Brigadoon Daily
Your daily dose of the emerging issues + independent thinkers shaping commerce + culture
November 10, 2021
TOP FIVE
1. Why all French politicians are Gaullists
2. The Trump Republicans’ lessons for Democrats
3. Cities that grow themselves
4. ‘Led Zeppelin IV’: 1971 masterpiece
5. At 83, ‘nimblewill nomad’ enters the Appalachian Trail record book
GLOBALIZATION + STATECRAFT
How Facebook is stoking a civil war in Ethiopia: Online hate is adding fuel to the country’s deadly conflict, and researchers say Facebook is failing to stop it.
Vice
+ Jeffrey Feltman, the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, is back in Ethiopia this week to broker a ceasefire in the yearlong war.
Can Glasgow deliver on a global climate deal? Negotiators from about 200 countries are entering Week 2 of climate talks trying to resolve big issues around money, transparency, and timelines.
NYT
Who has the most delegates at the COP26 summit? The fossil fuel industry. But while top oil executives are feeling unwelcome, many in the industry are in Glasgow to talk about carbon trading.
WP
Chinese and Saudis thwart moves towards climate deal
The Times
+ US climate envoy John Kerry in an interview with Bloomberg at COP26 Tuesday predicted the US would stop burning coal by 2030.
The Ipsos MORI survey for The Standard put the Conservatives on 35 percent, down four points in September, Labour unchanged on 36 percent, the Greens up a startling five points to 11 percent, and Liberal Democrats unchanged on nine percent.
+ Conservatives lose their lead over Labour as Prime Minister’s rating plummets
CNN: EU accuses Belarus of acting like 'gangster regime' as thousands of freezing migrants camp on Polish border
EU accuses Lukashenko regime of ‘gangster’ behavior over migrant crisis: FT reports the Kremlin says Belarus is acting ‘responsibly’ and Brussels should pay to stop the surge of arrivals.
The politics behind Poland’s border crisis: The rush of migrants trying to enter Poland illegally comes at an opportune time for the country’s ruling party.
Politico
How will EU react to Poland-Belarus border crisis? Amid an escalating crisis at Poland's border with Belarus, the European Union is planning new sanctions against the Belarusian regime.
DW
Why all French politicians are Gaullists: On the 51st anniversary of his death, current politicians flock to pay tribute to the former president.
Politico
French election 2022: Presidential candidates scrap over de Gaulle’s legacy
The Times
Reuters: Biden plans in-person summit with Trudeau, Lopez Obrador as soon as next week
WP: Chile’s lower house votes to impeach president over Pandora Papers allegations
Nicaragua’s autocratic shift is part of a Latin American backslide: President Daniel Ortega’s victory in elections that the US called a sham is the latest evidence that democracy in the region is unraveling amid waning US influence, political analysts say.
WSJ
APEC leaders meeting to chart path forward from pandemic: AP reports President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will have a rare virtual encounter this week as they gather online with other Pacific Rim leaders to chart a path to recovery out of the crisis brought on by the pandemic. New Zealand is hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which culminates in a leader’s meeting on Saturday.
Bloomberg: Biden-Xi virtual summit set for next week, with date to come
+ Two leaders previously agreed to talk before year-end
+ Reopening of consulates in Houston and Chengdu not on agenda
China’s politics enter turbulent period as Xi pushes for control: Party probes and power games ramp up ahead of a landmark leadership congress next year.
Bloomberg
+ A report released today by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum states the museum is "gravely concerned" the "Chinese government may be committing genocide against the Uyghurs."
Xi Jinping battens down the hatches: He understands the dangers confronting China better than his propagandists do.
Walter Russell Mead
Since Chinese Xi Jinping took the helm of the nation nearly nine years ago as the Communist Party's leader, its economy has vaulted from half of America's size to 70% or so -- a gap that will continue to narrow, with some estimates saying it could surpass the US within the decade.
As China’s property crisis spreads, Beijing says there’s nothing to see: Global markets just weeks ago were fretting over the possible failure of Evergrande. Now the developer says the worst is over, even as other companies show signs of trouble.
NYT
China looks a lot like Japan did in the 1980s: For clues as to what lies ahead, look back to what happened to Japan after its era of supercharged growth in the 1980s.
Richard Cookson
Taiwan News: Jet carrying US senators, congressmen makes surprise visit to Taiwan
+ Navy C-40A carrying congressional delegation spotted landing in Taipei on Tuesday evening.
+ China’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement strongly condemning the congressional visit, which it said interfered in China’s internal affairs.
Two weeks after the European Parliament voted 580-26 on a resolution to strengthen EU-Taiwan relations, an official delegation of lawmakers traveled to Taiwan for the first time to deliver a simple message: "You are not alone."
Taiwan: China is using 'gray zone' tactics to take control: Taipei said it aims to build a "resilient defense" to cope with rising military threats made by China. The threats reportedly include overflights of Taiwanese airspace and cyber warfare.
DW
How easily can vaccinated people spread COVID? Vaccination is the best protection against infection. But when breakthroughs do occur, a very basic question still has an unsatisfying answer.
Yasmin Tayag
After a year with vaccines, do we always need masks? Mandating shots makes more sense than ever. Covering up all the time makes less sense.
Jessica Karl
Is it just us or does everyone have a cold right now? Because misery loves company.
NYT
American hypersonic missile plan for Europe has echoes of Cold War: The Times reports the 56th Artillery Command, based in Mainz-Kastel, will control the Dark Eagle weapon, which when fully developed and deployed will be capable of accelerating to more than five times the speed of sound, or nearly 4,000mph. The reactivation reflects growing concerns in the Pentagon that Russia has succeeded in outgunning the US and Nato in Europe with longer-range artillery rockets and its own development of hypersonic weapons.
The best military books we read this year
Task & Purpose
POLITICS + CAMPAIGNS
Harris gets a chance to burnish her image on the world stage in Paris
WP
Biden seeks infrastructure bounce. But can a nuts-and-bolts pitch overcome cultural divides?
WP
Mitch McConnell spent decades chasing power. Now he heeds Trump, who mocks him and wants him gone. How one of Washington’s longtime Republican power players succumbed to the preeminence of the 45th president.
WP
@wbz: BREAKING: New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu not running for US Senate, will seek 4th term as governor
Republicans’ effort to reclaim Senate stumbles in New Hampshire: WSJ reports Gov. Chris Sununu dashes hopes of Trump, McConnell to run against incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan.
The Trump Republicans’ lessons for Democrats: Both parties often mistake voter frustration with the other team for devotion to their own cause.
Bobby Jindal + Alex Castellanos
The Hill: Howard Stern floats 2024 bid against Trump: 'There's no way I'd lose'
What is Texas? The fight over the Lone Star State’s identity.
Kevin Williamson
The decline of upward mobility in one chart
Visual Capitalist
The proportion of electricity the United States gets from solar and wind nearly quadrupled between 2011 and 2020. While geothermal generation remained relatively flat, the three technologies combined for an annual increase of nearly 15 percent over that stretch.
Facebook said that starting January 19, it will no longer allow advertisers to select terms for ad targeting related to sensitive identifying traits, such as race, ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation.
Deleting Facebook is harder than attacking it, lawmakers find: The platform has such wide reach that even its fiercest critics in Congress say they can’t disconnect.
Bloomberg
DISRUPTION + INNOVATION
Cities that grow themselves: They are spreading like branching plants across the globe. Should we rein cities in or embrace their biomorphic potential?
Josh Berson
COMMERCE
Twitter said that it would give users access to ad-free articles from The Washington Post, Reuters, BuzzFeed, and other publications through its subscription service, called Twitter Blue.
What the hell is ‘right-clicker mentality’? A Twitter meme reveals everything you need to know about NFTs and the culture around it.
Vice
GE to split into healthcare, energy and aviation companies: FT reports the move marks the final step in the unwinding of sprawling conglomerate created by Jack Welch.
Bloomberg: Still on Culp’s GE to-do list: Who gets the $20 billion logo
Bitcoin for the open-minded skeptic
Matt Huang
+ Over 100 cryptocurrencies are now worth more than $1 billion in market cap.
Coinbase shares fall as user numbers and trading volume decline: FT reports the crypto exchange urges investors to take a ‘long term’ view while results suggest feverish dealings have cooled.
CNBC: Nuclear fusion start-up Helion scores $375 million investment from Open AI CEO Sam Altman
+ The fusion start-up Helion Energy announced a $500 million funding round on Friday.
+ The round was led by Silicon Valley investor Sam Altman, who put $375 million into Helion, his largest investment in a start-up ever.
+ Helion Energy plans to use the $500 million to complete the construction of Polaris, its 7th generation fusion facility, which it broke ground on in July, and which it aims to use to demonstrate net electricity production in 2024.
Tesla lost about $199 billion in value during its biggest back-to-back selloff since September 2020 amid a host of negative news.
Will Rivian’s blockbuster IPO make it the next Tesla? Huge hype around electric truckmaker that has only just started production.
FT
DoorDash buys Finnish delivery app Wolt in €7bn all-stock deal: FT reports the US delivery company has been eager to expand into the highly competitive European market.
Powell’s Books survived Amazon. Can it reinvent itself after the pandemic? As much as any city, Portland, Ore., has been through hell. Its landmark store, Powell’s Books, must finally build a viable online business while recapturing its downtown success.
NYT
MARKETING + COMMUNICATIONS
Silicon Valley giants built an open culture. Now workers are holding them to it. More internal debates and critiques of technology companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple are spilling out into public view. ‘People feel like their only option is to go externally.’
WSJ
SPACE + SCIENCE
3 space science questions that computing is helping to answer: Astronomers are using AI, supercomputing, and the cloud to tackle the universe’s biggest mysteries.
TR
AFP: NASA pushes back crewed Moon landing to 2025 or later
Citing China threat, NASA says moon landing now will come in 2025: WP reports NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says Blue Origin’s legal challenges to NASA’s award of a lunar lander contract to SpaceX delayed the lunar program 7 months.
PERFORMANCE
How to fix email … with science! Email isn’t broken—it’s the people who are the problem. But if you start treating it like old-fashioned snail mail, suddenly it makes sense again.
Wired
CULTURE
‘Led Zeppelin IV’: How the band struck back at critics with 1971 masterpiece: Chafing at attacks from the press, inspired by unparalleled artistic ambitions, Zeppelin made one of rock’s biggest albums.
RS
Pen-banging crooners and songs about broccoli: TikTok’s outlandish take on pop
Guardian
SPORT
Twitch live-streamers say playing games is hard work: Aching backs, stress, and weight gain are job hazards for videogamers and others who perform online for hours a day in front of an audience. For most, the money isn’t even all that good.
WSJ
I’m the best Tetris player in the world: I’m only 13, but my brother and I both qualified for the World Championships. In the final it was just us, facing off for the title.
Guardian
At 83, ‘nimblewill nomad’ enters the Appalachian Trail record book: M.J. Eberhart, known by his trail name, hiked into Dalton, Mass., on Sunday and became the oldest known person to hike the more than 2,000 miles of trail from Georgia to Maine.
NYT
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Curation and commentary by Marc A. Ross | Founder @ Brigadoon
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