Category Archives: Opinion

Preview: The Guardian Weekly – August 19, 2022

19 August Guardian Weekly

Joe Biden’s political capital is riding high after a key plank of his legislative programme came to fruition. But the US president has greeted this “hot streak” in his usual quiet fashion. For his predecessor, it was a decidedly rough week after his home was raided by the FBI, looking for official documents that Donald Trump had held on to after his presidential term had ended. The reaction was a typical explosion of rage and accusation. David Smith, our Washington bureau chief, follows this compare-and-contrast theme to see which of the two men, who at this juncture still look likely to face each other again in the 2024 presidential election, came out on top.

Read more

Opinion: Taiwan-China-U.S. War Prevention, Germany Awakened, British Gloom

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, how to prevent a war between America and China over Taiwan, thanks to Vladimir Putin, Germany has woken up (10:20), and Britain’s summer of discontent (18:40).

Cover Preview: Harper’s Magazine – September 2022

A Hole in the Head

by Zachary Siegel

Can a brain implant treat drug addiction?

On a bright summer day in July 2021, James Fisher rested nervously, with a newly shaved head, in a hospital bed surrounded by blinding white lights and surgeons shuffling about in blue scrubs. He was being prepped for an experimental brain surgery at West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, a hulking research facility that overlooks the rolling peaks and cliffs of coal country around Morgantown. The hours-long procedure required impeccable precision, “down to the millimeter,” Fisher’s neurosurgeon, Ali Rezai, told me.

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – August 22, 2022

A person with sunglasses on in repose reading a book.

Nicole Rifkin’s “Sun-Dappled”

The artist on her creative process and finding inspiration among artistic friends. By Françoise Mouly, Art by Nicole Rifkin

Africa’s Cold Rush and the Promise of Refrigeration

For the developing world, refrigeration is growth. In Rwanda, it could spark an economic transformation.

By Nicola Twilley

Preview: The Economist Magazine – August 13, 2022

Target: Taiwan

Target: Taiwan

Preview: New York Times Magazine – August 14, 2022

Image

The Taliban’s Dangerous Collision Course With the West

After barring girls from high school — and harboring an Al-Qaeda leader — the regime now risks jeopardizing the billions of dollars of global aid that still keeps Afghans alive.

Read more: https://nyti.ms/3BPMloE

Opinion: The Despot In The Desert, Big-Tech Decline, Imperfect Is OK At Work

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, MBS: despot in the desert, the era of big-tech exceptionalism may be over (49:05), and why it’s OK not to be perfect at work (55:30). 

Opinion: Ukrainians Who Fled To Russia, Notions Of The Sun, Economic Magic

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, what happened to the Ukrainians who fled to Russia, how the sun is both our creator and destroyer (27:56), and how magicians won the attention economy (34:32).