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3232716	有图 <p><p>Snake repellent? Chen Ye’s mental list of necessary supplies was quite extensive as he stepped out of the hot midday sun in the Caribbean town of Necoclí, Colombia, and into one of those jam-packed migrant shops selling jungle survival gear. Rubber boots, a tent, maybe a sleeping pad – the things a migrant smuggler had told him to buy. But now, here is this old man trying to sell him a $16 set that includes some sort of liquid, the purpose of which he doesn’t fully understand.</p></p><p></p><p><p></p></p><p><p>Chen, who has asked that we not use his real name, holds the bottle up to the weak light filtering in through the shop’s door and gives the label a skeptical examination.</p><p>"Snake repellent,” the man says.</p><p>He points to the liquid and gestures as though he is rubbing it onto the tent.</p><p>"No snakes. Okay?”</p><p>"Okay, no snakes,” Chen mumbles before letting out a nervous laugh – as though he has just realized that he may have overlooked a not entirely unimportant detail.</p><p>Chen, who is still wearing the blue polo shirt from the hotel chain where he worked as a bookkeeper right up until he left Shanghai, is the kind of man who plans things as thoroughly as he possibly can. A few years ago, he put together a to-do list containing 100 things he wanted to accomplish in life. Stop smoking. Get baptized. Have four children. Right at the top, Chen noted that he wants to earn a decent amount of money – enough so that he can donate some of it every month. Emigration was also something he thought he might consider, though it was more of an extravagance than a real plan.</p><p>But as he became more serious about turning his back on his country, Chen began taking a closer look at the marketing clips posted by migrant smugglers online. He got in touch with other migrants who had managed to make it through the Darién jungle before him, and he weighed the costs of the various routes against the potential risks. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that if even children had managed the journey, then it couldn’t be much more difficult than a boy scout excursion.</p></p><p></p><p><p></p></p><p><p>But snakes?</p><p>"Never heard anything about them,” says Chen, standing outside of the shop a short time later. He then gives his survival kit a pat and says: "But whatever. With this stuff, I’ll be safe.”</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/d4b1614a-6cea-45c4-9c8a-a71be50e42de_w920_r1.5_fpx50_fpy55.01.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/d4b1614a-6cea-45c4-9c8a-a71be50e42de_w520_r1.5_fpx50_fpy55.01.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg> <g> </g></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Chen received a list of things he needed to buy from a migrant smuggler.</p>Foto: Gerald Bermudez/ DER SPIEGEL</p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/a2991517-78e1-4fe6-a1eb-439818231af2_w920_r1.5_fpx33.34_fpy50.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/a2991517-78e1-4fe6-a1eb-439818231af2_w520_r1.5_fpx33.34_fpy50.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Migrants making their way through a river in the Darién Gap.</p>Foto: Gerald Bermudez/ DER SPIEGEL</p><p><p>What else could he say?</p><p>By now, he has been on the road for four months, passing through eight countries before even getting to Colombia. Should he turn back now? Just because of this little bottle?</p><p>If he wants to make it to the U.S., which, on this October morning, still seems like the Promised Land to him, he has no choice. There is no road connecting South and Central America, no air-conditioned bus. He has to get through the Darién, the rainforest-covered hills of which jut from the horizon like a green wall between Colombia and Panama. A place where the dangerous animals that call the jungle home are actually among the more manageable problems facing migrants.</p><p>The Darién Gap is a maze of swampy paths crisscrossing rivers that can instantly swell to deadly currents when it rains. Dozens of people lose their lives in this dense labyrinth every year. Hundreds simply vanish. These are the things the migrant smugglers don’t mention in their videos – but even if they did, it wouldn’t have stopped Chen from coming.</p></p><p></p><p><p></p></p><p><p>It wouldn’t have stopped anybody.</p><p>More than half a million people crossed the jungle in 2023. Chinese migrants made up the fourth largest group, after the Venezuelans, the Ecuadorians and the Haitians – more than 30,000 of them. Most were young men, itinerant workers who are no longer needed back home because the country already has all the roads, bridges and office buildings it needs, desperate people who don’t have the qualifications necessary for a work visa. They are joined by families who have sold all their possessions to pay for this trip halfway around the world – engineers, teachers, bookkeepers like Chen – and who are prepared to take ever greater risks for a financially secure life in freedom.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/34e2d5a5-71ef-4193-ab6b-b813aab251d6_w720_r1.5_fpx33.34_fpy50.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/34e2d5a5-71ef-4193-ab6b-b813aab251d6_w488_r1.5_fpx33.34_fpy50.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Migrants at the border between Colombia and Panama.</p>Foto: Gerald Bermudez/ DER SPIEGEL</p><p><p><p><svg></svg></p><p>China is becoming a country of emigration at the very moment that the U.S. has decided to stop being a country of immigration. </p></p></p><p><p>It is an exodus that has gone largely unnoticed by the world.</p><p>It’s not obvious from the claims made by the government, but China’s growth model, which transformed the country into a global economic powerhouse in recent decades, is increasingly reaching its limits. Infrastructure construction has largely been completed, and factory owners are closing their facilities and moving them to cheaper locations, or they are replacing their low-wage workers with even cheaper machines. The Communist Party’s pledge, that citizens will become increasingly prosperous as long as they agree to forego some individual freedoms, is growing untenable.</p><p>The fact that more and more Chinese are seeking their fortune abroad is nothing short of a silent rebellion against the pact that has held the country together for years. China is becoming a country of emigration at the very moment that the U.S. has decided to stop being a country of immigration.</p><p>In spring 2024, when Chen packed his bags, Donald Trump, then just a candidate for president, said that people like Chen were part of an invading army that China was sending into the U.S. Trump promised to seal the borders and threatened to carry out mass deportations. But as Chen sinks into a plastic chair on Necoclí beach and plunges his feet into the surf, the idea that he might ultimately find himself trapped in a larger conflict is just a shimmer on the horizon.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/237ffdf7-d4cc-4df2-bf3b-59f3b6b9dcb6_w720_r1.5_fpx44_fpy60.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/237ffdf7-d4cc-4df2-bf3b-59f3b6b9dcb6_w488_r1.5_fpx44_fpy60.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Chen at the Colombia-Panama border.</p>Foto: <p>Gerald Bermudez/ DER SPIEGEL</p><p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg></p><p>“I have to be strong now so that I can reunite with them someday."</p><p>Chen Ye speaking about his children.</p></p></p><p><p>Reggae is pouring out of a speaker as waiters bring Colombian tourists colorful cocktails.</p><p>Chen smiles.</p><p>"They know how to enjoy life here,” he says. "In China, it’s all work, work, work, and if you complain on the internet, you have the cyber-police on your tail.”</p><p>Chen is in his late 30s. His hair has grown over his ears and the corners of his eyes have the wrinkles of a man who appears to have become used to smiling away his worries. Following a wild bus ride, during which the Amazon and the Andes sped past his window, he checked into a hotel a few days ago where it is possible to pay via the Chinese messaging service WeChat.</p><p>His gaze continually returns to the screaming and laughing children playing in the waves. When he left home, says Chen, his family was still with him – his wife, their two daughters aged nine and six, and their two sons, eight and three. Because the Chinese authorities have been instructed to prevent migrants from leaving the country, he booked a one-week beach vacation in Thailand for the family, including the return flight.</p><p>It was supposed to look like a vacation, he says, and it even felt a little bit like one. Chen hadn’t seen the children for quite some time before the trip since they live with their mother in her home village. It was his first time on the seaside.</p><p>They skipped the return flight, instead traveling onward to Istanbul. During her walks through the city, Chen’s wife would examine the place with the gaze of an anthropologist. "Life here seems pleasant,” she wrote beneath a video of an empty textile market that she uploaded to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Nobody works on the weekends, she noted.</p><p>Their problems began when they were pulled out of the check-in line for their next flight to Quito. Ecuador, which had long been the gate to South America for the Chinese, was suddenly demanding a visa. When he booked the trip, Chen says, there is no way he could have known that the country would succumb to the pressure coming from the U.S.</p><p>They were stuck.</p><p>As Chen, in their hostel in Istanbul, was searching for a new route, he was contacted by the police from his hometown. The officers, he says, learned of his emigration after his mother turned to the Chinese Embassy in Ankara looking for help. Via text message, they threatened to freeze the family’s bank accounts if they didn’t immediately return. At some point, Chen says, his wife could no longer handle the uncertainty.</p><p>"They broke her,” he says.</p><p>In late September, shortly before he managed to find a connection via Serbia and the Netherlands to the visa-free country of Surinam, he embraced her one final time in the airport.</p></p><p><p><p><template></template></p><p><p></p><svg> </svg></p></p></p><p><p>Back on the beach in Necoclí, Chen’s eyes fill with tears. He grabs his telephone and calls his wife, but she doesn’t immediately pick up. When she calls back a short time later, she looks at him sleepily. The children miss him, she says.</p><p>He shows her the sea.</p><p>"I have to be strong now so that I can reunite with them someday,” he says into the silence after the call has ended.</p><p>"Snakeheads,” is what Chinese migrants call their smugglers. In Istanbul, Chen realized that he didn’t stand a chance without their help. Still, says Chen, he knows nothing about them. The dialing prefixes are always from the U.S. or the Middle East, but there is never a face attached to the number. They communicate in Chinese and payment must always be made in advance.</p><p>Here, in Necoclí, one of these snakeheads put him in touch with a local guide, who explains to Chen that there are different packages he can choose from. The basic rate, which all migrants have to pay to even be allowed into the forest, is around $350. Shortcuts, using boats, horses or motorcycles, cost extra.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/e77a966b-b912-4c9a-aa56-126f3ca8268c_w920_r1.5_fpx49.33_fpy50.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/e77a966b-b912-4c9a-aa56-126f3ca8268c_w520_r1.5_fpx49.33_fpy50.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>A group of migrants at the first shelter in the Darién Gap.</p>Foto: Gerald Bermudez/ DER SPIEGEL</p><p><p>Those are referred to as "VIP packages.”</p><p>It is a question of priorities.</p><p>Money or speed?</p><p>Money or safety?</p><p>Chen spends his days lying on his hotel bed, reading the news and chatting with compatriots. The message boards are full of talk that the Panamanian authorities on the other side of the border are intercepting Chinese migrants, though it is possible that the snakeheads are merely fomenting such rumors so they can sell more expensive packages.</p><p>Being deported back to China would be a nightmare, says Chen. He believes he would likely end up in prison and the stigma would prevent him from ever finding a job that would enable him to pay off his debts.</p><p>Chen sends his final message on October 31. A short time later, he boards a boat and speeds toward the jungle with a VIP package. If he makes it through the Darién Gap, he will then have to cross Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. In parting, Chen promises to try to stay in touch using his phone but says he can’t guarantee anything.</p></p><p><p>Struggling to Make Progress</p></p><p><p>Finding Chen in the first place was no easy task. The migrant smugglers, who work for a drug cartel, instruct their clients not to talk to anyone. Many of the Chinese migrants seemed fearful when approached on the patios of their hotels, with most scurrying off to their rooms without a word.</p><p>Chen was one of the few who responded to a letter that was pushed under his door. Perhaps he was feeling lonely. Or maybe he wanted to test out his newfound freedom. Either way, he took a seat in a restaurant one day later and didn’t stop talking. The only thing he requested was that his family not be identified by their real names out of concern for putting them in danger.</p><p>He said that he is originally from the eastern province of Anhui. His father left the family early on, and his mother had a small field where she grew corn and beans. Sometimes, during the harvest period, she would take him with her to the field, but he didn’t particularly enjoy digging around in the dirt. Chen preferred to play.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/8165901a-4579-499e-abed-7a0d69b7275f_w920_r1.5_fpx70_fpy52.99.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/8165901a-4579-499e-abed-7a0d69b7275f_w520_r1.5_fpx70_fpy52.99.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Chen on the beach in Necoclí: "They know how to enjoy life here."</p>Foto: Gerald Bermudez/ DER SPIEGEL</p><p><p>At 19, he went to Shanghai, where he got a job with an agency that sold art prints. Chen would spend his days on the telephone cold-calling potential customers and trying to sell them prints. It was during this period, he says, that he got back in touch with Zhao Tan, to whom he had written love letters back in the fifth grade. She was one of the best students in his class. Had her family been prosperous enough to send her to university in addition to her brother, Chen thinks she probably never would have married him. She would have just smiled politely, he says, when a friend came up with the idea of setting the two of them up.</p><p>After the wedding, Zhao joined him for a time in Shanghai, but she moved back to her village during her first pregnancy, into a small house they built on her family’s property. Chen says that he had the feeling something had to change. Through a career aptitude test he took online in an effort to figure out why his performance as a telephone salesman was so average, he learned that he was too honest and too shy. The algorithm suggested that he study something having to do with finance.</p><p>It would have taken him 10 years, he says, to become a "Level 3” bookkeeper. The salary of around 3,000 euros per month would have been enough to lead a solid, middle-class life.</p><p>When Chen received his Level 1 certificate in his early 30s, he received a contract from the hotel, and he started heading into an office high-rise every morning to spend the day examining invoices that the company could deduct from its taxes. On the weekends that he didn’t spend studying, he would take the train to his wife’s village. His son was born, followed by his second daughter – and it was at some point during this period, a time when the government in Beijing abolished the one-child policy to counteract the country’s aging society, that Chen wrote his list.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/f2eda83a-1927-447e-8714-7bd7a622bd49_w720_r0.7705977382875606_fpx46_fpy52.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/f2eda83a-1927-447e-8714-7bd7a622bd49_w488_r0.7705977382875606_fpx46_fpy52.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>The skyline of Shanghai, where Chen lived before leaving the country.</p>Foto: <p>Chen Ye</p><p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg></p><p>“China had always been the country of the future. But I began to realize that this future would never become a reality."</p><p>Chen Ye</p></p></p><p><p>"I was full of optimism,” says Chen, but the money he was able to send home every month was no longer always enough. Electricity, diapers, kindergarten fees, doctors’ bills – none of whom, like the migrant smugglers, would lift a finger before first being paid. Chen was forced to take out a loan to cover all the bills. He started delivering meals on his scooter in the evenings to earn a bit of extra cash. The seven hours of sleep he had noted on his list? A pipe dream.</p><p>To save money, says Chen, he moved into a dormitory in Shanghai where he rented the bottom bed of a bunk.</p><p>Then the pandemic arrived, and suddenly he was stuck, locked in with 30 other men. When Chen examined his life during these weeks of lock-down, he saw a man who was doing what the world expected of him. He was struggling toward his goals, but he wasn’t actually making any progress.</p><p>"China,” he says, "had always been the country of the future. But now, I began to realize that this future would never become a reality.”</p><p>Chen, if you like, had reached the limits of his personal growth plan.</p><p>He felt cheated, abandoned. Whereas his government was doing nothing to help its starving citizens locked away in quarantine, he saw on his mobile phone that homeless people in America were being provided with food. He learned that doctors there would treat patients even without receiving payment upfront, and that free, public schools weren’t feeding students with the illusory promises of socialism. As an unskilled worker, Chen says, he could immediately earn as much in the U.S. as a Level 3 bookkeeper in Shanghai.</p><p>A couple years of slave labor to pay off the debts, and then freedom – it is a view that Chen isn’t alone in holding. A man encountered one evening in Necoclí, for example, can hardly keep straight all of the provinces, mines and factories where he has worked during the last 20 years. In the U.S., too, he says, he’ll be "at the lower end.” But he still thinks it will be better than back in China, even if he has to deliver packages or food.</p><p>Or the young baker who was led to Colombia through Cuba and Jamaica – and who is sitting on the rooftop terrace of her hotel one evening and crying. China, she says, is becoming depressed. The catering service she worked for stopped receiving orders, she says, and her parents’ construction supplies store was hardly making any sales.</p><p>Her 10-year-old daughter is fiddling with a mobile phone at the neighboring table.</p><p>"I’m doing it for her,” the woman says.</p><p>There is a survey showing that doubts about the fairness of the Chinese system are growing. Instead of hard work, many say that a wealthy background is the key to social advancement. Every year, millions of high school and university graduates enter a labor market that has less and less use for them.</p><p>The COVID pandemic was the breaking point, and not just because so many companies ceased operations. Being locked in, the daily tests, the surveillance – it all provided many citizens of China their first real look into the soul of their state. Those who voiced criticism could expect to be summoned by the police for tea. Others had their social media accounts blocked, or they ended up in prison – as did hundreds of demonstrators who took to the streets in protest after the authorities allegedly declined to rescue 10 people from a burning building for fear of spreading the virus.</p><p>When China finally reopened its borders in late 2022, becoming one of the last countries in the world to do so, it was like a dam broke. Long lines of people stood in front of numerous embassies in Beijing hoping for a visa. Those wanting to try their luck in the U.S. but who were denied a visa sought to avoid the Darién Gap by traveling to Mexico on a Japanese tourist visa. Others tried their luck on the Balkan Route to Europe.</p><p>In 2023, the UN Refugee Agency counted 137,143 Chinese seeking asylum around the world. Five times as many as a decade earlier.</p></p><p><p>China Seeks to Stop the Outflow</p></p><p><p>"When my husband gets something in his head, it is hard to talk him out of it,” says Chen’s wife Zhao Tan as she walks into a restaurant in eastern China on a smoggy winter morning. Before she left home that morning, she had put on a green army coat as a disguise. She then rode her scooter through the emptiness of the villages before then boarding a bus that delivered her into the anonymity of the district capital.</p><p>Zhao cannot speak openly. The authorities have been keeping a close eye on her since she returned from Turkey.</p><p>Once the server is out of earshot, Zhao begins to talk, a dainty woman with alert eyes who has recently started working in a factory. "The children have to eat,” she says in a quiet voice. When she sews enough articles of clothing to fulfill her quota, she brings home the equivalent of around 13 euros per day, she says.</p><p>As Chen is chasing an uncertain future, Zhao is back where she started before she got married. She spent many years working in a textile factory then as well, she says. As a woman, she had little choice but to trim her dreams down to the scale of a region that didn’t benefit much from China’s emergence. Later, after she got married, Zhao was grateful when they had food on their table and when her husband came home for the Spring Festival like all the others.</p><p>Whereas many children in China grow up with their grandparents, Zhao stayed home, doing the washing and changing the diapers, and going to church services on Saturdays. The plans, she says, were made by Chen, who followed the advice of the American investor Warren Buffet and even invested 10 percent of the loans he would take out into funds. To remind him of his target, says Zhao, he would write the number "30 million” in a notebook every day.</p><p>That was his goal: During his lifetime, he wanted to earn the equivalent of 3.7 million euros. But then, the pandemic arrived, and Zhao felt his tone growing more bitter. In the messages he would send her from his dormitory, he began complaining about the behavior of the regime, which was oppressing the people, as he said. "He would rail about the economic crisis,” says Zhao. "And at some point, he started sending me pictures of glittering America.”</p></p><p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg></p><p>“How does he think he’ll be able to bring us to him? The authorities have confiscated our passports!"</p><p>Chen"s wife Zhao</p></p></p><p><p>Politics, faraway countries, the freedom to travel: They are all things she had never thought much about. After they had their second child, she says, when she told him it was enough children, he threatened to divorce her – and he wasn’t going to stand for any contradiction this time either. When China reopened its borders, Zhao says, she applied for a passport with the district authorities. Then, she boarded a plane for the first time – without her Bible, because Chen had told her it was too heavy to bring along.</p><p>Istanbul was terrible, she says. The pleading of his mother. The threats from the police to freeze their accounts. As the new school year got started back home, Zhao began picturing them having to beg on the streets of South America. She longed for their small house, the garden – not for some pie in the sky.</p><p>She had hoped she would be able to change his mind, she says. That he would come home with her, for the children’s sake. But she couldn’t convince him.</p><p>"It was the most difficult decision of my life,” she says.</p><p>She stares for a few moments into her noodle soup.</p><p>Now, she’s back, a single mother who feels like a widow, a woman about whom the others in the village whisper behind her back. Zhao deleted the message Chen sent her when he set off through the Darién Gap out of fear that the police might find it. After she returned home, she was summoned by the police, who demanded to know where she had been. And where her husband was.</p><p>Chen is a dreamer, she says. "How does he think he’ll be able to bring us to him? The authorities have confiscated our passports!”</p><p>China is doing all it can to prevent migrants from leaving. Hoping to stop the flow before it develops into a stronger current.</p><p>Every citizen who approaches the asylum authorities of some distant country and claims to be fleeing a dictatorship does their part to solidify an image of China which, in the eyes of the regime, is a threat.</p><p>The capriciousness of this authoritarian apparatus is far away when Chen lands in Tijuana one morning in December, a few weeks after Donald Trump was elected to become the 47th president of the United States. A van brings Chen and six other Chinese to a hotel, where returns to the migrant smugglers – employed by the Sinaloa Cartel here in Mexico – the Japanese passport he had used to check in for the flight that morning.</p><p>And there he sits, behind the walls of an unremarkable building. Surrounding him are the streets of the dilapidated old town, home to workshops and dentist offices where people from San Diego – just across the border in California – come to have their cars or their teeth fixed. A few blocks up the Avenida is the border fence erected by former President Bill Clinton in the middle of the desert in the 1990s.</p></p><p><p>No Last-Minute Risks</p></p><p><p>Chen had actually agreed to meet up again, but shortly after his arrival, he sends a text apologetically backing out. The migrant smugglers, he says, aren’t letting anyone out on their own.</p><p>Trump may not yet have been sworn in, but ever since he has begun issuing threats of punitive tariffs if Mexico doesn’t reduce the number of migrants illegally crossing the border into the U.S., the hunt has been on. Thousands have been arrested in recent days, which is why Chen has jettisoned his original idea of buying a motorcycle in southern Mexico and cruising up the Pan-American Highway.</p><p>Too many checkpoints, he writes.</p><p>He wants to avoid any unnecessary risks on the last stretch of his journey. Instead, he takes out another online loan, a last $7,000 package. Including the flight and the border crossing.</p><p>Around midday, he sends a photo of the Japanese passport the migrant smugglers gave him for the flight. The document, issued on February 18, 2024, looks authentic and is "valid for all countries.” Even his wife, Chen writes, thinks he looks a lot like the owner of the passport.</p><p>How did things go in the Darién Gap?</p><p>"No snakes,” Chen writes.</p><p>After a night in the tent, he writes, he began trekking alongside an older Chinese woman. On the third day, he says, they lost sight of the group with the guide.</p><p>They were alone in the jungle.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/01e7e12d-911c-4338-a36c-24dc194fec2d_w720_r0.7501172058134083_fpx50_fpy61.51.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/01e7e12d-911c-4338-a36c-24dc194fec2d_w488_r0.7501172058134083_fpx50_fpy61.51.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Chen crossing a river in the jungle of the Darién Gap.</p>Foto: Chen Ye</p><p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg></p><p>"The children asked if they could call papa."</p><p>Chen"s wife Zhao</p></p></p><p><p>Chen posted a video to one of his social media accounts showing the woman clambering over a tree root with wobbly steps. You can see the blue plastic bags knotted in the undergrowth to mark the route. On the fourth day, Chen writes, they almost drowned crossing a river because the woman lost her balance, jerking the rope connecting the two of them for safety.</p><p>By the time they arrived at the refugee camp in Panama a short time later, all he had left were the clothes he was wearing, his telephone, a charging cable and a brush, in the bristles of which he kept his last dollar bills.</p><p>"You have two choices: Either you buy yourself a return flight or you stay here forever.” According to Chen’s recollection, those were the words the border guard growled at him and his companion as he locked them up in a prison cell. But it proved to be an empty threat. After the woman refused to eat for a few days, they were set free.</p><p>When Chen gets back in touch in the evening, he is speeding through the darkness. The last message he sends on this evening is his location on Google Maps – an industrial park on the other side of the border fence.</p></p><p><p>He Doesn’t Even Know She Has Moved</p></p><p><p>Chen had already told his wife that once he gets to America, he wouldn’t be reachable for a time. The thought that he might be locked away in a cell somewhere in an unknown place as the men of Anhui were returning to the village for the Spring Festival to celebrate the dawning of the Year of the Snake made Zhao sick.</p><p>"It was the first time he hadn’t been there. The children asked if they could call papa,” says Zhao. But she told them that he didn’t have a telephone at the moment.</p><p>It’s a Sunday. Zhao is sitting on a sofa in her brother’s apartment on the fifth floor of a newly built complex. On the table in front of her is a book bound in white: "Adventist Families: Cornerstones for a Happy Family.”</p><p>After the festival, Zhao says, she took a closer look at the family finances and realized that her seamstress wages weren’t enough. And because she didn’t know whether Chen would be able to send money any time soon, she decided she wouldn’t just feel like a widow, she would also have to act like one. Zhao began looking for a new job with higher pay near her village. But because she was unable to find anything, she brought the children to her mother-in-law and took the five-hour train ride to the provincial capital, where she now pats down visitors at the gates of a factory.</p><p>"I have to plan,” says Zhao. "The children will soon be older, and school is getting more expensive.”