Monocle on Saturday, December 18, 2023: Terry Stiastny joins Georgina Godwin for a look through the week’s news and culture. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, fails to secure long-term financial aid from the US and the EU, Rishi Sunak attends a hard-right-wing political festival in Italy and we learn about Finland’s festive TV genre – reindeer noir. Plus: Grace Charlton discusses Monocle’s Christmas gift-giving guide.
Tag Archives: Israel
The New York Times — Saturday, Dec 16, 2023
Zelensky Returns to Ukraine With Little Aid and a Raft of Needs
The European Union’s willingness to open accession talks will lift morale, but the more immediate prospects for financial support from allies is sobering.
Women at Fast-Growing Realty Firm Say They Were Drugged and Assaulted
In lawsuits, five women say eXp Realty long ignored complaints that two male agents were preying on their female peers at alcohol-fueled work events.
Private Gun Ownership in Israel Spikes After Hamas Attacks
In a country already bristling with armed soldiers and reservists, a new sense of insecurity is pushing civilians to seek more personal weapons.
Jury Orders Giuliani to Pay $148 Million to Election Workers He Defamed
Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, wrongfully accused by Rudolph W. Giuliani of having tried to steal votes from Donald J. Trump in Georgia, were awarded the damages by a federal court in Washington.
News: 2024 U.S. Election, Trump Poll Surge, Biden Impeachment Inquiry
The Globalist Podcast (December 15, 2023) – The latest on the battle for the White House as Donald Trump surges in key swing-state polls and Joe Biden grapples with inflation, as well as a looming impeachment investigation.
Then: Moncole’s Tokyo bureau chief, Fiona Wilson, discusses the political fallout from Japan prime minister Fumio Kishida’s latest scandal. Plus: Vladimir Putin’s Year of the Family 2024 agenda, a flip through the papers and Andrew Mueller’s take on the news of the week.
The New York Times — Friday, December 15, 2023
Washington Urges Israel to Scale Down Its War in Gaza
The call for a more targeted phase in the war appeared to be the most definitive effort yet by the United States to restrain Israel in its retaliation against Hamas for the attacks it led on Oct. 7.
How the Israel-Hamas War Tore Apart Public Defenders in the Bronx
The Bronx Defenders is one of the most influential public defense organizations in the United States. But allegations of antisemitism have dogged it and have grown louder since Oct. 7.
Who Gets the Water in California? Whoever Gets There First.
As the world warms, the state is re-examining claims to its water that have gone unchallenged for generations.
Losing Hair, Gaining Followers
Hair-loss influencers on TikTok say they are destigmatizing a common insecurity. Critics say they are cashing in on a vulnerable audience.
Commentary Magazine – January 2024 Preview
After Hamas Is Destroyed, Here Are the Five Things That Must Not Happen in Gaza
Israel is resolved to remove Hamas and its terrorist infrastructure from the Gaza Strip permanently, and for much of the world, its determination raises one question more than any other: What comes next in Gaza? For those who disapprove of Israel’s actions in the war or those who either passively or actively support the role of Hamas as the Strip’s governing authority, the lack of answers provides a pretext not only to demand a permanent cease-fire but to suggest (often quietly and with a furrowed brow indicating supposed realpolitik wisdom) that the path Israel seems to be making for itself is a dead end from which it needs to be saved.
The Future Isn’t Going as Promised
In his new book, The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised,American Enterprise Institute scholar James Pethokoukis writes about the go-go years of the 1960s: Saturn V rockets were blasting to the moon, atomic power promised to make electricity “too cheap to meter,” and sci-fi TV shows like Star Trek depicted new marvels right around the corner.
Brush Off Your Shakespeare
“Joseph,” my friend Edward Shils said to me, “we have spoken about many things, among them about various writers, but we are both too civilized ever to talk about Shakespeare. After all, what could one say?” Yes, what can one say? Over a long writing career, I have never written about Shakespeare, and, best I can recall, among the many millions of words I have produced, have never even quoted him. Truth is, I have long admired Shakespeare without being especially nuts about him.
