The Corsair
Weekend Reading ...
“South Africa’s foreign minister was all smiles this week as she hosted Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. Naledi Pandor said her government, nominally neutral in the conflict, was now less inclined to criticise Moscow due to the west’s supply of battle tanks to Kyiv. A repeat of the call South Africa made early in the war for a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine would be ‘simplistic and infantile, given the massive transfer of arms that’s occurred’ since, she said at a briefing, with Lavrov beaming on.” (FT)
“Speaking before the United Nations Security Council this month, James Kariuki, Britain’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, warned of the ‘destabilizing role the Wagner Group plays’ in the Sahel, a conflict-ridden stretch of territory spanning western and north-central Africa, from Senegal to Sudan. Speaking of the Kremlin-linked private military contractor, Kariuki concluded, ‘They are part of the problem, not the solution.’ From human rights abuses to a rapacious approach to natural resource extraction, stabilizing countries where it operates—Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali—has never been the Wagner Group’s objective. Instead, the Kremlin’s mercenaries are deployed abroad in a transactional manner, tasked with providing security to kleptocratic regimes in return for access to valuable commodities, including gold, diamonds, uranium, and other precious resources.” (Collin P. Clarke/ForeignPolicy)
“Egyptologists have uncovered a Pharaonic tomb near the capital Cairo containing what may be the oldest and ‘most complete’ mummy yet to be discovered in the country, the excavation team leader said on Thursday. The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre shaft in a recently uncovered group of fifth and sixth dynasty tombs near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Zahi Hawass, director of the team, told reporters. The mummy, of a man named Hekashepes, was in a limestone sarcophagus that had been sealed in mortar.” (Reuters)
“An openly gay advisor to the Vatican says he's not surprised by Pope Francis' declaration that ‘being homosexual isn't a crime.’ Juan Carlos Cruz, an internationally known Chilean advocate and survivor of clerical sexual abuse, told NPR the pope's remarks made for an ‘incredible day.’ In his first interview since the death of former Pope Benedict XVI, Francis told the Associated Press that laws criminalizing homosexuality are ‘unjust’ and that Catholic bishops should apply ‘tenderness’ and help ease discrimination by welcoming LGBTQ people into the church. On Tuesday, Cruz told Morning Edition's Leila Fadel that anti-sodomy laws in dozens of countries, including some that impose the death penalty, are ‘horrifying,’ but the pope's moral leadership will help civil authorities, bishops, and cardinals to ‘change their heart’ and join the pontiff in speaking out. ‘The pope highlights that the LGBTQ community is not sinful and criminal,’ said Cruz. Cruz, who is a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, also dissents from Catholic teachings. Cruz says the church's insistence that homosexuality is ‘sin,’ a position embraced by the pope, is ‘shameful,’ although Cruz says the pope appears to be trying to shift the church's relationship with the LGBTQ community.” (NPR)
“I think 2022 will be remembered as the year we finally saw the billionaire tech bro narrative for what it is: an insane fantasy held by adult children with too much money and too much power too early in their lives for them to do any good … For his part, Mark Zuckerberg undermined the future of Facebook by going all-in instead on the speculative virtual reality and blockchain hybrid known as Web3. Stock of his holding company, Meta, has since gone down by 70% and the formerly invincible Facebook now feels a bit more like Myspace or Friendster. Remember when Facebook could be blamed for the outcome of a presidential election? How the mighty—and scary—have fallen. Meanwhile, the crypto world revealed its inadequacy as an alternative global economic system.” (Doug Rushkoff/Medium)
“On Jan. 23, as Spotify staff learned of plans to lay off 6 percent of the company, or about 600 people, top podcast executives at the audio giant went into damage-control mode. Most notable among the departures was Dawn Ostroff, the chief content and advertising business officer who was hired in 2018 to build out Spotify’s podcasting ambitions and, as one top dealmaker describes it, ‘represented Hollywood and talent from a creative perspective’ for the Sweden-based company … The latest pivot at Spotify is partly a recession-era sign of the times and partly growing pains for a company that has made massive expansions in recent years but has yet to become profitable. Though Spotify remains cash-flow positive, the company has spent more than $1 billion on its podcast expansion alone since 2019, making expensive tech and studio acquisitions and striking flashy talent deals for sums previously unheard of in podcasting for such talent as Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper and Dax Shepard.” (THR)
“Crafting narratives is something (Pam) Anderson has been doing her whole life, as we learn in the chapters about her early childhood on Vancouver Island, described in lush detail (‘fragrant purple lilacs, sour grapes in vines strangling the trunks of tart green apple trees’). But interspersed among these sun-dappled scenes are episodes of harrowing violence. To cope with the traumas she experienced, Anderson retreated into her imagination: ‘a dream world,’ she calls it, where she could ‘disconnect’ — and thus survive — by pretending to be someone else. ‘It’s how I learned to control my life,’ she writes. ‘One fantasy after another.’” (Jessica Pressler/NYT Book Review)
“Overall, it is at the very least important for marketers, tech investors, and content creators to rethink the term ‘metaverse’ and develop a new vision that aligns with their own goals and strategies, rather than being tied to the fortunes of a single company or individual.” (Jack Meyers)
“After a decade of growth, (The Washington Post) is laying off staff and was reportedly on track to lose money last year. Its publisher and C.E.O. says it’s all part of a bold strategy. (TNY)
“BuzzFeed to Use ChatGPT Creator OpenAI to Help Create Quizzes and Other Content. CEO Jonah Peretti intends for artificial intelligence to play a larger role in the company this year.” (WSJ/Free Passcode)
“Victor (Navasky) published my first-ever piece in a national magazine back in March 1983 before hiring me and giving me a column 12 years later. Since then, he’s been a dear friend, a mentor, and a role model; not merely as a journalist and a scholar, but also—and I know this is weird given what different personality types we are—a person.” (Eric Alterman/American Prospect)
“Three days a week, Edward Wan, of Bethesda, Maryland, steals away to a ballroom dance studio so he can glide across the floor in the company of older Chinese immigrants like him. The hobby, he says, is an essential part of his life. It’s how he’s staved off loneliness, and even found love again after his wife’s death, said Wan, who’s newly engaged to his dance partner Ruth Lee. Wan, 78, is one of the countless Asian immigrants who’ve regarded ballroom dance as a sort of creative sanctuary, but are now shaken by the two shootings incidents, one of them deadly, that shook California dance halls on Saturday. “ (Kimmy Yam/NBC News)
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