TWTW: The World This Week / Episode #39
Elections 2023: Turkey, Thailand, Polynesia…America’s debt, global & ruinous…Trump flagrante…Zelensky visits the Pope…a Chinese defector…and a banned cartoonist’s swansong.
This weekly feature for Andelman Unleashed, explores how the media of other nations are reporting and commenting on the United States, and how they are viewing the rest of the world.
Elections 2023: Turkey
On Sunday, voters in Turkey will go to the polls in perhaps the most fraught, certainly the most critical election that will be held this year—one that holds the promise of a dramatic change in the nature of NATO, the ability of Vladimir Putin to continue his all-out war against a neighbor, and the political and religious direction of the once and perhaps future anchor of the Islamic world.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey for a decade, powerful prime minister for another decade before that, is fighting for his political life. As London’s Economist put it:
“A loss for Mr Erdogan would not just be the end of an era,” the Economist continued. “It would initiate enormous upheaval in Turkey, with loud reverberations in the region and around the world. Turkey is, after all, the world’s 11th-biggest economy, after adjusting for the cost of living, ahead of Canada, Italy, and South Korea. It is a pivotal and awkward member of NATO, both close to the front lines of the war in Ukraine and yet, under Mr Erdogan, disconcertingly chummy with the regime of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. It stands between Europe and the chaos of the Middle East and plays a crucial role in moderating the flow of refugees to the EU. It is also one of the few genuine democracies in the Muslim world, although Mr Erdogan has been undermining Turkish institutions for a decade or so.”
Yet under Erdogan, the economy, its social fabric and even its standing in the world have, to put it bluntly gone to hell.
This was the final week of quite a volcanic campaign. And now, the latest polling data, assembled by Statista, show Erdogan’s principal challenger, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, with a narrow lead. This is still below the 50% threshold necessary for any candidate to avoid a runoff in two weeks.
However, on Friday the third-running candidate, Muharrem Ince, suddenly withdrew from the race, likely boosting the balloting for Kiliçdaroglu and improving his chances for a 50% first-round victory.
There’s also Thailand
Also going to the polls on Sunday are voters in Thailand who will be electing a new parliament and prime minister (the hereditary king will remain chief of state). This, too, is a fraught election, the London daily Guardian pointing out that “young people want radical change in a country they say is stagnating.” As the paper continued, “Sunday’s election will pit Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the scion of the Shinawatras, a family that has long dominated Thai politics, against former army generals. Her family remains popular in the north and north-east of Thailand—though are strongly opposed by conservative military royalists.” The biggest question is whether the military will ever really relinquish power in this Asian monarchy—a reality that I recall back to 1977 and a military coup that took place just up the block in Bangkok from my home and office. Another Thai military coup a decade later would cost the life of my dear friend, Neil Davis, the brilliant NBC cameraman, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Results
Stay tuned Monday for results from both countries, and on May 27 if there is a runoff in Turkey.
Finally, there’s French Polynesia
This vast territory of 121 islands and atolls scattered across 1,200 miles of the South Pacific, northeast of New Zealand, chose a new president on Friday after an election earlier this month for the legislature, a sharp break with the past and a blow by its 279,000 residents to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Moetai Brotherson will assume leadership of the archipelago, described by Radio France International (RFI) as “a fierce advocate of independence” has been elected president by the new parliament with 38 votes, defeating Edouard Fritch of the Tapura Huiraatira party with 16 votes. RFI continued: The results will enable pro-independence forces to push the French authorities to negotiate a referendum on the status of the territory….French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who is responsible for the overseas territories, admitted that the vote by Polynesians is a ‘vote for change’….The result is also a blow to Macron, who has been trying to establish France as a major power in the Pacific region.”
Indeed, this followed the decision two years ago by Australia to scrap a $90 billion contract with France for a fleet of new submarines which was taken over by the United States, as I wrote then, a huge diplomatic flap and a challenge as to which power could most effectively confront Chinese expansionism in the region.
How others see America
Global and ruinous…
…London’s Telegraph reacted, as has much of the world that is holding its breath, fearing that as the paper observed, “If it is not resolved, there is a looming risk that the US government could default on its debt. The repercussions would be global and ruinous.” Two days later, the paper’s worries began building as it warned the “US debt crisis could crash the world’s economy.” Just 24 hours after that, calling the burgeoning crisis a “shambolic debt ceiling,” it concluded, “America’s fiscal comedy has never been so serious.”
From Nigata, Japan, where the G-7 finance ministers were meeting in advance of the Group of Seven summit next week when President Biden is scheduled to arrive, Singapore-based CNA observed: “Global policymakers—already preoccupied by US bank failures and efforts to reduce reliance on China—are now forced to grapple with a potential default by the world's largest economy…. Britain's finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, gave a sobering assessment, saying it would be ‘absolutely devastating’ if the United States failed to reach agreement to raise the federal borrowing limit and had its economic growth ‘knocked off track.’”
Walter Sim, Japan correspondent for Singapore’s Straits Times, reported from Nigata that “German Finance Minister Christian Lindner urged American politicians to make a ‘grown-up’ decision, with any default certain to wreak havoc on the global economy.”
