John Ashbourne

Glad to see everyone doing their part

So it turns out that US “policy” towards Nigeria relies heavily on the unsourced theories of this random WhatsApp uncle.

Comforting

Kevin, the Congolese-Australian man overseeing this whole nonsense does not have much time for this view

Similarly, we were always going to have a “maybe they’re richer in their own way” moment

This was, of course, inevitable

Wowzers

Dear the media,

When the US president claims he brokered a peace deal in a place with active combat—eg Rwanda and Congo—the story is (1) fighting rages on, and (2) US president lies.

The story is not “president touts historic peace deal.” A peace deal involves peace.

Sincerely,
Factual reality

Nigeria engaging in a bit of regional stabilisation à la française

Re-elected *female* president appoints her *daughter* to key cabinet job

@thecontinent.org covering the hailstorm of glass ceiling shattering happening in today’s Tanzania

COP30 boss: "Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for tackling climate crisis" and praises China.

Chinese renewables are great, but you have to be disconnected from reality to miss the wrenching change EU in particular has signed up to & China's CO2 trajectory.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

But I was surprised by this. Look at Vietnam! Look at Thailand!

EV-adoption rising to European levels in a few years.

Almost entirely because of Chinese automakers dramatically cutting the price of the transition

By now we’re all familiar with this chart

The Global EV Shift: The Role of China and Industrial Policy in Emerging Economies This report analyzes strategies for EV adoption and industrial development in emerging markets to offer lessons for policymakers, exploring how and why China is catalyzing the transition in many emerg...

Excellent report from CSIS on the role that Chinese-made electric vehicles are having in EMs

www.csis.org/analysis/glo...

With an upside-down building, even simple things became complex. “When you flush the toilet, the stuff goes downhill, right?” the architect asked

“We’ve worked that out. We’re going to have hundreds of shuttle cars running back and forth, picking up the sewage on retractable bridges” Work continued

End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance

Spectacular

“You do realise the earth is spinning? And that tall towers sway?” he said. The chandelier, the architect explained, could “start to move like a pendulum”, then “pick up speed”, and eventually “break off”, crashing into the marina below.

ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...

Fascinating article on how Korean/Viet food is taking off in Pakistan.

Key takeaways: Karachiites love spicy chicken, not yet ready for fish sauce

images.dawn.com/news/1192156...

Spectacular. Another great success for Dentons.

on.ft.com/41xMbNH

God give me strength…

I think this is right for comparing domestic output.

But doesn’t a nominal comparison capture something about the impact of the two parties on a third? You import/export/bribe/invest in nominal dollars.

It might sound harsh, but I think that people who make charts this terrible should be shot.

The four outside of China, btw, are in NYC, Jeddah, Bangkok, and Monterey

There are as many buildings over 400m currently under construction in Wuhan (4) as there are in the whole world outside of China.

Then another 14 in the rest of the PRC. Including one in Rizhao, which I had to look up.

Totally sustainable construction sector.

A lot going on here. (Ht SB Morgen)

It’s only ever about 10m after landing in the US and interacting with public infrastructure that I start to audibly question how these people took over the world.

(I know the answer is: winning the geographic lottery/being far away from Germany)

This place has Stephen Bush ranting at Dear Prudie? Really is a perfect replacement/upgrade

A momentary lapse of judgement, I’m sure.

“Raving”, obviously. Though they were often also very fast

Hello all!

I’m hoping to find more EM/Africa content, fewer racing lunatics. Let’s see how this goes