Diplomacy & Crisis News

Regional cooperation didn’t lead to peace at the 1991 Madrid Conference—and it won’t today.

Ethen Kim Lieser

Social Security,

There are simple ways to maximize your Social Security checks. 

For tens of millions of American seniors who hope to have a comfortable retirement, every single dollar is precious.

That’s why it is incredibly important to make the right decisions at the right time regarding one’s Social Security benefits. A simple mistake could cost a senior tens of thousands of dollars. 

However, according to the financial site The Motley Fool, the bad news is that the monthly Social Security retirement benefit currently only comes in at a measly $1,559, amounting to roughly $18,700 annually.

“Chances are, that’s not looking like a perfectly sufficient annual income on which to live in retirement,” the site writes. “The good news is that you can, and should, supplement that with other income streams, such as retirement accounts, annuities, dividend-paying stocks, and perhaps even a pension, among other things.”

For those who are aiming to get their hands on more than just the average Social Security check, here are three helpful tips.

Delay Filing

It appears that the biggest decision one can make to net a higher monthly payout is to wait until turning seventy to file for Social Security benefits. “Workers planning for their retirement should be aware that retirement benefits depend on age at retirement. If a worker begins receiving benefits before his/her normal (or full) retirement age, the worker will receive a reduced benefit. A worker can choose to retire as early as age sixty-two, but doing so may result in a reduction of as much as thirty percent. Starting to receive benefits after normal retirement age may result in larger benefits. With delayed retirement credits, a person can receive his or her largest benefit by retiring at age seventy,” the Social Security Administration (SSA) notes.

Earn More While Working

Do keep in mind that Social Security benefits are primarily based on lifetime earnings. So, it’s best to always try to beef up one’s annual income. “If you’re not earning that much more than you have in the past, you can … juice your earnings for a few years or a lot of years by taking on a side gig or two. Think about ways you could generate more income that seem at least a little appealing. Maybe drive for a ride-sharing service on the weekends? Rent out your home or apartment now and then? Make and sell things online—like jewelry, crocheted items, candles, photographs, etc.? Do some freelance or contractor work? There are many possibilities,” the financial site writes.

Have a High-Earning Spouse

Spouses can have a huge impact on how much a senior will receive in their Social Security checks. This is true “when you're both receiving benefits, they will be more sizable due to your spouse’s bigger checks. If your partner dies before you, your household will go from two Social Security checks to just one—but you won’t be stuck with your smaller one. You’re allowed to start receiving the larger of the two from that point on,” writes The Motley Fool. 

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters

With mass civil protests against this week’s military coup planned for Saturday in Sudan, the UN Secretary-General has a simple message: “I urge the military to show restraint, and not to create any more victims.” 

Stephen Silver

North Korea, Asia

North Korea, facing potential economic devastation, is considering at least partially reopening its border with China. 

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea has taken extraordinary efforts to keep its border with China closed. While North Korea has claimed throughout the pandemic that it has zero cases of the coronavirus, its regime appears to have long been fearful that the virus could cross the border from China. 

Now, a new report says that North Korea, facing potential economic devastation, is considering at least partially reopening its border with China. 

According to Yonhap News Agency, the North Korean regime “appears to be making earnest preparations to reopen its train routes with China after a period of COVID-19-induced border controls.” 

This would follow the reopening of sea routes for the receipt of medical supplies. 

A spokesperson for South Korea’s unification ministry told Yonhap that the South Korean government “has detected signs indicating preparations for a trade resumption in the regions bordering China, such as the construction of a quarantine facility.” South Korea’s assessment is based on intelligence from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), which also reported that the North Koreans are talking with China and Russia to continue train operations.

“It’s hard to predict the exact date of their resumption. We will continue closely monitoring related movements,” the South Korea spokesperson told Yonhap. 

The report also said that, as Kim Jong-un’s tenth anniversary in power approaches, the regime has “removed portraits of Kim’s father and grandfather, former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, respectively, from the backdrop of official meetings in an apparent move to depart from the shadow of his predecessors.”

The regime has also begun using the term “Kimjongunism,” as a successor to Kimilsungism and Kimjongilism, as South Korean intelligence has determined, per Yonhap. 

Also, this week, a UN General Assembly committee approved three separate resolutions related to North Korea, including one demanding the “complete, verifiable and irreversible” abandonment of its nuclear program. 

