On Our "Virtual Route 66" This Week" : On the Week That Was.....

 

As a new week dawns, we present a snapshot of the week that was in our World with thoughts courtesy Project Syndicate, the Financial Times, politico, MSNBC, Heather Cox Richardson and others: 

Politics & World Affairs Global Warming, Hot Wars, Closed Societies George Soros sees a fight for global domination playing out against a backdrop of existential risk to human civilization.

Economics & Finance The Crisis of India’s Oligarchy Jayati Ghosh argues that the meltdown of the Adani Group exposes the flaws in the Modi government’s development strategy. World Koh-i-Noor shows Britain’s changing relationship with empire’s emblems The announcement that the diamond will not feature at the King’s coronation is telling FEBRUARY 18, 2023 by Priya Atwal Still aloft Inflation will be harder to bring down than markets think Investors are betting on good times. The likelier prospect is turbulence A constitutional crisis in Israel Israel’s proposed legal reforms are a dreadful answer to a real problem They will damage the country at home and abroad Going great guns War and subsidies have turbocharged the green transition They may have knocked as much as ten years off the timeline The world’s toughest in-tray Can a political underdog save Nigeria? Peter Obi thinks he can renew Africa’s biggest economy and democracy Schumpeter AI-wielding tech firms are giving a new shape to modern warfare Ukraine is a testing ground for companies like Anduril and Palantir Politics in drag Why proposed laws targeting drag shows are proliferating in America A new front has opened up in the country’s culture wars Podcasts Could avian flu cause the next human pandemic? Our podcast on science and technology. This week, we explore why the spread of the virus from birds to mammals could put humans at risk. Are we prepared for an influenza pandemic?

BY EUGENE DANIELS, RACHAEL BADE AND RYAN LIZZA

Presented by TikTok

With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

DRIVING THE DAY

A HOMECOMING — “After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President JIMMY CARTER today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the Carter Center announced yesterday afternoon. From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Jimmy Carter receives outpouring of social media love after hospice news” Related fun fact: In 1976, JOE BIDEN was the first U.S. senator to endorse Carter’s campaign. From Jonathan Alter’s “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life”: “[Biden] joked that at age thirty-three, he was still two years shy of the constitutional age requirement to be president. So, since he couldn’t yet run himself, he was backing Jimmy.” (h/t Gabe Fleisher) TRUMP VS. DeSANTIS, PART I — “Trump: I won’t call DeSantis ‘Meatball Ron,’” by Kierra Frazier … PART II — Here’s Trump on Truth Social late last night: “Ron DeSanctimonious wants to cut your Social Security and Medicare, closed up Florida & its beaches, loves RINOS PAUL RYAN, JEB BUSH, and KARL ROVE (disasters ALL!), is backed by Globalist’s Club for NO Growth, Lincoln Pervert Project, & ‘Uninspired’ Koch — And it only gets worse from there. He is a RINO in disguise!” … PART III — Yesterday, the Republican Party of Florida elected a new chair for the 2024 cycle in what “some supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis fear is a ‘giant Florida win for Trump,’” reports Matt Dixon. CHRISTIAN ZIEGLER defeated EVAN POWER in the vote, 126-100, and Power was then selected as vice chair. Meet the new chair: Ziegler “has worked closely with former Trump campaign manager COREY LEWANDOWSKI … Ziegler’s wife, BRIDGET, is the co-founder of the conservative parental rights organization Moms for Liberty and was endorsed by DeSantis in her race for Sarasota County school board.” “Trump’s team did nothing to downplay the proxy war perception after the vote,” Matt reports. “‘Chair races across the country are and should be important for people running for president,’ said a consultant familiar with the Trump campaign’s thinking. The person was granted anonymity to freely discuss the race. ‘To that extent, the more Trump candidate won today. That means the Trump campaign is likely pleased with the outcome.’”

