Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
UNITED STATES. A Pentagon rebadge is not mere semantics.
JAPAN. Ishiba faces a spill despite some recent success.
THAILAND. Thaksin flees as an establishment loyalist takes charge.
INDONESIA. Prabowo uses scapegoats and symbolism to diffuse unrest.
THE CARIBBEAN. Steady hands are re-elected in Jamaica and Guyana.
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UNITED STATES. Ministries of truth
A Pentagon rebadge is not mere semantics.
Donald Trump will sign an order to rename the Department of Defense the "Department of War", officials said Thursday. Robert Kennedy Jr faced an excoriating Senate hearing on vaccines. Gold moved higher ahead of the August jobs report.
INTELLIGENCE. The Pentagon's renaming will cause outrage and dominate the media cycle, but Trump's red meat provocations increasingly appear to go beyond simple trolling or “flooding the zone”. US institutions and commonly accepted "facts" are progressively being diminished. Alternative viewpoints are not just getting aired, but per the playbook of other hybrid regimes, a world in which nothing is true, and everything is possible, is being formed.
FOR BUSINESS. All governments lie, but most do so within accepted parameters. Those that violently break the Overton window, as often happens in emerging markets, can see rapid market punishment. Being so central to global finance, that this is happening in the US could test how the theory works. Diminishing trust may help Trump personally, particularly ahead of a prospective Epstein file release in Congress, but it damages the basis of US power.
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JAPAN. Cruise control
Ishiba faces a spill despite some recent success.
Shigeru Ishiba said he intended to remain prime minister as his Liberal Democratic Party prepared to vote on his leadership Monday. Donald Trump signed off on a trade deal that will see Japanese cars enter the US with a 15% tariff.
INTELLIGENCE. Despite the LDP’s poor performance in recent elections, Ishiba said
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