The Monday Google July 2nd: Cali’s GDPR, Ethiopia-Eritrea Peace Talks, South Korea’s New Conscription Law, and a Crazy Escape in France.

1. California, cradle of US tech, has passed the nation’s toughest tech privacy law on the heels of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The law doesn’t go into effect until 2020, smart considering how bad things went for GDPR compliance. For its part, the tech community has already mobilized against the law. This is a big deal. If you want to know more, Wired has some good coverage to read.

The law also brings up three major points to consider.

A.  One-in-ten Americans live in Cali, and Tech is as Cali as extra guac. This means the law will be the best test case in Tech’s own backyard for how effective State-level privacy laws can work against the Tech behemoths who are trying to make it toothless.

B. Cali also is taking the strongest stand in the current trend of States diversifying privacy law by jurisdiction. Several AGs (most prominently Washington’s) are already acting out. With the growing opinion in certain circles that tech giant are monopolies (Zuck’s tepid defense didn’t help), this may be an alternative to a Sherman Act breakup.

C. By virtue of Bay Area birth, the egalitarian constructs of the internet, and its side-by-side growth with Obama  Tech has generally been Democratic-leaning. With looks from political circles going from adoring to wary, new lobbying efforts, the EU chipping away at their tax havens (diverting profits back to home tax codes), and even a proposal to make Silicon Valley into its own State this position is fast sliding to profit protection. How stark is it? The campaign against the new law was led by Amazon, Google, Facebook, Uber, and Microsoft who put up maximum donations. It passed  77-0.  (If you need more tangible proof of the ongoing Democrat-Tech split, look no further than the current leadership fight surrounding V 2.0 Speaker Pelosi of San Fransisco.)

2.  Ethiopia’s reform minded PM Abiy Ahmem sought out talks with Eritrea after 20 years of diplomatic silence surrounding the events of the Eritrean War for Independence and the subsequent low-burning conflict (the longest war in Africa btw). PM Ahmem is set to make some big waves if this works. With this move he could open a cheap path to a port, the one thing Ethiopia’s land locked economy desperately needs while also freeing up his security forces to help European/US Counter-terror (CT) initiatives. Outsourcing military forces like this often comes with the sort of positive trade deals and business ties that would bump Ethiopia higher towards being top dog of Africa’s economies.

3. South Korea’s Supreme Court has ordered a review of nation’s famous conscription process. The news broke against the laws, first seen as a bulwark against North Korean aggression and now viewed more as a right of passage by many men as more and more conscientious objectors emerge in the public eye. I don’t know what this means for South Korea’s military preparedness at all, but I find it interesting.

4. A French gangster broke out of prison by helicopter. Yep. Read the story here.

 

Happy Hour Musings: Nikki Haley Lost Her Shot To Be President This Week

This week’s Friday’s Happy Hour musing is aimed at America and is pretty simple. By neither being boldly critical nor outright resigning over Trump’s child separation policy I believe Nikki Haley has most likely cost herself a shot at the Presidency.

Here’s why.

First off, Haley has miraculously managed to both avoid either diminishing her national standing nor drawing the fire of Trump’s Twitter Ire Fire* while serving in his cabinet. Plausibly, this is from her spending little time not in D.C. but at the UN.

Out of sight out of mind.

She is thus a unicorn. Liked by the establishment and by Team Trump.

To date, this placed Haley as the best positioned Republican to primary Trump. By 2020, which does seem millennia away, most of the party’s best uses for holding their nose and voting Trump into the Red House** (tax reform, SCOTUS hacking, etc.) will be done.

By then, I think a large portion of the party will be willing to entertain a primary from a Republican leader who can extend the parts they like about Trump, without Trump. Not to mention whatever the Russian investigation pulls up.

This is the space for Nikki Haley 2020 (or 2024).

She would certainly be competitive. A Trump admin alum with high-level elected executive experience as Governor of South Carolina (which conveniently kept her out of the swamp) she also has the approval of party establishment. She gave the prestigious 2016 SOTU Opposition Response and was even vetted for Romney’s VP back in 2012.

