Around the World in 5 links
If your week went by in a daze, here are the 5 big stories from around the world to keep you updated.
Over the moon: India’s tryst with space odyssey got a major boost this week. India’s moon rover, Chandrayaan 3, successfully landed on the South Pole of the lunar surface. The landing takes India into an elite group of nations which have managed to send a rover to the moon.
India’s feat made it the first country to land on the south pole of the moon. That part of the moon has caught attention of several countries of late. The presence of water ice is touted as one of the major reasons for the increased interest in the region. Scientists hope that it can serve as a potential base for future space explorations. But the region is extremely difficult to explore due to massive craters and deep trenches. For a detailed know-how of the region and its importance to space exploration, check out this essay by National Geographic.
Just days before the Chandrayaan’s landing, Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft was on course to beat India to the punch. That mission was a source of some consternation in the diplomatic circles as its success would have given shape to the next phase of space race. China and Russia, now seen as the de-facto leaders of the anti-US block, have been upping the ante in outer space. Their combined strength in space exploration coupled with their refusal to join the Artemis Records have fostered uncertain credence over their ambitions in space. To get a full picture of the new space race, I recommend going through these 4 articles:
A Long March to the Moon and Beyond: A good recap of China’s space programme and where it is going.
‘We better watch out’: Politico’s piece on why the US believes we’re already in the next space race.
A changing civil space landscape: Luna 25’s failure and India’s success are changing the dynamics of space. Folks in Beijing and Washington are taking notes.
The end game: Beyond space exploration, the race to moon is fuelled by the necessities of today. A great piece by Bloomberg.
The Godfather in the Kremlin: Vladimir Putin had come to power with just one goal- to bring back glory to the motherland. Decades later, he has been able to do everything but that. Under his leadership, the Russian state has veered from one crisis to another. But the last year has shown the true extent of Putin’s malfeasance. An unprovoked war in Ukraine has left the Russian bear catching its breath. It has seen an open rebellion by a trusted commander- who was ‘taken care of’ in an almost Hollywood style execution.
Two interesting pieces have come up on WSJ to help us understand where Russia is at today. The first is an in-depth piece on the devolution of Russia into a mafia state under Putin’s rule. The second delves into the repercussions of the death of Prigozhin and what it means for the Wagner Group’s empire in Africa.
Japanification of China: While I just mentioned China as a major force in space exploration, the reality at home is a little underwhelming currently. China is undergoing a major economic crisis. There’s massive youth unemployment, its real estate market is crashing and there’s general gloom and doom all around. The following two articles provide good insight into the state of affairs in the Communist dreamland-
China’s Japanification by Financial Times is a good summation of the good, bad and ugly of China’s economy.
China’s defeated youth by The Economist looks at what the youth wants from the economy and why Xi’s boomer attitude to the problem is not sitting well with them.
But if you think that this is an indication of a future revolution ushering in democracy and accountability in the Middle Kingdom, hold your horses please. Xi, and the Communist Party, are not going anywhere. The two have increasingly pushed through policies that tighten their group on Chinese society- from business to financial system to even rural areas.
Musk aadmi: If you follow Musk, then you’re probably aware of his shenanigans- from courting a fight with Zuckerberg to calling out ‘white genocide’ in South Africa etc etc. But these are all distractions from his empire building activities it seems. The man has slowly but steadily become the most important man to the most important country in the world. This stature is alarming everyone now- from the govt to his peers. A slew of articles have come up in the past few weeks that cover the breadth of Musk’s influence on matters of extreme importance. Two wonderfully researched and extremely well written articles have caught my eye.
Elon Musk’s shadow rule: A great piece on how the Musk empire is increasingly becoming a headache for Washington.
Elon Musk’s Unmatched Power in the Stars: A thoroughly researched article on the influence of Space X in its sector and how Musk is calling the shots on the battlefield in Ukraine.
If you can’t get enough of Musk then maybe try following his mum on
TwitterX. It’s filled with proud mama posts like these.
Data data everywhere: Let’s end this section with India as well. The country recently passed its Data Protection regime, paving the way for some form of data privacy for its citizens. While the Act was in the process of being implemented, it has come to note that the ruling party was taking one parting shot at its citizens data.
In a detailed exposé published in the rest of world, security experts have found that the Govt’s latest Har Ghar Tiranga project has been a smokescreen all along. Its real motivations were to mine data of unsuspecting citizens and to collate that information for the party. The information is likely to help the ruling party to micro-target citizens with its agenda and run a deep and continuous propaganda machinery. The details are shocking. Read the full report from here.
The Compass
Pointing you to the best of culture on the internet.
We’re all going blind: No, not literally. But myopia is rapidly turning into a major health crisis. Just look at the numbers down below.
The problem is at its worst in Taiwan. The country’s lessons in dealing with the myopia crisis have become a key example in adaptive learning for every other country. While there’s no complete solution, there are rays of hope emerging. Find out more in this article.
Return please: If you’re like me, then the ability to return products bought online is perhaps a major w for you. But this gift of return is run through a complicated maze of companies and logistical burden. It has helped foster a brilliant economy on its own, although there are early signs that the boom is about to come to an end. Dive into the return economy with this piece on the New Yorker.
A cup of sunshine: Everyone loves coffee. But that cup of
life affirming drugjoe is about to become costlier. Much much costlier. Glance through this breezy animation of the coffee industry and see what’s in store for the world’s favourite beverage.Essay of the week: If you don’t have the bandwidth of going through all these lengthy articles, my sympathies. But you must read this short, crisp Paul Graham piece on addiction. Incisive as always.
That’s all for this week folks. I know I haven’t been regular over here, so will try to maintain some consistency over the weeks. Fingers crossed. See you next week!
PS- if you’re unable to access some of these article, drop me a comment in the section down below. I’ll try to get it for you.