Foreign Affairs: May's Brexit Mastery

Here, it is worth looking to two other European countries that passed on EU membership: Norway, with a GDP per capita close to $70,000; and Switzerland, with a GDP of $60,000. Not all economies are comparable—Norway lives off oil and fish—but the GDP per capita of the United Kingdom just exceeds $40,000. In other words, there is no absolute link between membership in the EU and national wealth. Furthermore, although they are non-members, Norway and Switzerland are deeply integrated in the regulatory framework of the EU, which facilitates their commerce with the region. [...]

For such a rosy outcome, though, time is of the essence. The new British prime minister should rush to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which starts the process of secession. Rapid agreement on a framework between London and Brussels will soothe Britons and allow European public opinion to move on to other topics. The sooner the United Kingdom is out of European minds, and the EU is out of British minds, the sooner the noxious politics of Brexit can be laid to rest. By defusing the political question, a rapid framework agreement will leave bureaucrats and lawyers months, maybe years, to finesse behind closed doors the commercial and regulatory details. In the end, when it comes to economic integration, the EU-UK relationship may not look very different pre- and post-Brexit. And no one will care.

After all, whether Brexit costs a quarter or half of a percentage point of GDP—or nets it—it is not consequential to most voters. The vote was more about the apparent end of a treasured way of life, about alien products in the supermarket, and about ethnic food where the fish and chips used to be. The Brexit result was aspirational, a nostalgic appeal to a past that can never be reclaimed, because the United Kingdom is already far more open and cosmopolitan than its voters wish it to be.

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Mashable: Britain has its next prime minister to thank for mass surveillance bill

In June, as the campaigns to Remain or Leave the European Union were at the final stage, Parliament overwhelmingly approved a bill that critics believe is the most intrusive piece of legislation on mass surveillance in the West.

Just 69 MPs voted against the Investigatory Powers Bill — dubbed the "Snoopers' Charter" by critics — which is now with the House of Lords for further consideration.

Privacy campaigners pointed the finger at measures that would give the government bulk powers to collect citizens' web records, monitor, intercept and even hack smartphones under warrants authorised by ministers.

A recent report by House of Lords peers warned that the charter could endanger journalists and their sources as computer hacking could allow the state to access a journalist's notes or video footage.

It's worth noting that the legislation is the brainchild of Theresa May, the "steely" and "hard-working" Home Secretary who is poised to become the first woman prime minister since Margaret Thatcher. [...]

Over six years as Home Secretary, she didn't shy away from controversy, taking on police corruption and rolling out billboards telling illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest."

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AP: Seeking peace in Syria, US offering new deal with Russia

Frustrated by months of failure in Syria, the Obama administration is taking what might be its final offer to Moscow: Enhanced intelligence and military cooperation against the Islamic State and other extremist groups if Syria's Russian-backed president Bashar Assad upholds a ceasefire with U.S.-supported rebel groups and starts a political transition. [...]

Kerry will have to thread a needle. He's watched the Syrian military and Russian air force violate truce after truce in recent months. This time, the officials said, Kerry is dangling in front of the Kremlin Russia's long-sought requests for intelligence sharing and targeting assistance in return for Russia using its influence to end the fighting and start ushering Assad out of power. But Kerry will be wary about offering too much. [...]

Much of Washington is wary about working too closely with Russia. The U.S. doesn't want to be seen as entrenching Assad, whom American officials have referred to as a "butcher" and "mass murderer." Russia's bombers also have attacked anti-Assad rebel groups that have received weapons, training and other forms of support from the U.S. and allies such as Saudi Arabia — whose foreign minister Kerry met in Washington on Tuesday before a weeklong Europe trip.

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Israel National News: Israeli startup aims to grow meat without the animal

SuperMeat, which launched in December and began an online crowdfunding campaign Monday, is developing a method for bioengineering “cultured meat” from animal cells. Its tagline: “Real meat, without harming animals.”

Imagine a chicken breast without the chicken, developed in a machine from cells taken from a living bird and cultured in a nutrient-rich stock. [...]

SuperMeat's co-founder and co-CEO, Koby Barak, himself a longtime vegan and animal rights activist, said his company's cultured meat will be both kosher and vegan-friendly, and he has the supporters to prove it.

“I have spoken to about 10 rabbis and I don’t see any problem. It will be kosher,” Barak told JTA. “The vast majority of the vegan-vegetarian movement is very supportive, and we thank them for really supporting us.”

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The Atlantic: The End of a Political Revolution

For now, his political revolution has come up short. From the start of his campaign, Sanders called for a fundamental transformation in American political life so that the voices of average Americans would not be drowned out by wealthy elites and the gap between the rich and poor would not be nearly so vast. Yet Democratic primary voters overwhelmingly sided with Clinton’s pragmatic incrementalism over Sanders’s enthusiastic idealism. If the senator’s dream of revolution is ever to be achieved, it won’t happen with Sanders as the next president. [...]

It is remarkable that a self-described democratic socialist managed to get so close to the White House in a country that so ardently proclaims its adoration for free markets. Sanders did not prove that embracing socialism is a winning proposition, but he showed that the label is not politically toxic either. [...]

Sanders has attempted to lay the groundwork for a lasting political movement, but there too the future is uncertain. He endorsed an array of congressional candidates as well as contenders vying for seats in state legislatures, though that effort has already encountered setbacks. His presidential run has given rise to a grassroots army of supporters looking for ways to carry on the fight. The question now is: how much success will Sanders and his followers have in building a movement that outlasts the campaign?  

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