The National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Opens This Week: China’s leaders gather in Beijing this week for the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, a meeting President Xi Jinping will likely use to establish a level of control and influence over the Party not seen since Mao Zedong. Since he came to power in 2011, Xi has reshaped the country in his image, promoting a new ideology to replace the waning relevance of Communism and Maoism. China’s economy and military are both second in size to those of the United States, but Xi may be the world’s most powerful leader (and of course–lest we forget–the leader of the world’s largest authoritarian state and the owner of the world’s largest stockpile of foreign currency). On his numerous foreign trips, Xi has presented himself as an ambassador of peace and friendship, a “voice of reason in a confused and troubled world,” as well as a champion of globalization, free trade, and the Paris climate accord. Xi is also ramping up Chinese military power abroad–this year, he opened the country’s first foreign military base in Djibouti.

Domestically, Xi fears that even a little political permissiveness could lead not only to his downfall, but that of his regime. He mistrusts China’s rapidly increasing middle class and the burgeoning of civil society that was taking place when he took power. He has tightened control over Chinese society by strengthening the state’s powers of surveillance, by censoring the media, social media, and the internet, and by keeping the economy firmly under the party’s purview. Human rights abuses have grown steadily worse under his rule, with barely a mention from other world leaders (see above about who owns the world’s largest stockpile of foreign currency).

Liberals once mourned the “ten lost years” of reform under Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao, which have now become 15 lost years, and may eventually exceed 20, as Xi may not step aside in 2022, when precedent dictates he should. This week’s Congress will allow him to consolidate his power, and after that he will begin social and economic reforms in earnest. One-man rule is “ultimately a recipe for instability in China” (as it has been in the past) and for unpredictable behavior abroad. The world does not want “an isolationist United States or a dictatorship in China.” Unfortunately, we may already have both.

Austria Elects A New, Young, And Very Conservative Chancellor: Austria will take a sharp turn to the right following its parliamentary election on Sunday. Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, just 31 years old and soon to be Europe’s youngest leader, campaigned with a hard line on immigration, which resonated with voters and propelled Kurz’s People’s Party (OVP) to first place. The OVP did not win a majority and is likely to seek a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO). The FPO has an anti-immigration, anti-Islam agenda similar to its French sister party, the National Front. Kurz has led the OVP since May, and an alliance with the FPO would put the far-right in an Austrian governing coalition for the first time in more than 10 years.

Austria was governed by a coalition led by current Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats (SPO) and Kurz’s OVP, but that partnership collapsed in May, prompting a snap vote. After Sunday, the SPO was in a close race with the FPO for second place. Austria absorbed approximately 1 percent of its 8.7 million population in asylum seekers in 2015, one of the highest proportions in Europe, prompting many voters to feel their country was overrun. With immigration dominating the 2017 campaign, the social issues at the heart of Chancellor Kern’s SPO platform, including wealth redistribution and fighting unemployment, have been largely ignored. Detailed results will be announced October 19 and full official results will be declared on October 31.

Devastation in California’s Wine Country: Flames first appeared in northern California on October 8. Fueled by strong winds, fires quickly spread into a series of blazes, burning more than 220,00 acres, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, and killing at least 40 people. Dozens are still missing, and 10,000 firefighters from California and other states continue to battle around the clock.

One of the wettest winters on record spawned massive vegetation growth. Then, the hottest summer on record dried it out, creating a high potential for fire in California’s wine country. Crews claim this is the most fuel for an uncontrolled fire since the 1991 Oakland Hills fire that killed 25 people. Fire officials said the massive Tubbs and Atlas fires is 50% contained, and will begin to concentrate on the Nuns fire, which is 30% contained. Firefighters got a break Sunday when winds calmed down and temperatures cooled slightly to about 85 degrees. A rain system is anticipated by Thursday.

