A Nuclear Collision Course in South Asia | Chile’s Politics & the Global Energy Transition | Spies Can’t Work from Home, and more

Germany Intensifies Scrutiny of Far-Right AfD, Labeling Its Youth Wing ‘Extremist’  (Nadine Schmidt and Sophie Tanno, CNN)
Germany’s intelligence services already have the right to monitor the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), the first time the authorities have taken such a step against a political party since the Nazi era. Now, they have taken aim at the AfD’s youth faction, whose members are as young as 14. CNN has been taking a closer look at the group. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), in April labeled the group as ‘extremist’ after four years of investigation. In a statement in April, the intelligence agency deemed the AfD’s youth wing, the Young Alternative for Germany or Junge Alternative für Deutschland (JA), as ‘clearly xenophobic’ and ‘propagating a racial concept of society based on basic biological assumptions.’ It deemed the group was likely to adopt ‘non-peaceful behavior’ towards people perceived as foreign.

Israeli Agents Conducted Raid Against Militants in Civilian Area, Killing a Child  (Imogen Piper, Meg Kelly and Louisa Loveluck, Washington Post)
Israeli military operations have long been a fixture of life in the West Bank, but they once happened mostly at night, and usually ended in apprehensions. This year, under the most right-wing government in Israeli history, a growing number of incursions have been carried out during the day, in densely packed urban areas such as Jenin. As of May 15, 108 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including militants and civilians, had been killed by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations, more than double last year’s toll from the same period. At least 19 were children.

How Chile’s Politics Are Shaping the Global Energy Transition  (Juan Carlos Jobet, Tom Moerenhout, and Jason Bordoff, Foreign Policy)
Chilean politics swung back to the pro-free market right this month, with voters electing conservatives to dominate the assembly that will draft the country’s first new constitution since 1980. The stakes are high in Chile’s rightward lurch for everything from the economy to crime to abortion rights. The political pendulum swings will also have big implications for the global clean energy transition given Chile’s role as a dominant supplier of lithium, a crucial component of batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems.
In late April, Chile’s leftist government unveiled a new lithium strategy, aimed at asserting greater state control over the industry as well as increasing the sustainability of production. The move comes at a time when governments and companies around the world are seeking to secure their lithium supply chains and expand production. With the world’s largest economically recoverable lithium reserves, Chile plays a massive role in the global clean energy transition. The new strategy risks backfiring, however, and turning into a roadblock to the rapid expansion of lithium supply needed for the energy transition. The recent political shift thus provides an opportunity to recalibrate the strategy to ensure Chile can attract the private investment needed to increase lithium mining at the scale and speed that the clean energy transition requires.
While the Chilean government’s focus on sustainability is laudable, the strategy is a confusing policy proposal that lacks the objectives, timeline, and resource allocation necessary to support the rapid expansion of lithium supply at a pace consistent with trying to decarbonize the global energy system by midcentury.

Machiavelli Preferred Democracy to Tyranny  (Matthew Kroenig, Foreign Policy)
Machiavelli’s motivation for writing The Prince is clear. He wanted to understand how Rome rose from a small city-state on the Tiber River to dominate the entire Mediterranean basin. The Italian city-states of his time were weak and preyed upon by larger powers. There was a time, however, when an Italian state was great. What was the secret to its success?
Machiavelli’s answer is straightforward. Rome achieved glory due to its republican form of government. His review of history leads him to conclude that democracies are better able than autocracies to harness the energy of a broad cross-section of society toward national greatness.
Machiavelli was not making an argument about the morality or wisdom of democratic or autocratic leaders—he knew better than anyone that humans are not angels—but of institutional constraints. Democratic leaders often want to exploit their position, but they will be constrained by laws, institutions, and other branches of government. Dictators may want to be magnanimous, but since there is little standing in their way, they will always be tempted to maximize their own well-being at the expense of the nation.