</p><p>Outside, on the horizon behind the windows, the smoke from the chimneys has turned the sky a creamy red. Chen, says Zhao, is now writing every day. Recently, he has begun complaining that she doesn’t always reply. He doesn’t know, says Zhao, that she isn’t allowed to have her mobile phone with her during her shift. She hasn’t even told him that she has moved.</p></p><p><p>In Trump’s Dystopian America</p></p><p><p>It’s a frigid February morning when Chen barges through the door of an Asian eatery in New York, takes a seat at one of the tables and pulls his mobile phone out of the pocket of his down jacket. He swipes across the display and opens the calculator. Chen has just come from a store that sells imported goods from China; they are looking for someone to take pictures of porcelain, jade and statuettes and upload them to Ebay.</p><p>Ten dollars an hour. Seven hours a day. Six days a week.</p><p>"10x7x25 = 1,750.”</p><p>A pained smile appears on his face.</p><p>"Not enough,” he says.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/6f4da383-6a9f-4de5-a2fb-4057f231e0b6_w920_r1.3333333333333333_fpx59.99_fpy50.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/6f4da383-6a9f-4de5-a2fb-4057f231e0b6_w520_r1.3333333333333333_fpx59.99_fpy50.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Chen taking a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.</p>Foto: Der Spiegel</p><p><p>Almost three weeks have passed since Chen was released from immigration detention, where he spent just short of two months. Not long after being picked up by border patrol officers in San Diego, he was brought into an interrogation room one morning. A phone was waiting, and Chen told the officer on the other end of the line that on one occasion, police broke up a church service in Anhui, took him to the station and beat him. He mentioned that Zhao’s passport had been revoked and spoke of internet censorship. But the story was so flimsy that he received a rejection letter a few days later.</p><p>After he then went on a hunger strike, says Chen, he was taken before a judge, who found his fear of returning to China more credible. The judge demanded more details and, following standard practice to that point, set him free for the duration of his asylum proceedings.</p><p>A few days after Trump was sworn in, Chen boarded a plane that brought him to his ultimate goal: New York, the Flushing neighborhood, the heart of the Chinese diaspora, a place where the writing on the facades is instantly recognizable to him and the vendors on bustling Main Street speak his language. Chen rented the bottom bunk of a bunkbed in a brick building right around the corner.</p></p><p><p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/2a6fb58e-c667-4dc1-b3ae-6fe949604418_w720_r0.75_fpx45_fpy54.69.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/2a6fb58e-c667-4dc1-b3ae-6fe949604418_w488_r0.75_fpx45_fpy54.69.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg>Bild vergrößern</p><p>Chen"s shared room in the New York neighborhood of Flushing.</p>Foto: Chen Ye</p><p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg></p><p>“$1,750, that’s not even enough for the payments."</p><p>Chen Ye</p></p></p><p><p>He shares the kitchen and bathroom with 20 other people from China. When he wants a bit of privacy, he hangs a sheet in front of his bed. He is starting over from nothing – or, to be more accurate, at minus 35,000. That is mountain of debt, in euros, that he accumulated on his journey. Six loans are still outstanding, all of them listed on Chen’s mobile phone. They delineate the limits of Chen’s new freedom.</p><p>"$1,750, that’s not even enough for the payments,” he says. "And I still have to eat.”</p><p>Now, he spends every evening in his bed scrolling through the job apps for the Chinese community. When he recently went to a restaurant for a trial, the boss asked him if he had ever before held a vegetable knife in his hand. When tried out loading boxes full of frozen chicken onto a truck at a poultry factory, he realized that he isn’t built for such work. He would really love to find an office job, says Chen, but for that, he needs a work permit, which most companies have begun requiring.</p><p>During the conversation, he repeatedly grabs his phone and updates the ads on "Huaran 168.” When he finds something, he immediately calls the number to ask if they still need someone.</p><p>"Okay,” he mumbles as the minutes tick away on his mobile phone contract. "Found someone already.”</p><p>"I understand, only with a permit.”</p><p>In his apartment, he says, the others have been whispering about raids that have taken place in the neighborhood. Nobody is taking the risk anymore of hiring people without papers.</p></p><p><p>Chinese Migrants Are Now Being Deported</p></p><p><p>The country that Chen has reached is a different place from the one he dreamed about. Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the foundations of a country built on immigration. Military planes have repeatedly been deployed by the Trump administration to deport what the president sees as criminal invaders. For some, their American dream ends in Guantanamo. Others are sent to a high security prison in El Salvador. Panama has begun accepting deportees from other countries and putting them in a camp on the edge of the Darién Gap.</p><p>Including migrants from China.</p><p>It is a situation that Chen finds confusing. Trump’s rhetoric, that was always the one side of the coin, he thought. But on the other were the facts: Around 11 million irregular migrants who had been tolerated because there was nobody else to take care of the jobs they do. Not to mention China’s refusal to take back those who have left.</p><p>That reality, though, is beginning to shift.</p><p>There are currently around 100,000 Chinese nationals in the U.S. illegally. For a long time, American officials had no means of dealing with them because China simply refused to recognize them as citizens. The consulates wouldn"t issue them travel documents. At some point last year, though, this approach began to change. The charter flight that took off for China in June 2024 was the first of its kind for several years. Four more would follow, carrying hundreds of deported people back to China.</p><p>It isn’t entirely clear what caused this change of heart. There are those who believe that fear of punitive tariffs or visa bans for the Chinese elite drove Beijing to reverse course. Others think the Communist Party wanted to send a signal because the exodus is slowly growing to uncomfortable proportions. If you ask Chen about it, he merely shrugs his shoulders.</p><p>"There’s no going back for me,” he says. "I’m not going to leave this country alive.”</p><p>So, what now?</p><p>Is Chen seen as a terrorist in Trump’s dystopian America even though he doesn’t even dare to cross a completely empty street against the red?</p><p>No mistakes. Stay invisible.</p><p>Trump’s arm may be long, but it doesn’t extend into every corner of the judiciary. Chen’s work permit, his Green Card – all of that is just a question of time, he tells himself, and that’s also what he tells Zhao, who keeps asking when he will finally be able to send money back home. A few days ago, as he was distributing flyers for a massage studio on a street corner in Manhattan, he filmed a squirrel for her in Central Park. As usual, she didn’t even click on his message. Whenever he calls her, they argue, he says – but he finds the insults easier to deal with than the silence.</p><p>The children, he says, only get in touch when they need the password for a video game.</p><p>Was it worth it?</p><p>Chen clutches his coffee cup and holds back the tears.</p><p>"It has to be,” he says.</p><p>One morning, he can be found sitting on a wooden bench in a Seventh Day Adventist church that offers a free meal after services. The pastor, a Chinese man in a black suit, says he’s not in the mood to once again talk about a "difficult issue” like migration. Instead, his hour-long sermon focuses on animals in the Bible.</p><p>When he calls for donations at the end, Chen reaches into his backpack and pulls out a sack full of coins. It’s all that he has at the moment, a few pesos from Colombia and Mexico, córdoba oro from Nicaragua and Guatemalan quetzals. He puts a handful of these coins in an envelope before walking forward to the altar and getting in line. A smile is on his face as he returns.</p><p>"So many coins,” he says with a chuckle. Chen isn’t the only one here who is shedding the final bits of ballast from a long, long journey.</p><p>Additional reporting by Xi Xiaodan</p><svg> <g> </g></svg></p> "For Me, There's No Going Back": A Daring Escape from China to the U.S. via the Darién Gap - DER SPIEGEL	查看 40834	明镜在线	2025-07-07 21:46:00 2025-08-05 22:10:20	word
3232715	有图 <p></p><p><p>Mehr als 200 Kinder eines Kindergartens in der nordwestchinesischen Provinz Gansu sind wegen Bleivergiftungen im Krankenhaus behandelt worden. Die Behörden hätten etwa in einem dreifarbigen Kuchen stark erhöhte Bleiwerte festgestellt, heißt es in einem Bericht der Stadtregierung<svg> </svg>. Demnach hatte das Küchenpersonal mit Zustimmung des Betreibers online Farbe für die Essenszubereitung gekauft.</p></p><p><p></p></p><p><p>Wie aus dem Bericht vom Dienstag weiter hervorgeht, war die Farbe »deutlich« als ungenießbar gekennzeichnet. Die Polizei nahm mehrere Verdächtige fest, darunter der Kindergartenbetreiber und ein Investor. Zwei Menschen kamen auf Kaution bis zum Prozessbeginn frei.</p>Weit über dem Lebensmittelstandard<p>Die Behörden wurden nach offiziellen Angaben Anfang des Monats auf den Fall aufmerksam, als Berichte über Bleivergiftungen in dem Kindergarten auftauchten. Vor Ort fanden sie schließlich Reste der versteckten Substanzen. Der Kuchen wies demnach einen Bleigehalt von 1052 Milligramm je Kilogramm auf, ein Maiskolben enthielt 1340 Milligramm je Kilogramm. Chinas Lebensmittelstandard erlaubt lediglich einen Gehalt von 0,5 Milligramm je Kilogramm.</p></p><p><p></p></p><p></p><p><p>Bis Anfang dieser Woche waren laut Behördenangaben alle 251 Kinder der Einrichtung getestet worden. Bei 233 davon wies das Blut abnormale Bleiwerte auf. Die Lokalregierung bedauerte den Vorfall und versprach, Lehren aus dem Vorfall zu ziehen.</p></p><p>Mehr zum ThemaDurchfall und Nierenversagen: Französische Behörden schließen zwei Metzgereien nach Erkrankung mehrerer Kinder<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/662f9b25-88ab-4e36-920f-70ac13ba0c77_w180_r1.778_fpx50_fpy55.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/662f9b25-88ab-4e36-920f-70ac13ba0c77_w180_r1.778_fpx50_fpy55.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/662f9b25-88ab-4e36-920f-70ac13ba0c77_w56_r1_fpx50_fpy55.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/662f9b25-88ab-4e36-920f-70ac13ba0c77_w56_r1_fpx50_fpy55.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p>Indien: Tote Schlange in Schulessen, mehr als hundert Kinder erkrankt<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bd3a66ec-0001-0004-0000-000000365766_w180_r1.778_fpx51.64_fpy55.01.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bd3a66ec-0001-0004-0000-000000365766_w180_r1.778_fpx51.64_fpy55.01.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bd3a66ec-0001-0004-0000-000000365766_w56_r1_fpx51.64_fpy55.01.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bd3a66ec-0001-0004-0000-000000365766_w56_r1_fpx51.64_fpy55.01.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg> <g> <rect></rect> </g></svg><svg> <g> <rect></rect> </g></svg>Psychische Gesundheit: Wie krank sind unsere Kinder wirklich?Von Heike Le Ker<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/00d9db08-0af3-401d-aaeb-380adc7c7be4_w180_r1.778_fpx50_fpy53.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/00d9db08-0af3-401d-aaeb-380adc7c7be4_w180_r1.778_fpx50_fpy53.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/00d9db08-0af3-401d-aaeb-380adc7c7be4_w56_r1_fpx50_fpy53.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/00d9db08-0af3-401d-aaeb-380adc7c7be4_w56_r1_fpx50_fpy53.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p></p><p><p>Blei ist für den Körper schädlich, insbesondere für Kinder. Das Schwermetall stört die Bildung der roten Blutkörperchen. Bei einer Bleivergiftung sind das Gehirn, das Nervensystem, das Blut und die Verdauungsorgane beeinträchtigt.</p><svg> <g> </g></svg></p> China: 200 Kinder wegen Blei in Kindergartenkuchen im Krankenhaus - DER SPIEGEL	查看 4426	明镜在线	2025-07-09 13:11:00 2025-08-05 22:10:20	word
3232714	有图 <p></p><p><p>Die Polizei in China geht derzeit in einer landesweiten Kampagne gegen die Autorinnen schwuler Erotikromane vor. Zahlreiche zumeist junge Verfasserinnen sogenannter »Boys’ Love«-Geschichten seien verhaftet worden, berichten die »New York Times«<svg> </svg> und die Nachrichtenagentur AP übereinstimmend, auch Anklagen seien erhoben worden. Einige Autorinnen seien wegen Produktion oder Verbreitung obszöner Inhalte bereits zu Geld- oder auch langen Gefängnisstrafen verurteilt worden.</p></p><p><p></p></p><p><p>Die »Boys’ Love«-Romane schildern queere Liebesaffären oder sexuelle Begegnungen zwischen Männern oft in handfesten Worten und Bildern. Sie wenden sich jedoch an ein heterosexuelles Publikum und werden oft von jungen Autorinnen produziert, die auf diese Weise ihr Einkommen aufbessern. Das ursprünglich aus Japan stammende Genre gilt auch deswegen als beliebt, weil es Alternativen bietet zur oft stereotypen Darstellung heterosexueller Liebesgeschichten – in denen sich viele Frauen nicht wiederfinden.</p></p><p><p></p></p><p></p><p><p>Nachdem die Inhalte zunächst weitgehend toleriert wurden, geht die Staats- und Parteiführung seit einiger Zeit immer härter gegen das Buchgenre vor: In den Zehnerjahren seien Serien abgesetzt worden, schreibt die »New York Times«, auch sei bereits 2018 eine Autorin wegen angeblicher Obszönität zu zehn Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt worden. 2021 verlangten die Zensurbehörden des Landes laut AP schließlich die Entfernung von Inhalten, die »abnormale sexuelle Beziehungen« darstellen. Seither sind »Boys’ Love«-Romane im Handel nur noch in erheblich entschärfter Form erhältlich, etwa ohne Sexszenen oder mit nur noch sehr reduzierten homoerotischen Anspielungen.</p></p><p><p></p></p><p></p><p>Mehr zum ThemaManga-Comics: Zwischen Sadosex und ZuckerschockVon Timur Vermes<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/3ceb7364-a85a-4a89-bfcd-72c62218d51b_w180_r1.778_fpx51_fpy52.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/3ceb7364-a85a-4a89-bfcd-72c62218d51b_w180_r1.778_fpx51_fpy52.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/3ceb7364-a85a-4a89-bfcd-72c62218d51b_w56_r1_fpx51_fpy52.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/3ceb7364-a85a-4a89-bfcd-72c62218d51b_w56_r1_fpx51_fpy52.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p>Vorwurf der »illegalen Ideologien«: Haftstrafen für ehemalige Chefredakteure in Hongkong<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/d019ce86-793b-4059-a3aa-500a62c9460a_w180_r1.778_fpx50_fpy27.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/d019ce86-793b-4059-a3aa-500a62c9460a_w180_r1.778_fpx50_fpy27.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/d019ce86-793b-4059-a3aa-500a62c9460a_w56_r1_fpx50_fpy27.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/d019ce86-793b-4059-a3aa-500a62c9460a_w56_r1_fpx50_fpy27.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p></p><p><p>Im Fokus der chinesischen Behörden stehen deshalb auch keine Autorinnen, die für den stationären Handel schreiben, sondern diejenigen, die auf der taiwanischen Plattform »Haitang Literature City« veröffentlichen. Diese ist von China aus nur unter Umgehung der staatlichen Firewall abrufbar.</p><p>Das Ausmaß der Verhaftungen in China ist indes unklar, auch wegen der Sorge vieler Menschen, offen darüber zu sprechen. Auch Kritik an den staatlichen Maßnahmen regt sich aus demselben Grund nur verhalten. Die »New York Times« berichtet etwa von einem später wieder gelöschten Social-Media-Beitrag der Pekinger Juraprofessorin Lao Dongyan. Diese habe geschrieben, die Strafverfolgungsbehörden seien offenbar mehr mit der »Wahrung sozialer Sitten und sexueller Moral« beschäftigt als mit dem Schutz der Rechte des Einzelnen.</p></p><p><p></p></p><p></p><p><p>Sie wollen wissen, um was für Geschichten es bei »Boys’ Love«-geht? Ein paar ausgewählte Werke aus Japan stellen wir in diesem Artikel vor.</p><svg> <g> </g></svg></p> China geht gegen Autorinnen von »Boys' Love«-Erotikromanen vor - DER SPIEGEL	查看 4464	明镜在线	2025-07-09 20:23:00 2025-08-05 22:10:20	word
3232713	无图 <p><p> hasChangedOffer = true)"><fieldset><legend><svg> <rect></rect> </svg></legend><p>Diesen Artikel weiterlesen mit SPIEGEL+<p>Sie haben bereits ein Digital-Abo? Zum Login</p><p><p>SPIEGEL plus<svg> <g> <g> <g> </g> <g> </g> </g> </g></svg>Nur für Neukunden</p><p><label>€ 1,– für 4 Wochendanach € 5,99 pro Woche</label></p><p><p><svg> <g> </g></svg>Freier Zugriff auf alle S+-Artikel auf SPIEGEL.de und in der App</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Wöchentlich die digitale Ausgabe des SPIEGEL inkl. E-Paper (PDF), Digital-Archiv und S+-Newsletter</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Jederzeit kündigen</p><p>Jetzt abonnieren<svg><use></use></svg></p></p><p>SPIEGEL plus<svg><use></use></svg>52 Wochen 25 % sparen</p><p><label>€ 4,49 pro Woche für 52 Wochendanach € 5,99 pro Woche</label></p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Freier Zugriff auf alle S+-Artikel auf SPIEGEL.de und in der App</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Wöchentlich die digitale Ausgabe des SPIEGEL inkl. E-Paper (PDF), Digital-Archiv und S+-Newsletter</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>52 Wochen rabattierte Laufzeit</p><p>Jetzt abonnieren<svg><use></use></svg></p></p><p>Sie haben bereits ein Print-Abo?Hier rabattiert Digital-Zugang bestellen</p></fieldset></p><p><fieldset><legend><svg><use></use></svg></legend><p>Diesen Artikel weiterlesen mit SPIEGEL+<p>Sie haben bereits ein Digital-Abo? Zum Login</p><p><p>SPIEGEL plus<svg><use></use></svg></p><p><label>Monatsabo Preis wird geladen...</label></p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Freier Zugriff auf alle S+-Artikel auf SPIEGEL.de und in der App</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Wöchentlich die digitale Ausgabe des SPIEGEL inkl. E-Paper (PDF), Digital-Archiv und S+-Newsletter</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Jederzeit kündigen</p><p>Jetzt abonnieren<svg><use></use></svg></p></p><p>SPIEGEL plus<svg><use></use></svg>20 % sparen</p><p><label>Jahresabo Preis wird geladen</label></p><p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Freier Zugriff auf alle S+-Artikel auf SPIEGEL.de und in der App</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Wöchentlich die digitale Ausgabe des SPIEGEL inkl. E-Paper (PDF), Digital-Archiv und S+-Newsletter</p><p><svg><use></use></svg>Jederzeit kündigen</p><p>Jetzt abonnieren<svg><use></use></svg></p></p><p>iTunes-Abo wiederherstellen<p>SPIEGEL+ wird über Ihren iTunes-Account abgewickelt und mit Kaufbestätigung bezahlt. 24 Stunden vor Ablauf verlängert sich das Abo automatisch umeinen Monat zum Preis von zurzeiteinen Monat zum Preis von zurzeit ¤ein Jahr zum Preis von zurzeit ¤. In den Einstellungen Ihres iTunes-Accounts können Sie das Abo jederzeit kündigen. Um SPIEGEL+ außerhalbdieser App zu nutzen, müssen Sie das Abo direkt nach dem Kauf mit einem SPIEGEL-ID-Konto verknüpfen. Mit dem Kauf akzeptieren Sie unsereAllgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen und Datenschutzerklärung.</p></p></fieldset></p><p><p></p><svg> </svg></p><template><p>SPIEGEL plus<svg><use></use></svg><svg><use></use></svg>Zu meinen Artikeln</p><template><p><p> von 4 Artikeln verfügbar</p>In Ihrem SPIEGEL+ Starter-Abo stehen Ihnen bis Uhr noch Artikel zur Verfügung. Wollen Sie diesen Artikel freischalten?</p>Artikel freischalten<svg> <g> </g></svg></p></template><template><p><p> von 4 Artikeln verfügbar</p>Die nächsten 4 freien Artikel stehen Ihnen am Uhr zur Verfügung. Trotzdem weiterlesen? Jetzt zum Premium-Abo upgraden!</p>Premium-AboExklusiv für Sie!<p>€ 5,99 pro Woche</p><p>Vierwöchentlich abgerechnet und kündbar.</p><svg><use></use></svg>Starter-Abonnent:innen sparen bis zur nächsten Abrechnung.<svg><use></use></svg>Alle Artikel auf SPIEGEL.de und App lesen<svg><use></use></svg>Wöchentlich die digitale Ausgabe des SPIEGEL inkl. E-Paper (PDF), Digital-Archiv und S+-NewsletterJetzt upgraden<svg><use></use></svg></p></template></p></template></p> »Ekranoplan«: Tüftelt China an einem neuartigen Flugboot? - DER SPIEGEL	查看 3961	明镜在线	2025-07-22 16:18:00 2025-08-05 22:10:20	word
3232712	有图 <p><p>BereichLesen Sie hier das Videotranskriptaufklappen<svg> <g> <g> <g> </g> </g> </g></svg><svg> <g> <g> <g> </g> </g> </g></svg><p><p>Cynthia Schlater, Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Also, ich bin tatsächlich sehr gut vorbereitet gekommen, mit Decke, mit Stühlen, mit Snacks, mit Tee, mit allem.«</p><p>Freitagmorgen, 9:04 Uhr am Berliner Alexanderplatz: In knapp einer Stunde öffnet hier der erste Pop Mart Store Deutschlands. Cynthia Schlater hat sich schon am Vorabend in die Schlange gestellt. Die 25-Jährige will unbedingt ein original Labubu ergattern. Wird ihr das gelingen?</p><p>Elena Bock, DER SPIEGEL:</p><p>»Ich bin ehrlich, so ganz verstanden habe ich persönlich den Hype um die kleinen Monster noch nicht. Ich finde sie eher gruselig als süß. Das sehen sehr viele Menschen hier aber offensichtlich anders. Und ich versuche jetzt mal herauszufinden, warum.«</p><p>Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Man kann die überall hinhängen, man kann mit denen spielen und die sehen halt so knuffig aus.«</p><p>Cynthia Schlater:</p><p>»Um ehrlich zu sein, fand ich sie am Anfang schon etwas hässlich, aber wenn man sie dann überall sieht, dann wird man einfach vertrauter damit und findet die dann trotzdem ganz niedlich und süß. Und deswegen musste ich halt auch einfach ein haben, um ehrlich zu sein.«</p><p>Cynthia Schlater, Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Also was findest du an diesen ganzen Pop-Mart-Labubu-Universum so toll?«</p><p>Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Man kann sehr viel Geld damit verdienen. Zum Beispiel kann man die für 20 Euro kaufen. Wenn du Glück hast, kannste die für 500 Euro verkaufen.«</p><p>Offiziell öffnet der Store um 10. Doch viele Fans wollen kein Risiko eingehen – und warten schon seit Stunden, so wie Cynthia Schlater.</p><p>Cynthia Schlater, Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Also, ich habe mich gestern um 20:30 angestellt.«</p><p>Sie hat schon zehn Labubus zu Hause. Trotzdem hat sie die Nacht vor dem Einkaufszentrum verbracht – teilweise im Nieselregen. Nun rückt der Moment, auf den sie gewartet hat, immer näher.</p><p>Elena Bock, DER SPIEGEL:</p><p>»Jetzt gehen hier gleich die Türen auf. Beschreib mal: Du hast grad gesagt, hier ist irgendwie trouble.«</p><p>Cynthia Schlater, Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Ja, also die Nerven liegen auf jeden Fall blank und wir haben auch schon gesehen, es sind schon ein paar andere Leute und deswegen ist es alles ein bisschen unruhig. Aber wir bleiben positiv. Immer schön positiv bleiben..«</p><p>Und dann ist es soweit: Das Einkaufszentrum öffnet um drei Minuten nach zehn die Türen – Cynthia ist ganz vorne mit dabei.</p><p>Cynthia Schlater, Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Geschaaafft! Aufgeregt! Jetzt geht’s in den Store! Ich kanns kaum erwarten, mal gucken, was wir kriegen können.«</p><p>Doch wo kommt dieser Hype eigentlich her?</p><p>Obwohl sie erst seit Kurzem an Taschen und Gürtelschlaufen baumeln: Neu ist die Figur Labubu nicht. Schon 2015 hat der Hongkonger Illustrator Kasing Lung sie erfunden – ursprünglich für eine Kinderbuchreihe. Inspiration für seine Wesen fand er in der nordischen Mythologie.</p><p>Der chinesische Spielzeugkonzern Pop Mart begann 2019 Labubus exklusiv als Sammelfiguren zu vermarkten. Zum Trend wurden sie 2024 durch K-Pop-Sängerin Lisa.</p><p>Heute gehört Pop-Mart-Gründer Wang Ning zu den reichsten Menschen Chinas. Auch, weil das Unternehmen den Labubu-Hype mit seiner Marketingstrategie zusätzlich befeuert: Viele Figuren werden stark limitiert in blickdichten Boxen verkauft. Man weiß also nicht, was man am Ende bekommt.</p><p>Dieser Nervenkitzel ist inzwischen zum TikTok-Format geworden – was die Nachfrage zusätzlich steigert.</p><p>Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Man weiß halt nicht was hat man, was bekommt man. Und das ist dieser gewisse Reiz, das ist halt einfach schön.«</p><p>Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Das beste Gefühl ist halt einfach das Aufmachen, die Spannung, welcher ist drin.« </p><p>Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Das wird natürlich alles auf Social Media aufgenommen und ausgeschlachtet in der Hinsicht. Die volle Experience, die volle Labubu-Experience auf jeden Fall zu Hause.«</p><p>Währenddessen ist Cynthia Schlater eine der Ersten im Pop Mart Store.</p><p>Zehn Minuten später treffen wir sie wieder – um einige Hundert Euro ärmer.</p><p>Elena Bock, DER SPIEGEL:</p><p>»Du hast es geschafft!«</p><p>Cynthia Schlater, Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Ich habs geschafft. Alles, was ich wollte, ist in Erfüllung gegangen. Ich hab sogar zwei bekommen. Es war unbeschreiblich. Also ich muss sagen, auch wenn man 15 Stunden wartet, es lohnt sich alles. Aber wenn man draußen ist, fühlt man sich glücklicher, weil der ganze Stress abgefallen ist. Ich freu mich.«</p><p>»Sind wir bereit?«</p><p>Elena Bock, Der SPIEGEL:</p><p>»Ich bin bereit, bist du bereit?«</p><p>Cynthia Schlater, Labubu-Fan:</p><p>»Ich bin auch bereit.«</p><p>»Ich denke, hat sich auf jeden Fall gelohnt«</p><p>Was in Berlin reibungslos über die Bühne ging, hat in anderen Ländern nicht so gut geklappt. In Großbritannien und Südkorea setzte Pop Mart den Labubu-Verkauf aus Sicherheitsgründen sogar temporär aus. Heute scheint aber keiner leer auszugehen:</p><p>Pop Mart-Angestellter:</p><p>»Wir haben genügend Ware da. Wir bekommen auch nach Lieferung morgen und fünfmal nächste Woche«</p><p>Elena Bock, DER SPIEGEL:</p><p>»Wir sind jetzt wieder draußen. Cynthia hatte Glück, aber die Schlange ist immer noch mehrere 100 Meter lang. Ich muss sagen, so ganz verstanden habe ich den Hype immer noch nicht. Aber ich fang an, die Dinger irgendwie auch süß zu finden.«</p></p></p></p><p>Mehr Videos zum Thema<svg> <g> <rect></rect> </g></svg><svg> <rect></rect> </svg>Hype um Dubai-Schokolade: Schlange stehen ab zwei Uhr morgens –für eine teure SchokoladeVon Benjamin Eckert und Maria Herbst<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/faf9e4b5-8bcd-411c-9769-c196d3ebda79_w180_r1.778_fpx42_fpy47.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/faf9e4b5-8bcd-411c-9769-c196d3ebda79_w180_r1.778_fpx42_fpy47.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/faf9e4b5-8bcd-411c-9769-c196d3ebda79_w56_r1_fpx42_fpy47.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/faf9e4b5-8bcd-411c-9769-c196d3ebda79_w56_r1_fpx42_fpy47.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg><svg><use></use></svg>SPIEGEL Shortcut zur Logik der Mode: Die ewige Jagd nach den TrendsModeriert von Maximilian Sepp<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bdd0ca74-6c74-4921-b4f6-795f87227d50_w180_r1.778_fpx82_fpy42.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bdd0ca74-6c74-4921-b4f6-795f87227d50_w180_r1.778_fpx82_fpy42.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bdd0ca74-6c74-4921-b4f6-795f87227d50_w56_r1_fpx82_fpy42.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/bdd0ca74-6c74-4921-b4f6-795f87227d50_w56_r1_fpx82_fpy42.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><svg><use></use></svg><svg><use></use></svg>SPIEGEL Shortcut über mentale Gesundheit: Wenn Influencer zur Selbstdiagnose verleitenModeriert von Maximilian Sepp<p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/8f534099-5f2f-427e-9d6b-81dccb73ee83_w180_r1.778_fpx64_fpy31.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/8f534099-5f2f-427e-9d6b-81dccb73ee83_w180_r1.778_fpx64_fpy31.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p><p><source data-srcset="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/8f534099-5f2f-427e-9d6b-81dccb73ee83_w56_r1_fpx64_fpy31.webp><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg %3E%3C/svg%3E" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p><noscript><img src="https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/8f534099-5f2f-427e-9d6b-81dccb73ee83_w56_r1_fpx64_fpy31.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></noscript></p></p> Labubus in Berlin: 15 Stunden anstehen, 10 Minuten im Store, Hunderte Euro ärmer - DER SPIEGEL	查看 8359	明镜在线	2025-07-26 00:54:00 2025-08-05 22:10:20	word
