Curated Nerd Stuff (4/27/24)
Intermittently sharing what I find digging through the crates of life. Here’s the best and most interesting of what I came across the past couple weeks. ✌️
Event: The False Promise of the “Indo-Pacific”
On Monday US time/Tuesday Asia time, I’ll be giving a live-streamed lecture in the James T. Laney series at Yonsei University. It’s an honor.
I’ll be talking about the “Asian peace,” and why conceptions of Asia as an “Indo-Pacific” region are a source of both militarism and bad strategy.
Register via the QR code above, and/or jump on Zoom using the meeting ID above.
“Billionaires and Dark Money Just Took Their First L of the Season”
Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-PA) handily won what was thought to be a heavily contested primary campaign in Pittsburgh.
For those who don’t know, Summer Lee is one of the Justice Democrats—the social-democratic/progressive contingent within the Democratic Party. Accordingly, she’s also one of the top enemies of the Israel lobby, which spent obscene amounts of money in 2022 trying (and failing) to defeat her.
Her primary win is a big deal because I think US democracy hinges almost entirely on expanding the social-democratic presence within the Democratic Party. Centrists are basically a path to fascism (see how they’re responding to this, for example). Meanwhile, building power outside the electoral system (in unions) matters but it matters via having representatives in the legislature that movements can access and who can express movement preferences.
So no Justice Democrats, no future for democracy. AIPAC, I believe, knows this, and that’s why everything—everything—is at stake with the current nightmare in Gaza and the politics of Israel policy. At root, US militarism is what most directly threatens US democracy. Who knew.
Anyway, Lee’s celebratory song on social media was “Knuck If You Buck,” which is an aggressive, elbow-throwing, anthem for anyone up for a fight:
Reading Politics & Policy
Jerry Harris, “The Right Reads Gramsci,” Convergence Magazine.
Spencer Ackerman, “The Silicon Valley/Venture Capital Pentagon,” Forever Wars Newsletter.
Christopher Shell, “U.S. Foreign Policy Should Pay More Attention to Black Americans,” The National Interest.
Michelle Buckley and Paula Chakravartty, “Labor and the Bibi-Modi ‘Bromance’” Boston Review.
Thea Riofrancos, “The Extracted Earth: An Interview with Thea Riofrancos,” Grant Magazine.
Viola Zhou, “TSMC’s Debacle in the American Desert,” Rest of World.
Entertainment
I watched You People when it first came out early last year, but I had it on again recently and it was just good vibes—LA hip-hop culture, Nipsey Hussle music, interracial life, crude situational humor. Love.
The Gentlemen was a surprisingly good show. I was skeptical because I thought Guy Ritchie movies maybe belong to a different era…but this show delivered. Funny, suspenseful, action-packed, and visually stimulating. It feels like a really well done version of things I used to watch in the ‘90s.
It was recently the 30th anniversary of Nas’s Illmatic—the first album I ever bought as a kid, and incidentally one of the best of all time. Happy anniversary to those who celebrate!