MONOCLE RADIO (December 24, 2024): As we draw nearer to the close of 2024, Christopher Cermak is joined by Nina dos Santos and a host of other regional specialists to review an unprecedented year in geopolitics.
All posts by She Seeks Serene
The New York Times —- Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Biden Commutes 37 Death Sentences Ahead of Trump’s Plan to Resume Federal Executions
Those affected by the president’s action on Monday are still subject to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Three men will remain on federal death row.
House Ethics Panel Report Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex and Using Drugs
The Florida Republican resigned from the House and withdrew as Donald J. Trump’s attorney general pick in the weeks before the report’s release.
The New Climate Gold Rush: Scrubbing Carbon From the Sky
Investors are betting that they can make a dent in global warming, and healthy profits, with companies that alter the atmosphere.
They Entered Treatment. Drugs, Overdoses and Deaths Followed.
Baltimore addiction programs draw patients with free housing while collecting millions. Some say one company offered little help.
International Art: Apollo Magazine – January 2025
APOLLO MAGAZINE (December 23, 2024): The latest issue features…
Back to the future? The art of divination
Will the art market recover in 2025?
An interview with Jake Grewal
The New Yorker Magazine Dec. 30, 2024 & Jan. 6, 2025

The New Yorker (December 23, 2024): Diana Ejaita’s “Midnight Moments” – The magical blur of New Year’s Eve.
How Much Does Our Language Shape Our Thinking?
English continues to expand into diverse regions around the world. The question is whether humanity will be homogenized as a result. By Manvir Singh
Alice Munro’s Passive Voice
The celebrated writer’s partner sexually abused her daughter Andrea. The abuse transformed Munro’s fiction, but she left it to Andrea to confront the true story. By Rachel Aviv
Is There Any Escape from the Spotify Syndrome?
The history of recorded music is now at our fingertips. But the streamer’s algorithmic skill at giving us what we like may keep us from what we’ll love. By Hua Hsu
News: Russia-Ukraine War Negotiations Begin, Flight MH370 Search, Geopolitics
Monocle Radio Podcast (December 23, 2024): We hear the latest from the war on Ukraine as Olga Tokariuk joins Emma Nelson from Chernivtsi. Plus: the search for flight MH370 continues and best-selling author Tim Marshall joins Andrew Mueller to discuss what goes into a decent quiz about geopolitics.
The New York Times —- Monday, December 23, 2024
Germany Tries to Untangle Complex Profile of Market Attack Suspect
The authorities said they were struggling to understand the motives behind ramming a car into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, which left a 9-year-old boy among the five dead.
From Liberal Icon to MAGA Joke: The Waning Fortunes of Justin Trudeau
Canada’s prime minister gained global renown 10 years ago for his unabashedly progressive politics. But at home, voters turned sour on him long ago.
Behold! ‘Christmas Adam’ Is Born.
First there was Christmas Eve … and then a new celebration was created.22h agoBy Elizabeth Dias
Hoover Institution: Best Books On Politics In 2024

Hoover Institution (December 22, 2024): The depth of Hoover’s scholarship is reflected in the numerous books published by our fellows on a broad variety of topics and issues.
The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan

Edited by Matt Pottinger (Hoover Institution Press) Publication Date: July 1, 2024
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has openly expressed his intention to annex Taiwan to mainland China, even threatening the use of force. An invasion or blockade of Taiwan by Chinese forces would be catastrophic, with severe consequences for democracies worldwide. In The Boiling Moat, Matt Pottinger and a team of scholars and distinguished military and political leaders urgently outline practical steps for deterrence.
the full proceedings from this conference—the presentations, responses, and discussions. In it, participants debate the meaning of getting monetary policy “back on track,” the significance of recent bank failures, and how to improve forecasting and oversight.
The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation

By Victor Davis Hanson (Basic Books)
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
In The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and sackings that span centuries, from the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World, to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration. In the stories of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan, he depicts war’s drama, violence, and folly. Highlighting the naivete that plagued the vanquished and the wrath that justified mass slaughter, Hanson delivers a sobering call to contemporary readers to heed the lessons of obliteration lest we blunder into catastrophe once again.
At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House

By H.R. McMaster (HarperCollins Publishers)
Publication Date: August 27, 2024
At War with Ourselves is the story of helping a disruptive president drive necessary shifts in US foreign policy at a critical moment in history. H.R. McMaster entered an administration beset by conflict and the hyperpartisanship of American politics. With the candor of a soldier and the perspective of a historian, McMaster rises above the fray to lay bare the good, the bad, and the ugly of Trump’s presidency and give readers insight into what a second Trump term might look like.
Documenting Communism: The Hoover Project to Microfilm and Publish the Soviet Archives

By Charles G. Palm (Hoover Institution Press) Foreword by Condoleezza Rice, Introduction by Stephen Kotkin
Publication Date: June 1, 2024
In late 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. Over the next 12 years, the Hoover Institution microfilmed and published the newly opened records of the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet State. Charles Palm, who led this mission, details how he and his colleagues secured a historic agreement with the Russian Federation, then launched and successfully carried out the joint project with the Russian State Archives and their partner, Chadwyck-Healey Ltd.
The New York Times Book Review – Dec. 22, 2024
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (December 22, 2024): The latest features…
When Stephen Sondheim Transformed Theater, and Theatergoers, Forever
An incisive new book, “How Sondheim Can Change Your Life,”
The Books Readers Loved in 2024
Memorable characters, delightful nonfiction and poignant novels stuck with people across the world.
Why One of the World’s Most Elusive Writers Still Haunts Readers
Newly translated letters reveal the inner life of Paul Celan, offering clues to his enigmatic poems.
Foreign Affairs Magazine: The Best Essays Of 2024

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE (December 22, 2024): The top essays of the year include…
The Self-Doubting Superpower
By Fareed Zakaria
America shouldn’t give up on the world it made.
Why Gaza Matters
By Jean-Pierre Filiu
Since antiquity, the territory has shaped the quest for power in the Middle East.
Israel’s Self-Destruction
By Aluf Benn
Netanyahu, the Palestinians, and the price of neglect.
Russia Is Burning Up Its Future
By Andrei Kolesnikov
How Putin’s pursuit of power has hollowed out the country and its people.
The Trouble With “the Global South”
By Comfort Ero
What the West gets wrong about the rest.
Sunday Morning: Stories From Zürich, London & Helsinki
MONOCLE RADIO (December 22, 2024): Andrew Tuck, Sophie Grove and Emma Nelson join Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, for a festive edition filled with holiday spirit. It also features festive updates from Petri Burtsoff in Helsinki and Rob Bound in London.