She also has the personal backstory needed for the national office. The daughter of Indian-Sikh immigrants who came to the US to work post-PhD, her father, or start a business, her mother which her sisters helps out at while her bro is an Army vet. She also graduated from Clemson, a public school the pesky East Coast Elites tend to avoid.

To further build the foil against Trump, she has two daughters in a scandal free marriage with a National Guard Officer husband who not only served in Afghanistan but also received national attention for gracefully being the first First Gentleman of Carolina. This will surely help ease tensions, within certain camps, for what a FGOTUS would be. These connections are sure to give Haley an advantage in the traditionally right learning military community. One quote from her husband “She respects me too much to salute a North Korean General” and all the stars in Trump’s admin start to lose their shine.

Finally, at 46, she in the age range leadership seems to be trending (as I have covered).

Trump is quite literally the opposite of all of this. If there is a foil within the Republican Party to mount a legitimate primary against Trump it was Nikki Haley.

All this is what makes her actions these past couple weeks so confusing. She had such a bulletproof position not only to resign but to resign with a moral victory and skyrocketed national reputation. It was a safe bet. The majority of Americans opposed the policy.

Why stay? I have no good answers. It would have been a slam dunk in so many ways.

One, she would the only Republican establishment figure to really win versus Trump. He couldn’t even defend the policy, making whatever twitter onslaught he served up moot.

Two, she would also leave the admin on her own terms before Trump’s negative attention inevitable lands on her. As we have seen so many times with others before. She in unlikely to leave with an equivalent standing she entered with after such a moment.

Three, in this midterm year she could leverage the positive press to organically travel the country supporting campaigns. This would have given her an “organic way” to learn about the political nuances of different states from key national operatives (a network flaw of Governors) without coming off as overtly personally ambitious.

Instead, the US Ambassador to the UN, former governor of South Carolina, daughter of immigrants, mother to daughters, and wife/sister to vets not only chose to be silent on the issue but also withdrew the US from the UN Council on Human Rights that same week.

Now, the move itself is actually understandable from the American conservative viewpoint. I don’t like it, but I get how it happened.

Still. The optics are shockingly bad for Haley in terms of any future campaign.

Imagine the Democratic attack ads: “Where was Nikki Haley, when Trump separated mothers from their helpless babies? She was at the UN, withdrawing the US from the UN Council on Human Rights whose protocols vets like her husband and brother risked their lives to implement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Haley worked against immigrants and human rights. Why vote for her?”

Honestly, I was meaning to be hyperbolic in the copy but in re-reading it I’m not entirely sure that won’t be, more or less, at least one ad’s script. It is hard to see how Haley does not have this past week or so painted on her ad nauseum in every future election.

To win the presidency, she will most likely have to steal a shockingly large portion of Democratic-leaning voters in what I’ll term the “turned coalition”. That coalition will mostly likely be made of female voters and conservative 1st or 2nd generation immigrants who would prefer her to the Democrat.

Before, that was hard (but feasible) in the right context. Now? That coalition won’t materialize.

Nikki Haley just blew her shot at being President of the United States.

 

* Venmo @jacobkgreenberg for permission to use His Twitter Ire Fire for your trivia group name

** Red for Russian or Republican, take your pick (shrug emoji).

Over the Hump Reads: June 27th. Reuters vs. Myanmar, Task and Purpose’s Purpose, Obama’s Eulogy Anniversary and an Ebert Review.

Here are some things I’ve been reading that I think you might like. Great writers on topics and ideas I’m not seeing get a lot of Front Page play.

TL;DR? Scroll to the bottom if you just want the list of titles to click on. Lazy Prick.

1. Reuters takes on Myanmar. 

Every since two of its reporters were detained by the government for “sharing state secrets”, Reuters has gone to whatever-journalism’s-version-of-war-is with the country adding a new section to its website dedicated to its coverage of Myanmar and the genocidal actions going on in its state of Rakhine. I think this is the best coverage on what is going on in Myanmar and one of the most important journalistic undertaking going on right now. Read it all.

If signed up for this because you don’t got time for all that, read the special report. (Warning, the section has articles mentioning rape, massacres, and other terrible stuff that happens during a genocide. Witness. But, be somewhere where you are OK.)