3232711	无图 <p>Introduction</p><p>Israel has been ramping up its propaganda expenditure as a form of soft power. Earlier this year, its Foreign Ministry received an additional $150m allocated to shaping public opinion on Israel.</p><p>As an occupying force, Israel carries out massive campaigns dedicated to legitimizing the state, readily attacking those who criticize or question its legitimacy. The focus is on marketing the state as a democracy, a safe haven for minorities and Jews fearing persecution worldwide. The premise remains, the existence of Israel as a Jewish sovereign nation protects Jews from experiencing another holocaust, and so, when criticizing the existence of Israel or Zionism as a political and ideological project built on the ethnic cleansing of a population, one is rendered anti-semitic, in support of another holocaust taking place (all while ignoring and supporting a holocaust unfolding in Gaza).</p><p>This affiliation is not reached through mere coincidence or fact-based evidence; it is instead a result of decades of paid Hasbara propaganda conflating antisemitism with antizionism, instilling fear in opposing occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Today, criticism of Israel has not only been labelled, but also institutionalized, as anti-semitic. This is done in an effort by Hasbara groups to shield the sovereignty of Israel against criticism.</p><p>Hasbara, a Hebrew word coined by Nahum Sokolow, directly translates to “explaining,” however, encompassing broader public diplomacy and propaganda efforts dedicated to the constant polishing of Israel’s image. This is prevalent in all aspects of life: the arts, politics, academia, and even infiltrating children’s video games. There is also a type of propaganda that is especially deployed in times of crises, as a crisis-management tactic, to counter attacks in response to the actions of Israel. Both forms work alongside one another to establish a firm base against criticism of Israel, and the United States has provided the most backing for this.</p><p>Since coming to power, Trump’s administration has utilized U.S. domestic policy to ensure the protection of Israel in the public and private spheres, with a special crackdown on freedom of speech and academic freedom, securing a future for Israel resistant to condemnation.</p><p>Hasbara on American Campuses</p><p>“You have got to learn to fight the political battle, which is even more important at this point than the military battle… If the war against Israel ever had to be fought on Israeli soil, do I have to tell you? It’s an impossibility. So it’s the same thing, don’t let the war of words ever be fought about Israel’s nature. Let it be fought about why you can’t accept Israel, why you have to single out this tiny people…teach them (American Jews) how to defend by attacking” – Ruth Wisse</p><p>This statement by Ruth Wisse, a Harvard professor of Yiddish and Comparative Literature, sums up deflection in hasbara tactics. She explains to the Jewish Americans in the audience that they should, in protecting Israel, defend its position by attacking the values/humanity of the person opposing them. This is a tactic that has been especially utilized post October 7 and serves the most powerful in the fight against freedom of speech in response to Israel’s crimes. Students often undergo Hasbara training not only to advocate for Israel on campus, but to fight for the silencing of pro-Palestinian speech.</p><p>The Hasbara Fellowship Israel Program, for example, regularly introduces and immerses 40 North American university students into Israel. According to their website, the goal is for students “to return to campus as more effective and informed pro-Israel activists” as they meet with Israeli “political, military and business communities.” The highly-subsidized program ($500 for round-trip flights from and to North America, accommodation, transportation, and programs) runs a couple of times in the summer and winter, each trip lasting 10-13 days, and following their return, students continue “to receive support and resources from Hasbara staff.”</p><p>These trips aim to create little ambassadors for Israel across North American university campuses, reinforcing narratives taught to them on their “educational” trip. According to their website, students “learn, plan, and strategize ways to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda on campus, while developing strategies to effectively and consistently promote a pro-Israel message.” Therefore, students return to their campuses eager and prepared to disseminate the propaganda they were taught on their mission, playing a vital role in campaigns against freedom of speech and the crackdown on activism prevalent in the U.S.</p><p>These funded trips are done in a coordinated effort from Israeli hasbara groups to equip students across North American universities with Hasbara skills of deflection and victimization necessary to combating criticism against Israel, further affecting university dynamics that prioritize the perceived safety of a group of students over another.</p><p>Freedom of Speech and the Ivy Leagues</p><p>Across North America, students occupied their campuses protesting and setting up encampments in attempts to pressure universities to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel in response to its genocide in Gaza, and to reject the US’s role in it. Students opposing their university’s role in advancing the war (whether through direct investments in arms manufacturers or their adoption of a pro-Israeli narrative) were met with severe repression from university body and police, infamously for example, Columbia University, which violently deployed police on its students arresting students and graduates involved in the encampments.</p><p>The encampment at Columbia, commencing on April 17, 2024, and lasting 14 days, was eye-opening on the level of influence Hasbara has on American politics and academia. The renowned Ivy League responded to students’ demands with mass arrests along with expulsion and the revocation of degrees, an exaggerated response to student activism in a country that projects itself as a democracy.</p><p>Dubbed as antisemitism, Israel, under the auspices of the American government, is working to permeate a narrative villainizing university students opposing genocide. The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), for example, has been spearheading antisemitism campaigns against student activists. Cited in congressional hearings on student protests and encampments, ISGAP reports were presented as evidence to deny students their freedom of speech. The institute, which receives funding from an Israeli propaganda agency closely tied to the Israeli government, specifically the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, along with the Ministry of Diasporic Affairs, continues to play a significant role in the Trump Administration’s response to pro-Palestine protests on campus. Their corroborated efforts to frame anti-zionism as antisemitism and therefore redefine it under US law set a dangerous precedent in which antisemitism becomes weaponized for foreign strategic leverage.</p><p>Trump’s Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism</p><p>Earlier this year, Trump announced his executive order to advance Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism. Following his order, the Justice Department created a Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. This multi-agency task force has been at the forefront of tackling “antisemitism” in educational institutions, ensuring compliance with Trump’s order after universities witnessed widespread protests against Israel. Thus far, the task force has frozen funding for Harvard and Columbia and is investigating the University of Washington.</p><p>On March 7th, 2025, the Task Force announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University due to the “School’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The task force sent a letter to the university a week later with the necessary steps, including nine action points, awaiting Columbia’s response. Later the same month, Columbia released a statement with its plan to redesign various aspects of its structure, implementing a comprehensive strategy in adherence to the necessary steps outlined in the letter.</p><p>The strategy is separated into four categories, accepting of most of the requests in the letter including increasing the presence of police-like security on campus (able to arrest students & works alongside federal agents), advancing the university’s Tel Aviv Center, enhancing university laws against protests and encampments, and appointing a new Senior Vice Provost to oversee programs on the Middle East, ensuring “neutrality” and a “comprehensive and balanced” education system.</p><p>This persistent attack on academic freedom reflects long-term intentions to entrench Israeli propaganda dedicated to criminalizing criticism of Israel on an institutional level. As a result, pro-Palestine students continue to be brutally arrested from their universities, risking expulsion and deportation in many cases. The arrests of scholars and students like Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumeysa Öztürk, Badar Khan Suri, and the intimidation lawyers face in defending them embody a clear commitment to the status quo, benefiting the United States’ strategic interest at the expense of its democratic values.</p><p>This intimidation, however, has not deterred the people from protesting the genocide unfolding, despite the grave consequences faced.</p><p>Countering Hasbara</p><p>Social media has been unequivocally at the forefront of dismantling hasbara propaganda. Israel’s bombardment on Gaza has been described as the first live-streamed—yet the most denied—genocide, documented by the very people under persecution, challenging the Israeli narrative dominant in the news.</p><p>In attempts to break the powerful narrative coming from the heart of Gaza, social media has become heavily censored as platforms have systematically silenced Palestinian voices. According to leaked data, a study finds that Meta (under which Instagram and Facebook operate) has been heavily censoring Palestinian speech, automatically removing posts in support of Palestine along with accepting “94% of takedown requests issued by Israel since October 7.” Insider data finds that while governments usually request takedowns of social media posts within the borders of their states, Israel has been primarily focused on broadening its censorship, affecting states globally. According to a Human Rights Watch report, platforms under Meta have been the most censoring of Palestinian speech, while platforms like TikTok saw fewer instances.</p><p>Meta’s systemic and global censorship of Palestinian speech is unsurprising due to its ties to the Israeli government and its propaganda units; many of Meta’s senior leaders have direct affiliation with the Israeli government. Shira Anderson, for example, Meta’s head of AI policy, has previously served (as a non-Israeli citizen) in the IDF voluntarily—and proudly, working under the Military Strategic Information Section, contributing to public relations and propaganda for the Israeli government. Anderson, now in charge of Meta’s AI policy, holds decisive powers in content management, public relations, and AI policies, influencing content viewed by Meta users. Anderson is one among many other Meta employees affiliated with the Israeli government’s propaganda unit, playing a role in the construction of a pro-Israeli narrative marked by censorship and suppression.</p><p>Concluding Remarks</p><p>At the heart of Hasbara propaganda lies a particular global image of Israel that has come under extreme scrutiny, shattering post Oct. 7. The illusion of a democratic state has eroded despite relentless efforts from Hasbara groups to influence public opinion. Israel, with unequivocal support from the US, is working to consolidate a reality whereby opposing genocide is incriminating, therefore maintaining a world order that justifies the annihilation and systematic starvation of over 2 million people.</p><p>Hasbara’s influence on American academia, domestic policies, and public opinion intends to redefine antisemitism within American law, providing a cover for Israel as it continues with its genocidal project.</p> On Hasbara and American Domestic Politics: Where do we stand now? \| Al Sharq Strategic Research	查看 12429	Al Sharq论坛	2025-07-08 21:13:30 2025-08-05 22:09:20	word
3232710	无图 <p>The recent political movements in Hadhramaut, particularly the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance‘s announcement of its intention to establish self-rule in Hadhramaut, represent a fundamental development in the Yemeni political arena. This is not only because these demands open the door to further partition projects in Yemen, parallel to the separatist demands led by the Southern Transitional Council (STC). Rather, these movements serve as the spark that ignited the dispute between the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance and the STC, which could lead to increased rifts between the two principal backers of the conflict in Hadhramaut: Saudi Arabia and the UAE.</p><p>The Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance, which is demanding self-rule, has emphasized, through its leader, Amr bin Habrish, their close relationship with “our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” Amr’s meeting with the Saudi Minister of Defense on March 22nd confirmed the close ties between Saudi Arabia and the tribal alliance.</p><p>On the other hand, Hadhramaut is the cherry on top of the secessionist project led by the Southern Transitional Council. It comprises more than half of the south and is a land of oil. According to official Yemeni figures, the oil sector in Hadhramaut accounted for 39% of Yemen’s total oil production in 2006. Therefore, practically speaking, the southern secessionist project cannot see the light without Hadhramaut.</p><p>Recently, there has been an increase in media tensions between the two sides, with each holding mass rallies to demonstrate their presence and underscore their strong popularity. The Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance staged a protest at what it called the “Historic Hadhramaut Meeting” on April 12, demanding self-rule. Meanwhile, the Southern Transitional Council organized a large public event on April 24 to commemorate the anniversary of al-Qaeda’s expulsion from Hadhramaut.</p><p>Both sides are also competing for military presence, especially with the increasing demands of the tribal alliance to allow for military enlistment, which could lead to armed violence in the future.</p><p>The growing possibility of the conflict in Hadhramaut escalating raises questions about its impact on Saudi-Emirati relations. Could it lead to indirect confrontations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE?</p><p>Diverging Saudi-Emirati Goals in Yemen</p><p>Although both sides intervened in Yemen under the pretext of fighting the Houthis and preventing Iran from expanding its influence inside Yemen, also, Saudi Arabia and the UAE feared that Tehran would launch attacks on shipping lanes vital to their strategic interests in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, in addition to attacks on neighboring Gulf states. However, these goals soon shifted, with the UAE focusing primarily on Yemen’s southern and eastern coasts, particularly the Aden and Mukalla areas.</p><p>Perhaps the most striking evidence of the UAE’s shifting objectives regarding its military intervention in Yemen was the expulsion of the Hadi government from Aden by UAE-backed separatist forces in 2019, potentially the most significant challenge to Saudi influence in Yemen. This coincided with the UAE’s announcement of a reduction in its military forces, despite the ongoing Houthi coup. The UAE justified this by citing the presence of local forces it had trained, totaling 90,000 fighters. These UAE-trained local forces openly raised the slogan of secession, flying the flag and anthem of the former southern state. From these secessionist forces emerged a political entity called the Southern Transitional Council, which became part of the government thanks to the Riyadh Agreement. With direct support from the UAE, the STC established local military forces across the southern state and attempted to control even areas spared from the war, such as Socotra, Al Mahrah, and Hadhramaut.</p><p>As for Saudi Arabia, although the Kingdom primarily led the battles against the Houthis, it simultaneously had a broad interest in the eastern regions, particularly Al Mahrah. Since the era of Ali Abdullah Saleh, Saudi Arabia has sought to conclude an agreement under which it would obtain a land sector that would allow it to extend several pipelines to transport its oil to the Arabian Sea. These pipelines would be 300 km long and 5 km wide, starting from Saudi fields, passing through the Yemeni province of Al Mahrah, and reaching the port of Nishtun. This area and its logistical and security services would be subject to Saudi control. However, Ali Abdullah Saleh at the time categorically rejected this. Saudi efforts to establish a military presence in Al Mahrah, mainly to control the port of Nishtun, have also become public since 2019. This was also confirmed by a leaked document in 2018 regarding a Saudi plan to build a pipeline extending from the Najran region to the Yemeni coast of Al Mahrah.</p><p>Saudi Arabia and the UAE have diverged in their objectives regarding Yemen. While Saudi Arabia has sought to control the eastern regions of Wadi Hadhramaut to secure its borders, and Al Mahrah for the construction of the planned oil pipeline, the UAE has focused on controlling ports in southern and eastern Yemen, part of its strategy to control ports as an extension of Dubai Ports World’s operations.</p><p>Although the war against the Houthis was the primary reason that brought Saudi Arabia and the UAE together for military intervention in Yemen from the outset, the economic ambitions of both countries were the reason for adopting divergent policies.</p><p>Saudi-Emirati Influence in Hadhramaut</p><p>Hadhramaut is considered an extension of Saudi national security, not only because of the long border between the two countries, but also for societal reasons. The Hadhrami community in the Kingdom is extensive, including prominent businessmen and families with significant investments in Saudi Arabia. Many are unaware of their Hadhrami origins, most notably the Bin Laden, Bin Mahfouz, Bugshan, and Al-Amoudi families, among others.</p><p>Militarily, Saudi Arabia has maintained a significant military presence in the First Military Region, which covers half the Yemeni border with the Kingdom. This region houses the Saudi Forces Command, which includes numerous Saudi officers and soldiers.</p><p>In addition to its military presence and direct and indirect influence in the Hadhramaut Valley and Desert, Saudi Arabia has supported several political forces, most notably the Hadhramaut National Council, whose establishment was announced in May 2023. Many analyses also suggest that Saudi Arabia was behind the Unified Council of the Eastern Governorates announcement in January 2024.</p><p>Both councils share a common emphasis on Yemen’s unity and the idea offederal regions, which was one of the most important outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference. This can be seen as a confirmation of Saudi political support for the federal regions. This is in addition to the recent support for the demands of the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance. Saudi political support for these forces can be understood as an attempt by the kingdom to strengthen its political influence in Hadhramaut.</p><p>The UAE has maintained an apparent influence in the Hadhramaut coast since the expulsion of Al Qaeda in 2016, making the Hadhramaut coast a purely Emirati zone of influence. Despite the STC’s attempts to expand into the Hadhramaut Valley through popular demonstrations and the attraction of some tribal figures, Saudi influence has remained evident in the Hadhramaut Valley.</p><p>Thus, Saudi Arabia and the UAE divided their influence in Hadhramaut, with the former controlling the valley bordering its borders and the UAE controlling the coastline, which the latter considered important to its strategic economic interests.</p><p>Hadhramaut’s Self-rule Between Emirati and Saudi Interests</p><p>Since 2016, except for political movements primarily related to poor services in the governorate, such as the “Second Hadhrami Popular Uprising,” which focused mainly on demanding more economic rights and broader political representation for Hadhramaut, the governorate has remained calm. It has even been considered a model for the country as a whole.</p><p>However, the visit of Aidarous al-Zubaidi, head of the Southern Transitional Council, to Hadhramaut last March, accompanied by his harsh criticism of Hadrami political forces opposed to the separatist project, prompted the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance to mobilize and demand self-rule. The alliance justifies its demands for self-rule by citing the government’s failure to provide basic services and the war’s transformation into an endless, pointless conflict. This means that the service crisis in Hadhramaut will continue, despite its wealth.</p><p>The future of the political conflict in Hadhramaut remains a subject of considerable speculation. There are real fears that Hadramawt could descend into armed confrontation. There are real fears that Hadhramaut could slide into a military conflict, particularly between the forces affiliated with the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance, known as the “Hadhramaut Protection Forces,” and the Hadhrami Elite Forces, which were established with Emirati support.</p><p>Although tension has reached its peak, it would not be in the interest of any party for the political dispute to escalate into open warfare. For the Hadramawt Tribal Alliance, any bloody military conflict would portray it as a bloodthirsty armed militia seeking to declare self-rule by force of arms. This would significantly tarnish its image. As for the STC, any military conflict with the tribal alliance would present it as a party that is not reluctant to shed the blood of the southerners, to whom it promises to establish a modern state. This could also lead to an increase in its enemies in Hadramawt and the south in general.</p><p>Hadhramaut is its backyard for Saudi Arabia, and its primary concern is maintaining security there. Any political dispute with the Southern Transitional Council or any other force could negatively affect the kingdom. Since the start of the battles against the Houthis, Saudi Arabia’s desire to maintain calm in Hadhramaut has been clear. No military forces openly raising the slogan of liberating the south have appeared in Hadhramaut, and all critical positions in Hadhramaut remain in the hands of moderate figures. For example, the current governor of Hadhramaut, Mabkhout bin Madi, was not affiliated with any political party when he was appointed governor. The commander of the Second Military Region in Hadhramaut, Faiz al-Tamimi, is a military commander who rose through the ranks of the Yemeni army and is not known to hold any strong political views. Furthermore, state institutions have generally maintained a degree of stability compared to other southern regions.</p><p>There is no doubt that Saudi-Emirati relations, notably regarding Yemen, may indicate a form of competition. However, this competition will not develop into an armed conflict in which either side might lose control, at least soon. This competition in Hadhramaut may affect other regions within Yemen, within the framework of the Saudi-Emirati competition over the Yemeni file as a whole, which first became public in 2019, such as each party trying to gain greater influence in senior positions in the government, or, for example, taking into account Emirati interests in peace negotiations with the Houthis.</p> Hadhramaut Tensions and The Impact on Saudi-Emirati Relations \| Al Sharq Strategic Research	查看 11487	Al Sharq论坛	2025-07-11 19:15:42 2025-08-05 22:09:20	word
3232709	无图 <p>The decline of the PJD had been a major concern for the Islamist in Morocco and it has now led us to the very question, why, and what is the main drive of this fallback, and would it be possible for political Islam movement to be revived back with the comeback of the party leader, Benkirane. Even though the party fallback had a lot of major factors which some said was the victim of “wrong time, right person” situation where covid 19 hit during the 2020-2022 years back then and the party failed miserably to control government[1] and party image with some other blunders with Israel normalization had caused this downfall for the PJD. Compared to other MENA countries, Morocco is considered one of the most progressive countries for Islamism to revive since the Arab uprising, where some of the other neighboring countries, such as Egypt and Tunisia, failed to maintain power play and were thrown out by the military coup d’etat and outplayed by the autocratic president. This loss of PJD in Morocco remarks not just the downfall of Islamism in Morocco alone, but also the MENA region as a whole, as there are no standing political islamist movements moreover, after the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, which was the latest. This left a big question mark on what the future of Islamism in MENA is.</p><p>From Triumph to political Turmoil</p><p>Before the Arab Uprising, the PJD was not in favour with the people as much as they were post the Arab Spring. Since its entrance and debut in Moroccan politics, the PJD has experienced significant fluctuations in its electoral performance over the years, reflecting shifts in political dynamics, public sentiments, and government policies. Back in 2002, the PJD surprised many people when they won 42 seats in the Moroccan parliament[2]. It was a big step for them; not many saw them as a strong political player. This win sort of changed how people looked at the party. It wasn’t in power, of course, but it became one of the voices in parliament that people started paying more attention to, especially those who were getting tired of the same old faces in Moroccan politics. Later in 2007, they managed to increase their seats slightly to 46[3]. In 2011, the PJD achieved a major breakthrough, winning 107 seats and becoming the largest party in the House of Representatives[4]. This victory followed the Arab Spring protests, which led to constitutional reforms and greater public demand for change. The PJD capitalized on its image as a clean, reformist alternative to traditional parties. 2016 marks the peak influence for PJD as it manages to expand its dominance, increasing its seats to 125[5], further consolidating its position as Morocco’s leading party. It led a coalition government and positioned itself as a pragmatic Islamist party balancing religious values and governance.</p><p>The 2021 election was a turning point for the PJD. From leading with more than 100 seats, it dropped to 13. It is argued that there were a few reasons behind it. First being the state started putting pressure on them with less media time and more quiet restrictions here and there. Secondly, people aren’t seeing progress in the manifesto and promises they made after a decade in ruling with the Israel normalization of Othmani worsened the situation. Thirdly, the new electoral law had been changed and it didn’t really work in their favour[6]. Lastly, while they were struggling, parties like the National Rally of Independents (RNI) and the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) were already gaining ground, looking cleaner, more modern, and closer to the palace. So, people started shifting their support. In the end, it wasn’t just one thing; it was pressure from above, frustration from below, and competitors waiting to take their place[7].</p><p>The Return of the Prodigal Leader</p><p>On April 28, the former president and the main Justice and Development Party (PJD) charismatic leader, Abdelilah Benkirane, was re-elected as PJD leader with a strong mandate, which secured 947 out of 1,402 votes, representing 69.4% of the total[8]. The comeback of Benkirane is awaited by the people of PJD as the party had fallen back very badly during the 2021 elections which witnessed the party lose almost 80% of the votes they used to receive and failed to form a government that they used to lead for the past 10 years. The return of Benkirane is considered a light at the end of the tunnel for the PJD, as he was the leader who strategizes and pragmatically brings the party to the front, gains the trust of the people, and climbs the Moroccan political ladder. The main question is, can his comeback help the survival of the party?</p><p> The question of whether Benkirane can revive the PJD is first to ask if the main question of PJD downfall is the leadership issue. It arguably makes sense as the decreasing influence and popularity happened to be in the Othmani era. To compare, Abdelilah Benkirane and Saadeddine Othmani, showed two very different ways of leading the party. Benkirane had a bold and emotional style as he was charismatic, sometimes loud, and didn’t mind using strong, populist language to connect with the people even if sometimes it goes overboard, such as the “Taza Before Gaza” Advocates he called as ‘“Microbes” and “Donkeys”[9]. He tried to show that he stood for reform and wasn’t afraid to challenge some of the elites in Moroccan politics, even if that meant creating tension. You could feel that he wanted change, but still tried to stay loyal to the monarchy, though the balance wasn’t always easy. Othmani, on the other hand, was much quieter and more careful. He came across as more technical, focusing on keeping the party united and avoiding open conflict with the Palace. Because of that, many felt he was too soft or even too close to the Palace, making him seem less independent as a leader[10].</p><p>When it comes to their approach to policy making, Benkirane took some tough steps, like cutting subsidies, even if they weren’t popular. Othmani’s time in office, by comparison, felt more passive as there weren’t many bold changes that stood out, except the controversial move on Israel normalization. Ideologically, Benkirane still held on to the party’s more traditional Islamic identity[11]. Othmani, though, leaned towards a more pragmatic or “post-Islamist” style where less focus on religious slogans, more on managing things quietly[12]. These two approaches really show how the PJD has struggled between sticking to its original values and adapting to survive in Morocco’s political system. It is hard to argue one is better than the other and it is not fair to say that Othomani is the reason for the fall of the PJD even though the fall of PJD happened in his year of premiership.</p><p>Benkirane’s return seems to signal a new phase where he’s no longer holding back. He wants to bring the PJD back to its roots as a moderate Islamist party where it openly supporting causes like Gaza, pushing for policies that might not be flashy or populist, but truly matter to the party’s base. And this time, he’s not trying to hide the PJD’s shared ground with Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated parties in nearby countries. The recent congress of PJD witnessed that the party invited representatives from Türkiye and Senegal and should be attending the meeting Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood of Jordan but canceled at the last minute because of the unstated reason[13]. It is also important to note that Rached Ghannouchi was mentioned and given homage during the party congress. The PJD’s invitation highlights more than just diplomatic courtesy, but it symbolizes the enduring ideological bond between Islamist movements across national boundaries. Despite the political challenges faced by Ennahda in Tunisia, this invitation underlines a shared commitment to political Islam and democratic reform, even in the face of adversity[14].</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>At this point, it’s hard to say if the PJD can bounce back anytime soon. Their fall in 2021 wasn’t just about losing an election, but it was a sign that their connection with the people had weakened, and their space within the system had been narrowed. The political landscape has also shifted, with new parties stepping in and voters looking elsewhere. But revival is not impossible. The PJD still has a solid grassroots base, and if they manage to reconnect with the public, reflect honestly on their past mistakes, and rebuild their identity with clarity, there’s still room for them. The connection with the palace is also restored as the King noticed the leadership changes in PJD during its recent party election, as the king congratulated on the Benkirane’s comeback[15]. It may not happen overnight, but in Moroccan politics where shifts often come quietly and over time comebacks are always possible.</p><p>The real question is whether the party has the courage to reform from within without losing what made it different in the first place. This return of Benkirane is nothing to guarantee the revival of the PJD, however it could be a big bet PJD put in restoring back the dignity of the party. This period of time is very challenging for Islamist in Morocco, and also the Islamist across the region. The thesis of Oliver Roy, the failure of Political Islam is not really the reality now, it is the future to determine. As Islamism exists as experiment in the beginning, it should and always be experimental and be ready to reform in order to maintain relevant to the voters and people of Morocco without losing party core and identity.</p><p>Endnotes:</p><p>[1] https://pomeps.org/implications-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-for-politics-in-morocco</p><p>[2] http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2221_02.htm</p><p>[3] http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2221_07.htm</p><p>[4] http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2221_11.htm</p><p>[5] https://data.ipu.org/parliament/MA/MA-LC01/election/MA-LC01-E20161007/</p><p>[6] https://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/en/analyses/the-moroccan-elections-of-2021-a-new-political-architecture-for-a-new-development-model/</p><p>[7] https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/09/how-moroccos-islamist-party-fell-grace</p><p>[8] https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2025/04/194428/benkirane-re-elected-leader-of-moroccos-pjd-party/</p><p>[9] https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2025/05/196490/benkirane-provokes-fury-after-branding-taza-before-gaza-advocates-microbes-donkeys/</p><p>[10] https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/moroccos-king-approves-new-government/790088</p><p>[11] https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/after-the-historic-debacle-benkiranes-moroccan-islamist-party-seeks-to-renew-its-narrative-203398</p><p>[12] https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/34320?</p><p>[13] https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/details/164839/hamas-jordanian-muslim-brotherhood-will.html</p><p>[14] https://x.com/R_Ghannouchi/status/1916191552231088285</p><p>[15] https://fesnews.media/304812/2025/04/28/</p> Post-Islamism or Political Exhaustion? The PJD in the Shadow of Regional Decline \| Al Sharq Strategic Research	查看 11000	Al Sharq论坛	2025-07-29 21:26:26 2025-08-05 22:09:20	word
