Brigadoon Daily
Your daily dose of the emerging issues + independent thinkers shaping commerce + culture
November 9, 2021
TOP FIVE
1. Ethiopia's war triggers fears in Kenya, South Sudan
2. China on cusp of history as Xi Jinping opens Communist Party’s sixth plenum
3. The DeFi Education Fund
4. Apple’s first computer could fetch $500,000 at auction
5. The renaissance of Red Bull's Sergio Perez
GLOBALIZATION + STATECRAFT
Ethiopia's war triggers fears in Kenya, South Sudan: DW reports as the yearlong civil war in Ethiopia's Tigray region escalates, Kenya and South Sudan are on high alert.
WP: Joint UN report on Ethiopia civil war atrocities blames all sides for violations
Biden’s diplomacy push meets its match as Ethiopia unravels: US officials have done almost everything in their power to try and stop the fighting. Now they're urging Americans to leave the country as rebels draw closer to the capital.
Politico
+ The situation on the ground is getting worse and now the State Department has established a task force to evacuate US citizens.
Ethiopia risks becoming a new Yugoslavia: Age-old issues over ethnic identity and autonomy must be settled.
FT - Editorial
Today: VP Kamala Harris arrives in Paris: It will be her third overseas trip since assuming office.
AFP: VP Harris seeks to boost US-France ties on Paris trip
How the French ‘great replacement’ theory conquered the far right
AFP
Angela Merkel discusses climate change, refugees and legacy in DW interview: German Chancellor Angela Merkel reflected on climate change, refugee policy, and the coronavirus pandemic.
DW
Merkel vows not to become political ‘troubleshooter’ in retirement: Politico reports, ‘Now I’m going to look at what I’d like to do by choice,’ says outgoing German chancellor.
Germany’s economy, once Europe’s engine, is holding it back: Germany’s export-oriented businesses have fared poorly in a post-pandemic world of broken supply chains and rising energy prices. The malaise is fueling a debate over whether the German economy needs a reboot and what it should look like.
WSJ
Bosnia and Herzegovina is in danger of breaking up, per Christian Schmidt, the new UN mandated High Representative in the country responsible for upholding the 1995 Dayton Accord which provides the country’s governance framework.
The EU’s humiliating failure in Bosnia: The EU has long been the dominant player in Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, its policy toward the country and the Western Balkans more broadly is failing. A recent vote in the UN Security Council has destroyed what was left of the union’s credibility.
Kurt Bassuener
Johnson’s green machine gathers steam to turn COP into a coup: As recently as 2015 the PM dismissed the idea that climate change is caused by humans. But now, imbued with the zeal of a convert, he is on the brink of clinching a Glasgow summit victory.
The Times
Nervous PM warms up for a climate deal rescue mission: The Times reports Boris Johnson is considering returning to Glasgow this week to try to rescue the UN climate conference amid growing concern that it will fail to do enough to prevent dangerous global warming.
Bloomberg: Johnson is failing to contain fallout from UK lobbying scandal
+ Premier misses debate, refuses to apologize over Paterson case
+ Labour’s Starmer accuses Johnson’s government of ‘corruption’
COVID:
+ "I suspect it will fade into the background as a serious disease." -- Biologist Professor James Naismith tells BBC Radio 4’s Today program that Britain is through the worst of the pandemic
+ Unvaccinated Austrians may not enter restaurants, hotels, hair salons, and events with more than 25 attendees, under rules which come into effect today.
+ Germany has recorded its highest seven-day COVID rate since the start of the pandemic.
+ More than 10 million people in the UK have now had their coronavirus booster vaccine.
+ Japan yesterday reported no COVID deaths for the first time in 15 months.
What the 14th-century plague tells us about how COVID will change politics: Regions hit hardest by the Black Death in Europe looked more democratic centuries later. What does that mean for a society coming out of this pandemic?
Politico
China on cusp of history as Xi Jinping opens Communist Party’s sixth plenum: SCMP reports top officials to start a four-day conclave to adopt a ‘historical resolution’, only the third in the party’s 100-year history and expected to have a momentous impact.
China: Party leaders seem set to cement Xi's hold on power: DW reports top Communist Party officials meeting in Beijing are likely to issue a resolution putting the Chinese president on an equal footing with Mao Zedong. The way seems clear for Xi Jinping to claim a third term.
Who will be China's next premier? A key meeting may offer clues: Economic and diplomatic problems create bumps for Xi's ambitions.
Nikkei
German engine technology found in Chinese warships — report: DW reports engines developed in Germany can evade export control bans due to their status as a so-called dual-use technology, a German media investigation has revealed.
China’s self-isolation is a global concern: Beijing’s zero-COVID policy is damaging international business and global governance.
Gideon Rachman
Jokowi ready to whip heavyweight Indonesia back into shape: Can president reassert Jakarta's claim to lead the developing world?
Nikkei
Qatari cash splashed on jet-setting MPs
Steerpike
Failed assassination bid against Iraq PM ramps up tension: Politico reports a “cowardly rocket and drone attacks don’t build homelands and don’t build a future,” the prime minister said.
