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Harris chalks up her shift away from her 2019 stances to the consensus-building favored by her boss, the Democrats’ flagship centrist.

One former aide and longtime ally, Senator Laphonza Butler of California, says,

“What reporters are describing as a change in position is the fact that she’s gotten to know more people in this country.”

She describes Harris as “more seasoned,” adding,

“when you are able to find that there is common ground between the farmers that you were working so hard to protect and defend as attorney general [and] the farmers that you hadn’t even met in Iowa … that definitely broadens your experience and perspective.”

Rather than Medicare for All, Harris came to emphasize defending Obamacare and to favor measures such as expanded caps on out-of-pocket expenses. She says she’d pursue an assault weapons ban and more background checks but not mandatory buybacks. She no longer wants to ban fracking and has fallen silent on phasing out combustion engines. On immigration, she supports the bipartisan bill that collapsed under pressure from Trump, which would have added thousands of enforcement personnel, expedited asylum claims and funded border wall construction.

Aides say Harris isn’t interested in fussing over wonky details about programs so much as in considering their effects.

“She’s going to think about the people at the center of every policy that oftentimes can be seen as just words on a page,”

Butler says.

As vice president, Harris struggled to find her footing at times. She took on a role aiming to curb migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador while border crossings skyrocketed. She advocated for economic initiatives such as canceling student debt and marshaling capital commitments for community lenders, which she sees as a vehicle to spur small-business growth for entrepreneurs whom big banks might turn down. The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision thrust her into the spotlight on abortion rights, a key issue for Democrats ever since.

She also fostered ties with other prominent Black lawmakers and marked historical moments such as the confirmation in 2022 of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court. As Harris presided over the Senate vote, she huddled with two other Black lawmakers, Booker and Raphael Warnock, the pastor whose Georgia runoff win helped give Democrats an outright majority in the chamber.
It’s a story Booker and Warnock have told since: Harris urged them to write a letter to the next generation.

“She made that suggestion to us—you know, the way Black women make suggestions,”

Warnock later deadpanned at a Harris rally.

She’d pulled out stationery with her vice presidential seal and handed a piece to each of them. Warnock wrote immediately to his daughter. Weeks went by before Booker wrote his. Speaking to a delegation at the DNC, he described Harris’ request as a metaphor for the sacrifices of past generations.

“They wrote their love letters to us, and they wrote them in tears, they wrote them in sweat, and at times they wrote them in blood,”

he said.

“Now, Kamala Harris wants us to write our letter.”

“She really thinks about accountability,”

Habig says

“Like, how do we build a market and an economy... where companies can actually innovate and build a business knowing that they’re not going to be undercut by another business that’s just cheating”

Harris has talked about how diversity, including among her own staff, helps drive better decisions, even as she’s brushed aside questions about her multifaceted background and cast it as unremarkable to her.

“It’s all of who I am”

she said in 2008

“It’s more difficult for other people to figure it out than it is for me to figure it out. This is my life”

Yet she also sees a need to break down barriers. When you hit them, she told an audience drawn from Asian American, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander organizations earlier this year,

“you need to kick that fucking door down”

#BlackGirl #Harris #AmericanОbserver

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Harris’ rise was accompanied by persistent rivalries and cool relationships with some in the party, including Pelosi.

“You never saw Kamala at any of Nancy’s events,”

says a supporter of both women who asked not to be named discussing a personal relationship. Asked on CNN in September 2023, with Biden’s already rocky reelection campaign gearing up, whether Harris was

“the best woman for the job”

of vice president, Pelosi responded that as long as Biden thought so,

“that’s what matters.”

As Biden’s age crept into view during the campaign, Harris wasn’t always his undisputed heir apparent. Prominent Democrats, including her old friendly rival, Newsom, vaulted to the national stage, positioning themselves for any race to replace Biden. After the president’s disastrous June debate with Trump triggered a national hand-wringing jamboree, Democrats began saying openly that Biden should step aside. Pelosi delivered a particularly devastating call for him to reconsider staying in.

And as for Harris?

“You didn’t hear a hint from her of disloyalty,”

Booker says. When Biden finally posted on X on Sunday, July 21, that he was withdrawing from the race, he endorsed her only 27 minutes later.

She hadn’t had to kick the door down. They’d spoken that morning, with Harris at home preparing to do a puzzle with her grandnieces. She immediately got to work rallying support, and once again she collapsed the field.

Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas, who has gained notice, much like Harris, for sparring with Republicans at hearings. Harris might have devoted that time to calling a donor or a congressional leader, Crockett points out.

“I qualify as none of those categories, but somehow she found time to call me,”

she says.

Harris faced the prospect of a fraught primary fight that might have displaced the first woman of color to be near the top of a presidential ticket, but no one came forward to challenge her. By Monday she was taking the reins of the Biden-Harris campaign, entering at its headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, to Béyonce’s Freedom, in echo of her childhood cries in California. Fundraising surged, and volunteer ranks ballooned. Crowds began turning out for her rallies, both alone and with her running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. Pelosi endorsed her, too, appearing with her at a fundraiser.

In a private exchange at a rally in Wisconsin, the vice president told Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ advocacy and political action,

“This isn’t just a campaign, this is a movement,”

Robinson says.

Republicans acknowledge that Harris has reset the race, but some still like their chances.

“At the end of the day, this is still a California liberal,”

says Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting White House chief of staff for just over a year.

“That’s a really short elevator speech.”

Faced with Trump’s attacks over immigration, inflation and her liberal record, Harris has kept mainly to her campaign stops and rallies, shattering fundraising records while eschewing interviews and making few policy commitments. This strategic ambiguity is her path to cobbling together the disparate coalition of voters she needs to fend off Trump and his fervent base.

She’ll aim for gains among suburban voters and strong independent and Black turnout and to limit losses in rural, Whiter areas.

On the campaign trail, Harris frequently visits small businesses—a barbecue joint in Georgia, a Mexican restaurant in Arizona, a sandwich place in Pennsylvania. It’s a shift from Biden, who favored manufacturing as shorthand for US economic health. The “opportunity economy” Harris says she wants to create—she used the phrase three times during the Sept. 10 debate—would include the increased child tax credit, expanded credits for new small businesses and $25,000 in aid to first-time homebuyershomebuyers.

