WORLD ROUNDUPWill South Korea Go Nuclear? | Can Lula Remake Brazil? | Interpol Is Doing Russia’s Dirty Work, and more

Will South Korea Go Nuclear?  (Charlotte Lawson, The Dispatch)
South Korea has begun to publicly discuss what was once unthinkable: pursuing its own nuclear weapons program. Such a move is unlikely to deter North Korea—but it could alienate Seoul’s most important ally.

Cold War Nuclear Bunker Lures Tourists Worried About New Threats  (Ian Austen, New York Times)
Amid renewed tensions with Russia, tourists are flocking to a decommissioned nuclear fallout shelter that Canada built to preserve its government during a nuclear war.

Climate Change May Usher in a New Era of Trade Wars  (Ana Swanson, New York Times)
Countries are pursuing new solutions to try to mitigate climate change. More trade fights are likely to come hand in hand.

Has a Quran-Burning Protest Ended Sweden’s NATO Dream?  (Gabriel Gavin, The Spectator)
A crowd gathered outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm on Saturday afternoon to watch far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burn the Quran. Paludan, who leads the anti-Islam ‘Hard Line’ Danish party, was watched by dozens of photographers, police officers and bemused passers-by. Paludan is no stranger to controversy: he has previously been convicted under racism and defamation law. This latest stunt was called to show his party’s opposition to immigration and, he says, to stand up for free speech. Now, though, the stunt has become a diplomatic crisis for Sweden – and there are fears that its bid to join NATO could go up in smoke.
Sweden is in the middle of trying to end its historic policy of neutrality and join the military alliance, along with its neighbor Finland. While the US, UK and want the two Nordic democracies to be part of NATO, Turkey is holding out its support, and has repeatedly threatened to veto both countries’ applications. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government says Sweden hasn’t done enough to crack down on exiled pro-Kurdish ‘terror groups’ operating in the country. As party of a deal signed by Sweden and Finland last summer in exchange for Turkey’s support in their NATO applications, the two countries said they would extradite more than 70 Kurds accused of extremism. Erdogan says they have been slow to act.
The way Erdogan works has made European governments question whether Turkey really sides with the West, or with Russia. In reality, it does neither. Turkey’s value to both has almost never been higher, and Erdogan knows he can leverage this to get what he wants. With a critical election scheduled for May, a Scandinavian far-right party has given Erdogan the opportunity to show his conservative support base that he is standing up for Islamic values.

Sweden’s Right-Wing Government Struggles to Tackle Gang Violence  (Megan Gibson, New Statesman)
Its prime minister Ulf Kristersson and his far-right partners are finding crime crackdowns harder to deliver than promise.

The Chinese Communist Party Is Trying to Rewrite History. It Will Fail  (Isabel Hilton, Prospect Magazine)
Mao’s Cultural Revolution left bloodstains that persisted throughout the 1970s, 1980s and beyond—regardless of what the ruling party says.

After Bolsonaro, Can Lula Remake Brazil?  (Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker)
Following a prison term, a fraught election, and a near-coup, the third-time President takes charge of a fractured country.

Interpol Is Doing Russia’s Dirty Work  (Ben Keith and Ted R. Bromund, Politico Magazine)
Interpol — the international law enforcement organization that helps countries nab fugitives — has effectively sided with Russia in its war on Ukraine.
Interpol’s member countries pledge to work together to prevent genuine criminals from escaping justice, and the system is based on the presumption that all its members are acting in good faith. But like other authoritarian members of Interpol, Russia abuses that presumption to pursue enemies of Putin’s regime. That has to stop, and Interpol has all the tools it needs to do so — including suspending Russia from the organization.
In response to Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the U.S., U.K. and other allies last year sought to suspend Russia from Interpol. The group resisted, emphasizing its neutrality and claiming that it can do more good with Russia on board: “As long as the Interpol network can assist in the rescue of one child abuse victim … it is its duty to ensure that lines of communication remain open.”
That’s false. Interpol was formed to disseminate information to aid the search for alleged criminals while preventing the abuse of its systems by member states. But the organization’s highest responsibility isn’t actually to help catch criminals.