- Hal Brands writing about what he knows best. But a note of (is that the word I’m looking for?) optimism:
Passionate hate (by nations and individuals), ends by rotation to another subject of hate; mediocrity cannot handle more than one enemy. This makes warring statelings with shifting alliances and enmities a robust system
That is from The Bed of Procrustes, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
- They don’t use words to illuminate the complexity of reality; they use words to eradicate the complexity of reality.
- Michael Schuman on where China went wrong, from America’s viewpoint. The Chinese will likely take literally the opposite viewpoint, and therein lies the problem. Speaking of Michael Schuman, have you read The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia’s Quest for Wealth?
- Meanwhile, on the home front…
Tariff time!
Boardroom machinations aren’t always a bad thing
Flights of fancy - That this needs to be said is frustrating, but for what its worth: on the benefits of immigration. A contrarian viewpoint, and a nuanced one, via Marginal Revolution (which is mandatory daily reading).
- On Madagascar, a story worth following (it is a depressing one, though).
- Your long read for the day. Richard Thaler’s Nobel Prize lecture. That is via The Conversable Economist, another blog eminently worth following.
- On tasks Sisyphean
