The gathering
Dictators unite for a Beijing military spectacle, a U.S. judge blocks the Trump administration’s domestic troop deployment, &c. … + Late summer’s remarkable tech-stock tank.
Fault lines
Afghanistan's diplomatic isolation amid disaster, semantic games to bypass child protections, &c. … + A word on what’s ahead.
Interpretation codes
Competing interests in Gaza spin competing evidence of famine into competing narratives about the war there—with vastly different stakes. … Ghislaine Maxwell’s jailhouse testimony clearing Trump raises tougher questions than whether she’s telling the truth.
Death by smartphone
How are smartphones transforming modern warfare? … How much has Donald Trump made off the U.S. presidency? … & How can America adapt to an increasingly multipolar world?
Obscured by clouds
Why does North Korea keep threatening South Korea and its allies without ever going to war? Michael Breen on theater and reality in one of the most enigmatic places on Earth.
The archaeology of a story
Who shot Abu Sayed? … How important is education to reducing poverty? … & Will the U.S. trade war have predictable consequences?
A ‘known unknown’
Where’s all the money coming into American think tanks from? Ben Freeman on the enormous foreign-government “donations” flowing through Washington, D.C.
What breaks, what bends
Making sense of Israel’s sudden escalation in Gaza. … A new chapter in the strange, high-stakes relationship between Trump and Putin. … & France is burning like it’s 1949—and Europe isn’t ready. … The member’s despatch, Week XXXII.
Persistence without memory
Why is the greenback still the world’s apex currency? … How can you succeed in the Chinese Communist Party? … & Will protectionism save the American auto industry? … New works, Week XXXII.
