How best to assess the 2nd Cold War? What lies at the heart of the new ‘politics of gold’? Notes from Norway – a more equal country. How recognising randomness can encourage both gratitude, empathy and determination. Why we all need time alone… and without our phones.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Niall Ferguson, Biden Can’t Pay His Way Out of Fighting Cold War II
(Bloomberg, 19 May 2024)
The historian’s distillation of a symposium on “cold wars” which he just attended. Three different schools of thought emerge from it: (1) The US is already in a second cold war, approaching a Taiwan Crisis as dangerous as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962; (2) the US-China relationship is not as bad as the US-Soviet relationship – a “peaceful coexistence remains possible; (3) the situation today resembles the world on the eve of one or the other of the world wars. The US confronts a new Axis (China, Russia, Iran and North Korea) that poses a bigger threat than the Axis of the late 1930s – early 1940s. At the moment, the US is waging proxy wars, seeking to avoid sending its own soldiers into battle, but the “Ferguson’s Law” might apply: any great power that spends more on interest payments than on defense is not going to be great for very long (gifted article, reads in 10-13 min).
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Harold James, What’s Driving the Global Gold Rush?
(Project Syndicate, 1 May 2024)
Is the recent surge in the gold price sustainable? The economic historian thinks the gold price rise is symptomatic of a changing world order and the onset of a new age of conflict and uncertainty. Much of the heightened demand for gold is driven by central banks, because governments and central banks have long viewed the precious metal as a potential source of monetary stability and economic security. He thinks this time is no exception and that security concerns are at the heart of the new politics of gold (metered paywall that may require prior registration, reads in 6-8 min).
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Tom Clark, Notes from a more equal country
(Prospect, 16 May 2024)
Interesting to understand Norway’s exceptionalism, by comparing the UK to Norway through four short stories that show how Norway “does it”. (1) Incomes and taxes are transparent – a key feature in the public culture: “Transparency is the basis” for “an open country where we trust each other.” (2) Work: rents are affordable, making it easier to work in cities. Also, there is no minimum wage in Norway, but unions are strong and capable of negotiating from their own power base. (3) The welfare state: apart from strong unemployment benefits, a policy dominated by a strong ethos and attention paid to vulnerability. (4) Society: an emphasis on integration (metered paywall, reads in 7-9 min).
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Mark Rank, What we gain by recognising the role of chance in life
(Pysché, 23 May 2024)
A few excerpts from “The Random Factor: How Chance and Luck Profoundly Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us” (just published).
We like to believe the world is just and fair, and we like to believe in balance, but chance and luck have little interest in our notions of balance and deservedness. In real life, bad things can happen to good people, and good things can happen to bad people (accidents take place, illnesses strike, and unlucky breaks occur indiscriminately). Thus, the randomness of the universe is blind to any sense of justice, but, says Rank, appreciating the world is random can foster perseverance, gratitude for our own luck and empathy for the plight of others (free access, reads in 7-9 min).
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Jancee Dunn, We All Need Solitude. Here’s How to Embrace It.
(The New York Times, 14 May 2024)
An experts’ take on solitude (which is very different from loneliness). Most of us do require a balance of solo and social time, and the question is: how to recognize when we need more solitude, and how to incorporate it into our life? Their conclusion in a nutshell: alone time can help us reduce stress and manage emotions, but we must be intentional about it. One cardinal rule: let’s put our phone aside (gifted article, 4-5 min.)
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