The World and Everything in It - December 8, 2021

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Foreign trade policy under President Biden has changed since the Trump era. We’ll talk how and why.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also World Tour.

Plus an audio postcard from France as a local church uses a sporting event to reach out to children.

And WORLD founder Joel Belz on journalistic truth in a post-modern age.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, December 8th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden-Putin face off as tension grows on Ukraine border » President Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin faced one another in a virtual summit, speaking by video on Tuesday.

AUDIO: Hello [Russian response]. Good to see you again. Last time we didn’t get to see one other at the G20. I hope next time we meet we do it in person.

The 2-hour meeting came amid rising tensions over a massive buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border.

And National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that President Biden issued a warning to Putin.

SULLIVAN: He told President Putin directly that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States and our European allies would respond with strong economic measures.

Earlier Tuesday, Ukrainian officials charged that Russia was continuing to escalate the crisis, sending tanks and snipers to war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Biden was vice president in 2014 when Russian troops marched into the peninsula of Crimea and annexed the territory from Ukraine. Aides say the Crimea episode looms large as Biden monitors the current crisis.

Putin, for his part, was expected to demand guarantees from Biden that the NATO military alliance will never expand to include Ukraine. But that's a non-starter in Washington and in Europe.

Biden’s vaccine mandates take another legal hit » President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates took another legal hit on Tuesday. WORLD’s Leigh Jones has more.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker temporarily halted the mandate for federal contractors while legal challenges wind through the courts.

Companies that contract with the U.S. government had until Jan. 4th to fully vaccinate all employees.

Another judge froze the mandate in three states, but Baker’s motion expands it nationwide.

The Biden administration has said mandates are vital to curb the spread of the virus. But Baker said that argument does not override constitutional concerns. He wrote, “even in times of crisis this Court must preserve the rule of law.”

He added that the mandate is expensive, hard to implement, and might cause further worker shortages.

Courts have also frozen the president’s national mandate for private companies with at least 100 employees, as legal battles play out.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

Pfizer CEO: omicron may be milder, but faster spread may spawn more mutations » Many health officials are still encouraging Americans to get vaccinated or boosted.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday that the omicron variant does appear to be milder but highly infectious.

Some say that may be a good thing, leading to more widespread natural immunity with a lesser risk of severe illness. But speaking at a Wall Street Journal summit, Bourla disagreed.

BOURLA: I don’t think it’s good news to have something spreads fast. Spreads fast means it will be billions of people and another mutation may come. You don’t want that.

Officials in South Africa reported Saturday that most COVID patients admitted to a hospital near Johannesburg did not need supplemental oxygen.

Omicron is spreading to more U.S. states, but for now, the delta variant remains the biggest menace, straining hospitals in some areas. After dipping last month, the delta wave is back on the rise. New U.S. cases have surged more than 60 percent over the past week.

White House defends diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Games » The White House on Tuesday defended its diplomatic boycott of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

China accused the United States of violating the Olympic spirit. A Foreign Ministry spokesman lashed out, saying Washington is acting “out of ideological prejudice ... based on lies and rumors.”

But White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the boycott against the People’s Republic of China—PRC for short—is justified...

PSAKI: Given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xianjang and other human right’s abuses.

But some say the move did not go far enough. Many rights groups have pushed for a full-blown boycott of the Games, but Psaki explained...

PSAKI: I don’t think that we felt it was the right step to penalize athletes who have been training, preparing for this moment.

She said the administration believes that the diplomatic boycott sends a clear message.

Whistleblower: As Afghanistan fell, UK abandoned supporters » A whistleblower who previously worked with the U.K.’s Foreign Office is accusing the British government of abandoning allies in Afghanistan. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Former British diplomat Raphael Marshall faced members of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday.

He told lawmakers that top officials at the U.K. Foreign Office ignored pleas for help. Marshall said he monitored an email inbox flooded with thousands of emails from desperate Afghans in August as British and U.S. troops left Afghanistan and the Taliban took over.

Marshall claims most of these emails were left unanswered. And he said that only 5 percent of up to 150,000 Afghan nationals who applied were able to flee.

Former Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who was demoted to justice secretary after the crisis, pushed back. He said the reports ignore how complex the crisis was and how quickly the Taliban took control of Kabul.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: trade policy under the Biden administration.

