The Globalist Podcast (January 22, 2024) – .We discuss Nato’s preparations for the ‘Steadfast Defender 24’ exercises, which will test the alliance’s ability to defend its eastern flank that borders Russia.
Plus: a flick through the day’s papers, the latest climate news and a dispatch from Singapore Art Week.
The Florida governor, who once appeared to be Donald Trump’s most daunting challenger, ran a costly, turbulent campaign that failed to catch on with Republican voters.
The Israeli military took reporters on a tour of an underground compound in the Gazan city of Khan Younis, where it says about 20 hostages were held by Hamas.
As Switzerland’s Glaciers Shrink, a Way of Life May Melt Away
Rising temperatures and retreating glaciers threaten Europe’s water tower, forcing local farmers to adapt and presaging larger troubles downstream.
Yurara Sarara Films (January 20, 2024) – Renge-ji is a small temple in the north-east of Kyoto city. It was founded in 1662 by Imaeda Chikayoshi but other sources state that it was originally near the current location of Kyoto Station, and that Imaeda-san only moved it here and “revived” it long after its total destruction during the Onin war (1467~1477).
The main hall garden is of the “pond” style, formally known as “chisenkai kaiyuushiki garden” (池泉回遊式庭園). The only island stone of the pond represents a ship and is called “funaishi”, which means… ship stone 😉
Monocle on Sunday, January 21, 2024– Georgina Godwin, Charles Hecker and Latika Bourke on the weekend’s biggest talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, in Paris and Monocle’s correspondent, Mary Fitzgerald, reporting from Granada, Spain this week.
Some Israeli commanders said the government’s two main goals were mutually incompatible. To eradicate Hamas, the military would have to engage in a lengthy war that would most likely cost the hostages’ lives.
The old guard of the Republican Party has rallied around Nikki Haley ahead of New Hampshire’s primary, in a long-shot bid to stop the former president’s march to the nomination.
The backlash against “wokeism” has led a growing number of states to ban D.E.I. programs at public universities. Thousands of emails and other documents reveal the playbook — and grievances — behind one strand of the anti-D.E.I. campaign.
How Allegations of an Office Romance Came to Complicate the Case Against Trump
The claims involving Fani Willis and Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to manage the sprawling case in Georgia, have led to new questions about Mr. Wade’s qualifications.
The 77 companies featured in bullish Barron’s articles last year returned nearly 10% on average, slightly trailing their benchmarks. Here’s what we got right—and wrong.
Monocle on Saturday, January 20, 2024: What are the key takeaways from the interview with German defence minister, Boris Pistorius? Which country is the common link in the recent Middle Eastern conflicts, and why?
Join Georgina Godwin and Austrian journalist Tessa Szyszkowitz for this and more from the week’s news and culture. Plus: Monocle’s Lilian Fawcett visits Singapore’s international art fair, ART SG, to find out how Singapore is trying to establish itself as a global art hub.
Protesters demanded action to free hostages, a war cabinet minister criticized the military campaign and the Israeli prime minister publicly ruled out a two-state solution, rebuffing the U.S.
Unable to fathom a 2020 rematch, many Americans are clinging to forlorn hopes and floating wild theories — including that Michelle Obama might replace President Biden.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (January 19, 2024): The latest issue features the excitement over advance copy reviews of a January novel, Kaveh Akbar’s “Martyr!” …“You’ve got to read this,” one editor said. “One of the most electric novels I’ve read in a long while,” another said. This kind of thing — everyone thrilled by the same book — is unusual at the TBR, and explains why “Martyr!,” about a grieving young man’s search for meaning, graces our cover this week.
In “Martyr!,” the poet Kaveh Akbar turns a grieving young man’s search for meaning into a piercing family saga.
Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar
Reviewed by By Junot Díaz
Cyrus Shams, the aching protagonist at the heart of Kaveh Akbar’s incandescent first novel, is a veritable Rushdiean multitude: an Iranian-born American, a “bad” immigrant, a recovering addict, a straight-passing queer, an almost-30 poet who rarely writes, an orphan, a runner of open mics, an indefatigable logophile, a fiery wit, a self-pitying malcontent. But above all else Cyrus is sad; profoundly, inconsolably, suicidally sad.
Here are the books discussed in this week’s episode:
“Knife,” by Salman Rushdie
“James,” by Percival Everett
“The Book of Love,” by Kelly Link
“Martyr,” by Kaveh Akbar
“The Demon of Unrest,” by Erik Larson
“The Hunter,” by Tana French
“Wandering Stars,” by Tommy Orange
“Anita de Monte Laughs Last,” by Xochitl Gonzalez
“Splinters,” by Leslie Jamison
“Neighbors and Other Stories,” by Diane Oliver
“Funny Story,” by Emily Henry
“Table for Two,” by Amor Towles
“Grief Is for People,” by Sloane Crosley
“One Way Back: A Memoir,” by Christine Blasey Ford
“The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir,” by RuPaul
The importance of Homer by Joshua T. Katz Galaxy brains by Gary Saul Morson The Thames: river of destinies by Jeremy Black “Breakfast Special”: a new story by Woody Allen
New poems by Nicholas Friedman, Jessica Hornik & Michael Spence
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious