WORLD ROUNDUPChina’s Universities Are Wooing Western Scientists | Trump’s False Fantasy About Afrikaner Land | The Groups vying for Control of Gaza Post-Hamas, and more

How Poland Can Keep Its Place at the Heart of Europe  (Economist)
If it turns inward, the country and continent will lose out.
Just when Poland should stand proud and tall once more, is it about to throw away its influence?
That is the question Poles face in the decisive run-off vote to elect their president on June 1st. One vision, from the candidate of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, is a brand of right-wing nationalism that feeds off conflict with Poland’s neighbors and the European Union. The other, from the center, is that, in a dangerous world, Poland needs Europe to magnify its strengths, just as Europe needs Poland as a source of security and economic dynamism. Unfortunately, at the moment the right may have the upper hand.

We Can No Longer Dismiss Trump’s Blatant Racism  (Howard W. French, Foreign Policy)
The meeting with Ramaphosa marked a reversion to the open racism of U.S. presidents long past.

Trump’s False Fantasy About Afrikaner Land  (Michael Albertus, Foreign Policy)
The U.S. president is fixated on an expropriation policy that isn’t as radical as he thinks.

Mexico Battles the MAGA Movement Over Organized Crime  (Economist)
To keep America at bay Claudia Sheinbaum takes on Mexico’s gangsters.

Can Friedrich Merz Save Conservatism?  (John Kampfner, , Foreign Policy)
Germany’s new chancellor is in a race to change Germany so it has a chance to remain the same.

China’s Universities Are Wooing Western Scientists  (Economist)
And they are reaching beyond academics with Chinese heritage.

Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Groups Tried to Influence EU: Report  (Clea Caulcutt, Victor Goury-Laffont and Sarah Paillou, Politico.eu)
A bombshell report from the French authorities alleges that organizations with links to the Muslim Brotherhood have been attempting to influence European Union institutions through “significant lobbying activities.” A version of the document seen by POLITICO before its official publication says the Islamist group’s supposed ideological allies sought to push Brussels to criminalize blasphemy and promote a “singular” vision of religious freedom that clashes with France’s strict model of a secular state that protects both freedom of religion and freedom from religion. The European Parliament and MEPs were “particularly targeted,” the report said.

The Shifting Front of Militant Islamist Violence in the Sahel  (Africa Center for Strategic Studies)
Three Sahelian countries—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—are the focal point of militant Islamist violence in the region. This violence has widened in scale and scope in recent years. Fatalities linked to these groups are more than two and half times the levels seen in 2020 when the first military coup in Mali occurred. Subsequent coups in Burkina Faso and Niger have also been followed by deteriorating security. Militant Islamist groups control more territory and transportation arteries in the three countries than at any point since the insurgencies began more than a decade ago. These figures are likely an undercount as the military juntas in all three countries have systematically intimidated journalists for reporting on military setbacks.

Germany Deploys Permanent Troops to Another Country for the First Time Since World War II  (AP / CNN)
Chancellor Friedrich Merz inaugurated a groundbreaking German brigade in Lithuania that is meant to help protect NATO’s eastern flank and declared Thursday that “the security of our Baltic allies is also our security” as worries about Russian aggression persist. He said Berlin’s strengthening of its own military sends a signal to its allies to invest in security.

The Groups vying for Control of Gaza Post-Hamas (Jewish News Syndicate)
The vast majority of members of the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip, the so-called shadow government, have either been killed or fled abroad. Against this backdrop, it appears that the position of other terrorist organizations in Gaza is set to strengthen. It’s not just Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which still manages to occasionally fire rockets; more than 15 additional groups and smaller cells are active in the Strip.