2. The Vets Over at Task and Purpose Are Finding Their Civilian Purpose. 

Task and Purpose is best described as a vet lifestyle site. While just fine for its target audience, the Trump administration’s decision to separate families at the border lit a fire under CEO Zach Iscol who not only wrote a scathing op-ed but also deployed in-house resources for a cost assessment in terms military members would understand. The result, “Housing a Separated Migrant Child Costs The US More than Admiral’s BAH” shot around twitter. BAH is how the military pays rent when deployed, everyone knows it. Webpages are dedicated to it. Finding it would be cheaper to put up an Admiral in NYC than to put up a separated child says a lot about how effective the policy is.

Some research reveals T&P’s history of insightful editorial choices with pieces on sexual assault in the military, LGBT Vets mental healthcare, suicidal depression (or is it?), and the effects of Flint-like toxic water on bases. It is a particularly hard feat to speak truth to power to the US military in an authentic manner. Give them some clicks to keep it going.

3. For this month’s cover story, The Atlantic asks what happens “When Children Say Their Trans“

This is not a short read but all those words are needed to balance out how the medical profession is developing and updating the best practices to figure out which kids are trans and which kids may have mental health issues where fixating on being trans provides an easy answer to why their lives are so miserable. Adolescence famously sucks and with life altering surgery and other procedures on the line, it’s a question worth asking. While I have be hearing about this topic for a couple years, this is the best researched and written take I’ve come across. If you have the time, read it.

4. Today is the anniversary of Obama’s best speeches. His eulogy in Charleston. 

The most passionate public display of Obama’s inner thoughts on the intersection of race, religion, and advocacy in America (particularly for African-Americans) towards the end of his Presidency the speech is considered by many one of his best. Regardless of politics, he will go down as one of the best recent American Orators so it is worth revisiting. You can watch it here or read the script here if you can’t watch it all. Watch the end though.

I will unabashedly used this to segue into what I undoubtedly think is Obama’s best speech, his 2009 Nobel Prize Lecture. If you need a place to begin to understand the heart of American Neoliberal Foreign Policy this is where to go. I had professors who used this speech as required reading material. Don’t read this one if you can. Watch it.

5. Finally, I found myself reading a Roger Ebert review of Kick-Ass after loving the movie so much I felt compelled to see what others thought.

He gave it a 1/4. While I should be more concerned with writing something along the lines of the deep discord happens when your idols/renowned experts disagree with you but I was more taken aback by the content (and other reviews) which basically went along the lines of “wow we have had so many superhero movies that we now need a satire of one and they totally over did it”. Watching the movie now (with its high tech flip phones) makes me think how far Hollywood has come since 2010. The answer, not so much? It also allows me to plug in for one of my favorite Youtube film analysts, and his “Death of a Genre“.

LINKS FOR LAZY PRICKS (L4LP)

1. Reuter’s special report on “A Massacre in Myanmar” (and their dedicated section on the subject following the author’s arrest and continued detainment) is some of the best reporting out there right now.  Read it all then go read the whole section.

2. Task and Purpose’s “Housing a Separated Migrant Child Costs The US More than Admiral’s BAH” and their CEO’s “I Stand For The Flag, But The Flag Doesn’t Stand For This” is not just a scathing vet-centered takedown of  Trump’s child seperation policy but a good portal into a community of reflective writers who are starting to tackle how to best serve their country by speaking truth to power.

3. In a long article, The Atlantic asks what happens “When Children Say Their Trans“. Some kids are trans and need medical help. Other kids reasonably think “oh, you are just in the wrong body” is a pretty great answer to why their adolescent life sucks. Figuring  out how which one is which is a problem the medical community is still undecided on.

4. Today is the anniversary of Obama’s famous “Amazing Grace” Eulogy in Charleston. You can watch it here or read it here.  While many see this as his top speech, I think you his best speech was his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture. I’ve had professors who have shown this speech as the best starting point to understanding most of the calculations behind US foreign policy. If you must, you can read it here. But don’t, watch it.