3232708	无图 <p>The fate of the renewed peace process that Türkiye launched with the PKK after a decade is taking a dangerous turn in the wake of the dramatic events in Southern Syria. Following recent developments in Syria’s Druze-majority southern province of Suwayda, the process in Türkiye is experiencing a setback. The core issue lies in a familiar dynamic: the collapse of the previous peace process in 2015 was triggered by the YPG&PKK gaining control over a significant portion of Northern Syria. In essence, the PKK sacrificed the peace process in Türkiye-active between 2013 and 2015, in pursuit of a potential state(let) in Northern Syria. Today, the biggest obstacle to the success of the peace process in Türkiye stands as the integration of military and administrative structures into the emerging political order centered around Damascus.</p><p>The recent peace process in Türkiye began unexpectedly and was spearheaded by an unlikely figure, yet it showed promising progress for quite some time. The turning point came with the regime change in Syria on December 8, 2024, influenced by the war in Gaza, the gradual consolidation of power in Damascus, and the international support garnered by the Ahmed al-Sharaa administration. These developments, coupled with an initiative launched in October by Devlet Bahçeli, Chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), helped accelerate the renewed peace efforts. Bahçeli’s political initiative gradually evolved into a broader process and ultimately transformed into a state project. In alignment with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK held its 12th congress, dissolved itself, and declared its intent to participate in a democratic process within Türkiye. In a symbolic act in July, a group of PKK militants led by KCK co-chair Bese Hozat burned their weapons during a ceremony in Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. More recently, one of the PKK’s senior figures, Veysi Aktaş, who had been transferred to İmralı Island at Öcalan’s request, was released after serving over 31 years in prison.</p><p>While the peace process moved forward on the Türkiye and Iraq fronts, a different reality unfolded in Syria. Owing to Damascus’s weakened position on the Syrian front, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were reluctant to commit to integrating into the new Syrian army, despite the agreement signed on March 10 between SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Furthermore, Israel’s destabilizing actions in southern Syria, particularly in Suwayda, further emboldened the SDF and the PYD-led Autonomous Administration in Northeast Syria.</p><p>Following significant losses in manpower and prestige due to Israeli airstrikes during clashes with Israeli-backed Druze militias in Suwayda, Damascus was forced to retreat, weakening its influence. This shift made the SDF’s resistance to the integration process more visible and assertive. Meanwhile, Israeli-backed Druze leader Hekmat al-Hajari called for the establishment of a corridor linking the SDF-held territories with Suwayda, signaling a similar vision between the two for a secular and decentralized Syria.</p><p>What Does the SDF Want?</p><p>The PYD/YPG/SDF do not fundamentally oppose integration with Damascus. However, the SDF regards its integration into the Syrian state as a distinct matter, separate from the peace process in Türkiye. In contrast, Turkey draws a direct and inseparable connection between the SDF’s incorporation into the Syrian army and the success of its peace process. This fundamental divergence in perspectives threatens to undermine the peace process initiated by Ankara.</p><p>Recognizing the weak state of Damascus, the SDF/PYD are asserting their political leverage and setting forth their conditions. Their goal is to integrate with Damascus as a collective bloc, preserving the gains achieved during the Syrian conflict, while maintaining their administrative and military autonomy. Statements from SDF/YPG leaders frequently echo this stance. One of the principal challenges to integration is the limited capacity of the Damascus government to reassert full sovereignty over every inch of the Syrian territory. Additional obstacles include the significant political and administrative disparities between Damascus and the governing structures in Northeast Syria. For example, one of the PYD leaders, Salih Muslim, during the events in Suwayda, stated that ‘‘they do not want to be part of a Syria governed by a caliphate.</p><p>Elham Ahmed, Co-Chair of the Foreign Relations Department of the PYD-led Autonomous Administration, recently reiterated this vision in an interview. She emphasized that their approach to integration fundamentally differs from that of Damascus. According to Ahmed, integration should entail mutual recognition, not unilateral absorption. She criticized the concept of a centralized state, arguing that it has brought Syrians nothing but suffering. Ahmed further asserted that a decentralized system would alleviate pressure on Damascus and made it clear that laying down arms is not on their agenda, given the ongoing instability in Syria. According to Ahmed, laying down arms would amount to death.</p><p>Nevertheless, Ahmed acknowledged the necessity of central oversight in specific domains, such as the management of border crossings and airports. However, she strongly advocated for regional autonomy in areas including internal security, provision of public services to locals, education, healthcare, language, and cultural affairs. She expressed a desire to collaborate with the new Damascus administration and revealed the existence of a direct communication channel with Ankara.</p><p>In light of these developments, Türkiye, while less openly hostile to the SDF than in the past, continues to oppose its refusal to integrate fully with Damascus. Following a recent high-level meeting in Paris, attended by U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli voiced criticism of the SDF’s position. Both emphasized that the agreement between Mazloum Abdi and Ahmad al-Sharaa must be honored.</p><p>Following Israel’s latest wave of attacks on Syria, a high-level meeting took place in Paris between Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, under the mediation of U.S. Special Envoy Thomas Barrack. This meeting marked the highest-level diplomatic engagement between the two sides since 2000. While neither party officially confirmed nor denied the meeting, Barrack later acknowledged that he had held discussions with both delegations in Paris.</p><p>Also, after a tripartite meeting between Barrack, French Foreign Minister Barrot, and al-Shaibani a joint official statement was issued in which the following was stated: ‘‘In the spirit of dialogue and de-escalation, the United States, France, and Syria agreed on the need to ensure that Syria’s neighbors do not pose a threat to Syria’s stability and that, in turn, reaffirm Syria’s commitment not to pose a threat to its neighbors, for the sake of stability across the region.’’</p><p>The SDF leader, Mazloum Abdi, was also expected to attend the above-mentioned tripartite meeting. It appears Ankara also supported this meeting. However, the meeting was postponed. Instead, in the wake of the trilateral meeting, Mazloum Abdi held a separate meeting with French Foreign Minister Barrot.</p><p>Following the trilateral Paris meeting, a joint statement issued by Syria, France, and the U.S. stated that the parties had agreed to hold a round of talks between the SDF and the Syrian government in Paris in the coming period.</p><p>Right after these developments that drew criticism from the new Syrian government, the SDF leader Abdi appeared in an interview with the Saudi media outlet Al Arabiya, adopting a noticeably more reconciliatory tone than that of Elham Ahmed. Abdi invited the new Syrian government institutions to Arab-majority regions of Northeastern Syria, such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour, and expressed his commitment to the principles of “one army, one government, and one state” in Syria.</p><p>At the same time, he emphasized that decentralization does not mean partition, noting the immense challenge of integrating thousands of SDF members into the Syrian army. Abdi also confirmed his intention to participate in the upcoming planned negotiations with the Syrian government in Paris.</p><p>The remarks by Mazloum Abdi and Elham Ahmed reflect the PYD/SDF’s intention to leverage its position to advocate for a decentralized Syria, though the scope and structure of such a system remain uncertain. It is also seen that the PYD/SDF side does not have a unified vision on the shape and limits of the decentralized system in the country.</p><p>France and the U.S. Role</p><p>Spearheaded by France and the U.S., the Paris initiative aims to break the longstanding deadlock over the integration of the SDF into the Damascus government, a development that could significantly affect the future of the peace process in Türkiye.</p><p>U.S. Representative Barrack has consistently supported Damascus and encouraged the SDF’s integration into the new Syria. However, following the recent events in Suwayda, Barrack has modified his rhetoric toward Damascus and called on it to be more inclusive. He emphasized that otherwise, the new Syrian administration could lose international support, and Syria could be dragged into a new civil war, worse than Libya’s. However, the YPG/SDF continues to receive significant support from CENTCOM, and the USA’s Syria policy is not fully established yet. Notably, the Pentagon is scheduled to provide $130 million in aid to the SDF in 2026, which represents another obstacle to the SDF’s integration into the state apparatus. Stability in Syria is impossible without the SDF becoming part of the Syrian army. Stability in Syria is unlikely without the formal incorporation of the SDF into the national army. The alternative-a military confrontation between the SDF and Damascus-would be catastrophic. Conversely, integrating the SDF would bolster Damascus both militarily and diplomatically, reinforcing its international legitimacy.</p><p>In a nutshell, Syria stands at a crossroads. The SDF&PYD now have a genuine opportunity to become part of a newly reconstituted Syria. It is important to recall that Syrian Kurds were long denied fundamental citizenship rights under the deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad. The current moment must not be squandered by clinging to maximalist positions. Doing so would not only undermine the prospects of Syrian Kurds but could also derail the broader peace efforts involving Türkiye.</p><p>It is beyond doubt that Damascus is not extremely powerful, unable to assert sovereignty over every inch of the country, and the SDF is aware of this reality. However, the balance of power in Syria has shifted significantly since December 8th. The SDF no longer has Iran, Assad, or Russia to ally with when faced with significant crises. The balance of power has shifted in favor of Damascus. Furthermore, nearly every regional actor-with the exception of Iran and Israel- seeks stability in Syria. Therefore, the most pragmatic and mutually beneficial outcome would be for all sides to soften their red lines and work toward a political formula that incorporates the SDF into the Syrian state.</p><p>The PKK’s dissolution decision is rare, recent good news in the Middle East amidst an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Advancing the peace process in Türkiye aligns with the interests of regional actors. While challenging, this mission is far from impossible.</p> The Northeast Syria Test in Türkiye’s Renewed Peace Process \| Al Sharq Strategic Research	查看 11835	Al Sharq论坛	2025-08-01 18:59:13 2025-08-05 22:09:20	word
3232707	无图 <p>The 12-day war between Iran and Israel served as a geopolitical turning point that transformed the balance of power in the Middle East and signaled the emergence of a new regional order. This war exposed Iran’s weaknesses in maintaining its proxy network and the “Shiite Crescent” project. It also demonstrated that Arab countries, despite efforts to stay out of the conflict, could not completely avoid its repercussions—though de-escalation with Iran prevented the war from spreading to these countries.</p><p>Iran’s attack on the U.S. Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in retaliation for the U.S. strike on its nuclear facilities, challenged the security policies of the Gulf states. These countries had sought to balance their security interests with the risks of conflict with Iran by hosting U.S. forces, but this attack revealed the vulnerabilities of such strategies.</p><p>By targeting CENTCOM’s headquarters at Al-Udeid, Tehran conveyed two main messages:</p> Controlled exit from the crisis: The attack was a calculated move to demonstrate deterrence while creating a path to reduce tensions. Warning to U.S. regional allies: Iran showed that even major U.S. bases in Gulf countries were not immune to its attacks, despite these countries’ security assurances that their territory would not be used for strikes against Iran. In reality, this event also made clear to GCC countries how limited the impact of their security guarantees—particularly their commitment not to allow their soil to be used for unjustified U.S. attacks on Iran—was on Iran’s behavior.<p>The launch of ballistic missiles that lit up Doha’s sky and sent civilians fleeing to shelters in several Gulf countries had a profound psychological impact on the leaders and people of the GCC states.</p><p>The GCC member states collectively condemned the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and explicitly declared that they would not allow U.S. bases on their soil to be used against Iran.</p><p>This stance reflected a significant shift in these countries’ approach toward Iran, as they had moved toward de-escalation and normalization in recent years. The turning point in this transformation was the 2019 attack on Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia, which, due to the weak U.S. response, pushed Riyadh to reconsider its policies.</p><p>The outcome of this reassessment was the initiation of a multi-year normalization process that ultimately led to the March 2023 agreement in Beijing, after which most GCC members—except Bahrain—resumed full diplomatic relations with Tehran.</p><p>Despite significant improvements in Iran’s relations with Arab Gulf states, including regular diplomatic dialogues and high-level security and defense contacts, tensions between Iran and the U.S. persisted due to the deadlock in nuclear negotiations, Tehran’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war, and escalating conflicts with Israel after October 2023.</p><p>From Tehran’s perspective, normalized relations with Arab neighbors created a clear rift between U.S. positions and those of GCC countries, as these states not only refused to provide territory or airspace for U.S. military operations against Iran but also did not participate in Washington’s military actions against the Houthis in Yemen and the Red Sea. These developments indicated the emergence of a more independent approach from traditional U.S. policies in the region.</p><p>GCC countries now face a security paradox: The U.S. military presence, once seen as a guarantor of their security, has become a trigger for Iranian retaliatory actions. This paradigm shift became evident when the Trump administration, disregarding the concerns of regional allies, joined Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and continued to threaten renewed conflict if Iran resumed uranium enrichment.</p><p>In this context, Gulf states are confronted with a dual challenge—on one hand, their inability to secure strong security guarantees from Iran regarding attacks on U.S. bases on their soil, and on the other, the persistence of U.S. military options against Iran, which itself is a source of regional instability. This situation has fundamentally altered traditional security equations in the region, forcing Arab states to radically rethink their security strategies.</p><p>Under these circumstances, GCC countries may not be able to obtain stronger commitments from Iran to refrain from attacking U.S. bases on their territory as long as the option of U.S. military action against Iran remains on the table.</p><p>On the other hand, despite the weakening of Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities in the attacks by Israel and the U.S., this war paradoxically increased Arab concerns about Israel’s expanding influence in the region, which could lead to a convergence of security perspectives between Iran and Arab countries—and even Turkey—in certain areas.</p><p>Israel has now emerged as an unrestrained and dominant military power that operates under a preemptive strike doctrine. Recent developments—from Hamas’s October 7 attack to Israel’s assaults on Gaza, clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon, confrontations with the Houthis in Yemen, and the situation in Syria—all reflect Tel Aviv’s efforts to impose a new security order under the label of the “New Middle East.”</p><p>Vali Nasr, a prominent analyst and advisor to the Obama administration, believes that the recent 12-day war was designed to cement Israel’s hegemony as the region’s unrivaled power with full U.S. support. This strategy was crafted to leave no room for regional rivals and to establish a unilateral security order.</p><p>The recent war clearly showed that the U.S., in prioritizing its interests, consistently favors Israel over its Arab allies—though this may not visibly affect the continuation of the “Abraham Accords.”</p><p>However, it has slowed the normalization process and made the formation of Israel’s desired regional coalition against Iran more difficult.</p><p>This U.S. behavior has deepened Gulf Arab countries’ understanding of Washington’s unconditional support for Israel and reinforced their long-standing criticisms of the West’s double standards in international policymaking. Clear examples of these double standards include the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 while turning a blind eye to Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine, as well as Washington’s hostile reactions to international court rulings against Israel.</p><p>Meanwhile, Gulf states are strengthening their defensive capabilities against regional threats through security cooperation with the U.S., including arms sales and programs such as the “Red Sands” center in Saudi Arabia and the security agreement with Bahrain. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is also expanding the “Integrated Red Sands Testing Center” in Saudi Arabia to enhance regional cooperation against Iranian missile and drone threats and those of its allies.</p><p>U.S.-Gulf security relations, despite some disagreements over issues such as the UAE’s ties with Russia, responses to Houthi attacks, and ongoing Saudi-Iran relations, have continued in a more flexible and transactional form.</p><p>The recent 12-day war, on one hand, revealed the weaknesses of the U.S. security umbrella but, on the other, proved that this very U.S. presence prevents the escalation of regional conflicts. The decline of Iran’s influence in the region, particularly its exit from Syria, marks an unprecedented shift in the Middle East over the past two decades—one that could reduce sectarian tensions stemming from the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the rise of Shiite power there.</p><p>In the short term, the new regional order will rely on the weakening of Iran and the expansion of Israel’s influence, but Tel Aviv cannot consolidate this order without sustained U.S. support.</p><p>Although the fall of Assad in Syria weakened Iran’s axis and created opportunities for Gulf states to increase their influence while elevating Turkey’s regional role, Israel’s attacks on Syria and its attempts to fragment the country—including creating a buffer zone in the south under the pretext of protecting the Druze—pose a threat to the interests of both Turkey and Iran.</p><p>Regional countries want to maintain the U.S. security order but avoid being drawn into Iran-Israel tensions, as their priority is economic development and regional stability. Any large-scale conflict could harm their economies, as seen during the 12-day war with the closure of airspace and stock market crashes.</p><p>Following Trump’s successful visit to the region in May 2024, Gulf leaders believed their trillion-dollar investments in the U.S. provided sufficient incentive for Trump to maintain regional stability. This visit bolstered hopes for new U.S. approaches to resolving regional disputes, especially after Washington’s agreement with the Houthis, which signaled a preference for transactional diplomacy.</p><p>Gulf Arabs, who are pursuing major economic projects like the IMEC corridor, see regional stability as essential. This is why they turned to de-escalation with Iran in 2023 and disbanded sectarian-inciting institutions.</p><p>However, the Gaza war exposed underlying differences in security priorities, as Arab states—particularly Saudi Arabia—adopted noticeably tougher stances toward Israel. The shift in Mohammed bin Salman’s position from expressing hope for normalization in 2023 to condemning Israel’s genocide in 2024 highlighted these growing tensions.</p><p>Sunni-majority countries led by Saudi Arabia and Turkey are working to steer post-Assad Syria away from Iran’s orbit.</p><p>Although Iran’s proxy network has weakened, its revival in the future cannot be ruled out. Meanwhile, uncertainties about the future regional order and Israel’s role persist.</p><p>In sum, The Middle East is transitioning to a non-ideological order where economics and technology outweigh revolutionary rhetoric. While Israel has emerged as the region’s dominant military power, this position depends on sustained U.S. backing. Though Iran has been militarily weakened, its cultural influence in Iraq and Lebanon endures. Gulf states, while wary of Iran’s missile capabilities, view nuclear conflict as the greater threat to their economic projects. To avoid being caught in Iran-Israel/U.S. wars, they will continue pursuing delicate balancing acts and hedging strategies. The future of Iran’s nuclear negotiations and developments in Syria will largely determine the contours of the regional order.</p> The Iran-Israel War's Impact on the Middle Eastern Security Order \| Al Sharq Strategic Research	查看 10543	Al Sharq论坛	2025-08-05 18:45:14 2025-08-05 22:09:20	word
3232706	无图 <p>ARLINGTON, Va., July 9 -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) is donating $200,000 from the Boeing Charitable Trust to assist with recovery and relief efforts in the aftermath of devastating flooding in central Texas.</p><p>Funding will support the following organizations:</p> $100,000 to Salvation Army San Antonio Area Command to support emergency shelters and provide food, emotional support and health services to those impacted $100,000 to Kerr County Flood Relief Fund to support trusted organizations in Kerrville providing rescue, relief and recovery efforts as well as flood assistance<p>“We extend our heartfelt condolences to those who are grappling with unimaginable loss and uncertainty in the aftermath of the flooding,” said Jeff Shockey, executive vice president of Boeing Government Operations, Global Public Policy, and Corporate Strategy. “With Boeing teammates in the region personally feeling the impacts of this tragedy, we deeply appreciate the work of our local partners who are supporting a pathway to recovery.”</p><p>“We are thankful for Boeing’s support for our communities impacted by the recent floods,” said Maj. Jeremiah Romack, commander of Salvation Army, San Antonio Area Command. “The Salvation Army is dedicated to addressing both the immediate and long-term needs of the community, and this mission is only possible with your partnership. We truly appreciate your generous contribution and for helping us assist our neighbors in need.”</p><p>In addition to corporate charitable investments, Boeing employees give to their local communities through their local Boeing Employees Community Fund chapter and by participating in volunteer and charitable gift match programs. Consistent with Boeing employee gift match programs, the company will match qualifying employee contributions made in support of flood relief efforts.</p><p>Disaster recovery and relief efforts align with Boeing"s ongoing commitment to the communities where the company has a presence. Boeing employs more than 7,300 people in Texas, and in 2024, provided $7.9 million in charitable contributions across the state. In 2024, Boeing donated $3.8 million to recovery and relief efforts globally.</p><p>###</p><p>A leading global aerospace company and top U.S. exporter, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. Our U.S. and global workforce and supplier base drive innovation, economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing is committed to fostering a culture based on our core values of safety, quality and integrity.</p><p>Contact</p><p>Boeing Communications</p><p>media@Boeing.com</p> Boeing Donates $200,000 to Support Flooding Recovery Efforts in Texas	查看 2698	波音	2025-08-05 22:08:45 2025-08-05 22:08:48	word
3232705	有图 <p>WASHINGTON, July 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Gulf Air today announced an agreement for the purchase of 12 787Dreamliner jets with options for six more as the Bahrain-based airline looks to further develop its international network. Once finalized, this order will bring the carrier"s firm order book to 14 of the versatile widebody jets and will support 30,000 jobs across the U.S.</p> <p> <p> <img src="https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2733588/Boeing_Gulf_Air_787_9_over_Bahrain.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </p> </p><p>Bahrain Minister of Finance and National Economy Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joined Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stephanie Pope and Gulf Air Group Chairman Khalid Taqi to witness the signing.</p><p>"This agreement marks a transformative step in Gulf Air"s strategic growth journey as we expand our global footprint and modernize our fleet with one of the industry"s most advanced and efficient aircraft," said Khalid Taqi, chairman of Gulf Air Group. "The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has proven to be an exceptional aircraft for our long-haul operations, and this new order reflects our confidence in its performance, passenger appeal and contribution to our sustainability goals. We are proud to deepen our partnership with Boeing and reaffirm our commitment to positioning Bahrain as a key global aviation hub."</p><p>The 787 Dreamliner, recognized for its fuel efficiency, range and passenger experience, already serves as the backbone of Gulf Air"s long-haul operations connecting over 50 destinations. With 10 787 airplanes in service, the airline is well-positioned to grow its network, serving new and existing markets across Asia, Europe and the U.S.</p><p>"We are excited to build on our more than 60-year partnership with Gulf Air as we deliver the market-leading 787 Dreamliner to help the airline serve more passengers and connect more destinations," said Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "This investment in the 787 Dreamliner demonstrates Gulf Air"s commitment to new technology and sustainable development, reinforcing Bahrain"s position in the aviation sector."</p><p>The 787 Dreamliner family has transformed global air travel by opening over 425 new nonstop routes and carrying more than 1 billion passengers worldwide since its commercial introduction in 2011. As Gulf Air"s flagship airplane, the 787 features the largest windows of any widebody jet, air that is less dry and pressurized at a lower cabin altitude for greater comfort, and technology that senses and counters turbulence for a smoother ride.</p><p>From its first DC-3 in 1961, Gulf Air has taken delivery of 37 Boeing airplanes, including the 787 jets currently in its fleet.</p><p>Aleading global aerospace company and top U.S. exporter, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries.OurU.S. and global workforceand supplier basedriveinnovation,economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing iscommitted to fostering a culturebased onourcore values of safety, quality and integrity. </p><p>Contact</p><p>Boeing Media Relations</p><p><u>media@boeing.com</u></p><p> <p> <img src="https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2733726/Boeing_Gulf_Air_Signing.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </p><p>SOURCE Boeing</p> Gulf Air to Add up to 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliners to its Widebody Fleet	查看 3642	波音	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:08:48	word
