TLP Week in Review, 12/17-12/23
TLP Week in Review, 12/17-12/23
Your weekly summary of what we've been up to here at The Liberal Patriot.
What We’re Reading (and Watching and Listening To…)
“Netanyahu, America & the Road to War in Gaza”: The long-running PBS news series Frontline weighs in with a ninety-minute documentary that “offers a sweeping examination of the critical moments and missteps that led to this crisis over the course of the past three decades, and the pivotal role of a central player: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“Biden Is All That’s Holding Back the Left”: Former Bush administration adviser and The Atlantic columnist Peter Wehner argues that, in the wake of October 7, President Biden has played a key role “in resisting the leftward pull of those progressives, a stand of increasing importance not just for his party, but for the country as a whole.” He writes: “Biden looks to be the only person standing between Donald Trump and a second term that would pose a catastrophic threat to the republic. At the same time, he is also the key person resisting the pull of the progressive left on the Democratic Party. A person who was thought to be a transitional president is turning out to be a consequential one. An awful lot hinges on the man from Scranton.”
“Xi Jinping is not Mao reborn”: Perhaps the most original take out there on China's current economic situation, usually described as dire and driven by Xi's born-again Maoism. Milanovic begs to differ, providing an alternative take that puts Xi's economic program in an entirely different light.
See also Milanovic's new book, Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War, for an outstanding treatment of how views of income inequality have changed over the last 250 years.
“Antisemitism, 20% Allies, and Colonel Nicholson”: Fellow Substacker Robert Graboyes lays out the rise of left-wing antisemitism but asks those on the center-right not to dismiss those centrist forces trying to combat this ugly trend: “Hamas’s brutality, university administrators’ fecklessness, and protestors’ avarice has handed opponents of antisemitism a great gift. My right-of-center friends would be utter fools to waste this opportunity in the interests of stoking the polarization that characterizes our era. ‘Owning the libs’ must take a back seat to combating antisemitism.”
“Ambassador Rahm Emanuel”: Comedian and former late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien interviews U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel for his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. They discuss carving out time for family amidst busy professional schedules, Japan’s excellent high-speed rail system, and the need for the United States to stand up to international bullies like China and Russia. Check out Conan’s recent interview with President Joe Biden as well.
What We’ve Posted
“Why Don’t Democrats Want to Win?” by American Affairs founding editor Julius Krein.
“To Beat the Intersectional Left, We Need More Class Traitors!” by TLP politics editor Ruy Teixeira.
“TLP's 2024 Swing-State Project: Wisconsin” parts one and two by TLP contributor Michael Baharaeen.
“Trouble Brewing in the Red Sea” by TLP senior managing editor Peter Juul.
“Where Have All the Democrats Gone? A Roundup” of reviews of TLP politics editor Ruy Teixeira’s and TLP contributor John Judis’ new book Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
Ruy’s Science-Fiction Pulp Cover of the Week
Just one more thing…
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of notoriously corrupt U.S. Navy contractor Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis has come to a close after the Venezuelan government arrested and sent back to the United States the figure at the heart of the worst bribery scandal in American military history.
