South Korea’s Election, NPR Drama, & A Failed Desert Utopia
April 11, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Thursday! Today, we’re talking about Japan’s visit to the U.S., South Korea’s elections, Taiwan & China’s relationship, Iran’s nuclear plans, NPR’s in-house drama, a surveillance bill’s failure, and Saudi Arabia scrapping its utopia.
Here’s some good news: More than 200 chemical plants nationwide will be required to reduce toxic emissions that are thought to cause cancer under a new rule issued Tuesday by the EPA. But wait! There’s more! On Wednesday, the EPA also announced new standards for drinking water that will limit exposure to a group of chemicals called PFAS, or “forever chemicals.”
“Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.” – Herodotus
An Ocean Couldn’t Keep These Allies Apart
On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. The two leaders discussed space cooperation, joint research on artificial intelligence, recent economic differences, and the development of a new military alliance in the Pacific, among other things.
The new Japan-U.S. military alliance will establish a “military industrial council” that will oversee how the two countries can co-produce defense weapons. U.S. forces stationed in Japan will also see their structures reworked to improve their integration with the Japanese military, bringing the two allies even closer than before. The systems shakeup will also help the U.S., Australia, and Japan to better improve joint anti-missile defenses in the Pacific.
According to one senior White House official, the meeting is part of a U.S. initiative to counter Chinese efforts to isolate Pacific allies like Japan and the Philippines. “The idea of switching to a multilateral, lattice-like strategic architecture is to flip the script and isolate China,” said the source.
Politics Go South In South Korea
While the U.S. and Japan moved closer together, South Korea was busy tearing itself apart with voting in parliamentary elections yesterday, where the opposition liberal party is projected to have secured a landslide victory over the incumbent conservative People Power Party led by President Yoon Suk Yeol. If the opposition Democratic Party is able to secure a strong majority in parliament, Yoon will be a lame-duck president for his remaining three years in office. With 200 seats, or a two-thirds majority of parliament, the opposition can pass bills through Yoon’s veto or even start an impeachment process – which, given the incredibly toxic political atmosphere, might become a real problem for the president in the next few years.
Did your ears perk up at the sound of some spicy toxicity? Here’s the rundown – in the 2022 presidential election, Yoon and Democratic candidate Lee Jae-myung traded increasingly barbed comments on the campaign trail. Both parties have already begun campaigning for the next presidential elections, where Lee will face off against the People Power Party’s Han Dong-hoon – Han has already called Lee a “criminal,” while a spokesperson for Lee called Han’s mouth a “trash bin.” Making things even more agitated is the growing gender divide – women are voting for the liberal parties, while young men support the incumbent conservatives.
Tai-wanna Talk Things Out
- On Wednesday, former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou paid a visit to China, marking the second-ever time a former Taiwanese leader traveled to China on a diplomatic visit. At a meeting with Ma, Chinese President Xi Jinping stated that nothing could stop a “family reunion” between his country and Taiwan – except unlike my family’s reunions, the arguments are about all-out war, not who brought the better potato salad.
- “There is no rancor that cannot be resolved, no problem that cannot be discussed, and no force that can separate us,” Xi said. “If there is a war between the two sides, it will be unbearable for the Chinese people,” said Ma. “Chinese on both sides of the strait absolutely have enough wisdom to handle all disputes peacefully and avoid heading into conflict.” Hopefully he proves correct and diplomacy can solve the problem before it comes to an armed conflict.
Iran’s Nuclear Program Runs Free
- Six years ago, the Trump White House withdrew from an international nuclear pact that ensured that Iran would not expand its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars worth of sanction relief. Tehran has continued to build out its nuclear infrastructure, though the country claims it has no plans to build a nuclear weapon.
- According to U.S., European, and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials, Iran is slowly building up its capability to create a nuclear weapon. The country has been pumping out highly enriched uranium, which is just one step short of weapons-grade uranium, at a record pace. Officials say that the country’s current uranium supply could be converted into weapons-grade fuel within a few days or weeks, with three crude nuclear bombs created just six months later. A fully-fledged nuclear warhead delivered by missile would take up to three years.
- Recently, the country has decided to dilute some of its highly enriched uranium stores to quell concerns about its nuclear capabilities. Unfortunately, a White House spokesperson expressed the “futility” of figuring out how to revive the deal, saying that the Biden administration had “stopped putting energy and effort into it.”
More Mixed Nuts
- Biden ‘considering’ request to drop Assange charges (BBC)
- UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron defends meeting with Trump in trip to the US (Guardian)
- Evidence around youth gender care ‘remarkably weak’, major English review says (NBC)
- Westminster honey trap scandal: Rishi Sunak warns of international ‘bad actors’ (Politico)
- Zelenskyy warns Russia has penetrated US politics, invites Trump to Ukraine (Politico)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- Hamas says Israeli airstrike kills 3 sons of the group’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza (CBS)
- Tension at Al-Aqsa Mosque is deepening with each day of the Israel-Hamas war (NPR)
- How much aid’s waiting to enter Gaza? Depends who you ask (NPR)
This Essay Could’ve Been An (Internal) Email
- On Tuesday, senior NPR editor Uri Berliner published an essay on The Free Press, a website that caters to right-leaning journalists. In it, Berliner says NPR’s news coverage is decidedly skewed – he says the publication pushed theories of Russian collusion in the 2016 election, ignored Hunter Biden’s laptop, dismissed the idea of a lab leak causing Covid, too readily accepted systemic racism as truth, and gave too much coverage to Gaza’s suffering.
- Berliner says that NPR’s former CEO, John Lansing, focused too much on creating a diverse newsroom, leaving the publication with an “absence of viewpoint diversity.” The essay was a hit among conservative media, with some hailing Berliner as a whistleblower. Berliner’s colleagues at NPR are, understandably, less pleased with his piece, which he did not run by NPR in advance.
- NPR’s chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff after the piece was published, “We’re proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories. We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world.”
The Leaning Tower Of FISA
- On Tuesday, House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Gaetz promised to tank the FISA bill, which would have extended an expiring warrantless surveillance law that national security officials say is essential to gathering intelligence and fighting terrorism. Overnight, former President Trump weighed in, saying, “KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!”
- Despite the fact that this isn’t true – the F.B.I. obtained wiretap orders on a former campaign adviser from the 2016 campaign as part of the Russia investigation under a different section of FISA – Trump’s words sealed the bill’s fate. The vote was 228 to 193 against FISA yesterday afternoon, with 19 Republicans joining Democrats in opposing its consideration. “We will regroup and reformulate another plan,” Speaker Mike Johnson said after the vote.
More Nuts In America
- 6 Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ officers sentenced to 15 to 45 years on state charges for torture of 2 Black men (NBC)
- Trump says he wouldn’t sign federal abortion ban (CNN)
- Ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg sentenced to 5 months for perjury (ABC)
- Dolores Huerta, big supporter of RFK’s ’68 run, decries RFK Jr’s ’24 bid (Axios)
- Speaker Johnson warns that effort to oust him ‘would be chaos in the House’ (CNN)
- Trump’s lawyers file another appeal in hush money trial (CNN)
The Line Stops Here
- In 2021, Saudi Arabia announced plans to build a massive line-shaped utopia in the desert named “the Line.” The city would be clad in mirrors, feature a central light well, and transit for its population of 9 million people would be handled by high-speed trains. While initial plans for the Line saw the couple-hundred-meter-wide city stretching through the desert for over 105 miles, it seems like that vision has been cut short — newly-revised plans show that the Line will only reach 1.5 miles by 2030.
- According to Bloomberg, which claims to have seen documents pertaining to the project, the cause for the lag in development is Saudi Arabia’s declining cash reserves. The lack of funds means the kingdom hasn’t yet set the 2024 budget for its Neom urban development project, which the Line is part of.
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had described the city as “tackling the challenges facing humanity in urban life today” to “shine a light on alternative ways to live,” and also named it a “cognitive city” thanks to plans to power its amenities using AI. Unfortunately, all the buzzwords in the world can’t save a project from bad budgeting.
More Loose Nuts
- Amanda Knox back on trial in Italy in lingering case linked to roommate Meredith Kercher’s murder (CBS)
- Peter Higgs, physicist who proposed Higgs boson, dies aged 94 (Guardian)
- Unique views of the solar eclipse you may have missed (WaPo, $)
- At movie industry convention, leaders say blockbusters alone aren’t enough (AP)
- Tara VanDerveer retires as Stanford women’s hoops coach after setting NCAA wins record this year (NBC)
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