TWTW: The World This Week / Episode #20
It's 2023 somewhere….so HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Unleashed family….Amazing year-end thoughts….Then it's onward to a better tomorrow…and winding up with a lovely cartoon from L'Andalou.
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.
Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
—as that great Scotsman Robert Burns wrote back in 1788
2023 arrived full of hope and promise, making first landfall, by most measures, in the island nation of Kiribati, one of the most endangered on earth due to rising seas from global warming. A Pacific archipelago, Kiribati's easternmost territory—the Line Islands, which include the inhabited island of Kiritimati (or Christmas Island)—began 2023 before any other nation on earth, at 5 AM U.S. eastern time Saturday.
How others see America
Old and dreary?
The inestimable Washington correspondent of the French daily Le Monde, Piotr Smolar, has uncovered a remarkable quirk of the new Congress to which he is introducing his readers today in the first issue of a new year: "Presidency, Senate, Supreme Court....In the United States, the organs of power reflect society less and less. While almost half of the American population is under 40, only 5% in Congress represent this age group….While the new Congress is due to enter session on January 3, 2023. Has America become a gerontocracy?"
Le Monde goes even further in an accompanying piece by Perrine Mouterde in Montreal reminding readers that "the United States is the only country not to be a member of the Convention on Biological Diversity. If the American president, Joe Biden, has made commitments in terms of biodiversity, the fact that the country has not ratified the UN treaty is not without consequences for the negotiations underway in Montreal."
Inflation's very very long roots
And then there's inflation. The Economist in London thought it would be useful to look for its roots. Very deep roots indeed: "In England in 1500 the price of a standard basket of goods facing consumers (largely food, but including other things such as clothing and light) was no higher than it had been in 1275….All this changed after 1500. Sustained price inflation, once unthinkable, became unstoppable. Within 50 years average prices across England had doubled. Before long Italian prices were rising by 5% a year." Quite a lot, considering there'd been no change for three centuries.
But there's more…some real object lessons for today's politicians: "Average real wages, which at the start of the 1500s were at the princely level of about seven pence a week, then fell, and fell, and fell. They would not regain their purchasing power until the late 19th century. The consequences of this almighty squeeze on living standards went beyond rampant beggary and orgies at funerals. Across Europe, society and politics became radically unstable….. Yet the lessons from the [16th] century are clear. No matter the cause, societies which let inflation set in should expect more than just their living standards to be debased."
And of course, there's Trump
Germany’s Munich-based national daily Süddeutsche Zeitung leads its pages with a serious photo of Donald Trump and the headline, "The top tax optimizer." As correspondent Fabian Fellmann reports from Washington, "Congress has published Donald Trump's tax returns. They contain references to numerous accounting tricks."
How Others See the World
China's in the world's covid crosshairs
Hardly a single major medium on every continent has failed to take note of China's covid surge and examine whether their own country is following the United States— subjecting every arrival from the middle kingdom to some form of screening. The Times of London pointed to UK Prime Minister "Rishi Sunak seeking to press Beijing into greater openness over its surge in cases."
Clara Tang reported in Singapore's Straits Times that while neighboring Malaysia is "to screen arriving travelers for fever and test wastewater from China flights," Singapore's own Ministry of Health is simply "monitoring the situation as China reopens…[and] will take a cautious approach towards increasing seat capacity on planes." Travelers from China already need a negative pre-departure covid test within 48 hours of their flight.
China's new top diplomat
In what could be viewed as a positive development—even an olive branch?....Beijing has named Qin Gang, China's ambassador to the United States, as its new foreign minister. The Straits Times points out that the appointment comes just two weeks before Secretary of State Antony Blinken pays a landmark visit to Beijing, kicking off the second half of the Biden administration's foreign policy.
During his 17 months in Washington, the paper reports, "he has walked a fine line between defending Beijing’s interests and displaying a softer side to Chinese diplomacy. During his year in Washington, the envoy has thrown out the first pitch at a St Louis Cardinals baseball game, taken a ride in a Tesla with billionaire Elon Musk, and most recently, shot free throws at a Washington Wizards basketball game."
Ukraine…no good wishes?
The French weekly Le Point had a message Friday for Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden and Olaf Scholz—don't stay up late Saturday waiting for any champagne toast from Moscow: "The Kremlin has already warned that Vladimir Putin will not send Happy New Year wishes to his French, American and German counterparts…. Conversely, Vladimir Putin has already sent Happy New Year 2023 wishes to several leaders closer to the Kremlin. According to a list published Friday by the Russian presidency, Putin notably congratulated the Chinese president Xi Jinping, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the Kremlin, he also sent greetings to two former Western leaders, Italian Silvio Berlusconi and German Gerhard Schröder." Berlusconi, however, is one of the triad in the far-right government coalition of Italy's Giorgia Meloni.
Looking ahead 2023: (Sadly) Russia's doing alright
As it's turned out, London's Economist reports, when it comes to Russia, the worst forecasts [did not] come to pass. "Sanctions have gravely damaged parts of Russia’s industrial base, such as the car sector, which relies on foreign parts. Others, in particular those enjoined by the state to help out with the war effort, have not done too badly. During the summer and the autumn economists revised up their growth forecasts. Now they expect the Russian economy to shrink by some 3-4% this year [versus -15% anticipated]. Unemployment has barely budged, in part because firms have been told to keep workers on, even if on lower or no pay."
"Two reasons," The Economist continued, "the quick actions of the central bank and regulators convinced ordinary Russians that they were serious about tackling surging inflation. Inflation expectations, having jumped, came back down again. Higher interest rates encouraged the public to return money that they had taken out from their bank accounts…. Sanctions have been tough, but for most of 2022 there were few restrictions on the sale of hydrocarbons (that is now changing). So far this year, Russia has racked up a current-account surplus of over $220bn, twice its level the year before. This foreign currency has helped finance imports.”
Looking ahead 2023: Iranian women—a spark for the Middle East?
"If Iranian women win, it will be the start of a feminist revolution in the Middle East," the French newsweekly L'Express publishes the prediction of Ramin Jahanbegloo.
An unveiled woman atop the roof of a car, as thousands converge on a cemetery in Saghez in the west of Iran to mark the 40th day of the death of Mahsa Amini.
L'Express continues: "The Iranian-Canadian philosopher analyzes the current movement in Iran. While political change will take time, he believes that Iranian society has already changed irreversibly." Ramin Jahanbegloo begins: There is a particular radicalism, which goes beyond all fear and all caution and defies all the taboos of the regime. There is a change of character in civil society. The cause of this change has a direct relationship with the total disenchantment of young Iranians with the values and criteria of the Islamic Republic: they believe that they have no future ahead of them."
Looking ahead 2023: No attack on Iran for 2-3 years?
Is that the good news or the bad? As Israel's outgoing defense minister Beni Gantz told a military graduation that some members of his audience “could be crossing the skies eastward in two or three years and taking part in a strike on nuclear sites in Iran, one for which we have been readying for by significantly increasing our preparedness in the last few years.” But Amos Harel, writing in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz observed, "At a time when Israel has yet to reach a decision regarding the acquisition of aircraft for the air force’s next combat squadron, and the new refueling planes are not due to be delivered by the U.S. for another four years, such statements should be put into perspective.”
Looking ahead 2023: The year climate will set a horrific record
Anne-Laure Frémont of the leading French center-right daily Le Figaro worried that "2023 will be 'one of the hottest years ever registered,'" while she elaborated "It is not excluded that the year 2023 will even beat the record of 2016, according to the British National Meteorological Service."
Beneath a photograph of the great river Loire, dried to a trickle on August 5, 2022, at Rosiers-sur-Loire, Frémont continued: "After a year 2022 on the way to becoming the hottest ever measured in France or the United Kingdom, 2023 could well mark new records at the global level.”
Bloody meltdown
Not surprisingly, it should be left to London's redoubtable Financial Times to call 2022 like it was: "Stock and markets shed more than $30tn in 'brutal' 2022." That's trillion, with a T. "Inflation, interest rate rises and the war in Ukraine triggered the heaviest losses in asset markets since the global financial crisis," reported Tommy Stubbington and Adam Samson in London and Kate Duqid in New York.
"The broad MSCI All-World index of developed and emerging market equities has shed nearly a fifth of its value this year, the biggest decline since 2008, with shares from Wall Street to Shanghai and Frankfurt all notching up significant falls."
And finally, there’s …. L'Andalou
On New Year's eve, the great Algerian cartoonist L'Andalou looks with a wink and a promise on 2023 as his avatar comes in for a landing…pencil at the ready…..
L'Andallou, a press cartoonist and comic book author, was educated at the Higher School of Fine Arts in Algiers before continuing his studies in Paris at the prestigious school of image Les Gobelins and today is also a member of the incomparable Cartooning for Peace collective. Here’s how he imagined himself:
So kind of you! I do try to reopen folks' altertness to all sorts of extraordinary reportage and commentary from media around the world in every language!
Le Monde is certainly on top of my own and should equally be at the top of everyone's list!
A happy, healthy and productive 2023 !!
And a happy, healthy and fulfilling New Year to you, David! Thank you for keeping us informed on global matters that seldom make the news in the U.S. 🙏🏻