Welcome to Litsy!

I spent most of my time as a #longtimefed more or less in the realm of soft power. It‘s another topic I can‘t possibly do justice to in 451 characters, except to say I know whereof I speak when it comes to this area.

Pulling direct aid from the developing world, especially in the cruel and abrupt way we did so, opens up a huge space for China to swoop in. But we “need Ukraine‘s minerals” to combat China.

Then we humiliate Zelenskyy in the WH.*

Well, this was an interesting book to read this past week. It is outdated, though, this edition having been published in 2019. Despite that, some interesting big picture points to consider heading into the future.

#firstlinefridays

Argh! I bought this book ages ago, so I definitely don‘t have the receipt any more to return it. From page 5-36 it is all like this! 😱

I saved this as a book I wanted to read back in 2018. Never got to it. But as I was reviewing my Goodreads history this book and its title gave me the chills. The U.S. has been invaded by Putin and most people don‘t realize it yet.

Kim Ghattas is an Emmy Award-winning journalist born and raised in Lebanon who has spent 20 years covering the Middle East for the BBC and Financial Times. This well-researched book argues that 1979 set Saudi Arabia and Iran on a path that‘s shaped the Middle East. Ghattas has a readable style and I came away feeling but there are a lot of figures in play here and despite a useful list, I sometimes found myself confused about who was who.

The new issues have to do with how intelligence uses information, or, more accurately, how intelligence and other fact-based analysis will fare in a world in which even a sophisticated society like our own is trending toward decision making anchored on a priori, near-instinctive narratives—decision making based on that which can be made popular or widely held rather than on that which is objectively true.

This book goes in depth on Putin: his history, how he sees the world, his behavior. It is almost 10 years old so is a little dated, but remains an excellent exploration of a consequential man. It‘s dense but not in a bad way. I learned a lot.