Plus, questions for Christian journalists.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 8th of December, 2021. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. First up: How is President Biden reshaping U.S. trade policies?

President Trump made trade a defining issue during his time in office. He pushed back hard against China, sparking a heated trade war. His trade policies also caused friction with U.S. allies and Europe, and he scrapped NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. He called that the worst trade deal ever made.

EICHER: His administration replaced NAFTA with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. And last month, President Biden sat down with his counterparts from Canada and Mexico to talk about how it’s going.

Biden has signaled a desire to smooth over trade tensions with U.S. allies around the world. But nearly a year into his presidency, how has U.S. trade policy actually changed?

Joining us now to help answer that question is Tori Smith. She is a trade policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

REICHARD: Tori, good morning!

TORI SMITH, GUEST: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

REICHARD: Well, how is it going? What’s changed with trade and let’s start in North America?

SMITH: Well, the three leaders actually, you know, they got together to discuss not just trade under the agreement, but overall the trilateral relationship, which has to do with cross-border goods and services, but also with things like energy and mutual security interests, mutual foreign policy interests, the immigration and migration issues amongst the three countries.  So it was very important that, you know, President Biden held this meeting because Canada and Mexico are our closest partners. They're our closest allies. They're our strongest trading partners. And it's important for North America to stick together not just as a trading bloc, but as a bloc of countries that share values.

REICHARD: Some are concerned that part of President Biden’s plans for spending the infrastructure funds that just passed risk alienating Mexico and Canada. What’s the concern with that?

SMITH: Yes, this is a very major issue between the three countries. And it's a bit complicated. The first part of it is on the issue of tax credits for electric vehicles. Electric vehicles are a newer technology that's still actively being being developed. And some of the efforts by the Biden administration to allow these tax credits is seen as being trade distorting by our North American neighbors. So that it would potentially incentivize American automakers over Canadian or Mexican automakers, and give them an advantage that these other companies might not have, and make the playing field a little unlevel. The same thing can be said for issues on infrastructure, which was a major topic of discussion between the three leaders, because the infrastructure bill that was just passed includes what's called domestic content requirements or Buy America requirements, so that when these contracts go out, when this money is spent, it can only be spent on American-made products, which makes it so that Canadian and Mexican businesses can’t bid on these projects. And, again, leads to a competition issue that our partners see as unfair.

REICHARD: The Trump administration had some trade spats with U.S. allies in Europe, and the Biden administration has tried to ease trade tensions. What’s happening there?

SMITH: Yes. So our ambassador, Katherine Tai, she's the head of the Office of  United States Trade Representatives—so this is the body that goes out and negotiates our trade agreements—recently reached an agreement with our counterparts in the European Union to help lessen some of the tensions over steel and aluminum tariffs which were imposed under the Trump administration, on the basis of threatening -- that the imports threaten to impair U.S. national security. And so there was some tit for tat back and forth between the two entities to try to get those tariffs to go away. And the deal essentially is that they will switch over to not a tariff system but a quota system, which basically means that they're going to be counting every item of steel that comes in from Europe. And if too many things come in, then they'll start taxing at a higher rate. So that has lessened the tension, resulted in some lesser retaliation against the U.S. by the European Union. And the two sides also agreed to some mutual efforts to help address issues of steel overcapacity and the mass production of steel and its relation to climate issues.

REICHARD: Let’s talk about China for a minute. What’s changed from the Trump administration to the Biden administration as far as U.S. trade with China?

SMITH: Well, generally speaking, we have the U.S.-China deal, the phase one deal that was signed under the Trump administration. Leading up to that deal, there were very high tariffs imposed on both sides, making it more expensive for Americans to buy from China and vice versa. Those tariffs are largely still in place under the Biden administration. So it is more expensive for you today to buy from China than it was, say four or five years ago. And we've seen very little improvement on, you know, things like intellectual property protections in China and some of the larger issues that the U.S. did have with China. It seems to me that the Biden administration is not changing much on the previous administration's China policy. And the one thing I would say is different is that they are—the Biden administration is trying to work more with allies, like the European agreement that we just talked about, and at least trying to have that conversation almost on a multilateral basis. But that is not doing much for us as Americans who are paying the cost of these tariffs.

REICHARD: Related to that, Tori, you recently wrote that President Biden’s trade policies would make America more like China. What do you mean by that?

SMITH: Yes, so the Biden administration has been proposing some policies related to industrial planning, or, you know, government central planning, about how our economy should look and what industries should be the ones that are succeeding, and what ones that and the ones that shouldn't. A good example of this is in the area of energy production. You see the Biden administration really harming the ability of the U.S. to drill for oil, to do drilling for natural gas, and actually throwing all of their weight behind alternative energies and wanting to subsidize those energy sources and making oil and gas more expensive. And that is a very concrete example of the government picking that these industries are going to win and these ones are going to lose. At the Heritage Foundation what we advocate for is to have these energy sources competing on a level playing field. Let's get rid of all of this government support and subsidies for all of the energy industries, and then see what the most efficient and cost effective and best energy production source is.

REICHARD: Final question, about the World Trade Organization. I’ve heard some people calling to reform it. What role does the WTO play to shape trade between the United States and the rest of the world? And what needs to change, if anything?

SMITH: Yes. The World Trade Organization is one of the principal international organizations of which the United States was a key founder and architect of this organization. But it's the organization that helps us to agree to a set of rules between countries around the world—over 100 countries are members of the World Trade Organization—and it helps us to agree on a rules-based system and that countries will, you know, adhere to those rules. And if they don't, the WTO has what's called a dispute settlement system that allows the United States to file a case against, say, Chile or Mexico or China or whoever it may be, alleging, you know, what rule they aren't following and looking for a way to resolve that. And it's actually a very effective mechanism, this dispute settlement. Without it, the only real system that we have for enforcing our trade rules is through our trade agreements. And we don't have trade agreements with all the countries in the world. In fact, we have trade agreements with less than 20 countries in the world. So this is a really important mechanism. And it's not perfect. Like any organization, it's not perfect and it can use some improvements to help streamline the process, make it more efficient, and more effective. And, you know, those are the things that we're working on to figure out what's the best way to make those changes while ensuring that the organization is moving forward to deal with the issues on trade that we need new rules for that didn't exist when the institution was started 20 years ago.

REICHARD: Tori Smith is Senior Policy Analyst in Trade Policy at the Heritage Foundation. Tori, thanks so much!

SMITH: Thank you.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Ethiopian PM claims military advances—We start today here in Africa.

ABIY: [Speaking Amharic]

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared on national television Monday to declare victory in recent battles with Tigray forces.

Abiy claimed his troops are winning the war, adding, “The victory will continue.”

But Abiy’s claims could not be independently verified. Last month, the government restricted media coverage of the conflict, including reports on troop movements. Foreign media outlets had already been banned from Tigray for much of the year-long conflict.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the United Nations said aid convoys finally arrived in Tigray late last month, after more than a month of delays.

DUJARRIC: Ethiopia, in the northern part of the country, our humanitarian colleagues have advised us that the conflict there continues to drive large-scale displacement, loss of livelihoods and limited access to markets, food and basic services. Our humanitarian partners have limited access to large segments of the population across these regions, though there have been some improvements in the past week.

Nearly half a million people in northern Ethiopia face famine-like conditions due to a government blockade of the area.

Incumbent president wins election in Gambia—Next we go west, to The Gambia.

AUDIO: [Sound of celebrations]

Supporters of President Adama Barrow celebrated on Sunday after he won a second term in office.

AUDIO: I am feeling happy, I am feeling happy because my president, who I voted for, has won already. That is why I am so happy. Everyone in The Gambia they are all out for jubilating the president. We are all happy.

Saturday’s election was seen as a crucial test for democracy in the country. Five years ago, Barrow defeated the country’s former dictator, but military forces had to remove him from office before Barrow could take over.

The main opposition candidate disputed the results of Saturday’s vote. But he called on his supporters to remain peaceful, saying he would appeal to the law to correct any irregularities.

Pakistan denounces mob killing—Next to South Asia.

AUDIO: [Sound of people talking at memorial]

Police in Pakistan have arrested more than 100 people in the mob killing of a Sri Lankan man accused of blasphemy.

The angry mob attacked the factory manager on Friday amid rumors that he’d torn down a religious poster and thrown it in the trash. The mob instigators accused the man of blasphemy. But police are investigating whether a personal vendetta over his “strict” management style might have led to the accusation.

