Ordinary World 25Feb19

Your Ordinary World links for 25Feb19 ft stories on Catholic Church abuse summit, North Korea, Yazidis, Brexit, 2020 POTUS race, and more

As always, all Ordinary World linked stories are for discussion, not endorsement by Ordinary Times

[OW1] Survivors of Church Abuse Want Zero Tolerance. The Pope Offers Context by Rachel Donadio: “During the conference, the Vatican had put its best face forward, presenting to the media some of the clerics with the deepest understanding of the depth and breadth of the crisis, including Archbishop Scicluna, Cardinal Séan O’Malley of Boston, and Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago. But how representative are these clerics of the global Church? I have a suspicion that there are many other prelates in high positions in the Vatican who still believe that the sexual-abuse crisis in the Church is an invention by an overly zealous secular media with a grudge to bear against the Church, or a creation of lawyers out for settlements, and not the natural consequence of the crisis of faith that comes about from revelations about a pervasive culture of cover-up in a hierarchical organization that oversees a billion souls. I hope I’m wrong, but my suspicion is based on years of experience covering the Vatican, which often requires reading between the lines and chasing shadows.”

[OW2] The 2020 Race From the World’s Perspective by Josh Adams: “The West and its institutions are in dire need of reform and reinvigoration. The European Union’s fracture along East-West and North-South lines look set to continue without end; Russia is deploying its power in ever more nefarious ways; and China is intent on folding the entirety of Asia (and beyond) into its sphere of influence. It is in the best interest of the world that these developments are checked by a strong alliance of democratic nations — the West; America’s traditional allies. Western leaders and policymakers (for the most part) know this. It’s why it is absolutely crucial that Trump fails in his bid for reelection next year. The world cannot take another four years of America retreating from its role as leader of the free world; it matters now more than ever. So, if you see a leader of a Western country blue in the face, please don’t panic. They’re holding their breath, and for good reason.”

[OW3] For Rent: Indiana’s Iconic, But Languishing, House of Tomorrow by Jonathan Carey: “Designed by the architect George Fred Keck, the building was first displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933-1934, also known as the Century of Progress Exposition. The house itself was complete with floor-to-ceiling glass walls and finished with amenities that were very technologically advanced for the time, including an iceless refrigerator, central air conditioning, the first General Electric dishwasher, a push-button garage door, and an airplane hangar. It was truly a modern marvel and, as noted in Chicago Magazine, a precursor to more famous glass houses by Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe. After being viewed by nearly 39 million people in Chicago, the House of Tomorrow, along with several other futuristic dwellings from the fair, was shipped across Lake Michigan and stored along the Indiana sand dunes by Robert Bartlett, a Chicago developer who hoped to turn the homes into a trendy vacation spot. But it didn’t happen.”

[OW4] ‘We are now free’: Yazidis fleeing Isis start over in female-only commune by Bethan McKernan: “During the genocide, Yazidi men were rounded up and shot then dumped in mass graves. The women were taken to be sold in Isis’s slave markets, many passed from fighter to fighter, who inflicted physical and sexual abuse. Yazidi children have been brainwashed and rights groups say suicide among captives is common. Even for those who manage to escape after years of enslavement and rape, many struggle to survive without an income or identity papers. Jinwar is a female-only community, set up by the women of the local Kurdish-run administration to create a space where women can live “free of the constraints of the oppressive power structures of patriarchy and capitalism”. It opened in November and 12 of its 30 adobe brick houses are home to Kurdish, Yazidi and Arab families.”

[OW5] I support a Final Say on the Brexit deal, but it won’t resolve our divisions on national identity by Ann Coffey: “A short extension to Article 50 would give us more time but would still leave unresolved the issue of what deal parliament would support. In my view, we need parliament to vote on giving the public a Final Say on the options for a deal, including to remain. We are running out of time. Depending on the result of that vote we can then focus on avoiding a no-deal Brexit. The issue of the divisions over our national identity will not be resolved whatever happens. That is perhaps an even greater challenge to come.”

[OW6] Europe’s Immense Security Challenges in the Age of Trump by Christiane Hoffmann: “NATO has protected Germany for 70 years, the anniversary is to be celebrated this December in Washington, D.C. But the event could ultimately be reminiscent of the 40th anniversary of East Germany, which was observed in October 1989, just weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The structures still exist, but they have become fragile and basically everyone has come to realize that they are no longer stable. The problem, though, is that Germany is dependent on NATO. Indeed, all of Europe is militarily dependent on the U.S., both on America’s conventional armed forces and on its nuclear capabilities. And for the foreseeable future, there is no alternative to the alliance that might be able to guarantee Europe’s security. That is the uncomfortable truth Europe currently finds itself facing.”

[OW7] Negotiating with North Korea by Robert Carlin: “Perhaps one reason “process” is in ill repute is that from the outside negotiations look like a game where the score can be tallied after each inning. Who won, who lost, what were the errors, and is anyone left on base? From my experience, that is not normally how things have worked with the North Koreans. Quite the opposite. What made negotiations possible, for talks to move forward, was the agreeable fiction that “nothing is decided until everything is decided.” That can sound like an awkward approach, but it had significant advantages. Any single concession in isolation may have been too much for Pyongyang—or Washington, for that matter—to digest. Seen as part of a final structure, however, the pieces could appear logical, practical and necessary. Moreover, with trust in short supply, neither side had to commit fully on any one issue until the entire structure was complete, at which point it became possible to weigh the balance of all the give and take. Whether that approach will work in the current context, starting at top-level meetings and coming back down the mountain to working levels remains to be seen. The intense public and political focus on the US-DPRK “summits”—a word infused with almost mythical importance—may make it much more difficult to hold off scoring the inning, thus depriving the process of its full potential.”

[OW8]