3232704	无图 <p>OSHKOSH, Wis., July 22, 2025 — Fueled by emerging markets and changes in fleet mix, Boeing [NYSE: BA] projects continued demand for aviation personnel as the global commercial fleet changes to meet the demands of the flying public. Boeing’s 2025 Pilot and Technician Outlook (PTO) anticipates the industry will require nearly 2.4 million new aviation professionals through 2044 to meet the long-term increase in air travel.</p><p>Boeing, which released its annual 20-year forecast at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, said commercial carriers will need substantial hiring and training to sustain the global commercial fleet, including:</p> 660,000 pilots 710,000 maintenance technicians 1,000,000 cabin crew members<p>“As commercial air traffic demand continues to outpace economic growth and the global fleet expands to meet demand, our industry will keep the fleet flying safely and efficiently by supporting workforce development for carriers worldwide," said Chris Broom, vice president, Commercial Training Solutions, Boeing Global Services. “The industry is investing in technologies, including mixed reality— an immersive blend of physical and digital environments that enhances hands-on learning and situational awareness. Boeing is supporting customers with digitally advanced aviation training products and services to meet their needs. The bedrock of our approach remains competency-based training and assessment methodology to ensure high quality aviation training.”</p><p>In the PTO, Boeing projects through 2044:</p> Two-thirds of new personnel will address replacement due to attrition, while one- third supports growth in the commercial fleet Demand for new personnel is driven primarily by single-aisle airplanes As in past years, Eurasia, China and North America continue to drive demand for more than half of new industry personnel South Asia and Southeast Asia are the fastest-growing regions for personnel with staffing demand expected to more than triple<p>The PTO includes these projections for industry needs through 2044:</p> <p>Region</p> <p>New Pilots</p> <p>New Technicians</p> <p>New Cabin Crew</p> <p>Total New Personnel</p> <p>Global</p> <p>660,000</p> <p>710,000</p> <p>1,000,000</p> <p>2,370,000</p> <p>Africa</p> <p>23,000</p> <p>24,000</p> <p>27,000</p> <p>74,000</p> <p>China</p> <p>124,000</p> <p>131,000</p> <p>171,000</p> <p>426,000</p> <p>Eurasia</p> <p>149,000</p> <p>165,000</p> <p>236,000</p> <p>550,000</p> <p>Latin America</p> <p>37,000</p> <p>42,000</p> <p>55,000</p> <p>134,000</p> <p>Middle East</p> <p>67,000</p> <p>63,000</p> <p>104,000</p> <p>234,000</p> <p>North America</p> <p>119,000</p> <p>123,000</p> <p>193,000</p> <p>435,000</p> <p>Northeast Asia</p> <p>23,000</p> <p>27,000</p> <p>42,000</p> <p>92,000</p> <p>Oceania</p> <p>11,000</p> <p>12,000</p> <p>18,000</p> <p>41,000</p> <p>South Asia</p> <p>45,000</p> <p>45,000</p> <p>51,000</p> <p>141,000</p> <p>Southeast Asia</p> <p>62,000</p> <p>78,000</p> <p>103,000</p> <p>243,000</p> <p># # #</p><p>A leading global aerospace company and top U.S. exporter, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. Our U.S. and global workforce and supplier base drive innovation, economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing is committed to fostering a culture based on our core values of safety, quality and integrity.</p><p>Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements</p><p>This document contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “projects,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “targets,” “anticipates,” and other similar words or expressions, or the negative thereof, generally can be used to help identify these forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements relating to future demand for commercial airplanes and aviation personnel, as well as any other statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact.</p><p>Forward-looking statements are based on expectations and assumptions that we believe to be reasonable when made, but that may not prove to be accurate. These statements are not guarantees and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Many factors, including economic conditions in the United States and globally,general industry conditions as they may impact us or our customers, and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.</p><p>Contact</p><p>Boeing Media Relations</p><p>media@boeing.com</p> Boeing Forecasts 20-Year Global Demand for Nearly 2.4 Million New Commercial Pilots, Technicians, Cabin Crew	查看 5640	波音	2025-07-22 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:08:48	word
3232703	有图 <p>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., July 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --Boeing [NYSE: BA] engineers have confirmed the 9th and 10th O3b mPOWER satellites, built for leading space solutions company SES, have successfully launched and are transmitting signals from space after lifting off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.</p> <p> <p> <img src="https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2736462/Boeing_O3b_mPOWER_Misson_Control.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </p> </p><p>Approximately two hours after liftoff, the satellites separated from the launch vehicle, initiating a series of comprehensive health checks by Boeing team members in El Segundo, Calif., home to Boeing"s mission control facility and the world"s largest satellite factory.</p><p>Leveraging highly efficient xenon thrusters to maneuver in space, the satellites will continue their 130-day journey to MEO, approximately 8,000 kilometers from the Earth"s surface. They will join the first eight satellites currently providing high-performance connectivity services to SES users worldwide.</p><p>"We designed O3b mPOWER so each additional satellite beyond the first six boosts capacity, performance, and resilience," said Michelle Parker, vice president, Boeing Space Mission Systems. "This capability stems from our investments in cutting-edge technology and the enhanced production techniques we"ve refined over the course of the program."</p><p>The O3b mPOWER constellation entered commercial service in April 2024, providing high-throughput, low latency connectivity that mimics the speed and reliability of traditional internet connections, but with virtually unlimited geographic flexibility. From MEO, the satellites provide coverage to nearly 95% of the world"s population.</p><p>"I"m proud of our SES team and partners for continuously pushing the boundaries of what"s possible in space to bring critical connectivity where it matters most. Over the past year, our O3b mPOWER services have been transforming industries and empowering our key customers including telco operators, cruise lines, airlines, NATO, the Government of Luxembourg, the Government of United States and many other allied governments," said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES. "With this launch we continue adding incremental capacity to our initial O3b mPOWER constellation, strengthening our MEO network and delivering high throughput and predictable low latency services at scale."</p><p>The satellites leverage digitally formed beams to dynamically address evolving communication needs across geographies and customer bases. Boeing hardened this technology for military use on the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS)-11 and WGS-12 and Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) nuclear command and control satellites the company is building for the U.S. Space Force. This software-defined technology allows for more secure and reliable connectivity resistant to attempts of jamming, interruption or interception.</p><p>A leading global aerospace company and top U.S. exporter, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. Our U.S. and global workforce and supplier base drive innovation, economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing is committed to fostering a culture based on our core values of safety, quality and integrity. </p><p>Contact</p><p>Zeyad Maasarani</p><p>Boeing Communications</p><p>+1-562-400-5533</p><p>zeyad.maasarani@boeing.com</p><p>Boeing Media Relations</p><p><u>media@boeing.com</u></p><p>Suzanne Ong</p><p>SES Communications</p><p>+352 710 725 500</p><p>suzanne.ong@ses.com</p><p> <p> <img src="https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2736463/Boeing_SES_mPOWER_satellites.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </p> <p> <img src="https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2736464/Boeing_O3b_mPOWER_Launch.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </p><p>SOURCE Boeing</p> Two Boeing-Built O3b mPOWER Satellites Successfully Launch, Enhancing SES Constellation	查看 4206	波音	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:08:48	word
3232702	有图 <p>KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., July 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boeing [NYSE: BA]-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) is preparing to launch its eighth mission (OTV-8) from Florida"s Space Coast, with liftoff scheduled no earlier than August 21. This milestone comes less than six months after the successful completion of OTV-7.</p><p><img src="https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2739246/Boeing_Built_X_37B_Spaceplane_Set_for_Eighth_Mission.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </p><p>"With each successive flight, the X-37B has demonstrated adaptability and flexibility by hosting diverse experiments and pioneering new orbital regimes," said Michelle Parker, vice president of Boeing Space Mission Systems. "This mission continues that legacy by fielding cutting-edge technologies that advance our nation"s space capability and improve the resilience of future architectures."</p><p>OTV-8 will fly with a service module, expanding capacity for experiments and opening new opportunities for mission partners, which include the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Innovation Unit.</p><p>The mission will host demonstrations of high-bandwidth inter-satellite laser communications technologies, as well as the highest performing quantum inertial sensor ever tested in space. The U.S. Space Force will leverage insights from this mission to inform future space architectures.</p><p>"OTV-8"s laser communications demonstration will mark an important step in the U.S. Space Force"s ability to leverage commercial space networks as part of proliferated, diversified, and redundant space architectures," said U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations, Gen. Chance Saltzman. "In so doing, it will strengthen the resilience, reliability, adaptability, and data transport speeds of our satellite communications architectures."</p><p>The revolutionary quantum inertial sensor will demonstrate precise positioning, navigation and timing in a GPS-denied environment. Quantum inertial sensors, useful for navigation in deep and cis-lunar space, promise to push the technological frontiers of long-distance space travel and exploration.</p><p>"OTV 8"s quantum inertial sensor demonstration is a welcome step forward for the operational resilience of Guardians in space," said Space Delta 9 Commander Colonel Ramsey Hom. "Whether navigating beyond Earth-based orbits in cis-lunar space or operating in GPS-denied environments, quantum inertial sensing allows for robust navigation capabilities where GPS navigation is not possible. Ultimately, this technology contributes significantly to our thrust within the Fifth Space Operations Squadron and across the Space Force guaranteeing movement and maneuverability even in GPS-denied environments."</p><p>Boeing and Space Force teams are preparing the spaceplane for launch at Boeing"s facility at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Since its inaugural launch in April 2010, the spaceplane has spent more than 4,200 days in space.</p><p>A leading global aerospace company and top U.S. exporter, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. Our U.S. and global workforce and supplier base drive innovation, economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing is committed to fostering a culture based on our core values of safety, quality and integrity. </p><p>Contact</p><p>Zeyad Maasarani</p><p>Boeing Communications</p><p>+1-562-400-5533</p><p>zeyad.maasarani@boeing.com</p><p>Boeing Media Relations</p><p><u>media@boeing.com</u></p><p>SOURCE Boeing</p> Boeing-Built X-37B Spaceplane Set for Eighth Mission	查看 3602	波音	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:08:48	word
3232701	有图 <p> <p> <p>We’re too often trapped in an environment both ugly and demoralizing. We need to pursue a beauty that ennobles and raises our sights to something greater than ourselves if we’re to achieve our true end as images of the divine.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>“Beauty will save the world.” With this declaration, Prince Myshkin in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot affirms his belief in the triumph of the transcendent principles of truth, beauty, and goodness. Despite the ugliness too often seen in the world and the moral corruption that corrupts the minds and acts of men, the belief that beauty is a path to salvation persists. Yet we need not look farther than outside our windows at the ugliness on display in our modern buildings, where beauty and classical technique have been abandoned in favor of utility and cost efficiency. The modern West has become plagued by relativism, nihilism, and the rejection of tradition. The increasing disbelief in objective moral norms and the widespread acceptance of the futility of existence beg for the revival of virtue in individuals and communities. But first, we need an image of the divine—an image of the beautiful.</p><p>As man has slowly retreated from his proper heavenly end in pursuit of merely monetary or worldly alternatives, the presence of beauty reminds us that we are made for something far greater. Aristotle defines this end as “ευδαιμονία,” or happiness. St. Thomas Aquinas calls it “beatitudo,” or the knowing and loving of God. Avicenna calls it “sa’ada.” These philosophers, though from different societies and religious traditions, show that all men ultimately strive for the same end—fulfillment in accordance with the highest good of creation. Virtue, a habit that inclines one toward the good, is integral in achieving this goal. And beauty reminds us that the good can be made manifest.</p><p>In a world where objective values and morals are questioned and dismissed, it is easy to see how a disordered view of beauty arises. After all, if truth is not viewed as objective, neither is beauty, as the two are wedded. Classical principles of beauty—such as harmony, symmetry, and proportion, which reflect the proper order of the created world—have been abandoned. Society no longer defines beautiful things as “those which please when seen,” as Aquinas defined them to be.</p><p>The remedy to architecture’s ailment, however, lies in considering its cause. Beauty evokes virtue just as virtue inspires beauty. A revival of beauty in the world around us will entice the soul to pursue truth and goodness. Encountering beauty will draw the will and intellect toward the good. When immersed in an environment conducive to human flourishing, it is far easier for us all to persevere in choosing the good. Thus, the presence of beautiful architecture is the first step toward rebuilding virtue among men and communities.</p><p>But how can that be?</p><p>The answer is twofold. First, beauty matters. The greatest civilizations are both remembered and judged by their culture, literature, art, and architecture. These man-made manifestations of the beautiful are beautiful because they lift our souls into contemplation of the divine source of creation—an eternal source. The second reason rests upon the principle that beauty reflects the proper ordering of creation, and this is rendered visible in everything from a beautiful building to the just human soul to the very source of creation Himself.</p><p>We live in a culture afraid to speak the truth that Prince Myshkin professes. We’re afraid to make value judgments pertaining to beauty and goodness. We falsely treat both the ugly and the beautiful as morally neutral and thus equal. Nevertheless, this trend cannot persist forever. Human beings are drawn to beauty. This truth has been well understood since ancient times. In Plato’s Symposium, Diotima describes the ascent that must be made in order to understand what beauty is in its truest form. The journey begins with the contemplation of physical beauty and progresses to the beauty of souls, ideas, and all knowledge before arriving at the pure form of beauty itself. This progression speaks to the need to first reacquaint ourselves with physical beauty. Art, architecture, and persons alike can fulfill this; however, architecture holds a unique role in our world as it is difficult to ignore and easy to access. People do not need to go out of their way to admire its beauty—they only need to look up and reflect on what they encounter. Architecture cannot be ignored when it surrounds man, and man is almost compelled to be enveloped by it.</p><p>This ultimately speaks to the truth of human nature: We are made to flourish, not just survive. Flourishing does not consist of mere utilitarian ends. Thus, neither should our architecture. We have examples of edifices such as the grand basilicas that pepper Europe and the ancient ruins that have lasted from the classical era until modernity. What is characteristic of these structures is that they possess a transcendent quality. Modern architecture is often built as quickly and as efficiently as possible with little regard for its beauty. The cheapness of these constructs implies that they’re not meant to last. Modern society’s mindset is to create a space as quickly and cheaply as possible, use it to engage in a temporary endeavor, and then abandon the space when it fails to meet that end. Beauty is not factored in because it brings with it a higher cost and requires a fundamentally different worldview that is not solely focused on the here and now and useful.</p><p>This disregard for eternity mirrors man’s modern view of his own life. St. Peter’s Basilica is more than just the principal church for Roman Catholics; it also embodies an array of architectural masterpieces and artful details. Beautiful and functional architecture can and should coexist. This partnership between function and form to emphasize both purpose and beauty reflects most accurately the telos of more than just the building, but also that of the builders and the community. Furthermore, an architectural revival does not necessarily exclude modern style; modern architecture can and ought to be truly beautiful. Any number of stylistic influences can bring beauty back, so long as they move us to contemplate the Most High and the highest values we should all pursue in the hope of final union with our Creator. The Baroque flair of the Palace of Versailles, the Hungarian Parliament building’s Gothic elements, the Beaux Arts characteristics of the New York Public Library, and the Neoclassical features of the United States’ Capitol building all succeed in inspiring.</p><p>Genesis 2:15 reminds us of the responsibility God entrusted to us when He took man and “put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” It is inherent in human nature to maintain God’s proper order for the world and care for His creation. God created the Good and He created man in His image. His plan for the world is goodness and fulfillment through the beauty of creation—and the creation of beauty, a true reflection of the imago Dei. He entrusts to man the responsibility of stewardship over creation, a stewardship over beauty. What we need is beautiful-souled people throughout society, and especially virtuous architects who can lead the charge in bringing man back to the contemplation of beauty. This stewardship over beauty that the public will encounter will be what draws our culture back to seeing the beauty in our neighbors and in God.</p><p>Each generation is set the task of leaving behind a world just a little more beautiful, just a little more hopeful, and with more opportunities for prosperity and flourishing. What better way than to leave a physical reminder of what we are called to? While physical structures are just a glimpse of the beauty we are destined for, it is nonetheless the glimpse our society needs to restore a deep contemplation of virtue in ourselves and for our communities.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/eyates-506.jpeg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Ella Yates </p> <p> Ella Yates is a member of the Acton Institute’s 2025 Emerging Leaders Program, working with the Center for Social Flourishing. She is also pursuing a B.A in philosophy and political science at the University of Notre Dame. Her research interests include Thomistic metaphysics, Catholic ethics, aesthetics, and family studies. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in Human flourishingTagged architecture, beauty and virtue, St. Peter"s Basilica, utilitarianism </footer> <p> <p>Related postsArchitecture, Human Flourishing, and Health CareRussell Kirk: Where does virtue come from?Good, true, and beautiful: C.S. Lewis6 Quotes: Russell Kirk on virtue</p> </p> </p> </p> Rebuilding Virtue: We Need an Architecture Revival – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 9230	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232700	有图 <p> <p> <p>Nigeria is primed for an explosion of entrepreneurial success and economic growth. It needs only to integrate its deep religious faith into its vision of success—and to stop relying on broken government systems.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>In the heart of Nigeria’s bustling markets and vibrant churches, a quiet but powerful yearning lives: the desire to build a better life through faith, freedom, and hard work. It’s a desire I have seen in the eyes of young students in Enugu, in the determination of women trading tomatoes on the streets of Aba, and in the quiet prayers of fathers hoping to send their children to school.</p><p>In many ways, the spirit that Michael Novak describes in The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism is already alive in Africa, even if unnamed. What is missing is the moral and institutional framework that allows it to flourish. We see individuals acting by way of initiative, risk-taking, and moral conviction, yet doing so in systems that do not adequately reward or protect these values. The absence of enabling structures weakens the capacity for economic and social progress to scale.</p><p>Growing up in Nigeria, I learned early that the line between struggle and survival was thin. Government systems often failed, and when they did, it was not bureaucracy that caught us as we fell: It was family, community, church, and mosque. This is the moral-cultural bedrock Novak speaks of when describing a civil society rich with virtue, solidarity, and faith. But unlike in societies where these spheres are protected and balanced by political and economic freedom, in much of Africa they are often crowded out by a state that tries to do too much and delivers too little. Families are burdened with roles that institutions should fulfill, providing education, healthcare, and security. Communities bear the strain of inadequate infrastructure, and faith institutions often become the last refuge for justice and compassion.</p><p>We inherited systems shaped by colonial bureaucracy and post-colonial authoritarianism. For example, Nigeria’s civil service structure, heavily modeled after British administrative systems, remains bloated, centralized, and slow to adapt to citizens’ needs. Regulatory hurdles for starting and running a business, such as multiple overlapping agencies and unclear taxation rules, often reflect this inherited bureaucracy. These structural inefficiencies discourage enterprise and feed a culture of rent-seeking. Even today, too many young Nigerians are raised to see government as both master and savior, not the servant of a free people. The result is a moral confusion: We speak the language of freedom but fear its responsibilities. We long for wealth but look to politics, not enterprise, as the surest path.</p><p>But I believe something is changing.</p><p>Across Nigeria, young people are rejecting the old false choice between corruption and chaos. According to the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative, youth-led teams represented 58% of all applicants and 64% of participating ventures in accelerator programs in Nigeria in 2021. Many of these ventures are active in fintech, agriculture, and health. Platforms like Paystack, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneurs in their 20s, show the power of young minds when free to innovate. In cities like Jos and Ibadan, youth-led initiatives are tackling food insecurity, offering vocational training, and hosting interfaith peace dialogues. These initiatives not only provide services and solutions but also instill confidence in self-governance, innovation, and collaboration. They are launching businesses, building civic movements, and returning to faith not just as personal salvation but as a source of community renewal and social transformation.</p><p>This generational awakening is no accident; it is shaped by Nigeria’s unique demographics. With over 60% of its population under the age of 25, Nigeria is one of the youngest countries in the world. By 2050, Nigeria is projected to become the third most populous nation in the world, exceeding 400 million souls. As of 2023, Nigeria’s population already stood at 227,882,945. This demographic reality represents both a challenge and an opportunity. If properly harnessed through education, employment, and civic inclusion, this youth bulge can fuel sustained economic growth and democratic resilience. But if neglected, it could deepen social unrest and migration pressures. The energy and entrepreneurial drive we see today among Nigerian youth are critical levers for transforming the nation’s future, not just economically, but morally and politically as well.</p><p>Yet this population is not just young; it is also deeply religious. Nigeria remains one of the most devout nations in the world, with over 90% of citizens identifying as either Christian or Muslim. Religious leaders command immense trust, and faith-based organizations play key roles in health, education, and humanitarian aid. This fusion of youthful energy and spiritual conviction offers a potent force for change, if steered toward constructive civic and economic engagement.</p><p>In Lagos, platforms like ThriveAgric and Farmcrowdy use mobile apps to connect smallholder farmers directly with investors and buyers, increasing productivity and bypassing middlemen. In Kaduna, startups like Yellow Electric are using solar technology to deliver off-grid energy solutions to rural communities. In Port Harcourt, CleanCyclers, a youth-led social enterprise, is addressing waste management through recycling and environmental education. Meanwhile, interfaith coalitions such as the Kukah Centre and the Interfaith Mediation Centre in Kaduna have brought together Christian and Muslim leaders to combat tribalism and promote peaceful coexistence. These efforts demonstrate a profound awareness among Nigeria’s youth that societal progress is not a gift to be received but a task to be undertaken.</p><p>The creativity and resilience of Nigerian youth suggest that the nation is lacking in neither talent nor vision but in enabling environments. We need to amplify these stories not just as exceptions but as the emerging norm of a new generation determined to shape its own destiny. And here is where Novak’s voice matters to us. He insists that capitalism, rightly ordered, is not the enemy of virtue but its ally. He challenges religious and intellectual leaders to look beyond their suspicion of markets and see them as instruments of human dignity. He reminds us that political freedom without economic liberty is a half-built bridge. Free markets, when grounded in moral values and civic responsibility, can create space for the human spirit to innovate and serve.</p><p>In Nigeria today, our challenge is not the absence of faith or ambition. It is the absence of a framework that protects the dignity of work, the sanctity of conscience, and the right to build and own. What we need is not more state control but more space for families, communities, and institutions of faith to thrive alongside free markets and accountable governance. This means reforming our legal systems to protect private property, improve contract enforcement, and reduce regulatory bottlenecks. It means creating avenues for civic participation that do not depend on party politics but on community voice and volunteerism.</p><p>It begins with reforming education—both curriculum and culture. We must teach that work is sacred, that profit can be virtuous, and that prosperity built on freedom is more enduring than wealth gained through connection or corruption. This cultural shift can be advanced through faith-based schools that integrate entrepreneurship and moral instruction, community mentorship programs that pair successful business leaders with young people, and NGOs that offer vocational and civic education rooted in ethical values. Education must extend beyond the classroom into the marketplace, the media, and the ministry. Religious institutions, which hold a very strong place in Nigerian society, must lead the way in restoring the moral clarity that bridges enterprise and ethics. Clerics and imams should preach about honest gain, diligence, and innovation as expressions of faith and service.