AUDIO: [Man speaking Urdu]

Officials condemned the brutal killing. And business leaders called on Pakistan’s government to take action to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Pakistan has had a string of high profile mob killings over blasphemy claims. Christians and ethnic minorities are often targets of false accusations.

Volcano erupts in Indonesia—And finally, we end today in Indonesia.

AUDIO: [Sound of digging, voices]

Search teams continue to look for victims of the Mount Semeru volcano. It erupted Saturday, ejecting a mushroom of volcanic ash and raining down hot mud. Thousands of people fled, but at least 34 died when the ash and mud swallowed houses and vehicles. Nearly Two dozen people are still missing.

Volcanic activity is common in Indonesia. The country has more than 100 active volcanoes. Mount Semeru last erupted a year ago.

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: How do you demonstrate your love to your spouse after 27 years of marriage?

MARY REICHARD: I know! Take. The. Trash. Out. Of. This. House.

EICHER: Well, then. I have a story of a man who so demonstrated by building a house to take the trash out of—He built the Taj Mahal.

Well, a not-quite-to-scale replica, but still quite impressive.

52-year-old Anand Prakash Chouksey said it took three years to complete construction at a cost of about $260,000 U.S. dollars. They used 3D models of the Taj Mahal to ensure accuracy.

He called the 4-bedroom house a "monument of love” to his wife.

Can’t wait to see what he does for their 28th anniversary!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 8th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Believe it or not, the Winter Olympics are less than two months away. All around the world many churches are strategizing ways to connect those games to ministry.

EICHER: A few months ago, WORLD’s Jenny Lind Schmitt paid a visit to a local church in France that used an international soccer match to reach out to immigrant children in their neighborhood.

JENNY LIND SCHMITT, CORRESPONDENT: After more than a year of online everything, this hot summer Saturday gave volunteers from Quartier Libre a chance to reconnect with kids in person. But it also happened to be the day of France’s first game in the Eurocup soccer championship and most families would watch the game together.

So, instead of canceling, volunteers from Eglise La Prairie church in nearby Montbeliard turned the match into an opportunity.

LACHER: Ne vous inquiétez pas, vous serez lachés pour le match.

Quartier Libre is a ministry to kids in the economically disadvantaged town of Bethoncourt. Most are from North African immigrant families with Muslim backgrounds. The community doesn’t welcome overt Christian evangelism, so Quartier Libre puts on afternoons of fun with the goal of building relationships that can lead to sharing the gospel.

AUDIO: [HAPPY MUSIC]

After meeting for prayer, volunteers prepare the events. They’ve transformed normal activities into everything Euro and soccer-related. There’s a physical training station, a goal-kick station, a face painting station, and a few others. There’s even a stand to decorate your face mask with the flag of the team you’re rooting for.

AUDIO: [WELCOME ON PA]

Pre-covid, Quartier Libre afternoons often included 70 kids, but leaders aren’t sure how many will come today.

CHILDREN: OUI!

Thirty-five show up initially, and another 10 straggle in. Leaders split the kids into groups of six, and each group moves through the circuit of stations.

AUDIO: [FACE PAINT STAND]

At the face-painting station, most kids want the tri-color French flag on their cheeks: blue, white, and red. Older boys don’t want paint on their faces, but they’re okay with a soccer ball on their arms.

Some kids want flags of the countries their families are from. Volunteer Marie looks up images on her phone and does her best.

Mohammed asks for an Algerian flag painted on his arm. He’s 10. He’s been coming to Quartier Libre for a long time. He says it’s pretty cool because there’s a lot of games and you have a lot of fun. His favorite thing is jump rope. He can make it to 17 jumps.

AUDIO: [AIR HORN]

Lisita is 12. This year she participated in a sister program that provides one-on-one homework help. That’s important in a community where many parents aren’t native French speakers.

LISITA: Ça aide bcp avec les devoirs...

TRANSLATION: It really helps a lot with my homework. Before I couldn’t manage it, but when I started coming here, I was able to get my homework done.

The short-term goal is to help kids succeed in school. But volunteers pray to build relationships where they can one day tell the good news of Jesus Christ.

AUDIO: CHOREOGRAPHY

The afternoon ends with a dance and a skit. It’s about respecting others, even when they root for a different team. It’s nearly game time.

