“After many years of equivocation and handwringing, Arab states have decided to bring Syria in from the cold and back into the fold. Arab foreign ministers announced earlier this month that Syria would be readmitted to the Arab League, the regional organization that suspended the country’s membership in 2011.” (Emile Hokayem/Foreign Affairs)
“If (Yevgeny Prigozhin) continues his erratic behavior, he will almost certainly run afoul of Putin. But perhaps he is crazy like a fox?” (Colin P. Clarke)
The Geopolitics of U.S. Engagement in Sudan (Zineb Riboua)
"In Africa, the Wagner group has brokered deals in Mali, Central African Republic, Libya and elsewhere, providing security for what are often autocratic national leaders, frequently in exchange for a share of the local mining of gold and other resources. The powerful paramilitary group, controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, moved into Mali last year to help the ruling junta with security issues and to seek business opportunities in mining after French soldiers pulled out." (The Guardian)
"‘The well-preserved relics are of high historical, scientific and artistic value. It may be a world-class archaeological discovery in the deep sea,’ Yan told The Star, a Malaysian news outlet. ‘The findings are key evidence of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, and a major breakthrough for historical study in Chinese overseas trade, navigation and porcelain.’” (Interesting Engineering)
“(Microsoft President Brad Smith) compared AI to the printing press, elevators and food safety for both the transformative power of a new technology and the regulatory need to protect against the greatest potential harms.” (Bloomberg TV)
“As the technology driving the A.I. revolution becomes more advanced, and as media companies fall under increased pressure to minimize costs, there will certainly be temptation to wield the technology in a way that slims budgets. BuzzFeed has, for instance, already announced how it will begin using the technology to produce content — though chief executive Jonah Peretti has insisted he doesn't want the technology to supplant human workers.” (Oliver Darcy/Reliable Sources)
“Today the island hosts around 26,000 U.S. military personnel, about half of the total complement of the United States Forces Japan, spread among 31 areas. While Okinawa constitutes only 0.6 percent of the landmass of Japan, 70 percent of the U.S. bases in all of Japan are in the prefecture.” (The Diplomat)
On royals and duty. (Christina Oxenberg)
“Consider the dead girl. Young, virginal (or so she may appear) and often white. The dead girl trope has sparked many a crime novel, giving the protagonist (often a male detective or private investigator) the opportunity to both tell his story and act as a savior for the next woman at risk of becoming prey. As for the dead girl herself, she’s usually just a device, an afterthought in someone else’s story.” (Paula L. Woods/LAT)
Broadcasting and narrowcasting in Florida (Jon Alsop/CJR)
E. Jean Carroll and the Lawyer who beat Trump. (Dahlia Lithwick)
“Russia’s southern Belgorod region came under attack from Ukrainian artillery fire, mortar shells and drones on Friday, authorities said, days after one of the most daring cross-border attacks since the war began.” (Al Jazeera)
“The phenomena that Sontag was drawn to in her writing—the metamorphosis of people into objects, the obliteration of personality by style, the pursuit of perfection through domination and submission—were painted with the same broad brush of patriarchy, indicting the critic attracted to them.” (Merve Emry/The New Yorker)
On Tina Turner. (Bob Lefsetz)
“(Tina) Turner, who died Wednesday, was easily the most famous resident of the town of 14,000, sponsoring its Christmas lights and christening a rescue boat that was named after her. But the town’s mayor, Markus Ernst, told Semafor that she "felt very comfortable" there in part because she was able to live an ordinary life, and wasn’t hounded with the attention she might have received in a larger city.” (semafor)
“The focus on shutting down individual productions such as ‘The Chi’A reflects the more aggressive tactics used by Writers Guild members compared to the previous strike 15 years ago, when there was more emphasis on large mass protests and rallies intended to build union solidarity.” (Anousha Sakui)
“In The Marigold, a new science fiction novel from Canadian author Andrew F. Sullivan, that rising anxiety manifests as ‘The Wet,’ a force rotting the city of Toronto out from below. Fueled by real estate interests who have planted the seeds of the city’s demise for years, The Marigold offers a bleak portrait of a near-future Toronto, undone by the forces that have made it an increasingly unlivable and expensive city in recent decades.” (Annie Howard/Metropolis)
Jane Fonda on Robert Redford: “He’s a very good person … He just has an issue with women.” (Vulture)
“This vision of the world as comedy is why the Amis novel that still seduces and alarms me most is Time’s Arrow, his first experiment into Europe.” (The Paris Review)
Goodbye, ‘Succession’: A Pre-Finale Ode to the Great Show of Our Time (Variety)
“Perhaps the most notable finding with respect to voter turnout is that 2022 turnout rates were nearly as high as the record-setting 2018 midterm turnout rates. Yet unlike the previous midterm elections, the groups with the highest Democratic voting margins—in particular, young people, Black Americans, women, and white female college graduates—did not show greater turnout increases than other groups, and often displayed lower turnout rates than in the 2018 midterms.” (William H Frey/Brookings)