James Ferguson Web

It is commonplace to discuss Donald Trump as an outlier and his rise as a phenomenon entirely related to the US’s political circumstances. But Gideon Rachman argues in his column this week that President Trump is at the centre of a network of populists in America, across Europe and in Asia too.

Gideon observes that for these “new nationalists”, international co-operation and sharing of ideas offers great benefits. They are soulmates not only in identifying that the death of the nation state was greatly exaggerated but also in seeing immigration control and protectionism as the themes that chime with voters.

Boris explodes Tory business credentials
Robert Shrimsley bemoans the transformation that has occurred in the Conservative party to change it from the party of business to the party of Brexit. The UK foreign secretary’s four-letter-word outburst is telling, he writes.

Cyber warfare’s twilight zone
John Thornhill warns that security insiders believe a major cyber attack could set off major conflict — but it will be hard to uncover who is doing what and to whom.

The long view on Turkey’s election
Leyla Boulton, who has spent 16 years observing Erdogan’s journey away from democratic values, traces the road to autocracy.

What you’ve been saying

Let me be candid: India is obsessed with skin colour — Letter from Rajiv Radhakrishnan
India has an obsession with skin colour and the north are keen to distinguish themselves from the south based on pigmentation. The other differences, such as education, culture, caste, language, and religion are also used to differentiate (and discriminate) between the peoples of India, but skin colour is the key factor; it is an obsession and a cancer in India.

Comment by Poorbuthappy on Theresa May’s Brexit plan: hiding in plain sight
I can only agree with Ken Clarke . . . The madness of leaving the largest trading block in the world, and a system that has given the endlessly warring European nation states peace for over 50 years, is absolutely clear. A medium-sized nation of some 65m people believing that it can obtain better trading and cultural/political conditions than it has at the moment in the presence of a crazily run US, an expansionist China and a scheming, increasingly heavily armed Russia is pure fantasy.

Source of US border crisis is the drugs cartels — Letter from Rohan Moorthy
The long-term solution for the US is to supply law enforcement officials on the ground to assist those nations. It is also to address the endemic conditions that create organised crime. In the same way that the Marshall Plan was designed to prevent European states falling to communism after the second world war, with dire long-term consequences for the US, so a modern Marshall Plan for the Central American states may now be appropriate. It is not in the long term interest of the US for those nations to continue in a perpetual state of narcotic-fuelled crime.

Today’s opinion

Auditors need a stronger incentive to stand up to clients
Insurance would restore trust in a profession beset by scandal

Boris Johnson’s Brexit explosion ruins Tory business credentials
The foreign secretary’s outburst reveals commerce has lost out to nationalism

Steer clear of diluting the Volcker rule and repeating mistakes
The ban on proprietary trading by big banks helps keep the markets safe

Turkey’s long streetcar ride away from democracy
Sixteen years of watching President Erdogan undermine the country’s institutions

Donald Trump leads a global revival of nationalism
The US president has soulmates in Europe where far-right parties govern in coalition

We are entering the twilight zone of cyber warfare
The risk of escalation is high as it is hard to know who is attacking whom or why

Free Lunch: Greece turns a page
But it is private, not public credit that now matters most

FT View

FT View: Even strongmen such as Turkey’s Erdogan need scapegoats
When things go wrong, the president for all his power will shoulder the blame alone

FT View: The US census counts on having all the data
Including a question on citizenship threatens to degrade the results

The Big Read

The Big Read: India — Narendra Modi hunts for more economic ‘firepower’
Growth is strong but further reform will be needed to produce the results promised by a government hoping for re-election next year

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