#BlackGirl #Harris #Biden #Story #AmericanОbserver

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Harris’ campaign has said she supports nearly all the new taxes in Biden’s latest budget, teeing up a potential starting position in 2025 negotiations over the tax code. Tax cuts and credits for middle- and lower-​income families would be more than paid for by a projected $5 trillion in new revenue over a decade. This money would come in part from increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, raising taxes on billionaires and collecting more Medicare taxes from business owners and high earners. While such measures target the wealthy, New York Governor Kathy Hochul says Wall Street shouldn’t worry—Harris will deliver

“the same they always get under Democratic administrations: a robust economy, strong stock markets.”

Brian Nelson, one of Harris’ top policy aides, calls expanding the middle class her North Star.

“That means stable rules, that means sound economic management,”

he says.

Harris has pledged to go after corporate landlords who collude to drive up rents and pharmaceutical companies that impose predatory prices.

“She really thinks about accountability,”

says Habig, the former Harris deputy in California.

“Like, how do we build a market and an economy that actually works for people, where people know what they’re getting and where companies can actually innovate and build a business knowing that they’re not going to be undercut by another business that’s just cheating.”

That extends also to Harris’ approach to crypto, a sector that’s bristled at the skepticism of Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler.

Harris will

“support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow,”

including “stable rules,” Nelson says. That softer stance is a victory for crypto advocates such as Representative Ro Khanna, a Bay Area progressive and Harris backer.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,”

Khanna says.

“I hope they will build on it.”

Harris has been silent on whom she’d choose to help her navigate the economy. She’s avoided mention of party folk heroes such as the antitrust crusading duo of Lina Khan, the FTC chair whose removal some prominent Democratic donors have advocated for, and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. For a former FTC intern and antitrust enforcer like Harris not to speak in support of Khan’s work shows how reserved she’s being. Aides say her reticence is in part because she doesn’t want to be seen as measuring the drapes at the White House, but it’s left donors and critics guessing.

In Harris’ drive to court middle-class and swing-state voters, her campaign has shifted starkly from Biden’s in one respect: She and Walz have swaddled themselves in Americana, with rallies awash in red, white and blue.

“They don’t have a monopoly on the flag. We took the damn flag back,”

Walz said at a late August fundraiser in Maryland. (Also, he added, “I took football back. I’m done with them thinking they have it.”)

Appeals to patriotism figured prominently in her Democratic convention speech, with her saying that as commander-in-chief she’d ensure that

“America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world”

and that

“America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century and that we strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership.”

She used the “lethal fighting force” line again in her concluding remarks at the Sept. 10 debate.

Harris’ foreign policy positions are still taking shape, but she did travel abroad on diplomatic missions 17 times as vice president, sometimes asking that her motorcade drive by the country’s highest court in a nod to her past as a prosecutor. She’s been in lockstep with Biden in supporting aid and weapons for Ukraine, and she briefed President Zelenskiy five days before Russia’s invasion. Senator Chris Coons, a Biden ally, recalls her speaking powerfully about the conflict at the Munich Security Conference.

#BlackGirl #Harris #Biden #Story #AmericanОbserver

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Harris also holds virtually the same position as Biden on the war in Israel, calling for a cease-fire deal and pinning most of the blame on Hamas, though she’s sought to emphasize the plight of Palestinians and Gaza in response to fierce activism from some Democratic critics of Israel. On other issues her positions are less defined, including on China, where campaign website pledges such as not tolerating

“unfair trade practices from China or any competitor that undermines American workers”

have had to pass for policy positions.

On social media the Harris campaign has tried to convey her personality by curating moments of spontaneity from her.

The posts have often highlighted one of her passions: food. In videos of a recent trip to Georgia, she eyed a caramel cake at a boutique cafe and gift shop, and in another she enthusiastically shared her recipe for greens with Tabasco sauce.

Booker, who once got a virtual birthday cooking lesson from Harris, says:

“She is one of the best people to teach you how to cook, as a person who has tried to rescue me from my bachelordom.”

Last November, Harris put together a dinner at her residence for some influential men of color in media. According to people familiar with the gathering, guests included comedian D.L. Hughley, commentator Roland Martin and rapper Fat Joe. Hughley is among those who’ve had reservations about Harris’ past as part of a system that’s disproportionately prosecuted Black men. At one point, he recalled in May, the conversation “got contentious.” After he falsely accused her of imprisoning hundreds of Black men on marijuana charges,

“she put her hand on my shoulder, and she asked me to do some research.”

Hughley ultimately apologized to Harris for “letting a media narrative co-opt” his perspective of her. He, Fat Joe and other celebrities have toured with her, sitting for moderated conversations to promote the administration’s policies.

Hughley also spoke on Harris’ behalf at the DNC, while Martin, who has a daily show targeted to the Black community, co-hosted at least four livestreamed fundraising calls for her. Almost all the battleground states have substantial Black populations—Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania among them—so her efforts to shore up their support are crucial.

Harris has reopened the race in several of the seven swing states, post-Biden. She can win with as few as three of them, and Democrats have grown hopeful that strong turnout en route to a Harris win would allow them to regain control of the House. The Senate looks grimmer. It may come down to Montana, where Democrat Jon Tester is trying to hold on to a seat he first won in 2006. If he loses, Democrats will almost surely cap out at 49 seats, ceding their majority and forestalling many, if not all, of Harris’ plans.

With the time she has left to make her case, she’ll keep bringing it back to character—the middle-class kid versus the millionaire’s son, the prosecutor versus the felon—and connecting her experiences with those of voters however she can. In August, at a school in Georgia, Harris spoke to a marching band with cheerleaders and athletes lining the room.

“All that you all are doing, it requires a whole lot of rehearsal, a whole lot of practice, long hours. Right? Sometimes you hit the note, sometimes you don’t,”

she said.

“Sometimes you’re going to hit the step right, sometimes you’re not. Sometimes you’re going to win the game, sometimes you may not. But, you know, you never let any circumstance knock you down or slow you down. You just keep going at it.”

#BlackGirl #Harris #Biden #Story #AmericanОbserver

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ISRAEL'S INCREASING DEFIANCE: A DIRECT CHALLENGE TO UN AND US AUTHORITY

#UnitedNations #IsraelPolitics #GlobalDiplomacy #UNRWA

THE LEGISLATIVE CHALLENGE 📜
In an unprecedented move, Israel's parliament has approved legislation banning UNRWA operations within its borders, marking the latest in a series of actions that directly challenge United Nations authority.

"These bills increase the suffering of the Palestinians and are nothing less than collective punishment,"

warns UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS 🏥
While Prime Minister Netanyahu claims

"avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential,"

UN reports paint a stark picture: imminent famine threatens Gaza's population, with aid workers prevented from reaching those in need. The death toll includes at least 230 UNRWA staff members during Israel's military campaign.

