ASPI suggests
Posted By
David Lang and Amelia Long
on November 18, 2016 @ 14:30
The US election postmortem continued this week, and no doubt will for many weeks to come. Through front pages and Twitter feeds, readers have been pummelled by a veritable avalanche of analysis, which we won’t seek to reproduce here. Instead, let’s focus on two sideshow stories, compelling and concerning for their own reasons. First on the
fake-news saga embroiling
Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter. Check in
here for a column on echo chambers and misinformation which points the finger, and Facebook’s own research, directly back at Zuckerberg;
here for a good piece on the imperceptible impact algorithms are having on our digital experience and democracy; and
here for some stunning stats showing fake news’ massive traction in the final months of the campaign. Second, Donald Trump’s election comes at
a critical time in the fight against human-induced climate change, and early signs
haven’t been good. Let’s hope the President-elect
reads Thomas Friedman.
The kids, or
the Chinese, might be our final hope.
Not unsurprisingly, populism has received a huge boost in attention from the media this week. To get a leg up on this massive political trend, be sure to check out
this piece from The New Yorker which argues that the angry populist drivers behind Trump’s election and Brexit aren’t a purely western phenomenon:
‘But to see the West as subject to special forces is to accept the nationalists’ ways of thinking. That the same illiberalism is rising in Xi’s China, in Erdoğan’s Turkey, in Sisi’s Egypt, in Duterte’s Philippines makes you suspect that these are not surface currents but deeper forces, not so specific to the West.’
An op-ed from Carnegie unpacks patterns in populism’s history and the risks of misusing the term, while
a short read from The Economist looks at the frightening appeal of Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front party, as France’s own presidential election looms just six months down the track.
After all that, is Planet earth getting a bit much for you? It seems the thought’s been on the mind of Professor Stephen Hawking, who has now
given us a deadline to find and colonize another planet—we’ve got T minus 1,000 years.
Here are three Asia-focused long-reads for when you’ve got some time on your hands. The first is
an outstanding and unnerving profile on Rodrigo Duterte, courtesy of
The New Yorker. The second is this month’s cover story in
The Atlantic, which
catalogues China’s recent ‘great leap backwards’. James Fallows surveys broad regression across a number of areas, including civil society, the military, the media and internet freedom, among others, before considering what it all means for China and for Sino–US relations. And the third,
from The Wall Street Journal, takes an in-depth look at one of the sad side-effects of China’s desire to take a leading role on the world stage: the first combat casualties the major power has suffered in decades.
Another long but worthwhile read is James Verini's
New York Times report from the vantage point of travelling with a Kurdish pesh merga unit in Iraq.
They will have to die now is a fine piece of war reporting.
If you’re looking to add a bit of intel wonkery to your weekend reading, definitely check out
this longer piece from Wired which looks into the life and career of US spook-in-chief, James Clapper. Clapper, who recently tendered his resignation as the director of national intelligence, discusses the ethics behind spying, the Snowden leaks, drones and governing cyberspace.
A special report from The Economist sticks with the spy theme, too—it holds a magnifying glass to the ‘twin shocks’ of terrorism and technology and how they’ve shaken, not stirred, the world’s intelligence community.
Finally, likely lost amongst the personalities, pundits and pollsters reacting to the election of Donald Trump was
this contribution from none other than Yoko Ono. #primalscream
Podcast
Since last September, one-time Obama advisor David Axelrod has churned out a fantastic podcast, the Axe Files, sometimes delivering a few episodes each week. Axelrod is serious, whip-smart and occasionally witty—qualities he employs to great effect as he coaxes each guest into revealing their personal story. Recent guests include Michael Morrell, John Kerry, Maureen Dowd, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Caroline Kennedy and EJ Dionne; his first guest was Bernie Sanders. Hot tip:
subscribe now.
What implications will Trump’s presidency have for the Paris Agreement and the future of combatting climate change? After Australia’s ratification of the global deal last week, now’s as good a time as any to listen to the
latest Global Dispatches podcast (32 mins), which includes a couple of interviews conducted during the Marrakech Climate Change Conference—in the immediate aftermath of the 8 November madness.
Videos
The Asia Society’s NYC operation was quick off the mark to analyse the impact that Donald Trump and his policy program could have on America’s engagement in Asia. Carnegie’s Ashley Tellis, Stimson’s Yun Sun and Harvard’s Nicholas Burns were all on hand to dive right into Washington’s role and relations in Asia, including their pitches that the President-elect preserve and push forward strategic and trade ties to the region. The full video is
here (72 mins) and a write-up is
over at the Asia Society site. (BONUS LINK: The folks over at
Lawfare have some thoughts and an exceedingly-helpful reading list on
Trump and China.)
