Is anyone actually winning in Ukraine? Why do so many ex-Soviet kleptocrats live in London? + Music from Yussef Dayes. What’s drill rap—and what happens when you mix it with American jazz? &c. … The member’s despatch, Week XXIII.
We’re back from Norway and the Oslo Freedom Forum, where we launched our latest print extra, Out of Control. Created in partnership with our friends at the Human Rights Foundation, this limited-edition magazine explores a constellation of issues that’s defining the world in ways it’s still hard to see—and that’s central to The Signal’s intent: to get a grip on the challenges for human freedom and flourishing in a time of disorienting change.
—John Jamesen Gould
The Signal—your loyal guide to a strange world. … This week, in the member’s despatch:
Developments
After months of political instability, what does the liberal Democratic Party’s huge win mean in South Korea? What about the conservative Law and Justice’s narrow win in Poland? & Why did the leader of Holland’s populist-right Freedom Party just bring down his government after finally gaining control of it?
+ Russia’s “Pearl Harbor.” Canada’s burning. So long, lithium-ion batteries. It’s cool to have more kids in Vietnam. & The anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre passes quietly in China.
What is financial repression? Félix Maradiaga on how autocratic regimes are using the global banking system, international law, and new technologies in an old struggle to suppress dissent and hold power.
Why has Bitcoin become so popular with dissidents living in dictatorships? Farida Nabourema on what the emerging technology has in common with an old suitcase stuffed with cash.
Why are countries around the world developing virtual legal tenders? Roger Huang on the origins, implementation, and implications of central bank digital currencies.
& What does financial repression in autocracies have to do with financial freedom in democracies? Justin Callais on human flourishing in the modern world.
Books
From Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak x Paul Swartz, on how business leaders and investors can better adapt to global disruptions; Emily Hund, on why there are so many social-media influencers; + John Heathershaw x Tena Prelec & Tom Mayne, on why so many ex-Soviet kleptocrats live in London.
Music
From Ólafur Arnalds x Talos, Sofia Kourtesis x Daphni, and Yussef Dayes.
+ What’s drill rap—and what happens when someone mixes it with American jazz?
Weather report
54.5260° N, 105.2551° W …
Eirik Skarstein
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