“Other provisions would have the Assembly reaffirm its commitment to the complete, verifiable, and irreversible abandonment of all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), in accordance with relevant Security Council resolutions,” a summary quoted by Yonhap said. 

“The Assembly would reiterate its condemnation of the six nuclear tests conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions and urge that country’s full compliance… it would welcome all efforts and dialogue to that end, including inter‑Korean summits and summits between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the summary continued.

The resolution was rebuked by a North Korean delegate, the report said. The resolutions come as a push is underway for an end of the Korean war declaration.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

A rash of robbings, kidnappings, and even killings is aggravating Afghanistan’s dire situation.

The United States and its allies need to do more than talk about democracy; they must act to defend it.

Ethen Kim Lieser

Coronavirus,

It could be caused by overconfidence and America’s poor vaccination numbers. 

Recent data indicate that new coronavirus infections in the United States have plunged nearly sixty percent since the September spike that was brought on by the highly contagious Delta variant.

However, there are still several states that are struggling to handle rising cases, especially as colder weather brings more people indoors and may make viral transmission much easier. The complacency that comes with improved data combined with the still high numbers of unvaccinated Americans could, in fact, help start a deadly fifth wave of the virus, according to Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

“Just remember that sixty-five million Americans who could be vaccinated right now are not. That is more than enough human wood for this coronavirus forest fire to burn. So, we’ll see when the case numbers come down with this surge, just as we have with the previous surges,” Osterholm noted in a recent interview on Minnesota Public Radio.

“And you may recall last spring that I thought the darkest days of the pandemic were ahead of us. And we were facing that June period when everybody said, ‘Oh, it’s done.’ We’ve got vaccines, hardly any cases—and then look what happened. Well, that's going to happen again because you have places like New York City, L.A., and other large metropolitan areas with lots of people. … I can’t say this enough times: If you are not vaccinated, this virus will find you. And you will know a COVID-19-related outcome. We could see again major activity. (It could be this) winter, next spring, I don’t know when but it’s not done. It is not done. The one thing that will help us get it done is to get vaccinated,” he continued.

Osterholm is also a strong proponent of booster shots, saying that they “are absolutely a part of the future. When you think about what we’ve done with these vaccines over the course of the last eighteen to twenty months … these vaccines are really incredible, but they’re not perfect.”

COVID Becoming Endemic?

As to whether COVID-19 will eventually become endemic like the seasonal flu, Osterholm stated that he believes “that will happen … [but] I don’t know when.”

“Every morning I get up I scrape those five inches of crusted mud off my crystal ball. And every day, it seems cloudier and cloudier. If we see a major change and variant, and they do something different than they’re doing now, that could surely cloud the picture of: When does it just become like flu? Like every year, we have some cases, we may have some moderate increase in cases,” Osterholm added.

“But that is not what it’s doing now. I think we forget about the fact of just what damage this virus has done with over the seven hundred thousand deaths that have occurred—one out of every five hundred Americans has died from this virus. That’s amazing when we look at the fact that there are now over a hundred forty thousand kids in this country who have been orphaned, or whose sole caregiver has died, because of COVID-19,” he concluded.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters. 

Staff fear ambitious goals won’t trickle down to the rank and file

Countries must step up urgent action to address the water-related consequences of climate change, the head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and nine other international organizations said on Friday in a letter to world leaders issued ahead of the COP26 UN climate change conference. 

The director of the only media outlet in the country to cover the Pandora Papers speaks out.

Stephen Silver

DirecTV,

DirecTV’s exclusivity is set to expire after the 2022 season, and the NFL has been vocal about wanting to go with a different partner. 

It’s been known for quite a while that the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package, which has been exclusive to DirecTV since it first launched in 1994, is going to come up for bid in the near future. DirecTV’s exclusivity is set to expire after the 2022 season, and the NFL has been vocal about wanting to go with a different partner. 

This week, the NFL commissioner made that clear in public comments. 

According to CNBC, the issue came up at NFL owners’ meetings in New York this week, the first time since the pandemic it occurred in person. And while the CNBC story concentrated on recent controversies involving the e-mail scandal of former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden and allegations of misconduct at the Washington Football Team, the Sunday Ticket issue was still raised. 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called Sunday Ticket a “streaming product,” and indicated that it will move from a satellite project to a digital one, as CNBC characterized his comments. 

