Israel and ‘the squad’

ISRAEL: A controversial visit to Israel by two members of Congress who support BDS—or the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign against Israel—is shaping up to be confrontational, as the Israeli government hints it may bar their entry upon arrival on Friday.

NORTH KOREA has issued stamps featuring President Donald Trump, but the good feelings don’t hide the fact that leader Kim Jong Un is actually having a very bad year, argues analyst Nicolas Eberstadt.

INDIA: Kashmir’s future is uncertain after the government of Narendra Modi revoked the region’s autonomous rule. Under lockdown, journalists in Kashmir are taking heroic steps to keep the presses rolling.

In Uttar Pradesh, church leaders have urged Prime Minister Modi to take immediate action against violent Hindu extremists after a series of attacks left a pastor and two of his congregation badly beaten.

IRAQ: Basra’s Chaldean Catholic Church has opened for the first time since 2005—but most of its congregation has fled the city. The church once operated a shelter and a school but now is down to about 50 people—as Iraq’s Christian population has dwindled from about 1.3 million people 15 years ago to under 200,000.

AFGHANISTAN: There’s no doubt what will happen if the Trump administration orders a full pullout following a peace agreement with the Taliban, writes former head of U.S. Central Command David Petraeus and foreign policy adviser Vance Serchuk: “full-blown civil war and the re-establishment of a terrorist sanctuary as existed when the 9/11 attacks were planned there.”

UNITED STATES: An Afghan refugee living in the United States since she was 5 years old, now with a University of Texas graduate degree and high-profile job, says she will self-deport next year: “My hopes have been shattered repeatedly … my very existence in my country remains in jeopardy.”

UNITED STATES: Fairgoers from all around the world come to the State Fair of Texas for the food competition. This year’s finalists include a Southern fried chicken fettuccini Alfredo ball and a stuffed fried Mexi-cone.

GERMANY: Counting down to the holiday movie season, and I’m looking forward to Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life.

NEXT WEEK: There will not be a Globe Trot on Monday, but it will return, Lord-willing, next Thursday.

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