Today’s insights look nationally and internationally at war, activism, and economy. Learn more about what the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia spells for US foreign policy in the region, how climate activist Greta Thunberg handled her testimony in Congress, the chilling recent efforts by Sandy Hook Promise to fight against gun violence in schools, and how the US-China trade war is impacting the global economy:
Pictured in header: Greta Thunberg testifying alongside TCG Changemaker Scholarship for Climate Change Action, Jamie Margolin.
“The missiles that struck last weekend in Saudi Arabia did not just destroy oil tanks. They also dealt the final blow to a doctrine that has been fading for years: the belief that the United States maintains a security umbrella able to protect the oil-rich Persian Gulf states from their enemies — and, especially, from Iran...the current Gulf crisis is not just about this administration and the pitfalls of its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. The United States has been disengaging from the Middle East since the catastrophe of the 2003 Iraq invasion. Now that shale has made America so much less dependent on the Middle East’s oil, it is hard to imagine any American president risking significant blood and treasure to defend Saudi Arabia.” - Robert F. Worth, New York Times, MORE
“Thunberg, who has made a habit of reprimanding adults in power on their climate complacency, has learned that the frustration, impatience, and fear of young people for the catastrophic future is a powerful tool. And she used it on Democratic members of the Senate Climate Change Task Force... “We don’t want to become politicians, we don’t want to run for office,” she said. “We want you to unite behind the science. I’m sorry, I know you’re probably trying very hard, and this is not personally to any one of you but generally to everyone. I know you’re trying, but just not hard enough.” - Ella Nilsen, Vox, MORE
“Familiar back-to-school supplies...are recast as emergency survival tools in a devastating new public service announcement from the Sandy Hook Promise, an anti-violence nonprofit founded by the parents of victims of the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012...A boy marveling over his new sneakers is running down the hallway not to dodge a hall monitor but a gunman. The ad reflects a grim reality for the network of survivors from the more than 228,000 students who have experienced a school shooting since the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999...Sandy Hook Promise co-founder Nicole Hockley [TCG American Spirit Awardee & Past Speaker], who’s 6-year-old son Dylan was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, wants people to understand how they can recognize troubling behavior and intervene to stop school shootings before they happen...“I will never put a bulletproof backpack on my kid,” Hockley said...“I think it sends totally the wrong message: He’s not a soldier going off to war; he’s a boy going off to math class.” - Kim Bellware, Washington Post, MORE
“The global economy is set to grow at the slowest pace since the financial crisis, with business investment and trade hampered by an escalating dispute between the U.S. and China that could inflict even more damage over coming years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday...it now expects world output of goods and services to increase by 2.9% this year, the smallest annual rise since 2009 when the global economy was pushed into a recession by the near-collapse of the financial system. It expects growth to remain low in 2020 and possibly beyond if the trade conflict between the U.S. and China spills over into other aspects of their economic relationship.” - Paul Hannon, Wall Street Journal, MORE
