ROYAL WATCH — SPLITTING HEIRS Prince Harry's Spare isn't just a revenge book by a war hero willing to call his war narrative into question; and it isn't a case of poor, lost Harry — the conclusion of many British writers who dislike his grandstanding but can't bring themselves to dislike the monarchy. It's an attempt to blow up the British monarchy as we know it. Among the things monarchy does (repeatedly through generations) is sacrifice the interests of minor and younger members on the altar of protecting heirs to the throne. Harry is just the latest case, and happens to have a wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex , who like Harry's mother Diana has been both a victim of that system and a skilled media player. Harry's multitudinous claims — humiliating and pointless on one level — are wrecking the market for the sort of media stories he says have wrecked his life. There's little left to give — or leak — after this. The case against Harry: He's a whiny, greedy, brat who has parlayed the tragedy of his mother's death at a young age, and a mundane brotherly feud, into a $100 million content machine. He has doomed himself to monetizing the institution he says is making his family's life hell, by airing the family's dirty laundry and playing the victim for the benefit of woke American audiences. Rather than protecting his family, Harry has put them in harm's way by angering the Taliban with the revelation that he killed 25 while on military duty in Afghanistan. The case for Harry: He is exposing media tactics and a callous institution with brave on-record comments, the kind his detractors never dared to match in their anonymous briefings. But Harry isn't doing this for you or me, or against his family, he's doing this to finally take control of the narrative of his life which has been bargained away by the monarchy since before he was able to consent. Worth remembering: Harry learned how to do all this from both his parents. CANADA — FOREIGNERS BANNED FROM BUYING HOMES THEY DON'T OCCUPY Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to slow down house price inflation, which has made Toronto and Vancouver among the world's least affordable cities. A new law limits which non-Canadians can enter the country's property market, for example non-residents. Who can't buy: Non-residents for the next two years. Canadians who "counsel, induce, aid or abet" a "non-Canadian to purchase, directly or indirectly, any residential property" could also be fined up to $7,500 Who can buy: Foreigners who are permanent residents, students, refugees and employees of foreign corporations posted to Canada. Many factors affect housing prices; retaliation may follow: The problem is often housing supply overall, not foreigners owning excessive amounts of existing supply. The percentage of foreign owners is in the single digits in British Columbia (3.1 percent) and Ontario (2.2 percent), according to the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, though in recent years, Chinese buyers (from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China) have been responsible for up to one-third of Vancouver's real estate purchase volume. "If Canada places a ban on Americans owning property in Canada, we should expect them to respond in kind," said the Canadian Real Estate Association. Disclosure: Your host has bought homes in two different countries while a foreigner. One, I still live in, in New York. The other I bought in Belgium while living there — and which was rented to a refugee family until recently. That happened because they told me they faced a lengthy struggle getting Belgian property owners to rent to them. The moral: legislation can limit some types of property speculation — but it can't wish away all too common property market problems like racism. PORTUGAL — DIGITAL NOMAD BUBBLE POISED TO POP: The promise was tax breaks — including on crypto capital gains — dedicated visas and year-round sun. Why simply visit Lisbon's annual Web Summit, when you can live it 365 days a year? Around 16,000 tech entrepreneurs signed up. Now, some are leaving, frustrated that government services and bureaucracy aren't matching the hype of the government's marketing machine. IS IT OK TO SPEND $8,000 ON CELEBRITY LOOKALIKE ACTORS FOR A DIPLOMATIC PARTY? Saudi Arabia is going to spend more on ice cream in Davos next week (if WEF 2022 is anything to go by). But what if you're the British embassy in Stockholm during a cost-of-living crisis at home? KLEPTOWATCH ABRAMOVICH TRUSTS CHANGED HANDS BEFORE SANCTIONS: The children of Roman Abramovich, the Russian-Israeli former owner of Chelsea Football Club, were named beneficial owners of multiple trusts worth billions of dollars shortly before sanctions were imposed on the businessperson. MOVES ANOTHER PRINT MAGAZINE DIES: The National Interest, a prominent journal run by a right-leaning foreign policy think tank, is shutting down its print edition after running into severe financial problems, according to four current and former magazine staffers. Circulation for the hard copy was already down to a couple thousand subscribers, a drop from almost 10,000 in the 1990s, Daniel Lippman reported. BRAIN FOOD A Hamline Adjunct Showed a Painting of the Prophet Muhammad. She Lost Her Job. The New York Times. How Russian unprofessionalism is contributing to its military losses in Ukraine, by Sam and Lawrence Freedman. My fight against the return of size zero, by Vivian Hoorn. The 'stolen' election that poisoned American politics happened in 1984, by Michael Kruse. Surfing through Korean Peninsula war games, by E. Tammy Kim. Thanks to editor Sue Allan and producer Mallory Culhane. SUBSCRIBE to the POLITICO newsletter family: D.C. Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook | Paris Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | EU Confidential | D.C. Influence | EU Influence | London Influence | Digital Bridge | China Direct | Berlin Bulletin | Living Cities |
Comments
Post a Comment