View this email in your browser Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by the GPS team.   November 29, 2018 Why is the US still clinging to the Saudi line? The ongoing war in Yemen and the Saudi-led blockade of that country's ports have led eight million to the brink of starvation. But a UN "resolution calling for a ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian deliveries in Yemen has been stalled by the US and other security council members after a lobbying campaign by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," The Guardian reports.    "President Trump is contemptuous of many US allies…but he is exceedingly—and puzzlingly—solicitous toward Saudi Arabia," writes Max Boot for The Washington Post. Boot argues that the Administration's purported reasons for its unflagging support for Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman are dubious: from oil production to anti-ISIS contributions, these are acts of Saudi self-interest, not proof of loyalty the US. "It is a mystery why the United States, which should be the master in this relationship, acts as the servant of the Saudis." "So what's really behind the administration's tilt toward the crown prince?" Boot asks. "Is it simply the president's susceptibility to dictatorial flattery? His financial interests? His former attorney, Michael Cohen, just admitted that Trump was pursuing a business deal in Russia during the 2016 campaign—is there a similar deal in Saudi Arabia?" "Whatever the case, it's obvious that Trump's infatuation with the crown prince isn't serving US interests. No one is suggesting that the United States jettison the Saudi alliance. But remember who has the upper hand here. As Trump himself said not long ago, the king wouldn't last 'two weeks' without the military protection the United States provides." Meanwhile, the US Senate is moving forward a resolution to withdraw support from Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen, in response to both the ongoing crisis there and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, citing the "out of control" Saudi Crown Prince. (BBC) International law vs. Russia & China on the High Seas Just two days ahead of their planned meeting, President Donald Trump has canceled on Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN reports, citing the ongoing controversy over Russia's seizure of Ukrainian ships in the Black Sea region.     There are global implications that go far beyond what's in store for the Black Sea: "Can a coastal nation own the sea?" James R. Holmes asks in Foreign Policy. "International law says no; authoritarian states such as China and Russia say yes." "[I]mposing control of the strait helps… Putin and his government chip away at the US-led legal order of the seas, much as President Xi Jinping's China has eroded navigational freedoms in the South China Sea. Both Beijing and Moscow covet the right and power to dictate what happens in offshore waters. They have resorted to armed force to buttress their extralegal claims and are counting on competitors to be unable or unwilling to contest those claims effectively." Without access to strategically placed naval bases around the world, "the US Navy and fellow armed services must fall back," putting naval and merchant activities—not to mention the US geopolitical standing—at risk. "Washington must push back hard," argues Holmes.    The US and its allies "must go out of their way…to state that no coastal state may modify the law of the sea by fiat… If and when Moscow overplays its hand, Washington should rally fellow seafaring states to oppose Russian encroachment."And the US must develop "the military tools to restore American mastery of the marginal seas."    "Seashores and coastal waters bristling with armaments are hardly a desirable solution," Holmes concedes. "But it's the best of a bad lot. A feeble response would endanger a system that serves the seagoing world well." "China's Trojan Ports": "It is estimated that state-backed Chinese investors state own at least 10 percent of all equity in ports in Europe," writes John Lee for The American Interest, "[and] a growing investment portfolio of at least 40 ports"across six continents and the Pacific. China's design is to "introduce into Europe commercial processes and standards preferred by China rather than Western liberal democracies… and prevent any intra-EU consensus that might be critical of China's economic policies and authoritarian values." America First works better when Britain's alone "There is a first time for everything," writes Edward Luce for Financial Times, "including a US president trying to unseat a British prime minister." With his repeated dismissals of Theresa May's Brexit plan, "Mr Trump has handed the equivalent of a loaded gun to Mrs May's enemies." "Mr Trump has deeper motives for his unfriendliness towards the leader of America's closest ally…. His hostile impulse comes in two forms. The first is ideological. Mr Trump's British friends all happen to be Mrs May's enemies," in particular, "Nigel Farage, spiritual father of the Leave campaign, and the first foreign politician to meet Mr Trump after he was elected." Farage is also a "person of interest" in the Mueller investigation.  Second: "The EU is too big to push around… Mr Trump's best hope of breaking Europe's opposition to US regulatory standards is to strike a separate deal with Britain. That will only be possible if the UK fully breaks with Europe's rules." News coverage may be on tariffs, but regulatory issues are the subject of negotiations. "Items such as chlorinated chicken, genetically modified foods and lifting restrictions on National Health Service procurement, would be on the agenda of any US-UK trade deal." "Mr Trump knows what he is doing. Only a no-deal Brexit would deliver a Britain desperate enough to agree to that. America First works best when other countries also go it alone." Getting Personal on Climate Change While about 70% of Americans "believe climate change will harm future generations of humans," less than half "think it's harming them personally," writes Adam Rogers for Wired. Yesterday the British medical journal The Lancet released a study of the public health consequences of climate change to address that very problem. The impetus behind the Lancet study is, as Rogers puts it:"Show them how climate change affects them personally, and describe those effects in ways that transcend their politics." The new study grounds its findings in "individual experience," eschewing "[a]bstract numbers and distant-future scenarios" for language like: "Today's babies, by adulthood, will live on a planet without an Arctic. Prevalence of heatstroke and extreme weather will have redefined global labour and production beyond recognition" and "[m]ultiple cities will be uninhabitable and migration patterns will be far beyond those levels already creating pressure worldwide." But even if it raises emotions, will this language actually have a tangible impact? The problem isn't climate denialism on the level of the individual, argues Rogers. "The real problem is an absence of climate policy."    "The clock's ticking." Are You a Superforecaster? GPS has teamed up with Good Judgment Open to allow viewers to weigh in with their predictions on some of the big questions of 2018. Is a US-Iran military clash likely? Will Bashar al-Assad still be Syria's president at the end of the year? Join thousands of GPS viewers currently forecasting on these questions and more by signing up for the Global Judgment Challenge here.  Be the Global Briefing Editor! Hello loyal newsletter readers, Fareed here.  Are you (or is somebody you know) eager? Ambitious? Do you have a passion for foreign policy? Are you a great reader of all things international? Can you write and edit well? If you answered "yes" to all of the above, please apply to be the next editor of this newsletter. Share Tweet Fwd unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences  Copyright © 2018 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