5. Finally, I found Robert Ebert’s review of Kick-Ass to be weirdly discordant with my own liking of the film. It’s always weird to disagree with your idols. Not only that, I found myself wondering when Hollywood will would pass its superhero fasciation. I have been thinking about it since seeing this Youtube film analysis of “Death of a Genre” by The Closer Look.

 

 

 

 

 

The Monday Google for June 25th: Turkey, RIMPAC’s Fireworks, and V(4)Sauce on Cue

1. Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won his second President term last night. Despite loud and dramatic opposition support, the night went pretty much was Dash’s race in The Incredibles. Shocker.

This is a particularly big deal as Erdoğan rammed through a referendum last year to tilt the balance of power from Parliament (who then elect the PM) to the Presidency (direct elected). The interesting twist here is that the bet is on easier control of an entire country’s election process than that of Parliament’s.

You can find an English breakdown of the election here.

The election did produce other news. HDP (the Kurds) broke the 10% barrier to entry in parliament and will be seated. This means they at least some believe in trying to resolve tensions through legislative battles instead of physical ones.

Less internal fighting in any nation the US has nukes in is a good thing.

2.  RIMPAC, the world’s largest naval war games, is getting underway near Hawaii.  Usually just news for its sheer size, this year’s exercise comes with heavier political overtones. China is left out while Chile (a key potential China trade partner) will serve as the Combined Force Maritime Component Commander of a force bigger than its Navy. Google tells me the right acronym is CFMCC, pronouced Ciff-Mic.

I’m pretty sure I went to college with that guy.

I want to pair that news with one of the scarier news articles I have read in a while. Long story short, 25,000 personal exercises gives us great rah-rah photos (see cover) are fun but that light show came from a company with $42M from Series B. Aircraft carriers cost around $12B. Could a kamikaze swarm taking one down for $100M? How about $420M?

Considering, Swedish Subs on diesel have figured out how to sink Carriers it is time to have a serious rethink the modern blue water toys we want to play with in war (games).

3. Almost on cue after his election, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán entrenched the V4’s bloc opposition to migration by using the apparatus to announce they would not join the EU’s mini-migration summit. Then at the summit, there was another public win for the Italian populists. PM Conte presented the idea to rewrite the Dublin Protocols, the EU’s methodology for asylum. Southern countries hate it because it determines asylum-hood  based on first-country of refuge. This helps explain the recent event of Italy rejecting a ship of migrants. The migrants, despite traveling on a French paid ship, would be the responsibility of Italy because that would be the first EU country they set foot in.

Long story short, a new set of rules is needed to square the notion of a conceptual asylum system dispersed through the bloc against the geographic realities of EU access.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Brief June 18th: Colombia’s New Prez, North-by North West Macedonia, Yemen’s Civil War

Exams are over! Back to our regular scheduled programing.

1. Right winger Iván Dunque fulfilled predictions and won the Colombian Presidency this weekend. His campaign was seen as something of an extension strategy (although further right) for the popular former president Álvaro Uribe who still leads the party in Congress. At 42 years young, he joins an increasing younger global stage for today’s big issues. Folding FARC back into society, clamping down on the drug trade, and the massive outpouring from Venezuela all top his to do list.
2. Greece and the nation-soon-to-be-formally-known-as-the-Former-Yougoslav-Republic-of-Macedonia (FYROM) have agreed on a new name, North Macedonia. Why did Greece suddenly change its terms after years of fighting(over massive protests on both sides)? Migration. Also, Russia but that’s separate for now. With the agreement, FYROM has a veto-free path to join the EU and NATO. Once enfolded into the bureaucracy, I expect Greece to either bully N. Macedonia into a +1 vote for migration policy or use it as a quick dumping zone should Turkey turn on the migrant valve too quickly again. Considering Italy’s Salvini has closed the sea route  to migrants hoping to float to safety, the land route is about to get popular. The combined message is clear: the Greeks and Italians will learn to do migration themselves if the EU doesn’t step up and act.

