"For most people, there was nothing to celebrate when the International Monetary Fund downgraded its outlook for global economic growth in June, anticipating a contraction of 4.9% for 2020. Yet for others, such as the small but persistent group of economists and others known as the 'degrowth movement,' the Covid-induced economic slowdown has a silver lining..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"While regional experiences vary and it is still early to draw definitive conclusions, it is already clear that the pandemic is exposing and exacerbating many of Latin America’s preexisting challenges. Income inequality, labor informality, and weak social safety nets obligated millions of citizens to choose between protecting their health and feeding their families. Strained public finances and regressive tax systems limited the steps governments could take to stimulate their economies and support those most in need. Weak public services and discrimination [...]
"At the White House on Tuesday, Israel will formalize peace with the United Arab Emirates and sign a declaration of peace with Bahrain. For some, this event symbolizes the advent of a new day in the region. Others bemoan it for rewarding the Israelis and doing little to end the occupation of the Palestinians..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"Mike Singh, a former director of Middle East affairs at the National Security Council, said that while Mr. Trump has long been focused on a 'deal of the century' between Israelis and Palestinians, administration officials have 'always felt there was more progress to be made between Israel and US allies in the Gulf than between the Israelis and Palestinians...'" Read the full article here: Full Article
"Biden advisers see China policy as just as much about rebuilding the U.S. economy as containing China’s. 'The debate should be about who’s going to make America more competitive,' says Ely Ratner, a Biden national security aide in the Obama administration now at the Center for a New American Security..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"Michael Singh, a managing director at the Washington Institute and former senior director at the National Security Council, said the JCPOA was 'effectively dead,' regardless of the outcome of the election..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"In the first episode of our new narrative podcast miniseries, Russia in the Middle East, Jon Alterman gives an overview of Russian policy in the Middle East and how the Middle East fits into Russia’s worldview. He covers Russia's return to the Middle East and looks at how Russian foreign policy has changed since the fall of the Soviet Union. Jon also sits down with Dmitri Trenin, director of Carnegie's Moscow Center, and Celeste Wallander, president and CEO of the U.S.-Russia [...]
"Now that Joe Biden has named his running mate and both US political parties have held their conventions, the 2020 election campaign is under way in earnest. The ups and downs of the summer have been just a prelude to the electoral battle of the next two months..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"'Unless we have a new leadership that our allies believe they can count on, I don’t believe our alliances can survive another four years of what they’ve just experienced,' Flournoy said in an interview on Tuesday. 'That will leave the U.S. much more alone in the world and much less able to address shared interests, whether it’s climate change, nonproliferation, the next pandemic...'” Read the full article here: Full Article
"[As a kid, I wanted to be] An architect. I loved engineering, drafting floor plans, designing fantasy houses. I figured out how to convert my uncle’s house to solar power (at least in my head). My high school had an engineering and architecture program, and I took everything in it, went to the state fair, all that stuff. I was lucky to have a college counselor who said, 'It’s hard to know what you really want to do when you’re 16. [...]