Jacobin Magazine: Losing the Battle and the War

This recent case is but one illuminating snapshot of the state of abortion rights in the United States today. The broader picture — a detailed examination of which can be found in the webpages of the Guttmacher Institute — will have to be summarized: “Since 2010, the US abortion landscape has grown increasingly restrictive as more states become hostile to abortion rights. Between 2010 and 2016, states enacted 338 new abortion restrictions, which account for nearly 30 percent of the 1,142 abortion restrictions enacted by states since the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.” Even this doesn’t capture the nearly two hundred abortion providers that have closed their doors since 2011. Let alone the countless other stories just as horrifying, or worse, as that of the anonymous twelve-year-old girl from Alabama. [...]

In fact, the strategy of opening the doors to anti-choice Democrats in order to “fit the district” is actually rooted in a profoundly elitist notion that people in certain parts of the country couldn’t be swayed by left-wing arguments around abortion — despite the fact that women all over the country and from all religious backgrounds need and try to get them. [...]

Parker makes it clear that if a woman cannot be trusted to make decisions about her reproduction, she has no control over her life and future. While Democrats — and organizations who support and even provide abortion care — have continuously ceded ground to the notion that there is something morally objectionable about abortions or abortion care, the Left needs to argue that what is truly immoral and cruel is forcing women, trans men, and girls to stay pregnant even a moment longer than they want to be or, worse, forcing them to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. Any argument to the contrary amounts to the policing of and punishment for a person’s sexual activity — a violation of one’s bodily autonomy.

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CityLab: How Do You Measure the Value of a Historic Site?

Tiong Bahru is an example of the tension between historic preservation and economic development on the small island of 5 million people. Today, Singapore is the epitome of modernity: the gleaming towers, the multi-color lights illuminating the night sky, and the radical architecture that other cities can only dream of. And the landscape is constantly changing to meet new demands, so much so that there’s barely room for the older buildings. [...]

Indeed, Singapore’s government has never really been enthusiastic about historic preservation, and any efforts to hold on to the physical relics of the nation’s past often become mired in political disputes. As my colleague Mimi Kirk reported in June, even the fate of the estate belonging to the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew—himself an outspoken critic of preservation—is embroiled in a bitter and politically charged family feud. [...]

The researchers argue that urban planners and leaders need to evaluate the tangible aspects (the physical buildings or sites), the intangible elements (human-to-human interaction), and the natural surroundings. In fact, it’s these patterns of interactions—and how they spread throughout a city and transform from one generation to the next.

So how do you measure the strength of these interactions over time, and predict how certain development projects might affect them? For starters, look at data that is already abundant and readily available. “What we are trying to measure here is the depth of connection between the people and the [customs] and places,” says Cheong. “If we value this particular building, how much do we value it? The natural way of measuring that would be to see whether people write or paint about this.” Or take lots of Instagram photos (because, you know, Millennials).

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The Intercept: Donald Trump Has Been a Racist All His Life — And He Isn't Going to Change After Charlottesville

Over the next four decades, Trump burnished his reputation as a bigot: he was accused of ordering “all the black [employees] off the floor” of his Atlantic City casinos during his visits; claimed “laziness is a trait in blacks” and “not anything they can control”; requested Jews “in yarmulkes” replace his black accountants; told Bryan Gumbel that “a well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market”; demanded the death penalty for a group of black and Latino teenagers accused of raping a jogger in Central Park (and, despite their later exoneration with the use of DNA evidence, has continued to insist they are guilty); suggested a Native American tribe “don’t look like Indians to me”; mocked Chinese and Japanese trade negotiators by doing an impression of them in broken English; described undocumented Mexican immigrants as “rapists”; compared Syrian refugees to “snakes”; defended two supporters who assaulted a homeless Latino man as “very passionate” people “who love this country”; pledged to ban a quarter of humanity from entering the United States; proposed a database to track American Muslims that he himself refused to distinguish from the Nazi registration of German Jews; implied Jewish donors “want to control” politicians and are all sly negotiators; heaped praise on the “amazing reputation” of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has blamed America’s problems on a “Jewish mafia”; referred to a black supporter at a campaign rally as “my African-American”; suggested the grieving Muslim mother of a slain U.S. army officer “maybe … wasn’t allowed” to speak in public about her son; accused an American-born Hispanic judge of being “a Mexican”; retweeted anti-Semitic and anti-black memes, white supremacists, and even a quote from Benito Mussolini; kept a book of Hitler’s collected speeches next to his bed; declined to condemn both David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan; and spent five years leading a “birther” movement that was bent on smearing and delegitimizing the first black president of the United States, who Trump also accused of being the founder of ISIS. [...]

Yes, the U.S. has had plenty of presidents in recent decades who have dog-whistled to racists and bigots, and even incited hate against minorities — think Nixon’s Southern Strategy, Reagan and his “welfare queens,” George H.W. Bush and the Willie Horton ad, and the Clintons and their “super-predators” — but there has never been a modern president so personally steeped in racist prejudices, so unashamed to make bigoted remarks in public and with such a long and well-documented record of racial discrimination. [...]

We would do well to heed the words of those who have spent decades studying this bizarre president. “Donald is a 70-year-old man,” Trump biographer David Cay Johnston reminded me in the run-up to his inauguration in January. “I’m 67. I’m not going to change and neither is Donald.”