3. The Yemeni Civil War is undergoing what is most likely its decisive battle for its last open major port of Al-Hudaydah. A civil war in name and an Iran-Saudi proxy war at heart, Yemen (like Syria) has become yet another cold war spot for their respective forces to train and show off capabilities. Here, one particular tit-for-tat is of note. A few months ago, the Iranian-backed Houthis managed to launch 7 missiles at Riyadh. Not enough to take down the city but an impressive attempt to make the war afar reality in the capital. For its part, Riyadh didn’t flinch. They had purchased the best American surface-to-air defense system (the Patriot Missile System) oil money can buy. Wars are rare, so security watchers monitored this closely as a real-time war situation unfolded. It failed. Whoops.

4. USA BEAT SCOTLAND IN RUGBY. This is the first win against a top-5 team (traditionally known as the Tier-1 teams, those just at another level) in 92 years. With the World Cup coming back in 2026 and rugby on the rise, the American sporting profile is transforming to be more international when its politics are receding from it. I have no clue what this means. But, I’m not against it.

 

 

Monday Brief June 4th: Europe’s New Bosses. Italy, Slovenia and Spain.

1. Facing the prospect of new elections, Italy’s political drama ended with a new government formed as the populist parties, The Five-Star Movement and The League, filled out a cabinet every could agree on (without outright Euro skeptics). This marks the conclusion of the long-drawn out March 4th elections which had  captured the world (and markets) attention. Now since the two new parties have figured out how to form a government, all that is left is to simply govern. (You can find a good example of why that might be so hard by Bloomberg here.)
2. The politcal drama in Slovenia has also ended with their own elections. And, again, another European nation in the direct path of migrant flows have elected a right-leaning party focusing on a strong anti-immigration policy. This election is important because, in combination with Orbàn’s own reelection, it seems to have solidified the emergence of the Visegràd Group (traditionally a cultural/economic thing) as the EU’s unified anti-migrant political bloc. The new incarnation, often called the V4 (with Austria instead of the Czechs) all are on some shade of the same page when it comes to migrants. They like to take cues from Orbàn.
3. To cap of this euro-themed edition, Spain kicked out its PM in favor of a socialist government after a corruption scandal caused an unlikely alliance of basically the entirety of the opposition. There’s a lot going on here, that two of Europe’s PIGS of the financial crisis (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) are politically convulsing  sounds alarming but I think this WSJ article sums up nicely why it isn’t. For me, the most underrated aspect of this new government will be that the new PM Pedro Sànchez is 46. France’s Macron is 40, Austria’s Kurtz is 31, Italy’s (not PM but still) De Maio is 31. We are seeing the changing of the guard. With the average age of a EU parliamentarian at 53  the upcoming old guard vs. new guard fights will be along the new lines defining Europe, technology and migration. If age (digital nativity) will be more a factor than political leaning will be something to see.

Monday Brief, May 28th: Italy’s Failed Government, Colombia’s Presidential Election, ISIS 2.0 in Asia, and Muller’s Mil Service. WE BACK.

Hello! After a brief break as I try to find a job and finish up here in Rome, Impress the Boss is back baby! Tell your friends.

1. In a surprise Sunday night televised announcement, Italian President Sergio Matarella shocked the political system by rejecting the proposed governing coalition between the two populist parties (and top two vote getters) of  after coming to the conclusion that the new finance minister would leave the Euro. The move tests the limits of Presidential power as his approval typically functions a lot like the electoral college in the US. Furthermore, I personally see this as a bad political move that shifts support towards the populist forces he is trying to suppress. The nominated PM, Giuseppe Conte, has been confirmed to be lying about the schools he attended on his CV. If Matarella wanted to tank the government with appearing overtly political (as this move clearly is) asking for a PM who did not lie on his resume seems like a more believable start. The most likely move now is that Matarella will form a function government of technocrats who will most likely craft a new legal framework for elections in 2019.
2. Polls for the Colombian Presidential elections, the first with the FARC, closed Sunday with a runoff expected. Surveys lean towards the right-leaning Dunque.  The election, notable for the inclusion of FARC as part of their peace deal, has drawn the ire of many Colombians who are mad at how little punishment former members received for waging a decades long civil war. Many think this may be a solid reason why Dunque is in the lead.
3. This past week Indonesian special counter-terrorism forces killed 14 and arrested 60 as part of a large-scale anti-ISIS campaign following an entire family’s (with 4 kids) coordinated suicide bombings. The message seems clear, ISIS 2.0 will be in Asia where it will be way easier to hide among large dense metropolises than sparse deserts. Indonesia for its part has already begun to institute some of the toughest anti-terror laws on the planet. 21-months without due process seems extreme. Then again, so does a family coordinating suicide bombs.
4. Finally, it’s Memorial Day so take a moment to read and think a bit about American service members today. I recommend this wonderful deep-dive by Wired on Robert Muller’s time in Vietnam. I also recommend you take a look at this Brookings Blog post about the 2001 AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force). Dubious legal interpretations and lack of political will to be portrayed as someone questioning the patriotic vigor of our military have left it in place for 17 years. This is particularly significant as the AUMF is now older than the age to enlist. In other words, we are sending Americans to die due to a vote from before they were born.  Separate of political leanings, the least the American citizenry can do for their military is make sure that the wars which make Veteran’s Day a painful necessity were authorized by Congress within their lifetime.