“I think that is best for our fans to make it accessible on a digital platform,” the commissioner said. 

The report, cited “a person familiar with the NFL’s thinking about Sunday Ticket” told the network that “several tech companies” are interested in the package. The story also said that “in league circles, the rumblings suggest the NFL eventually wants to lure Apple to take it over.” 

CNBC reiterated that the NFL would like to offer creative options in Sunday Ticket, including “giving consumers the option to purchase individual team games,” as well as possibly allowing different streaming services to carry the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) packages, the way those conferences are split between CBS and Fox on Sunday afternoons. 

Some reports of late have stated that DirecTV could retain the satellite side of the Sunday Ticket package, but the CNBC story did not mention that possibility. Also reported by CNBC was that the NFL hired Goldman Sachs last year to find investment partners in NFL.com and the NFL Network. 

The report added that the NFL hopes to for an agreement with a new partner before the start of next season, even though it wouldn’t go into effect until the season after that. 

Earlier this year, the NFL extended its standard TV deals, maintaining Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC/ESPN as partners, while adding streaming elements to the package. Those include Amazon Prime as the new exclusive home of the Thursday Night Football package. Amazon has also been mentioned as a possible partner for Sunday Ticket. 

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

Caleb Larson

Drones,

The Pentagon awarded development contracts to two of America’s unmanned aerial vehicle heavyweights to develop a new UAV as soon as next year.

The United States Department of Defense has awarded development contracts to Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to develop an Off-Boarding Sensing Station (OBSS) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Both contracts, which were awarded separately, cover “the design, development, and flight demonstration in an open architecture aircraft concept to achieve the goals of rapid time-to-market and low acquisition cost,” with both companies’ work anticipated to be completed by October 31st, 2022. The Department of Defense awarded both companies about $17.7 million each and included an option for the companies to increase their payouts to just under $32 million.

Kratos’ Off-Boarding Sensing Station 

Kratos’s statement regarding the award explains that the OBSS will be an entirely new unmanned aerial system. However, like Kratos’s other offerings, it is “intended to be an affordable, highly modular conventional takeoff and landing jet-powered” aerial vehicle.

While details on the new UAVs are murky, Kratos asserted that the “OBSS solution incorporates innovative manufacturing techniques that enhance its ability to not only provide significant performance for sensor extension missions for manned jet aircraft but also will accommodate significant offensive weapons volume to also act as a weapons bay extension for manned aircraft.”

Furthermore, the OBSS is “a new addition to the Kratos family of low-cost Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP) designed to employ weapons, sensors, and other effects that generate affordable, force multiplier combat power with a forward force posture.”

General Atomics’s Off-Boarding Sensing Station

Even less is known about General Atomics’s OBSS. However, the company has a very long track record building unmanned aerial vehicles and has been a prolific designer of UAVs over the last several decades.

General Atomics’s legendary Reaper and Predator drones made their combat debuts during America’s recent conflicts in the Middle East. More recently, General Atomics unveiled the new Predator C Avenger. Powered by a single jet engine buried in the platform’s fuselage and featuring a stealthily designed fuselage, General Atomics calls this Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)  the next generation in remotely piloted aircraft.

General Atomics has also participated in the U.S. Air Force’s Skyborg program, an effort to develop low-cost unmanned aerial platforms capable of flying alongside manned aircraft. Flying in tandem, these expendable aircraft would fly far ahead into contested airspace, finding and assessing threats. In some cases, armed unmanned vehicles could also eliminate threats on their own.

Both General Atomics and Kratos will have to submit prototypes by next year. However, if they exercise the additional funding option, they will have until early 2024 to finalize designs.

Caleb Larson is a multimedia journalist and Defense Writer with the National Interest. He lives in Berlin and covers the intersection of conflict, security, and technology, focusing on American foreign policy, European security, and German society.

Image: Reuters

At COP26, leaders must find ways to allow much greater economic growth across large parts of the world.

Charlie Gao

Singapore, Asia

While it’s clear Singapore’s Air Force packs a significant air-to-air punch, its mission is not to just protect Singapore itself but its interests in the immediate region.

