 Russia And The World of Islam: Within And Without
by Robert Service via Analysis Of all the world's great powers, Russia has the longest and most tangled experience of Islam at home and abroad. Muslims have led or taken part in revolts. Chechnya is only the latest such rebellion against Russian rule. Tsars, commissars, and now presidents have had to contend with internal difficulties that are aggravated by external Islamic interference. They have also intervened actively in Muslim countries in the "near abroad" and in the Middle East. This makes for danger in world politics.
Russianism
by Victor Davis Hanson via National Review Trump’s critics need a scapegoat to explain why they haven’t managed to vanquish him.  US debt 'double whammy' unsettles emerging markets James C. Capretta | RealClearPolicy India's central bank governor Urjit Patel has urged the Fed to make a course correction to prevent a further diversion of significant amounts of available global capital away from emerging market economies. James Capretta argues that Patel may have a point, noting that India's rupee has fallen more than 6 percent relative to the dollar since October last year. Additionally, the currencies of Argentina, Brazil, and Turkey have each fallen by more than 20 percent relative to the dollar over the past six months. However, the Trump administration seems unaware and unconcerned about the risks its fiscal policy might create for the global economy. Consequently, Capretta believes the pleas coming in from around the world are not likely to have much effect in Washington. Ignore emerging market economics at your peril Desmond Lachman | InsideSources According to the International Monetary Fund, the emerging market economies now account for over half of the world economy. At the same time, their governments and their corporations are hugely indebted to the global financial system as they have never been before. Desmond Lachman argues that the administration and the Federal Reserve are ignoring, at their peril, the adverse effect of monetary, fiscal, and trade policies on the emerging market economies, including Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and Turkey. Should those economies falter because of US policies, given their combined size, they could materially affect both the US and the world’s economic and financial systems. However, in light of the latest America First trade measures and of Chairman Jerome Powell’s recent pronouncements that the emerging market economies are not a factor in the Fed’s monetary policy decisions, Lachman fears it is unlikely the emerging market economies will get any relief from US economic policy decisions.   
British Politics Is Degraded And Divisive
mentioning Peter M. Robinson via Merion West British politics is in a state of degradation not seen for decades, with both main political parties divided among themselves, engaging in solipsistic infighting while the country burns.  Britain has identified Russians suspected of Skripal nerve attack
(Reuters) British police have identified several Russians who they believe were behind the nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, the Press Association reported on Thursday, citing a source close to the investigation.  CHINA: China Begins Large-Scale Exercise Targeting Taiwan
By Jesse Johnson, The Japan Times: “China reportedly began a six-day, large-scale, live-fire military drill in an area of the East China Sea “similar in size to the island of Taiwan” on Wednesday.” RUSSIA: New Russian Naval Base in Dagestan Assumes More Menacing Dimension By Paul Goble, Eurasia Daily Monitor: “Moscow is relocating the home base of its Caspian Flotilla from Astrakhan to a new port facility in Kaspiysk, Dagestan, an action scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
HENRY OLSEN
Ohio Tea Leaves A crucial special election for a House seat could foretell November results.
Trump, Putin, and Nixonian Geopolitics
By Francis P. Sempa, RealClearDefense: “The media, commentary, and political noise in the aftermath of the Trump-Putin summit missed the most important takeaway from the event: the return of Nixonian geopolitics.”  Speculation About $150 Oil And The (Inevitable) Rise Of Deep Water Companies One effect the American shale boom had in triggering the oil price collapse of 2014 – it drove discipline and technology into the offshore oil domains where breakeven costs now match or are lower than shale. With oil prices and profits rising, the race begins again to over-supply the world.om Mark P. Mills China’s global investment
Derek Scissors | American Enterprise Institute Several large transactions have driven China’s 2018 outbound investment, featuring a $9 billion transport play in Germany. The top five investment targets in 2018 sit on five different continents. China’s overseas spending habits are more diverse than many believe.
It takes two to tango
Oriana Skylar Mastro | Journal of Strategic Studies What factors do autocracies evaluate when responding to perceived threats? Oriana Skylar Mastro posits that autocratic leaders may choose greater exposure to an external threat if it preserves regime legitimacy. The desire to promote a positive image to one’s domestic public creates incentives to publicly downplay a rival’s military progress, which then affects the state’s ability to mobilize resources to respond to the growing threat. 
Trump, Putin agree to try to solve Syria crisis, preserve Israel’s security
(Wall Street Journal) President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to work together on solving the Syrian crisis—with both focusing on the need to guarantee Israel’s security.
Abdel Raheem Said writes: In June, Turkey and the United States announced that they had agreed to implement a roadmap to promote peace in the Syrian city of Manbij, which has been under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces since the 2016 expulsion of ISIS. [...]However, it remains to be seen how this agreement will affect relations between Washington and its Kurdish allies in Syria, who are still fighting ISIS in Deir al-Zour’s countryside. - Washington Institute
What does Assad’s southwestern offensive mean for the future of Syria?
(War On The Rocks) In recent weeks, the Bashar al-Assad regime has launched an offensive, backed by Russian airstrikes, to recapture opposition-held territory in southwestern Syria. The fighting is centered in Daraa Province, near the Jordanian border, and in the nearby province of Quneitra to the west, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.  China's domestic social credit system has garnered controversy and fear, and according to a new report its influence is now reaching well beyond the country's borders. Due to be rolled out nationally in 2020, it's thought China's social credit system will assign a Black Mirror-like "trustworthiness" score to citizens and reward or punish them in return. - Business Insider
  Bolton says the US has a plan to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program within a year
(The Associated Press) President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Sunday the U.S. has a plan that would lead to the dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in a year. |
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