</p><p>This is not a Western ideal imposed on African soil. It is a Nigerian reality yearning for structure. Our mothers were practicing democratic capitalism in the markets long before the term was coined. Our faiths preach stewardship, not statism. Our youth hunger not for handouts but for opportunity. Nigerian traditions often emphasize communal responsibility, integrity, and hard work, values that align well with a democratic capitalist ethos that respects individual dignity and collective well-being.</p><p>Michael Novak’s work gives us language for what many Nigerians already believe: that freedom is not just political but also spiritual and economic. And that a just society is one where the poor are not managed but empowered; where virtue is not preached by force but practiced in freedom. In this view, democratic capitalism is both an economic model and a moral vision, one in which every person has the opportunity and responsibility to contribute, to create, and to flourish.</p><p>As we rebuild Nigeria, may we resist the urge to mimic the institutional failures of the West and instead draw from our own deep wells of wisdom, where freedom is rooted in responsibility, and flourishing grows from faith, community, and moral courage. May our leaders, educators, and faith communities collaborate to nurture the next generation of builders who are as morally grounded as they are entrepreneurially daring. Let us write a new story of Nigeria, one where markets serve people, where power is accountable, and where freedom is not feared but embraced as the foundation of human dignity and social renewal.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/Nwannunu-505.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Kelechi L. Nwannunu </p> <p> Kelechi Lawrence Nwannunu is the CEO of Free Future Foundation and an Emerging Leaders Program fellow with the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. He earned a degree in history and international studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His main areas of interest include entrepreneurship, public policy, and civic engagement. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in Human flourishingTagged free market capitalism, humanitarian aid in Africa, Michael Novak, Nigeria, post-colonial authoritarianism, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism </footer> <p> <p>Related postsChurch and governance in NigeriaMichael Novak and the ‘crisis of capitalism’Will the Catholic Church Eventually Embrace Democratic Capitalism?The Intellectual Exploration Of Michael Novak</p> </p> </p> </p> Novak in Nigeria: A Reflection on The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 11201	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232699	有图 <p> <p> <p>A new book seeks to define Baptist political theology in an age of unbelief.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>If armed officers of the state didn’t come to your church gathering this past weekend, demanding that you break up your unofficial and unlicensed religious gathering, you can thank, in large part, America’s largest Protestant tradition: Baptists. It was Baptists in the colonial period who worked with the Founders, particularly Madison and Jefferson, to enshrine freedom of religion in the U.S. Constitution. In fact, religious liberty is at the heart of Baptist political theology. The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message of the Southern Baptist Convention reads: “A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal.”</p><p>For much of American history, this meant the rejection of an established church. But for the last several decades, religious liberty has been argued not against would-be theocrats but a distorted vision of church-state separation that sought to enshrine secularism as the guiding ethos, thus serving to push religious activity out of the public square altogether.</p><p>This is the thesis of Postliberal Protestants: Baptists Between Obergefell and Christian Nationalism by Hunter Baker, Baptist political scientist and provost at North Greenville University. Baker wrote this book “to encourage all of us to think again about why Baptists are Baptists in the third millennium after Christ.” It’s a necessary short volume that helps apply Baptist political theology to 21st-century challenges.</p><p>Baker begins Postliberal Protestants by walking the reader through a detailed history of the relationship between church and state in America. The original and relevant content in this section alone makes it a very helpful resource. Baker is right when he says:</p><p>In the first three-fourths of the nation’s existence, the concept of the separation of church and state took on a clear and simple meaning. It meant that churches would not be supported by tax money. Membership would not be required by law. The state would not exert any control over who could serve as a pastor or church official. Neither would it control the doctrine of churches.</p><p>But the late 1960s “introduced a new period for church and state in the US.” Baker then outlines the pivot both in jurisprudence and in the culture that expanded the Founders’ vision into a suffocating secularism. As Richard John Neuhaus eloquently argued in the 1980s, there can be no such thing as a naked public square. Some value system will fill the void.</p><p>Here Baker is especially helpful as he explains the difference between secularism and the original Baptist ideal. He defines secularism as the idea that “religion should not impede upon public life.” This distorted view of the Founders’ vision is what often drives the predictable left-wing freakout when a Christian (usually conservative) talks about his faith or takes a government position. Witness the overheated warnings about a theocracy when George W. Bush—someone who claimed Jesus Christ as his favorite philosopher—became president. Or recently when Mike Johnson, a lifelong Baptist, compared his unlikely ascent to that of Moses. Common themes that would not have seemed unusual to most Americans and their leaders for much of our history is now warned against in dark and grave tones on the pages of America’s elite publications.</p><p>This misunderstanding is also why Christian service agencies, from adoption providers to homeless ministries and schools, were restricted from partnering with the state to alleviate social ills until recent Supreme Court rulings peeled back some of the secularist arguments. Today, when American Christians hear the term “separation of church and state,” they tend to recoil because, as Baker puts it, “They have seen the concept used aggressively to try to whittle down the presence of Christianity in American life.” The author is not shy about the negative impact of secularism on the church and the country.</p><p>Baptists, however, should still be concerned about religious liberty, Baker argues, even if “the nature of the religious liberty challenges have changed.” The rise of secularism, both in the culture and in the courts, made the author sympathetic to those Christians who surveyed the American landscape and concluded that the original arrangement between Baptists and the Founders was insufficient as a governing model for America in the 21st century. And yet Baker, while pushing back against left-wing secularism, also resists the pull of a Christian establishment, or “integralism,” that has become increasingly popular in both Catholic and Protestant academic (and ecclesiastical) circles.</p><p>While affirming the benefit of a culture thoroughly leavened with Christian influence, he urges the would-be nationalists to read their history properly and to see the peril of a theocratic state.</p><p>The Baptist sense is that the established church tends to have a weakening effect on church bodies, while the regenerate approach energizes with the power of a sincere and active faith. There is a reasonable body of evidence available to substantiate that point of view. European nations and the United Kingdom, which tended to embrace the comprehensive model, now represent some of the most secular places on Earth.</p><p>He’s right. As did Richard Land a generation ago, Baker argues for the accommodationist view, one that eschews both the establishment of an official state church and a secularism that drives Christianity from public life. Instead, he urges faithful Christians both to engage in politics and policy for the common good while also continuing in the spiritual practices that ultimately renew a nation: evangelism, discipleship, and strengthening the family.</p><p>“A coerced faith,” he notes, “is without value and promotes hypocrisy and violence to the conscience.” God has given the keys of the kingdom, not to the government, but to the church. It is the church that is the “pillar and ground of the faith (1 Tim. 3:15).” It is Christ, not government, who is tasked with “separating the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25).”</p><p>Baptists like Baker are not arguing for a quietism that allows malignant secularism to shape the common good. Rather, from the beginning, disestablishment has always included a robust engagement in the life of American democracy. Today Baptists are no less involved, serving in the highest positions of government, influencing the public debate, and remaining active in their communities.</p><p>It’s just that Baptists don’t invest more hope in politics than is proper. “For the most part,” Baker writes eloquently, “our politics should be the politics which proclaims the kingship of Christ. The end of that road is not a string of American Christian political victories, but the stunning moment when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/ddarling-483.jpeg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Dan Darling </p> <p> Daniel Darling is the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern and the author of several books, including his forthcoming A Defense of Christian Patriotism from Broadside Books. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in ReviewsTagged Baptists, Christian nationalism, Hunter Baker, Postliberal Protestants: Baptists Between Obergefell and Christian Nationalism, Separation of Church and State </footer> <p> <p>Related postsSecularism and TyrannyDoes Church/State Separation Apply To Black Churches?Can We Separate Church And State? Or Church From Anything?How the KKK Got Its Way on Separation of Church and State</p> </p> </p> </p> Separation of Church and Secularism – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 8135	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232698	有图 <p> <p> <p>The former Harvard law professor’s new book fails to recognize a basic fact of U.S. constitutional law: the state was made for the citizen, not the citizen for the state.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>After having written dozens of op-eds, book reviews, and essays related to the diverse topics that interest me, this is probably the only time an editor has not frustrated my valiant attempts at the use of the term “assuming arguendo.” It is a term used in the law to signal the assumption of certain facts or propositions for the hypothetical application of a line of legal reasoning to test its weaknesses and limits. In common parlance it means “assume for the sake of argument.” Assuming arguendo, for example, that the chupacabra exists, it would be important to write a chupacabra anatomy textbook for veterinarians. But, since chupacabras don’t exist, the person that dedicates his life to that task has wasted a lot of time.</p><p>Similarly, assuming arguendo that Alan Dershowitz’s fundamental assumptions about the law, the state, and morality are true, his latest book, The Preventive State: The Challenge of Preventing Serious Harms While Preserving Essential Liberties, is coherent and compelling. Unfortunately, reality demands that we reject many of his fundamental assumptions and conclude that this well-meaning book addressing important emerging issues is misguided and sketches the blueprint of an authoritarian ship of state flying under a pirate flag of civil liberties.</p><p>Before turning to Dershowitz’s argument, it might be helpful to understand what he means by “preventive state.” This is not a term original to him but one that has emerged to describe a reorientation of state power and function in light of developing technologies that enable governments to foresee and prevent harm. In Dershowitz’s words, it is the “juxtaposition of … increasing dangers coupled with increasing capabilities by governments” that has made this reorientation possible and desirable to some. Dershowitz never questions the wisdom, feasibility, or even the dangers of the preventive state. He merely says that “it is here to stay.” He seems resigned to the fact that if these new technologies exist, the state will eventually use them, but I am certain that not all citizens are content with resignation regarding a more expansive and intrusive state.</p><p>In light of this definition of terms, Dershowitz’s central assumption begins with the observation that there are laws that belong to many different subfields that seek to prevent harm. Criminal law, for example, theoretically deters crime and prevents harm from befalling victims. Other laws, like the USA PATRIOT Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, expands the surveillance powers of the state, purportedly to prevent terror attacks. All these very different laws have three things in common. First, they impose or constrain some sort of action. Second, each involves some sort of government prediction about whom or what will be burdened by these impositions or constraints. And finally, all these laws will be imperfect, and the state will make mistakes.</p><p>Obviously, Dershowitz expounds each of these features and discusses how they play out in various areas of the law in chapters that are internally coherent. But, as noted above, he makes fundamental assumptions that leave his thesis deeply flawed. These assumptions fall into one of two broad categories—assumptions about the state and assumptions about the law.</p><p>Dershowitz’s assumptions about the state are common among many on the political left. A notorious Democratic Party ad from 2012 claimed in a reassuring folksy voice that “government is the only thing that we all belong to,” and former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank told us that “government is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together.” The state, however, was made for man and not man for the state. Government cannot become an end in itself. At its best, government is a passive entity that creates the context for free people to enjoy liberty. It can and has taken many forms, and there is no one form that must survive lest free and open societies collapse.</p><p>A collectivist understanding of the state, however, surfaces in Dershowitz’s arguments as he conflates the personal harms that could befall individual citizens (e.g., the harms prevented by the criminal law) and the institutional harms that the government or the state might suffer (e.g., certain aspects of anti-terrorism legislation). Nowhere in the book does he make a distinction between the two. But the distinction is important.</p><p>The concept of a harm suggests a right to avoid the harm or to exist or act in a way free from interference. The list of the rights of individual citizens to exist or act in a way free from interference is quite long and imposes upon other citizens obligations to avoid such interference. As a creature of the people, the state enjoys no such rights. The U.S. Constitution does not leave the state powerless in the face of treason, but it does define it precisely: “levying War against [the United States], or adhering to their Enemies, giving them aid or comfort.” The Constitution also requires the uniquely heightened standard of evidence that guarantees that a guilty verdict requires the testimony of two witnesses to the same act or a confession in court.</p><p>A survey of the significant body of law on treason is not necessary to point out a few consistent themes. First, especially in the earliest cases, there is no legislative or judicial suggestion that the state is more than a creature of those who constituted it. It is best understood as a political tool for organizing certain civic functions that would be impossible via different institutions. Second, the Constitution is never so rigidly interpreted to require citizens to abandon common sense or their own humanity to avoid the technical definition of treason. Technically, an American soldier who renders medical aid to a wounded soldier of an enemy army would be “giving … aid or comfort” to an enemy of the United States, but the law does not require prosecution in such a case. The law, however, does require the scrupulous avoidance of taking a human life. It acknowledges that at times this can be unintended, so the lesser crime of manslaughter has been created for such instances. Unfortunately, the term “treason” has been so flippantly applied to political or civic acts some people don’t like that it has lost almost all meaning. But the reality is that the law recognizes that there is a difference between individuals and the state, the duties owed to each, and the nature of “harm” that can accrue to each when these duties are breached.</p><p>The second set of problematic assumptions that Dershowitz makes is about the law itself. Again, the criminal law provides fertile illustrative ground.</p><p>There are several competing theories about the purpose of the criminal law, and Dershowitz appears to hold to the idea that the criminal law exists to vindicate the harm done to victims. Because this is an untenable position, the type of harm Dershowitz wants to avoid is only a secondary aspect of the criminal law. Yes, as a society we want to make sure that citizens are safe in their person, can confidently secure their property against thieves, and so on. But from this theory has sprung quite a few unjust aspects of our system. First, much of the extreme sentencing that we see is the result of victim-impact statements. These are often cathartic for victims and their families, but what moral difference does it make if the now-dead victim of a robbery gone wrong is the young father of twins with a beaming smile who just graduated from the fire academy full of enthusiasm for serving the community, or a mentally ill homeless woman who was fighting another homeless person to keep the few positions she could claim as her own? Neither of these lives should be worth more or less than the other to society.</p><p>Second, this theory has given rise to the category known as “victimless crimes.” If smoking pot is itself a victimless crime, why criminalize it? Why criminalize growing it, transporting it, or selling it either? It is this category of laws that gives the clearest picture of the problem with Dershowitz’s theory of the law.</p><p>Law professor Gerard Bradley explains: “The central wrong in crime … is not that a criminal causes harm to a specific individual, but that the criminal unfairly usurps liberty to pursue his own interests and plans in a manner contrary to the common boundaries delineated by the law.” The law, in Bradley’s view, represents an agreed upon set of norms for the practice of individual liberty. Through our elected representatives, we’ve decided that some obvious things are criminal—like robbery, murder, and rape. But also that some other things not prescribed by a particular moral theory, like exceeding the speed limit or running a stop sign even under cover of darkness. The crime is not because any of these actions causes particularized harm to a young firefighter or a homeless woman, but because the person who has engaged in criminal behavior has transgressed the boundaries that society has set for the practice of liberty. The state has a responsibility to police those boundaries on behalf of its citizens and not on behalf of any particular citizen who is the secondary beneficiary of the laws that may deter criminal activity that could harm him or her personally.</p><p>A final word on Dershowitz’s project—I am sympathetic to the need for wrestling with legal and ethical challenges that accompany the rise of new technologies and sources of information that allow the state to predict and prevent harm that may befall its citizens. It would have been outrageous for government actors to know beforehand and then allow the attacks of September 11, for example. But the evolving nature of technology and other factors that can magnify the scale of harm that might follow certain acts, but might also make avoiding various types of harm possible, requires that we commit ourselves to a certain set of principles from which we can reasonably proceed in defining the boundaries of state action in pursuit of the legitimate ends of government. These principles were the foundational assumptions that underlie the U.S. Constitution, and, assuming arguendo that the American Founders were right, we shouldn’t discard them.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/tdimsdale-498.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Trey Dimsdale </p> <p> Trey Dimsdale is president of the AHA Foundation, a human rights organization founded by Ayaan Hirsi Ali in 2007, as well as a senior fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in ReviewsTagged Alan Dershowitz, Constitutional law, Criminal law, Gerard Bradley, The Preventive State: The Challenge of Preventing Serious Harms While Preserving Essential Liberties, treason, USA PATRIOT Act </footer> <p> <p>Related postsOccupational licensing harms the economically vulnerableThe FAQs: State Department Says Actions of Islamic State Constitute GenocideReview: Alan Wallace on ‘Becoming Europe’Crime and the Nanny State</p> </p> </p> </p> The Self-Inflicting Harms of Alan Dershowitz’s Preventive State – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 11747	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232697	有图 <p> <p> <p>The point of an Ivy League education seems to be to stoke one’s passion and achieve “success.” If one gets educated along the way, well, consider that a bonus.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>Every now and then you read a book so simple in concept and so interesting in outcome that you kick yourself for not having come up with the idea. Many people have a sense that higher education has jumped the rails in a variety of ways, but mostly that sense gets fed by anecdote and rumor and clickbait. High-profile incidents get noticed, but few people look at the fine-grained work that colleges actually do. It is therefore with a mixture of joy and jealousy that I read Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation, written by Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Marino Doan.</p><p>As goes Harvard, so goes American higher education. For all their talk about “critical thinking,” school administrators are hopeless parrots of their ranked superiors. In academic circles, “best practices” typically means “What is Harvard doing?” This is why President Trump’s war on Harvard ripples throughout the halls of higher learning: If Harvard can’t survive the attack, what hope do the rest of us who have nowhere near Harvard’s resources have? One can sense the panic in the ivory towers.</p><p>The story goes that when Eisenhower became president of Columbia University, he met with the faculty and ill-advisedly referred to them as “employees” of the school. An incensed Isidore Rabi stood and informed the general: “We are not employees of the university. We are the university.” Perhaps. What seems undeniable, however, is that in a happier time the faculty were regarded as the sole stewards of the central purpose of the university: the curriculum.</p><p>The word derives from the Latin verb currere, “to run.” It indicates the path or road one must run to reach the goal of becoming a well-rounded and well-mannered person. Faculty were to serve as both beacons and signposts, employing wisdom to direct students along that path toward the goal of florescence. Not only that: Such possession could only be determined by studying patterns of human excellence, of the structure and nature of reality and all the things in it, and the ways in which human beings searched for and discovered such things. Faculty operated as custodians of the incrementally and fitfully achieved efforts to shed more light on the world and our place in it.</p><p>Not much of this idea remains. Graduate schools encourage students to be specialists, not generalists, as the path to academic success. A typical Ph.D. in political science might be able to tell you an awful lot about the behavior of administrative districts in Botswana during the Khama regime but probably have little to say about why it matters. Specialization leads to publication, and publication to tenure. What difference does it make if one has no capacity to connect this research to issues of human flourishing? Graduate schools excel at narrowing the mind, at fragmenting knowledge and routinizing intellectual inquiry. Ph.D.s are often a mile deep and an inch wide.</p><p>Little wonder, then, that when they become professors they attempt to reshape the curriculum to avoid either embarrassment or extra work. It takes little effort and preparation to teach a class on one’s dissertation topic, but heaven forbid you have to teach a core curriculum class that requires you to know some things about a lot of things.</p><p>For that matter, what school even has a core curriculum any longer? A core curriculum assumes an agreed-upon set of standards, texts, ideas, beliefs, and goals that ensure that a graduate will receive a good education. Given the impossibility of faculty agreement on such matters, most schools moved from a “core curriculum” to a “general education” curriculum, the latter defined by a set of “distribution requirements” that allows the students “choices” in what their education looks like. No longer able to agree on the goals of education or any underlying values or beliefs, faculty resort to what they know: their area of specialization. The distribution requirements thus become a grab bag of highly specific faculty interests, which allows the faculty member to teach and publish simultaneously. It also protects departmental interests, and thus jobs. Nothing is more heated on a college campus than a revision of the core curriculum, all faculty jostling for a piece.</p><p>Back in 2005, in his book Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class, Ross Douthat had already observed the chaotic state of Harvard’s curriculum. While it gave a lot of freedom to both faculty and students, it communicated no sense of purpose, and certainly no coherence. Perhaps the best word to describe such an education is indulgent. Passion, and not reason, sits in the driver’s seat. There is much talk on college campuses about students pursuing their passions and very little about developing their reason. Passion, however, proves an erratic driver, especially without a map.</p><p>Kissel and his co-authors demonstrate that not much has changed. As I said, the book’s conceit is simple: Look at what is required of students at the Ivy League universities. A well-constructed curriculum serviced by competent faculty means that students will get a good education. A curriculum erratically designed around distribution requirements that serve a faculty member’s interests means that students may get a good education but only if that student chooses carefully.</p><p>Lost is Saint Augustine’s admonition that “in the study of creature, one should not exercise a vain and perishing curiosity but ascend toward what is immortal and everlasting.” Alas, much of college education amounts to little more than mastery of vain and perishing curiosities. Everything tilts in that direction. Student evaluations provide immediate feedback as to whether a faculty member has stoked a passion but tell us nothing about the enduring value of such lessons. A good education shapes both the reason and the imagination in such a way that a student learns discernment, how to separate wheat and chaff. Life will come along and provide them with hard lessons; a good education prepares them for those lessons.</p><p>It also broadens their horizons. For all the talk about diversity, our colleges and universities have become boringly monolithic. A student who condemns George Washington and all he accomplished out of hand simply because he owned slaves is a student who has closed himself off to the complexity of the human condition and the often difficult choices people make. These young persons might be taught charity toward oppressed groups, especially when they have nothing at stake, but not charity toward persons who navigate perennial human problems, simply because they have the misfortune of being dead.</p><p>If a good education grapples with how these perennial problems manifest themselves in specific circumstances within the context of a coherent moral framework, then a bad education simply projects current prejudices as a way of buttressing a moral authority assumed but never demonstrated. Kissel and his coauthors show that this central pathology of modern education has reached its apogee at the Ivies.</p><p>The book has two audiences: putatively, students going to Ivy League colleges in an effort to help them navigate the confusing curriculum; secondarily, the general public, to help them see what students actually learn. Their opening salvo? “Don’t trust the Ivy League to produce well-educated students.”</p><p>Kissel et. al. review the general education of all eight Ivies, and the results are disheartening. They cleverly divide each chapter into two parts: how to graduate if you’re a slacker and how to graduate if you’re a serious student. An enterprising student in possession of this book could successfully find a narrow path to excellence amid all the brambles and briars that pass for education at the Ivies.</p><p>Higher education generates mountains of senseless jargon. Nowhere does that become more apparent than when discussing curricular issues. The book valuably exposes a whole range of assumptions that many faculty regard as so unassailable as not to require any contestation at all. Among those are that a general education must express “ways of knowing.” Likewise, many of the courses reviewed in the book emphasize the importance of the “lenses” through which the material will be viewed.