Europe's politicians and groups aren't ready to give up on TikTok yet.
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Monday 27 March 2023
Israel's leaders must find compromise on legislation that is tearing country apart, White House says
The White House on Sunday urged “Israeli leaders to find a compromise as soon as possible,” as widespread unrest broke out in Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister for objecting to judicial reforms that Netanyahu is seeking to enact.
“We are deeply concerned by today’s developments out of Israel, which further underscore the urgent need for compromise,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “As the President recently discussed with Prime Minister Netanyahu, democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
The turmoil started when Netanyahu, newly returned to office after another in a seemingly endless series of extremely close elections, announced a plan to overhaul the judiciary. Netanyahu’s package of judicial changes would essentially strip Israel’s top court of its independence and defang the nation’s courts by making it possible for the government to pass legislation that can’t be reviewed by judges.
Protests against the measures have been widespread for weeks. Opponents have characterized the plans as anti-democratic and a boost to Netanyahu’s power at a time when the prime minister himself is facing criminal charges.
“It’s an attack on the very soul and nature of our democracy,” former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said earlier this month. Barak urged Israelis to resort to mass civil disobedience to block the judicial reforms.
On Saturday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke out against the legislation; on Sunday, Netanyahu fired him, saying, “We must all stand strong against refusal.”
Protests against Gallant’s firing immediately broke out in Israel’s major cities. The Associated Press reported that “protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a main highway and lit large bonfires, while police scuffled with protesters who gathered outside Netanyahu’s private home in Jerusalem.”
The White House statement said that disagreements over Netanyahu’s current policies would not disrupt the U.S.-Israel relationship, which traditionally has been very close.
“U.S. support for Israel’s security and democracy remains ironclad,” the statement said.
Given America’s close relationship with Israel, and the Biden administration’s general hesitation to openly criticize such an important Middle Eastern ally, the White House statement on Sunday was relatively pointed.
The administration has known for a while that this Netanyahu-led coalition is an unusually extreme one, but it had hoped that Netanyahu could keep it in line. The prime minister had insisted that the far-right members of his coalition were joining him and not the other way around, and that he was in charge.
As a result, Biden administration officials had said they intended to hold him responsible for whatever happened. But they were also keenly aware of the many factors that Netanyahu is juggling, including his desire to avoid further prosecution on corruption charges — one of the reasons he is believed to have acquiesced to some of the demands of his coalition partners.
When asked on Sunday whether the administration had any immediate Israel-related plans beyond issuing the statement, U.S. officials did not offer comment.
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Harris seeks to reset U.S.-Africa relations on 3-nation tour
ACCRA, Ghana — For Vice President Kamala Harris' first trip in office to Africa, the goal is nothing less than the resetting of relations between the United States and the countries she's scheduled to visit.
Fearful that China has gained a huge economic foothold on the continent, the Biden administration is trying to not just loosen that grip but encourage more American businesses to invest in African nations.
Harris’ arrival Sunday marks the latest, most high-profile effort to achieve those ends. She is the fifth top Biden administration official to visit Africa this year: U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came in January, first lady Jill Biden visited in February and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the trip earlier this month. President Joe Biden plans to visit later in the year.
In Ghana, Harris’ primary focus is on elevating the nation’s youth — and she noted the median age of Africans is 19.
“What that tells us about the growth, of opportunities, of innovation, possibilities — I see in all of that, great opportunity not only for people of this continent, but for people of the world,” Harris told the crowd of dignitaries, dancers, drummers and schoolchildren who had greeted her.
But Ghana isn’t her only audience. Harris also will spend time in Tanzania and Zambia over her seven days on the continent. She’ll hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of each of the three nations, visit Ghana’s Cape Coast slave castle and make announcements about public-private sector investments.
The trip is intended to help make good on the administration’s commitments from December at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
But for Harris, the first Black U.S. vice president, it also carries especially high stakes. Her task will be to convince the African nations that the United States wants to truly invest in the future of the countries here and help change the narrative for Americans and encourage more business investments.
