The Globalist Podcast (October 10, 2023) – The latest on the Israel-Hamas crisis: the various international players impacted by the violence and take the long view. Plus: as populist right-wing parties are coming to power across Europe, what can we expect in Poland’s upcoming elections?
The New York Times — Tuesday, October 10, 2023
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Israel Orders ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza and Hamas Threatens to Kill Hostages
Israel mobilized 300,000 reservists amid signs that it could be preparing for a major ground invasion of Gaza, and it bombed hundreds of sites, including mosques and a marketplace.
Attack Ends Israel’s Hope That Hamas Might Come to Embrace Stability
Israel had considered Hamas a terrorist organization but one that could play a useful role for Israel in the Gaza Strip, which the group controls. Now, senior Israeli officials say, Hamas must be crushed.
‘I Just Hope That They Are Alive’: How Hamas Abducted 150 Israelis
Palestinian militants kidnapped scores of Israelis in an unprecedented attack that took the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into unknown territory. Their relatives recount how they were captured.
Russia’s Economy Is Increasingly Structured Around Its War in Ukraine
The nation’s finances have proven resilient, despite punishing sanctions, giving it leeway to pump money into its military machine.
Opinion: Free Markets Are Fading, Democracy Dims In Africa, Bitcoin Origins
‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (October 9, 2023) – A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, are free markets history? Also, why Africans are losing faith in democracy (10:25) and we investigate whether bitcoin originally leaked from an American spy lab? (17:25)
Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Oct 16, 2023
Jake Sullivan’s Trial by Combat
Inside the White House’s battle to keep Ukraine in the fight.
On a Monday afternoon in August, when President Joe Biden was on vacation and the West Wing felt like a ghost town, his national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, sat down to discuss America’s involvement in the war in Ukraine. Sullivan had agreed to an interview “with trepidation,” as he had told me, but now, in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, steps from the Oval Office, he seemed surprisingly relaxed for a congenital worrier. (“It’s my job to worry,” he once told an interviewer. “So I worry about literally everything.”)
The Crimes Behind the Seafood You Eat
China has invested heavily in an armada of far-flung fishing vessels, in part to extend its global influence. This maritime expansion has come at grave human cost.
By Ian Urbina
In the past few decades, partly in an effort to project its influence abroad, China has dramatically expanded its distant-water fishing fleet. Chinese firms now own or operate terminals in ninety-five foreign ports. China estimates that it has twenty-seven hundred distant-water fishing ships, though this figure does not include vessels in contested waters; public records and satellite imaging suggest that the fleet may be closer to sixty-five hundred ships.
News: Hamas Attack, Israel & U.S. Intelligence Failure, Crackdown In Hong Kong
The New York Times — Monday, October 9, 2023
Hamas Attack Raises Questions Over an Israeli Intelligence Failure
American and Israeli officials said none of Israel’s intelligence services had specific warning that Hamas was preparing a sophisticated assault.
‘There Were Terrorists Inside’: How Hamas’s Attack on Israel Unfolded
Palestinian militants from Gaza raided Israel on Saturday, killing and abducting hundreds. Survivors have begun to recount the most complex attack on their territory in half a century.
A Shaken Israel Is Forced Back to Its Eternal Dilemma
The attack by Hamas forces Israel once again to confront the conflict that has haunted it since the creation of the modern state.
Fearing Third-Party Spoilers vs. Trump, Biden Allies Try to Squash Them
With Democrats worried that a third-party bid could throw a tight race to Donald Trump, President Biden’s top aides have blessed a broad offensive to starve such efforts of cash and ballot access.
Chicago Exhibitions: ‘Caravaggio In Rome’
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
Among Friends and Rivals: Caravaggio in Rome
Sep 8–Dec 31, 2023
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
Caravaggio’s followers, known as the Caravaggisti, embraced the stylistic hallmarks of the painter’s intensely naturalistic work. Like their trailblazing idol, they used models from real life, boldly depicting their quirks and flaws in dynamic compositions whose turbulent movement was revealed in dramatic extremes of light and dark. The themes and individual artistic approaches of Caravaggisti often depended on their direct or indirect relationships to Caravaggio—some knew the artist personally, while others knew him only through his work.
Travel Guide: A One-Day Tour Of Vienna, Austria
Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:33 St. Stephens cathedral 01:02 Old Town 01:44 Hundertwasserhaus 02:31 Naschmarkt, eating Wiener Schnitzel 03:44 Meeting student Leonhard Pichler, why is Vienna so liveable? 05:04 Coffe house Demel 06:16 The Prater
Besides many more attractions, you’ll also discover why the Economist Group once again named Vienna the most livable city in the world. Which of Hannah’s stops in the video do you find most interesting?
California Wildflowers: Pinnacles National Park
Videographer: Lance Milbrand.
Sustainability: ‘Immersion House’ Tour In Melbourne
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Breathtaking Sustainable Home 00:52 – An Inner-City Location 01:07 – Taking Inspiration from A Family Sanctuary 01:32 – The Seamless Indoor Outdoor Connection 01:54 – A Rich and Natural Material Palette 02:18 – Utilising the Versatile Tongue & Groove Boards 03:47 – Satisfying Aspects of the Design 04:18 – Proud Moments
Matsouri Architects defy the conditions of the corner block location through a series of unique and enveloping experiences. Located on a corner site that slopes gradually towards the back and in a quiet residential area in the inner-western suburb of Melbourne, Australia, Immersion House is a direct response to the client’s very strong brief to have a private sanctuary while retaining aspects of the original heritage home.
This brief was the inspiration behind Matsouri Architects’s architectural approach – creating experiences and spaces so the occupants could have a sanctuary to raise their family and live in the house they always envisaged. Inside the breathtaking sustainable home, the integration of interiors with the surrounding nature is key to the home’s immersive effect. On the first floor, one feels a sense of being perched above the street, implanting an almost subterranean feel. The connection between the indoors and the outdoors feels seamless and natural; there is a view towards nature from every part of the house and a strong sense of a singular indoor and outdoor space in the way that one almost doesn’t detect what is inside and what is outside when all the doors are folded back.
Similarly, a rich and natural materiality inside the breathtaking sustainable home becomes fundamental to creating this sense of sanctuary and immersion. The use of natural and textural materials such as concrete, timber and steel feel elementally connected to the surroundings. This minimal decor and palette have a quality that ties it all together and imbues the home with a sense of harmony and creates a space that feels all-enveloping. A key aspect of this raw materiality is the use of rich timber as a key material inside the breathtaking sustainable home.
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