POLITICO Confidential: The dangers of swapping values for cash

Опубликовано: Saturday, 25 November 2023 08:41

Presented by Equinor

By JAMIL ANDERLINI

PRESENTED BY

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Dear Readers,

For various reasons, I have been thinking a lot this week about people, particularly British people, who grow up in free western democracies but decide at some point to take a lucrative job defending the interests of an authoritarian or totalitarian dictatorship. These people are invariably very ignorant about the regime they are paid to promote and usually don’t speak the language or have much affinity with the people oppressed by that particular autocracy.

In the last week, I have reluctantly had to correspond with some of these people and it has reminded me just how clueless they tend to be about the very interests they are paid to defend.

This (paywalled unfortunately) article by my old colleague, friend and journalistic idol James Kynge illustrates one part of the phenomenon. Our excellent reporting on the return of former Prime Minister David Cameron as foreign secretary has inspired a rash of coverage from other outlets on the more rarified end of the spectrum.

I suspect Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is slightly regretting his appointment of Lord “golden era” Cameron and I also suspect there is more to come in this vein.

In the spirit of public service to such mercenaries who betray their own values to ingratiate themselves for cash, I have decided to experiment with including a quote or slogan from an autocratic leader each week. The first one comes from Dave’s mate Chairman Xi Jinping and should be of great help in his new job.

It is a Xi slogan known as the “San Yan San Shi” — the “three stricts and three truths.” It requires all “leading cadres” (such as the U.K.’s foreign secretary) to be strict in developing moral character, strict in the use of power, and strict with themselves. It also states that planning requires truth, executing tasks requires truth, and acting with integrity requires truth.

Speaking of autocrats with chips on their shoulders, the Hollywood version of Napoleon came out this week, to the chagrin of most French people but the delight of Battle of Waterloo re-enactment enthusiasts.

Our intrepid reporter went to the aptly named Wellington Cinema in Waterloo, just outside Brussels, to attend the film’s premiere!

We also rated a bunch of modern leaders on our own Napoleonic scale.

The other big political news of the week was the shock result of the Dutch election, which POLITICO covered quickly, comprehensively and brilliantly. The win for far-right weirdo Geert Wilders has rippled through the European political landscape this week and we have lots more on this topic to come.

I’m headed to Paris at the weekend to attend “Bal des debutantes” as chaperone to a friend’s child. I’ll report back next week.

Until then, Bon Weekend,

Jamil Anderlini

Editor-in-chief

**A message from Equinor: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is one of the solutions needed to achieve our global climate goals according to the IEA and the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).**

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Geert Wilders is the EU’s worst nightmare

This late-election-night piece hit the spot, putting Geert Wilders’ shock victory in the Netherlands into context for the next morning’s readers. With his anti-Islam politics and his pledge to hold a referendum on leaving the EU, Wilders’ first-place finish could shape not just Dutch politics, but also Europe’s. Read the story.

David Cameron downplayed Chinese role in controversial $1.4B port project

We have owned the David Cameron story since his unexpected appointment to the U.K. Cabinet. In this latest deep-dive, we unearthed footage showing Cameron had sought to downplay China’s role in a controversial port development in Sri Lanka — raising questions about his links to Beijing, and his suitability for his new job. Read the story.

Which modern-day politician is most like Napoleon?

How Napoleon are you? We ranked Europe’s leaders according to their similarity with the famous French emperor. No points for guessing who comes in first (it’s Emmanuel Macron). Read the story.

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán threatens to blow up EU’s Ukraine policy

We got hold of a letter in which the EU’s most problematic leader (for now) threatened one of the EU’s main goals — helping Ukraine. This was an agenda-setting piece and an excellent prelude to what will be a fascinating European Council summit next month. Read the story.

UK Autumn Statement: 9 secrets buried in the small print

Our U.K. team did a great job this week on covering the big autumn budget splash. We broke down the budget clearly and cut through the noise to tell you what really mattered and what you might have missed. Read the story.

France backtracks on EU-only ammo for Ukraine

Great scoop on France wobbling in its effort to only supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition from European factories as the one-million-shell pledge looks increasingly in danger. Read the story.

Poland’s dream of massive air hub hits political crosswinds

A clever look at the political turbulence around a project to build a massive new airport in central Poland that’s now in danger as power in Warsaw shifts to the opposition. Read the story.

YOUR WEEKEND PLAYLIST

EU Confidential: Geert Wilders stuns with far-right election victory in the Netherlands

Far-right leader Geert Wilders came out on top in the Dutch election this week, sending shock waves through Brussels and beyond. In this episode of EU Confidential, host Suzanne Lynch is joined by Eline Schaart and Nicholas Vinocur to break down the results of the vote, and what it potentially means for the EU moving forward. Later, we have a fascinating discussion with David O’Sullivan, the EU’s sanctions envoy. His main job is to make it harder for Russia to evade sanctions imposed by the EU over the war in Ukraine. We end the episode with an important announcement about the podcast, so do be sure to stick around for that and to sign up for Suzanne’s new newsletter: POLITICO’s Global Playbook, your VIP pass to the world’s most influential gatherings. Listen to the episode.

Westminster Insider: Is Westminster ready for the return of Donald Trump?

With opinion polls showing Donald Trump beating President Joe Biden in key battleground states a year out from the next U.S. election, podcast host Jack Blanchard asks whether Westminster is even remotely ready for the prospect of a second Trump presidency. Britain’s former Ambassador to the U.S. Kim Darroch and ex-Downing Street comms chief Katie Perrior recall their own interactions with Trump during his first tenure as president, while Keir Starmer’s former Chief of Staff Chris Ward considers how the Labour leader might respond to Trump’s special brand of diplomacy if he becomes prime minister next year. Polling guru Joe Bedell of Stack Data Strategy sets out just how likely Trump really is to win again in 2024, while POLITICO’s own Eugene Daniels — co-author of our Washington D.C. Playbook emails — explains the political factors driving Trump’s seemingly unlikely return. Listen to the episode.

Power Play: Build beautiful: Thomas Heatherwick’s campaign to ‘humanize’ buildings

Thomas Heatherwick’s designs have become icons in his home city of London, including the eye-catching cauldron at the 2012 Olympic Games and the reimagined Routemaster bus. The British designer’s projects have popped up around the world — and not without controversy. In this week’s edition of Power Play, host Anne McElvoy talks to Heatherwick about his mission to change the way our cities and urban areas are built. His new book “Humanise” implores mayors and town planners around the world to replace “boring” buildings, arguing that they damage our health and the environment. Anne is then joined by POLITICO’s “Power Panel” to reflect on the interview. Aitor Hernández-Morales is author of the Living Cities Global Policy Lab at POLITICO Europe, and Jeff Coltin is co-author of POLITICO’s New York Playbook. Listen to the episode.

DECLASSIFIED

There are many ways to deal with your enemies, one of which is to vomit all over them! Find out more in this week’s Declassified column.

Caption competition

“Now let’s get down to business … I believe it was Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the bedroom.“

Can you do better? Email [email protected] or on Twitter @pdallisonesque

Last week we gave you this photo:

Thanks for all the entries. Here’s the best from our postbag — there’s no prize except for the gift of laughter, which I think we can all agree is far more valuable than cash or booze.

“You’d have laughter lines this deep if you’d been made foreign secretary and had a record like mine,” by Paul Barrett.

**A message from Equinor:  Equinor has decades of experience safely storing CO2 in the Norwegian North Sea, and we are now pursuing new business models to make CCS commercially viable in the decarbonised Europe of the future. The Northern Lights project will start storing CO2 in 2024, and the new  Smeaheia license has the potential to store 20 million tonnes of CO2 annually, which we would like to transport to Norway from Belgium and Germany through a new pipeline connection.**