| |  | Pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators occupy the Hollywood Walk of Fame Friday. Source: Getty |
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It’s 300-plus pages — but so far, the world’s only seen a four-page summary. That quick read on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, written by Attorney General William Barr, was delivered to Congress last Sunday. It elicited President Donald Trump’s gleeful repetition of “collusion delusion” at a Friday campaign rally in Michigan: “After three years of lies, smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead.”
Is it, really? While Democrats are demanding to see the full document, Which Barr has promised by mid-April, party leadership would rather focus on issues like Trump’s new move to end Obamacare.
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Things are “going in the right direction.” That’s one insider’s assessment of the prime minister mulling a fourth vote on her plan to leave the European Union. It was defeated by 53 votes on Friday — much better than the 149 two weeks earlier. Meanwhile, thousands of pro-Brexit demonstrators blocked London traffic and clashed with police.
Where does this go from here? If May opts for yet another vote, it will have to come after satisfying rebel MPs with votes on alternatives, such as initiating a new referendum or remaining in the European customs union.
Read OZY’s story on Brexit-era migration.
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, celebrated for providing an anti-Soviet Cold War bulwark, will observe its 70th anniversary in Washington next week. That will put its general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, face to face with President Donald Trump, whom one former U.S. general accused of “kicking the most important allies in the ass publicly” with snubs such as refusing to reaffirm the alliance’s pledge to aid members if attacked.
What else could go wrong? Key NATO member Turkey is set to purchase a defensive missile system from Russia, which has prompted U.S. senators to propose blocking Ankara’s U.S. warplane deliveries.
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They’ll pay dearly to leave their workers’ paradise. Still, hundreds of North Koreans risk a complicated web of activists and private brokers into and through China to escape. Refugees endure days of ferrying between safe houses, hiking through forests and even sexual slavery in hopes of claiming asylum at a South Korean embassy. Anything less than success is a gulag sentence.
How long can it last? Rates of refugees safely arriving in South Korea are plummeting with neighboring China helping the Pyongyang crackdown.
OZY asks if North Korea can ever change.
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Investigators of a second deadly Boeing 737 Max 8 crash now believe that the troublesome anti-stall system was engaged before the plane crashed in Ethiopia on March 10. Potential presidential candidate Joe Biden faces an Arizona woman’s accusation that he inappropriately kissed her. And President Trump has threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border if Mexican authorities don’t curb northbound migration.
In the week ahead: At 8:30 pm local time today, eco-conscious entities around the world, including the Great Pyramids and the Eiffel Tower, will switch off lights for Earth Hour. In Sunday’s first round of Ukrainian presidential elections, incumbent Petro Poroshenko is in danger of being outpolled by comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who plays a teacher-turned-president on Netflix. On Wednesday, actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman appear in Boston federal court facing mail fraud conspiracy charges in a vast college admissions-rigging scandal.
Listen Up! Get inside the mind of a would-be assassin — and explore the history of the insanity defense — with Season 4 of The Thread, the latest installment of OZY’s popular podcast. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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| INTRIGUING | | 01 |
When Max Vest discovered a hidden camera in his Florida Airbnb rental, the company provided a refund and a hotel room. But Vest and others who’ve reported personal surveillance say the firm has failed to uphold privacy assurances. Some report company reps telling them they had “consented” to being watched because cameras were visible in listing photos.
What’s happened to snooping hosts? Those in the complaints have been banned, and police are investigating Vest’s case. But state law allows people to film within their own homes, and so does Airbnb, if it’s disclosed and not in bathrooms or sleeping areas.
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The tiny island of Eday had a problem: Using wind and tidal turbines, it generated more clean energy than it could use. So now they strip hydrogen from water with that power, enough to run a fleet of vans for their fellow Orkney islanders and, in two years, a radically new hydrogen-powered ferry.
What are the larger implications? Besides refocusing the islands from dependence on the North Sea oil industry, these pioneers can show the world how green energy can be stored rather than wasted when grids can’t take it.
Read OZY’s feature on why Australia is crazy about electric cars.
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The blue wave into Congress last year wasn’t cheap. An estimated $4.7 billion was spent on advertising, but it probably didn’t change many minds. American voters are far more influenced by word of mouth — aka “buzz” — than traditional media. The research is even starker for millennials, just 28 percent of whom rank news coverage among their top three voting influences.
What should candidates do? Observe the four R’s: Be relevant, reasonable, repeatable and, most important, remarkable. If potential voters can’t stop talking about certain candidates, they’ll be thinking about them in the voting booth.
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Fan Bingbing is the world’s most popular star, considering China’s massive market. She’s also the daughter of Communist Party stalwarts, making her the perfect example for scaring those guilty of widespread tax evasion. Fan vanished during three months of detention, emerging in October contrite and ready to pay the first millions of the $1.7 billion Beijing says it’s collected since from industry professionals.
Does this go beyond film? In targeting China’s best-known face, observers say, the government is preparing to compel other industries to “self-audit” — if they don’t want to disappear.
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No surprise: They’ve made the Elite Eight. But Gonzaga University wasn’t always a blue blood. In 1999, the Spokane, Washington, team seemed a charmed mid-major, barely losing to the eventual champs. Despite losing their coach, replacement Mark Few has led them to every March Madness since.
How do they look now? Top seeded in the West and with the country’s top offense, the Zags have dispatched all comers and have a real shot at a first championship, but to make the Final Four, they’ll have to get past the NCAA’s best defense, Texas Tech, today in Anaheim.
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Opinion
This OZY original series takes you to the cafés around the world that are emerging as theaters of social, political and economic change.
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