</p><p>Behind all this is a kind of Nietzschean perspectivism, which faculty would realize had they any training or interest in philosophy (which is why philosophers and theologians, the only integrative disciplines, should always be in charge of a core curriculum). Another way to put it is that the modern curriculum operates on the principle of epistemological subjectivism, and this, too, serves the interests of faculty but not students, although students don’t realize it. In fact, they will readily embrace such language because it makes their opinions and judgments unassailable.</p><p>The problem goes deeper than that, however. A lens implies a lens maker, someone with vision perfect enough to justify correcting the vision of others. Thus much of higher education consists of professors “enlightening” students, offering course after course that “resists” colonialism or sexism or racism or capitalism or heteronormativity, all because the professor wears a socially acceptable set of lenses. The effect of such courses is to impress upon the student the sheer question-begging audacity of the whole enterprise. Students in those classes would never be allowed to address the premises from which the analysis, if it can be called that, proceeds.</p><p>I had initially marked the classes highlighted in the book I thought especially ridiculous, but I soon ran out of ink. One indicator that a class is badly designed is if it predetermines its outcome, insisting that as a result of taking the class students will engage the world in a particular way. Real inquiry, however, doesn’t presuppose its results. The professor’s wisdom results from study, experience, and openness—all anathema to the ideological closure that marks so much academic work. A professor leads as a lieutenant in a jungle, hacking a way forward, not as a marshal requiring lock-stepped following in a parade.</p><p>Kissel and his coauthors identify two redoubts, however: Columbia’s core curriculum, in existence for a hundred years, continues to operate as a sturdy framework for undergraduate education. They remind the reader that “educators created general education programs in reaction to the curricular fragmentations of, on the one hand, the disciplinary specializations built for the German-style research university and, on the other hand, the elective system built for Emersonian, Romantic-era self-discovery.” Columbia has maintained that balance, at least better than the other Ivies.</p><p>The other redoubt exists in the hard sciences, and this, too, poses an important lesson. The hard sciences can’t avoid their subject matter. Astronomers have to study stars, physicists particles, biologists plants and animals, chemists molecules. The object of investigation determines the mode. Piety to the object limits and restrains the enterprise, but in a productive way. The object of the search is part of the search. Scientists rightly spend little time talking of “ways of knowing.”</p><p>The social sciences are bad, as the authors demonstrate, but the humanities have largely given up on the idea that they possess an object of study. Instead, they substitute preferences or a political agenda, to tiresome effect. It’s hard to imagine how these classes could have any enduring value—better the student evaluations be handed out 10 years after graduation. All the chattering about power gives voice to the lie: It’s the obsession of faculties because it’s what they crave.</p><p>So what, the authors wonder, can we assume about someone who has graduated from an Ivy League university? “All that an observer should infer is that the graduate had been admitted, did not fail a specified number of courses, fulfilled other requirements … and showed enough good behavior over about four years that he or she was not expelled.” When balanced against the political outbursts on campuses, the ideological uniformity, and restrictions on free speech, one wonders whether the schools are worth the sticker price. They are, of course, if one aspires to being comfortably well off. How to live well in such comfort is, sadly for them, an entirely different question.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/jpolet-286.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Jeffrey Polet </p> <p> Jeffrey Polet is professor emeritus of political science at Hope College and director of the Ford Leadership Forum at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in ReviewsTagged Adam Kissel, Columbia University, Core Curriculum, general education requirements, Harvard University, higher education, Ivy League, Madison Marino Doan, political indoctrination, Rachel Alexander Cambre, Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation </footer> <p> <p>Related postsThe Various Challenges of the Higher Education BubbleThoughts on Higher Education, Christian and OtherwiseDecay and Reform in Christian Higher EducationA Global Renaissance in Christian Higher Education</p> </p> </p> </p> Tickling the Ivies: Can Higher Education Be Saved? – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 13921	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232696	有图 <p> <p> <p>Abraham Kuyper’s thoughts on Islamic civilization have much to contribute still to the debates surrounding Muslims’ place in the West.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>Abraham Kuyper is remembered as a titan of Dutch politics, a preeminent Reformed political theologian, and someone many consider the ideological father of the Protestant strain of Christian democracy. In Kuyper’s vast output, comprising over 200 books and 20,000 articles, outstanding is his Om de Oude Wereldzee, “On the Old World-Sea,” an impressive travelogue of Kuyper’s tours of the civilizations along the Mediterranean, from Crimea to Spain. In this journalistic endeavor, Kuyper explores his thoughts on Islam and Islamic civilization in a manner only obliquely indicated in his other works, notably the Stone Lectures, where “Islamism” is briefly considered as an alternative worldview to Christianity, in the same vein as modernism. Om de Oude Wereldzee, translated into English as On Islam, offers a historical perspective on Kuyper’s relation to the Islamic world but also places Kuyper as of particular value to contemporary Islamic political thought.</p><p>In his first chapter, titled “The Asian Danger,” Kuyper identifies almost immediately “the dormant unity of monotheism in its threefold manifestation.” He rightly addresses the immense violence and persecution that the Abrahamic faiths have suffered at each other’s hands, but predicts that “once the conflict between monotheism and polytheism comes into the foreground, the Asian monotheist will fraternize with his European counterpart.” This understated and hopeful posture toward Islamic civilization is a consistent reference point for Kuyper. Despite exoteric theological and cultural differences, Islam may prove a worthy partner for the Christian West in combating the forces of moral and political disorder in our times.</p><p>The affinity between Western Christendom and Islam, Kuyper envisions, is threatened by two global trends: European hostility to Islam and, as a consequence, the budding relationship between Islam and anti-colonial and anti-Western rising powers like Japan. Europe’s “harsh treatment of the Muslim” has caused an Islamic enchantment with “Asian liberation,” a tendency that would flower in the third-worldism of the Cold War, where Muslim freedom fighters found natural friends in Mao, Tito, and other nonaligned communist powers against Western colonialism. The contemporary cooperation between the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Tehran and Venezuela shows Kuyper’s fear vindicated. Despite the tremendous promise of Islamic nations as allies of the West, this friendship relies on Western beneficence and fair treatment, a worthy reminder as many European nations struggle to integrate their own Muslim minorities.</p><p>Kuyper also saw in Islam the seeds of the social order he envisioned for his Netherlands. In his commentary on Islamic law and custom, he reasoned that Islam is “naturally democratic and flourishes in freedom.” Even without a visible hierarchy, Islamic piety ensures that “all who call upon Allah and his Prophet feel themselves to be part of one body.” Kuyper saw, too, in the democratic character of Islam a strong tradition of pluralism. Amid his tense concern for the persecution of Christians by Muslim polities, Kuyper nevertheless admits that the Ottoman Turks “handled their vanquished peoples by granting them a certain sphere sovereignty.” The Ottoman millet system, where minority religions were granted self-government, Kuyper considers an Islamic analog to his own prescriptions for Dutch society. In light of the modern plight of religious minorities in the Middle East and the sharp debates over Islamic rights in the West, both the Ottoman and Kuyperian models of community self-governance ought to enrich our ability to live and participate in society side-by-side.</p><p>Kuyper’s conciliatory tone toward Islam is not, however, completely uncritical. Even his admiration for Islamic civilization is colored by his firsthand experience of imperial decline in Istanbul. The organic affinity of Islam for liberty, which Kuyper underscored, is clouded by cultural malaise. He notes what he finds to be an air of sexual immorality in Islamic countries, with the Islamic community unable to thwart this “sexual danger” due to its lack of a “healthy core of civic life.” Although the concern for licentiousness does not occupy the discursive space for many Muslims today that it did in Kuyper’s life, the troubling lack of Islamic civil society—that sphere that is neither government-run nor strictly private, but cultural and voluntary—remains a matter for discussion. Kuyper also finds this absence in Christian history. In his exposition on the collapse of Christian communities in the Middle East during the Arab conquests, Kuyper writes that the faith had fallen tragically into “the hands of shrewd scholars, imperious prelates, and cunning politicians.” Just as in the Islamic struggle to control sexual behavior, Christians could not defend themselves from foreign invasion because they were utterly deprived of a civil society on which their religion could draw upon and affirm.</p><p>The deficiency of the third sector in Islamic society is far from Kuyper’s sole criticism of the Islam he observed around the Mediterranean basin. Kuyper took particular issue with the experience of Muslim women. As he saw it, “In Islam the female is merely incidental,” and “a woman exists for the man and finds in him alone her sole reason of being.” His words on the Islamic treatment of women are severe, but not out of place in contemporary Islamic women’s advocacy. Amina Wadud, an American Islamic scholar, has described her work on women in Islam an attempt “to encourage the hearts of Muslims, both in their public, private and ritual affairs, to believe they are one and equal.” Kuyper does not find this dim view of women an exclusively Islamic infirmity, however, writing that “the evil that visibly swirls around family life in a city like Paris or London has intruded into the Eastern family itself.” Kuyper’s shock at the denigration of women in the Islamic world is mirrored precisely in his revolt at the devaluation of women in the West under liberalism.</p><p>Kuyper’s travelogue concludes with a reflection on the history and future of Euro-Islamic relations. Writing in the early 20th century, Kuyper commences a discourse that would later reach its most wicked expression in Nazi ideology: the notion of a world‑historic struggle between the Aryan and Semitic races. Yet racial animosity is entirely absent from his treatment. Kuyper privileges Semitic spirituality over that of the Aryan, writing that “the Aryan element, when it tries to reign alone, impoverishes the life of the heart.” Kuyper finds the separation of European and Near Eastern cultures and peoples not only an unnatural innovation but a direct attack on the foundations of the West. He deems modernism “fundamentally nothing other than an attempt by the Aryan mind to shake off this Semitic spiritual element.” Traditional Christianity, Judaism, and Islam share a heritage as spiritual sons of Shem, a counterweight to the rising “Germanic Christ” Kuyper feared was ascendent in the Europe of his time.</p><p>Kuyper closes with an exhortation to continue missions to the Islamic world, but Kuyper’s work has a much wider evangelistic scope. Kuyper’s writing on Islam is proselytism on behalf of a free and orderly society. His appetite for public religion, minority rights, civil engagement, and women’s rights forms the basis of not only a Dutch Calvinist society but any political order that takes faith and flourishing seriously. Kuyper is unflinchingly Christocentric, but Kuyperian thought remains a latent vein of political theory waiting to be struck by Muslims in our time. The dual crises in the West and the Islamic world identified by Kuyper are the same as those experienced today, and only collaboration based on shared values will permit what Kuyper believed was at the core of every religion: “peace for the human heart.”</p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/wflicker-508.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Wyatt Flicker </p> <p> Wyatt Flicker is a member of the Acton Institute’s 2025 Emerging Leaders Program, working with the Collins Center for Abrahamic Heritage. He is also pursuing a B.A in classics, history, and international relations at the University of Delaware. His research interests include comparative religion, political theory, patristics, and economics. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in Politics and ReligionTagged abraham kuyper, Abrahamic religions, Dutch Christian democracy, islam, Islamic civil society, On Islam by Abraham Kuyper, Ottoman Empire, Ottoman millet system </footer> <p> <p>Related postsProvidence magazine reviews Kuyper’s ‘On Islam’‘On Islam’: Abraham Kuyper reflects on the Islamic worldAbraham Kuyper confronts stereotypes in ‘On Islam’Video: Book Discussion on Kuyper and Islam</p> </p> </p> </p> Kuyper and Islam – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 9471	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232695	有图 <p> <p> <p>The new film from Ari Aster manages to capture the fear, anger, and paranoia of 2020. It also grasps its sheer weirdness.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>Eddington is not supposed to be a horror movie. This might be a surprise to fans of the writer-director also responsible for the demented supernatural family drama Hereditary and the Wicker Man–esque neo-pagan nightmare Midsommar. Yet Ari Aster’s deranged mélange of take-no-prisoners social commentary, psychological thriller, and revisionist Western opens with information that may prove just as unsettling to viewers as possessed relatives and murderous cultists, if not more so: “Late May 2020.”</p><p>Yes, for his latest feature, Aster returns to a world only a few years removed from ours but that somehow already feels like an alternative reality: the height of COVID-19 lockdowns and the various pathologies and madnesses associated with them. It is a world that, up to this point, cinema has largely eschewed treating fully—perhaps a reflection of the popular desire to forget that period. But Aster skillfully wrenches us back in—whether we want to go back or not. Though some of its contrivances may fall short, Eddington’s bold bewilderment places it at the forefront of the nascent genre of COVID retrospection.</p><p>Eddington takes place in a small, fictional New Mexico town of the same name. By May 2020, COVID the virus has barely touched it. Yet COVID the social phenomenon has. An early confrontation between town sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and town mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) sets the tone for roughly the first half of the movie. Cross, who bristles against COVID mitigation measures, stands outside a bar trying to speak to a masked Garcia, obeying and enforcing state mandates while standing inside. One indelible frame shows a profile view of them on opposite sides of the bar’s window, shouting at each other. Their rivalry elevates when Cross decides to run for mayor against Garcia on an anti-lockdown platform. Like many aspects of COVID, it may be forgotten now, but such conflicts between freedom and “safety” happened all over the country during the era of “an abundance of caution.”</p><p>The antagonism between Cross and Garcia superficially imitates the showdowns and standoffs seen in classic Westerns. Yet it is deliberately undercut by the foibles of both men. Aster has a keen eye for such flaws. Cross may be motivated by a noble desire to return life to normalcy, but he is also seduced into internet rabbit holes and proves an inadequate husband. Garcia may just want to keep his community safe and stable, but he is also beholden to local business interests and susceptible (whether genuinely or merely opportunistically) to the oppressive and omnipresent left-wing bromides that circulated during that awful period, especially after George Floyd’s death. It is unclear whether Aster intended it, but casting the omnipresent crowd-pleaser Pascal in this role brilliantly (and perhaps devastatingly) subverts his public image. Neither man is a paragon of virtue. There are no John Waynes or Gary Coopers in Eddington.</p><p>These central characters are only part of Aster’s ruthless recollections of peak COVID, however. Members of Cross’s family fall into even deeper rabbit holes than he does. Garcia’s son joins the hordes of unoccupied youth. Before Floyd’s death, they congregate listlessly in small groups outdoors, engaging in furtive social interaction. And after it, finally given something to do, they assemble, march, and riot, full of unwarranted confidence in their sense of grievance and injustice—unless they’re just trying to get a girl. Tense confrontations between masked and unmasked Eddingtonians occur in grocery stores and restaurants while exasperated small-business owners fruitlessly try to calm down and ultimately just berate Black Lives Matter protesters, who tell their families and a black law-enforcement officer that they’re on the wrong side. And throughout it all, everyone processes reality through his or her phone or computer.</p><p>Aster’s critical catalogue of the COVID catastrophe is sufficiently evenhanded that it transcends any kind of partisan point-scoring. It becomes, rather, an appropriately cynical portrait of the warping of human nature. Even so, Eddington takes for granted certain conclusions that would have been controversial then—and still are now for some. For example, that BLM fervor was not entirely sincere and may instead have been largely a product of the bored, idle young. That keeping the young bored and idle for so long was idiotic even if technological advances made it feasible. And, above all, that it was delusional to believe humans, naturally social creatures, could endure for so long starved of genuine contact and interaction with others. During the COVID fever dream, many actively denied these obvious truths. We are still suffering the consequences.</p><p>All this unfolds against the backdrop of the conflict between Cross and Garcia. But there is more—much more—to Eddington than that. Aster takes the fearsome, cloistered reality of COVID to a different and somehow much weirder place. An enigmatic concatenation of forces descends upon the town. Defying these invaders, a bedeviled Cross may appear to have become the Western hero he surely wishes to be, if only for a few eerie nocturnal moments—and regardless of whether he has earned the status.</p><p>The COVID madness brought and enabled strange and downright unsettling things: “fiery but mostly peaceful” protests; looting; antifa aggression; attacks on statues and courthouses; autonomous collectives occupying vast chunks of major cities. But whether the exacerbated, perfervid vision that takes hold through Eddington’s climax successfully recaptures the peak of this madness will depend on whether you think that using the titular town as a hyperbolic violent parable, a place where prominent citizens fall victim to premeditated violence while trained, masked gunmen leave a trail of explosions and bodies in their wake, conveys the sheer weirdness of COVID phenomena, or whether you think that blowing the grotesquerie up beyond recognizability cheapens the very real but typically more mundane repression and discomfort most faced during that time.</p><p>I lean more toward the latter view. But this does not negate what Aster has accomplished with Eddington. He has not only delivered a true-to-life re-creation of the weirdnesses of COVID. He has also created a kind of dark fable from which depressing and distressing conclusions about humanity emerge. The bleakest of these observations becomes obvious by its conclusion. Campaigning for mayor, Cross drives around in a truck bearing a seemingly misspelled sign: “Your being manipulated.” Yet Eddington seems to be telling us not that Cross had misspelled anything, but that he was missing a comma, or perhaps a colon. “Your being: manipulated,” whether by the government, by technology (or its purveyors), or by some charismatic personality who feeds you slop over the internet—anyone other than yourself. Eddington is not supposed to be a horror movie. But it’s hard to think of anything more frightening than that.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/jbutler-461.png" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Jack Butler </p> <p> Jack Butler is submissions editor at <i>National Review Online</i>, a 2023–2024 Leonine Fellow, and a 2022–2023 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in ReviewsTagged Ari Aster, COVID lockdowns, COVID-19, Eddington (film), George Floyd riots, Hereditary, Joaquin Phoenix, Midsommar, movies, Pedro Pascal, westerns </footer> <p> <p>Related postsCOVID-19’s entrepreneurial creativityActon Line podcast: COVID-19 pandemic economics with Dr. David HebertCOVID-19 and crony capitalismCOVID-19 has exposed politicians who think themselves above the law</p> </p> </p> </p> Eddington Is COVID – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 8389	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232694	有图 <p> <p> <p>In the new biography of the founder of National Review, enough of the true spirit of the subject shines through to make you yearn for more. Just from another writer.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>Sam Tanenhaus’s new biography of William F. Buckley Jr. is not just another book—it is an event. The National Review founder originally authorized Tanenhaus to write it in the 1990s, inspired by the strength of Tanenhaus’s biography of the anticommunist journalist Whittaker Chambers. Ever since, adherents of the conservative movement have been whispering about the project in a mix of eager anticipation and cautious trepidation. Now the biography, out just in time for the centenary of its subject’s birth, is well on its way to becoming one of the most–reviewed books of the year.</p><p>All the same, there is something rather untimely about the publication. After all, how much sway does Buckleyite conservatism still hold in American public affairs? While some remain loyal to the fusionist ideology WFB’s magazine long promoted, the populism and postliberalism that dominate right-wing politics today have little in common with it. In the pages of a Spring 2000 issue of Cigar Aficionado (of all places), Buckley himself dismissed Donald Trump as a “narcissist” and a “demagogue.” In some ways, Tanenhaus could not have written about a man more out of joint with our times.</p><p>But that is perhaps why America needs Buckley now more than ever. When he helmed National Review and was a fixture on PBS, young conservatives could look up to him and even emulate him. As a public intellectual, Buckley modeled the virtues of a gentlemanly comportment and an intellectual generosity that would be a great political tonic in this present age of rage and radicalism. Above all, we would do well to remember that Buckley was not a simple-minded reactionary motivated by self-interest or hatred, or even mere right-wing ideology, but rather a genuine patriot moved first and foremost by a conservatism of the heart.</p><p>Unfortunately, though, it is unlikely that Tanenhaus’s biography will bring that Buckley back to life. The author clearly admires certain things about the man, but he is very far from any kind of objective observer. Tanenhaus’s approach is ultimately too limited by his ideological commitment to liberalism; he is more interested in scrutinizing Buckley for his alleged sins against democratic orthodoxy than he is in providing a full assessment of a life well lived. All the same, Tanenhaus cannot conceal Buckley’s shining personality or inherent greatness.</p><p>The book excels the most in its depictions of Buckley’s childhood and early life, periods that have not been particularly well explored by other works on the man. Born to a wealthy Texan oil developer and a New Orleans nurse, he had a profoundly unusual upbringing. Buckley spent parts of his childhood abroad in Mexico, France, and England until returning to his family’s estate in Sharon, Connecticut. He learned Spanish and French before English, and gained his trademark transatlantic accent in his voyages across the ocean before the outbreak of World War II.</p><p>As comfortable as they were in elite circles, the Buckleys did not aspire to the WASPy trappings of their neighbors in the Northeast. As Tanenhaus puts it, at Great Elm and on their South Carolina estate, the family cultivated a “Catholic atmosphere” that was “fervent but also rarefied—opulent, sensual, aesthetic, and old.” They were not aping the English gentry so much as living like Spanish lords. The Buckley household was defined by a blend of cosmopolitanism and reactionary sentiment that left an indelible mark on the young Bill. Tanenhaus effectively and compellingly captures this atmosphere, and he deserves praise for the meticulous research that went into these sections of the book.</p><p>As a liberal, though, it seems that Tanenhaus simply cannot take Buckley’s conservative disposition very seriously. Although he frequently discusses Buckley’s faith, for example, Tanenhaus generally adopts a somewhat dismissive attitude toward it, as though his Roman Catholicism made him somehow alien. Indeed, by emphasizing the Buckleys’ family life, and especially the influence of William F. Buckley Sr., Tanenhaus seeks to link WFB Jr. to noxious strains of anti-Semitism and racism that defined the Old Right before World War II, and thereby delegitimize the new conservative movement he was so instrumental in founding in the 1950s. This problem is exacerbated by the total lack of balance in the book’s narrative; fewer than 50 pages of the 1,018-page-long tome address the years after the 1980 election, which proved to be intellectually pivotal for Buckley. Tanenhaus is far more focused on upholding liberal shibboleths and firing potshots to his right than he is in understanding his subject as he understood himself.</p><p>Beyond these obvious political biases, this error is also a consequence of Tanenhaus’s underestimation of Buckley’s intellectual merit. He is right to point out, of course, that Buckley never wrote a definitive work on conservative political thought, unlike friends such as Russell Kirk and his Conservative Mind and Whittaker Chambers and his memoir Witness. But in his role as a man of letters, Buckley engaged in a kind of public philosophic odyssey that was its own major contribution to the movement. He not only built institutions but also worked within them and through them to endow the movement with a sense of deep meaning and purpose.</p><p>Even more generally speaking, Tanenhaus’s engagement with the intellectual history of the conservative movement is quite shallow—and his account of Buckley’s life suffers for it. Take, for instance, his treatment (or lack thereof) of the Straussian political scientist Harry Jaffa. Especially after the Reagan presidency, Buckley frequently cited his work, most prominently his Abraham Lincoln scholarship, to help define American conservatism. And yet in Tanenhaus’s biography, Jaffa is mentioned only twice; on neither occasion does the author address his broader influence on the movement or on Buckley himself. Despite the heft of the tome, a casual reader unfamiliar with movement’s history or Buckley’s own writings could come away with entirely wrong impressions about how his views changed over time.</p><p>Probably the worst victim of Tanenhaus’s terrible simplifications, though, is Buckley’s friend Russell Kirk. The traditionalist thinker has long been willfully misinterpreted by critics on the right and left alike, and sadly this book is no exception. Tanenhaus cites the Michigander’s analysis of John C. Calhoun’s political thought to help build his case that the conservative movement is rooted in racist, neo-Confederate ideology. Of course, he makes no mention of Kirk’s glowing praise for Abraham Lincoln and the antislavery, pro-Union writer Orestes Brownson, and he completely misunderstands the critique of New Deal liberalism advanced by traditionalists such as Kirk and others in the National Review circle. Tanenhaus, it seems, does not particularly believe ideas have consequences.</p><p>It was precisely because he was an intellectual entrepreneur and man of letters, however, that Buckley himself often acknowledged the problems with extremism on the fringes of the conservative movement. Tanenhaus ably demonstrates, for instance, how Buckley led the purge of the John Birch Society and other unsavory elements in the 1960s. But because so much of the book is focused on the pre-Reagan years, he does not sufficiently address the way Buckley’s own views shifted on questions such as race and civil rights. The overall effect, then, is to give readers a strange, distorted perspective on the man, and even a sense that the book itself went to press only half finished.</p><p>If Buckley: The Life and the Revolution that Changed America is not about ideas or intellectual history, then what is it about? Rumor and gossip, in part. Tanenhaus spends an inordinate amount of time speculating about the sexuality of Buckley and members of National Review’s staff, for example, with far too little regard for these figures as actual human beings. Other aspects of the book suffer from too much broadness; giving readers a sense of a figure’s time and context is important, but Tanenhaus gets far too bogged down in the weeds. This biography would have been a better, more balanced book if it had focused more on the profound drama of the revolution in its subtitle than on the petty drama and historicizing grand narratives occupying too many pages.