‘Syria’s leaders need to prove they can be trusted’
Ilan Berman at The Washington Post
The United States’ “rehabilitation of Syria has proceeded at remarkable speed,” but it is “becoming increasingly clear that, at least at the moment, Washington is making its bet based more on hope than hard evidence,” says Ilan Berman. The “ideological makeup of the country’s new rulers has not changed nearly as much as Western officials might wish to believe” and “reflect an officially sanctioned effort to shape Syria’s next generation according to a radical, rejectionist worldview.”
‘Critics can no longer claim ESPN is “woke”’
Michael McCarthy at Front Office Sports
If “you want proof the ‘woke’ era at ESPN is over, all you had to do was watch President Donald Trump’s inaugural Freedom 250 Patriot Games,” says Michael McCarthy. The “happy, smiling scene between ESPN/Disney power players and the second Trump administration was a far cry from some of the media giant’s previous tense interactions with ‘The Donald.’” ESPN “might not want to enlist in the culture wars anymore, but the culture wars will draft them anyway.”
‘The US is now using the “terrorist” label to interfere in Brazil’s election’
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia at Al Jazeera
In “designating Brazil’s two largest criminal organizations” as terrorist groups, the U.S. “has asserted its own definition of Brazil’s security threats, with consequences that reach far beyond law enforcement,” says Raphael Tsavkko Garcia. This “says far more about politics than security.” The “designation reflects a dangerous convergence between Washington’s longstanding interventionist instincts in Latin America, echoing memories from the U.S.-sponsored dictatorship that lasted from 1964 until 1985, and the interests of Brazil’s far right.”
‘How AI poses a threat to journalism, already weakened by 20 years of digital upheaval’
Aude Dassonville at Le Monde
For the “media, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has proven to be an earthquake, profoundly shaking journalistic practices and relationships with readers, along with the economic models of newspapers, magazines, television channels and news websites,” says Aude Dassonville. How “can organizations continue to exist if, on top of having their content scraped by AI, readers drop and advertising revenue is siphoned off?” A “worrying trend is that, quite often, chatbot users are confident with answers generated by AI.”