aboriginal flag
(Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Turkey — better inside the tent than outside, as LBJ might say. Anti-Semitism, anti-imperialism and art — Germany faces questions over its inconsistent treatment of racism. Scotland — Europe’s drug death capital (but hey, let’s focus on independence). The US and Beirut — generations of intervention. And Western-Chinese tensions begin to split the UN’s agriculture body. Vile murderer Mohammed bin Salman’s vision for a futuristic city is the kind of idea that could only emerge from the union of tech bros and a tyrant no one can say no to.

SCIENCE

The lesson from 200 years of bitter experience: think once, think twice, don’t get stuck in the Weddell Sea. Virtual reality — and worse — is just a shitty fantasy to take you out of your shitty life. But you’ll get it whether you like it or not. Getting old — what can we do about this annoying medical problem? Hoping technological advances will fix climate change is just magical thinking — the kind we tell kids to grow out of. Keepers of the cloud: the varying lives of the workers who create the illusion of artificial intelligence and automation. “The harder I work, the luckier I get?” Pffft. Is social justice better served by empirical analysis or critical theory? The author of that paper discusses the role of relativism.

NEW ADVENTURES IN CAPITALISM

Japan is moving to raise its historically low minimum wage. China’s effort to invest its way to chip capability winds up mired in corruption. What’s the Christian perspective on nuclear power? Germany’s chaotic energy policy raises some interesting religious issues. Capitalism, modernity and empire: the frightening story of palm oil. The United States’ growing reliance on minerals and the history behind them. American landlords imposing rent for pets.

THIS WEEK IN HELL

There’s actually a US federal law that bans discussing abortion online. No president has ever enforced it — but that doesn’t mean a future one won’t. Pat Buchanan suggests there’s no point defending Taiwan. How lobbying by fertiliser companies drove US inflation. How Viktor Orbán sold the American right on fascism. How the US media had to reverse-ferret on its Biden-is-doomed narrative. And how angry Republicans voted against wounded veterans out of sheer spite.

SIDE VIEW QUICKFIRE

Prime minister-to-be Truss: Dominic Cummings on where Rishi Sunak went wrong, and how Liz Truss could “hit the ground” with terminal velocity and smash her party. He urges starting afresh with a new brand. Social media strategies of Sunak and Truss. The latter takes aim at the Bank of England and soaring inflation.

Voices: A history of the founding of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, and decolonising mental health in Australia.

Culture: Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s? Yeah, nah. Manual transmission is dying out. In the vein of Chappelli once criticising Tony Greig on-air for expressing a preference for automatics, Ian Bogost is prepared to rail against the dying of the clutch. “How Did Lubitsch Do It?” The man who invented Hollywood reconsidered.

They have already landed: UFOs as regular folk from the future… probabilistically.

FINALLY

The Californian (they’re calling it “World”) Dog Surfing championship was held recently and surf’s up for wave-loving hounds. And yet more canine water sports (settle down up the back there!)