Iraqi Army Advances On Kurdish-held City of Kirkuk: Iraqi forces were reportedly advancing on Kirkuk after Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi ordered his military to “impose security” on the oil-rich Kurdish city. Both Kurdish and Iraqi officials reported that forces began moving at midnight on Sunday towards oil fields and an important air base currently under Kurdish control. The governor of Kirkuk has voiced his confidence that Kurdish peshmerga forces would be able to protect the city. Kurdish president Masoud Barzani ordered troops to not initiate conflict, and only to respond if attacked. Al-Iraqiya TV reported that Iraqi military, anti-terrorist units, and federal police had taken control of some areas around the city, with the goal of taking over the K1 air base, west of Kirkuk. Tensions in the area have been increasing for several weeks, after the country’s Kurdish population voted for independence from Baghdad. The referendum was opposed by Iran, Baghdad, and Turkey and has since led to a blockade of the region by all three countries.

Venezuela Votes. Will The Opposition or Maduro’s Government Prevail?: On Sunday, Venezuelans voted in elections for 23 governor seats. Polls suggest opposition candidates could win more than half of the seats, but President Nicolas Maduro’s critics have accused government-friendly electoral officials of changing voting procedures to favor candidates who support the president. According to polling by Datanalisis, pro-government candidates have 21 percent of the vote, while opposition and independent candidates have 62 percent. Last week, the US State Department expressed “great concern” over moves by Venezuela’s electoral council that it said called into question the fairness of the electoral process. In what appeared to be an effort to keep many opposition supporters from voting, the government-friendly electoral commission moved 205 polling stations from neighborhoods where support for the opposition is strong to poorer areas that are believed to be pro-government strongholds.

Additional read: Venezuela is first in the Bloomberg Misery Index, a ranking that no country should seek to be at the top of the rankings. Rounding out the top five are South Africa, Argentina, Greece, and Turkey.

Car Bombs Kill Hundreds In Mogadishu: On Saturday, terrorists struck a densely populated neighborhood known as the K5 district in Mogadishu, Somalia. At least 230 people were killed in the double car bomb blast. K5 contains numerous government buildings, restaurants and hotels. The first explosion destroyed dozens of stalls and the popular Safari Hotel in the heart of the city. Qatar’s Embassy was also damaged. The United Kingdom ambassador to Somalia tweeted that the blast was audible from inside the British Embassy. Security forces had been tipped off about the vehicle carrying explosives and were in pursuit when the explosion happened. No group has claimed responsibility, but in the past Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terror group, has carried out several deadly car bombings in the city. The devastating attack comes amidst another threat facing the country, starvation. The United Nations has reported that Somalia is facing a severe drought, and 3.1 million people face famine from food shortages and violence.

More Reads

• Putin’s Sakhalin mega-project to connect Russia and Japan sounds like a boodoggle.
• San Francisco has become the epicentre of the technology industry. Is the sinking and tilting Millenium Tower symbolic for how America now views large technology companies? (Business Insider)
• A young and upstart Californian congressman is seeking to unseat Senator Diane Feinstein who is seeking her fifth term in 2018. Grab some popcorn. (San Jose Mercury News)
• China’s state run economy can result in certain inefficiencies. Namely an obsession with the ballpoint pen. (Bloomberg)
• The moron statement will continue to cloud and hang over the Rex Tillerson and Trump relationship. (Business Insider)
• Trump’s “reflexive pursuit of manufactured conflict” might explain why he hates the Iran deal. (The New Yorker)
• If The Graduate was filmed today or anytime over the past decade, the one word would be “internet.” Unfortunately, that’s the word that hackers have on their lips whether it be teenagers in the basement or government sanctioned hackers.
  • How “Provoking Iran Could Have Unseen Cyber Consequences.” (Wired)
  • “The World Once Laughed at North Korean Cyberpower. No More.” (NYT)
• When will there be a Mata Hara movie? Infamous spy, striptease, and scapegoat. (BBC)

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