Vladimir Putin’s ship of fools is sinking fast. Will he take everyone down with him?

Simon Tisdall More than ever, Vladimir Putin resembles the captain of the Titanic: steaming full speed ahead towards disaster, deluded by inaccurate assumptions about his ship’s invincibility, and blind to darkly looming hazards. Everything the captain thinks he knows is wrong, the modern-day treasure hunter, Brock Lovett, says in the 1997 movie. And like the Titanic’s lookouts,… Read More Vladimir Putin’s ship of fools is sinking fast. Will he take everyone down with him?

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Leicester calling

Mukul Kesavan The symmetry of the responses of the Pakistani and Indian high commissions to the recent communal violence in Leicester neatly illustrates the evolution of the Indian State under the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is the first paragraph of the Pakistani statement: “It is with great concern that the High Commission of Pakistan to… Read More Leicester calling

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Thousands call for ‘climate reparations and justice’ in global protests

Thousands of young people have staged a coordinated “global climate strike” across Asia, Africa and Europe in a call for reparations for those worst affected by climate breakdown. From New Zealand and Japan to Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo, activists walked out of schools, universities and jobs to demand rich countries pay for… Read More Thousands call for ‘climate reparations and justice’ in global protests

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‘It’s a miracle’: Gran Abuelo in Chile could be world’s oldest living tree

John Bartlett 100ft alerce has estimated age of 5,484, more than 600 years older than Methuselah in California. In a secluded valley in southern Chile, a lone alerce tree stands above the canopy of an ancient forest. Green shoots sprout from the crevices in its thick, dark trunks, huddled like the pipes of a great cathedral… Read More ‘It’s a miracle’: Gran Abuelo in Chile could be world’s oldest living tree

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Climate Crisis and the Age of the Super-Typhoon: Storms batter, flood Puerto Rico, Pakistan, Japan and Shanghai

JUAN COLE A mere category 1 hurricane dumped so much water on Puerto Rico so quickly that one of its rivers has swollen to 25 feet above normal, even more than it rose during Hurricane Maria in 2017, which was a Category 5 hurricane. The island is beset by flash floods, and is getting 16-30 inches… Read More Climate Crisis and the Age of the Super-Typhoon: Storms batter, flood Puerto Rico, Pakistan, Japan and Shanghai

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The Publicity-Shy Funds Backing Gautam Adani’s Massive Empire

Andy Mukherjee – Bloomberg Gautam Adani’s rise to the No. 2 spot in global wealth rankings, crafted chiefly from shares traded in the local market, deserves to be in the spotlight – as much as a poster child of Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” self-reliance as an opportunity for some much-needed transparency about the tycoon’s… Read More The Publicity-Shy Funds Backing Gautam Adani’s Massive Empire

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Theater of Shame

The rise of online humiliation Charlie Tyson “Egged on by algorithms,” Cathy O’Neil writes in her book The Shame Machine, “millions of us participate in these dramas, providing the tech giants with free labor.” Pile-ons increase engagement. Our fury pads the purses of tech capitalists. MEN PUNISH WITH SHAME,” wrote the sixteenth-century poet Thomas Wyatt. It… Read More Theater of Shame

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