Trump trumped?
As horrified as the world has been over America’s looming debt crisis, most media were even more appalled by Donald Trump’s performance at his CNN town hall in New Hampshire. Graeme Massie, reporting from Los Angeles for London’s Independent observed, “Mr Trump’s bombastic performance in front of an audience of 400 Republicans and GOP-leaning independents was widely panned for giving him a platform to push his fraudulent claims.”
In Moscow, Pravda (which means ‘truth’ in Russian) headlined: “Trump: Recognition of Putin as a war criminal should be discussed later,” running an elegiac photo plucked from Trump’s Instagram account. The paper, which reflects Kremlin thinking most directly, elaborated that “otherwise such discussions will impede the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.”
In a separate dispatch on the same CNN town hall, Pravda observed ecstatically, “the ex-President of the United States said that he would be able to stop the hostilities on Ukrainian territory in 24 hours if he won the elections in 2024. The escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev is capable of provoking the Third World War.”
How others see the World
Zelensky comes to the Vatican…and Meloni
While the world waits in suspense for the launch of Ukraine’s Spring offensive against its Russian invaders, President Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived in Rome and the Vatican. Pope Francis gave Zelensky a sculpture of an olive branch, a symbol of peace. Zelensky gave the Pope an icon of the Madonna painted on the remains of a bullet proof vest.
Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appears to have substantially altered some of her earlier views on commitment to Ukraine’s war and its position in Europe and NATO. As Marta Serafini, Rinaldo Frignani, and Monica Guerzoni, reported in the Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera, Meloni told Zelensky, “Italy is with Kiev, it’s fighting for us too.”
And the Corriere reporters observed that their joint press conference ended with the prime minister declaring: “We are ready to support a further intensification of Ukraine's partnership with NATO, we will talk about it in Vilnius at the July summit, it will probably be the central theme…[while] Italy has always, right from the start, supported the idea of Ukraine joining the EU….The truth is that Ukraine is a victim of aggression and that by defending its integrity and identity, it is driving war away from the rest of Europe. What the Ukrainians are doing, they are doing for us too." With Ukrainian flags flying on the streets of Rome, Zelensky responded, “I'm here to shake your hand and thank you for sheltering Ukrainian citizens. I will never forget it."
Coming soon….
My groundbreaking conversation for CNN Opinion with Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s indomitable ambassador to the United States.
Then there’s a puzzler
“After 20 years in UK, a [senior] British professor joined China’s hypersonic program,” reports Stephen Chen, Beijing correspondent of the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post [SCMP].
“After more than 20 years in Britain as a prominent physicist dedicated to unveiling the secrets of superfast fluids, Zhang Yonghao has joined China’s new national hypersonic laboratory in Beijing,” Chen continues, “to lead an innovation team…on aerothermodynamics in hypersonic flight at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Mechanics…crucial in making hypersonic vehicles more efficient and effective.”
The SCMP added that “it was not clear why Zhong decided to return to China.” However, the dispatch noted that a British government “investigation into academics with ties to China raised concerns about national security and intellectual property theft.” And the paper has published a video of the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, observing that a Chinese hypersonic weapons test “has all of our attention.”
Coming Next….Stay Tuned
Whither the roots of power of today's rulers of China. The incomparable Audrey Ronning Topping take us back … way back … to the future in Part II of her riveting Unleashed Voices contribution on Wednesday.
Part I is available now at Andelman Unleashed.
Finally, there’s …. Zunzi
The final straw for Hong Kong’s official media monitors, whose strings are pulled quite directly from Beijing, was the last cartoon signed by Zunzi, which depicted some of the criteria being used by local officials to choose the heads of critical agencies—political reliability trumping any accomplishments, professional or academic. “Hong Kong people with high scores and low abilities have many qualifications,” the official is proclaiming in the cartoon’s first frame. “Failed in English and Chinese in the exam, high cholesterol, heart-disease, short, color blind, and myopia are all fine,” he says in the second frame, concluding in the last frame: “As long as the chief executive thinks he is appropriate, he can be appointed to the Fire Prevention and Crime Fighting Committee. They will check and select all district counselors. Citizens are very relieved.”
For 40 years, Wong Kei-kwan, under the pen name of Zunzi, has drawn editorial cartoons for Hong Kong’s Chinese-language daily Ming Pao, which has been known to fall into line behind the government. Still, as Associated Press writer Kanis Leung observed, Zunzi is “the city’s most prominent editorial cartoonist.” And Leung continued: “’Everyone knows why publication has to be halted, but no one will ‘confirm’ the reason,’ Zunzi said in a text message to the AP with two emojis showing a laughing face. His comic drawings caricatured Hong Kong society’s frustrations since before the then-British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997… Multiple cartoons by Wong have been criticized in recent months by different government agencies, including the security bureau. Most recently, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau slammed his work for ‘smearing’ the government's role of appointing local committee members who will choose candidates in district council elections later this year.”
Here's how Zunzi sees himself:
And this is Zunzi in the flesh: