Category Archives: Politics

Opinion: Future Of War In Ukraine, A New Asia Family, U.S. Lab-Monkey Shortage

‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (July 10, 2023) Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: how the war in Ukraine will affect the future of combat, the new Asian family (10:36) and why a lab-monkey shortage in America is encouraging smuggling (19:07).

News: U.S. ‘Cluster Bombs’ To Ukraine Issues, South Korean Foreign Policy

The Globalist Podcast, Monday, July 10, 2023: We discuss the US’s controversial decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.

Plus: a flick through the day’s papers and South Korea’s plans to revamp its foreign policy. 

Sunday Morning: Stories From Zürich And Bangkok

July 9, 2023 – Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, and Emma Nelson are joined by Fabienne Kinzelmann, Oliver Strijbis and Alexandra Andrist. Plus: we check in with our friends and correspondents in London, Helsinki and Bangkok.

Preview: New York Times Magazine – July 9, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (July 9, 2023) – In this week’s cover story, Sarah A. Topol reports on how the U.S. military continues to build up Guam and other Pacific territories — placing the burdens of imperial power on the nation’s most ignored and underrepresented citizens. Plus, an interview with the British writer-actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a profile of the winemaker Maggie Harrison and inside the D.N.C.’s primary problem.

The America That Americans Forget

Roy Gamboa, a member of Guam’s native CHamoru people and a Marine veteran.

As tensions with China mount, the U.S. military continues to build up Guam and other Pacific territories — placing the burdens of imperial power on the nation’s most ignored and underrepresented citizens.

Talk June 29, 2023

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Great ‘Indiana Jones’ Adventure

Waller-Bridge, 37, is co-starring in the just-released “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” (This is after previously contributing to the screenplay for a film about another iconic character: the 2021 James Bond effort, “No Time to Die.”) Further out on the horizon, Waller-Bridge, who also created the spy-thriller series “Killing Eve,” is working on a show based on the “Tomb Raider” video game for Amazon Studios. (At the time of publication, though, that show’s progress is currently on hold because of the W.G.A. writers’ strike.) 

Maggie Harrison’s War on Wine

Maggie Harrison in a field, seen through some green plants, which partially obscure her face. The photo is in soft focus and has a yellow-green tint.

Her painstaking blends are dazzling diners and critics — and upending long-held notions about how winemaking is supposed to work.

News: Zelensky To Visit Erdogan In Istanbul, G7 Meets In Tokyo, Prigozhin

The Globalist Podcast, Friday, July 7, 2023: Monocle’s Istanbul correspondent, Hannah Lucinda Smith, on Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Turkey.

Also, the significance of the G7 justice ministers meeting in Tokyo, updates on Wagner leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin and Russia, plus a look at the UAE’s self-driving cars.

News: Sweden And Turkey Discuss NATO Membership, Spain General Elections

The Globalist Podcast, Thursday, July 6, 2023: A discussion of the future of NATO – will Sweden be in it?

Also, campaigning for Spain’s general election begins and Japan Airlines launches a clothing rental service. And the latest technology news.

News: Ukraine Nuclear Plant Threats, China & U.S. Semiconductor Standoff

The Globalist Podcast, Wednesday, July 5, 2023: Threats to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after Russian workers are told to evacuate.

Why are China and the US limiting exports of each other’s semiconductors? Plus, the mail-order catalogue that changed perceptions of masculinity in the US.

News: Israel Strikes West Bank, Hong Kong Offers Bounties For Activists

The Globalist Podcast, Tuesday, July 4, 2023: The latest on Israel’s major military operation in the West Bank.

Plus: the Hong Kong police’s bounties for self-exiled activists, the inauguration of Thailand’s new government and the soft power of military hospital ships. 

Opinion: A Humbled Putin, Environmentalism Harms The Poor, The Better Flags

‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (July 3, 2023) A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist: The humbling of Vladimir Putin, how misfiring environmentalism risks harming the world’s poor (10:20) and some tips to design better flags (18:55).

The humbling of Vladimir Putin

The Wagner mutiny exposes the Russian tyrant’s growing weakness. But don’t count him out yet

The last pretence of Vladimir Putin to be, as he imagines, one of his nation’s historic rulers was stripped away on June 24th. A band of armed mercenaries swept through his country almost unopposed, covering some 750km (470 miles) in a single day, seizing control of two big cities and getting to within 200km of Moscow before withdrawing unharmed.

How misfiring environmentalism risks harming the world’s poor

A hungry boy walks in the shadow of wind turbines

The trade-off between development and climate change is impossible to avoid

Thank goodness for the enthusiasts and the obsessives. If everyone always took a balanced view of everything, nothing would ever get done. But when campaigners’ worldview seeps into the staid apparatus of policymaking and global forums, bad decisions tend to follow. That, unfortunately, is especially true in the world of climate change.

How to design better flags

New Mexico flag and United States flag

Some tips to avoid having an embarrassing emblem

Have you ever met a vexed vexillologist? This is someone who frets when flags are badly designed. Sadly, too many flags flutter to deceive: they are cluttered with imagery, a mess of colours and all too easily forgettable. Yet flags matter. Witness Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow banner, which now serves as a potent symbol around the world (not to mention on this newspaper’s covers).