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HomeGlobal PulseGlobal Pulse: Macron's on a mission to mentor Trump, Suu Kyi's falsehoods

Global Pulse: Macron’s on a mission to mentor Trump, Suu Kyi’s falsehoods

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Trump’s got a new mentor

Few would dispute the fact that Donald Trump could do well with some politically mature, sound mentorship. And it seems, the one to have actually taken on the role as his mentor is Emmanuel Macron.

“We have to push very hard for him to act in the framework of the multilateral approach,” the French President said. “I think it’s feasible. At least, I consider that’s my mission.”

And from the look of it, it seems Macron has indeed made sense of Trump’s motivations. “As with the Iran agreement, the French president said he believes that Trump’s first motivation for tearing up the (Climate Change) deal was that it was negotiated by President Barack Obama.”

“What we need is for President Trump to find something belonging to him regarding climate change,” Macron said. Apparently, he told Trump that the isolationist route would be a “dead end for the United States”.

Suu Kyi’s prolonged silence is followed by a string of falsehoods

The Nobel Laureate’s silence over the mass persecution of Rohingyas in her country had been rattling the international community. Her words, however, turned out to be equally befuddling.

“The address by de facto leader of Myanmar on forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Muslims contained truths, half-truths and falsehoods,” writes Oliver Holmes in The Guardian.

In her controversial speech, Suu Kyi said, “Since 5 September, there have been no armed clashes and there have been no clearance operations” – a false assertion. “Setting villages ablaze – which can be seen from Bangladesh – continues, while armed clashes have been heard regularly in Rakhine since 5 September. Aung San Suu Kyi’s own office reported on its Facebook page that security personnel have conducted “clearance operations” since then,” writes Holmes.

There are other falsehoods. “All people living in the Rakhine state have access to education and healthcare services without discrimination,” Suu Kyi said. Truth: Most Rohingya are denied citizenship and access to essential government services in Myanmar. Medical care is highly restricted. Many are unable to attend school or university, especially Rohingya living in internal camps where they need special permission to leave.”

‘We will have a Europe where the bank notes have Adolf Hitler’

While globalist may be one of alt-right’s go-to slurs, the alt-right itself is now a global movement, with once dormant hate groups in Europe and America now thriving and witnessing a surge in recruitment.

Patrik Hermansson, who went undercover in their world, came back with appalling insights into the group’s tactics and beliefs. His undercover project – commissioned by the British anti-Racist watchdog group Hope Not Hate’ – even took him to the neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville where he marched alongside hundreds of White Supremacists. They are more energised than ever and are constantly exploring the online space to promote “far-right ideas in numbers that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago”.

“We will have a Europe, in 2050, where the bank notes have Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great. And Hitler will be seen like that: like Napoleon, like Alexander, not like some weird monster who is unique in his own category — no, he is just going to be seen as a great European leader,” founder of the AltRight Corporation told him. Later, he would go on to tell him, “We had connections in the Trump administration — we were going to do things!”

It’s not drugs that ails Philippines

The world may watch in disgust and horror when Rodrigo Duterte says that 32 deaths a day would reduce the drug menace that ails Philippines. Yet his supporters won’t blame him for the deaths of thousands of Filipinos during his 15-month presidency. They are “Duterte’s enablers”, writes Miguel Syjuco in The New York Times.

“The top brass cry foul whenever police officers are accused of brutality. Legislators scuttle or truncate investigations. A legion of trolls, bloggers and partisan writers posturing as journalists attack anyone who dares to dissent. And the administration and its supporters refuse to recognize human rights as universal protections against abusive power, instead redefining them as an obstruction to progress, a tool hijacked by those whom they say seek to overthrow a democratically elected president — albeit a president who has threatened to suspend democracy and impose martial law.”

“The fact that dictatorship is achieved through a gradual process is a lesson we cannot afford to forget. If we do, we will have only ourselves to blame,” he writes.

Social divisions and snobbery give way to solidarity in earthquake-hit Mexico City

Mexico City’s class divisions are rigid. But right now, they’re undetectable. The rich and poor of the city, who had little in common, were just a calamity away from solidarity.

While authorities reported death tolls in hundreds, “in the space of 24 hours, a sense of terror shifted to a spirit of solidarity as friends, neighbors, relatives and often complete strangers came to one another’s aid, transcending Mexico’s usually rigid class divisions.”

“The whole city was affected, and we’re part of the city, so we’re here to help,” said a man who runs a taco stand. “What else were we going to do?” For a city with a massive gulf between the rich and poor – and not to forget its rampant social snobbery – it’s telling. “These kinds of events bring the best out of Mexicans,” said Álvaro Jiménez, a middle-aged engineer who was volunteering in the rescue efforts. “We can fight each other like dogs when things are going well, but when somebody needs help, we band together.”

 

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