China's Battle for Hearts and Minds
We at the Washington Monthly have some counter-programming to end this week of historic speakership drama.
In China's Battle for Hearts and Minds, David Hutt, research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, reviews Beijing's Global Media Offensive, a new book from Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, which assesses the effectiveness of China's global propaganda machine and explores how its reach can be blunted.
Hutt warns the "information arms race" with China is "existential for liberal democracies." In this race, China's media outlets may become increasingly persuasive over time as they hire "more and better journalists" and "learn from their mistakes." Click here for the full story.
THE REST OF THE WEEK AT THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY...
Matthew Cooper’s The Day After the McCarthy Ouster traces the long history of House Republican intra-party coups back to “the cannibalistic culture” created in the 1990s by Newt Gingrich. Click here to read the full story.
A 2005 throwback from Benjamin Wallace-Wells, now a staff writer for The New Yorker but who began his career writing for the Monthly. He profiled a then-rising House conservative star named Patrick McHenry, now serving as acting speaker. Click here to read the full story.
Could Biden Decide Not to Run?: Jonathan Alter, Washington Monthly contributing editor, grapples with the should-Biden-bow-out question by imagining a meeting between the president, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and more. Click here to read the full story.
Biden Takes On Bad Colleges Trump Protected: New “gainful employment” rules should help graduates of vocational education programs earn enough to repay their loans, says Robert Kelchen, University of Tennessee, Knoxville education professor. Click here to read the full story.
It’s Good to Be a Judge. For Some, a Little Too Good: James D. Zirin, Washington Monthly contributing writer, finds that an unrestrained, radical Supreme Court appears to be encouraging unethical and arrogant behavior by judges. Click here to read the full story.
My post-coup take: “Dumping Kevin McCarthy Was Easy. Keeping the Government Open Will Be Hard.” Click here to read the full story.
FIND THE MONTHLY ON SOCIAL
We're on Twitter @monthly
We're on Threads @WAMonthly
We're on Instagram @WAMonthly
We're on Facebook @WashingtonMonthly
Have a great holiday weekend,
Bill