Kristina Karamo was elected the new chair of Michigan’s GOP. | Joey Cappelletti/AP Photo

BUT TRUMP WASN’T MAGA ENOUGH IN MICHIGAN — Yesterday, KRISTINA KARAMO, the controversial election denier who lost the Michigan secretary of state race last year, defeated Trump-endorsed MATT DePERNO, the controversial election denier who lost the AG race, to become the new chair of the state’s GOP. On the one hand: “She becomes the first Black person to lead the Michigan GOP,” report the Detroit News’ Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc. “After her election Saturday night, Karamo told The Detroit News her first priority as party chair is to grow the party with everyday residents and individuals in ‘areas we’ve never penetrated, especially in urban America.’ She said the party would focus on local issues over national politics.” On the other: “Critics of Karamo questioned her ability to unite the party, raise money and her history of spreading unfounded conspiracy theories involving elections, porn and yoga.” The big picture: “In electing Kristina Karamo as party chair, they’ve solidified Democratic control of this state for years to come,” writes Nolan Finley, head of the News’ editorial page and the state’s most influential conservative columnist. LATEST OUT OF MUNICH — Biden’s trip to Europe this week will come at a pivotal moment for the war in Ukraine and for his presidency, Jonathan Lemire and Alex Ward report. The White House is urging Kyiv to ready for an imminent Russian offensive amid concerns about how long Western aid will continue, but Biden will try to use his appearance to rally NATO solidarity behind Ukraine. “Aides have explored attempting to covertly get Biden across the border in Ukraine but a trip has been all but ruled out. … [M]ost aides believe the security risk to Biden or Ukraine would not be worth it.” Biden’s visit marks the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, “a date which many military analysts believe [VLADIMIR] PUTIN, fond of symbolism, may mark with a show of force.” Biden’s trip also comes days after the U.S. declared that Russia had committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine, a message VP KAMALA HARRIS brought to the Munich Security Conference. More from Munich: The general in charge of U.S. European Command went further than other officials in telling members of Congress that F-16s, long-range missiles and drones could give Ukraine a critical boost over Russia, Alex Ward and Paul McLeary report. … Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN met with Chinese counterpart WANG YI — and got no apology for the spy balloon, Blinken told NBC.

SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) on his message to China regarding the war in Ukraine, on ABC’s “This Week”: “If you jump on the Putin train now, you’re dumber than dirt. It would be like buying a ticket on the Titanic after you saw the movie. Don’t do this. The most catastrophic thing that could happen to the U.S.-China relationship, in my opinion, is for China to start to give lethal weapons to Putin in his crime against humanity.” — Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) on the state of democracy in Israel, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “I am very worried about what [PM BENJAMIN] NETANYAHU is doing and some of his allies in government and what may happen to the Palestinian people. … The United States gives billions of dollars in aid to Israel. And I think we’ve got to put some strings attached to that and say you cannot run a racist government. You cannot turn your back on a two-state solution. You cannot demean the Palestinian people there. You just can’t do it and then come to America and ask for money.” — LARRY HOGAN on whether his potential 2024 presidential run would inadvertently help Trump, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “That’d be a pretty good reason to consider not running.” — Rep. MICHAEL McCAUL (R-Texas) on the need for Biden to increase military support to Ukraine, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “The [Army Tactical Missile System] … have been on the table for months, and they haven’t sent those in. And the same delivery applies to ATACMS as it does to the HIMARS. But the fact is, the longer they wait, the longer this conflict will prevail. … I [agree with] MIKE TURNER that we need to throw everything we can into this fight, so that they can win.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces. Henry Louis Gates Jr. in the NYT: “Who’s Afraid of Black History?” Samantha Power in Foreign Affairs: “The Right Way to Counter Autocracy” Jacob Stern in The Atlantic: “Bird Flu Leaves the World With an Existential Choice” Peggy Noonan in the WSJ: “America’s Longing for Authenticity” Michael Koplow of Israel Policy Forum: “It’s Time for the U.S. to Put Up or Shut Up” Megan Stack in the NYT: “When Parents Hear That Their Child ‘Is Not Normal and Should Not Exist’” George Will in WaPo: “The Supreme Court finally gets a shot at Biden’s student-loan lawlessness” WSJ Editorial Board: “Mike Pence for the Constitution — Again” John McCormack in National Review: “Cheer Up, Pro-Lifers” TRUE HEROES OF HUMANITY Heroes are those who save lives, not take them. Production: The Palestine Chronicle. Words: Ramzy Baroud. Voice: Ramzy Baroud. Say Palestine /ˈpæləsˌtaɪn/, Not Palesteen /ˈpæləsˌtiːn/ Palesteen /ˈpæləsˌtiːn/ is a less common pronunciation of the word Palestine /ˈpæləsˌtaɪn/ But why is it far more common, to refer to American towns called Palestine, with the less common French pronunciation? FEATURED ARTICLES Israel is struggling to maintain a coherent position on Russia and Ukraine Netanyahu's return as prime minister in December was meant to represent a shift back to neutrality. However, the right-wing Israeli leader pledged he would be "studying this question [of supplying Ukraine with the Iron Dome missile defence system] according to our national interest." MEMO Arabs Reaffirm Support For Palestinians, Rejection of the Occupation Every society must have a system of political legitimacy, however nominal, for it to maintain relative stability. It means that the collective Arab view in support of Palestinians and rejection of normalization without an end to Israeli occupation would have to be taken seriously. WARMA   World Climate graphic of the week: 2023 starts with temperatures above average Unusual warm February in US, Europe’s warmest January on record and Antarctic sea ice hits a record low for the month FEBRUARY 18, 2023 by Camilla Hodgson and Steven Bernard Politics India’s creeping clampdown on free expression The raids on the BBC are part of a troubling global picture for media rights FEBRUARY 19, 2023 by The editorial board  February 18, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON FEB 19 Republican leaders are recognizing that the sight of Republican lawmakers heckling the president of the United States didn’t do their party any favors. It not only called attention to their behavior, it prompted many news outlets to fact-check President Biden’s claim that Republicans had called for cuts to Social Security and Medicare or even called to get rid of them. Those outlets noted that while Republicans have repeatedly said they have no intention of cutting those programs, what Biden said was true: Republican leaders have repeatedly suggested such cuts, or even the elimination of those programs, in speeches, news interviews, and written proposals. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Alexander Bolton of The Hill that Republicans should stick to “reasonable and enduring policy” proposals. “I think we’re missing an opportunity to differentiate,” he said. “Focus on policy. If you get that done, it will age well.” But therein lies the Republican Party’s problem. What ARE its reasonable and enduring policies? One of the reasons Biden keeps pressuring the party to release its budget is that it’s not at all clear what the party stands for. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to issue any plans before the 2022 midterm election, and in 2020, for the first time in its history, the party refused to write a party platform. The Republican National Committee simply resolved that if its party platform committee had met, it “would have undoubtedly unanimously agreed to reassert the Party's strong support for President Donald Trump and his Administration.” So, it resolved that “the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President's America-first agenda.” Cutting Social Security is a centerpiece of the ideology the party adopted in the 1980s: that the government in place since 1933 was stunting the economy and should be privatized as much as possible. In place of using the federal government to regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, protect civil rights, and promote infrastructure, Reagan Republicans promised that cutting taxes and regulation would free up capital, which investors would then plow into new businesses, creating new jobs and moving everybody upward. Americans could have low taxes and services both, they promised, for “supply-side economics” would create such economic growth that lower tax rates would still produce high enough revenues to keep the debt low and maintain services. But constructing an economy that favored the “supply side” rather than the “demand side”—those ordinary Americans who would spend more money in their daily lives—did not, in fact, produce great economic growth or produce tax revenues high enough to keep paying expenses. In January 1981, President Ronald Reagan called the federal deficit, then almost $74 billion, “out of control.” Within two years, he had increased it to $208 billion. The debt, too, nearly tripled during Reagan’s term, from $930 billion to $2.6 trillion. The Republican solution was to cut taxes and slash the government even further. As early as his 1978 congressional race, George W. Bush called for fixing Social