</p><p>Even so, it may perhaps seem unfair to ask Tanenhaus—who is, after all, more a journalist than an historian—to delve deeply into the lore of the conservative movement. But other authors have done a far better job of this, and in so doing have more adequately captured the mind and heart of William F. Buckley. Take, for instance, Matthew Continetti’s recent magisterial history of the movement, The Right. Buckley features as a main character in his narrative as well, but instead of the simplified political caricature Tanenhaus provides, Continetti actually takes him seriously as a thinker. Much of the thread he follows traces the ways Buckley’s own conservatism shifted away from the mix of European-style traditionalism and libertarianism that defined his youth. Over time, Continetti argues, he came to see himself first and foremost as a defender of the American Founding.</p><p>This journey, documented in countless columns and dozens of books, is what distinguished Buckley from the reactionary cranks of his own time and ours. He became an ardent constitutionalist first and foremost because he thought the framers’ settlement, ennobled by Lincoln, was the best suited to defend a traditional way of life. Really, Buckley’s philosophic odyssey can best be understood as a kind of love story—the more he fell in love with America, the more committed he became to conserving her regime.</p><p>One of Buckley’s most profound conclusions to this intellectual journey came in a 1990 book, Gratitude: Reflections on What We Owe to Our Country, which falls outside the true scope of Tanenhaus’s biography. Although on the surface a controversial call for national service, behind Buckley’s provocation is a piercing insight: Conservatism, rightly understood, is the chosen life of gratitude. “Materialistic democracy beckons every man to make himself a king,” he wrote, but “republican citizenship incites every man to be a knight.” Here, and in so many other places in his writings, Buckley was asserting what Edmund Burke called “the spirit of an exalted freedom.”</p><p>This is the conservatism of the heart that America so desperately needs today. Populist movements chasing after political power and the postliberal ideologues looking to justify that chase are, in the end, incapable of conserving much of anything at all. What made Buckley such an incredible organizer and advocate for conservative ideas is that he lived in such a way that invited people into his remarkable world. He was sophisticated and suave, to be sure, but never in a condescending or dismissive way.</p><p>Because he was not oriented toward power politics, Buckley came to be one of the most representative figures of the American Century. He could host figures as diverse as Allen Ginsberg and Ronald Reagan on his PBS program Firing Line—which cannot really be said of the increasingly siloed social media echo chambers now constituting the American right. Buckley was by no means a compromising squish or a partisan of mediocre mass culture, but he also wanted conservatism to be welcoming and truly representative. As a man of letters and a public intellectual, perhaps he can provide a model for navigating our fragmented culture and politics.</p><p>For all his book’s flaws, Tanenhaus nonetheless manages to capture something true about this loving spirit so inherent to Buckley’s character. For one, most of the book is quite well-written—a fact that would have no doubt pleased WFB, one of the finest prose stylists of the 20th century. Tanenhaus also admirably depicts Buckley’s overwhelming sense of adventure; reading the story of his life, even told in such an incomplete and occasionally frustrating way, is just plain fun.</p><p>No man is perfect, and William F. Buckley was no exception. Likewise, no biography is perfect, and Sam Tanenhaus’s book is certainly no exception. But as Publius put it in Federalist 85, “I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man.” One certainly hopes that other, more definitive books are written about this particular man and the movement he founded—but the publication of this biography and the occasion of this centenary serve, in the meantime, as reminders that we ought to be grateful for everything William F. Buckley Jr. gave to our movement, our culture, and our country.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/mlucchese-460.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Michael Lucchese </p> <p> Michael Lucchese is the founder of Pipe Creek Consulting, an associate editor of <i>Law & Liberty</i>, and a contributing editor to <i>Providence</i>. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in ReviewsTagged "Gratitude: Reflections on What We Owe to Our Country", Buckley biography, Henry Jaffa, National Review, russell kirk, Sam Tanenhaus, the modern conservative movement, Whitttaker Chambers, william f. buckley </footer> <p> <p>Related postsReview: William F. Buckley Jr.Jeremy Lott’s Life of William BuckleyActon’s William F. Buckley Tribute VideoWilliam F. Buckley – 1925-2008</p> </p> </p> </p> William F. Buckley Jr.: A Man for Our Season – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 14093	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232693	有图 <p> <p> <p>The same old lies about capitalist “greed” as the source of income inequality are being thrown around by both right and left these days. A new book demonstrates why government “solutions” tend to make everything worse—and how true economic freedom is the best hope for all classes of Americans.</p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>In their new book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism, former Senator Phil Gramm and Donald J. Boudreaux, George Mason University professor of economics, challenge seven widely held but false views of capitalism and markets, which fuel an overreliance on government. The view that markets are riddled with failures and that government is the only genuine corrective has a long history. The political activism fueled by these assumptions began during the Progressive Era in the United States, which spanned from 1890 to the 1920s. Those ideas live on today and find an ideological and political home among modern progressives and even members of the New Right.</p><p>Among the good news found in Triumph of Economic Freedom is that even readers not well-versed in economics or steeped in stats will find this book accessible. It boasts a “just the facts” approach, taking us chapter by chapter through the myths we can’t seem to shake. Gramm and Boudreaux invoke the great Thomas Sowell on the very first page, who argues that political differences emerge from “people reasoning from fundamentally different premises … have different visions of how the world works.”</p><p>Sowell has written about the constrained and unconstrained vision of man. The realities of human nature bind man in the constrained vision; the unconstrained vision sees man as malleable, able to be shaped and formed, bent to the common good. The unconstrained vision is factually incorrect yet appealing to policymakers and anyone who desires government power. The constrained vision accurately captures man as he is, finite and fallible, operating out of self-interest rather than full-time benevolence. The American founders understood the concept of self-interest and, as such, recognized the need for limited government.</p><p>Thus, we almost always start on the wrong foot when it comes to understanding economic history, which hinders our ability to make better policy for the future. The authors point out that at the country’s founding, the government was limited in both size and scope. It took until 1918 for the federal government to spend its first trillion dollars, and up until 1900, government spending as a percentage of GDP was around 7%; today it is around 33%. Deficits have proliferated through the 20th and into the 21st century, with no end in sight.</p><p>This is an untenable path that will not end well. The authors are all too familiar with this. This book is unique in that it’s not a vitriolic rant against progressives and Democrats; there are many such books already, and they hardly change hearts and minds. Instead, this book presents a careful study of evidence that the authors argue has influenced public opinion over the past century, leading to a substantial expansion of government in both its size (what it spends) and scope (what it influences or controls).</p><p>The authors cover five of what they deem the “most disputed” episodes in American history as well as two modern issues: income inequality and poverty, along with the myths that surround them. They are the Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era of anti-trust regulation, the Great Depression, the decline of employment in the manufacturing sector starting in the late 1970s, and the Great Recession. Each of these periods is accompanied by a narrative that blames capitalism for the nation’s economic woes and so suggests it should be constrained or, worse, eliminated. The authors argue that most Americans’ interpretations of these events determine their view of the role of government.</p><p>In each chapter, the authors present the myth as it is understood, using appropriate citations and relying on how authors and scholars have presented that myth, as well as the data that surrounds it. In each case, they find that the myth is precisely that, and a glimpse into the data can help us see that the conventional wisdom, as it is passed on in books, blogs, television interviews, and even scholarly literature, is largely incorrect. Capitalism is not perfect, but it is the most liberating and enriching economic system the world has ever known. Not knowing this is dangerous, because if we base policy on myths, we perpetuate the very problems we seek to solve.</p><p>Economics is the study of choice under conditions of scarcity and radical uncertainty. We have unlimited wants but limited means to satisfy them. We are imperfect and prone to greed; we act out of self-interest. Scarcity implies competition; we all want the same things, and without an unlimited supply, we must determine a mechanism by which to ration. The challenge is twofold: figuring out how to avoid running out of scarce resources and finding ways to create abundance, so that we can lower our opportunity costs.</p><p>Economic freedom, or capitalism, is a decentralized economic system in which rationing scarce resources is left to prices determined by the market, as buyers and sellers interact with one another. Prices are superior rationing mechanisms because they are decentralized and nimble. They act as signals and incentives, directing millions of people without a central leader, and no one can know, a priori, the information that prices convey. F.A. Hayek referred to this as the knowledge problem in his arguments against socialism and in favor of markets. This is not only an argument against socialism but also a warning to all planners, from trust busting to trade policy.</p><p>Capitalism is a bottom-up economic system based on private ownership and individual choice—a system anathema to many policymakers because it demonstrates the limits on what the government can and thus should do. And so those same policymakers must either flagrantly disregard or genuinely misunderstand history in their quest to improve economic outcomes from the top down.</p><p>Gramm and Boudreaux begin their exploration of bad economic reasoning with “the Genesis Myth,” which argues that the Industrial Revolution impoverished workers. It is hard to believe that this myth persists. Industrial revolutions are messy. They involve the entire transformation of economic and social life. We move from farm to factory to cubicle. The process alters norms and culture, and in so doing upends inegalitarian class systems. For example, for the very first time, income mobility became possible for workers previously trapped in a class cage.</p><p>The myth originated with British historians and the Victorian era of literature. The authors point to Charles Dickens and Thomas Hood, who insisted that “the urban workplace was but a prison with rations of only bread crusts for food, threadbare rags for clothes, and rented hovels for shelter. So persuasive is this grimness in Victorian-era literature, with its vivid portrayals of poverty and misery, that 21st-century French academic Thomas Piketty cites Germinal, Oliver Twist, and Les Misérables, novels from the era, as empirical ‘evidence’ that the Industrial Revolution was indeed a terrible time.”</p><p>Yes, you read that correctly. An academic who advocated for significant wealth redistribution in his bestselling 2014 book, used Charles Dickens as part of his “empirical” evidence against capitalism. You can’t make this stuff up, but that’s precisely why these myths are so dangerous. This is also the basis for the “de-growth” movement, which can only be described as misanthropic evil.</p><p>What are the Industrial Revolutionary facts? The authors take us back to the fall of the Roman Empire. From that time to the Enlightenment, economic growth and wages were stagnant, and people lived in subsistence poverty. Since the Industrial Revolution, living standards in countries like Britain and the U.S. have risen by at least 3,000%! They cite Dierdre McCloskey, who calls this “The Great Enrichment” but also support their claim with other research. We have escaped the Malthusian trap, and the bottom billion is on pace to do the same; however, the key is to embrace economic freedom, rather than control it through population design or cutting growth rates. Economic freedom is the cure rather than the source of the problem.</p><p>Another dangerous myth, almost a hundred years in the making, is that capitalism or laissez-faire economics caused the Great Depression and that government intervention was the cure. The authors dive right into conventional wisdom, which posits that the key market failures at the time were inequality and underconsumption. This is believed to occur when larger portions of the rich accumulate greater amounts of wealth but spend smaller shares of their income compared to the poor. Thus it is a problem of rising income inequality, a theme that recurs throughout the book. It is also argued that greed drove stock market speculation that led to the crash on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929. Moreover, the myth further insists that President Herbert Hoover “did nothing” and that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was the only thing that offered any hope of saving American farming and industry and that could correct the economy.</p><p>Gramm and Boudreaux painstakingly take us through economic history, demonstrating that greed did not cause the economic downturn and that the New Deal likely exacerbated its severity, as America’s recovery lagged that of other nations. They show us that, before the Great Depression, the country had suffered from recessions and financial panics, all of which were shorter and less severe in nature. They resulted from “a combination of fractional reserve banking system, prohibitions on branch banking, and an agricultural economy with seasonal variations in the demand for money.” But wait, there’s more.</p><p>Most people are unaware that in 1920–21, a depression occurred, during which unemployment rose to nearly 12%, real industrial output declined by 33%, and the stock market lost 33% of its value. Yet the recovery was “so quick and so complete” that it was nicknamed “The Forgotten Depression.” The authors argue that the most remarkable aspect was that the president and Congress “did nothing” in terms of a fiscal response. Following this crisis, however, and the response of regional Federal Reserve banks, reforms were put into place in 1923 that concentrated power to conduct monetary policy in Washington, and the Fed fueled speculative markets by keeping interest rates too low.</p><p>Fun fact: At Milton Friedman’s 90th birthday party, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke admitted that Friedman was right: The Great Depression was caused by the Fed’s failure. This, combined with Hoover’s doubling of government spending, tax increases, and a 1931 budget deficit that exceeded half of all government expenditures—all of which FDR continued—was a disaster in the making. The Great Depression was a failure of government, not a failure of the market. What ended the Great Depression was not excessive technocratic government intervention but a return to free markets in the postwar era. The authors highlight the restoration of property and contract rights following the New Deal, which helped inspire investor confidence.</p><p>Chapter by chapter throughout The Triumph of Economic Freedom, the authors take us through traumatic and tumultuous episodes in American history. There are several common themes to anti-market sentiment, including a distrust of both the American people and the market process itself. This should not surprise us. Today Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) summons FDR with the Green New Deal to try to remake the U.S. economy in her climate-friendly image. In addition, the elites among us, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, Berkeley professor Robert Reich, and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, call for a wealth tax to reduce inequality.</p><p>Pitting the rich against the poor in the name of the middle class is nothing new—from the growing pains of the Industrial Revolution, to arguments about why we need to protect manufacturing employment (despite extraordinary gains in manufacturing output), to the calls for greater regulation of financial markets after the Great Recession, to modern anti-poverty programs, we’ve seen it before. Gramm and Boudreaux leave no stone unturned in exploring how some make the same mistakes over and over again, expecting different results.</p><p>Unironically, it is colossal economic growth that benefits the rich but disproportionately benefits the poor—and this can be attributed only to economic freedom. What is painted as the villain is the source of opulence, to use the words of Adam Smith. We need to stop biting the hand that feeds us and reject myths that stem from this same disdain for free contracts and free people. It is appropriate to end where the authors begin: “We dedicate this book to America—not the idealized shining city on a hill but, rather, an unfinished work of a free people who strive and often fail to live up to their high principles but who then learn from their mistakes and perpetually rededicate themselves to the task.” Now is the time to rededicate ourselves to economic freedom.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/arathbonebradley-231.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> Anne Bradley </p> <p> Anne Bradley, Ph.D., is an Acton affiliate scholar, the vice president of Academic Affairs at The Fund for American Studies, and professor of economics at The Institute of World Politics. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in ReviewsTagged Ben Bernanke, capitalism, Charles Dickens, economics, f.a. hayek, free market economy, industrial revolution, Milton Friedman, The Great Depression, The Great Enrichment, the knowledge problem, Thomas Picketty </footer> <p> <p>Related postsWhy Free Markets Are an Anti-PollutantMichael Miller: Free Markets, Poverty And The PopeMovie review: ‘Okja’ and the power of free markets to save livesDefending Free Markets and Private Property</p> </p> </p> </p> The Myth-Busting, Poverty-Curing Power of Free Markets – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 14702	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word
3232692	有图 <p> <p> <p>Much has already been written about the author of Lord of the Rings trilogy, but little on his creative process. As we’ll see, there’s always more to learn. </p><p>Read More…</p> <p> <p>I am a self-proclaimed Inklings appreciator. From C.S. Lewis’s critical essays to Charles Williams’s doctrinal horror novels to Owen Barfield’s strange and marvelous metaphysic of symbols, this little group of writers has my heart. But even I worry sometimes if conservative and religiously inclined literary types spend too much time talking about this little literary group. A fixation on these 20th-century figures can tempt us into being reactionary in our own art and ignoring the imaginative Christian creators of today.</p><p>Guiseppe Pezzini’s new book, Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation, points a way to balance our love of these figures of the past with an interest in the fortunes of literature today. Pezzini has not written just another work of Tolkien appreciation. Instead, he has taken the difficult step of exploring how Tolkien made what he made. Specifically, Pezzin identifies the principles at play in Tolkien’s imagination—principles that Tolkien himself was more or less aware of but that have received less critical attention than they deserve. In so doing, Pezzini gives us some helpful guidelines for how we can evaluate contemporary imaginative literature, as well as tools that fiction writers can use in their own creative process.</p><p>The book is part of a small but distinct trend of approaching Tolkien’s work as literature with a robust literary theory at play, not merely as world-building or even as storytelling. That distinction might be odd, but it is worth making. For a long time, fascination with Tolkien’s work has led to imitation in form and content, but it hasn’t led to much literary imitation or critical study. In fact, as Pezzini points out in his introduction, many people pooh-pooh Tolkien as a literary artist and imply that his stories succeed despite the language in which he tells them. Pezzini sets out to correct this view and to give Tolkien the close literary reading his work deserves.</p><p>What I mean here is that Pezzini sets out to study the actual words of Tolkien’s masterpieces, not simply the stories, events, themes, and allusions. In addition, he attempts to discern within Tolkien’s work an overarching literary theory, one based in the creative power of the Word (what Tolkien called “philological priority”).</p><p>Writing as Discovery</p><p>Literary criticism is an acquired taste, to be sure, and works of literary theory tend toward the incomprehensible, but Pezzini takes a straightforward and confident approach. He, like his subject, has an evident love of his material, and his unobtrusive style allows Tolkien’s work to take center stage.</p><p>The key argument of the book is that Tolkien developed a vibrant literary theory throughout his life, one that informed and empowered his somewhat chaotic creative process. Pezzini shows, through letters and interviews, that Tolkien himself experienced writing as a discovery; for example, Tolkien wrote in a letter to W.H. Auden that until the palantir“was cast out of the window [of Orthanc],” he knew nothing of the these “seeing-stones.” The Orthanc-stone burst upon him with the same surprise that strikes the reader, but it also made sense of “the ‘rhyme of lore’ that had been running in [his] mind: seven stars and seven stones and one white tree. These rhymes and names will crop up; but they do not always explain themselves,” Tolkien’s letter reads. In other words, even in the process of creating his own stories, Tolkien experienced that wonderful literary combination of surprise and inevitability.</p><p>This quasi-miraculous experience of co-creativity, in which the artist creates through discovery, does not happen by accident. It seems impossible for a world as complete, as layered and diverse and yet orderly, hierarchical, and imaginatively striking as Middle-Earth to have simply been discovered through the writing process. Yet it seems that is what happened. When a young writer reads accounts of the creation of Middle-Earth, he might be tempted simply to launch into his own epic and assume that by meandering around in his made-up world, slapping strange-sounding names onto invented objects and events, he’ll write a masterpiece. Masterpieces, alas, are much more demanding than this.</p><p>This sort of spontaneous coherence, this dazzling structure, was only possible because Tolkien was not writing from a haphazard imaginative and metaphysical perspective (however haphazard the actual process of discovery may have been); rather, he approached his work with a series of clear literary principles in place, principles that created the conditions in which his imagination could roam freely and discover the implicit orderliness of Middle-Earth and her tales. “For Tolkien,” Pezzini writes, “literature not only comes from the human mind, but also involves some form of participation of and in God’s creative power.” Tolkien was truly sub-creating; he was creating under the auspices of principles that, as long as he submitted to them, gave him the freedom to explore and discover things he never expected while maintaining a remarkable underlying stability and consistency in his work.</p><p>Pezzini identifies the four principles of Tolkien’s literary work as 1) artistic gratuitousness, 2) authorial detachment, 3) literary cloaking, 4) and narrative parallelism. He dedicates one chapter to each of these principles, demonstrating how each influenced Tolkien’s own creative process. He cites letters, lectures, interviews, and essays to show that Tolkien consciously submitted his work to these principles, and he annotates specific moments from The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and various Unfinished Tales to show each principle at work.</p><p>The result is both delightful and scholarly, a clear and accessible demonstration of Pezzini’s theory that does not drag because it is speckled with such lovely Tolkienian moments as the mystery of “the cats of Queen Berúthiel” (a mystery as much to Tolkien as to us!), Gandalf’s evocative last words, and the curious changes in narrative register throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy that reveal much about the characters of the books. Anyone who reveres Tolkien as a storyteller will enjoy Pezzini’s work, despite its scholarly nature.</p><p>But the ideal audience for Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation is the Tolkien skeptic: the writer or critic who just isn’t convinced that fairy tales, children’s stories, or fantasies can have much literary value. Much of the skepticism toward so-called genre literature—fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance, mystery, and the like—is merited because these categories lend themselves to mass-produced, plot-driven pulp novels. But Pezzini ably proves that the fantasy genre, in the hands of a master, can be as luminous and language-focused as any other. As a dedicated reader of the greats of genre fiction, like Gene Wolfe’s science fiction and the mysteries of Dorothy Sayers, I hope Pezzini’s readers return to other genres with an open mind after seeing how much there is to learn from Tolkien’s literary theory.</p><p>Language as Gift, Not Machine </p><p>What is particularly moving about Pezzini’s book is the intimate look it grants us at a writer who reveled in the act of writing, from the motions of moving a pen on paper, to the joy of experimenting with sounds and symbols to create new, highly charged words. Moreover, the textures and layers of his work were as revelatory to him as to the closest reader. The best chapter in the book is chapter 6, “The Next Stage: The Death of the Author and the Effoliation of Creation.” Here, Pezzini writes,</p><p>For Tolkien, literature—its origins, processes, and purpose—cannot be reduced to something that can be fully described in analytical terms. Instead, literature is a “mystery,” which involves the participation of another mysterious Entity.</p><p>This conviction has grave implications for authors, Pezzini writes: “To accept and acknowledge this mysterious relationship is the core drama for the human sub-creator, as such recognition requires a form of authorial self-denial—a ‘death.’” This absolute submission of the author to the demands of his work is a moral, psychological, and spiritual task as much as a literary one. And, as Pezzini goes on to show in chapter 7, it brings astonishing rewards to the author willing to undergo this “death.”</p><p>It is startling that it has taken so long for Tolkien to be treated as a literary figure—he was, after all, first and foremost interested in language. But perhaps, in the spirit of Tolkien’s own conviction that there is a Master at work behind all things, Pezzini’s revelation of the literary theory and principles undergirding these popular tales comes at just the right time. As literature faces the single greatest threat it has ever confronted in the form of so-called artificial intelligence, it is vital for writers—and readers—to remember the importance of loving their material. Only a writer who, like Tolkien, takes a true, gratuitous delight in language itself stands a chance of being able to persist in creating work that is genuinely artistic, spontaneous, and luminous.</p><p>The heart of Tolkien’s literary theory is this: literature, the act of writing, of working with language, is a deeply human and salvific task. To work with language and to be willing to be changed by language is to enter into a profound mystery. Language is not a machine for us to control but a gift for us to steward; used properly, it can be a means of discovery and of grace. If readers take nothing from Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation but this, their time will have been well used.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p><img src="https://rlo.acton.org/wp-content/authors/jcscharl-435.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></p> </p> <p> <p> J.C. Scharl </p> <p> J.C. Scharl is a poet and playwright. Her work has appeared on the BBC and in many poetry journals on both sides of the Atlantic. Her verse play, Sonnez Les Matines, opened in New York City in February 2023 and is available through Wiseblood Books. </p> </p> </p> </p> <footer> Posted in ReviewsTagged fantasy genre, J.R.R. Tolkien, literary theory, Lord of the Rings, The cats of Queen Beruthiel, The Hobbit, The Inklings, The Silmarillion, Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation by Giuseppe Pezzini </footer> <p> <p>Related postsActon on Tap: Tolkien and the Free SocietyDay of Discovery interviews Acton Expert about dirtVideo: Jonathan Witt On Tolkien’s Vision Of FreedomTolkien, Hobbits, Hippies and War</p> </p> </p> </p> J.R.R. Tolkien: Writing as Discovery – Religion & Liberty Online	查看 11171	阿克顿研究所	2025-01-01 00:00:00 2025-08-05 22:07:25	word

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