From being told not to ‘wrinkle their foreheads with politics’ by Thomas Jefferson, to the
handful of firsts for women elected to office last week, the quest for a female occupant of the Oval Office continues.
A great watch from Vox (15 mins) details the long and twisted path of American women’s roles in politics, taking a particularly close look at the 70s, 80s and 90s—when women’s challenge was to teach ‘the country that they could be equally effective and competent leaders as men’.
Event
Canberra: Throughout November, ANU has hosted a great seminar series on political resistance. The fourth and final event in the series will take place on 22 November, analysing the mindset of those who voted ‘Leave’ in the Brexit referendum.
Register here.
David Lang is an analyst at ASPI and managing editor of The Strategist. Amelia Long is a researcher at ASPI and an editor of The Strategist. Image courtesy of Flickr user zeevveez.
Article printed from The Strategist: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au
URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/aspi-suggests-18nov/
[1] fake-news saga: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-09/facebook-and-twitter-contend-with-their-role-in-trump-s-victory
[2] Facebook: https://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/renegade-facebook-employees-form-task-force-to-battle-fake-n?utm_term=.nuZwZbOPrQ#.cuBKL3ykNO
[3] here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/opinion/mark-zuckerberg-is-in-denial.html
[4] here: https://www.fastcodesign.com/3065750/why-we-had-no-idea-trump-would-win
[5] here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/viral-fake-election-news-outperformed-real-news-on-facebook?utm_term=.dbKdD9ZQxq&ex_cid=newsletter#.rjOkjGKn45
[6] a critical time: https://theconversation.com/world-set-for-hottest-year-on-record-world-meteorological-organization-68567
[7] haven’t been good: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-picks-top-climate-skeptic-to-lead-epa-transition/
[8] reads Thomas Friedman: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/opinion/donald-trump-help-heal-the-planets-climate-change-problem.html
[9] The kids: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2016/11/the_kids_lawsuit_over_climate_change_is_our_best_hope_now.html
[10] the Chinese: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/17/china-tells-trump-climate-change-is-not-a-chinese-hoax/
[11] this piece from The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/news/benjamin-wallace-wells/trumps-populism-is-not-just-a-western-phenomenon
[12] An op-ed from Carnegie: http://carnegieeurope.eu/2016/11/17/how-we-can-reframe-debate-about-europe-s-populist-threat-pub-66181
[13] a short read from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21710252-who-can-beat-marine-le-pen-europes-biggest-populist-danger
[14] given us a deadline: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/11/17/stephen-hawking-just-gave-humanity-a-due-date-for-finding-another-planet/?postshare=2941479382306710&tid=ss_tw
[15] an outstanding and unnerving profile: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/21/when-a-populist-demagogue-takes-power?mbid=nl_161115_Daily&CNDID=1522473&spMailingID=9878920&spUserID=MTQyODA1NTYzNzAyS0&spJobID=1041206662&spReportId=MTA0MTIwNjY2MgS2
[16] catalogues China’s recent ‘great leap backwards’: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/12/chinas-great-leap-backward/505817/
[17] from The Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-discovers-the-price-of-global-power-soldiers-returning-in-caskets-1479250248
[18] They will have to die now: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/magazine/they-will-have-to-die-now.html
[19] this longer piece from Wired : https://www.wired.com/2016/11/james-clapper-us-intelligence/
[20] A special report from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21709778-intelligence-services-both-sides-atlantic-have-struggled-come-terms?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/20161110n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/AP/8089763/n
[21] this contribution from none other than Yoko Ono: http://pitchfork.com/news/69748-yoko-ono-has-the-most-amazing-response-to-donald-trumps-election/
[22] subscribe now: http://politics.uchicago.edu/pages/axefiles
[23] latest Global Dispatches podcast: https://player.fm/series/global-dispatches-conversations-on-foreign-policy-and-world-affairs/what-does-president-trump-mean-for-the-paris-climate-agreement
[24] here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCq1U2BhpaM
[25] over at the Asia Society site: http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/trumps-trade-and-security-challenges-china?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=ffa9504b86-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-ffa9504b86-145371421
[26] Trump and China: https://www.lawfareblog.com/trump-china-reading-list-and-unanswered-questions-his-asia-policy
[27] handful of firsts: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/aspi-suggests-11nov/
[28] A great watch from Vox : http://www.vox.com/2016/11/10/13590590/someday-woman-president
[29] Register here: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/cap-events/2016-11-22/brexitvoice-role-hope-resistance