For decades, the perception of the U.S. has been that it treats African countries like charity cases, according to several regional experts. That was exacerbated during the Trump administration, which largely ignored the continent or reportedly disparaged it. Former President Donald Trump, in a 2018 meeting, referred to some African nations as “shithole countries.” At the same time, China enhanced its investments in Africa, helping to build roads and other infrastructure projects and creating firmer economic and political relations.
“Washington is playing catch up in Africa,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Africa Program. “With all of the business investment that the Chinese have made comes a lot of leverage and political influence in those countries. It's not just that they're making money there. It's that they now have skin in the game in Africa in ways that we don't. And that gives them leverage that we don't have.”
But experts say the Biden administration has an opportunity to now compete with China as more African leaders see their relationship with China as “a new form of exploitation,” said J. Peter Pham, the former special envoy for the Sahel region of Africa during the Trump administration.
“A lot of Africans have woken up to realize how often in these large construction projects, infrastructure … they don't employ Africans. They even ship in their own labor oftentimes,” Pham said.
The Biden administration has tried to paint its Africa policy as one based in long-lasting relationships instead of a larger move to counter China and choke off economic support for Russia. But administration officials acknowledge that those global rivals do factor into their view of current U.S.-Africa policy.
“Obviously, we can’t ignore the current geopolitical moment. It's no secret that we are engaged in competition with China. And we've said very clearly we intend to outcompete China in the long term,” said a senior administration official who spoke on a call with reporters ahead of the trip.
Harris’ visit, the official added, is intended to prove that America has “an affirmative agenda” for the continent, one that will change the tenor of the relationship.
In her remarks to the African Leaders Summit in December, Harris previewed the message she’s expected to lean on over the next week: That the administration would create partnerships across the continent “grounded in candor, openness, inclusiveness, shared interests, and mutual benefits. And overall, our administration will be guided not by what we can do for Africa, but what we can do with Africa.”
Part of Harris’ task will be to shift how Americans view the continent from one that centers on civil war, human rights abuses and coup d’etats.
“American businesses do not see Africa in economic terms. They don't see African countries as investment opportunities. It's the first step to shift the rhetoric from a focus on corruption and human rights and security to business opportunities,” said Amaka Anku, who heads up the Africa practice at the Eurasia group.
“But I think that the challenge is not just convincing Africans that Africa's economic transformation is in the American interest. It's also convincing Americans. Otherwise it’s just rhetoric.”
To that point, Harris on Wednesday will announce continent-wide public and private sector investment opportunities aimed at the economic empowerment of women. She’ll also convene business and philanthropic leaders from African countries and the U.S. to “digital and financial inclusion on the continent,” meeting with creatives, including heading to a local music studio.
“I also look forward to meeting with entrepreneurs, and artists and students and farmers to witness firsthand the extraordinary innovation that is happening on this continent and inspiring the world,” Harris said during her welcome ceremony.
Experts say Harris isn’t going to erase decades of a lack of partnership with African countries in one week-long trip, the leaders on the continent are going to be watching for cues that the U.S. is more than just talk this time around. And the administration is running out of time.
“We're going to quickly wear out our welcome, if we you know, and you know, these trips are great, but they're enormously burdensome to the host countries. And we have processions of people coming in regularly and not one of them brings a real deal with them. After a while, it can get a little tiresome,” Pham said.
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Is ‘David’ porn? See for yourself, Italians ask Florida parents
ROME — The Florence museum housing Michelangelo’s Renaissance masterpiece the “David” invited parents and students from a Florida charter school to visit after complaints about a lesson featuring the statue forced the principal to resign.
Florence Mayor Dario Nardella also tweeted an invitation for the principal to visit so he can personally honor her. Confusing art with pornography was “ridiculous,” Nardella said.
The incredulous Italian response highlights how the U.S. culture wars are often perceived in Europe, where despite a rise in right-wing sentiment and governance, the Renaissance and its masterpieces, even its naked ones, are generally free of controversy.
But the board of the Tallahassee Classical School pressured Principal Hope Carrasquilla to resign last week after an image of the “David” was shown to a sixth-grade art class. The school has a policy requiring parents to be notified in advance about “controversial” topics being taught.