Here's What You Need to Remember: Overall, unlike their neighbors, Singapore has gone “all in” with Western tech. The common origins of their aircraft probably make resupply and maintenance easier. This trend looks to continue now that Singapore is looking into the F-35 as a replacement for their F-5Es. They also have the significant advantage of having AWACS aircraft, unlike their two closest neighbors.

Despite its small geographical size, Singapore fields one of the most advanced and well-equipped militaries in South East Asia. It spends more on its military than any of its neighbors. Being a tiny city-state, one of the strongest arms of the Singaporean military is the Republic of Singapore Air Force. But how does it stack up against its neighbors, from the small to the big? Does Western tech really provide the level of advantage it needs to defend itself?

The backbone of the RSAF is a fleet of F-15 and F-16 fighters. The RSAF fields forty F-15SG Eagles, forty F-16Ds, and twenty F-16Cs. These are augmented by around thirty F-5S Tiger II and some A-4 Skyhawks in storage. Singapore also fields an AWACS capability with five Israeli modified Gulfstream 550 jets.

Out of all those aircraft, Singapore’s strongest fighter is definitely the F-15SG, itself a variant of the F-15E. The most important advantage the F-15SG has is the APG-63(V)3 AESA radar, which one of the best aircraft mounted radars on any fighter in the region.

AESAs also have the capability to perform electronic warfare (EW) tasks: they can actively degrade the lock of an active radar guided missile while scanning at the same time due to their electronic nature. The RSAF F-16s are also rumored to be undergoing similar upgrades to receive AESAs of their own.

The F-15SG also has an IRST system, which gives it the capability to detect and lock onto aircraft with infrared missiles without even switching on the radar. The IRST bulb is positioned on a pod pylon under the left engine of the F-15SG and is directly integrated into the plane.

To make the actual kill, the F-15SG wields the advanced AIM-9X Block II air-to-air missile. This is integrated with the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System helmet, which allows the seeker to track where the pilot is looking, allowing for the missile to lock onto targets off boresight.

While the Soviet Air Force pioneered this capability with the R-73 and Su-27/MiG-29 aircraft (including those fielded by its neighbors), the JHMCS and AIM-9X Block II take it to even further levels, with a wider seeker lock angle than what can be achieved with the Russian system.

For longer range targets, Singapore has access to advanced long-range active radar homing air-to-air missiles: the AIM-120C-7. It also has stocks of the medium-range AIM-120C-5. These can be fired from both the F-15 and F-16s Singapore has, although it’s likely the F-15 will be able to achieve a lock earlier on with its AESA radar.

While it’s clear Singapore’s Air Force packs a significant air-to-air punch, its mission is not to just protect Singapore itself but its interests in the immediate region. As a result, they have significant stocks of the AGM-154 JSOW, a long ranged American glide bomb that can fly up to 130km away. While these could be used to deliver an alpha strike against an opponent, Singapore is expected to use them more in an anti-shipping role.

One of Singapore’s greatest fighter threats might come from Indonesia, which bought the advanced Su-35S earlier this year. However, they are fewer in number than Singapore’s F-15SG fleet. Indonesia also fields many more different types of aircraft: the Indonesian Air Force has F-16s, original Su-27s, two different variants of the Su-30, and F-5E Tiger II s as well. Obviously, this results in greater maintenance and sustainment issues for Indonesia.

Another strong air force that could face Singapore is China’s PLAN aviation. China also has J-15 carrier fighters. These largely are Chinese-developed variants of the first-generation Su-27S Flankers China first received in the 1990s. While on paper they have the same capabilities as the F-15SG (ARH missiles, IRST, advanced radar), China’s Flankers are still considered to be underpowered due to their engines.

Malaysia also is a strong contender, fielding a weird mix of Western and Eastern planes like Indonesia. Unlike Indonesia, most of their Flankers are of older variants, and a good portion of their fighter fleet is relatively obsolete MiG-29s. They also do field the AIM-9X Block II like Singapore.

Overall, unlike their neighbors, Singapore has gone “all in” with Western tech. The common origins of their aircraft probably make resupply and maintenance easier. This trend looks to continue now that Singapore is looking into the F-35 as a replacement for their F-5Es. They also have the significant advantage of having AWACS aircraft, unlike their two closest neighbors.

Charlie Gao studied political and computer science at Grinnell College and is a frequent commentator on defense and national-security issues.

This article first appeared in August 2018 and is being reposted due to reader interest.

Image: Reuters

Plongée dans l'un des dix camps de réfugiés de Muzaffarabad, la capitale montagneuse de l'Azad Cachemire, qui abritent les populations cachemiries victimes du conflit opposant l'Inde et le Pakistan depuis la partition, en 1947. / Inde, Pakistan, Armée, Armement, Conflit, Géopolitique, Mouvement de (...) / Inde, Pakistan, Armée, Armement, Conflit, Géopolitique, Mouvement de contestation, Politique, Prison, Réfugiés, Violence, Conflit du Cachemire 1949-, Répression, Frontières - 2016/09

Peter Suciu

Arms Sales, Middle East

Critics of the deal have been vocal that the Biden administration’s deal with Saudi Arabia contradicts the spirit of the White House’s policy to bar all “offensive weapons sales” to the kingdom, as those weapons could be used against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Last month the United States Department of State approved a potential agreement for a sale of up to $500 million of military hardware to Saudi Arabia. The agreement was the first major defense agreement with the Middle Eastern nation to be sent to Congress for review since President Joe Biden took office in January.

However, the agreement has opened up a number of questions and follows criticism of U.S. ties to the kingdom over its human rights record, as well as Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the ongoing civil war in Yemen.

According to the State Department, the package of military equipment would also provide continued maintenance support services for a wide range of helicopters, including a future fleet of Boeing CH-47D Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, Reuters reported in September.

“This proposed sale will support U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East,” the State Department said in a statement.

Contradicting White House Policy?

Critics of the deal have been vocal that the Biden administration’s deal with Saudi Arabia contradicts the spirit of the White House’s policy to bar all “offensive weapons sales” to the kingdom, as those weapons could be used against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

President Biden previously pledged to end the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, and to end all support for the civil war, which the administration maintains has created “a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.”

And yet, as The Guardian reported this week, “Saudi Arabia was given permission by the state department to enter a contract to support the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command’s fleet of Apache helicopters, Blackhawks, and a future fleet of Chinook helicopters. It includes training and the service of 350 U.S. contractors for the next two years, as well as two U.S. government staff.”

Critics of the decision argue that it contradicts Biden’s very first foreign policy objective.

“To my mind, this is a direct contradiction to the administration’s policy. This equipment can absolutely be used in offensive operations, so I find this particularly troubling,” Seth Binder, director of advocacy at the Project on Middle East Democracy, told The Guardian.

It is clear that despite the harsh rhetoric from the White House earlier this year, it now seems that the administration is softening its stance with Saudi Arabia, which remains a key U.S. ally in the region.

Experts who have studied the conflict in Yemen have said they believe the Saudis have used the Apaches in operations along the Saudi-Yemen border, but to what extent isn’t clear. Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, has suggested that the U.S.-made aircraft had been primarily used in “defensive” operations along the border and that the sale of the maintenance contract shouldn’t be seen as contrary to Biden’s policy.

The State Department also told The Guardian that the United States would continue to work with the kingdom “to help strengthen its defenses, as necessitated by the increasing number of Houthi attacks into Saudi territory. This proposed continuation of maintenance support services helps Saudi Arabia maintain self-defense capabilities to meet current and future threats. These policies are intertwined with the direction by President Biden to revitalize U.S. diplomacy in support of the UN-led process to reach a political settlement and end the war in Yemen.”

It is likely that the Biden administration now fully understands that even as it touted a strong stance against Saudi Arabia on the campaign trail, the situation with Yemen is far more complex. The reality is that the United States can’t afford to let the conflict in Yemen spread into the kingdom, and the United States certainly can’t leave Saudi Arabia unable to defend itself from attacks nor have its hands tied in how it can respond. Thus it will have to accept that the weapons will be used defensively—even if sometimes the best defense means going on the offensive.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Flickr

Trevor Filseth

Capitol Riot,

The release of a trailer for Carlson's new "Patriot Purge" special prompted immediate backlash online, and a number of observers highlighted factual inaccuracies it contained.

On Wednesday evening, Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced that the network would be airing a documentary on the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. 

