Illiberalism
Gilead
Competitive authoritarian regime project
Fig. 1. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Clarence Mitchell during signing ceremony of the voting rights act. Yoichi Okamoto, August 6, 1965, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Ariane de Vogue and Fredreka Schouten, “Supreme Court rejects Alabama’s attempt to avoid creating a second Black majority congressional district,” CNN, September 26, 2023,
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Mills
Neena Hagen and Ciara McEneany, “A ‘breath of new life?’ Pittsburgh Mills Mall is headed for sheriff’s sale,” PIttsburgh Post-Gazette, September 24, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/09/24/pittsburgh-mills-mall-namdar-sheriffs-sale-frazer/stories/202309240044
Imperialism
Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh
Ishaan Tharoor, “An Armenian exodus raises the specter of ‘ethnic cleansing,’” Washington Post, September 26, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/26/nagorno-karabakh-azerbaijan-armenia/
Electric vehicles
Fig. 1. “A Toyota bZ4X electric sport utility vehicle: EVs currently on the market are fitted with batteries that use liquid lithium-ion electrolytes.” Photograph by Kiyoshi Ota, n.d., via Financial Times, fair use.
I’m still waiting for Toyota’s ceramic battery.[1]
Peter Campbell, “Nissan boss says world ‘needs to move on’ from combustion engine,” Financial Times, September 25, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/e3758732-c057-40bb-9963-b265f577a097
Neoliberalism
Banking
Commercial real estate
Fig. 1. “The iconic Crescent stands as recognizable landmark in the upscale neighborhood of Uptown, Dallas.” Photograph by Dallasedits [pseud.], July 5, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Federal Reserve’s war on workers (interest rate increases)[2] continues to take its toll:[3]
[Atlanta’s commercial-property turmoil] offers an ominous warning to other cities that are hoping their office towers will fill up again when more robust economic growth returns.[4]
Peter Grant and Deborah Acosta, “Even a Booming Economy Can’t Save Atlanta’s Office Market,” Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/even-a-booming-economy-cant-save-atlantas-office-market-1246e446
Imperialism
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[5] fair use.
“Western analysts said the progress was not yet significant enough for a rapid mechanised assault involving tanks and other armoured vehicles.”[6] A breach can turn into a flood but there’s a lot of skepticism that this amounts to much.[7] We shall see.
Isabelle Khurshudyan et al., “Ukraine breaches Russian defensive line on southern front,” Washington Post, September 23, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/23/ukraine-breach-verbove-zaporizhzhia/
Joe Barnes, “Ukraine makes ‘tactical breakthrough’ after breaching Russian defences,” Telegraph, September 25, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/25/ukraine-tactical-breakthrough-russia-defence-isw-verbove/
- [1]Kana Inagaki, “Toyota says solid-state battery breakthrough can halve cost and size,” Financial Times, July 4, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/87cb8e92-8e82-4755-8fc3-2943f8f63e1d↩
- [2]Lora Kelley, “Why It Matters Who Caused Inflation,” Atlantic, June 16, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/06/why-it-matters-who-caused-inflation/674448/↩
- [3]Peter Grant and Deborah Acosta, “Even a Booming Economy Can’t Save Atlanta’s Office Market,” Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/even-a-booming-economy-cant-save-atlantas-office-market-1246e446↩
- [4]Peter Grant and Deborah Acosta, “Even a Booming Economy Can’t Save Atlanta’s Office Market,” Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/even-a-booming-economy-cant-save-atlantas-office-market-1246e446↩
- [5]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [6]Joe Barnes, “Ukraine makes ‘tactical breakthrough’ after breaching Russian defences,” Telegraph, September 25, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/25/ukraine-tactical-breakthrough-russia-defence-isw-verbove/↩
- [7]Joe Barnes, “Ukraine makes ‘tactical breakthrough’ after breaching Russian defences,” Telegraph, September 25, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/25/ukraine-tactical-breakthrough-russia-defence-isw-verbove/↩