Carrasquilla believes the board targeted her after three parents complained about a lesson including a photo of the “David,” a 17-foot nude marble sculpture dating from 1504. The work, considered a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, depicts the Biblical David going to fight Goliath armed only with his faith in God.
Carrasquilla has said two parents complained because they weren’t notified in advance that a nude would be shown, while a third called the iconic statue pornographic.
Carrasquilla said in a phone interview Sunday that she is “very honored” by the invitations to Italy and she may accept.
“I am totally, like, wow,” Carasquilla said. “I’ve been to Florence before and have seen the ‘David’ up close and in person, but I would love to go and be a guest of the mayor.”
Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, where the “David” resides, expressed astonishment at the controversy.
“To think that ‘David’ could be pornographic means truly not understanding the contents of the Bible, not understanding Western culture and not understanding Renaissance art,” Hollberg said in a telephone interview.
She invited the principal, school board, parents and student body to view the “purity” of the statue.
Tallahassee Classical is a charter school. While it is taxpayer-funded and tuition-free, it operates almost entirely independently of the local school district and is sought out by parents seeking an alternative to the public school curriculum.
About 400 students from kindergarten through 12th grade attend the three-year-old institution, which is now on its third principal. It follows a curriculum designed by Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan frequently consulted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on educational issues.
Barney Bishop, chairman of Tallahassee Classical’s school board, has told reporters that while the photo of the statue played a part in Carrasquilla’s ouster, it wasn’t the only factor. He has declined to elaborate, while defending the decision.
“Parents are entitled to know anytime their child is being taught a controversial topic and picture,” Bishop said in an interview with Slate online magazine.
Several parents and teachers plan to protest Carrasquilla’s ouster at Monday night’s school board meeting, but Carrasquilla said she isn’t sure she would take the job back even if it were offered.
“There’s been such controversy and such upheaval,” she said. “I would really have to consider, ‘Is this truly what is best?’”
Marla Stone, head of humanities studies at the American Academy in Rome, said the Florida incident was another episode in escalating U.S. culture wars and questioned how the statue could be considered so controversial as to warrant a prior warning.
“What we have here is a moral crusade against the body, sexuality, and gender expression and an ignorance of history,” Stone said in an email. “The incident is about fear, fear of beauty, of difference, and of the possibilities embedded in art.”
Michelangelo Buonarroti sculpted the “David” from 1501 to 1504 after being commissioned by the Cathedral of Florence. The statue is the showpiece of the Accademia, and helps draw 1.7 million visitors each year to the museum.
“It is incredibly sought-after by Americans who want to do selfies and enjoy the beauty of this statue,” Director Hollberg said.
The museum, like many in Europe, is free for student groups. There was no indication that any trip would be subsidized by the city or museum.
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Netanyahu fires defense minister for urging halt to overhaul
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister on Sunday, a day after Yoav Gallant called for a halt to the planned overhaul of Israel’s judiciary that has fiercely divided the country.
Netanyahu’s office did not provide further details. The move signals the prime minister will move ahead this week with plans to overhaul Israel’s judiciary, which has sparked widespread opposition. Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets, military and business leaders have spoken out against it and leading allies of Israel have voiced concerns.
Gallant, a former army general, is a senior member of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party. On Saturday, he called for a pause in the controversial legislation until after next month’s Independence Day holidays, citing the rift’s threat to Israel’s national security.
Meanwhile, an Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.
The request by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel intensifies a brewing showdown between Netanyahu’s government and the judiciary,
Netanyahu’s government is pushing ahead for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments.
Outgoing Defense Minister Gallant was the first to break ranks late Saturday by calling for the legislation to be frozen. Gallant cited the turmoil in the ranks of the military over the plan. But it was unclear whether others would follow him.
On Sunday, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so. It said he was not above the law.
“A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesters opposed to the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”
The prime minister responded saying the appeal should be dismissed and said that the Supreme Court didn’t have grounds to intervene.
Netanyahu is barred by the country’s attorney general from directly dealing with his government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement he is bound to, and which the Supreme Court acknowledged in a ruling over Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu, is spearheading the overhaul.