‘There’s no future in Argentina’: Peronists face voter anger in midterms: A crumbling economy and soaring inflation stoke discontent that threatens the ruling party in next week’s polls.
FT
Bolsonaro says he’s ready to join Liberal Party before 2022 vote: Bloomberg reports President Jair Bolsonaro is ready to join Brazil’s Liberal Party to run for re-election in 2022, according to CNN Brasil. A deal to join the centrist group, one of the largest in the government coalition, is 99% done and chances it could go wrong are near zero, Bolsonaro was quoted as saying by CNN.
Brazil’s far-right disinformation pushers find a safe space on Telegram: In a social media ecosystem facing mounting pressure to combat fake news and polarization, Telegram is the most permissive disseminator of content — and disinformation.
NYT
Mexico: Front line of the global food war: Mexico is battling to revitalize indigenous corn, while the US seeks to stop the spread of a movement against GM food and agrichemicals.
Politico
Read: The World Is Vertical: How Technology Is Remaking Globalization
The quest for the perfect measure of human progress is distracting: Gross domestic product is a crude way to assess happiness, but those seeking to replace it may be wasting precious time.
Ruchir Sharma
POLITICS + CAMPAIGNS
Bill Clinton saved his presidency. Here’s how Biden can, too.
Mark Penn + Andrew Stein
+ A new CNN poll finds President Biden’s approval rate at 48% to 52%.
Jan. 6 committee issues subpoenas to high-profile Trump allies: Axios reports the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol has issued its latest batch of subpoenas, this time to prominent allies of former President Trump, many of whom were involved in efforts to stop the certification of President Biden's win.
Jan. 6 inquiry subpoenas Eastman, Flynn, and other Trump allies: NYT reports the latest batch of subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the riot includes officials from the former president’s re-election campaign.
Election 2022 is now less than one year away.
+ McConnell: 2022 midterms will be a "very good election for Republicans"
NH-SEN: Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said he’d make his decision on whether or not to launch a Senate bid “in the next week or so.”
The $30 billion woman: Megadonor Miriam Adelson leaps back into politics: Politico reports Adelson is taking her first political meetings since her husband Sheldon died, seeing possible 2024 candidates and a key Senate contender.
GOP lobbyists say corporate America is coming back into the tent: Politico reports top Republicans on K Street say that big business is warming up to the Republican Party again, less than a year after Jan. 6 but with the 2022 elections in sight.
The DeFi Education Fund: An industry advocacy group looking to shape the debate in Washington surrounding decentralized finance, or DeFi, policies has hired four lobbying firms as it looks to gain a foothold in DC, with lawmakers and regulators signaling growing concern about the technology.
DISRUPTION + INNOVATION
“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and godlike technology.”
-- Edward Wilson
COMMERCE
The Bitcoin delusion
Sam Leith
What China’s tech squeeze is doing to Singles’ Day
Bloomberg
Ford Motor Co. closed above the $20 mark for the first time in two decades.
Todd Snyder’s new collaboration is with preppy powerhouse J. Press: The menswear designer, famous for his riffs on everything from Champion sweatshirts to L.L. Bean’s Maine kitsch, takes another pass at Americana.
Bloomberg
Peloton has reportedly frozen hiring after poor results.
Why Facebook’s metaverse is dead on arrival
James D. Walsh
The Standard Hotel could be facing foreclosure
Kim Velsey
The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down: Motorized bicycles are outselling all-electric cars and have the potential to transform urban transit.
NYT
PERFORMANCE
Particularly keen on shepherding: Want to be a philosopher? Try farming.
Musonius Rufus
CULTURE
Oh dear, Abba’s new album is a bit of a dog: Voyage reviewed: Time has been very kind to Abba. No one back in the 1970s thought of them as geniuses. But they've even lost the talent for writing memorable tunes.
Rod Liddle
I'm helping to start a new college because higher ed is broken: Institutions dedicated to the search for truth have ossified into havens for liberal intolerance and administrative overreach.
Niall Ferguson
Apple’s first computer, a collector’s dream, could fetch $500,000 at auction: Guardian reports Steve Wozniak, Steve, and Patricia Jobs, and Daniel Kottke built 200 Apple-1 units in Jobs’ home 45 years ago.
The new Oxford guide to cocktails is the drinking buddy you’ve been waiting for
WP
SPORT
The renaissance of Red Bull's Sergio Perez: The Mexican driver made history at his home Grand Prix over the weekend. After staring at a possible exit from Formula One last season, Perez had made the most of his first season with Red Bull.
DW
Aaron Rodgers’ State Farm TV ads cut back after vaccine comments: WSJ reports the NFL star says he is unvaccinated against Covid-19 and has questioned vaccine effectiveness.
Aaron Rodgers and how a team pulls through
Jason Gay
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Curation and commentary by Marc A. Ross | Founder @ Brigadoon
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