2024
December
04
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

December 04, 2024
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

When Lenora Chu looked into the rise of the far right in the former East Germany, here’s what she found. A feeling that west Germany looks down on those in the east. A sense that no party looks out for “the people at the bottom.” The worry that “everything in Germany is going downhill.” 

We see these same patterns in the United States and elsewhere. Seeing things in these larger ways can sometimes awaken us and help us see from a fresh perspective. In that way, Lenora’s report isn’t just about a German state, but also about a deeper question of how to help restore hope and dignity to those feeling abandoned by a changing world.


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News briefs

• Mexico’s biggest fentanyl raid: Mexican soldiers and marines seize more than a ton of fentanyl pills in what officials are calling the biggest catch in Mexico’s history.
• CEO fatally shot: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is shot and killed in what police say was a targeted attack outside a New York hotel.
• Historic Namibia vote: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has been elected president and will be the country’s first female leader.
• French political crisis: French lawmakers pass a no-confidence motion, bringing down the prime minister and his Cabinet for the first time since 1962.

Read these news briefs.


Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

A deeper look

Ben Curtis/AP
The front cover of the “God Bless the USA Bible” includes the inscribed date July 13, 2024, the day President-elect Donald Trump was shot during a Pennsylvania rally. Mr. Trump reported earning $300,000 from licensing his name and likeness for use in this Bible.

As U.S. states mandate study of the Bible and the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, the idea of separation of church and state enters a new era.

Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
People attend a candlelight vigil condemning South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law, which was reversed hours later, and calling for his resignation, in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 4, 2024.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s surprise declaration of emergency martial law lasted only six hours. But it has plunged South Korea – a key Asian economy and U.S. ally – into a political crisis that could last much longer.

Martin Schutt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP/File
The German state of Thuringia’s shining jewel of a city – Weimar – is dotted with UNESCO world heritage sites that draw 8 million tourists a year. Shown here, in 2022, are the town hall and Neptune Fountain.

In the German region where Nazis first tasted power a century ago, the extreme right-wing AfD is now ascendant. The historical echoes are not easily explained away. 

Reminiscent of U.S. and British civilians during World War II, Ukrainians are assembling drones at home to help supply the military with the thousands it uses every month in the war with Russia.

Chris Pizzello/AP
Writer Curtis Chin poses for a portrait to promote his book, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir," in October 2023, in Los Angeles.

In cities across the United States, Chinatowns are struggling. American storyteller Curtis Chin, author of “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant,” is on a mission to save these vibrant cultural enclaves.


The Monitor's View

AP
A man in Seoul, South Korea, holds a candle during a vigil against a declaration of martial law by President Yoon Suk Yeol, Dec. 4.

Every democracy, like every family, is resilient in its own way against internal divisions, and the South Korean people certainly showed their distinct democratic qualities on the night of Dec. 3.

After a surprise declaration of martial law by an unpopular president, Yoon Suk Yeol, a majority of the nation’s lawmakers – including many in the president’s party – rushed to the National Assembly in Seoul, bolstered by masses of citizens outside in the near-freezing cold.

The lawmakers bravely bypassed military barricades, nearly 300 troops, and a ban on political activity to vote against the president’s declaration, as the constitution allows them to do. Their courage was reflected by the mood of the pro-democracy protesters. “I am so scared that South Korea will turn into another North Korea,” one woman told the BBC.

Within hours, Mr. Yoon backed down – even though the former prosecutor now faces impeachment. A parliamentary democracy that dates only to 1987 was saved. Asia’s fourth-largest economy showed it was worthy of being designated as a developed country. And potential turmoil in a tense northeast Asia was averted.

The “great Korean people [had] overcome this coup,” declared the main opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung. And by “great” he may have been referring to a Korean cultural trait called han, a livid sorrow born of past national trauma that has helped instill individual resilience against threats to freedom.

“The past three decades have shown Koreans won’t tolerate democratic backsliding,” proclaimed Darcie Draudt-Véjares, a Korea expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Korean politics are often likened to a contact sport. The president’s martial-law edict and the deployment of soldiers in Seoul certainly showed just how rough the politics can be. Yet Koreans also have an inner strength nurtured over time by repelling despots and invaders. On the night of Dec. 3, han was with them. Their democracy snapped back, saving an anchor of stability in Asia.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

Seeing our leaders in their true, spiritual nature brings the freedom to engage lovingly and productively in politics.


Viewfinder

Benoit Tessier/Reuters
The U.S. Capitol Christmas tree, an 80-foot Sitka spruce from the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, glows after the Capitol Christmas tree lighting in Washington, Dec. 3, 2024.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thank you for spending time with the Monitor Daily. Tomorrow, we’ll examine Russian-backed sabotage in Europe, which seems to be on the rise, with recent cable cutting in the Baltic Sea perhaps involving Chinese participation as well.

More issues

2024
December
04
Wednesday

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