Category Archives: Politics

Previews: The Economist Magazine – Oct 21, 2023

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The Economist Magazine (October 21, 2023): The latest issue features ‘Where will this end?’ – Only America can pull the Middle East back from the brink; Are American CEO’s overpaid?; The holes in export controls; Argentina’s radical option, and more….

The stakes could hardly be higher in the Israel-Gaza conflict

Only America can pull the Middle East back from the brink

America’s Republicans cannot agree on a speaker. Good

How the GOP could yet, inadvertently, further the national interest

Poland shows that populists can be beaten

A victory for the rule of law in the heart of Europe


News: Gaza Protests & U.S. Aid Deal; Germany-Egypt Mediation, House Speaker

The Globalist Podcast (October 19, 2023) – Journalist Stefanie Glinski brings us the latest on the Israel-Hamas conflict from Jerusalem.

We also take a look at Olaf Scholz’s trip to Egypt and an attack on a synagogue in Berlin. University College Dublin’s Scott Lucas talks us through the chaos in Congress as Jim Jordan scrambles for enough support to be the next US House Speaker. Plus: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to North Korea.

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – October 20, 2023

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The Guardian Weekly (October 20, 2023) The new issue features escalating events in Israel and Gaza that continue to cause deep distress and alarm, with several thousand people known to be dead or wounded on either side of the border. US president Joe Biden was expected to visit Israel this week, amid growing expectations of a ground invasion of Gaza and fears of a wider regional escalation.

Also, a primer on the historical background to events by Chris McGreal, while on the opinion pages the Israeli author and historian Yuval Noah Harari and Guardian US columnist Naomi Klein provide thoughtful and grounded perspectives.

There was sadness for many Aboriginal Australians after a move to recognise Indigenous people in the country’s constitution was rejected in a referendum, as Sarah Collard and Elias Visontay report. Also from Oceania, Henry Cooke examines what aspects of Jacinda Ardern’s political legacy might survive after New Zealand elected a new conservative government.

From Egypt to Hong Kong, the 2010s were a decade when mass protest movements looked set to change the world. But in most cases, the hope embodied by many massive street demonstrations was soon crushed by authoritarian regimes. Vincent Bevins asks organisers and others who were there where it all went wrong.

News: Israel Blames Gaza Hospital Blast On Hamas, Ukraine’s Tactical Missiles

The Globalist Podcast (October 18, 2023) – UCL’s Julie Norman discusses Joe Biden’s high-stakes visit to Israel in the wake of a devastating blast at a Gaza hospital. We also examine what Ukraine’s use of US-made long-range missiles means for the country’s counteroffensive.

Plus: Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping strengthen ties at the Belt and Road Summit and Bottega Veneta launches its own academy.

News: Biden To Visit Israel, Egypt-Gaza Border, Putin To Meet With Xi In Beijing

The Globalist Podcast (October 17, 2023) – The latest on the fighting between Israel and Hamas from ‘Haaretz’ journalist Allison Kaplan Sommer in Tel Aviv, as well as a look at the situation at the Egypt-Gaza border.

Also in the programme: Vladimir Putin prepares to make his first trip to a major global power since the International Criminal Court arrest warrant to meet Xi Jinping at the Belt and Road Summit. Plus: why Italy’s population is in crisis.

Opinion: Israel’s Agony & Retribution, Green Policy Recoil, 2-Day Workweeks

‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (October 16, 2023) A selection of three articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, will Israel’s agony and retribution end in chaos or stability? Also, the backlash against green policies (09:58) and a disastrous workplace experiment (16:15).

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – November 2023

Harper’s Magazine – NOVEMBER 2023: This issue features The Machine Breaker – Inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist”; Forbidden Fruit – The anti-avocado militias of Michoacán; Principia Mathemagica; From Magus – The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa, and more…

The Machine Breaker – Inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist” 

by Christopher Ketcham

In the summer of 2016, a fifty-seven-year-old Texan named Stephen McRae drove east out of the rainforests of Oregon and into the vast expanse of the Great Basin. His plan was to commit sabotage. First up was a coal-burning power plant near Carlin, Nevada, a 242-megawatt facility owned by the Newmont Corporation that existed to service two nearby gold mines, also owned by Newmont.

Forbidden Fruit

by Alexander Sammon

The anti-avocado militias of Michoacán

Phone service was down—a fuse had blown in the cell tower during a recent storm—and even though my arrival had been cleared with the government of Cherán in advance, the armed guard manning the highway checkpoint, decked out in full fatigues, the wrong shade to pass for Mexican military, refused to wave me through. My guide, Uli Escamilla, assured him that we had an appointment, and that we could prove it if only we could call or text our envoy. The officer gripped his rifle with both hands and peered into the windows of our rental car.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Oct 23, 2023

Daniel Clowess “Quiet Luxury”

The New Yorker – October 23, 2023 issue: The new issues cover features Daniel Clowes’s “Quiet Luxury” – The artist discusses patronage, in-home pillars, and what he’d do with a billion dollars.

Beyond the Myth of Rural America

Grant Woods sister Nan Wood Graham and his dentist Byron McKeeby stand by the painting for which they had posed...

Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.

By Daniel Immerwahr

Demanding that your friend pull the car over so you can examine an unusual architectural detail is not, I’m told, endearing. But some of us can’t help ourselves. For the painter Grant Wood, it was an incongruous Gothic window on an otherwise modest frame house in Eldon, Iowa, that required stopping. It looked as if a cottage were impersonating a cathedral. Wood tried to imagine who “would fit into such a home.” He recruited his sister and his dentist as models and costumed them in old-fashioned attire. The result, “American Gothic,” as he titled the painting from 1930, is probably the most famous art work ever produced in the United States.

When Foster Parents Don’t Want to Give Back the Baby

In many states, lawyers are pushing a new legal strategy that forces biological parents to compete for custody of their children.

American ChroniclesBeyond the Myth of Rural America

Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.

What Happened to San Francisco, Really?

It depends on which tech bro, city official, billionaire investor, grassroots activist, or Michelin-starred restaurateur you ask.By Nathan Heller

The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle

Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change—but the market’s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren’t real.

News: Poland’s Centrist Parties Prevail, Australia Indigenous Vote Failure

The Globalist Podcast (October 16, 2023) – Poland centrist opposition parties declare victory in election, Australia’s historic “Indigenous Voice to Parliament” referendum, a review the papers and give you the latest business news. Plus: Disney turns 100.

Sunday Morning: Stories And News From London, Ljubljana, Turin & Zurich

October 15, 2023 – From London, Emma Nelson, Latika Bourke and Yossi Mekelberg on the weekend’s big talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, as well as our friends and correspondents in Ljubljana, Turin, and Zurich.