By Thomas Friedman ; New York Times; December 17, 2024 I just spent a week in Beijing and Shanghai, meeting with Chinese officials, economists, and entrepreneurs, so let me get straight to the point: while we sleep, China has made tremendous leaps in high-tech manufacturing. If no one has told Donald Trump, then I will: his… Read More How Elon Musk and Taylor Swift Might Solve US-China Relations
ADAM TOOZE Conducted in the summer of 2024 in Shanghai this interview with Ding Xionfei is the most far-reaching public discussion I have had had about the development of my writing and thinking since Perry Anderson’s review of my work. I want to thank Ding Xiongfei for his remarkable engagement and for permission to republish part… Read More Adam Tooze on Polycrisis and technocratic complacency. Interview with Ding Xiongfei from the Shanghai Review of Books
The Ministry of Truth, Part 1: How the Prime Minister’s Office has ordered a systemic operation to discredit and ‘fix’ global rankings which show the government in bad light. And, to home-cook some charitable replacements. Shreegireesh Jalihal New Delhi: In Hyderabad’s Taj Deccan last year, Smriti Irani, then India’s Women and Child Development Minister, took… Read More Inside Modi Govt’s War Room to Whitewash Global Indices
NB: Everyone has a finger in the pie.. even those who cry about corruption. What a bunch of crooks. DS Irrespective of what happens in the US courts, it is incumbent on the Indian government to investigate the impact of the indictment on Indian businesses and policy making within the country. Bharat Bhushan An independent… Read More Adani bribery scandal: Modi govt’s failure to investigate sends wrong signal to corporate India
NB: The notions of technofeudalism, ‘cloud capital’, ‘cloud proletarians’ and ‘cloud rent’ are insightful. Varoufakis has an active intellect and thoughtful people from all walks of life will gain from taking his ideas seriously. DS The tech giants have overthrown capitalism. That’s the argument of former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who became famous trying… Read More Welcome to the Age of Technofeudalism: Yanis Varoufakis interviewed by WIRED magazine
Seventy percent of the illegal weapons seized from criminals in Mexico come from your country. We do not produce these weapons, nor do we consume synthetic drugs. Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours. Alex Griffing Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pulled no punches… Read More Mexico’s President Hits Back At Trump Threat With Fiery Letter, Blames U.S. For Arming Criminals
Aditya Chakrabortty Since we’ll hear a lot, again, about “populism”, let’s remember, again, that 19th-century US populism had a healthy strain of leftwing politics. Defending workers, riling up bankers, decrying the “cross of gold” and economic conservatism: look past his Bible-bashing, and William Jennings Bryan was a precursor to Franklin Roosevelt. Yet for much of… Read More Why did voters abandon Kamala Harris? Because they feel trapped – and Trump offered a way out
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Consumption of world’s wealthiest people also making it increasingly difficult to limit global heating to 1.5C The high carbon emissions of the world’s richest 1% are worsening hunger, poverty and excess deaths, a report has found. Owing to luxury yachts, private jets and investments in polluting industries, the consumption of the world’s wealthiest people is also making… Read More Carbon emissions of richest 1% increase hunger, poverty and deaths, says Oxfam
Shweta Thakur Nanda Moromi Hazowary of Kamrup district in Assam had clear aspirations – a stable life and a desire to give her son a better education. It is not a stroke of luck, but an invasive weed – water hyacinth – that is turning her hopes into reality. The 32-year-old’s family was dependent on… Read More How the invasive water hyacinth is helping build livelihoods – with an ecological bonus
After the truth-shower 