American

• An American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan – an important military center with a civilian population close to 300,000 people.
• The bomber plane was called the Enola Gay, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot.
• This was part of the Manhattan Project, a secret, federally funded science effort that produced the first nuclear weapons.
• What might have been a single year of nuclear weapons development ushered in decades and decades of nuclear proliferation – a challenge across countries and professions.

The man who started it all

• Einstein urged the U.S. to stockpile uranium and begin developing an atomic bomb – a warning he would later regret.
• Einstein wrote a letter to Newsweek, published in 1947, headlined “The Man Who Started It All.” In it, he made a confession.
• “Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I would never have lifted a finger,” Einstein wrote.
• The result was a hydrogen bomb explosion with approximately 700 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Arms control

• But today there are nine countries that have nuclear weapons – the U.S., Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea.
• There has been progress over the past few decades in reducing the global stockpile of nuclear weapons while preventing the development of new ones.
• That treaty is considered by experts one of the most successful arms control agreements.
• Russia and the U.S. signed on to a new START treaty in 2011, restricting the countries to each keep 1,550 nuclear weapons.
• There are no current plans for the countries to renew the deal, and it is not clear what comes next.

Complicating factors

• Although Putin has not formally ended Russian adherence to the START II agreement, Russia has stopped participating in the nuclear inspection checks that the deal requires.
• This lack of transparency makes diplomacy over the deal more difficult.
• Another complicating factor is that China has made it clear that it is not interested in an arms control agreement until it has the same number of nuclear weapons that the U.S. and Russia have.
• In 2015, China had an estimated 260 nuclear warheads, and by 2023 that number rose to more than 400.

Diplomacy is the way forward

• Diplomacy matters, as was clear in the early years of U.S.-Soviet agreements.
• In my view, a formal agreement between the U.S. and Iran to slow down its nuclear development would be valuable.
• The U.S. can also use public diplomacy tools – everything from official speeches to international educational exchanges – to warn the world of the escalating dangers of unchecked nuclear weapons use.
• But the best way to honor history is not to repeat it.

• Opponents say the law threatens democracy; supporters argue it protects the will of the electoral majority.
• Netanyahu has been a political force and survivor in Israeli politics since the 1990s.
• As a scholar of Middle Eastern politics, I think that Netanyahu’s long-term legacy will be based on three major developments.

From democracy to theocracy

• That helped Israel keep and enhance its historic strong support from the U.S. government.
• The second set him up for political success in a country in which the army is a key – and revered – institution.
• Like other elected strongmen, he and his allies have gained support from, and encouraged, right-wing nationalists and divisive politics.
• The longer Netanyahu has held power in Israel, the more allegations of corruption and criminal conduct he has faced.
• The two groups have different visions for Israel’s future, with the latter citizens pushing the country in a more theocratic direction.

Distancing Palestinians

• Netanyahu has long pledged to avoid compromising with Palestinians over control of territory and security in the West Bank and Gaza, areas under Israeli military control since 1967.
• Among his most tangible legacies is the physical barrier now separating West Bank Palestinians from Israelis, which gives Israeli authorities great control over how West Bank Palestinians enter Israel.
• The barrier has kept Israeli Jews from much contact with Palestinians other than during military service.
• Reflecting the sentiments of his right-wing base, Netanyahu has had a generally consistent response to Hamas, and Palestinians more generally.

Reshaping Israel’s alliances

• Those efforts stem in part from his relentless drive to curb Iran’s influence in the Middle East.
• Netanyahu has played up this hostility to domestic and international audiences, even urging the U.S. to attack Iran.
• Yet Netanyahu’s policies are also causing major cracks in support for Israel from its central ally, the U.S.
• In recent years, Israeli and American Jews have diverged increasingly on the ethics and importance of Palestinian autonomy.
• It’s clear that the country’s military security and cooperation with major Arab states in the Middle East have expanded.

• Then wealthy Atherton, with a population of 7,000 and a median home sale price of US$7.5 million, tried to update its state-mandated housing plan.
• Until very recently, 100% of Atherton’s residentially zoned land allowed only single-family houses on large lots.
• But as our new book on the politics of housing shows, the ability of small suburban municipalities to limit multifamily housing is more the rule than the exception.

Small governments’ big role in limiting housing

• It means building them in existing communities, where small local governments often constrain housing development.
• To study the impact small governments’ opposition is having on housing, we used census tract data from California’s metro areas to examine multifamily housing development between the Census Bureau’s 2008-2012 American Community Survey and its 2014-2018 survey, a time when the housing market was rapidly recovering from the Great Recession.
• An extra 46 new apartments might sound like a small number, but it can make a real difference at the neighborhood level.

Cities across the US face similar struggles

• When we examined census data from metro areas nationwide, we similarly found that neighborhoods in small jurisdictions gained fewer multifamily units.
• Most big American cities in high-cost regions – think Boston, Denver and Los Angeles – are surrounded by a sea of mostly small independent suburbs.

Inner suburbs could offer housing closer to jobs

• Atherton, for example, maintained its estate-style residential zoning for decades, smack-dab in the middle of a job-rich area.
• However, many inner suburbs’ land-use plans were set decades ago in vastly different economic eras, and many now claim to be “built out” and done with adding housing.

What’s standing in the way?

• Homeowners tend to be the dominant political interest in small suburbs.
• They may worry that larger or denser residential buildings will decrease their property values, increase traffic or strain local infrastructure.
• Fears about even minor projects – like the proposal for 16 townhomes near Curry’s estate in Atherton – can get magnified.

How to unlock more housing where it’s needed

• State legislators can unlock the potential for new housing by requiring local governments to relax single-family-only zoning and similar land-use restrictions.
• Kathy Hochul’s effort to enact land-use reforms that would push localities to rezone for more housing hit a dead end in that state’s Legislature in 2023.
• Another approach is for state governments to create metro-level mechanisms designed to represent the needs of housing consumers throughout the region.
• States could set up regionwide housing appeals boards authorized to reconsider and potentially overturn anti-housing decisions by cities and towns.

• The Canadian government has announced a new strategy to entice tech workers from around the globe to work in Canada.
• The Tech Talent Strategy was announced by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser at the Collision technology conference in Toronto on June 27.
• The new strategy is embedded within the broader Global Skills Strategy program that helps businesses hire skilled workers from around the world.

New visa work permit

• As part of the new strategy, the federal government will open a work permit stream for American H-1B visa holders to work in Canada.
• The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialized occupations.
• The H-1B visa acts as a powerful magnet for tech professionals, who are enticed by the opportunities and salaries afforded by the U.S. tech industry.

Canada versus U.S. tech firms

• Additionally, the disparity in scale between the tech industries in Canada and the U.S. presents another significant hurdle.
• Canadian tech firms also face challenges when it comes to scaling up their operations to compete with U.S. firms.
• Because Canadian tech firms often face challenges in scaling up due to a lack of capital-rich markets, they often move to the U.S. to access its tech sector infrastructure.
• The stark differences in scale between Canadian and U.S. tech firms could affect the effectiveness and appeal of Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy.

Local impacts

• Another potential pitfall lies in the strategy’s local impacts.
• Encouraging an influx of foreign workers in a highly competitive industry like tech could inadvertently sideline local talent.
• Striking a balance between the interests of foreign tech professionals and local workers is paramount.

Proceed with caution

• The success of this ambitious project hinges on numerous factors, including attracting H-1B visa holders, fulfilling immigration targets and balancing the needs of foreign and local workers.
• It will be fascinating to see how the strategy evolves and the ensuing impact on Canada’s tech industry and the broader economy.