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Al Jazeera: Africa-Israel summit 'justifies colonialism, apartheid'

A group of Palestinian activists, academics, and civil society organisations have launched a campaign to deter African nations from partaking in the upcoming Africa-Israel summit, slated to take place in Togo in October.

Several African countries, including South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania, have already decided to boycott the summit, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet leaders from more than 20 countries to rekindle a diplomatic and economic relationship. The summit will be the first of its kind.

According to activist Razan Zuayter, a campaign organiser based in Jordan, the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad is seeking to point out to  African countries Israel's "dangerous" activities in the continent, such as its diamond trade, often illegally imported from Africa as revealed in a 2009 United Nations report, and its mistreatment of African minorities in Israel. [...]

Historically, African leaders did not have warm relationships with the State of Israel. Following the 1973 October War, sub-Saharan African countries severed ties with Israel. In 2016, Netanyahu became the first Israeli leader to visit sub-Saharan Africa in almost three decades. [...]

South African human rights activist and political analyst Ayesha Kajee, based in Johannesburg, told Al Jazeera that Israel has been on a mission to strengthen ties with Africa, even to the "extent of attempting to gain observer status at the African Union".

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Politico: Jeremy Corbyn betting on Brexit fatigue

Britain’s opposition leader, who exceeded expectations in Theresa May’s snap election in June with a campaign focused on public spending rather than Europe, shows no sign of changing tack despite pressure from his own MPs to row back on his support for leaving the single market. [...]

If Brexit was on his mind, he showed very little sign of it as he addressed 1,000 enthusiastic supporters in the remote village of Pool, with a lengthy stump speech focused on the National Health Service. [...]

But with the party gearing up for its annual September conference and Brexit negotiations heating up, many Labour MPs believe internal disputes over membership of the single market and whether or not to promise a second referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal will reach boiling point. [...]

“Many of those voters, particularly the young voters, who helped us deprive the Tories of a majority in June don’t want Brexit and they certainly don’t want Labour to support a hard Brexit,” said Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for nearby Exeter. “They are looking for us to show leadership on this and will be hoping that Jeremy and his frontbench colleagues provide it.”

Many in his party are unsure Corbyn will be able to sustain the adoration from huge crowds, like those seen at the summer music festival Glastonbury, if he is seen to be too close to the Conservatives on Brexit, and if the British economy suffers from leaving the single market.

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Al Jazeera: Saudi Arabia to reopen border with Iraq after 27 years

The Mecca newspaper reported that Saudi and Iraqi officials toured the site on Monday and spoke with Iraqi religious pilgrims, who had access to the crossing only once annually during the Hajj pilgrimage season.

Sohaib al-Rawi, the governor of Iraq's southwestern Anbar province, whose staff was on hand for the ceremonies, said the Iraqi government had deployed troops to protect the desert route leading to Arar and called its opening a "significant move" to boost ties. [...]

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both wooing their northern neighbour in an effort to halt the growing regional influence of arch-foe Iran.

The Sunni-led Arab Gulf countries have hosted influential Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr for talks with their crown princes in recent weeks, rare visits after years of troubled relations.

Sadr's office said his meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, resulted in an agreement for Saudi Arabia to donate $10m in aid to the Iraqi government and study possible investments in Shia regions of southern Iraq.

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openDemocracy: Dubai and Gwadar: the silent economic war in the Gulf of Oman

Many economic analysts believe that Gwadar is another Dubai emerging on the world’s map. The controversial issue here is that an economically powerful Gwadar threatens the strategic influence of Dubai in the region. This challenging point, recently, has caused a silent economic war in the Gulf of Oman between two groups of countries. Pakistan, China and Qatar on one side. India and the UAE on the other. [...]

The major revenue of Dubai comes from tourism, aviation, real estate, and financial services. Large construction projects, iconic skyscrapers and sports events are other means of income for Dubai. The world’s tallest building called the Burj Khalifa is located in this emirate. [...]

However, Gwadar port is a serious rival to Dubai. Gwadar port is considered a strategic location, giving China and Central Asia access to the Gulf region and the Middle East. Gwadar port will become the main sea gate for Central Asia. It will also become easier to send products from Xinjiang and central Asian countries to other regions. “The corridor will help reduce transport time for goods from Gwadar port to western China and central Asian regions by about 60 or 70 per cent,” Vice Premier of China Ms Liu Yandong said. [...]

India is another key player in this regional battle. The Chabahar-Gwadar adversary is due to the fact that the ports are at a distance of about 72 km from each other. Both India and Pakistan have been attempting to undermine each other in the region and the development of the two ports is bound to add to the animosity.

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The Atlantic: Hate Groups Are Growing Under Trump

According to research by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups has been increasing rapidly since 2000. Heidi Beirich, director of the Center’s Intelligence Project, links the rise in recruitment to the 2000 census that predicted whites would be a minority by 2042. Beirich says there’s been another spike following the election of Donald Trump, particularly among alt-right organizations who have attached themselves directly to the current president. In an interview filmed at the 2017 Aspen Ideas Festival, Beirich says that Trump’s limited commentary on hate crimes shows his lack of concern.

Financial Times: Gideon Rachman: Why US is now dangerous | Opinion

The FT’s chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman says President Donald Trump’s reaction to Pyongyang’s nuclear threat is dangerous. In using rhetoric that North Korea risks ‘fire and fury’ from a ‘locked and loaded’ the US has deliberately escalated tensions.