It’s Africa’s Century—for Better or Worse
Asia gets the attention, but the real economic revolution is the inevitable growth of an overlooked continent. In the coming decades, we face a revolutionary shift in the balance of world affairs—and it is likely not the one you are thinking of. Since the 1990s, the idea that we might be entering an “Asian century” has preoccupied and disorientated the West. However, once we take in view the long sweep of history, the return of China and India to the center stage of world affairs is less a revolution than a restoration. For most of the last 2,000 years, the great Chinese and Indian empires were the center of world trade and home to the most sophisticated civilizations. Their growing influence in the world today is the rectification of the anomaly that arose in the 1700s as a result of the yawning divergence in per capita income between “the West” and “the rest.” Successive industrial revolutions and waves of colonial conquest created a world in which economic and military power was radically misaligned with population.
After the Zeitenwende: Jürgen Habermas and Germany’s new identity crisis
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has upended world politics and nowhere more so than in Germany. Addressing an emergency session of the Bundestag on 27 February, German chancellor Olaf Scholz declared a Zeitenwende, a turning point in history. Russia’s attack on Ukraine meant Europe and Germany had entered a new age. But what direction is history turning in? Scholz promised to raise Germany’s defence spending and in March placed a large order for America’s exorbitant F-35 fighter jets. Since then, sanctions on Russia have been tightened and Germany has even agreed to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. But Berlin has baulked at an all-out boycott of Russian oil and gas, and what it has to offer Kyiv militarily is limited even compared to other European nations, let alone the United States. Always there is a suspicion of delay, reluctance and fear. In Germany and elsewhere this has been read as nothing less than a crisis of political identity. More than anywhere else in the West, the entire German intellectual class, and every TV talk show
Is escalation in Ukraine part of the US strategy?
The aim of the billions committed through the Lend-Lease plan could tip the geopolitical balance. History may be about to repeat itself In the spring of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Washington DC seems haunted by the ghosts of history. The US Congress has passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 to expedite aid to Ukraine – just as Franklin D Roosevelt did, under the Lend-Lease Act, to the British empire, China and Greece in March 1941. The sums of money being contemplated in Washington are enormous – a total of $47bn, the equivalent of one third of Ukraine’s prewar GDP. If it is approved by Congress, on top of other western aid, it will mean that we are financing nothing less than a total war. Lend-Lease was a wartime intervention. The vast majority of the goods delivered were armaments. Monty’s army in the north African desert fought with Lend-Lease Sherman tanks. After 1942, the great Soviet counter-offensives were carried by Lend-Lease trucks. What made this so extraordinary is that at the moment the
Ones & Tooze: Why Low Unemployment Isn’t Better News
The U.S. unemployment rate is 3.6 percent, the lowest it’s been since the pandemic began in March 2020. So why aren’t we celebrating that? Adam and Cam dig into the other things bumming people out about the economy, as well as how low unemployment and inflation impact each other. In this first segment, Adam and Cam also answer the show’s first-ever listener audio question! After
Chartbook #120: St Javelin, Lockheed & the arsenal of democracy
If there is a weapon that symbolizes the war in Ukraine, it is the FGM-148 anti-tank infrared guided missile also known as Javelin. Images of St Javelin which shows Mary Magdalene holding a Javelin launcher in the style of an Eastern Orthodox church painting have become memes. Sticker and merchandise sales from the official site have raised over $800k for Ukraine’s resistance. The portable, highly
Does Ukraine need a Marshall Plan?
Amid the twisted girders, ruined walls and underground tunnels of the Azovstal plant, Ukraine’s defenders are making their last stand in the siege of Mariupol. The steel factory dates to 1933 and the era of high-Stalinism. It was ruined by Hitler’s Wehrmacht before his forces retreated in 1943, and restored in the postwar period as one of the hubs of Soviet industry. Now the steel
War at the end of history
Will Putin’s invasion of Ukraine lead to a new world order, or an era of grinding compromise? It was the French Revolution that defined the stakes in modern war as an existential clash between nations in arms, in which fundamental principles of rule were in question. War was the world spirit on the march. That is what the German poet Goethe thought he witnessed at
Ukraine’s War Has Already Changed the World’s Economy
Global economics will never be the same—but not in the ways you might think. For NATO and the West’s relations with Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is clearly a historic turning point. The atrocities committed in occupied Ukrainian communities mark a ghastly breach of international law. But does Putin’s war mark a break in the development of the world economy? Some have
Chartbook
Sign up below for Adam’s newsletter, which includes economic data, images, & stories that matter.
Look out for Adam’s next book, Carbon, out in 2023.
Discussion with Wolfgang Schäuble
WEF 2020: Why Protests Are An Integral Part Of Democracy
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer – Is a 2nd Great Depression Coming?
Ones & Tooze Bonus: Why is May Day so Violent in Berlin?
Chartbook #119: Lend-Lease & Escalation
Chartbook #118: China’s growth prospects
It’s Africa’s Century—for Better or Worse
Asia gets the attention, but the real economic revolution is the inevitable growth of an overlooked continent. In the coming decades, we face a revolutionary
After the Zeitenwende: Jürgen Habermas and Germany’s new identity crisis
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has upended world politics and nowhere more so than in Germany. Addressing an emergency session of the Bundestag on 27
Is escalation in Ukraine part of the US strategy?
The aim of the billions committed through the Lend-Lease plan could tip the geopolitical balance. History may be about to repeat itself In the spring
Ones & Tooze: Why Low Unemployment Isn’t Better News
The U.S. unemployment rate is 3.6 percent, the lowest it’s been since the pandemic began
Chartbook #120: St Javelin, Lockheed & the arsenal of democracy
If there is a weapon that symbolizes the war in Ukraine, it is the FGM-148
Does Ukraine need a Marshall Plan?
Amid the twisted girders, ruined walls and underground tunnels of the Azovstal plant, Ukraine’s defenders
Chartbook
Sign up below for Adam’s bi-weekly newsletter, which includes economic data, images, & stories that matter.
Look out for Adam’s next book, Carbon, out in 2023.
Discussion with Wolfgang Schäuble
WEF 2020: Why Protests Are An Integral Part Of Democracy
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer – Is a 2nd Great Depression Coming?
Ones & Tooze Bonus: Why is May Day so Violent in Berlin?
Chartbook #119: Lend-Lease & Escalation
Chartbook #118: China’s growth prospects
“A seriously impressive book, both endlessly quotable and rigorously analytical”
– Oliver Bullough, The Guardian