Security’s finances by permitting people to invest their payroll tax themselves. In his second term as president in 2005, he called for it again. When Republican senator Rick Scott of Florida proposed an 11-point (which he later changed to a 12 points) “Plan to Rescue America” last year, vowing to “sunset” all laws automatically after five years, the idea reflected that Republican vision. It permitted the cutting of Social Security without attaching those cuts to any one person or party. But American voters like Social Security and Medicare and, just as they refused Bush’s attempt to privatize Social Security, recoiled from Scott’s plan. Yesterday, under pressure from voters and from other Republicans who recognized the political damage being done, Scott wrote an op-ed saying his plan was “obviously not intended to include entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security—programs that hard-working people have paid into their entire lives—or the funds dedicated to our national security.” (The online version of the plan remains unchanged as of Saturday morning.) Scott attacked Biden for suggesting otherwise, but he also attacked Mitch McConnell, who also condemned Scott’s plan, accusing them of engaging in “shallow gotcha politics, which is what Washington does.” He also accused “Washington politicians” for “lying to you every chance they get.” Scott’s venom illustrated the growing rift in the Republican Party. Since the 1990s, Republicans have had an ideological problem: voters don’t actually like their economic vision, which has cut services and neglected infrastructure even as it has dramatically moved wealth upward. So to keep voters behind them, Republicans hammered on social and cultural issues, portraying those who liked the active government as godless socialists who were catering to minorities and women. “There is a religious war going on in this country,” Republican Pat Buchanan told the Republican National Convention in 1992. “It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as was the Cold War itself, for this war is for the soul of America.” A generation later, that culture war has joined with the economic vision of the older party to create a new ideology. More than half of Republicans now reject the idea of a democracy based in the rule of law and instead support Christian nationalism, insisting that the United States is a Christian nation and that our society and our laws should be based in evangelical Christian values. Forty percent of the strongest adherents of Christian nationalism think “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” while 22% of sympathizers agree with that position. Scott released his 11-point plan because, he said, “Americans deserve to know what we will do when given the chance,” and his plan reflected the new Republicans. Sunsetting laws and tax cuts were only part of the plan. He promised to cut government jobs by 25% over the next five years, “sell off all non-essential government assets, buildings and land, and use the proceeds to pay down our national debt,” get rid of all federal programs that local governments can take over, cut taxes, “grow America’s economy,” and “stop Socialism.” But it also reflected the turn toward Christian nationalism, centering Christianity and “Judeo-Christian values” by investing in religious schools, adoption agencies, and social services and calling for an end to abortion, gender-affirming care, and diversity training. It explicitly puts religion above the law, saying “Americans will not be required to go against their core values and beliefs in order to conform to culture or government.” The document warned that “[a]n infestation of old, corrupt Washington insiders and immature radical socialists is tearing America apart. Their bizarre policies are intentionally destroying our values, our culture, and the beliefs that hold us together as a nation.” “Is this the beginning of the end of America?” it asks. “Only if we allow it to be.” That new worldview overlaps with the extremist wing that is trying to take over the Republican Party. It was at the heart of the far-right challenge to House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). It informs Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s abandonment of small-government Republicanism in favor of using the power of the state government to enforce a “Christian” vision, including on businesses. It was also behind Scott’s challenge to McConnell for the position of Senate majority leader. McConnell kept his position and then removed Scott and another extremist who backed Scott, Mike Lee (R-UT), from the Senate Commerce Committee. Scott, anyway, is apparently not backing down. The struggle between those two factions is showing up at the Munich Security Conference on global security this week. In the U.S. the extremists have called for cutting our support for the Ukrainians as they try to fight off Russia’s 2022 invasion. Their hatred of the liberal democracy that demands equality for all people has put those extremists on the side of authoritarians like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, both of whom have made attacking LGBTQ people a key feature of their championing of their “traditional values,” a cause the extremists like. But the United States has traditionally backed democracies against autocracies. Today in Munich, Vice President Kamala Harris talked of the war crimes and atrocities the Russians have committed in Ukraine and said: “We have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt: These are crimes against humanity.” Mitch McConnell, who does not usually travel to foreign meetings, went to Munich this year along with more than 50 other lawmakers, the largest delegation the U.S. has ever sent, designed to demonstrate U.S. commitment to global affairs. At a private breakfast on Friday, McConnell promised that the Republicans would not abandon Ukraine. One person there told Jack Detsch and Robbie Gramer of Foreign Policy, “To me, the subtext was clear: We’re not the crazies like the small handful of House Republicans you see in the headlines so often.” — Notes: Rick Scott, “Inconvenient Truths for Joe Biden, Democrats, and the Washington establishment,” Washington Examiner, February 17, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/17/us/politics/rick-scott-social-security.html https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/resolution-regarding-the-republican-party-platform https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3860300-republicans-worry-as-self-inflicted-wounds-pile-up/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26402-2004Jun8.html https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-the-2005-social-security-initiative-failed-and-what-it-means-for-the-future/ https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/buchanan-culture-war-speech-speech-text/ https://www.npr.org/2023/02/14/1156642544/more-than-half-of-republicans-support-christian-nationalism-according-to-a-new-s https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/ https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/18/politics/kamala-harris-russia-crimes-humanity-ukraine/index.html Jack Detsch and Robbie Gramer, “Situation Report: Congress Descends on Munich to Support Ukraine”, Foreign Policy, February 18, 2023.