Category Archives: Society

Qatar: Inside The Emirate’s Culture & Traditions (DW)

On the surface, Qatar is a dazzling and colorful Arab country, home to sheikhs and big business. But migrant workers without Qatari citizenship make up nearly 90% of Qatar’s total population – the highest such rate in the world.

Anyone traveling to Qatar arrives with plenty of prejudices: that it is a corrupt, filthy-rich emirate full of forced laborers who have no rights; that it is home to businessmen whose practices are, at best, questionable. But for the Qataris themselves, and the millions of guest workers from all over the world who live there, the picture is more nuanced.

Yes, Qatar is a dictatorship with an emir who enjoys almost unlimited power. But at the same time, Qatar is remarkably open and progressive. The emirate is tiny, and yet tremendously fascinating – with its vast desert landscapes, its bizarrely-shaped mountains and its picturesque sandy beaches.

Previews: The Atlantic Magazine – December 2022

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The Atlantic – December 2022 Issue:

“Monuments to the Unthinkable”––In Cover Story, Clint Smith Reports from Germany on What the U.S. Can Learn about Atonement

Questions of public memory—“specifically how people, communities, and nations should account for the crimes of their past”—animate the work of the Atlantic staff writer, author, and poet Clint Smith.

Tech & Design Preview: NYT Magazine – Nov 13, 2022

Inside the November 13, 2022 issue:

In an Age of Constant Disaster, What Does It Mean to Rebuild?

Each catastrophe is a test of what kind of society we’ve built. And each recovery offers a chance, however fleeting, to build another.

Architects Plan a City for the Future in Ukraine, While Bombs Still Fall

Irpin was one of the first Ukrainian cities to be destroyed and liberated. Now it’s becoming a laboratory for rebuilding.

Remaking the River That Remade L.A.

The Los Angeles River has been channeled, subdued, blighted. Could it serve Angelinos?

Can a National Museum Rebuild Its Collection Without Colonialism?

After a fire destroyed thousands of Indigenous artifacts, the curators of this Brazilian museum are adopting a radical new approach.

Previews: The Guardian Weekly November 11, 2022

The cover of the 11 November edition of the Guardian Weekly.

The Guardian Weekly, November 11, 2022:

Benjamin Netanyahu is nothing if not a fighter. Having been ousted as Israel’s prime minister a year ago by an alliance of political foes and now embroiled in a corruption trial (he denies all charges), one might have thought the 73-year-old’s career was up. 

The Cop27 climate talks got under way in Egypt, as debate raged over the agenda as well as a furore over hosting the event in a country where political and human rights are a live issue. Environment editor Fiona Harvey explains what the talks – which run until 18 November – can hope to achieve, amid a slew of alarming reports about the rate of global heating.

This week’s magazine went to press too soon to feature news of the US midterm elections – there’ll be plenty on that in the next edition. In the meantime, Leyland Cecco reports from Canada, where there are claims China is operating a chain of clandestine police stations to keep tabs on its diaspora.

Views: The New York Times Magazine – Nov 6, 2022

Inside the 11.6.22 Issue:

The Democrats’ Last Stand in Wisconsin

With the G.O.P. in control of a majority of statehouses, Democrats are fighting for seats in battleground states. Is it too late?

The Untold Story of ‘Russiagate’ and the Road to War in Ukraine

Russia’s meddling in Trump-era politics was more directly connected to the current war than previously understood.

A Championship Season in Mariachi Country

Every year along the Texas border, high school teams battle it out in one of the nation’s most intense championship rivalries. But they’re not playing football.

Previews: The Guardian Weekly – November 4, 2022

Inside Guardian Weekly – For readers of the Guardian Weekly magazine’s North American edition this week, the cover focuses on the Democrats’ precarious hopes in the midterm elections. Elsewhere, the spotlight shines on the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt.

The US midterm elections next week could see a Republican party still dominated by Donald Trump gain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. David Smith asks whether an intervention by former president Barack Obama could give a late kickstart to the Democrats’ hopes.

Cautious optimism followed the last Cop conference in Glasgow, where an international roadmap was agreed to keep the world within 1.5C of global heating. On the eve of this year’s summit, however, a slew of alarming reports have shown that carbon emissions are still rising.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Nov 7, 2022

Person sweeping sidewalk of dry leaves and medical masks.

Inside the The New Yorker Magazine, November 7, 2022:

How Election Subversion Went Mainstream in Pennsylvania

Doug Mastriano grilling on a voting booth.

In the state’s midterms—which could determine the balance of the Senate and the integrity of the Presidential race in 2024—Democrats are fighting for the vote. Republicans are fighting to undermine it.

Was Jack Welch the Greatest C.E.O. of His Day—or the Worst?

As the head of General Electric, he fired people in vast numbers and turned the manufacturing behemoth into a financial house of cards. Why was he so revered?

Is the Multiverse Where Originality Goes to Die?

A person reading a book in a colorful room full of cultural references from different shows about the multiverse.

The concept helps entertainment companies like Marvel Studios recycle old characters—but it can also unlock new kinds of storytelling.

Views: The New York Times Magazine – Oct 30, 2022

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Beyond Catastrophe – A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View

There’s plenty of bad news. But thanks to real progress, we’re headed toward a less apocalyptic future.

The Try Guys and the Prison of Online Fame

This is what success looks like in the creator economy: Sometimes you have to beg millions of fans for mercy.

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – October 28, 2022

The cover of the 28 October edition of the Guardian Weekly.

The Guardian – Inside the October 28, 2022 Issue:

Britain’s political fever dream continued apace this week as Rishi Sunak became prime minister without anyone even voting for him. The former chancellor, the country’s third prime minister in less than two months and the fifth in six years, is also the UK’s first leader of colour and the first Hindu to take the office.

Jonathan Freedland considers how big a blow Truss’s ill-judged stint in power has delivered to the school of neoliberal economic thought.

Brazil also faces a judgment day this weekend, as Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva square up in a presidential runoff of deep significance for the country and the planet, with the protection of the Amazon at stake. The outcome is on such a knife-edge that not even the nation’s gangsters can decide who to vote for, as our Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips reports.

On the subject of the environment, don’t miss Naomi Klein’s long read about how Egypt’s government has used the coming Cop27 conference to greenwash its own oppressive political activities.

Then, there’s a revealing interview with Chelsea Manning, who opens up to Emma Brockes on what really happened when she leaked thousands of classified US military documents.

Previews: The Atlantic Magazine – November 2022

The Atlantic Magazine – November 2022 Issue:

The empty promise of the Sixth Amendment, Siegfried & Roy’s rise and fall, a Guggenheim scapegoat, and independence for Puerto Rico. Plus stopping election deniers, Atlanta hip-hop, Orhan Pamuk, ABBA Voyage, a bygone Boston, new fiction, and more.

This Is Not Justice

A Philadelphia teenager and the empty promise of the Sixth Amendment

The Improbable Rise and Savage Fall of Siegfried & Roy

At the peak of their fame, they were arguably the most famous magicians since Houdini.

The Guggenheim’s Scapegoat

A museum curator was forced out of her job over allegations of racism that an investigation deemed unfounded. What did her defenestration accomplish?

Let Puerto Rico Be Free

The only just future for my home is not statehood, but full independence from the United States.