Previews: The Economist Magazine – Dec 16, 2023
Can you have a healthy democracy without a common set of facts?
America’s presidential election is a test of that proposition
Journalists should not spend much of their time writing about journalism. The world is more interesting than the inky habits of the people who report on it. But this week we are making an exception, because the discovery and dissemination of information matters a lot to politics. Don’t take our word for it: “A popular government,” wrote James Madison in 1822, “without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.” Were Thomas Jefferson offered a choice between a government without newspapers and newspapers without a government, he said that he would choose the press (though that is probably going a bit far).
Iran’s regime is weaker than it looks, and therefore more pliable
America should deter it from escalating the Gaza war, but also engage with it
Twelve months ago Iran was reeling from protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman who had been arrested for showing too much hair. Its theocratic regime was increasingly isolated, as Arab states forged closer ties with its enemy, Israel. The economy was a mess, adding to popular anger at Iran’s ageing supreme leader and inept president. The Islamic Republic had not seemed so vulnerable in decades.
News: Ukraine Membership In EU Opposed By Hungary, Putin News Conference
The Globalist Podcast (December 14, 2023) – We discuss Ukraine’s EU membership bid as Hungary vows to stand firm against its accession.
Plus: the latest on Vladimir Putin’s annual call-in, questions over Emmanuel Macron’s political future and Serbia’s messy election campaign. And: an interview with Bob van den Oord on the future of luxury travel and hospitality.
The New York Times — Thursday, Dec 14, 2023
In a First, Nations at Climate Summit Agree to Move Away From Fossil Fuels
Nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations approved a milestone plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil and gas.
Under Rules of War, ‘Proportionality’ in Gaza Is Not About Evening the Score
The concept, important for determining the legality of an act of war, is about weighing civilian harm against military objectives, not about achieving a balanced number of casualties.
Held Hostage in Gaza, a Thai Worker’s Prayers for Freedom Come True
A Thai farmworker clung to hope during her nearly 50 days of captivity in Gaza by befriending a young Israeli girl and dreaming of reuniting with her boyfriend, who had also been abducted.
Tesla Recalls Autopilot Software in 2 Million Vehicles
Federal regulators pressed the automaker to make updates to ensure drivers are paying attention while using Autopilot, a system that can steer, accelerate and brake on its own.
Politics: Foreign Affairs Magazine- January 2024
The Self-Doubting Superpower
America Shouldn’t Give Up on the World It Made
Most Americans think their country is in decline. In 2018, when the Pew Research Center asked Americans how they felt their country would perform in 2050, 54 percent of respondents agreed that the U.S. economy would be weaker. An even larger number, 60 percent, agreed that the United States would be less important in the world. This should not be surprising; the political atmosphere has been pervaded for some time by a sense that the country is headed in the wrong direction. According to a long-running Gallup poll, the share of Americans who are “satisfied” with the way things are going has not crossed 50 percent in 20 years. It currently stands at 20 percent.
Why Israel Slept
The War in Gaza and the Search for Security
By Amos Yadlin and Udi Evental
In a barbaric surprise attack launched by Hamas on October 7, more Jews were slaughtered than on any day since the Holocaust. Thousands of elite Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated small communities and cities in southern Israel, where they proceeded to commit sadistic, repulsive crimes against humanity, filming their vile deeds and boasting about them to friends and family back home.
News: Qatar-Israel-Hamas Bribe Scheme; Rwanda Migrants, Liz Cheney & GOP
The Globalist Podcast (December 13, 2023) – We examine Benjamin Netenyahu’s alleged scheme to bribe Hamas through Qatar.
Also, Tim Bale explains how, in the UK, Tory factions are pulling the strings on Rwanda; Liz Cheney’s message to the GOP; and film critic Karen Krizanovich reveals how Japan is breathing life into the US box office.
Boomers Daily 