For Putin, it’s the point of no return. Populism doesn’t last for ever. The environment: the good news among the bad news. The German model is failing. And the Internet misses the point.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Michael Kofman, Putin’s Point of No Return
(Foreign Affairs, January – February 2025)
A hawkish perspective of what’s coming. The former NIC member and her think-tanker colleague assert that “the stage is set for the confrontation with Russia to intensify, despite the incoming Trump administration’s apparent interest in normalizing relations with Moscow.” Most likely, Russia will walk away from the current war emboldened and, once it has reconstituted its military capacity, spoiling for another fight to revise the security order in Europe. Accordingly, the costs of resisting Russia will only rise (metered paywall that may require prior registration, 8-10 min).
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Michael Strain, Populism Never Lasts
(Project Syndicate, 13 December 2024)
Throughout recent, history, populism has shown to be a frequent response to financial crises, but the same historical evidence shows that it normally recedes, typically returning to its pre-crisis level after about ten years. The director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute argues that populism will always be a temporary phenomenon because its economic policy prescriptions simply do not work. He says that parties that want to position themselves for success over the long term must provide sound economic management (metered paywall that may require prior registration; 4-5 min).
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Isabelle Gerretsen et al., Seven quiet breakthroughs for climate and nature in 2024 you might have missed
(BBC Futures, 16 December 2024)
Global temperatures rose and extreme weather ramped up, but there were also some significant breakthroughs for the climate this year. Here are seven quiet wins that may have gone under your radar in 2024: (1) The end of coal in the UK; (2) A global surge in green power; (3) The rivers, mountains, waves and whales given legal personhood; (4) New Ocean protections for the Azores; (5) Amazon deforestation reaches nine-year low; (6) Conservation really can make a difference to biodiversity; (7) Indigenous-led efforts replenish skies and rivers (free access, 5-6 min).
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Yascha Mounk, The German Model is Failing
(Substack, 15 December 2024)
At dizzying speed, Germany has gone from economic powerhouse to the new “sick man of Europe.” The country is now in its deepest crisis since WWII, and neither Angela Merkel nor her successors have any idea how to fix it. A damning account of the Merkel years: “Although she (Angela Merkel) always strived to do the right thing, she ultimately got nearly everything wrong – a lesson she refuses to learn to this day.” Mounk is not optimistic about Germany’s future: Right now, Germany’s postwar model has reached its breaking point. What is required of the German political and intellectual class in this moment is courage and imagination; there’s worryingly little sign that it will be able to muster much of either” (metered paywall, about 10 min).
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Kara Alaimo, The Internet Missed the Point on Luigi Mangione
(Time, 13 December 2024)
The professor of communication uses the example of Mangione to criticize the Internet’s “voracious appetite for spin” and what it does to our brain (the illusory truth effect: the more a thing – true or not – is repeated, the more we believe in it) and to the public discourse. “Social media apps are forums where people post hot takes on what’s trending, rather than waiting for all the facts to emerge and considering all sides before arriving at careful conclusions. Everyone’s in competition to come up with the most clever, witty, and even extreme post to stand out among everyone else creating content about the same person—about whom, despite his digital imprint, we understand so very little” (metered paywall, 5 min).
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