Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 7, 2018

Adam Gopnik, New Yorker: The Yellow Vests and Why There Are So Many Street Protests in France

A. J. Liebling, the greatest reporter—and the keenest Francophile—ever to write for this magazine, said that a reporter tells you what he’s seen, an interpretive reporter tells you the meaning of what he’s seen, and an expert tells you the meaning of what he hasn’t seen. Not having been there to actually see—or sense, hear, or witness—what is going on right now in France, mere expertise should watch its step and often curb its tongue. Yet, although not the same as being there, looking at the background and the history of an event can often help to make sense of it, even in brief retrospect. So, the gilets jaunes, or yellow vests, in France, have been the subject of anxiety, controversy, and, at times, shameless political opportunism on all sides. They are a popular movement of no clear political view or ideology; they take their name from the yellow vests that drivers in France are required to keep in their cars, to be worn in the case of a breakdown. (They can be seen in the dark that way.) Their ostensible ignition point was a rise in fuel taxes, engineered by the government of President Emmanuel Macron, for, as it happens, impeccably green reasons: the plan was to wean France off fossil fuels by making them more expensive, and to encourage the use of renewable sources.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 7, 2018

A Tax Revolt in France -- Michael Brendan Dougherty, NRO

Can Macron survive France's 'yellow vest' revolution? -- David A. Andelman, Reuters

Why are the 'yellow vests' protesting in France? -- Rokhaya Diallo, Al Jazeera

Russia Tries to Strangle Ukraine with New Maritime Strategy -- Christian Esch, Spiegel Online

A solution for the Ukrainian quagmire -- Pascal Lottaz and Herbert Reginbogin, Washington Times

Armenia’s Velvet Jacobin -- Peter Liakhov, Eurasianet

Seoul-Tokyo brawl could blow up into economic war -- Todd Crowell and Andrew Salmon, Asia Times

US ices Iran out of Yemen talks -- Julian Pecque, Al-Monitor

Tracing the Origins of Venezuela’s Crisis -- Allison Fedirka, Geopolitical Futures

Huawei CFO facing US fraud charges, seen as flight risk -- Christopher Scott, Asia Times

Why is Huawei so controversial and being targeted by foreign governments? -- Ian Burrows and Jack Kilbride, ABC News Online

Why Huawei arrest deepens conflict between US and China -- Paul Wiseman and Frank Bajak, AP

My Way or the Huawei: U.S.–China Competition Steps up a Gear -- Michael Shoebridge, The Strategist

Blame Alfred Thayer Mahan for Pearl Harbor (and Thank Him for Its Failure) -- James Holmes, RCD/National Interest