 

 

 

Monday May 7th Brief: ISIS in Asia and Elections Updates

One year ago, in a shockingly under-covered event in the US, ISIS supporters in the Philippines captured the city of Marawi resulting in the 5-month long Battle of  Marawi.  To be clear, this was a full on military engagement that destroyed the city. Today, the NYT released a fascinating video  about how life is getting back to normal. The anniversary is also a good moment to consider how ISIS hopes to continue and expand its mission after being forced out of Iraq and Syria. Southeast Asia, with its large, dense, and (depending by nation) constantly mistreated muslim populations, is sure to be a juicy target for an ISIS 2.0.

A number of national elections have either occurred or are about to occur. Here are a bunch of bullet points to let you google them and learn more.

• Lebanese elections were characterized by demoralizing low turnout (just under 50%). While the nation has managed to more or less stay out of regional frays in recents years, the election results point towards a decisive choice in the near future. In a sign of the times, both LGBT+ rights and Hezbollah-supporting parties are expecting to make gains (results come in today). We live in truly weird times.
• British local elections were almost a moot point as the electoral map barely changed.  Some (like the Economist) eagerly used the results to question Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership as many expected a red-wave. TBH, I think the country is in a stasis until Brexit is decided. Pragmatic Brits don’t want more drama. However, this does present interesting parallels to the upcoming US midterms. Labour’s inability to win despite many ruling party’s scandals and scenes like this from Glastonbury are sure to come up in November.
• Pakistan’s center-right (and Interior Minister) Ahsan Iqbal survived an assassination attempt, by a religious radical and is now said to be safe. With the general election just months away, and another outside celebrity-turned-politician making international headlines this is sure to make everything more interesting. While I can’t find any evidence to link to you for this, I think returning to campaign after being shot multiple times will bump poll numbers.

 

Monday Briefing April 30: Malaysia’s Fake News Arrest, Finland Stops Giving Out Free Money, and India’s Electric Future

 

1.  Malaysia has officially convicted someone of intentionally posting a fake news report on Youtube. This is the first posting-fake-news-means-jail case. The crime, lying about how long police took to respond to a shooting, is the first conviction under a (controversial) new Malaysian law aimed at stopping the spread of fake news over social media by going over content creators rather than the people that share it.

But, then again, “Fake News” is a loaded term. First made popular by Trump to convict reports he did not like in the court of public opinion, many fear the Malaysian PM will use the law to suppress opinions he does not like by convicting them in real court.

It’s a delicate balance, while political suppression is not great…neither is inciting violence as this great NYT article makes clear.  Social media can certainly serve as both virtual tinder and accelerant for tangible real world violence.

As global efforts to regulate social media ramp up, Malaysia’s tack (go after creators not companies) is certainly one to keep an eye out for.

2. Finland has announced that it stopping its famed Basic Income Experiment. The concept, give out free money with no strings attached, has gained a lot of momentum in recent years as a solution to many societal ills. It has even earned its own single-issue 2020 US presidential candidate in Andrew Yang. While the concept certainly has many theoretical applications, there is so far no real empirical evidence that people will use hands out in a manner beneficial to society.

Finland’s little adventure was supposed to change that.

