View this email in your browser Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good   April 8, 2019 Trump Escalates With Iran In designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, President Trump has taken a "dramatic escalation with real consequences," writes Bloombeg's Eli Lake. The IRGC is deeply enmeshed in Iran's economy, and the move could further isolate Iran from the global financial system. But the real problem, writes The Washington Post's Jason Rezaian, is that the move is clumsy and provokes conflict. The IRGC does engage in terrorist activity, he writes, but it's also an unprecedented step to designate a foreign country's conventional military force, en masse, as terrorists, instead of targeting its specific activities and bad actors. Iranian men are conscripted into the IRGC, and the move will criminalize hundreds of thousands of Iranian men simply for being Iranian. Most ominously, Rezaian warns that it increases the chances of war with Iran—and is the "first installment" in a Trump administration campaign to prepare the US public for such a threat, with the 2020 election approaching. Did Cultural Ignorance Lead to Brexit? It's an irony of Brexit, writes Mark English at Chatham House, that Britain's linguistic dominance may have precipitated it. So many Europeans speak English that the British haven't needed to learn other languages, historically—and indeed they haven't learned them, to the point where British linguistic incompetence has become a self-deprecating joke. Language may have contributed to practical misunderstandings that helped Brexit along: Anyone reading German newspapers, English notes, wouldn't have entertained the fantasy that German businesses would demand softer treatment of the UK, for instance. But it's a deeper cultural "estrangement" that may have contributed to Brexit, English theorizes—and language has made the rift between Britain and Europe all the wider. What's on the Ballot in Israel As Israelis prepare to vote tomorrow, it's been said that Israel's foreign policies won't change much, regardless of whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retains control or challenger Benny Gantz ousts him. That may no longer be the case: After Netanyahu pledged to annex the West Bank, The Economist sees it as a move to win more right-wing votes—and depending on the results, Netanyahu could find himself more beholden to hardliners after a victory. Annexation would "in all probability" kill the two-state solution, the magazine writes, and International Crisis Group analyst Ofer Zalzberg sees a Gantz-led government as more friendly to Palestinian groups—meaning that while the election hasn't been about foreign policy, potential consequences for Palestinians and the region have been injected at the last minute. Is Internet Regulation Going Too Far? The global debate over Internet regulation is rapidly evolving, but things have gone a step further in Singapore, where a proposed law—allowing government ministers to mandate false content be blocked or removed—is drawing criticism and changing the conversation. Kirsten Han of The Interpreter cites concerns that the law could apply to content posted from outside Singapore; the Financial Times writes that top-down approaches to disinformation, like Singapore's and others, are ripe for abuse—arguing that efforts in Germany and France have already posed problems. The best response to fake news, the FT concludes, isn't heavy-handed regulation but making sure audiences question what they read. Trump's Bad Example for Central Banks Browbeating the Fed may not top the list of President Trump's busted norms, but in openly calling for lower interest rates, Trump may be setting a bad example for central banks around the world, the Lowy Institute's Stephen Grenville writes in the Nikkei Asian Review. Central-bank independence has a mixed record, of late—Indonesia's has acted independently, despite a looming election—but in India, interest-rate cuts look like "sops for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election," Grenville writes. Central banks may not always be entirely independent, but maintaining that "fragile myth" requires some vigilance. Share Tweet Fwd unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences  Copyright © 2019 Cable News Network, Inc. A WarnerMedia Company., All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to CNN newsletters. Our mailing address is: Cable News Network, Inc. A WarnerMedia Company. One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303 Add us to your address book What did you like about today's Global Briefing? What did we miss? Let us know what you think: GlobalBriefing@cnn.com Sign up to get updates on your favorite CNN Original Series, special CNN news coverage and other newsletters.​   Sign Up for Fareed's Global Briefing