Our picksAnarchists Attack Northwest Train Tracks | The Nazi Inspiring China’s Communists | Climate Change & National Security, and more

The Nazi Inspiring China’s Communists (Chang Che, The Atlantic)
A decades-old legal argument used by Hitler has found support in Beijing.

Women Linked with Anarchist Group Charged with Terrorist Attack on Train Tracks North of Seattle (Danielle Wallace, Fox News)
‘Shunts’ placed on train tracks caused the near-derailment of tanks of hazardous chemicals in a residential area, federal prosecutors say

Anonymous Shell Companies Fund Crime and Terror; It’s Time to Crack Down (Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., The Hill)
For nearly 30 years, a 36-story office building in the heart of midtown Manhattan — around the corner from Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center — was secretly owned by the government of Iran. How was a government that was under economic sanctions able to own a highly coveted piece of real estate in the middle of the largest city in the United States? The answer is surprisingly simple: It used anonymous shell companies. What’s worse, those shell companies were not created in some shady foreign jurisdiction — they were formed right here in the U.S.

Germany Bans Far-Right, Pro-Nazi Group, Police Raid Homes (Al Jazeera)
The Wolfbrigade 44 group’s goal is to re-establish a Nazi dictatorship, according to security officials.

NATO Should Expand Its Focus to Include China, Report Says (Michael R. Gordon and James Marson, Wall Street Journal)
Alliance to update strategy document that predates Russia’s seizure of Crimea and China’s military buildup.

How Biden Can Fight “Truth Decay” (Michael D. Rich and Jennifer Kavanagh, Wisconsin State-Journal)
President-elect Joe Biden has been clear about his agenda: control the pandemic, recover economic stability, advance racial equality and confront climate change. But to accomplish any of these, another pressing issue will have to be tackled. The Biden administration must begin rebuilding Americans’ trust in their government and public institutions.
Public trust is deeply intertwined with the reliance on facts and analysis as the basis for political discourse — and research finds that has been on the decline for about two decades, a problem we refer to as “truth decay.” Today, large numbers of Americans question the science behind vaccines, are skeptical of government-reported economic and crime statistics, and are more accepting of conspiracy theories such as the baseless one concerning QAnon.
Much like our bridges and roads, America’s civic infrastructure — the practices and policies that enable a nation to solve its communal problems — has been allowed to crumble. This has allowed truth decay to set in. Reconstructing this infrastructure will require concerted effort across many areas.

How Right-Wing Extremism Moved into Mainstream America (San Jose Spotlight / Patch)
Hate groups and other extremist organizations existed long before President Trump took office but they are thriving under his presidency.

Climate Change, National Security, & the New Commander-in-Chief (Mark Nevitt, Just Security)
President-elect Joe Biden is 50 days away from assuming office as commander-in-chief. He has committed to taking bold, historic action on climate change and has named climate change one of the four crises facing the United States. He has also pledged to integrate climate change into national security decision-making. This stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration, which questioned the underlying climate science and deleted “climate change” from the National Security Strategy.
At the same time, Biden may ultimately face a GOP Senate, depending on the outcome of the runoff elections in Georgia. This would strike a blow to his boldest climate ambitions—and may undermine the passage of comprehensive climate legislation. If this comes to pass, executive branch action will take on heightened importance. Regardless of any legislative effort, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other administrative agencies will likely reinstitute and strengthen Obama-era regulations to address climate change under existing legal authorities such as the Clean Air Act. But what are the president’s authorities as commander-in-chief to “combat” the national security threats posed by the climate crisis?