It’s useless to look for a grand policy plan coming from the White House – there isn’t one, beyond self-aggrandisement. Why Germany must seize the moment to safeguard Europe’s future – or else. Rather than re-building, Musk and DOGE are unravelling  both institutions and civic trust. AI’s coming of age in five important areas of medicine. The astonishing ripple effect of the Danish wonder drugs.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The international relations scholar John Ikenberry once described the US as a liberal leviathan. Today, the liberal leviathan has become a rogue elephant.” (Timothy Garton-Ash)

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

Max Hastings, Trump World Displays the Tragedy and Folly of a King’s Court
(Bloomberg, 23 February 2025)
A great article that dispels the illusion that any ‘plan’, let alone coherent policy, is at work and gives a sense of what’s coming. Trump wants to govern as an absolute monarch, and anyone who approaches his throne must do so as a vassal and suppliant, or not at all. The best proxy to understand Trump’s court: Wolf Hall, the BBC drama series that exposes the mingling of glitz, intrigue, institutionalized corruption and, above all, fear set in the 16th century reign of Henry VIII. As the historian turned columnist observes: “Some commentators strive to identify a grand design guiding the new reign. It seems more likely, however, that no plan exists. There is only the conceit of majesty; the substitution of impulse for reason, of vacuous verbiage for policy; the renunciation of any moral dimension in government” (gifted article, 6-8 min).
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Timothy Garton-Ash, Germany can turbocharge Europe’s renewal – if it will only seize this moment
(The Guardian, 26 February 2025)
The renowned historian of contemporary Europe reminds us that three times in the postwar era Germany made strategic choices that benefited Europe, with the US at its side (in 1949, 1969 and 1989). Now it must do the same in opposition to Trump – shortly after being elected, Friedrich Merz declared that Europe must “really achieve independence from the US.” If his new coalition government manages to seize the chance of this crisis, both Germany and Europe will go forward. If it fails, warns Garton-Ash, “then by the end of the 2020s both may have fallen backwards farther and faster than most of us could have imagined in our worst nightmares.” Read on to understand why success is not guaranteed (free access, reads in 4-6 min).
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Brooke Harrington, Trump Is Like F.D.R. — Only in Reverse
(The New York Times, 25 February 2025)
The core argument: Elon Musk’s initiative – the Department of Government Efficiency – is destabilizing the basic systems upon which societies function and “threatens to destroy what’s left of Americans’ faith in government”. “The current administration is running Franklin Roosevelt’s first 100 days in reverse: Instead of rebuilding institutions and public trust at a moment of national peril, it seems to be trying to unravel both – and is creating a moment of national peril”. Destroying the key asset of “civic capital” – the trust in government to do what is right, at least most of the time – will inevitably weaken America’s society and economy (gifted article, 5-7 min).
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From AI-guided surgery to early disease detection. 5 major healthcare advances
(World Economic Forum, February 2025)
An AI strong net positive! This 4-min video that explains in simple terms and some vivid details how AI is triggering five major positive transformations in healthcare. They range from AI-guided surgery and AI-aided detection to Adaptive deep brain stimulation, heart monitors that can reduce stroke risks and detecting the early signs of more than 1,000 diseases (free access).
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Adrienne Murray, Hotdogs and motorways: The ripples created by Denmark’s Ozempic and Wegovy boom
(BBC, 20 February 2025)
How just one product can affect several industries while benefiting an entire country in the process. Two years ago, the name Novo Nordisk (a Danish company) hardly rung a bell, but today the soaring sales of its anti-obesity and diabetes treatments (Wegovy and Ozempic) have turned it into one of Europe’s most valuable companies, supercharging Denmark’s economy and transforming a small Danish community into an unlikely boomtown. Some of the domino and ripple effects are stunning (free access, reads in 4-5 min).
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