Global Political Communications Daily
September 2, 2021

Sponsored by Caracal

Qin Gang, Emmanuel Macron, Kamala Harris, Gary Gensler, Dominic Raab

TOP FIVE

1. China's new US ambassador goes full wolf

2. Macron plans to tackle Marseille’s drug crime

3. Biden bucks foreign policy elite

4. Madagascar is on the brink of famine

5. SEC Boss: Crypto platforms need regulation to survive

ASIA

Taliban battle opposition militias, wield new power in Kabul: Hundreds of American citizens and residents look for a way out of Afghanistan after US forces depart.
WSJ

AFP: Qatar team in Kabul for restart of 'airport ops'

India’s world-beating GDP can’t mask the pain of the pandemic: The economy was in trouble even before the second wave, and now fresh gains for India Inc. are coming at the expense of households and tiny enterprises.
Andy Mukherjee

Analysis: A footnote on Cultural Revolution hints at Xi headwinds: President paints school textbooks in own color, but intra-party tug-of-war continues.
Nikkei

China’s curb on video games will prove futile: Xi Jinping’s regime seeks to improve young people by tightening control but it underestimates human drive and ingenuity
David Aaronovitch

9/11, 20 years later: How China used the attacks to its strategic advantage
SCMP

+ Beijing saw the opportunity to reset its relationship with Washington, which needed its support and agreed to label ETIM a terrorist group

+ More recently, analysts say, the US focus on other theatres has emboldened China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea and elsewhere

‘Spiral into crisis’: The US-China military hotline is dangerously broken: The Pentagon just had its first virtual meeting with China's military. But former officials warn the communications gap could lead to war.
Politico

China's new US ambassador goes full wolf in first major speech: Qin Gang warns of “disastrous consequences” if the US seeks to suppress China using a “Cold War playbook.”
Politico

Taiwan warns of China’s ability to ‘paralyze’ island’s defenses
Bloomberg

Suga abandons snap election in 11th-hour meeting with party brass: Prime minister shifts focus to leadership revamp to boost flagging support.
Nikkei

SCMP: Update to Australia’s foreign interference guidelines for universities could fuel prejudice against Chinese, academics warn

+ Changes to guidelines introduced amid heightened scrutiny of Chinese influence on campus may include training students to recognize and report foreign meddling

+ ‘Reds under the bed’ tone is overkill that could lead to more self-censorship by Chinese students as well as fuel anti-Asian prejudice, academics say

EUROPE

Macron and Rutte’s pre-summit dinner date: Never mind the EU summit, this week’s most important leader meeting was over dinner in The Hague.
Politico

AFP: Marseille's drug crime in spotlight as Macron visits

AFP: Macron plans to tackle Marseille’s drug crime, with eye on re-election

The Times: Emmanuel Macron braves Marseilles’ ‘ghetto’ to kickstart his re-election bid

British embassy left details of Afghan staff for Taliban to find: While militants looked on, Anthony Loyd found startling paperwork abandoned by British officials in their retreat.
The Times

Afghanistan: Dominic Raab blames Ministry of Defence over ‘clearly wrong’ intelligence: Foreign secretary to face MPs over ‘failings’ in his department.
The Times

Britain’s foreign secretary isn’t up to the job: Dominic Raab fails to rise to the challenge of Britain’s biggest foreign-policy crisis in decades.
Economist

MoD could move UK nuclear subs abroad if Scotland breaks away: Contingency plans for Trident look at US and French bases if no long-term lease possible on navy facilities like Faslane.
FT

US 'clearly' has less appetite for foreign intervention: UK's Raab: British foreign secretary grilled in Parliament as EU countries brace for refugees.
Nikkei

NATO allies are preparing for a future without America’s “forever wars”: How the US’s Afghanistan withdrawal echoed overseas.
Vox

NORTH AMERICA

From 9/11 to 1/6: The war on terror supercharged the far right.
Cynthia Miller-Idriss

With Afghan retreat, Biden bucks foreign policy elite: The president, following one of his core beliefs, has put himself at odds with much of the establishment, on the right and left, in Washington and across Europe.
NYT

A dishonest Afghanistan accounting: Biden spins a tragedy for US interests into an antiwar victory.
WSJ - Editorial

‘Egregiously mishandled’: Afghanistan chaos dents Biden’s popularity: Execution of pullout has hurt US president domestically despite broad support for ending the war.
FT

Shocked and awkward: Biden's Afghanistan pullout divides America: As Taliban declare independence, the blame game intensifies.
Nikkei

Even voters who like Kamala Harris worry about her future: The vice president struggles in public opinion polls. Voters in Pennsylvania locales essential in the Democratic Party electoral map helps explain why.
LAT

Politico deal gives Axel Springer profits and a US platform: The purchase allows the German company to battle the tech titans on two fronts.
Brooke Masters

US DOJ readying Google antitrust lawsuit over ad-tech business
Bloomberg

Intuit is reportedly in talks to buy Mailchimp, the email marketing firm, in a deal that could be worth more than $10 billion.

Crypto platforms need regulation to survive, says SEC boss: Gary Gensler warns $2tn industry is too big to exist outside of the ‘public policy framework.’
FT

Space junk, long feared, is now an imminent threat: With thousands of new satellites poised to launch in the next few years, collisions with orbiting debris look increasingly unavoidable. What now?
Adam Minter

REST OF THE WORLD

Madagascar is on the brink of famine: Climate change, COVID-19, and bad governance are to blame.
Economist

AFP: Nigeria gunmen kidnap 73 students from high school in northwest


Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

Curation and commentary by Marc A. Ross | Founder @ Caracal