Crooked Bough News Round-up

— October: the longer view

 

at 10/14/24 9:28am

The month's archives. - 2024/10 / perspective

— America's election: are happy times here again?

 

at 10/13/24 4:00pm

After narrowly surviving an assassin's bullet, Donald Trump seemed almost invincible. But since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden, Trump's routine has begun to look stale and his campaign faltering. - 2024/09 / article

— Germany rallies to Israel

 

at 10/13/24 4:00pm

After Hamas's attack of 7 October, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Israel's security a ‘reason of state for Germany' (12 October). This position, which combines diplomatic dexterity and memory work , has taken on a particular complexion in the current situation. Several prominent progressive leaders have pointed to Germany's Muslim population (5.5 million) as the source of a new wave of antisemitism and thus an internal threat. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, usually quick to call out racism, (...) - 2023/12 / article, 2023/12 Gaza

— AI and the techno-utopian path not taken

 

at 10/10/24 4:00pm

When artificial intelligence emerged in the mid-1950s, enhancing human potential was not on the agenda. However, some technological pioneers dared to think differently. - 2024/08 / article

— Cuba's economic crisis: US sanctions and the problem of ‘overcompliance'


 

at 10/7/24 4:53am

Cuba has faced many economic crises, but the current one is different. It is far worse than even that of the early 1990s, when Cuba lost all trade with the Soviet bloc, and at the same time the US imposed severe new economic measures against the island nation. In the early 1990s, Cuba's infrastructure was in fairly good condition. The state's response was agile: the government agencies managing food security and health care directed extra resources to children, the elderly and the sick. (...) - Outside in / Comment

— Tajikistan clings to the Aryan myth

 

at 10/6/24 4:00pm

Soviet-era Tajikistan was once an autonomous republic within Uzbekistan. In recent years the Tajik government has striven to distinguish itself from its bigger neighbour, deploying myths of Aryan purity. - 2024/09 / article, 2024/09 tajikistan

— No return to class in war-torn Gaza

 

at 10/6/24 4:00pm

In difficult conditions, Gaza had managed to develop an education system that won international admiration. Since last October Israel has systematically destroyed nearly all of it. - 2024/09 / article

— Arctic shipping routes and maritime boundary claims

 

at 9/29/24 12:43pm

- International / 2024/10 Arctic

[Link to media]

— America's attack poodle

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

The charges against Pavel Durov, founder of messaging app Telegram, send a chilling signal about freedom of speech. - 2024/10 / article

— Lebanon in the heart of the storm

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Israel's deadly campaign of airstrikes on Lebanon in September killed Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah and displaced and killed hundreds of civilians. Will this escalation of the conflict plunge Lebanon into a wider war against its powerful neighbour, drawing in Iran and Syria? - 2024/10 / article

— Bigger not always better in the world of live music

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Two Californian companies wield extraordinary power in the live music space, controlling venues, artists and ticketing. Meanwhile, in France, many small-to-medium festivals are near breaking point. - 2024/10 / article

— Cricket: a thoroughly Indian sport

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Nowhere loves cricket more than India, where it also helps unify a nation fractured by ethnic divisions and mend relations with neighbouring Pakistan. Or at least it did until the advent of the BJP. - 2024/10 / article

— Arctic Ocean geopolitics

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Though remote, the Arctic is not immune to global politics. With Russia excluded since the Ukraine war, vital work to protect its vulnerable ecosystem is being compromised. - 2024/10 / article, Map, 2024/10 Arctic

— The bloody rebirth of Bangladesh

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Sheikh Hasina's narrative of progress masked a different reality, one of inequality, corruption and state violence. Now she's been ousted, can Bangladesh avoid chaos and a return to authoritarianism? - 2024/10 / article

— The French left and the antisemitism trap

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

The left emerged from the snap elections called by President Macron as the biggest bloc in parliament, but couldn't form a government – blame the campaign to brand it as irremediably antisemitic. - 2024/10 / article

— Kamala Harris, or the illusion of change

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

The selection of Harris as presidential nominee has put a spring in the Democrats' step and left her opponent Donald Trump flailing. But set aside the feelgood factor and it's hard to say what she stands for. - 2024/10 / article

— Israel: controlling the past to control the future

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Israel's attempt to dispossess the Palestinians has for decades included laying siege to their culture. It begins with trying to erase their history from the land and extends to every aspect of daily life. - 2024/10 / article

— Making the desert bloom – but for whom?

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Trees seem an unlikely means of pursuing the Zionist project, but the Jewish National Fund has planted a quarter of a billion of them. If land is covered with pine trees, it can't be occupied by Palestinians. - 2024/10 / article

— Is time still on Russia's side?

 

at 9/29/24 12:33pm

Russia's economy, and its people, have weathered the Ukraine war better than predicted, but resilience has limits. Though still claiming that ‘all war aims will be achieved', Vladimir Putin now faces stark choices about its endgame. - 2024/10 / article

— The return of rail

 

at 9/25/24 8:01am

In the mid-19th century, the spread of the railways radically changed the relationship between humans, time and space. Within just a few decades, Europe, North America, Russia and India were covered in train tracks, and rail reduced travel times between booming cities by ten. With an almost absolute monopoly on land travel, it accompanied and symbolised the meteoric expansion of capitalism during the industrial revolution. To this day, rail lines structure the development and transformation (...) - Ebooks / ebook, Dossier

— Milei takes his chainsaw to Argentine culture

 

at 9/24/24 4:00pm

With half of Argentina's population living in poverty, cultural institutions are an obvious target for Javier Milei's infamous chainsaw. They are a key part of the democratic consensus he is out to destroy. - 2024/06 / article

As of 10/22/24 5:22am. Last new 10/15/24 11:32am.