Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good Seeing this newsletter as a forward? Subscribe here. July 20, 2021 The French public broadcaster RFI has called it a "gigantic scandal of espionage" that has "provoked indignation, criticism, and diplomatic tensions." At The Washington Post, Craig Timberg, John Hudson, and Kristof Clerix ask if Americans living abroad should worry about their foreign phones.
The "Pegasus Project," a journalistic collective that includes The Guardian, Le Monde, The Washington Post, and other established outlets around the world, says it has obtained a leaked list of more than 50,000 names slated for phone hacking with the spyware Pegasus, developed by Israel-based NSO Group and known for its reported deployment by some authoritarian regimes. The headline: journalists around the world have been targeted by repressive governments for spying, allegedly to a far greater degree than previously known.
NSO Group has publicly denied that its software is being used in this way and has said the story is false. CNN has not verified the Pegasus Project's report.
But Amnesty International, which provided forensic assistance that discovered phone hacks on multiple journalists' devices, is raising the alarm about spyware and press freedom. It's not the first time NSO's spyware would have been used in this manner, Dan Goodin writes for the technology site Ars Technica.
The real story, as CNBC tech reporter Kif Leswing chose to focus on, might be technical: Although phishing—the sending of fake emails or texts, to lure targets into clicking a broken link that allows a virus to be installed—has been the focus of cybersecurity professionals for some time, Amnesty International's team appears to have shown that Pegasus spyware can hack an Apple iPhone (known for its high security standards) unilaterally, without the phone's owner clicking on anything.
That leaves even cyber-savvy phone owners vulnerable. Experts say the best way to protect yourself—whether or not you're a dissident or investigative reporter—is to download regular software updates that patch security gaps, Leswing writes. Still uncertain who ordered the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse, Haiti has a new leader, as interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph is stepping down to make way for Ariel Henry, who had been appointed Prime Minister by Moïse but had not yet been sworn in at the time of Moïse's murder.
Still, the international community is left with questions over what, if anything, it should do. Former US Ambassador to Haiti James B. Foley writes for The Atlantic that the US has two starkly different options—to lead a large-scale military intervention to stabilize the country, or to back off and let Haitians chart their future—and that the latter is far more feasible, given America's other global priorities.
At The New York Times, Natalie Kitroeff and Michael Crowley chronicle how America's history of supporting strongman leaders in Haiti has backfired—a component of the country's troubled 217-year history, which Fareed outlined on Sunday's GPS. In the London Review of Books, Pooja Bhatia joins in with skeptics of foreign involvement, noting that even former US President Bill Clinton, who became a UN special envoy for Haiti, voiced regret over US policies that nudged Haiti to open itself to agricultural imports from rich countries. The Border Crisis Is a Climate Crisis So declares Sabrina Rodriguez, who writes for Politico Magazine from Guatemala that while "Guatemalan migrants have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border more than 153,000 times this year, according to Customs and Border Protection figures," American policy continues to miss the root causes. While the US harps on corruption in Central America, the real problem is climate, according to Rodriguez, who details how hurricanes have washed away subsistence crops in Guatemala, depriving residents of their livelihoods and prompting some to flee. While the US "can't stop climate change," it might do well to provide more technical agricultural assistance, for instance via USAID, Rodriguez suggests, citing experts. The Alinejad Saga and Iranian Paranoia After the FBI alleged that Iranian intelligence operatives had plotted from afar to kidnap dissident journalist (and past GPS guest) Masih Alinejad, who currently resides in Brooklyn, noted Iran expert Robin Wright writes for The New Yorker that the plot reveals a paranoid regime that will go to great lengths to silence critics, no matter where they are, including by jailing or coercing family members back home.
"Alinejad is still under police protection," Wright writes. "The prospect of real justice seems elusive. So does any respect for human rights by the Iranian regime." Advice for Those Afraid to Reemerge Wonderful as it for citizens of highly vaccinated countries to feel they're at the tail end of the pandemic, some may be uneasy about returning to regular life. Luckily, advice is beginning to surface.
Anxiety can be combatted by acknowledging one's feelings, validating them, and giving oneself permission to feel them, clinical psychologist Becky Kennedy writes for Time, offering a tip for students shocked to return to in-person school.
At the MIT Technology Review, Dana Smith rounds up studies and commentaries on how stress affects the brain, drawing from them a few pointers: "1. Get out and socialize. People with larger social networks have more volume and connectivity in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and other brain regions. 2. Try working out. Exercise increases levels of a protein called BDNF that helps promote neuroplasticity and may even contribute to the growth of new neurons. 3. Talk to a therapist. Therapy can help you view yourself from a different perspective, and changing your thought patterns can change your brain patterns. 4. Enrich your environment. Get out of your pandemic rut and stimulate your brain with a trip to the museum, a botanical garden, or an outdoor concert. 5. Take some drugs—but make sure they're prescribed! Both classic antidepressant drugs, such as SSRIs, and more experimental ones like ketamine and psychedelics are thought to work in part by boosting neuroplasticity. 6. Strengthen your prefrontal cortex by exercising your self-control. If you don't have access to an (FDA-approved) attention-boosting video game, meditation can have a similar benefit." |
