WORLD ROUNDUPChina and Europe’s Savage Squabble | China’s Insertion into India-Pakistan Waters Dispute | After Iran, the Houthis Should Be Enemy No. 1, and more

Japan Upper House Election: Is Country About to Lurch to the Right?  (Richard Lloyd Parry, The Times)
A growing number of people in the country are being swayed by the Sanseito party, which has drawn the country to focus on immigration and mass tourism.

The Enshittification of American Power  (Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, Wired)
First Google and Facebook, then the world. Under Trump 2.0, US statecraft is starting to mimic the worst tendencies of Big Tech.

How Putin Humiliated Trump  (Jonathan Lemire, The Atlantic)
President Donald Trump is finally taking the fight to Vladimir Putin. Sort of. For now.
Trump’s deference to Russia’s authoritarian leader has been one of the most enduring geopolitical subplots of the past decade. But his frustration with Putin has grown. Last week, the president said the United States was taking “a lot of bullshit” from Putin. Today, he authorized a significant shipment of U.S. defensive weapons to Ukraine via NATO and threatened Russia with new tariffs if the war does not end in 50 days.
The change, though, is not reflective of Trump adopting a new strategic worldview, two White House officials and two outside advisers to the president told me, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Trump did not develop a new fondness for Ukraine or its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. He did not abruptly become a believer in the traditional transatlantic alliances prized by his predecessors as a counterweight to Moscow. Rather, Trump got insulted.

China and Europe’s Savage Squabble  (Economist)
Tensions are high ahead of a big summit next week.

Britain Has a Rare Opportunity to Lure American Talent  (Economist)
Americans like Britain. Ask restless American graduates where they would most like to move, and it often tops the list. So it is no surprise that, as the Trump administration has attacked America’s top universities and slashed funding for research, American interest in British-based science and tech jobs spiked. Britain has a rare opportunity to snap up disillusioned American boffins, as well as global talent that might once have chosen America. Will it seize it?

China’s Insertion into India-Pakistan Waters Dispute Adds a Further Ripple in South Asia  (Pintu Kumar Mahla, The Conversion)
With the future of a crucial water-sharing treaty between India and Pakistan up in the air, one outside party is looking on with keen interest: China.
For 65 years, the Indus Waters Treaty has seen the two South Asian rivals share access and use of the Indus Basin, a vast area covered by the Indus River and its tributaries that also stretches into Afghanistan and China.
For much of that history, there has been widespread praise for the agreement as a successful demonstration of cooperation between adversarial states over a key shared resource. But experts have noted the treaty has long held the potential for conflict. Drafters failed to factor in the effects of climate change, and the Himalayan glaciers that feed the rivers are now melting at record rates, ultimately putting at risk the long-term sustainability of water supply. Meanwhile, the ongoing conflict over Kashmir, where much of the basin is situated, puts cooperation at risk.

After Iran, the Houthis Should Be Enemy No. 1  (Eran Ortal, National Interest)
The Islamic Republic will watch the US response to the new Houthi attacks carefully, with implications for regional stability.

Energy and the Global Center of Gravity  (Nikolas K. Gvosdev, National Interest)
At some point, energy breakthroughs may begin to shift the global center of gravity and contribute to the de-prioritization of other national interests.