Weekend Box #125: Jimmy Turns 100, Not King Coal & more

Editor's note

Welcome to The Weekend Box, Audley’s round-up of interesting or obscure political, business, and cultural news from around the world.

At the end of every busy week in Westminster, ministerial private offices ask their departments to submit papers to the ‘weekend box’ for Ministers and Secretaries of State to catch up with over the weekend. Similarly, we would like to send you into the weekend with a few stories to catch up with at your leisure.

So, let’s delve inside The Weekend Box.

Jimmy Turns 100

Former US President Jimmy Carter?turned 100 this week. This milestone, combined with recent events in the Middle East makes it?a timely moment to reflect on his legacy in the region.

President Carter’s foreign policy legacy is his historic role in brokering the Camp David Accords, a groundbreaking peace agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1979. The Accords resulted in Israel’s full withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Israel, and a framework for broader Arab-Israeli peace efforts.

Carter’s personal investment in the process provides a timely reminder to current and future US Presidents. Carter was not merely a facilitator but an active mediator, tirelessly shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. This hands-on diplomacy, combined with Carter’s own credibility as someone with deep personal commitment to human rights and peace, undoubtedly contributed to the agreement’s success.

His interest in lasting peace in the Middle East remains a hallmark of his legacy, as Carter has continued to champion peaceful solutions to global conflicts through the Carter Center. Carter continued to be engaged on the Palestinian issue in the 2000s. His book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, was met with criticism from Israel and many in the US, but found support among those who felt that mainstream US policy discussions had been too one-sided in favour of Israel.

Could a modern President replicate Carter’s success in the region? In today’s context, it’s debatable whether Carter’s methods would have success in the complex and deeply?polarised Middle East. The region’s dynamics, especially regarding Iran, the rise of non-state actors, and internal divisions within Palestine itself, would appear to present greater challenges than those Carter faced.

However, a US President with moral authority, willing to invest the time, energy and personal capital engaging with the region, could represent a welcome and calming presence.

Image Credit: LBJ Library. License.

Press Face Cambodia Crackdown

Mech Dara, an award-winning investigative journalist, has been arrested by military police at a highway toll-booth in south-west Cambodia. In court, he was charged with incitement to provoke “serious social chaos,” with prosecutors referencing several recent social media posts as justification for the charge. The judge concurred and sent Dara to pre-trial detention; he faces up to two years in prison if found guilty.?

In a statement, the court claimed the posts were “full of ill-intention - inciting, causing anger among the public that was intended to make people think bad of the government.” This vague charge of incitement is commonly used in Cambodia to silence government critics. According to the Paris-based?NGO Reporters Without Borders, subjects such as political opposition and corruption are deemed “impossible to cover,” with the country ranking 151st globally in the Press Freedom Index.

In recent years, Dara has reported extensively on human trafficking, cyber fraud and corruption. Most notable is his work exposing horrific modern slavery practices, which received international recognition. In 2022, he uncovered a common practice among Cambodian organised crime groups, whereby victims were kidnapped and forcibly confined, before being forced to target others around the world in online scam operations.

The journalist also exposed links between the Cambodian senator, Ly Yong Phat, and scam factories, with Phat later being sanctioned by the US Treasury.?

For this work, Dara was awarded the US State Department’s 2023 Human Trafficking Hero Award by Anthony Blinken in Washington. This week, a spokesperson said that the State Department was “following developments closely with great concern.”

Dara’s arrest threatens to strain the historically fragile relationship between the US and Cambodia, which has deteriorated in recent years due to former Prime Minister Hun Sen’s suppression of civil and political rights, and his embrace of China.?

Image Credit: PickPik. License.

Not King Coal

This week saw two related events marking the end of an era for the UK and its industrial past, linked by one substance: coal.

After 142 years generating electric power from coal, the UK?closed its last coal-fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire. In the same week, one of the last three ‘coking’ blast furnaces in the country at Port Talbot, Wales, which use a form of coal in the conversion of iron to steel, also closed.

