Getting Paid 13 Months a Year | The US Midterms On The World Stage | Isolating Iran

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“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”

– Thomas Paine

All Eyes On U.S.: Midterm elections normally wouldn’t arouse so much as an eyebrow outside the US. This year’s different. In Western Europe people are concerned that President Trump is turning his back on NATO, the collection of Western democracies and traditional American allies, including the UK and Germany. “Everybody in the private sector is very interested,” the head of a London think tank said. Many in England’s intelligentsia want a check on Trump’s power, and hope voters will return at least the House of Representatives to Democrats. They think that if a Blue Wave occurs, perhaps this period has just been an aberration. But as the head of a London-based research organization sees it: “If the Republicans do well, then across Europe, people will be thinking Trump is not just a passing phase. People will start to think actually this is a secular change in American policy and America’s view of the outside world, and we’re going to have to adapt to the fact that America may not be in a position or be ready to help Europe in a crisis.”

Elsewhere some countries that celebrated the election of Donald Trump two years ago are now rooting for a strong Democratic showing, including China, which has a lot riding on the midterms. Trump surprised Beijing by launching a massive trade war and imposing tariffs on roughly $250 billion worth of Chinese goods. That has prompted businesses to begin moving supply chains to different parts of Asia. The Chinese hope that if Democrats do well on Tuesday, Trump’s control will be weakened and he will be forced to adopt a more temperate approach toward trade. But even if Democrats win back the House, there might not be a lot they can do to constrain Trump, because the American presidency has a lot of latitude when it comes to foreign policy.

Bahrain Leader Gets Life In Prison: The tiny Gulf country of Bahrain is mostly Shia Muslim, but it’s ruled by a Sunni royal family that controls top government posts. In February 2011 the leader of the main Shiite opposition party, Sheikh Ali Salman, was among those calling for democratic reforms including a constitutional monarchy and elected prime minister. When protesters took to the streets, the royal Al Khalifa family suppressed the demonstrations with the help of Saudi Arabia. In 2015 Ali Salman was arrested and accused, along with two fellow opposition leaders, of plotting with Qatar to stoke anti-government unrest. All three men have now been handed life sentences. Dozens of clerics and activists have also been jailed, and human rights groups accuse the international community of failing to speak out about abuses in Bahrain because of its strategically important location and value as a defense and security hub. Naval Support Activity Bahrain (NSA Bahrain), home to US Naval Forces Central Command and the US Fifth Fleet, is located there. (BBC)

Lucky Number 13: The US Labor Department released new wage growth figures last week, showing private workers now make $27.30 per hour on average. It’s the strongest annual year-on-year wage rise since 2009. Wages have risen in Europe as well, but in many European countries, and parts of Latin America and Asia, employers are mandated to pay employees a “13th salary”, otherwise known as the Christmas bonus. The phenomenon is unheard of among most Americans who just receive 12 months of salary each year. Most European countries give employers a lot of leeway to determine how much and to whom they pay additional money, which makes figuring out workers’ wages and how much they’ve actually risen a bit tricky. (WaPo)

– “Weed woes: Canada struggles to meet huge demand for legal cannabis:Numerous stores dealing with empty shelves and disgruntled customers, with fears many consumers will turn to black market” (Guardian)

– “Thai Paradise Gains Reputation as ‘Death Island’: At least nine European tourists have died or disappeared there since 2014. British tabloids began calling it Death Island.” (NYT)

– “In Saudi Arabia, Washington Post’s coverage of Khashoggi killing fuels calls for Amazon boycott: Over the past few days, Saudi Twitter users have used hashtags such as #BoycottAmazon and #مقاطعة_امازون_وسوق_دوت_كوم to encourage their compatriots and allies to stop using Amazon as well as Souq, an online retailer bought by Amazon last year.” (WaPo)

– “A year after the Ritz-Carlton roundup, Saudi elites remain jailed by the crown prince: Somewhere in this kingdom, Prince Turki bin Abdullah is locked away.” (WaPo)

– “SoftBank Chief Won’t Shun Saudi Arabia Despite Killing” (NYT)

