The Question
Are you a liar?
Talking Points
- A Rohingya camp went up in flames in Bangladesh
- Indonesia's Jokowi showed off the site of his new capital
- India considered life withouts its 60m street dogs
- Fumio Kishida's aide warned Japan could "disappear"
- South Korea and Japan tried to turn the page
- Silvergate went bust and the Silicon Valley Bank wobbled
- Elon Musk bullied Iceland's Person of the Year
- Fears grew that US rates could go as high as 6%
- Poland fumed over a critical Pope John Paul II doco
- The French went on strike, again
Deep Dive
Georgians flocked to the streets this week to protest a dodgy foreign interference bill.
Tbilisi says ara!
On Tuesday Georgia's parliament completed the first reading of the 'On Transparency of Foreign Influence' bill favourably. The proposed law would require any media organisations and NGOs that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as 'foreign agents'. Such laws, while not uncommon, are widely regarded as tools to halter dissenting spirits from political life. In Georgia, where most institutional media outlets are aligned with the government, the effect on independent media would be profound. The law bears more than a passing resemblance to the foreign agent law, passed by Russia in 2012, to put the kibosh on any real opposition to the government line.
And so Georgians did what any decent person would do: they flipped the bird at parliament and got hosed down by police water-cannons. Scores were arrested overnight but Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili laid responsibility at the feet of a shadowy "radical opposition". Thankfully Georgia is an enlightened country and celebrates International Women's Day as a public holiday: people hit the streets in far greater numbers on Wednesday. It was a level of public dissatisfaction that the Garibashvili's Georgian Dream party could not tolerate. On Thursday the ruling coalition buckled and pledged to "unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations". It's a neat example of political activism.
The other Russian border war
What's surprising about the whole affair in Georgia is that it is happening at all given the nation's recent history. In 2003, the peaceful Rose Revolution forced Eduard Shevardnadze out of office and finally ushered in the post-Soviet era. Georgians turned increasingly towards the West. The more Tbilisi oriented itself towards Europe, the more Moscow poured support into the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia supports the secessionist movements because they are useful foils to a non-compliant government and, quite obviously, it still considers all of Georgia and the Transcaucasus to be Russian territory. A number of static, low-intensity conflicts between Georgian and separatist forces were fought in 2004 and 2008.
Now, let us know if any of the following sounds familiar... Things took a turn for the worse when, in April 2008, NATO's Bucharest conference culminated in a communique supporting Georgia's eventual accession to the club. The announcement caused a little freak-out in Moscow: the Russian army flooded across the border into South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Russo-Georgian war was a short one, and in purely tactical terms you've gotta hand it to the Russian Federation. They now have troops stationed a mere 40km from the Georgian capital. On strategic merits its probably also a W — the former satellite state still isn't a NATO member . But lest a blinkered focus on military outcomes ignore the reality on the ground: today two-thirds of Georgians polled are in favour of EU and NATO membership.
Is it coming or going?
Despite the incursions, the violence, and the permanent threat of invasion — Georgians kept on keeping on. In 2012, the Georgian Dream party sprang up from the pocket-book of the billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili. It's cleaned up in every election since. Like all parties that win regularly, the Georgian Dream coalition does not really need to define itself by anything other than its victories. It's a social democratic, free-market supporting, centre-ish, amorphous blob that is conservative on the Georgian Orthodox Church and defining marriage rights and liberal on its protection of the LGBT+ community. It is all things to all people.
And yet, in recent years this success has borne out other consequences. Civic institutions are not getting the TLC they deserve. The balancing act between moving westward and maintaining security arrangements with the regional power is lacking, well, balance. Both the powerful Orthodox Church and the government have shuffled along the pew closer to one another; both are served by aligning piety and patriotism . Garibashvili has excused himself from any significant criticism over the war in Ukraine. The changes — resulting in a flintier civic life — have opened a gap between public and parliament. This week's protests only highlighted that distance.
Worldlywise
Winners and Losers
📈 David Chipperfield
That's Sir David Chipperfield to you. The British-born, German-focused, and Galicia-based architect has been awarded the 2023 Pritzker Prize . His austere, restrained work is dotted across the globe — he left the UK because of "Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles, the twin towers of negativity towards the architectural profession", and did not return for decades. We can say with personal experience that the James Simon Gallery and Neues Museum in Berlin are true delights.