But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unshackled from the attorney general’s decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and “mend the rift” in the nation. That declaration prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement by entering the fray.
The fast-paced legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory and toward a burgeoning constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
“We are at the start of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement over the source of authority and legitimacy of different governing bodies,” he said.
If Netanyahu continues to intervene in the overhaul, Baharav-Miara could launch an investigation into whether he violated the conflict of interest agreement, which could lead to additional charges against him, Lurie said. He added that the uncertainty of the events made him unsure of how they were likely to unfold.
It is also unclear how the court, which is at the center of the divide surrounding the overhaul, will treat the request to sanction Netanyahu. The Movement for Quality Government said the court had given Netanyahu and the attorney general a week to respond.
Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he will try to seek an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul.
The overhaul will give the government control over who becomes a judge and limit judicial review over government decisions and legislation. Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
Critics say the plan upends Israel’s fragile system of checks and balances and pushes Israel down a path toward autocracy.
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Sunday 26 March 2023
IMF chief: 'Risks to financial stability have increased'
Global growth will remain well below its historic average, the IMF chief said on Sunday.
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Manhattan DA, House GOP chairs ramp up battle over Trump investigation
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg on Saturday night accused a trio of House Republicans of trying to interfere in his office, amid an escalating standoff over an investigation into former President Donald Trump.
Bragg, in a brief statement, said that it was “not appropriate for Congress to interfere with pending local investigations,” after Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) — the chairs of the Judiciary, Oversight and Administration Committees, respectively — doubled down on their request for information in their own letter on Saturday.
The volleys are the latest in a days-long back and forth between the prosecutor and House Republicans that started earlier this month when Trump teased on social media that he could imminently be arrested. The statement sparked a rallying cry from House Republicans with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) vowing an investigation.
Jordan, Comer and Steil, in their Saturday letter, set a new deadline of March 31 for a swath of documents they are requesting regarding Bragg’s office, including any related to potential federal funding of or involvement in his work. They also doubled down on their request for Bragg to provide testimony behind closed doors.
Those requests are currently voluntary since Republicans haven’t issued a subpoena for either the documents or an interview with Bragg. The GOP chairs haven’t ruled out trying to compel him and, in their letter, they appear to briefly argue that a subpoena would meet the bar for having legal legs.
“Your reply letter did not dispute the central allegations at issue—that you, under political pressure from left-wing activists and former prosecutors in your office, are reportedly planning to use an alleged federal campaign finance violation … [to] indict for the first time in history a former President of the United States,” Jordan, Comer and Steil wrote in their letter.
Bragg is reportedly preparing for the possibility that the former president will be indicted on charges related to alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. Bragg, in his statement on Saturday night, hit back at the accusation of playing politics, saying that his office evaluates “cases in our jurisdiction based on the facts, the law and the evidence.”
“This unprecedented inquiry by federal elected officials into an ongoing matter serves only to hinder, disrupt and undermine the legitimate work of our dedicated prosecutors. As always, we will continue to follow the facts and be guided by the rule of law in everything we do,” Bragg added.
Bragg's office didn't immediately respond to questions about if they would be sending a separate, formal response to House Republicans responding to their latest letter.
The investigation by House Republicans is raising questions about the scope of Congress’ jurisdiction over state and local criminal matters. Leslie Dubeck, Bragg’s general counsel, wrote in a letter to House Republicans earlier this week that Bragg’s office would submit a letter describing its use of federal funds, while emphasizing that questions about the office’s use of federal funds does not justify a congressional attempt to unearth nonpublic information about the ongoing probe.
The GOP lawmakers, in their letter, argued that they weren’t overstepping jurisdictional boundaries because they could use Bragg’s testimony and the documents to pass potential legislation. The letter provides new details on what House Republicans could pursue in response to the investigation into Trump, including legislation to “insulate current and former presidents from such improper state and local prosecutions,” reforms to special counsel authorities, changes to the Federal Election Campaign Act and to how Congress dishes out public safety funds.
“We believe that we now must consider whether Congress should take legislative action to protect former and/or current Presidents from politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials, and if so, how those protections should be structured,” the GOP chairs added.
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