The final coal-fired power station was shuttered to meet the UK’s world-leading environmental target to end coal-fired power generation by 2025, to be achieved through a concerted drive to bring online green alternatives, including solar and offshore wind. The pace of the switch has been impressive, but it hasn’t come?cheap. High conversion costs to green technology and a remaining reliance on gas, which has seen significant price volatility in recent years, has upped the price tag.?

The effect has been that, according to recent International Energy Agency figures, the UK has the highest industrial power prices in the world. This in turn has led to a competitiveness problem for the UK manufacturing and heavy industry sectors, driving further de-industrialisation.

Port Talbot closed for environmental reasons too, as electric arc furnaces create far less carbon and recycle existing steel to produce ‘green steel’. The switch will cost ￡1.25bn and see 3,000 jobs lost. Even when the change is complete, the plant will still face the nation’s high electricity costs, hurting its future competitiveness.?

Ratcliffe-on-Soar’s 170 staff will mostly stay for the decommissioning process, but beyond that they too will be looking for new jobs in a different market.

Image Credit: Cattan2011. Wikimedia Commons.

Shein Bright

This week, Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president. As?The Weekend Box highlighted at the start of the presidential campaign last year, hitherto Mexico has had 65 presidents, all of them men.

Sheinbaum, a scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, ran on a platform of continuity with the policies of her mentor and predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

In her inaugural speech, she emphasised her commitment to social justice and vowed to continue AMLO’s focus on reducing poverty and inequality. She pointed to his expansion of welfare benefits and increases to the minimum wage.?

As she takes office, Sheinbaum faces significant challenges. Mexico’s struggle with?organised crime, particularly the violent drug wars, remains a live issue. She has promised not to return to the aggressive “drug war” policies of past administrations, instead advocating for more intelligence-led approaches to curb cartel violence. However, her critics question whether her strategies, influenced by her experience as mayor, will be effective on a national level.

Sheinbaum also inherits controversial reforms, including a recent overhaul of the judiciary that many fear could undermine judicial independence. While supporting these reforms, she will need to balance concerns about transparency and public trust in government institutions.

Her presidency also brings a new focus on women's rights, especially addressing gender-based violence, a pervasive problem in Mexico.

With high hopes riding on her leadership, Sheinbaum has promised to govern for all Mexicans, but must navigate the complex political and economic landscape left by her predecessor.

Sheinbaum will want to forge her own path too – and will undoubtedly want to have a legacy beyond just “Mexico’s first female president”.

Image Credit: Eneas De Troya. License.

Thawing Relations

The border between Switzerland and Italy has been redrawn due to global warming melting the glacier between them.

Generally national borders are fixed and move only after period of conflict or in the case of a territory gaining independence, but on rare occasions they can be influenced by climate change. This is the case in the Swiss-Italian border, large sections of which are determined by the ‘watershed’ or the ridgeline of glaciers, or areas of perpetual snow.

When these melt, as is happening with increasing rapidity, the border shifts. Part of the area affected is around the Matterhorn, one of Europe’s largest peaks, and home to popular Swiss and Italian ski resorts such as Zermatt and those in the Valle d’Aosta.

The exact placement of the border was negotiated between national authorities in 2023, and the plan was approved by the Swiss Federal Council on Friday. Details of the new boundary will be revealed once Italy signs off.

Such a move is not unprecedented. In 2000, part of the same border was shifted c.150m after a glacier moved, resulting in a?once-Italian chairlift station becoming Swiss. And there will likely be more change to come: Europe is the fastest-warming continent and in 2024 alone, glaciers in the Alps lost 2.5% of their volume. Even with the most ambitious climate action, it’s estimated that?up to half the world’s glaciers?may be gone by 2100.

The impact of this landscape shift goes beyond border movement. Glacial instability contributes to an increasing number of landslides and rockfalls, endangering and killing dozens of climbers in recent years, as well as potentially having drastic consequences for the world’s freshwater supply.

Image Credit: Shawn Stillwell. License.

And that's it for this week. I hope you found something of interest that you might want to delve into further. If so, please get in touch at [email protected]

For now, that’s The Weekend Box officially closed.

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