Brexit’s a Comin’, Trump v. Clean Air, China Embraces…Religion?

At least six cubs of the critically endangered Indochinese tiger have been found in a national park in eastern Thailand, conservationists say. Until this discovery, only one other breeding population of Indochinese tigers was known to exist.

President of a Superpower Embraces Dark (Coal) Power: Yesterday President Trump said “Good-Bye to All That”–the “that” being Obama’s climate change legacy, including the Clean Power Plan. Trump’s executive order rescinded Obama’s policy of curbing emissions and placing a hold on the sale of federal lands for coal mining. One major goal of the executive order is to bring back coal mining jobs, but critics counter that it will do little to significantly help coal miners. The coal industry faces significant economic headwinds, such as low-cost energy alternatives like natural gas, and solar and wind farms that are becoming more and more viable. Trump’s order also jeopardizes the US’ ability to make deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and will all but ensure that the US will not be able to fulfill Obama’s 2016 Paris Agreement pledge to lower emissions by at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

Scotland To Go It Alone? and the UK Says Farewell to the EU: The local parliament of Scotland, the Holyrood, gave Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon the authority to start negotiations with the UK government on a potential second referendum regarding the country’s independence. The motion passed with a broad 10-vote majority, with the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) holding 63 out of 129 seats in the chamber. Sturgeon is expected to formally file a request with London for a referendum today, the same day the UK’s permanent representative to the EU will deliver a letter to Brussels stating that the Brits are triggering Article 50 and leaving the European Union. British Prime Minister Theresa May signed the letter last night.

Sturgeon, who has always favored Scottish independence, cited the UK’s decision to leave the European Union as the key reason for the second vote. However, the prospect of another referendum is doubtful, with polls showing little more support for independence than in 2014 when the last referendum was held.

All Eyes on Turkey’s Referendum: Turkish citizens across six nations of the European Union have started casting votes for the Turkey’s constitutional referendum that would greatly expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government. Some three million Turks live abroad, with 1.4 million living in Germany alone, making it is the most important voting district outside of Turkey. Turkey’s ruling AKP party has fought a heavy and ugly campaign to win the votes of Turks living abroad. Erdogan clashed with the governments of the Netherlands, Germany, and France over cancelled campaign events of Turkish government ministers attempting to rally voters in those countries. Polls suggest a neck-on-neck race going into the referendum, scheduled for April 16.

China Embraces Religion: Xi Jinping has run China with a firmer grip than any other leader since Mao Zedong. Although perhaps best known for his efforts to expand China’s territorial reach in the South China Sea and Africa, or for his campaign against corruption, domestically Xi is the man behind a remarkable turnaround for the Communist Party: an effort to revitalize China’s spiritual life through the promotion of some religions.

The Communist Party was opposed to religion under Mao, who during the Cultural Revolution destroyed tens of thousands of temples, churches, and mosques. But now, President Xi is backing religion in ways that echo the strategy of strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who use faith to legitimize their rule. Faced with rapid technological advances, growing social tensions, slowing economic growth, and an uncertain global political landscape, the Chinese government is turning to religion as a way to ensure its power. By making China the guardian of a major faith like Buddhism, Xi also sees religion as a way to elevate China’s position in a world still dominated by the United States.

Turkey Spying on Germans: In what is likely to become yet another point of tension between Berlin and Ankara, German prosecutors announced a probe into claims that MIT, the Turkish intelligence service, has been systematically spying on Turks living in Germany, some of them German citizens. Boris Pistorius, Interior Minister for the German state of Lower Saxony, initially condemned the “intensity and ruthlessness” with which the Turkish government was investigating its nationals living abroad. Calling the practice “intolerable and unacceptable,” Pistorius also revealed that the Turkish government had requested the assistance of German authorities to spy on approximately 300 supporters of Erdogan-supporter-turned-critic Fethullah Gülen. While espionage amongst NATO members is controversial, a 2014 report by German publication Der Spiegel uncovered that Germany had been using its own security service, the BND, to spy on Turkish citizens and government institutions as far back as 1976.

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