2017
June
01
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

June 01, 2017
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

President Trump made a very strong statement today, and it had nothing to do with climate change. Yes, Mr. Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which will have an effect on climate action worldwide. But he also removed America from an agreement that every country in the world except two has joined. It was one of the most dramatic examples yet of his approach to “America first.”

America has long seen itself as singular, opting out of widely backed global efforts such as an anti-land mine treaty and participation in the International Criminal Court. America’s status as the world’s lone superpower creates unique demands, the thinking goes. But as the world becomes more interconnected, there is increasing momentum to find common purpose in countless ways, from trade to space science.

In opting out of an accord that literally united the globe, Trump made it clear that he is determined to deliver on what his voters wanted: a willingness to buck the rest of the world, even if that means walking alone. 


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Washington is a town of routines. President Trump relishes overturning them. So when Mr. Trump upends the way the president communicates with the press, it leads to some bumps in the road. But also some insights. 

Syrian refugees are often cast as a burden, straining a country's security and welfare. And there are serious challenges. But one program in Jordan shows what can happen when an expectation of dependence is turned into the hope of opportunity. 

Neil Blake/The Grand Rapids Press/AP
Protesters in Big Rapids, Mich., chanted a reminder of the Flint, Mich., water-contamination issue during a public hearing on Nestlé Waters North America’s proposal to boost the volume of groundwater it pumps in the region for bottling. State regulators are reviewing the request.

From Occupy Wall Street to the Trump movement, Americans of all stripes have sent the message that they feel as if the little guy is losing. In Michigan, that debate about inequality is particularly poignant and goes as deep as the water under their feet. 

Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
British entrepreneur Richard Branson posed at a major British airshow in 2012 with a replica of the Virgin Galactic. He had at one point projected that his company – founded in 2004 – would serve as the world’s first commercial space line by 2009. Development has been ongoing, but the project has faced a series of delays.

So, why don't we have a space hotel yet? Optimism fuels some of humanity's grandest ideas. But when planning isn't given the same rigor as the science itself, that can turn into naiveté.

Who knew that opera's story is, in some ways, a mirror of America? Its most hallowed hall, the Met in New York, remains an icon of an elite art form. But to thrive elsewhere, opera might need to find a more common touch. 


The Monitor's View

Before the Iraqi city of Tikrit was liberated from Islamic State militants in 2015, its tribal leaders were brought together by trained peace mediators. They forged a pact to rekindle the traditional bonds between Shiites and Sunnis in Tikrit. The key message: “Life can return.” Since then, most of the city’s displaced civilians have returned.

This reknitting of ties in a devastated city is just one reason why the world has enjoyed one of its most peaceful periods. Last year, according to the Global Peace Index released June 1, 93 countries recorded improvements in peace while 68 deteriorated. Using 23 indicators from homicide to military spending, the index found a 10 percent decline in deaths from terrorism and a 6 percent drop in armed conflicts. In two-thirds of the countries, the murder rate – the main cause of violent lethal death – went down.

The Middle East, of course, remains an outlier. Battle deaths in the region are the highest in a quarter century. And the number of refugees and displaced people, mainly from Syria and Yemen, is at a 60-year high – or 1 percent of the world’s population. In general, the 20 least peaceful countries have become more violent.

In sharp contrast, Iceland, New Zealand, and Portugal are the most peaceful countries, according to the index. Europe is the most peaceful region. The United States has slipped in part because its violent crime rate has risen in the past two years.

The index, along with other recent studies that confirm a long-term decline in violence, tries to track “positive peace,” or those ways of thinking and types of institutions that drive harmony, order, honesty, freedom, and justice.

In a recent talk, Nancy Lindborg, president of the United States Institute of Peace, said it is “blindingly clear that we need to think more about getting ahead of the conflict curve if we hope to address rising humanitarian and security challenges, so we’re not reacting after people’s lives have been torn apart.”

The causes of violence vary and are numerous. And scholars have long debated if humans are innately violent or peaceful. But Steven Pinker, the Harvard University scholar and author of the 2011 book “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined,” says societies are becoming more “enmeshed” and seeking “a higher good,” resulting in less violence.

Building on his work, a team of Spanish scientists published a study in the journal Nature last year that found a marked drop in violence over the past 500 years. The research estimates about 2 percent of prehistoric humans died from violence. But as societies became better organized, and handed over the control of violence to police, courts, and elected officials, the rate has fallen far below 1 percent. They attribute the decline to better “cultural practices.”

The big shift, however, is a rise in understanding that war and violence are not inevitable and that pursuing peace – the active kind – is not a futile exercise. Places like Tikrit are more at peace because enough people practice those truths.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Whether we’re at home or away, with others or alone, there’s somewhere we can turn for inspiration and peace amid confusing or stressful situations. Contributor Ingrid Peschke shares how a moment of panic in an unfamiliar city became an opportunity to feel God’s loving presence so tangibly that her anxiety dissolved and a solution appeared – a spiritual lesson that’s stayed with her in the years since. “Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off?” writes biblical prophet Jeremiah (23:23, New King James Version). Through heartfelt effort and prayer to better understand God as the guiding Mind of each of us, we can come to trust more that God’s love and guidance are real, practical, and right “at hand.”


A message of love

J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The justices of the US Supreme Court gathered today in Washington for an official group portrait to include Neil Gorsuch. Seated (from l.): Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts (chief justice), Clarence Thomas, and Stephen Breyer. Standing (from l.): Elena Kagan, Samuel Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, and Neil Gorsuch. The shot has been long-awaited by photo editors. 'We know that the whole court will not sit for an official portrait until a new justice is appointed,' says the Monitor’s photo director, Alfredo Sosa. 'And we have been looking at images from the same portrait session for seven years,' since Justice Kagan was confirmed.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks for reading today. Drop back in tomorrow. We’re working on a graphic showing how consumers can help promote biodiversity – every time they head to the grocery store.

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