But, while certainly well-intentioned, Finland’s experiment is taking place in 2018’s happiest country. To be blunt, life is already good in Finland. Due to its already well-established social welfare net, I would not expect this experiment to have achieved much but results will not be published until next year.

Honestly, the best it most likely did was inspire others to seek out more empirical proof.

As such, look to YC’s similar experiment in Oakland  with n = 3000 and the organization GiveDirectly, who is doing something along these lines to aid in Africa, to see track how economic decisions are made when some extra cash can be truly life-changing.

3. India is now fully electrified, the last village was added to the grid today.  The good news not only fulfills one of PM Modi’s campaign promises but also impressively comes in before deadline.

However, as one might expect (and the BBC lays out well) the very term “electrified” is very bureaucratically and politically charged. For example, only 10% of buildings need to be on the grid to be counted in. This understanding makes the accomplishment of electrifying the last village, home to 19 families, a bit less impressive.

Still, there is no doubt that India has made good progress in this area (with a significant appreciation for solar power).

For those of you who are certainly guessing, Modi faces election in 2019.

Despite issues, expect this accomplishment to be a major positive in his campaign. Then again, the opposition has provided some resistors, saying they were at 97% anyways.

 

Flour, Water, (and Egg?)

The most enigmatic aspect of Italian culture has always been their almost paradoxical ability to produce amazing complexity from a minimal number of elements.

In most cases, this is a joy to observe. Watching a master like Massimo Bottura make a world-class dish magically appear from just one ingredient is a truly a wonder to behold. One could not be blamed if they inferred this skill was a product of something innately Italian. It often seems the only rational explanation.

However, seeing similar traits in politics leave much to be desired. Years of circular intimate familiarity between the few ingredients of power and a magical bureaucratic law-making process few outsiders could ever hope to understand has led to la dolce vita for the political elite while the country postpones progressing on many fronts.

This regulatory gridlock and political malaise has led Italy to stall in key innovation rankings among other EU countries while maintaining or rising in the sort of rankings sure to compound issues such as corruption and debt.

(Completing the paradox, Italians have lived through this among the healthiest on Earth.)

To be sure, Italy’s friends in Europe and the United States have not let this go unnoticed. In one form or another, they have constantly voiced their disdain for years.

These diplomatic protests came to a vocal head in October 2016 when President Obama made the stunning foray into an ally’s domestic politics by publicly endorsing then PM Matteo Renzi’s constitutional referendum. It was defeated 59%-41%.

It is within this context that the West’s tepid reaction to the Five-Star Movement’s (5SM) victory in the parliamentary elections, albeit in a hung parliament, has become increasingly puzzling.

By all accounts, leaders should at least express cautiously hopefulness a reform-centered party won in Italy. Yet, the recent onslaught of populist-based shocks to the global order have left Western capitals wary of change and holding 5SM at arm’s length.

But, of the other nations that has witnessed a populist electoral overhaul had the international reputation for general governmental listlessness before their elections. Only Italy held the conditions where a populist victory, academically considered a vote against establishment interests, with the right tilt could be considered a positive.

Reform is always anti-establishment.

As such, discounting 5SM’s victory has also proved a test to the relationship between the Italian public and, in particular, Europe and the US as many openly wonder how they were expected to vote in reform. If not closed soon, this gap may soon prove to be the perfect opening for maliciously minded actors to further claw at weakened EU cohesion.

It is of note that the anxiety towards Italian populism is not without reason. While the election certainly revealed a want for reform, it also certainly revealed Italian populism’s uglier side with a clear sense of xenophobic undertones.

But, as they know more than most in Rome, it is the wolf you feed that wins. We will all have to wait to see who wins out in the current coalition building fight.

Yet, if correctly steered, elements of 5SM’s platform present the opportunity to voice a third political opinion for voters to choose. Adding this third ingredient to the traditional duality of choice, center-left or center-right, could be just what Italy needs to generate the type of change complained about in Roman embassies, open-air cafes, and aboard delayed forms of transportation for years.

Italians, perhaps finally tired of the old ways, have done the political equivalent of introducing the egg to their traditional formula of flour and water.

Here’s to hoping it does not end up in their face.