Haaretz: Only a Conditional Boycott of Israel Will Lead to Change

There are also Israeli organizations fighting tooth and nail to create an alternative to the conversation and practices that prevail at the top – an alternative that favors Israeli-Arab coexistence, humanistic education, human rights in the territories, exposing the injustices of the occupation, and providing legal assistance to Palestinians. The left’s galaxy of idle chatter is also studded with groups of authors, intellectuals and academics who believe they have the power to come up with a magic formula that will convince hundreds of thousands of people to flock to the polls on Election Day with the correct ballot in their hands. [...]

It’s worth studying a few lessons from the battle against apartheid in South Africa. Few people remember that the boycott movement there actually began as a domestic effort by the African National Congress in 1952. Its model was the effort by India’s Congress Party in the ‘30s, which called for a consumer boycott that undermined Britain’s economic interests such as its monopoly on salt production. In other words, long before there was an external boycott, a boycott was organized within South Africa by opponents of the regime. [...]

Awareness of the situation in South Africa began filtering into the West, and especially the United States, after human rights activists realized there was a connection between, say, the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama – which was ignited by Rosa Parks in December 1955 – and the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa in March 1960 in which police killed 69 black demonstrators. But liberal groups worldwide haven’t yet made the connection between their war on xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism in their own countries and, for example, the war crime Israel committed when it slaughtered more than 120 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. [...]

In Israel, its base must be Jewish liberals and leftists and Arabs. The Israeli left must understand that the only hope – albeit a small one – to change Israel’s direction lies in creating a full alliance with the Arab minority. After that, the left must also try to add other spurned groups to this coalition of minorities.

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Spiegel: Inside the Battle that Almost Brought Down Merkel

Perhaps it made sense. It may even have been the only bit of honesty seen in Berlin during these crazy days of dispute. How, after all, should the two find their way back to each other after the depth of their feud? Seehofer is obsessed with Angela Merkel, and he won't back down until she is no longer there. Indeed, it might have been better were both of them to step down and clear the way for a new political era. The current partnership between the CSU and CDU, in any case, isn't likely to work for as long as Merkel and Seehofer have to find agreement on all the important issues. It isn't likely to work for as long as the two are chained together like an unhappy married couple.

Merkel has retained the ability to keep her cool, concealing her fury behind her political authority - such as when, in her first speech in parliament following her most recent reelection, she indirectly admonished Seehofer for his assertion that Islam does not belong to Germany. Seehofer sat there on the cabinet benches looking like a sheepish schoolboy. [...]

Yet despite frequently being at loggerheads, Kohl and Strauss ultimately pursued the same brand of conservatism. Merkel and Seehofer, by contrast, aren't just divided by a long history of indignities inflicted on each other - a history which has made it almost impossible for the pair to hold open, face-to-face discussions - but they also pursue two completely different political strategies. That is what has made the situation so difficult. [...]

Initially, only Seehofer supporters take the floor, encouraging him to remain steadfast. Several CSU members of the federal parliament argue in favor of a vote among CSU lawmakers, a group which doesn't always support Seehofer's style, but do support his positions. Only toward the end of the debate do critics of Seehofer's confrontational strategy take the floor. Former party head Erwin Huber issues a reminder of the responsibility the CSU bears while Development Minister Gerd Müller warns that if things go badly, the CSU could end up being merely a meaningless regional party. Deputy party head Manfred Weber praises Merkel's accomplishments on the European stage.

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SciShow Psych: Why Does Pet Therapy Work? (It's Not Just Cute Dogs)

Many studies have shown that pets can relieve anxiety, stress, and provide comfort, but why pet therapy is effective has a lot more to do with us than our furry pals. 

Financial Times: China bridges the gap to Hong Kong

Hong Kong's financial markets, Shenzhen's technology and Guangdong's manufacturing have the potential to turn the Greater Bay Area into an economic powerhouse. The FT's Ben Bland reports.

IFLScience: Bacteria-Powered Solar Cells Make Electricity Even With Cloudy Skies

The field of solar cells made of living things, so-called biogenic cells, is an intriguing one. Researchers are trying to copy photosynthesis, the natural way to get something out of sunlight. Previous attempts focused on extracting light-sensitive dye from genetically modified bacteria, but the process is costly, complex, and extracting the dye using solvents can often damage it.

To avoid this, the Canadian team used a different approach. They used E. coli genetically engineered to produce an abundance of lycopene, the molecule that gives tomatoes their orange/red tint. Lycopene is an excellent natural dye and is great at harvesting sunlight. Their coloring is also well-suited for a broader range of weather conditions.[...]

Yadav's team believes that this approach is not only more efficient but also cheaper. He estimates that biogenic solar cells constructed this way are about one-tenth the cost of previous approaches. While this technology holds a lot of promise, it still has several hurdles to jump through. One issue is that bacteria don’t survive the process. If researchers can find a way to keep them alive, the bacteria would happily produce the dye indefinitely. That would make the process a lot more economical.  

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IFLScience: Colombian National Park Named World’s Largest Protected Rainforest And World Heritage Site

Following an expansion of nearly 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres), Colombia’s Serranía de Chiribiquete National Park is now the world’s largest protected rainforest and the nation’s ninth site to be listed by the United Nations as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The new status protects both natural and cultural values under a “mixed heritage of humanity” designation.  [...]

Indigenous communities consider the region sacred. Over 70,000 paintings are found along the walls of more than 60 rock shelters, making it the oldest and largest pictographic complex in the Americas. Linked to jaguar worship, the symbol of power and fertility, paintings depict hunting scenes, battles, ceremonies, and dances that tell the stories of indigenous peoples that lived there thousands of years ago.   

The park’s remote location and close proximity to armed conflict make studying its biodiversity difficult. However, researchers speculate thousands of species live in this area, dozens of which are endemic and several threatened, including the Amazonian tapir, the giant otter, and the jaguar. More than 700 species of plants, 200 fish, nearly 300 diurnal butterflies, and dozens of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians will be protected under this new designation.

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Social Europe: Are Europe’s Populists Calling The Shots?

But now the boot is on the other foot. An extraordinary populist coalition comprising Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Italian Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini, and German Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer is threating to oust Merkel over her migration policies. [...]

But the Meseberg summit itself looked more like a Franco-German conclave than a relaunch of the European project. Macron is trying to protect Merkel from the rebellious forces within her own governing coalition, and both leaders are acting like they are still the masters of the universe. Yet for all their talk of transforming the European Stability Mechanism into a European Monetary Fund and reining in the Italian government’s behavior on refugees, one gets the sense that it is the populists who are calling the shots. [...]

Earlier this month, just as Merkel and Seehofer’s dispute was heating up, Kurz made an appearance in Berlin, where he called for Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Germany – or, at least, Germany’s interior ministry – to form an “axis of the willing” on migration. Kurz also tried to undercut Merkel in early 2016, when he was serving as Austria’s foreign minister. Appearing on live German television, he declared that he would close the Balkan route for refugees fleeing Syria for Northern Europe. [...]

But the key difference between then and now is that the US government no longer has an interest in a strong, united Europe – or in global stability, for that matter. After the annexation of Crimea, Merkel could count on then-US President Barack Obama’s support. The same cannot be said for President Donald Trump or Richard Grenell, his chosen ambassador to Germany, both of whom are actively undermining Merkel’s domestic credibility.

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