The Globalist Podcast (December 28, 2023) – In-depth coverage of the day’s main news stories around the world, anchored from Midori House in London by Georgina Godwin.
The New York Times — Friday, December 29, 2023
Israel Expresses Regret for ‘Unintended Harm’ to Civilians in Gaza Airstrike
The Israeli military said it was “working to draw lessons” from an attack in central Gaza that was reported to have killed dozens of people.
Earth Was Due for Another Year of Record Warmth. But This Warm?
Scientists are already busy trying to understand whether 2023’s off-the-charts heat is a sign that global warming is accelerating.
The Covenant Parents Aren’t Going to Keep Quiet on Guns
A group of parents reeling from a mass shooting at their children’s private Christian school believed no one was in a better position to persuade the G.O.P. to enact limited gun control.
Preview: Foreign Policy Magazine – Winter 2024
The Promise and Peril of Geopolitics
The world’s most dismal science could make Eurasia safe for illiberalism and predation—or protect it from those forces.
By Hal Brands, a professor of global affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Alexander Dugin is a bit of a madman. The Russian intellectual made headlines in the West in 2022, when his daughter was killed, apparently by Ukrainian operatives, in a Moscow car bombing likely meant for Dugin himself. Dugin would have been targeted because of his unapologetic, yearslong advocacy for a genocidal war of conquest in Ukraine. “Kill! Kill! Kill!” he screeched after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first invasion of that country in 2014, adding: “This is my opinion as a professor.” Even at his daughter’s funeral, Dugin stayed on message. Among her first words as an infant, he claimed, were “our empire.”
Tour: Frank Lloyd Wright-Inspired Home In New York
Inspired by the work of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the property is lined with five kinds of wood, and countless types of stone, while legions of windows offer uninterrupted views of the river beyond.
One of only a handful of properties built on the Hudson River, the house is a rarity since the law now prohibits building new homes less than 100 ft from the riverbank.
Previews: The Top Five Stories To Watch In 2024
Video timeline: 00:00 – The World Ahead 2024 00:33 – Vital votes 03:34 – Taxis take off 07:10 – AI rules 10:19 – Industry cleans up? 13:48 – BRICS build
The New York Review Of Books – January 18, 2024
The Fate of Free Will
By James Gleick
In Free Agents, Kevin Mitchell makes a scientific case for the existence of human agency.
Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will by Kevin J. Mitchell
Nobody was holding a gun to your head when you started reading this. You made a choice. Surely it felt that way, at least. A sense of agency—of control over our actions, of continual decision-making—is part of the experience of being human, moment by moment and day by day. True, we sometimes just drift, like robots or zombies, but at other times we gird our loins and exert our will. David Hume defined will nearly three centuries ago as “the internal impression we feel and are conscious of, when we knowingly give rise to any new motion of our body, or new perception of our mind.” The feeling was universal then and it’s universal now.
Tools to End the Poverty Pandemic
Why have Americans not fought to sustain the unprecedented Covid-era expansion of aid to children, renters, and gig workers?
The Pandemic Paradox: How the Covid Crisis Made Americans More Financially Secure by Scott Fulford
The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide by Steven W. Thrasher
Poverty in the Pandemic: Policy Lessons from Covid-19 by Zachary Parolin
Previews: The Top Future Tech Trends Of 2024
News: Israel-Hezbollah War Risks, Architect Of EU Jacques Delors Dies At 98
The New York Times — Thursday, Dec 28, 2023
Skepticism Grows Over Israel’s Ability to Dismantle Hamas
Israel has vowed time and again to eliminate the group responsible for the brutal Oct. 7 attack, but critics increasingly see that goal as unrealistic or even impossible.
Nearly Two Million Crowd Into Gaza’s South as Fighting Intensifies
As Israel’s ground campaign broadens in southern Gaza, thousands more people are pouring into areas that are struggling to offer shelter or security.
Michigan Supreme Court Decides Trump Can Stay on Ballot
After Colorado’s top court ruled that the former president was disqualified for engaging in insurrection, justices in Michigan considered a similar challenge.
Chinese Spy Agency Rising to Challenge the C.I.A.
The ambitious Ministry of State Security is deploying A.I. and other advanced technology to go toe-to-toe with the United States, even as the two nations try to pilfer each other’s scientific secrets.
Culinary Arts: Michelin-Starred ‘Yuu’ In Brooklyn
Shimano and his team use theatricality and precision to serve a tasting menu that includes amuse-bouche, wagyu, salade de homarde, and more.
