‘The new Cold War is between countries and super-cartels’
Paulina Velasco at The Hill
Mexico’s “drug cartels are so tenacious, so powerful, that under intense pressure, they forge diamonds,” says Paulina Velasco. A “seismic shift in global organized crime demands that the U.S. urgently rethink its approach.” The White House “must take the cartels and their insidious grip on power seriously.” Heavy “U.S. military incursions risk triggering exactly what cartels thrive on: chaos.” We can “out-organize, out-resource and out-strategize the cartels by treating them like the geopolitical actors they’ve become.”
‘In turbulent economic times, professionals benefit from forming unions’
Jennifer Dorning at Newsweek
Professionals can be “passive recipients of change or to actively shape our future,” says Jennifer Dorning. By “joining together in union with our coworkers we can assert some measure of control and predictability over our work lives.” Union “membership offers a proven path not only to enhance economic standing but also to build a crucial sense of security and predictability.” Exploring the “benefits of unionization and reaching out to an organizer today is a powerful step.”
‘Sydney Sweeney’s ad shows an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness’
Hannah Holland at MSNBC
American Eagle “debuted an advertisement campaign starring actor Sydney Sweeney,” and the “internet has been quick to condemn the advertisement as noninclusive at best and as overtly promoting ‘white supremacy’ and ‘Nazi propaganda’ at worst,” says Hannah Holland. The ad “reflects an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness, conservatism and capitalist exploitation.” Sweeney is “both a symptom and a participant.” It “isn’t just that far-right ideology is proliferating on the fringe; our entire cultural ethos has moved further right.”
‘Put the Quad to work on energy security’
Larry W. Schwartz and Narayan Subramanian at Foreign Policy
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan has “struggled to define a clear purpose beyond counterbalancing China,” say Larry W. Schwartz and Narayan Subramanian. The “grouping has largely fallen short of delivering tangible economic cooperation.” The Quad “now stands out as one of the few platforms where energy security and economic resilience continue to draw bipartisan urgency.” It “must move beyond fragmented supply chain coordination and articulate a shared vision for energy cooperation.”
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