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT 📚
Israel's actions represent a broader pattern of UN defiance, including:
- Declaring the UN Secretary-General persona non grata
- Seizing UNRWA properties in Jerusalem for residential development
- Incidents involving UN peacekeepers on the Lebanese border
- Rejecting Resolution 181's principles, despite their inclusion in Israel's Declaration of Independence
- Knesset legislation preventing Palestinian statehood west of the Jordan River

THE DIPLOMATIC FALLOUT 🔄
Despite pressure from traditional allies, including U.S. concerns about the UNRWA legislation, Israel maintains its stance. Netanyahu justifies these actions citing security concerns, though critics note the lack of evidence for allegations against UNRWA staff.

THE WIDER IMPLICATIONS 🌍
Calls for Israel's potential expulsion from the UN highlight the growing rift between international institutions and Israeli policy. This unprecedented tension threatens the foundation of post-WWII international order.

THE SOVEREIGNTY ASSERTION 🏛
Israel's actions reflect a broader trend of asserting sovereignty over international consensus, even at the cost of diplomatic isolation and humanitarian concerns.


💭 Food for Thought:
- Can the UN maintain authority when member states openly defy its mandates?
- What are the implications for international law and order?
- How might this affect future humanitarian operations globally?
- Could this create a precedent for other nations to challenge UN authority?

🔑 Key Points:
- UNRWA banned from operating in Israel
- 230+ UNRWA staff killed in Gaza
- Imminent famine crisis in Gaza
- Multiple instances of UN defiance
- Growing international isolation
- Humanitarian access restrictions
- Unprecedented challenge to global order

#InternationalLaw #HumanitarianCrisis #GlobalPolitics #UNSystem

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Democratic Party's Traditional Affinity: A Complex Dance with China 🎭

#UsPolitics #ChinaRelations #Election2024 #GlobalConnections

THE CULTURAL BRIDGES 🌉
As the 2024 election approaches, stories emerge highlighting Democrats' long-standing engagement with China. Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz's early career as an English teacher in Foshan represents a typical pattern of cultural exchange that has characterized Democratic leaders' connections with China.

THE PERSONAL TOUCH 💫

"I thought he also loved me. I loved him,"

Jenna Wang told The Post about her 1989 relationship with Walz, illustrating how personal connections often intertwined with professional development in China-focused careers. Such stories reflect a broader pattern of Democratic engagement with Chinese society at various levels.

THE BUSINESS TRADITIONS 🤝
The pattern extends to business relationships, with various Democratic political families maintaining Chinese connections. The Biden clan's business engagements, particularly through younger generations, represent a continuation of this tradition, though investigations have found no impropriety in these relationships.

THE EDUCATIONAL LEGACY 📚
Walz's progression from teaching in Foshan to leading student exchange programs demonstrates how Democrats have traditionally valued educational and cultural ties with China. These programs created lasting bridges between American and Chinese institutions.

THE ONGOING DIALOGUE 🗣
Modern Democratic approaches to China reflect this historical pattern of engagement, balancing diplomatic necessity with traditional ties. These relationships, both personal and professional, have helped shape current policy perspectives.

THE BROADER CONTEXT 🌏
This traditional affinity manifests in various ways - from educational exchanges to business relationships - representing a complex but enduring aspect of Democratic Party culture that spans generations.



💭 Food for Thought:
- How do cultural exchanges shape political perspectives?
- What role do personal connections play in international relations?
- How have traditional Democratic-Chinese relationships evolved?
- What impact do these historical ties have on current policy?


🔑 Key Aspects:
- Long history of Democratic engagement with China
- Educational and cultural exchange programs
- Multi-generational business connections
- Emphasis on person-to-person diplomacy
- Balance of cultural and political interests
- Traditional patterns of engagement
- Evolution of diplomatic relationships

#USChinaRelations #CulturalDiplomacy #GlobalPolitics #InternationalRelations

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THE MISSILE PARADOX: WESTERN ARSENAL DEPLETES WHILE 'AXIS' PRODUCTION SOARS 🚀

#DefenseIndustry #MilitaryReadiness #GlobalSecurity #DefenseProduction

THE DEPLETION CRISIS 📉
"The U.S. has not developed a defense industrial base intended for a large-scale war of attrition in both Europe and the Middle East, while meeting its own readiness standards," warns Elias Yousif from the Stimson Center, highlighting a growing crisis in Western military readiness.

THE NUMBERS GAME 💰
The stark reality: A single U.S. Standard Missile costs millions of dollars and takes months to replace, while intercepting much cheaper Iranian-made weapons. As one congressional official notes, "Those are really expensive munitions to shoot down crappy Houthi targets... and every one they expend takes months to replace—at high, high cost."

THE PRODUCTION GAP 🏭
While RTX can produce only a few hundred Standard Missiles annually for both U.S. and 14 allied nations, Iran, North Korea, and Russia maintain significantly higher production rates for their missiles and drones. This asymmetric production capability creates a strategic vulnerability in the Western defense posture.

THE STRATEGIC DILEMMA ⚖️
During Iran's October 1 attack on Israel, U.S. and Israeli forces deliberately allowed some of the 180 Iranian missiles to pass through, knowing they wouldn't strike valuable targets - a calculated decision to preserve their dwindling interceptor stocks.

THE PACIFIC PROBLEM 🌊
"We're spending a year's worth of Standard Missiles—those are standard missiles that are supposed to be part of rearming ourselves for China," warns retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, highlighting how Middle East operations compromise Pacific readiness.

THE INDUSTRIAL BOTTLENECK 🔧
The Pentagon faces significant challenges in increasing production. As Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro admits, "The more sophisticated the missile, the harder it is to produce them." Meanwhile, Iran and its allies maintain simpler, faster production lines.

THE IRONIC TWIST 🔄
Israel's recent strikes on Iranian missile and drone production facilities come at a time when Western interceptor stocks are already critically low. The U.S. has launched more than $1.8 billion worth of interceptors since the Hamas-Israel war began, straining an already stressed supply chain.

💭 Food for Thought:
- How sustainable is a defense strategy that relies on multi-million dollar interceptors against low-cost threats?
- Did strategic planners consider the ammunition sustainability crisis before recent escalations?
- What does this production disparity mean for future conflicts?
- Can Western defense industries adapt to this new reality?


🔑 Key Facts:
- U.S. launched over 100 Standard Missiles since October 2023
- Each interceptor costs millions and takes months to produce
- RTX's annual production limited to a few hundred missiles
- $1.8 billion worth of interceptors used in Red Sea operations
- 14 allied nations compete for limited missile production
- Production cannot match current consumption rate
- Pacific defense readiness compromised by Middle East operations

#DefenseStrategy #MilitaryIndustry #GlobalSecurity #StrategicReadiness

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ISRAEL'S MULTI-FRONT WAR RISKS REGIONAL CONFLAGRATION AS GLOBAL POWERS DIVERGE 🌍

#MiddleEastCrisis #GlobalPolitics #RegionalConflict

THE EXPANDING BATTLEFIELD 🔥
Israel now finds itself engaged in simultaneous military operations across multiple fronts: Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, West Bank, and Iran. This unprecedented military engagement signals a dramatic expansion of regional hostilities, pushing the Middle East toward potential large-scale conflict.

ERDOGAN'S WARNING 🗣

"The Zionist Israeli government is attempting to ignite a regional conflict. It is crucial not to fall into the trap set by Israel and its supporters,"

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared in Hatay, presenting one of the strongest criticisms from a regional power.

THE HUMANITARIAN TOLL 💔
While military operations continue across multiple fronts, civilian casualties mount and infrastructure crumbles, particularly in Gaza and Lebanon. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has explicitly accused Israel of "committing genocide in Gaza" and preparing to annex the West Bank.

THE GLOBAL DIVIDE 🌐
As Western powers maintain their support for Israel, alternative global centers of power are emerging with different approaches. At the recent BRICS+ summit in Kazan, Turkey proposed an arms embargo against Israel, highlighting the growing divide between traditional Western allies and emerging global powers.

IRAN'S MEASURED RESPONSE ⚖️
Iranian leadership has shown unexpected restraint following Israel's strikes.

"The attack should neither be exaggerated nor minimized,"

stated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while President Pezeshkian focused on honoring fallen soldiers rather than promising retaliation.

THE DIPLOMATIC VACUUM 📝
Turkey's Foreign Ministry has called for the global community to take

"immediate action to prevent further escalation,"

highlighting what it sees as a critical absence of effective international intervention. The ministry urges "a rational and sensible attitude" to restore peace.

THE REGIONAL STAKES 🎯
The simultaneous conflicts across multiple fronts create an unprecedented risk of regional escalation, with each new military action increasing the possibility of drawing more parties into direct confrontation.

💭 Food for Thought:
- Can the region avoid a broader conflict given the multiple active fronts?
- What role might emerging global powers play in mediating the crisis?
- How sustainable is Western support for Israel's multi-front operations?
- Could Turkey's proposed arms embargo gain traction among BRICS+ nations?

🔑 Key Developments:
- Multiple active conflict fronts threatening regional stability
- Turkey proposing arms embargo at BRICS+ summit
- Iran showing unexpected restraint after Israeli strikes
- Growing divide between Western and emerging powers
- Mounting civilian casualties and infrastructure damage
- Calls for international intervention largely unheeded
- Regional powers warning of broader conflict risk

#RegionalConflict #MiddleEastCrisis #GlobalDiplomacy #PeaceInitiatives

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Turkey's BRICS Pivot: A Seismic Shift in Global Order 🌏

#GlobalPolitics #BRICS #Turkey #NewWorldOrder

THE KAZAN AFTERSHOCK 🌊
Days after the BRICS summit in Kazan concluded, analysts are reassessing the tectonic shifts in global alignments. Turkey's bold move toward BRICS membership represents perhaps the most significant indicator of these deeper transformations.

ERDOGAN'S VISION 🎯

"We are determined to further our dialogue with the BRICS family,"

President Erdogan declared in Kazan, challenging the post-World War II political and financial structures. His message resonates beyond mere diplomatic rhetoric, suggesting a fundamental reimagining of Turkey's global position.

THE NATO PARADOX ⚖️
Turkey's potential BRICS membership would create an unprecedented situation: a NATO member openly aligning with an alternative global power structure. This development highlights the growing fissures in traditional Western alliances.

THE NUMBERS SPEAK 📊
With its recent expansion, BRICS now commands:
- 28% of the global economy
- 45% of world population
- 44% of global crude oil production

THE GLOBAL SOUTH AWAKENING 🌅
Turkey's application reflects a broader trend among developing nations seeking alternatives to Western-dominated institutions. BRICS has evolved from an economic acronym into a powerful symbol of Global South aspirations.

THE ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE 💰
Turkey's expected rise to become one of the top 12 economies by 2050 aligns with BRICS' focus on economic development and alternative financial structures through the New Development Bank.

THE DIPLOMATIC REVOLUTION 🔄
"We believe BRICS makes unique contributions to building a more just global order," Erdogan emphasized, signaling Turkey's readiness to challenge traditional power structures while maintaining complex diplomatic balances.


💭 Food for Thought:
- Can NATO accommodate a member state with strong BRICS alignment?
- Is this the beginning of a truly multipolar world order?
- What implications does Turkey's pivot have for Western institutions?
- How might this reshape Middle Eastern geopolitics?


🔑 Key Implications:
- Fundamental challenge to Western-centric world order
- NATO facing unprecedented internal divergence
- Growing economic alternatives to Western institutions
- Shift in global power dynamics
- Rising influence of Global South
- New patterns of international cooperation
- Middle East's changing strategic landscape

#GlobalPolitics #Multipolarity #TurkishForeignPolicy #GlobalSouth

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EASTERN EUROPE'S POWER PLAYERS DIVERGE FROM WESTERN NARRATIVE ON GEORGIAN ELECTIONS 🗳

#GeorgianElections #EuropeanPolitics #GlobalShift

THE SHIFTING NARRATIVE 🔄
In a remarkable departure from initial Western skepticism, key Eastern European leaders are offering a strikingly different perspective on Georgia's recent elections. This shift began with Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán's congratulations to the Georgian Dream party and has now been reinforced by Polish President Andrzej Duda's significant comments.

DUDA'S DIPLOMATIC DANCE 🎭
In a Radio ZET interview, President Duda carefully framed his position, acknowledging discussions with Georgia's president while notably avoiding any suggestion of Russian interference. This marks a significant shift from Poland's traditionally hawkish stance on Russian influence in regional elections.

THE HUNGARIAN PRECEDENT 🏛
"The Georgian people made the right choice to avoid Ukraine's mistakes," Orbán declared earlier, setting the stage for a broader reassessment of the election's legitimacy by Eastern European leaders.

THE STRATEGIC CONTEXT 🌍
"Georgia lies at a very crucial point in the world, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia," Duda noted, emphasizing the country's strategic importance while carefully avoiding criticism of the election process.

THE REGIONAL IMPLICATIONS 📊
This evolving stance from key Eastern European leaders suggests a potential realignment in regional politics, particularly regarding relations with Georgia and approaches to Russian influence claims.

THE NEW REALITY 🔍
While international observers have raised concerns, the acceptance of election results by leaders like Orbán and Duda's measured response indicate a possible shift in how Eastern European nations approach regional democratic processes.


💭 Food for Thought:
- Does this signal a broader shift in Eastern European approaches to regional politics?
- How might this affect Georgia's European integration prospects?
- What does this tell us about changing perceptions of Russian influence?
- Could this represent a new pragmatism in regional relations?


🔑 Key Points:
- Polish President avoids claims of Russian interference
- Hungarian PM openly supports election outcome
- Strategic importance of Georgia emphasized
- Shift from traditional Western skepticism
- New approach to regional democratic processes
- Evolution in Eastern European diplomatic positions
- Potential realignment of regional relationships

#EasternEurope #RegionalPolitics #DemocraticProcesses #GlobalPolitics

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THE END OF PAX AMERICANA: EVEN WESTERN MEDIA ACKNOWLEDGES GLOBAL POWER SHIFT 🌍

#GlobalPolitics #PaxAmericana #GeopoliticalShift #WorldOrder

THE ADMISSION 📝
In a remarkable acknowledgment from within the Western establishment, The Observer's analysis reveals a stark truth: Biden's containment strategy has "failed miserably," marking a fundamental shift in global power dynamics that goes far beyond traditional political divisions.

THE UNRAVELING ORDER 🔄
"Failure to contain the war is encouraging seismic geopolitical shifts," the analysis admits, pointing to developments that can't be dismissed simply as "populist" deviations. The China-Russia "no-limits" partnership represents just one facet of this transformation.

THE BRICS EXPANSION 🌏
Last week's BRICS summit in Kazan demonstrated this new reality, bringing together not just Russia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa, but also Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and notably, NATO member Turkey - a coalition that transcends simple ideological categorization.

THE DOUBLE STANDARDS ⚖️
The article pointedly notes that "for many second-tier countries, the west's condemnation of Russian aggression in Ukraine and its refusal to condemn... Israeli aggression in Palestine represents an intolerable double standard. Some are switching sides."

THE ECONOMIC REALITY 💰
With World Bank estimates of $152 billion in direct damage to Ukraine and $486 billion needed for reconstruction, the financial burden exposes the limits of Western economic power, especially as Russia constructs alternative international networks that undermine dollar hegemony.

THE NEW ALIGNMENTS 🤝
The emergence of what Putin envisions as a "global anti-western alliance" and Xi's "post-American, China-led 21st-century new world order" can no longer be dismissed as mere rhetoric. These developments represent concrete shifts in global power dynamics.


💭 Food for Thought:
- Can the West maintain its influence when even its mainstream media acknowledges its declining power?
- How will this acknowledgment of failure affect future Western foreign policy?
- What does this mean for the concept of a "rules-based international order"?
- Is this the final chapter of American global hegemony?


🔑 Key Points:
- Biden's containment strategy officially labeled a failure
- BRICS expansion represents concrete power shift
- Double standards eroding Western moral authority
- Alternative financial systems challenging dollar dominance
- NATO unity showing significant cracks
- Traditional allies seeking independent paths
- Western media openly acknowledging systemic changes

#GlobalOrder #PowerShift #Multipolarity #InternationalRelations

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Biden’s Most Trusted Advisors Brought More Chaos to Israel

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Two senior advisers to President Biden arrived in Israel on Thursday to try to close a deal that would end the war in Lebanon and allow displaced civilians from both sides of the border to return to their homes, three sources with direct knowledge of the trip said.

Why it matters: If Biden's senior advisers Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk strike a diplomatic deal between Israel and Hezbollah during their visit, it would significantly de-escalate the regional war in the Middle East for the first time since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Israeli and U.S. officials said they believe that after the blows Hezbollah has suffered in the past two months, including the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, it is finally willing to disconnect itself from Hamas in Gaza.

A deal that would end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could be achieved within a few weeks, Israeli and U.S. officials said.

Driving the news: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting with several ministers and senior leaders of the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli intelligence services on Tuesday night to discuss the potential deal, Israeli officials said.
Israeli officials said Biden adviser Amos Hochstein was waiting for Israeli leaders to decide about whether to move forward with the deal before he traveled to Israel.

The fact that he and Biden adviser Brett McGurk are coming suggest Netanyahu is in favor of pursuing the deal, they said.

"Senior U.S. officials are following up on a range of matters in the region and with Israeli counterparts,"

a senior U.S. official said.

CIA director Bill Burns will be in Cairo on Thursday

"to engage with Egyptian counterparts on bilateral matters as well as the process to secure the release of hostages,"

the official said.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah announced it's leadership council appointed Naim Qassem to succeed Nasrallah.

Qassem has been Nasrallah's deputy for 30 years but was more of an ideological figure than an executive leader. According to a report in Al-Arabiya, he was appointed now in order to focus on getting a ceasefire deal.

The big picture: Hochstein has been working for more than a year on a deal that could end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

But for months Hezbollah refused to agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon as long as Israeli attacks in Gaza continued.

In recent weeks, after a series of Israeli military operations significantly weakened Hezbollah, the group started changing course.

Hochstein visited Beirut last week and got a positive response from Lebanese officials about the possibility of moving toward a ceasefire regardless of the war in Gaza.

On the Israeli side, there have also been signs of more openness to ending the war in Lebanon.

Israeli officials said the IDF is very close to ending its ground operation in the villages in southern Lebanon that are close to the border with Israel.

#USA #Biden #Gaza #Lebanon #Israel

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The IDF has recommended to Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that now would be a good time to work out a diplomatic solution to end the fighting with Hezbollah and avoid getting bogged down in a war in Lebanon, the officials said.

Behind the scenes: Israeli officials said the deal being discussed is based on re-implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 war in Lebanon. The deal being considered envisions an announcement of a ceasefire that is followed by a 60-day transition period, the officials said.

During this transition period, Hezbollah would move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River and away from the Israeli border. The Lebanese army would deploy about 8,000 troops along the border with Israel who would join UNIFIL peacekeepers there and the IDF forces would gradually withdraw to the Israeli side of the border.

