Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Jason Miks.

August 1, 2018

A Germany Comparison That Isn't Hyperbole

There has been no shortage of comparisons between interwar Germany and recent developments in the United States. But there's one overlooked similarity that makes a lot of sense, writes Harold James for Project Syndicate: America's muscle-flexing on trade.

"The lesson of the Great Depression is clear: trade wars intended to strengthen national security actually undermine it. This is especially true in the case of defensive alliances, because trade barriers force allies to forge closer ties with the very revisionist power that was supposed to be contained," James writes.

"Precisely this scenario is playing out today. Trump's protectionist rhetoric is a response to the dramatic rise of China. But by launching a tariff war that also affects the European Union and Canada, Trump is making China look like a more attractive partner than the US...Like Germany's neighbors in the 1930s, Europe and Canada may feel as though they have no other choice than to seek out a more open—or at least more stable—partner."

What Kim Learned in Singapore

A report this week suggesting that North Korea could be building new missiles is a reminder that Kim Jong Un came out on top of the Singapore summit, Todd Rosenblum writes for the Atlantic Council. Kim clearly expects minimal consequences if he tries to bolster his arsenal. The Trump administration needs to disabuse him of that idea.

"North Korea is masterful at gaining concessions over and over again for the same thing, so we can expect lengthy rounds of talks leading to some reward for (hopefully) getting back to where we were before Singapore," Rosenblaum writes.

"So, how should the United States respond to these latest reports?"

"The answer at the strategic level is to demonstrate willingness to walk away from talks…Ignoring the continued construction of missiles will only reinforce to the North that it has a significant upper hand vis-à-vis the United States and that Washington is more focused on superficial visuals than substantive progress."

Why Facebook Should Give Up on China

With more than twice as many Internet users as the United States, China's market looks like the holy grail of opportunity for foreign tech firms, Isaac Stone Fish writes for The Washington Post. Facebook would still be better off without it.

"Let's say Beijing allowed Facebook to operate in China. It would face one of the world's toughest Internet markets, with several battle-ready competitors…Beijing far prefers WeChat because it has access to every message sent on the platform," Fish writes. Meanwhile, "Internet regulators and local government officials would stymie and extort Facebook every chance they could."

"The world now has two dominant Internet models. There is the American model, which although it sometimes facilitates hate speech, monopolies and anarchy, prioritizes the free exchange of ideas. And there is Beijing's model, which prioritizes national sovereignty, order and blandness. Facebook can stay an American company, or become a Chinese one."

America Should Go (a Little) Easier on Zimbabwe

The United States has taken a tough line with Zimbabwe over its general election. But while this week's poll might not qualify as fair, Washington risks undercutting reform in the post-Robert Mugabe era, argues David Pilling in the Financial Times.

"The Commonwealth and the African Union will take a softer line than US observers, who have been forthright in pointing out electoral irregularities. Still, the final judgment will have to be whether voter manipulation was so egregious that it is impossible to do business with [Emmerson] Mnangagwa's government," Pilling writes.

"In a world where elections from Pakistan to the US are hardly free from the shadow of controversy, and one in which Donald Trump's Washington is cozying-up to Kim Jong Un's North Korea, continuing to punish Zimbabwe and its people for a flawed process would be excessive. Even the isolation policy under Mr Mugabe was hardly an untrammeled success. Continuation would mean keeping Zimbabwe in the diplomatic freezer for five more years."

Don't Follow Macron's Lead on Russia

The Kremlin is trying to rewrite recent Syrian history in an effort to paint itself as a "potential force for good rather than as the murderous accomplice of Assad," Natalie Nougayrède writes for The Guardian. France seems like it is willing to play along—the rest of the West shouldn't.

"Now that the last remnants of the 2011 anti-Assad popular uprising are being methodically crushed, [Putin] is intent on recruiting Western support for so-called reconciliation plans, as well as Western contributions to Syria's 'reconstruction,' all of which would take place under Russia's control.

"It's one thing for Europeans to be realistic about a dire imbalance of forces and to try to build a strategy aimed at preventing the worse-case scenario of yet more repression and radicalization in Syria, still a potential breeding ground for terrorism. But it is very different to pretend Russia can be an ally in humanitarian matters…"

The Real Danger of Trump's Attacks on the Media

President Trump's attacks on the media have been described as divisive and "increasingly dangerous" by the publisher of The New York Times. He may have been talking about the United States, but the more immediate danger could be overseas, The Toronto Star argues in an editorial.

"[T]he most immediate danger seems to be abroad, where journalists routinely put their lives on the line to report on regimes with little tradition of democracy or a free press.

"Trump's attacks on the press gives even more license to those regimes to crack down on media, whose scrutiny they simply don't like. It threatens burgeoning free speech rights and undermines faith in the media's efforts to expose those governments' shortcomings.

"Indeed, a report published in the Index on Censorship earlier this year found more than 20 political leaders worldwide, from both authoritarian and democratic regimes, had used the term 'fake news' to discredit journalism they did not like."

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