We Struck Sanctions: The Trump administration is determined to thwart all Iranian oil exports. In May 2018 the president declared that Iran was not in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, in which signatory countries lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for that country’s cessation of its nuclear program, and he withdrew the US from the pact. Other countries, including those in the EU, did not agree and remained part of the bargain. Since the US withdrawal, the administration has been reimposing sanctions unilaterally against Iran. On Monday the president unleashed the latest measures which aim to do the following: prevent any company doing business with Iran from doing business with the US; punish any US company doing business with any company doing business with Iran; introduce new sanctions on the banking sector. To get around these latest sanctions, the EU plans to implement a payment system called a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will enable companies to avoid the US financial system. It has also updated its “blocking statute” which allows EU firms to recover damages from US sanctions.

This round of oil sanctions is occurring simultaneously with the Pentagon’s decision to move ships, combat aircraft and missile defense systems away from the Middle East. The US military has not had an aircraft carrier in the region since March. It has also removed a large share of its Patriot missile batteries along with certain combat aircraft such as the advanced F-22 Raptor. Some military officials think the latest stranglehold on Iran’s oil exports will increase the likelihood of a confrontation, and the shrinking US presence has undermined their ability to respond to potential Iranian threats.

Additional read: “As U.S. Sanctions on Iran Kick In, Europe Looks for a Workaround” (NYT)

Kobach Can’t Go Back On These Donations: Recent financial disclosures show Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a close ally of President Trump’s, has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from white supremacists since he entered politics in 2004, including from one former official in the Trump administration who was forced to resign from the Department of Homeland Security this year after emails showed he had close ties to white supremacists. Kobach has been a driving force behind dozens of proposals across the US designed to suppress minority voting and immigrant rights. He is currently in a tight race for governor with Democrat Laura Kelly. The election drew the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union after Dodge City’s single polling place was moved outside of town in what appears to be an attempt to suppress the Hispanic vote. (Guardian)

Two Sides Of The Same Vote: The exit poll surveys of voters conducted on election day outside voting booths, and their accompanying telephone surveys of early voters, have been done for years by Edison Research on behalf of a number of national news organizations. In 2016, more than 100,000 voters were interviewed either by phone or in person at 1,000 different polling locations across the country. But in the wake of the 2016 election, Fox News and The Associated Press pulled out of the National Election Pool media consortium and began conducting their own massive pre-election polls of likely voters. So on election night this year, there’ll be two data sets, which may give competing narratives, but may also be a fuller, more accurate portrait of the electorate. (NPR)

– “The Complex Lives of Nonvoters: while there are barriers to voting, there are also tens of thousands of people who could vote, but have chosen not to.” (NPR)

– “U.S. militia groups head to border, stirred by Trump’s call to arms: Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump’s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico.” (WaPo)

– “Fascism is Not an Idea to Be Debated, It’s a Set of Actions to Fight” (LitHub)

– “The caravan “invasion” and America’s epistemic crisis: The far right’s xenophobic fantasies now involve the actual US military.” (Vox)

– “Why Aren’t Democrats Walking Away With the Midterms?: Democrats miss Trump’s political gifts and the real threat he represents.” (NYT)

– “We Just ‘Fell Back’ An Hour. Here Are Tips To Stay Healthy During Dark Days Ahead” (NPR)

– “Designing people’s Instagram Stories is now a million-dollar business” (Fast Company)

– “Surgery students ‘losing dexterity to stitch patients’: A professor of surgery says students have spent so much time in front of screens and so little time using their hands that they have lost the dexterity for stitching or sewing up patients.” (BBC)

– “Why is art so expensive?: The $63 billion, “winner-take-all” global art market, explained.” (Vox)

– “Stockholm says no to Apple ‘town square’ in its oldest park: Plans for the company’s vast new ‘gathering place’ have been shelved after a backlash. But Apple is growing bolder in its designs on public space” (Guardian)

– “Will Time Ever Be Up For Abusive Men In Hip-Hop?: Throughout this past year of holding men in entertainment to task, the music industry has largely continued to overlook abuse allegations within its most popular genre, exhibiting a troubling lack of accountability.” (Buzzfeed)

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.” – Thomas Paine

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