| | | | Why the Khashoggi Tragedy Could Be Ugly for Israel | | The disappearance—and alleged murder—of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a tragedy for his family. But it may claim a geopolitical victim, too, writes Daniel Shapiro for Haaretz: the US-Israeli vision for the Middle East.
"For Israel, this sordid episode raises the prospects that the anchor of the new Middle East realities it has sought to promote—an Israeli-Sunni Arab coalition, under a US umbrella, to check Iran and Sunni jihadists—cannot be counted upon," Shapiro writes.
"Israel, which has a clear interest in keeping Saudi Arabia in the fold of US allies to maximize the strategic alignment on Iran, will need to avoid becoming MBS's lobbyist in Washington. Israel's coordination with its partners in the region is still necessary and desirable. Simple realpolitik requires it. But there is a new risk of reputational damage from a close association with Saudi Arabia." - Why the US (finally) soured on the Saudis. On the surface, the disappearance of one journalist might not seem the most likely thing to prompt a souring of the US-Saudi relationship—after all, it has weathered disasters like the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, notes Max Fisher in The New York Times. The reason could be rooted in psychology.
"Any reporter who has covered a humanitarian disaster should understand what Stalin is once reported to have said to a fellow Soviet official: The death of one person is a tragedy, but the death of one million is a statistic," Fisher writes.
"The effect even has a name: collapse of compassion. It's not that we can't care about a million deaths, psychologists believe. Rather, we fear being overwhelmed and switch off our own emotions in pre-emptive self-defense. For years, Saudi leaders may have unknowingly benefited from this effect."
| | Putin's Pension Headache Could Become the West's Problem, Too | | | A recent law raising Russia's retirement age has sparked widespread anger in the country. While that would normally be a domestic matter, it could have dangerous international implications if Vladimir Putin decides he needs a distraction, writes Leon Aron for The Wall Street Journal.
"Putin's approval ratings—his regime's only claim on legitimacy—have been steadily sliding, from 79% in May, before the reform was announced, to 67% in September. These would be astronomically high numbers in a democracy, but they're bad news in a country where Mr. Putin is effectively the only politician and no critic is ever allowed on television," Aron writes.
"Mr. Putin's headache can quickly become the West's. At the end of 2013, when his ratings were his lowest in 13 years (and only 6 points below today's), he boosted them with the outrageous Winter Olympics—doping en masse—followed by the seizure and annexation of Crimea and the war against Ukraine. Since then, militarized patriotism has become the key to Mr. Putin's popularity. Tens of millions of Russians have been swayed by his narrative: Russia is surrounded by enemies but not only will the president protect the Motherland, he will also restore Russian glory lost in the Soviet collapse." | | | "Britain has suffered a cumulative £4.5 trillion (almost $6 trillion) hit to economic output from 1995 to 2015," writes Nicholas Shaxson, citing new research. The reason? A twist on a story all too familiar to many developing countries.
"Britain suffers from a finance curse, which is similar to the 'resource curse' that afflicts many countries whose economies are dominated by natural resources," Shaxson writes in The Financial Times.
"For one thing, high rewards in one sector, whether the City or oil extraction, drain talent and skills from other economic areas and from government. Entrepreneurial skills wither, and get-rich-quick schemes multiply. Net financial inflows from abroad also push up local price levels and the exchange rate in a 'Dutch disease' that makes it tougher for manufacturing or farming or tourism, say, to compete with overseas goods and services. The global financial crisis was Britain's City-generated version of the oil booms and busts that wreaked such havoc in resource-rich countries such as Angola." | | The Downside of Fighting Corruption? | | Latin America saw a string of scandals this summer. But while the brighter spotlight on corruption is welcome, it's having an unintended consequence, writes Jamie Shenk for The Atlantic Council.
"Changes to the region's legal systems have made the judicial system more transparent, and new corruption fighting tools, like plea deals and specific anti-corruption measures, have allowed prosecutors to go after corrupt officials and uncover cases of bribery like never before. These successes, however, represent a double-edged sword. As each new case helps illuminate the scale of corruption in Latin American politics, the resulting never-ending media coverage of corruption scandals is testing citizens' patience and confidence," Shenk writes.
"The result is what sociologist Silvio Waisbord refers to as 'scandal fatigue.' While the first revelations of corruption may mobilize the public to protest against official wrongdoing, subsequent coverage can actually foster apathy. Constant revelations of wrongdoing can create the perception among the public that misbehavior is the norm rather than an anomaly deserving of special punishment."
| | The World's Most Competitive Economy Is… | | The United States has the most competitive economy in the world, according to the World Economic Forum's latest Global Competitiveness Report, the first time it has topped the ranking since 2008.
The United States "ranks first overall in the world in three of our twelve pillars: business dynamism, labor markets and financial system. It comes second in another two; innovation (behind Germany) and market size (behind China)," WEF's Oliver Cann writes.
Still, the index also notes "there are indications of a weakening social fabric…and worsening security situation (56th)—the United States has a homicide rate five times the advanced economies' average. It is far from the frontier in areas such as checks and balances (40th), judicial independence (15th), and corruption (16th)."
Rounding out the top five most competitive economies are Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. | | | | | | |
