HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT

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Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good

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November 19, 2021

Fareed: Yes, Infrastructure Is Boring, but It Says a Lot About a Country

After President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column that such spending is badly needed.
 
"Every two minutes, a water main breaks in America," Fareed writes. "The total amount of treated water wasted every day is about 6 billion gallons, or 9,000 swimming pools. Every day! And it highlights why the infrastructure bill that President Biden just signed into law is so important. The need to fix America's crumbling infrastructure has become a weary cliche—but that doesn't change the fact that it is indeed falling apart."
 
As US infrastructure spending has declined over the decades, Fareed writes, so has a natural competitive advantage for America, which boasts more ports and waterways than other developed economies. What's more, "[s]pending on infrastructure is a sign of a healthy society that is willing to invest in its future," Fareed writes. Biden's bill may mark a small change in the long-term arc of America's infrastructure investments, but Fareed suggests we "celebrate the change and hope that we can begin, once again, to embark on some bold endeavors for the country's future."

A 'Plan B' on Iran

With the US and Iran set to resume negotiations on Nov. 29 over reviving the 2015 nuclear pact, Richard Haass writes for Project Syndicate that America and its allies may want to consider a backup option, particularly if talks fail. Haass proposes a form of "tacit diplomacy," in which the US and Israel, for instance, could convey red lines on Iranian nuclear activity—preparing to impose sanctions, cyberattacks, or military strikes on nuclear facilities if Tehran crosses them. (The downside, Haass acknowledges, is that this would keep the America entangled in the Middle East more than successive US presidents have wanted.)
 
Others think this approach is a bad idea, all around. At Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar argues that "Iran is unlikely to give in to such coercion." For decades, Tabaar writes, leaders in Tehran have assumed the US wants to suppress Iran no matter what. Consequently, they've developed regional proxies to insulate Iran from US military threats, and they've sought to build a "dollar-free economic zone that can resist" American economic pressure. "In Washington, the conversation about Plan B against Iran has been gaining currency," Tabaar writes. "But to the Islamic Republic, Plan B was in fact Plan A from the outset."

Can China Achieve 'Common Prosperity'?

Recently, "common prosperity" has become China's economic buzzword under President Xi Jinping, who has sought aggressively to reshape the country's economy (and society) with regulatory crackdowns on tech giants, restrictions on youth online gaming, and more.
 
But what does it mean? At The Spectator's "Chinese Whispers" podcast, host Cindy Yu and economist and author George Magnus explore its dimensions, categorizing the effort as a noteworthy departure from China's liberalizing reforms under past leader Deng Xiaoping and his aphorism, "let some people get rich first." Xi, rather, has set a goal of fighting inequality, pursuing a more rounded economy with a larger middle class.
 
China may well need something to change—and badly—by some accounts. At the London Review of Books, Wang Xiuying details a desperately uneven economy in which private schools and houses cost a fortune, so-called "996" work culture feels predatory, and much striving is required to avoid falling behind.

Note to readers: On Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, CNN will air Fareed's latest special report, "China's Iron Fist," which details how President Xi Jinping is reshaping China and what it means for the rest of the world.

A Marcos Gains Ground in the Philippines

Speculation has swirled around President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, ahead of the Philippines' next presidential election in May. But at Nikkei Asia, Richard Heydarian writes that her decision to seek the VP slot has left the country with a sole presidential frontrunner: Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., whose dictator father fled the country in 1986.
 
"Unless the fractious opposition can unite behind their most viable candidate, the Marcoses look set to reclaim what they see as rightfully theirs three decades since their return from exile in 1991," Heydarian writes. "But the real story of this campaign so far is the bitter infighting between the rival Marcos and Duterte families that has simmered in the background for years. For the Dutertes, this is about entrenching themselves in power and shielding Rodrigo from future legal reprisals and political persecution. For the Marcoses, this is about avenging the family honor. With Imelda Marcos now in her 90s and Bongbong himself in his mid-60s, time is not on their side."

Could Bosnia Disintegrate Again?

With the 1990s war in its rearview, Bosnia and Herzegovina now faces what has been called its "worst crisis" since then. Some of the same ethnic political divisions have arisen, Samantha Wong writes for the Lowy Institute's Interpreter blog, as Bosniaks and Croats have disagreed over electoral reforms, while a Serb faction has threatened to secede. But "[w]hat international actors should be concerned about is Russia's offer of support to the Bosnian Serbs," Wong writes, asking if another war could be possible.