Mattis Dis(invites) China, The China of Africa, & The Parenting Issue

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.” – James Baldwin

“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” – Ibid.

Mattis and the US Military Dis(invite) China: In mid-May, the Pentagon withdrew its invitation to China to participate in the large-scale multinational naval exercise known as Rim of the Pacific, or RimPac, scheduled to take place between June 27 and August 2. Officials cited evidence that China was continuing to militarize a string of islands in the South China Sea by placing anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems, and electronic jammers in the Spratly Islands region, and building bomb-proof airplane hangers and landing bomber aircraft. China’s claim to most of the South China Sea competes with claims by Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and threatens what the US says should be freedom of navigation in international waters. As tensions increase, the administration is walking a tightrope with Beijing. The “denuclearization” summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, scheduled for June 12, is back on, and Trump still needs China’s help in curbing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

But in a speech Saturday at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security conference, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis again criticized the Chinese government for its ongoing military buildup on the islands. He said he was open to cooperation with China “wherever possible,” but he warned that the US would compete “vigorously where we must.” A former deputy assistant for national security affairs said Mattis’s speech was probably meant to ease American allies’ concerns not just about regional threats, but about Trump’s variable foreign policy. On Sunday two US warships sailed within 12 miles of the South China Sea islands, probably for visual reiteration of America’s stance on freedom of navigation.

– If President Trump keeps his scheduled attendance at the G7 summit next week it could be really really awkward. That’s because the summit’s in Canada and hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who went on NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday complaining loudly about the “insulting” new tariffs Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced last week. Oh, and the leaders of Germany, Italy, France, UK, and Japan are also supposed to attend. In fact, those countries plus Canada banded together in issuing a rare statement to call on asking Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to convey to Trump their “unanimous concern and disappointment.” China didn’t bother expressing sadness over the tariffs. It’s state-run news agency just said, basically, if the tariffs are implemented, all bets are off: “Tariffs and expanding exports – the US can’t have both.“ (The Guardian and Reuters)

– A man in Japan has spent his life researching the health of survivors of the bombdropped on Nagasaki in 1945, and other victims of nuclear atrocities and disasters. But his message of “Don’t Worry- Be Happy” isn’t going over very well with evacuees from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. Nevertheless, it just might be that the tsunami was a much greater peril than the exposure to radiation. (The Guardian)

– Italy’s new minister of the interior, Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, is sick and tired of Sicily being “the refugee camp of Europe.” He wants more deportations and less new arrivals. “There is not enough housing and work for Italians, let alone half the continent of Africa,” Salvini said Sunday on a visit to the Sicilian port of Catania. (The Guardian)

– Ethiopia could be poised to become “the China of Africa,” economically at least. Both countries share rapid growth, a strong national history, and the sense that the future looks bright ahead. (Bloomberg)

The Plastic Oceans Reflect Our Plastic Selves: Sad, but true. Developing countries aren’t connecting the dots between marine conservation/ sustainability and economic opportunity/growth. So says a new survey of 3,500 leaders from 126 low- and middle-income countries in South and Central America, Africa, Europe and Asia.

According to the AidData research center, survey respondents were asked to rank their top six priorities from the UN’s 17 sustainability goals to make the world a better place by 2030. 65.2% said quality education, 60% said decent work and economic growth, but only 5.4% put goal #14 in their top six. That goal aims to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.” Unfortunately, goal #14 is almost universally considered the least important despite oceans of evidence that protecting the environment leads to big development gains in the forms of jobs and food.

An official from World Wildlife Fund for Nature observed, if the oceans were a country, they’d have the world’s seventh-biggest economy, and tapping that resource should be a higher priority for developing countries. “Oceans are a critical foundation for developing economies. People aren’t drawing the connection between things they take for granted and the role oceans play in providing those services,” he said.But for the poorest countries, when people lack essentials like a regular supply of nutritious food and clean water, conservation may still seem like a luxury that leaders can’t afford.

Rich or poor, one thing countries could certainly do to save marine life would be to outlaw the use of plastic bags. Thailand is one of the world’s biggest users of plastic bags, and every year at least 300 marine animals including pilot whales, sea turtles and dolphins die in Thai waters after ingesting plastic. The tragedy was up close and personal last week when a small male pilot whale was found barely alive in a Thai canal near the border with Malaysia. Despite efforts by a team of veterinarians, the whale died Friday afternoon. An autopsy revealed he had ingested 80 plastic bags, weighing nearly 18 pounds, making it impossible for the animal to eat any nutritional food.

It’s a busy world and it’s hard to keep up. Parachute believes hitting the pause button is the antidote. Their modern bedding and bath essentials help you reset and recharge, keeping you fresh and ahead of the curve. Go ahead. Press pause.

– President Trump’s lawyers are trying a novel approach to keep special counsel Robert Mueller from forcing the president to answer questions in the inquiry into whether he obstructed justice. With the broadest interpretation of executive authority ever, Trump’s lawyers contended in a 20-page letter to Mueller that the president cannot illegally obstruct any aspect of the investigation because the US Constitution gives him unfettered authority over all federal investigations. Attorney Rudy Giuliani said on Sunday that, while not planning to, Trump probably has the power to pardon himself. It’s an open question, says Giuliani, because the Constitution gives a president the authority to issue pardons, and “doesn’t say he can’t.” (NYT and Reuters)

– A UN special reporter, who acts as a watchdog on extreme poverty around the world, is issuing his final report on the state of poverty in America, which will be presented to the UN human rights council in Geneva toward the end of June. The reporter’s assessment is that President Trump is steering the US toward a “dramatic change of direction” that is rewarding the rich and punishing the poor by blocking access even to the most meager necessities. “This is a systematic attack on America’s welfare program that is undermining the social safety net for those who can’t cope on their own,” the reporter told The Guardian. “If food stamps and access to Medicaid are removed, and housing subsidies cut, then the effect on people living on the margins will be drastic.” Congress was also condemned for passing a tax bill that “overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and worsened inequality”. (The Guardian)

– As noted in previous Daily Pnut issues, Americans are having fewer babies and this is happening across the developed world from China to Japan to Europe. In San Francisco, it seems there are more dogs than kids. As children become rarer, and as parents become even more conscious of the significant investments/costs associated with child rearing, the importance, stress, and anxiety of child rearing have increased. (NYT)

– “5 Golden Rules for Raising Mentally Strong Kids: Give your kids the skills they’ll need to tackle life’s toughest challenges head-on.” (Inc)

– “Why Rich Kids Are So Good at the Marshmallow Test: Affluence—not willpower—seems to be what’s behind some kids’ capacity to delay gratification.” (Atlantic)

– “How much screen time is too much for kids? It’s complicated: Parents have been advised to limit media consumption, but research suggests it’s the nature of it that matters.” (Guardian)

– “America’s Teens Are Choosing YouTube Over Facebook: Snapchat and even Facebook’s own Instagram are getting more clicks from the kids these days than the aging social network.” (Bloomberg)

– “Why Children Aren’t Behaving, And What You Can Do About It.” (NPR)

– “The Age of Grandparents Is Made of Many Tragedies: The proportion of children living in “grandfamilies” has doubled in the U.S. since 1970—and the reasons are often sad ones.” (Atlantic)

– “Congratulations Graduate! Now Read These 3 Books.” (NYT)

LAST MORSELS

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” – Ibid.

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