Monocle on Sunday, January 14, 2024 – Emma Nelson, Yassmin Abdel-Magied and Nina dos Santos on the weekend’s biggest talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, in Tokyo and our Singapore correspondent in Taiwan, Naomi Xu Elegant.
Tag Archives: China
The Economist Magazine – January 13, 2024 Preview
An influx of Chinese cars is terrifying the West
But it should keep its markets open to cheap, clean vehicles
America fights back
The war against the Houthis is part of an escalating struggle for the seas
Why Olaf Scholz is no Angela Merkel
Germany is unable and unwilling to lead Europe
News: U.S. & Allies Launch Air Strikes On Houthis In Yemen, 2024 Iowa Caucuses
The Globalist Podcast (January 12, 2024) – US and UK forces have carried out air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen with mission support from the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Bahrain.
Targets reportedly include sites in the capital city, Sana’a, the Red Sea port of Al-Hudaydah, Dhamar and the northwestern Houthi stronghold of Sa’ada. We discuss the political consequences of South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Also, an eventful week in US politics ahead of this year’s presidential election, Greece plans an initial public offering of Athens International Airport and the latest theatre news.
Defending Taiwan: Guam Is Key To America’s Strategy
Video timeline: 00:00 – Where is Guam? 00:13 – Why is it so important? 01:00 – What makes it vulnerable?
News: The South Africa Genocide Case Against Israel, Taiwan Elections
News: NATO Allies Meeting On Ukraine Air Defenses, Humanitarian Aid In Gaza
The Economist Magazine – January 6, 2024 Preview
The man supposed to stop Donald Trump is an unpopular 81-year-old
In failing to look past Joe Biden, Democrats have shown cowardice and complacency
Binyamin Netanyahu is botching the war. Time to sack him
To be safe, Israel needs new leadership
Another war could break out on the Israel-Lebanon border
Israeli officials see Hizbullah as an unacceptable threat
Fine Art: The Burlington Magazine – January 2024
The Burlington Magazine – January 3, 2024: The new issue features ‘The Golden Age of Avignon’ – Avignon as ‘New Rome’; Rubens and women; Tiepolo in New York; Gertrude Stein and Picasso, and more….
China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta
A vivid photograph of a lotus pond ushers visitors into this ambitious exhibition on the arts and culture of Jiangnan. Lying to the south of the Yangtze – its name literally means ‘south of the river’ – this part of China includes such major cities as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou. Curated by Clarissa von Spee, Chair of Asian Art and the James and Donna Reid Curator of Chinese Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), this is the first exhibition outside China to present an encyclopaedic view of the cultural history of this historically affluent region.
The Walpole Society
Ever since the Walpole Society was founded in London in 1911 ‘with the object of promoting the study of the history of British art’, The Burlington Magazine has taken a close interest in an organisation with aims and principles so close to our own: this is the sixth Editorial we have devoted to the subject. The first, written by the art historian August F. Jaccaci, who edited the Magazine’s ‘Art in America’ section, appeared in 1913 on the occasion of the publication of the first of the annual volumes that are the society’s raison d’être.
The Economist Magazine – December 23, 2023 Preview
The US Navy confronts a new Suez crisis
Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping threaten global trade
For the world to prosper, ships must reach their ports. They are most vulnerable when passing through narrow passages, such as the Strait of Malacca or the Panama Canal. So a recent surge of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, the only southern conduit into the Suez Canal, poses a grave threat to global trade. The Houthis, militants in Yemen backed by Iran, have fired over 100 drones and missiles at ships linked to more than 35 countries, ostensibly in support of the Palestinians. Their campaign is an affront to the principle of freedom of navigation, which is already at risk from the Black Sea to the South China Sea. America and its allies must deal firmly with it—without escalating the conflict in the Middle East.
Economists had a dreadful 2023
Mistaken recession calls were just part of it
Spare a thought for economists. Last Christmas they were an unusually pessimistic lot: the growth they expected in America over the next calendar year was the fourth-lowest in 55 years of fourth-quarter surveys. Many expected recession; The Economist added to the prognostications of doom and gloom. This year economists must swap figgy pudding for humble pie, because America has probably grown by an above-trend 3%—about the same as in boomy 2005. Adding to the impression of befuddlement, most analysts were caught out on December 13th by a doveish turn by the Federal Reserve, which sent them scrambling to rewrite their outlooks for the new year.
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.
Intellicurious 