Yes, it’s true (unfortunately not on YouTube yet), and as we are living in the age of “you couldn’t make it up if you tried,” I thought it would be a nice start to the news this week. Why is it important? Well, competency is critical in a role like this, because, you know – CDC Didn’t Tell New York About Resident on Hantavirus-Plagued Cruise.
More importantly, something even bigger is brewing: Health officials raise alarm over new Ebola outbreak in DR Congo | Ebola News | Al Jazeera.
Naturally, the Trump/Xi spectacle in Beijing was front and centre, with all sorts of interpretations of what went down, but something was very clear: China knows its power and is not hiding it anymore.
This will be discussed ad nauseum in the coming weeks, but there is a nuance to appreciate in this story, which is mainly from the Chinese side. Living in Asia for more than two decades, one learning I have valued as a communications professional, is how words and language are used.
Countries like the US and Australia (where I’m from) are loud, brash and direct, but in Asia, language and the use of specific words is something entirely different. I hear Western interpretations of what is being said and it completely misses the nuance. All I can say is, when it comes to Asia and the West, there are always two stories existing side-by-side, the ability to see both is a superpower, and you should cherish it if you’ve got it.
Some perspectives
- Underwhelming summit outcome in China brings Trump back to reality | Euronews
- Trump and Xi Face Off: Who Won…–The Rest Is Politics: US – Apple Podcasts
- Trump-Xi summit: Win, lose or draw? | The Straits Times
- Trump-Xi summit: China, US disagree on what they agreed on | Business and Economy News | Al Jazeera
One good aspect of this time is the world is getting a history lesson, something I’m extremely passionate about. My son just finished his last IB exam this week and history was a subject. He wasn’t happy about doing it, but I explained to him, if you don’t know history, you can’t make sense of the future. Thankfully he learned to love it.
This week our lesson was about Thucydides – Xi Warned Trump About the ‘Thucydides Trap’ for U.S. and China. What Is It? – The New York Times and obvs Trump said Xi was referring to Biden – yep!
In the meantime, Bruce Springsteen continues to speak up for the America he loves.
India and extreme heat
Because of the Iran war, India is struggling in many ways, and the economic impact is enormous, with PM Modi asking his people to avoid flying and buying gold this week. However, more importantly, it was a relief to hear many parts of the country are getting reprieve from extreme heat right now. I wish it could be permanent.
Because it’s been intense – On one April day, all of the planet’s top 50 hottest cities were in India | CNN.
One of the BIG issues around extreme heat is we have NO idea how many people are dying or being permanently maimed by heat impacts. We have a sense in regions like Europe, but in India and the wider Global South, we don’t. This is a great read to understand why for India: Q&A: ‘Even the idea that heat can kill is still quite contentious’ | Dialogue Earth.
The heat is real in this region, and it’s not comfortable I can tell you – Climate change exposes hundreds of millions to longer and deadlier pre-monsoon heat in South Asia – World Weather Attribution.
More on climate
- Indonesia’s last glacier will be gone before the end of this decade. I might see if I can attend its funeral – Indonesia may soon lose its last glaciers.
- Mumbai is struggling with water, and the reasons are so crazy – No car washes, no garden hoses, and maybe no swimming pools: How Mumbai’s housing societies are preparing for the water cut | Mumbai News – The Indian Express.
- These things will happen, but will it help? Building a massive dam between Alaska and Russia could prevent AMOC collapse, scientists say | Live Science.
- The numbers are really staggering – There has been a sudden increase in the rate of sea level rise | New Scientist.
- We’ll probably get a taste of this in the next 12 months – Limiting global warming to 2C would not ‘rule out’ extreme impacts – Carbon Brief.
El Niño
El Niño continues to dominate the news – Record global temperatures possible as chance of a ‘super El Niño’ grows – BBC Weather – and from a Global South perspective, it’s going to be a really challenging 12-18 months, with the Iran war impacts making it even more serious.
A few weeks ago, we were talking about the last time an El Niño of this scale hit, which saw approximately 50 million people die, or 3% of the world’s population at the time. The mainstream media seems to be picking up the story now, but the piece missing is this. In the 1880s, colonial powers took food from countries like India and left them to starve. This time, India is in complete control of its food, and it will take care of its people first (as it’s already had to do), so that’s a very different scenario to the last Godzilla El Niño. Pay attention – Last Time an El Niño Was This Bad, It Killed 50 Million People.
War + the global economy
Iran continues to destabilize the world, with the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, going viral for his straight talking ‘truth bombs’, and others claiming checkmate – Checkmate in Iran – The Atlantic.
Analysis: The great strait stalemate: Who blinks first on Hormuz? | CNN Politics
The UK
UK politics are up in arms AGAIN, but I found this stream of consciousness by James O’Brien very interesting. The media is not serving us. Nick Bryant re-shared similar thoughts – Politics as journalistic entertainment – by Nick Bryant.
Technology
Nerd Reich, Techno Fascism, Tech Bros and now, the Big Tech Colonists ‘The world is sounding an alarm’: Why big tech is the new colonist | Features | Al Jazeera.
When it comes to tech, it is datacentres getting all the attention, most of it in the US, but seriously, there is datacentre colonization going on around the world, and we won’t hear about that until the deaths start to mount, and mount they will – as the local people experience extreme heat, no water, no energy, and more…
- A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure – POLITICO
- NERC Issues Alert on Data Centers Threatening Grid Stability – Business Insider
And here’s at least one more social cost – Meet the Sad Wives of AI | WIRED.
Equality
Ladies and Manbassadors, let’s give this a big Yeah Nah!! The Men Who Don’t Want Women to Vote – The Atlantic.
Long read
If you have the ability to spend time with something powerful and thought provoking, can I recommend this? We May Be Entering A Second Axial Age – NOEMA.
Friends content and my own
This week on The Sh*t Show we had Marco Aboav as our special guest. It was an insightful look into AI, investment opportunities, and what we should be paying attention to personally. Well worth your time, even if you just watch the first half.
One of my passions is taking care of the poorest people in the world, and this short seemed to generate a lot of attention on YouTube and Instagram. The negative comments were interesting, in that they demonstrated no understanding of this region and how things work. That’s why I don’t get bothered about negative comments.
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Cheers
Andrea
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