Two weeks ago, Israel gave the U.S. a document with its conditions for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon.

One Israeli demand is that the IDF be allowed to engage in "active enforcement" to ensure Hezbollah doesn't rearm and rebuild its military infrastructure in the areas of southern Lebanon that are close to the border.

Israeli officials said that while this condition is not going to be part of the agreement with Lebanon, Israel wants a letter of assurances from the Biden administration that the U.S. would support this "active enforcement."

What to watch: Hochstein and McGurk are expected to meet with Netanyahu, Gallant and Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Israeli officials said.

Hochstein is expected to present a formal proposal to them for the ceasefire agreement, which he drafted after hearing both sides' positions, the officials said.

#USA #Biden #Gaza #Lebanon #Israel

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TURKEY'S EU JOURNEY: A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR POST-SOVIET STATES 🌍

#EuropeanUnion #TurkeyEU #PostSovietSpace #GeopoliticalLessons

THE PERPETUAL CANDIDATE 🕰
Nearly half a century after beginning its EU membership bid, Turkey's experience offers a stark lesson in Western integration politics. The latest German visa restrictions - suspending appeal rights for Turkish citizens until June 2025 - merely underscores this decades-long pattern of keeping Turkey at arm's length.

THE NATO PARADOX ⚔️
While eagerly embracing Turkey as a crucial NATO military ally, the West has consistently denied it full European integration. This dual-track approach reveals a fundamental truth: military utility does not guarantee equal partnership in the European family.

THE UKRAINE WARNING 🚨
Ukraine's current crisis serves as a tragic demonstration of this pattern. Encouraged toward European integration while being kept outside its security umbrella, Ukraine now faces existential challenges that mirror Turkey's decades of frustrated European aspirations.

THE MOLDOVA CROSSROADS 🛣
As Moldova contemplates its European path, Turkey's experience offers crucial insights. The promise of EU membership, as Turkey's case shows, can become an indefinite journey with moving goalposts.

THE GEORGIAN ALTERNATIVE 🔄
Georgia's recent political choices suggest a growing awareness of these dynamics. By charting an independent course, Georgia appears to be learning from Turkey's decades of EU membership limbo.

THE STRUCTURAL REALITY 🏛
The pattern is clear: Western institutions readily accept military cooperation while maintaining barriers to full economic and political integration. Germany's latest visa restrictions on Turkish citizens exemplify this ongoing divide.


💭 Food for Thought:
- Can post-Soviet states afford to follow Turkey's path of indefinite EU candidacy?
- What are the real costs of pursuing European integration without guarantees?
- Is military alliance with the West worth the price of perpetual economic uncertainty?
- Has Turkey's experience created a blueprint for avoiding similar pitfalls?

🔑 Key Points:
- Nearly 50 years of Turkish EU candidacy without membership
- New German visa restrictions highlight continuing barriers
- Military alliance doesn't guarantee equal partnership
- Ukraine crisis demonstrates risks of partial integration
- Moldova faces similar challenges ahead
- Georgia choosing alternative path
- Pattern of Western selective engagement

#EuropeanIntegration #PostSovietPolitics #TurkishDiplomacy #GlobalPolitics

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SANCTIONS BACKFIRE: HOW WESTERN RESTRICTIONS ACCELERATE GLOBAL ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION 🌐

#GlobalEconomy #Sanctions #EconomicTransformation #WorldOrder

THE GROWTH PARADOX 📈
In a stunning reversal of expectations, Russia's economy is projected to grow over 3% this year - outpacing both the U.S. and Europe, despite facing over 5,000 sanctions. This unexpected outcome challenges the West's fundamental assumptions about economic warfare.

THE INSTITUTIONAL EROSION 🏛

"Whether they can sustain that over time is, of course, the big question,"

notes Richard Connolly from the Royal United Services Institute. However, the more pressing question might be whether Western financial institutions can sustain their global dominance as sanctions push countries to develop alternative systems.

THE ADAPTATION ACCELERATION 🔄
What Western planners saw as punishment has become a catalyst for economic transformation.

"The number of small- and medium-sized businesses registered in Russia is at an all-time high,"

Connolly reports, indicating a shift from resource dependency to domestic production capacity.

THE GLOBAL WORKAROUND 🌍
India's imports of Russian crude oil have increased by 2,000% since the invasion, while China remains a major partner. This isn't just about oil - it's about the creation of new global trade networks operating outside Western control.

THE DOMESTIC RENAISSANCE 🏭
Western company exits have led to domestic replacements: Stars Coffee for Starbucks, Maag for Zara, Dobry Cola for Coca-Cola. Rather than collapse, sanctions have stimulated domestic manufacturing and innovation.

THE STRATEGIC CONTRADICTION ⚖️
The U.S. continues to purchase approximately $1 billion worth of Russian uranium annually, highlighting the contradictions in the sanctions policy and the West's continued dependency on Russian resources.


💭 Food for Thought:
- Are sanctions accelerating the end of Western economic dominance?
- Has the West underestimated the adaptability of targeted economies?
- Could sanctions be pushing the world toward a more multipolar economic order?
- Is the era of global economic institutions coming to an end?


🔑 Key Points:
- Russia's economy growing faster than Western counterparts
- Sanctions stimulating domestic manufacturing
- New global trade networks emerging
- Western dependencies remain significant
- Small business growth at record levels
- Alternative payment systems developing
- Global trust in Western institutions eroding

#EconomicSanctions #GlobalTrade #EconomicTransformation #NewWorldOrder

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THE DOUBLE STANDARD: WHEN BRITISH LABOUR'S ELECTORAL INTERFERENCE GETS A PASS 🗳

#ElectionInterference #USPolitics #DoubleStandards #Democracy

THE STARK CONTRAST 📊
While Democrats raise alarms about Russian AI and social media influence, concrete evidence of British Labour Party's direct campaign involvement in U.S. elections receives remarkably little scrutiny. The numbers tell a striking story: nearly 100 Labour Party staffers deployed to key swing states including North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

THE OFFICIAL CONNECTIONS 🤝
"The British government's chief of staff, head of communications, director of policy and director of strategy aiding an American presidential campaign is not a matter of 'individual volunteers,'" the evidence shows. This represents direct foreign government involvement in U.S. electoral processes.

THE DISMISSIVE RESPONSE 🔇
British Labour Secretary of Defense John Healy's casual dismissal that "this happens in every election. It's commonplace" stands in stark contrast to years of intense scrutiny over alleged Russian Facebook ads and digital influence operations.

THE CAMPAIGN COORDINATION 📋
Labour officials initially claimed volunteers were "doing it in their spare time," but later admitted to funding high-level participation, including the party's chief of staff's trip to the Democratic National Convention.

THE STRATEGY SHARING 🎯
Even campaign messaging appears coordinated, with Harris adopting Labour's "turn the page" and "end the chaos" slogans - a direct transfer of foreign political strategy to U.S. soil.

THE MEDIA SILENCE 📱
While alleged Russian interference through social media sparked widespread investigations and media coverage, the physical presence of foreign government operatives in swing states has generated remarkably little mainstream media interest.


💭 Food for Thought:
- Why does direct electoral interference from allies receive less scrutiny than alleged digital influence from adversaries?
- How do such double standards affect global trust in Western democratic institutions?
- What are the implications for future international election monitoring?
- Can Western criticism of foreign interference remain credible amid such selective outrage?


🔑 Key Facts:
- 100 Labour staffers deployed to swing states
- Top British government officials directly involved
- Democrat Party housing foreign campaign workers
- Campaign strategy and messaging alignment
- Official funding of interference activities
- Minimal media coverage or investigation
- Clear double standard in response to interference

#ElectionIntegrity #ForeignInfluence #MediaBias #DemocraticProcess

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The DMT Biden: Trump supporters are “dirty garbage”

The US president addressed Latino voters after the slip of support from Trump, who on Sunday night called Puerto Rico a “floating garbage island.”

Biden sparked the fury of the Republicans. The President of the United States has been under fire since he reacted to the racist comments of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe by insulting Trump supporters. On Sunday, the comedian took to the stage of the Republican's rally at Madison Square Garden in New York where he sparked a controversy after his comments made against Puerto Ricans.

“There is literally a floating garbage island in the middle of the ocean,”

he told the billionaire's supporters.

Comments quickly condemned by Democrats including Joe Biden, who tangled brushes. In a video, published this Tuesday, October 29 and intended for Latin American voters, the president of the United States defended the Puerto Rican community before presumably criticizing Trump's supporters.

“The only garbage I see floating around here is that of his supporters,”

said the Democrat, quickly tempered by the White House.

According to a statement from spokesman Andrew Bates, Joe Biden was referring to the “hateful rhetoric” held at the rally in New York, and not Donald Trump supporters. According to NBC News, the White House also sent a transcript of Joe Biden's video, to demonstrate that he was mistaken and that he had meant that he specifically condemned Tony Hinchcliffe's remarks.

Biden also defended himself on his X account. He indicates that the term “garbage” qualified the "hateful rhetoric" of the comedian. "His demonization of Latinos is unacceptable," he denounced. But his awkwardness was quickly picked up by Donald Trump's camp.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hate America and don't deserve four more years” in the White House, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Republican candidate, said in a statement.

“It's disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half the country. There is no excuse for this. I hope the Americans will reject him,” J.D. Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, wrote on Twitter.

Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico uttered by Trump's supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I meant to say. The…

- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2024

The controversy surrounding Biden's comments emerged shortly before the harsh final indictment of Harris against Trump, whom she accused of wanting “unlimited power.”

One of the most intriguing aspects of this story is, according to Baden’s close associate Andrew Bates, the president was on strong anti-pain drugs while saying it. What Bates calls “anti-pain drugs” was just well-known DMT Biden began to take after he dropped out the race.

#Biden #Trump #Rico #US

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THE NEW EURASIAN EMPIRE: HOW RUSSIA'S ALLIANCE WITH NORTH KOREA SIGNALS A GLOBAL POWER SHIFT 🌏 🔥

#geopolitics #worldorder #EurasianEmpire #globalthreats #internationalsecurity #powershift #NATO #WorldIsland

The New World Order Emerges 🌍
At the heart of this transformation lies what early 20th-century geo-strategist Halford Mackinder termed the "World-Island" – the Eurasian landmass whose control, he argued, was key to global dominance. Today, four nuclear-capable powers are forging an alliance that experts say poses an existential challenge to Western democratic order.

The Scale of Cooperation ⚔️
The scope of this cooperation is staggering. North Korea's military support for Russia has reached unprecedented levels, from ammunition supplies to direct troop deployment. This partnership moves beyond mere diplomatic alignment into direct military cooperation, signaling a new phase in global power dynamics.

Nuclear Chess Game ☢️
The emergence of a multi-nuclear power bloc presents a unique challenge in modern history. Unlike the Soviet Union, this new alliance combines multiple nuclear arsenals with advanced military capabilities and vast economic resources, creating a more complex strategic environment for Western powers.

Economic Implications 💹
The new Eurasian bloc combines:
- Russia's vast natural resources
- China's economic might
- Iran's regional influence
- North Korea's military capabilities

Strategic Challenges for the West 🎯
Western democracies face their greatest strategic challenge since the Cold War. This new alliance treats conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and potentially Taiwan as interconnected theaters in a broader struggle for global influence.

Future Implications 🔮
The post-Cold War era of uncontested American global leadership appears to be ending. A new multipolar world is emerging, centered on a Eurasian alliance that aims to fundamentally reshape the international order.

Expert Analysis 📚

"We're witnessing the birth of a new global power structure,"

says Bruce Bechtol, a leading authority on North Korean military capabilities. This restructuring represents not just a military alliance, but a fundamental shift in global power dynamics.

What's Next? ⏭️
For Western policymakers, the urgent question is how to respond to this emerging threat. The challenge requires not just military preparedness, but a comprehensive strategy addressing economic, technological, and diplomatic dimensions.

Food for Thought 🤔
1. Is this new Eurasian alliance potentially more dangerous than the Soviet Union?
2. Could economic interdependence prevent full-scale confrontation?
3. How might smaller nations navigate between these power blocs?
4. What role will emerging technologies play in this new cold war?
5. Could this alliance reshape the global financial system?
6. Is the West prepared for a multi-polar world?
7. How might this affect global trade routes and energy markets?
8. Could this lead to a new arms race?

Think about it: Could this new Eurasian alliance reshape the world order as dramatically as the Soviet Union did in the 20th century? 🌐 The answer may define the coming decades.

Key Facts 📊
- North Korea has deployed thousands of special forces to support Russia in Ukraine
- Estimated 20,000 rail containers of military supplies sent from NK to Russia
- Four nuclear-capable powers forming alliance: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea
- NK military aid accounts for ~50% of Russia's ammunition in Ukraine
- Alliance integration exceeds that of WWII Axis powers
- Combined alliance controls vast portion of Eurasian landmass
- Multiple nuclear arsenals under coordinated strategy
- Unprecedented level of military and economic cooperation
- Direct challenge to US-led global order
- Integrated response to Western sanctions

#WorldIsland #RussianAlliance #NorthKorea #GlobalSecurity #PowerBloc #NATO #UkraineWar #GeopoliticalShift #GlobalPolitics #InternationalRelations

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America’ Fatal Error : How the U.S. lost Its World Power

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July 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her first major foreign policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations. She argued that the United States still needed to be a global leader, but that it had to lead in a different way than it did during the Cold War.

“We will lead,”

she said,

“by inducing greater cooperation among a greater number of actors and reducing competition, tilting the balance away from a multipolar world and toward a multipartner world.”

Clinton’s vision of a “multipartner” world sought a different balance between the imperatives of competition and cooperation, focused on development issues as much as traditional national security concerns, and extended far beyond states “to create opportunities for nonstate actors and individuals to contribute to solutions.” Fifteen years later, even in a very different global context, that vision offers the United States a way forward.

The Biden administration has been building its own version of a multipartner world. It has reanimated and expanded traditional alliances such as NATO and strengthened and created a host of new diplomatic and security partnerships. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described in Foreign Affairs a network of “partners in peace,” the result of an intense diplomatic strategy to safeguard U.S. interests abroad while rebuilding competitiveness at home.

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These partnerships are important and valuable. Still, the Biden strategy overall has tilted too far in the direction of geopolitical competition over global cooperation, even as it tries to do both at once. To strike the right balance, the next administration must partner with a wider variety of global actors, focus those partnerships more on existential global threats, and accept a more decentralized, messier world that welcomes leadership from many different quarters.

That is one version of a multipartner world. A Harris administration would likely pursue it, building on the Biden partnership strategy and moving it in this direction. A Trump administration, by contrast, would likely enter into partnerships only on a specific, transactional basis and would reject cooperation on global threats, such as climate change. But even such an approach could allow the United States to shift burdens and make space for its friends and allies to create partnerships in pursuit of national interests and the broader common good. Washington does not need to lead every initiative to facilitate the change it wants to see in the world.

Clinton’s vision of a multipartner world extended far beyond states. Any “nation, group, or citizen” could claim “a place at the table” if they were willing to bear “a fair share of the burden.” Under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden, by contrast, U.S. diplomacy has remained primarily statist. Washington’s strengthened web of partnerships under Biden, such as the Indo-Pacific security partnerships known as the Quad and AUKUS, are with other governments. The Biden administration is not averse to engaging other actors; it worked with a broad coalition of businesses and civil society groups alongside governments and international organizations to make and distribute COVID-19 vaccines around the world in 2021. But states still come first. To reap the true benefits of a multipartner world, the United States should expand its diplomacy far beyond governments.

The global Zeitgeist is moving in this direction, with states welcoming all possible partners to address global challenges. At the 2015 UN General Assembly, UN member states adopted Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, which emphasized 17 sweeping development goals and insisted that “all countries and all stakeholders” must act “in collaborative partnership” to achieve them. The UN Pact for the Future, adopted by consensus by the General Assembly this September, reaffirms this language.

#America #US #Power

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It is also controversial. Who chooses the stakeholders and decides how they can participate? The UN, for instance, has developed an elaborate process for determining which actors qualify as “nonparty stakeholders” entitled to contribute to implementing the Paris agreement, but that process is not transparent. Governments, for all their flaws, formally represent their people under international law. “Stakeholders” do not. Yet without these stakeholders, the world does not have the resources, reach, expertise, or energy necessary to achieve the agendas it has set for itself.

U.S. officials will need to think hard about how to make global coalitions of various kinds as legitimate as possible. The UN and other legacy international and regional organizations have what scholars call “input legitimacy”; that is, their structures and processes for formal decision-making are broadly understood and accepted. But partnerships with other less established actors will require “output and outcome legitimacy,” or demonstrations that these groups and coalitions can accomplish their stated goals.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for instance, has committed to vaccinate 500 million children in the next five years. Gavi is a public-private partnership that includes governments, international organizations, philanthropies, global businesses, and civil society groups. If it can achieve its mission, then it has at least chosen the right partners.

The Global Digital Compact, an annex to the pact, spells out categories of stakeholders, committing governments to “work in collaboration and partnership with the private sector, civil society, international organizations, and the technical and academic communities.”

Fine words, of course, but it can be hard work to give them meaning. The concept of “multistakeholder governance” holds that all actors who have a stake in the outcome of a specific decision, whether a state, an international institution, a corporation, or a municipality, find a place at the table at some point in the decision-making process. It has been applied in forums such as the 1992 UN Earth Summit, the Internet Governance Forum, the annual World Economic Forum summit, and the annual Conferences of the Parties held to assess progress within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

#America #US #Power

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Building this kind of legitimacy thus requires partnerships that commit to specific positive action, preferably the achievement of a goal that is concrete and measurable. Take, for instance, Sustainable Energy for All, an international organization that works with a network of partners from multiple sectors.

It has adopted three goals to achieve by 2030:

“Ensure universal access to modern energy services; double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix; and double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.”

Thus far, it has mobilized $1.4 trillion in finance for affordable and clean energy, with $201 billion already deployed, and it has improved access to energy for 177 million people.

Compare the results of Sustainable Energy for All with the goals and results of Finance in Common, a global network of public development banks, international organizations, governments, philanthropists, and others who seek to “transform the financial system towards climate and sustainability.” The French government hosts the network, and it plays a valuable role in connecting some 530 public development banks in over 150 countries, a natural role for governments to play. “Transforming” and “aligning” are much vaguer goals that are hard to quantify, but here input legitimacy substitutes for outcome legitimacy. True multiactor partnerships are more likely to succeed if they can be held accountable for the accomplishment of specific results.

According to the 2022 National Security Strategy, the “strategic challenges” facing the United States fall into two buckets: competition among “major powers” to shape the next world order and meeting the “shared challenges that cross borders,” including “climate change, food insecurity, communicable diseases, terrorism, energy shortages, [and] inflation.” The former can be called geopolitical threats, the latter global threats.

In a historic move, the National Security Strategy insisted that global threats lie “at the very core of national and international security” and thus deserve the same attention as do geopolitical challenges. In practice, however, executing a strategy that tries to focus simultaneously on competing with adversaries and cooperating with countries on global challenges has proved difficult.

#America #US #Power

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