📈 Books!!!
The US bookseller Barnes & Noble is doing the unthinkable: expanding. Buoyed by rising sales, the chain is opening more stores than at any point in a decade. It all comes down to how they are sold. Barnes & Noble spent years in fruitless pursuit of the sales that Amazon snatched away (through ubiquitous pay-for-placement and algorithms). When that failed, the only place left to turn was to the books themselves. A good bookseller doesn't just run numbers — they open hidden worlds inside our imaginations, with earnest recommendations. By re-enfranchising its staff , Barnes & Noble is turning the tide. Books were here a long time before Amazon. They'll be here a long time after it.
📉 Jes Staley
The former JPMorgan banker and Barclay's boss has some woes. Oh yes he does. He allegedly made regular use of the services that his client and friend Jeffrey Epstein provided. He allegedly did this for many years after it was proven that his pal solicited sex from a minor. Staley kept him in on JPMorgan's books (he was an earner with great connections, after all) and introduced risk to the bank. But his biggest woe right now is that his former employer is suing him over Epstein links: he's taking this fall alone. Which is a shame — not that Staley doesn't deserve everything that is coming — because it is diverting attention from other figures mentioned in the Staley-Epstein email trail. Jamie Dimon, for example.
📉 Switzerland
If you are going to be hoisted by anyone's petard, it better not be your own. Unfortunately Switzerland is experiencing a nationwide hoisting. The Swiss chocolate brand (and stocking-filler) Toblerone has recently run afoul of rules pertaining to 'Swissness'. Having moved some production to Slovakia the choccy maker most remove the distinctive Matterhorn silhouette and the Swiss flag from its logo. This is a blow to Switzerland's national prestige. It'll need to find a new identifier soon because most of the other recognisable Swiss icons are expensive watches, and the laughably corrupt FIFA officials who wear them in Lausanne.
Highlights
The Image
Happy Holi. Photo supplied by ABC .
The Quote
"Myself and the prime minister have been working tirelessly to ensure we have a bill that works — we've pushed the boundaries of international law to solve this crisis."
– Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman says the quiet part out loud. In reality her plan to turn back small boats in the Channel is cribbed from Australia (a category leader in the developed world for vicious, unlawful asylum policies). Big shoutout to the [redacted] at Crosby Textor for helping export these shameful strategies.
The Numbers
30% of the ocean
- After 20 years of deliberations the United Nations has unveiled a plan to protect 30% of the high seas by 2030 . The agreement between 193 member gives shape to the 30x30 pledge. Under the deal one third of the ocean that lies outside national borders will be regulated to lessen the impact of shipping, deep sea mining, and most importantly, fishing. The wanton extraction of marine life simply must be slowed.
0.6 sq metres
- El Salvador's newly-built Terrorism Confinement Centre has many of the recognisable trappings of a high-security prison: barbed-wire fences, guards, and locked doors. What it doesn't have is space. This modern experiment in barbarism is set to house 40,000 gang members in just eight buildings totalling 10.7 acres . Excluding common areas and corridors that leaves just 0.6 square metres per prisoner to exist in. For reference, this is four times the population of the overcrowded Rikers Island in one eighth of the footprint.
The Headlines
"TikTok Could Control Data and Divide Americans, FBI's Wray Says" — Bloomberg . That ship has sailed, my friend.
"You should build a frog pond"
— The Atlantic . Yes, ma'am.
The Special Mention
To borrow from the spectacularly saccharine TIME magazine, this week's Special Mention goes to you, our dear readers . Thanks for all your letters of encouragement, volumes of occasionally-constructive criticism, and time. Till next time...
The Most-Read Article
'China Cracks Down on Costly 'Bride Price' Custom to Boost Falling Birth Rate'
The Best Long Reads
- The Atlantic assaults free speech
- Businessweek buries some bad behaviour
- Financial Times outfoxes the West with Nicolas Maduro
Thomas Wharton
Senior Editor
The Answer...
As long as we keep using polygraphs — we'll never know . This piece argues that the idea behind measuring truthfulness is wrong and has been for 3,000 years.