AUDIO: SUPPORTEURS DE FRANCE

One last cheer and the well-decorated kids run home to watch the game. Hulya has three boys who have come to Quartier Libre for years.

HULYA: Ils sont adorables...

She says the people here have big hearts, like nowhere else. That’s the kind of connection Quartier Libre director Paul Raugust hopes volunteers can make with everyone who comes.

RAUGUST: Really just wanting to invite our friends to know the God of the Scriptures. To know that God has a plan, and that He has something sure and certain for us with Him in His presence for eternity.

MUSIC: U2- UEFA EURO 2020 SONG...

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jenny Lind Schmitt in Bethoncourt, France.

It’s been my real pleasure this year to bring you stories from all around Europe: reporting on the growing pro-life movement in Germany, covering the summit meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in Switzerland, looking at how the French government’s secularist efforts to combat Islamic extremism threaten Christian churches—to name a few.

This fall I started working on a plan to identify and train Christian journalists in Europe with a goal to strengthen our coverage because WORLD strives to cover the world. And we get to do this only because of your faithful support.

This month is WORLD’s December Giving Drive.

I hope you’ll consider renewing your support for sound journalism grounded in facts and Biblical truth. Your gifts help to ensure the future for reporting like this. Please visit WNG.org/donate and make a gift today. That’s WNG.org/donate.

And for now, I’ll wish you a Joyeux Noel, Buon Natale, Frohe Weihnachten, and a Merry Christmas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 8th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Here’s WORLD founder Joel Belz on 10 questions to ensure the integrity of journalism.

JOEL BELZ, FOUNDER: Pursuit of a quality product like the podcast you’re listening to right now involves a good bit more than concentrating on this week’s programs. We’ve got to be thinking as well about what WORLD News Group looks like a year from now, five years from now, and even a decade down the road.

That’s why in early 1999 we took steps to form the World Journalism Institute. Through WJI, we sought to shape the worldview, skills, ambitions, and journalistic habits of fledgling reporters.

That summer, about 20 brave folks came to Asheville, N.C., for an intensive course in the worldview and theory of journalistic practice. They also worked side-by-side with the WORLD staff in the actual reporting, writing, and designing of the magazine. The robust success of that effort demanded we mark the completion of the course with a noteworthy “graduation” exercise. We needed to enlist a noteworthy speaker.

Our thoughts turned to Carl F. H. Henry. Henry had been one of the foremost journalists in the history of the United States. He was a radio commentator in Los Angeles, a movie critic, editor of a weekly newspaper, a stringer for The New York Times and the Chicago Daily Tribune, an occasional contributor to the tabloid press, and then for 12 years the editor of Christianity Today magazine.

He titled his hour-long address “Journalistic Truth in a Postmodern Age.” And every student and guest at that dinner went home with a handful of questions, beyond the traditional 5 Ws, that every Christian journalist should be asking as they do their work.

1. Are you telling the truth?

2. Are there witnesses?

3. Assure yourself that this is the proper time and place to tell the story.

4. Has the offending party been treated as one would wish to be treated and given opportunity to reply (as in a letter to the editor or a news story)?

5. Can I identify the offender’s right intentions and note a better way of fulfilling them?

6. Am I the best informed source to make the matter public, and can I reiterate the journalistic principles that are at stake?

7. Can the Christian source locate a relevant Bible verse or passage and show how it illumines or reinforces the right decision and action?

8. Does Christian hope shine through in anticipation of the final triumph of righteousness?

9. Does Christian commitment to global mission as ante-dating the League of Nations and United Nations remain as more comprehensive, messianic, and enduring?

10. Does good news survive the worst of all tragedies?

Henry’s speech to the WJI students in 1999 was one of his last public presentations. He died in 2003 at 90 years of age. But his journalistic influence still abides in the work of WORLD News Group.

I’m Joel Belz.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Mail delivery. It’s been slowed on purpose, even despite the Christmas rush. We’ll explain the numbers behind that counter-intuitive strategy.

And, we’ll talk to Kim Henderson about the last installment in her four-part special series, Truth Be Told.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

And a reminder, you can support that mission with a gift in our December Giving Drive. WNG.org/donate.

The Lord said to Moses to teach this blessing: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Go now in grace and peace.

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