Five Things: Ukraine, Boomer, Anti-Semitism, Meta, AI
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Good Morning, thanks for reading Five Things!
It’s been two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and currently there are not many positive signs that the war will end soon. Germany has increased its military spending and Europe is united agains Russian aggression. I remember when we all thought, Russia could be a strong partner, much like the US. Well, some still think we should trust Russia more. Russian propaganda has been very effective the last decades as we were all trying to believe in a good Russia.
Germany still waits for die Zeitenwende to really happen, the seismic shift Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised two years ago. As most Germans hate change, everything changes just painfully slow. We still struggle with getting manufacturing capacities up to a level suitable for war times.
And at the same time Germany is unsure whether we should run ahead and seize opportunities that the European Green Deal offers or whether we should try to undermine all the efforts towards a greener economy by discussing possible roadblocks instead of just doing what makes sense. So we do what we do best: complain while trying to act like a small helpless country while actually being the third largest economy in the world and the biggest economy in Europe. Germany is pretty schizo.
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Three Ukrainian soldiers. Two years of war. How their lives changed.
It’s been two years now. This war has changed the lives of so many people in Ukraine and in Russia. The portraits of the soldiers give us a better understand of war and what these people have to go through on a daily basis. The outcome so far is the opposite of what Putin wanted to achieve. Ukraine is now closer to the West than ever before. And Europe has upped its defense spending while readjusting its attitude towards Russia. I myself have never felt so hakwish about a war, but I really do see this as a definitve fight to save our way of life and our demoracies.
Life Aboard a Nuclear Submarine as the US Responds to Threats Around the Globe
When I think about submarines, which I rarely do, to be honest, I always think of Das Boot, one of the best German movies ever made. This nuclear submarine, called a boomer, is obviously much bigger and more powerful. Still, it’s a submarine and life underwater is not really that glamorous. Nevertheless, Vanity Fair sent a journalist to get a better understanding about nuclear submarines and how they fit into the overall military strategy of the US and NATO.
Why the Most Educated People in America Fall for Anti-Semitic Lies
“The many legitimate concerns about Israel’s policies toward Palestinians, and the many legitimate concerns about Israel’s current war in Gaza, cannot explain these eliminationist chants and slogans, the glee with which they are delivered, the lawlessness that has accompanied them, or the open assaults on Jews.” - I didn’t think anti-semitism was such a widespread phenomenon, especially at elite universities. But after October 7 it became very clear, that we need to do more to fight anti-semitism. To me, this is horrific, it feels like part of our society is stuck somewhere in the middle ages.
How Meta gave up on politics
Facebook took the promise of a global village into a political freak show. Now the new idea is that politics should take place somewhere else. This is a recipe for a new desaster. In Germany we see how the right wing party cleverly uses Insta and TikTok for their desinformation campaigns. We need to do the opposite and Meta needs to understand its role as the largest platform.
AI Could Actually Help Rebuild The Middle Class
Information at your fingertips vs. expertise. This is an interesting piece as it counters the prevailing thinking that AI will somehow be an endpoint for work. AI is truly changing the way we think about work and how we work.
That’s it.
— Nico