A trailer for the documentary, entitled “Patriot Purge,” briefly outlined its content, arguing that the U.S. government had shifted its “war on terror” from Islamist terror groups abroad to right-wing groups in the United States. The trailer describes the government’s investigation into these groups as a “plot against the people” and claims that the Biden administration is attempting to criminalize dissenting views.

“The helicopters have left Afghanistan, and they’ve landed here at home,” Carlson claimed in a voiceover, suggesting that U.S. resources directed towards Afghanistan had been redeployed against American citizens.

The trailer’s release prompted immediate backlash online, and a number of observers highlighted factual inaccuracies it contained. One of the trailer’s interviewees dubiously suggested that conservatives had been imprisoned in America’s controversial Guantanamo Bay detention camp in southern Cuba. This is not true. According to the government, around forty prisoners remain in Guantanamo’s detention facility; none of them are U.S. citizens, although at least one U.S. citizen has been imprisoned in the camp in the past. 

The trailer also featured a speaker who claimed that the January 6 incident was a “false flag” attack planned by government agencies to discredit the pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” movement seeking to overturn the results of the November 2020 election. This claim echoes a false theory popular in the aftermath of the attack that claimed it had been instigated by “Antifa” militants disguised as pro-Trump protesters.

In the aftermath of the Capitol riot, more than 650 attendees have been arrested and charged with illegally entering the building, although the FBI’s investigation remains open and it has continued to search for more attendees. 

Democrats and moderate Republicans quickly condemned the documentary trailer, describing it as an incitement to violence.

“It appears that Fox News is giving Tucker Carlson a platform to spread the same type of lies that provoked violence on January 6,” Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY), a prominent anti-Trump legislator and one of the two Republican members of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, tweeted.

“Anyone working for Fox News must speak out. This is disgusting. It appears Fox News isn’t even pretending anymore,” Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), the other Republican committee member, wrote.

Some conservative sources, however, defended the trailer, insisting that government informants had infiltrated the preparations for the January 6 attack and had done nothing to prevent it.

Carlson claimed on Wednesday that he was “proud” of the documentary series, and described it as “the best thing we’ve ever done.”

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Flickr/Gage Skidmore

A “revolving door” premiership would have consequences both at home and abroad.

The UN Special Representative for Mali told the Security Council on Friday that despite collective efforts, “the reality is that the security situation has deteriorated and the crisis is deepening”, across the northwest African nation. 

Trevor Filseth

Facebook,

Can a name change help Facebook shake its bad PR?

Following weeks of rumors, Facebook has rebranded itself as “Meta,” expanding its identity beyond the flagship social network that has come under increased scrutiny for its alleged reluctance to filter extreme or toxic content.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed the move as a shift towards the creation of a “metaverse,” an augmented virtual reality in which people can interact with each other, both for business and for entertainment.

“The metaverse is the next frontier,” Zuckerberg announced at Facebook’s virtual Connect conference on Thursday. “From now on, we’re going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first.”

Zuckerberg justified the name change on the basis that the company’s brand was closely linked to “one product that can’t possibly represent everything we’re doing today, let alone in the future.” Another reason he cited for the changes was the company’s attempt to refocus on young adults, who have increasingly begun to use competitor apps such as ByteDance’s TikTok. 

Left unmentioned was Facebook’s ongoing public relations problem, made acute by the release of thousands of internal company documents by whistleblower Frances Haugen to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. While the company has argued that selecting a small subset of its internal discussions amounts to cherry-picking, the revelations in the leaks have led to a media firestorm and prompted a congressional investigation.

Another concern for the company’s future regards user privacy and the extent to which services such as Facebook and Google collect, log, and sell users’ information. Zuckerberg promised that the future “metaverse” would have full disclosure about its data use, a feature that Facebook has substantially lacked.

Zuckerberg confirmed that the name change would not affect any of the company’s day-to-day operations.

While the company’s vision for the ‘metaverse’ will not be achievable for some time, it has already begun marketing virtual-reality (VR) technology, including its Oculus VR headsets. Meta announced that its investments in its VR division, now known as “Reality Labs,” would cost the company around $10 billion in operating profit. 

Facebook, which will remain the company’s flagship service, is now used by around 3 billion people worldwide, more than one-third of the global population. In terms of market capitalization, it is estimated to be the sixth-most valuable company in the world, with revenue of nearly $120 billion. The company also owns the popular image-sharing platform Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp.

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters