is focused on how Tuesday’s spectacle was interpreted by our allies and rivals abroad.
Across the European Union, the televised shouting match has heightened anxieties regarding the state of American democracy. “The debate was really no debate at all, but two people pursuing their strategies. Of course, the ultimate arbiter will be the American voter,” said Ulrich Speck, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. “But there is a consensus in Europe that this is getting out of hand, and this debate is an indicator of the bad shape of the American democracy.”
Western European nations — who have come to expect global leadership from the United States — found the tone of discourse particularly unsettling. “My own response is that it makes me despondent about America. The country we have looked to for leadership has descended into an ugly brawl,” said John Sawyers, a former British diplomat and head of a risk analysis firm.
Reactions from the international community offer a refreshingly blunt analysis of our internalized division: “Those two men are from the same generation, from the same world. And yet they are the two faces of a deeply polarized society,” said Thomas Gomart, the director of the French Institute of International Relations. “The United States has retreated from the global stage and withdrawn into itself.”
For other world powers like China —who stand to gain from faltering US leadership — the debate was just another chance to plant seeds of doubt in the international community. Hu Xijin, the editor of a Communist Party propaganda tabloid, said that Biden and Trump “obviously did not show an exemplary role to American people on how to engage in debates. Such a chaos at the top of U.S. politics reflects division, anxiety of U.S. society and the accelerating loss of advantages of the U.S. political system.”
Even nominal Asian democracies like Singapore were quick to criticize Tuesday’s showing: “Debate? What debate?” asked Bilahari Kausikan, a former Singaporean diplomat. “The event was not intended to change minds or elucidate issues. It was only a form of entertainment which did credit to neither the incumbent nor the challenger. It encapsulates all that has gone wrong with American politics.” (NYT)
Is The Next Syria In South Caucasus?
- Fighting broke out on Sunday between former Soviet republics Armenia and Azerbaijan over a disputed mountain region that serves as an entrance point for pipelines for oil and gas to the world markets. The conflict — which may seem distant and insignificant — could result in an all-out war between the Caucasus states and a proxy war between Turkey and Russia.
- The territorial dispute dates back to the fall of the Soviet Union, when the Nagorno-Karabakh region became internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan despite a population of mostly ethnic Armenians. The region declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991, prompting a civil war. Armenia has maintained de facto control over the region ever since, but the specter of war has never left the Caucasus region.
- Since violence broke out over the weekend — killing over 100 militants — Armenia’s president has issued a chilling call to the international community. “Imagine Caucasus becoming another Syria?” President Armen Sarkissian cautioned.“The international community has to realize that if you don’t interfere now, then Caucasus will become another huge problem.”
- Because of the influential role both Armenia and Azerbaijan play in the international oil trade, both Russia and Turkey have come to defend opposite sides of the border. Russia has signed a military treaty with Armenia, which would compel Vladimir Putin to assist in war efforts if violence persists. Russia has long played the role of the negotiator in the region, however, and has made continuous calls for peace.
- Turkey, on the other hand, has offered their full support to Azerbaijan and is rumored to have shot down an Armenian warplane. This adds to the string of foreign conflicts precipitated by Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has also made no efforts to facilitate a ceasefire in the warring region. (CNBC)
Collapse of the Colonizer
- After a summer of racial reckoning in the United States, it appears campaigns to forcefully rid public spaces of symbols of white supremacy have spread across the globe. In Latin America, protestors have begun to destroy monuments of European colonizers in toppings that mirror the dramatic removal of Confederate statues from American cities.
- A statue of Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Balcázar in Colombia was the latest target in the series of removals. Balcazar led a military campaign that killed and enslaved thousands of Misak Indigenous people on his way to found the Colombian cities of Popayán and Cali. On September 16th Misak members staged a decoy protest in the city center of Popayán, while a smaller group of protesters circled around to the outskirts of the city and pulled down the conquistador’s statue.
- “The time has come to get rid of these statues all across the Americas,” said Misak leader Jesus Maria Aranda, noting that the de Belalcázar statue was built atop a sacred Misak religious site. “The conquistadors did so much damage to Indigenous peoples.”
- The surprise takedown of the statue was met with condemnation from the state. Colombian culture minister Carmen Vásquez decried the “violent acts” as blasphemous in the face of the nation’s cultural patrimony. (NPR)
Additional World News
- The Great Gall of China: As repression mounts, China under Xi Jinping feels increasingly like North Korea (WaPo, $)
- Energy security and economic fears drive China’s return to coal (Reuters)
- Trump Has Sold Off America’s Credibility for His Personal Gain (NYT, $)
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro rejects Biden’s offer of $20 billion to protect the Amazon (CNN). Who will deliver on the Amazon?
- As Kim wooed Trump with ‘love letters,’ he kept building his nuclear capability, intelligence shows (WaPo, $)
- Pope for the best, expect the worst: Vatican official accuses Trump administration of exploiting pope (BBC)
- Greenland’s ice sheet is melting as fast as at any time in the last 12,000 years, study shows (CNN)
- Pakistan tries ambitious climate action (NPR)
- A sick situation: W.H.O. Workers Are Accused of Sex Abuse During Ebola Response in Congo (NYT, $)
- Nigeria turns 60: Can Africa’s most populous nation remain united? (BBC)
COVID-19
- Medical historian compares today’s outbreak to the 1918 flu pandemic (CNBC)
- Studies Begin to Untangle Obesity’s Role in Covid-19 (NYT, $)
- Covid-19 tests that give results in minutes to be rolled out across world (Guardian)
- Vilified Early Over Lax Virus Strategy, Sweden Seems to Have Scourge Controlled (NYT, $)
- Taiwan’s Digital Minister Knows How to Crush Covid-19: Trust (Wired)
The New Letter of the Law
(Mario Tama via Getty Images)
- When the USPS announced controversial cost-cutting procedures this summer, a quiet resistance began to build amongst the agency’s rank-and-file workers. In New York, plans to remove mail-sorting machines were drawn out until supervisors gave up on the endeavor. A group of letter carriers in Michigan intentionally defied orders and started their routes late in order to properly sift through election mail. In Ohio, clerks took extra time out of their day to make sure prescriptions were delivered on time.
- A Philadelphia postal staffer gave a blunt assessment of the workforce’s culture shift: “I can’t see any postal worker not bending those rules.” Those rules include a prohibition on late and extra trips, a move that Postmaster Louis DeJoy claims was made in order to save the agency from financial ruin. When postal workers are unable to receive overtime pay for late trips, they often are forced to leave mail behind.
- “People are burned out,” said one New Jersey letter carrier. “I haven’t been this burned out in a long time, and I’ve been doing this a long time. We’ve never had a summer like this. I tell my customers, ‘Call your congressman, because I’m being told not to deliver your mail.’ ”
- Dejoy was implemented earlier this summer with the explicit purpose of navigating the USPS out of dire financial straits. With more than $160.9 billion in debt, his restructuring of the mail service mirrors the handling of a for-profit business, not an essential government service tasked with delivering election results. Despite their silent protests, workers fear they are no match for the systemic change that is on the way.
- “Now we’re looking at this [general election] and going, ‘Oh, jeez, this is not going to be good,’” said the Philadelphia worker, who chose to remain anonymous. “The stakes definitely feel higher, especially given what this election really means.” (WaPo)
Additional US News
- There’s a Reason the Election of 1800 Still Sings Out to Us (NYT, $)
- Double-crossed: Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters (Atlantic, $)
- Proud Boys celebrate Trump’s ‘stand by’ remark about them at the debate. (NYT, $)
- Presidential debate 2020: Joe Biden’s most surprising answer (Vox)
- Commission Considers Changes to Format After Raucous First Debate (WSJ, $). We can’t do that two more times, can we?
- Highlights From Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court Questionnaire (NPR)
- Stimulus stalls, yet again. House delays vote on Covid relief package in bid for last-minute deal (Politico)
- U.S. stocks end third quarter on a high note, despite rocky September (WaPo, $)
Killing 463 Wolves, By Accident
- In an effort to rescue local caribou populations, wildlife officials in British Columbia came to a morbid conclusion: they must kill 463 unsuspecting wolves. As mountain caribou numbers dipped to startlingly low numbers, it appeared logical to eliminate their primary natural predator in order to save the species from regional extinction.
- Government ecologists often run models to inform these god-playing decisions, given the gravity of killing off a sizable population of innocent animals. However, when the culling of the wolf population did little to affect the density of deep-snow caribou, scientists began to analyze the research that went into such a drastic policy decision.
- As it turns out, the 2019 report which prompted British Columbia’s wolf wipeout was rife with errors that relied on basic logic rather than statistical evidence that caribou would benefit from the elimination of their main predator. With a flawed piece of research at the centerpiece of this Canadian policy, it appears hundreds of wolves died in vain.
- Compounding the magnitude of this error are the alternative strategies that were left on the table in lieu of wolf-culling. As wildlife reserves dwindle in size across North America, caribou populations are desperate for protected areas, where they can roam without the perils of human encroachment. While the death of 463 wolves represents an avoidable calamity, it’s caribous who will likely suffer the most from this ecological error. (The Atlantic)
Additional Reads
- You’re due for a dump: Your Photos Are Irreplaceable. Get Them Off Your Phone (Wired)
- The crypto millionaire that acquired BitTorrent—and waded into the trade war (The Verge)
- HOTorNOT: The forgotten website that shaped the internet (Mashable)
- Epic’s decision to bypass Apple’s App Store policies were dishonest, says US judge & Google Demands Its 30% Cut From App Developers in Play Store (The Verge, NYT, $)
- Why Cardio and Strength Training Are Both Important (Lifehacker)
- Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely to Work,’ Studies Suggest (NYT, $). When in doubt, mimic the sun.
- Intermittent fasting doesn’t help you lose weight, UCSF study suggests & A Potential Downside of Intermittent Fasting (CNBC, NYT, $)
- How Does Science Really Work? (New Yorker)
- Water on Mars: discovery of three buried lakes intrigues scientists (Nature)
- Ousted by the mouse: Disney Lays Off a Quarter of U.S. Theme Park Workers (NYT, $)