![]() Rain that once had washed away land and flooded the region with poverty now nourishes the apple trees and brings wealth. Dams were constructed terraces were carved out by hand. In 1994, the World Bank and China launched one of the largest development projects on earth to reclaim the land. Desertification set in, which the World Bank referred to as "not a natural phenomenon, but one caused by the hopelessness of poverty." As deforestation increased, so did erosion. Their land, located on the Loess Plateau, had rich soil, but it was easily washed away. ![]() Farmers here were subsistence farmers and herders. The Fengs go back five generations as farmers, but they haven't always grown apples. They didn't look as if they were growing apples at all: Small brown paper bags were used to cover each apple, warding off pests.įeng has been farming this land for more than 20 years, but things really started to change in the 1990s, when the government began developing the region's apples and brought in scientists to teach the locals modern techniques. The trees were smaller than the apple trees I've come to know in the Midwest. His orchard sits close enough to a brand-new electric station that the hum is audible. He handed me a pink parasol to block the sun. He didn't have a car yet, but he did have a motorcycle with a trailer on the back in which he placed a wooden stool for me to sit on. The next day he took me to visit the orchard. In rural Alabama, a mass shooting America ignored “In the long run, you often see that systems can be repaired step by step, and that public confidence then grows again.” And in building a more perfect union, there are lessons to be learned. “In the short run, people will lose some of their trust in democracy” when former leaders are taken to court, Sam Van der Staak of the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance told the Monitor in January. Our lead story today, by Peter Grier and Noah Robertson, looks at the latest indictment in more depth.Whatever the outcome, Americans can eat a bit of humble pie. Trump is deeply divided, with many Americans saying the latest charges – and a previous, civil indictment in New York – are politically driven. His trial is ongoing.In the United States, opinion on Mr. Israel is another example: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced indictment, was voted out, and then returned to office. ![]() ![]() Some leaders, as in Brazil, have served time in prison for corruption, then been reelected. From France, Israel, and South Korea to Argentina and Brazil, other nations have shown that former leaders can be held to account – even sent to prison – and the country survives.No one is above the law. Trump leads polls for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 makes his indictment all the more consequential. The implications for the future of American governance could be profound.Still, Americans can take heart in the lessons of other democracies, as the Monitor explained in a magazine cover story last January. president to face federal criminal charges. The fact that Mr. ![]() A sense of exceptionalism has long infused pride in the American system and successes as the world’s oldest democracy.That self-image is taking a hit with the federal indictment of Donald Trump over alleged mishandling of classified documents, making him the first former U.S. Throughout history, American leaders have borrowed from the Bible in calling their nation a “city upon a hill” – a beacon of hope for humanity. ![]()
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