The U.K.'s divides over a Brexit deal are often summarized in jargon unintelligible to a casual watcher of world politics — the backstop, customs unions and common markets — but the key driver is something much more familiar: political polarization.
The big picture: The two major parties are both bitterly divided between each other, and among themselves. Red lines from regional parties based in Northern Ireland and Scotland make compromise more difficult still. Those faction-driven politics have made consensus elusive on an issue that will have lasting economic and societal impacts for decades.
As the longest U.S. government shutdown on record drags into its 27th day, questions are again rising about the dollar's status as the world's reserve funding currency.
The big picture: Bank of England governor Mark Carney said recently that "ultimately we will have reserve currencies other than the U.S. dollar." This isn't a new idea. China’s central bank in 2009 called for a global move away from the dollar after the market turbulence caused by the U.S.-induced global financial crisis.
The Senate voted on Wednesday to uphold a Treasury Department ruling that would lift economic sanctions against companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, despite a wave of defections from 11 Republican senators.
The big picture: Treasury's decision came last month after the companies in question reduced their relationship with Deripaska, complying with U.S. requirements. And Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged GOP senators not to support the Democratic-backed measure to keep the sanctions this week, per the Washington Post, arguing afterward that the Trump administration had long been tough on Russia.
A day after her Brexit plan suffered the worst parliamentary defeat in modern British political history, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has survived a motion of no-confidence brought by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn by a vote of 325-306.
Why it matters: May's job has been under threat for months, and yet she keeps on surviving. Having already seen off one challenge from rebels in her own party, she's now defeated a motion from the opposition. Still, May is no closer to delivering on Brexit with 10 weeks left until the U.K. is scheduled to leave the European Union.
The U.K. Parliament has rejected the government’s Brexit plans, in a sweeping 432–202 vote. The development plunges U.K. politics into crisis: While there’s a clear majority against the government’s plans, there’s no evident majority in favor of a specific alternative.
Why it matters: If Parliament cannot agree on what to do next, the U.K. will by default crash out of the EU without a deal. This could do immense damage to the U.K.'s economy, potentially taking as much as a 10.7% hit to the country’s GDP.
In unveiling the Trump administration’s new Africa strategy last month, national security adviser John Bolton cast Chinese financial and military activity in Djibouti as a threat to U.S. interests in the Horn of Africa. He cited concerns about Djibouti's mounting debt burden to China and China's potential to take over a strategically located port, along with its establishment of a military base near U.S. base Camp Lemonnier.
The big picture: Djibouti has enjoyed a four-decade relationship with China, and in the past few years, this relationship has become more instrumental in Djibouti's development. China holds 77% of Djibouti’s debt, largely because of Vision Djibouti 2035, the country's agenda to become a logistics and commercial hub for continental trade and spur medium-term growth of 10% per year.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May lost yesterday's Brexit vote by an astonishing margin, cobbling together only 202 votes for her Brexit deal.
The big picture: Worse, there were 432 votes against it, including 118 of the 317 MPs representing her own Conservative party. That makes this vote the biggest and most consequential government defeat since at least the 1840s.
The World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) met in Montreal this week to discuss what to do about Russia's anti-doping lab missing a key deadline, the New York Times reports.
What's happening: In 2015, Russia's drug-testing agency was banned from testing its own athletes after a state-sponsored doping scheme was uncovered.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s historic defeat in the House of Commons yesterday has emboldened those in Westminster and around the country who argue a second referendum is needed to decide whether the U.K. goes ahead with Brexit or reverses course.
The big picture: A second referendum now looks at least as likely as the other scenarios: a tweaked version of May’s deal, a softer Brexit, a “no deal” exit or a general election.
