The Globalist (March 25, 2024): The crisis in Haiti continues to spiral as political parties edge closer to forming a security council. Will a new government halt the Caribbean nation’s nosedive?
Also, fugitive separatist Carles Puigdemont plans to run in Catalan elections, the latest trade and economy news and a special interview with ambassador Mark Green.
Monocle on Sunday, March 24, 2024: Emma Nelson, Nina dos Santos and David Bodanis on the weekend’s biggest talking points.
We also speak to Monocle’s editorial France and North Africa correspondent, Mary Fitzgerald, and our Vienna correspondent, Alexei Korolyov, for the latest on the Slovakia elections.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (March 22, 2024):
When it’s a quick trip from the schlocky pleasures of Cancún to the remote cities of the Maya, is something lost along the way?
El Tren Maya, which links five states in southern Mexico, is one of the country’s most-debated infrastructure projects. Carved through the Yucatán Peninsula at great expense, the 966-mile loop pits the megaproject ambitions of Mexico’s departing president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, against the will of environmentalists and Indigenous leaders seeking to preserve a pristine environment of jaguars, ancient ruins and sacred underwater caves.
Why had immigrants, seekers and pilgrims been drawn for centuries to the treacherous shores of Mona Island? I set off to find out.
By Carina del Valle Schorske
Every year, I spend a month or two in Puerto Rico, where my mother’s family is from. Often I go in winter, with the other snowbirds, finding solace among palm trees. But I’m not a tourist, not really. I track the developers that privatize the shoreline; I follow the environmental reports that give our beaches a failing grade. I’m disenchanted with the Island of Enchantment, suspicious of an image that obscures the unglamorous conditions of daily life: frequent blackouts, meager public services, a rental market ravaged by Airbnb. Maybe that’s why I turned away from the sunshine and started to explore caves with my friends Ramón and Javier, seeking out wonders not yet packaged for the visitor economy. I’ve been learning to love stalactites and squeaking bats, black snakes and cloistered waterfalls — even, slowly, the darkness itself.
REASON MAGAZINE (March 21, 2024) – The latest issue features ‘What If America Runs Out Of Bombs?’ – Due to overzealous interventionism, the U.S. is dispensing munitions faster than they can be replaced…
The U.S. is dispensing munitions to Ukraine and Israel faster than they can be replaced.
It only took a generation to go from ration cards to exporting electronics.
Opium dens in San Francisco were patronized “by the vicious and the depraved,” politicians of the 1800s claimed.
The Globalist (March 22, 2024): Bosnia and Herzegovina could be given the green light to begin EU accession talks. We discuss what this means with Monocle’s Balkans correspondent Guy de Launey.
Plus: Washington pushes for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a row about palace furniture ramps up between Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro, and we get the latest fashion news.
America should help it find a better strategy
There is still a narrow path out of the hellscape of Gaza. A temporary ceasefire and hostage release could cause a change of Israel’s government; the rump of Hamas fighters in south Gaza could be contained or fade away; and from the rubble, talks on a two-state solution could begin, underwritten by America and its Gulf allies. It is just as likely, however, that ceasefire talks will fail. That could leave Israel locked in the bleakest trajectory of its 75-year existence, featuring endless occupation, hard-right politics and isolation. Today many Israelis are in denial about this, but a political reckoning will come eventually. It will determine not only the fate of Palestinians, but also whether Israel thrives in the next 75 years.
It is becoming harder for investors to ignore politics
Investors differ in their approach to elections. Some see politics as an edge to exploit; others as noise to block out. Even for those without a financial interest, markets offer a brutally frank perspective on the economic stakes. As elections approach in America and Britain, as well as plenty of other countries, that is especially valuable.
The Globalist (March 21, 2024): We discuss what will be on the agenda at the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels with associate editor at Politico, Suzanne Lynch.
Also in the programme: we get the latest on Vietnam president Vo Van Thuong’s resignation and find out why Canada is stopping future arms shipments to Israel. Plus: we flick through the April issue of Monocle as it hits newsstands.
The Globalist (March 20, 2024): As negotiations in Doha resume, we discuss the likelihood of a temporary truce in Gaza after months of devastating war.
Plus: protests in Argentina, US domestic politics and why Slovakia’s forthcoming presidential election is crucial for the EU.
Fly west across the United Arab Emirates from Fujairah, a tanker-filled port on the Gulf of Oman, towards the Persian Gulf and you get a sense of the vulnerability arid lands have to climate change. The farms around Dhaid provide a splash of green, but homegrown food is scarce, homegrown staples next to non-existent. Drinkable water comes mostly from desalination plants. The heat is growing inhumane; outside work is banned during the hottest hours of summer afternoons.
The Globalist (March 19, 2024): Israel denies the EU’s accusation that it is using starvation as a weapon of war.
Plus, Hong Kong’s Article 23 security legislation nears a vote and Mark Galeotti introduces the Kremlin elite of the future.
