This week leads on an extraordinary story. A new metric, from the world-leading science journal Nature has put Chinese universities above some of the most famous names in higher ed. MIT, Caltech, Cambridge and Imperial are all ranking lower than the likes of Nanjing and Tsinghua.
Andrew Collingwood is interested in how far behind the times our cultural imagination is with regards to China. While Philip Pilkington senses that the gains to being world-best will soon start to turn exponential. Both are mildly baffled as to how we've come up with a ranking system that doesn't prioritise innovative research.
With China already producing more STEM PhDs than the US, is the Western university still fit for purpose?
In Germany, years of pacifism won't be shucked off as easily as Russian shelling of Kiev. The country's incoming coalition government had threatened to raise the national budget. Instead, its defence minister has had to content himself with 'not having the budget cut'. So is Germany's long-held pacifism turning pathological? Or will they wake up to a multipolar world before it's too late?
Meanwhile, it's Iran Nuclear Deal season again. After Trump tore up the Obama era plan, and Biden then won re-election promising to put it back, the going has not been slow. For now, the Iranians are continuing to enrich their party packs of uranium. And in a multipolar world, there is no longer so much that the Americans can offer them to stop.
The decisive turn, as Philip Pilkington notes, may come from Israel. As alliances swirl, will they continue their targeted assassinations of top scientists? Or is there even a world in which they come down on the side of the mullahs?
Madame El Presidente, Buyout Britain, Ankara’s Away
Premium Episode: Britain 2029
When Liberals Kill, G7 Suicide Pact, Dollarmageddon
Special Edition: Two Crystal Balls And The Death Of The Washington World Order
Xi Came In Through The Belgrade Window, Egypt's Pyramid Scheme, Per Capita No Cap
Special Edition - Q&A
Yuan Way Or Another, Korea Advice, Dollar Save Club
Bananageddon, We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat, Enter The Draghi
Special Episode: Big Trouble With Little Rocket Man
Premium Episode: The Atlanticists vs The Autonomists
Sino More, A Bridge Too Far, America's Trussification
Special Edition: The Economic Consequences Of The War
Machine Learning Difficulties, Don't Hate-O The NATO, Britain's Shrivelling Equities
Premium Edition: The YIMBY Defence League, Nuland Goes, Galloway Comes
Special Edition: The Burger Theory Of History (feat. Malcom Kyeyune)
Israeli Economy Contracts 20 Percent, Nagorno-Karabakh To The Future, Bailey Out-y
Deutschland Unter Alles, Chinese Crackers, War Like An Egyptian
Premium Edition: How To Invade Iran with Malcom Kyeyune
From America With Love, Your Country Needs THEM, Self-Immolate After Reading
Poseidon With The Enemy, WWIII Pt. 2, Weimargentina
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