Michelle Obama could be America's next President | Why You Should Worry About China’s Missing Minister | Saudi Arabia’s rush into global sports

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You Might Like � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium Michelle Obama could be America's next President - The Telegraph    A source says that in conversation with a foreign politician, it emerged that their government assumes Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee in 2024. Joe will pull out before the first primaries; it will be too late for a grassroots candidate to enter the fray; an establishment stooge will be crowned at the convention. And the name of that lucky winner? Michelle Obama. It’s a wild scenario, but if it does happen, please remember that you read it here first.This anecdote confirms what I’ve heard from UK sources, too: when governments engage with Biden they feel they are dealing with the face of an administration but not always the person in charge. Were the Democrats to drop him from their presidential ticket, the world would understand. The race is tied, which is too close for comfort; Biden is unpopular; he is ageing before our very eyes (the latest gaffe is that he called the Grand Canyon one of the “nine wonders of the world” - built, if you know your history, by the Phoenicians). Doubts about his capabilities are enhanced by the grim alternative should he expire in office. The charmless Kamala Harris is one of those deeply average people who, unaware that her limited knowledge isn’t the sum of human understanding, talks to everyone as if they were simpletons. Her latest pearl was to inform an audience that “community banks are in the community” - a revelation to those who thought they were in the Grand Canyon. We face a rematch between two unpopular nominees, Biden v Trump, which nobody really wants. So why not ask/force one of them to retire? Assuming it will never, ever be Trump - thanks to various legal troubles, his own choice is now between the White House or prison - it would be logical to persuade Joe to do the decent thing, or else dump him without letting him know. One can imagine a “Good Bye, Lenin” scenario wherein Biden is relocated to a mock-up of the Oval Office and is told he is still president. Nancy Pelosi could be wheeled in from time-to-time to ask if he’s any closer to ending the Great Depression.Swapping-out Biden would pose big challenges. There are deadlines for filing to run in primaries - Nevada, for example, is as close as October - and a Democratic convention hasn’t been properly fixed since 1968. Is Joe happy to be told what to do? Has he ever operated an independent agenda? A Michelle Obama replacement would suggest he’s always been Barack’s third term, a conspiracy theory endorsed by Barack Obama in a 2021 interview. He said: “Joe and the administration are essentially finishing the job” begun by Obama and paused by Trump, noting that “ninety per cent of the folks” who worked for him are now back at their desks. This was an exaggeration, but not by much. The figure of Obama people working for Biden, among his top 100 aides, was closer to 75 per cent.The Biden presidency has its own character; he’s spent more money and pushed the cultural issues harder. Obama was more cautious for fear of being labelled a radical. Nevertheless, journalists often joke that Obama is running the country from his iPhone, and a recent, much-read interview between reporter David Samuels and historian David Garrow highlighted a curious detail: Obama still lives in central Washington DC, violating the historical agreement that ex-presidents should move away. Continued here Why You Should Worry About China's Missing Minister - The Atlantic    If the world’s best China experts can’t figure out what happened to one of the country’s most internationally recognizable officials, then imagine what else remains hidden behind the regime’s closed doors. The disappearance of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has generated a torrent of speculation about what might have happened to him. The mystery points to a larger, and disconcerting, truth: We understand very little about the inner workings of Chinese politics at a moment when we need to know more than ever. China’s Communist regime has always been opaque. But the more China’s global power rises, the more problematic the Communist Party’s secrecy becomes. The decisions made in Beijing influence the wealth and welfare of billions of people, the health of the planet, and war and peace itself. Yet policy makers and diplomats around the world are too often left guessing about how these decisions are made, who is making them, and why. Continued here You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Saudi Arabia's rush into global sports - The Economist    Sports fans have seen plenty of surprises this summer. Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon, ending years of domination of tennis by the trio of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. In golf the victors of the us Open and Britain’s Open were outsiders who were given odds of winning of 1% or less. On August 6th the all-conquering us women’s football team crashed out of the World Cup after Sweden scored a winning penalty. The ball crossed the goal line by only a few millimetres. Yet the biggest shock has been off the field, as Saudi Arabia has barged into the sports industry. Pumped up on petrodollars and desperate to reinvent itself under Muhammad bin Salman (mbs), its 37-year-old de facto ruler, it has spent $10bn on players, teams and leagues, upending golf and football. That has upset Western fans, activists and politicians, who see it as “sportswashing” human-rights abuses, and complain about the desecration of the hallowed trophies of sport. The Economist is no cheerleader for mbs, but this sports-venting does not bear scrutiny. The West trades widely with Saudi Arabia, the deals will not make its bad human-rights record worse, and it is not clear that the country could or would monopolise and destroy any global sport. In a turbulent world many fans see their teams as a source of pride and stability. But many forget that sport is also a business that is being disrupted. It needs to be open to new capital and fresh ideas. Continued here

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