The Globalist Podcast (September 1, 2023) – We present a special episode of ‘The Globalist’ live from Monocle’s Quality of Life Conference in Munich.
Hear from our editors and correspondents, including Monocle’s editor in chief, Andrew Tuck, Asia editor and Tokyo bureau chief, Fiona Wilson, and Europe editor at large, Ed Stocker. Plus: Charles Hecker discusses Russia’s allies and enemies, and David Bodanis explores the politics of cartography in the wake of China’s new national map.
Disinformation will become easier to produce, but it matters less than you might think
Politics is supposed to be about persuasion; but it has always been stalked by propaganda. Campaigners dissemble, exaggerate and fib. They transmit lies, ranging from bald-faced to white, through whatever means are available. Anti-vaccine conspiracies were once propagated through pamphlets instead of podcasts. A century before covid-19, anti-maskers in the era of Spanish flu waged a disinformation campaign. They sent fake messages from the surgeon-general via telegram (the wires, not the smartphone app). Because people are not angels, elections have never been free from falsehoods and mistaken beliefs.
Cynical leaders are scaremongering to win and abuse power
People seek strength and solace in their tribe, their faith or their nation. And you can see why. If they feel empathy for their fellow citizens, they are more likely to pull together for the common good. In the 19th and 20th centuries love of country spurred people to seek their freedom from imperial capitals in distant countries. Today Ukrainians are making heroic sacrifices to defend their homeland against Russian invaders.
The Guardian Weekly (September 1, 2023) – The issue features Prigozhin’s downfall – What next for Putin, Russia and Wagner?; Zadie Smith returns to the streets of London; Protecting the Arctic Sea, and more…
Andrew Roth explores what the legacy of the Wagner warlord might be for Russia – which may well hinge on Putin himself and how the war in Ukraine turns out.
Pjotr Sauer looks at the array of methods used to dispose of Putin’s political enemies in the past, while Dino Mahtani asks what will happen to Wagner group’s clandestine operations in Africa now its enigmatic boss is no longer in the picture.
In Spotlight, a beautiful photo-essay by Ossie Michelin and Eldred Allen transports us to the Canadian Arctic where, amid alarming signs of warmer winters and receding ice, Inuit people are planning to turn 15,000 sq km of the Labrador Sea into a unique conservation zone.
The Globalist Podcast, Monday, August 28: Logistics of elections in war torn Ukraine with historian Alex von Tunzelman and Kyiv correspondent Olga Tokariuk, and former Afghan politician Shukria Barakzai brings us up-to-date on the crackdown on women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Plus: Finnair’s new Arctic Express service and the latest business news with Isobel Hamilton.
The Globalist Podcast, Monday, August 28: A vibrant show from Monocle’s Zurich studio presented by Emma Nelson. We’ll discuss the latest from Ukraine, as well as China and the US’s latest trade talks.
Also, journalist Bruno Kaufmann examines Greenland’s geopolitical significance, we talk technology and the latest from the travel industry.
Monocle on Saturday, August 26, 2023: The week’s news and culture with Vincent McAviney. Terry Stiastny looks through the morning’s papers and Monocle’s Madrid correspondent, Liam Aldous, asks why female artists in Spain are going topless on stage.
The Globalist Podcast, Friday, August 25: After the suspected death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, we look at the history of Russia’s relationship to its dissidents with Charles Hecker and the knock-on effect for African nations with Mark Galeotti.
We also discuss Donald Trump’s surrender to authorities in Atlanta, Georgia and examine the rise of country music in the US. Plus: the newspapers from Zürich and the latest fashion and TV news.
An increasingly autocratic government is making bad decisions
Whatever has gone wrong? After China rejoined the world economy in 1978, it became the most spectacular growth story in history. Farm reform, industrialisation and rising incomes lifted nearly 800m people out of extreme poverty. Having produced just a tenth as much as America in 1980, China’s economy is now about three-quarters the size. Yet instead of roaring back after the government abandoned its “zero-covid” policy at the end of 2022, it is lurching from one ditch to the next.
A healthy country uses justice to restore order. Mr Putin uses violence instead
As we published this editorial, it was not certain that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet was shot down by Russian air-defences, or that the mutineer and mercenary boss was on board. But everyone believes that it was and that his death was a punishment of spectacular ruthlessness ordered by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. And that is the way Mr Putin likes it.
The Globalist Podcast, Thursday, August 24: Republican presidential candidates have their first debate in Milwaukee without Donald Trump, the latest from the BRICS summit in South Africa, after Putin addresses the bloc leaders virtually.
Plus: the Zimbabwe elections, a literary celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day and a Scandinavian shortage in Brussels.
Video timeline: 0:00 India lands on the south pole of the moon 0:53 Why the south pole? 2:37 Why Russia and India want to be first 4:32 New space race
Both countries launched rockets in recent weeks, hoping to be the first to successfully complete the mission. Why were they racing to reach the lunar south pole? WSJ explains the significance of both missions for Moscow and New Delhi.
Boomers Daily 