The Doha curriculum
The weekend despatch: One American businessman’s explanation to another that a foreign government is bribing him. How the Gulf's rival monarchies are paying to play in Western media. + What’s Elephant 6?
Eyes only
- The founder of the snack company Kind says the CEO of the media brand Semafor once bragged to him about getting a mint from the Qatari government to train journalists. Semafor covers Qatar almost every day of the week. Huh.
In the air
- Do teenagers actually do better without social media? Standpoints from Matti Vuorre and Andrew Przybylski, Christopher Ferguson, and Leonardo Bursztyn.
From the files
- What does Google see in AI that investors seem not to? Daron Acemoglu on tech firms’ persistence in betting that computers will be able to think like people.
Features
- Why is life so hectic? William E. Scheuerman on how high-speed society makes strongmen appealing—and why they can’t really deliver.
Books
- Do Putin’s cronies believe in anything? Ilya Budraitskis and Ilya Matveev, Russia’s New Imperialism: Capital and Ideology.
Music
- What’s Elephant 6?
- & New tracks from The Olivia Tremor Control, Alchemical Sisters, Djrum, Jacques Greene, & Loidis.
+ Weather report
- Europe heads into winter short of gas, as forecasters look east for signs of how cold it’s going to get …
