#Britain, #India and so many others seem to find it hard to see #Trump’s invoking of the Monroe Doctrine with the clarity this schoolboy did in the 1930s! #thisweekthosebooks featuring Professor Gretchen Murphy’s insightful book thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/why-americ...

@theatlantic.com 's @giladedelman.bsky.social: [Under #Trump] the state intervenes but mainly “to reward his allies and punish his critics,” not to protect workers or rebalance markets. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

@theatlantic.com's @giladedelman.bsky.social: [Under #Trump] the state intervenes but mainly “to reward his allies and punish his critics,” not to protect workers or rebalance markets.

1/6 Peace & prosperity in #Venezuela will come from democracy, not oil, says Ricardo Hausmann in @economist.com. This could apply to any country where authoritarian incompetents rule (Gift access; link can be opened 5 times within 7 days) www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

Liberal arts professor Gretchen Murphy’s insightful book on the Monroe Doctrine explains so much about why #Trump has invoked a 203-year-old statement by a #US president to justify the kidnap of #Venezuela’s leader. #thisweekthosebooks thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/why-americ...

#Trump could take #Greenland without a shot being fired as @mpmacy.bsky.social told @lbc.co.uk 's @mrjamesob.bsky.social

@djrothkopf.bsky.social on #Trump, presumed emperor of the world: “one well-coordinated mission does not a long-term plan make” davidrothkopf.substack.com/p/the-fafo-b...

Inside dealing in #Trump's #America? 1/2: The market for whether or not #Maduro would be out of power climbed shortly before 10pm ET on Friday, after hovering in the low single digits for weeks, per the Wall Street Journal.

#Trump could take #Greenland without a shot being fired as Michael Macy told @lbc.co.uk 's @mrjamesob.bsky.social www.globalplayer.com/live/lbc/uk/...

@semafor.com's Maxwell Tani reminds us #AI or not, the 1st weekend of 2026 underlined need for real #journalism with "old-school reporting values & on-the-ground sources...as the stunning capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro sparked wild theories": www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...

Spot on @financialtimes.com's @gideonrachman.bsky.social: Spheres of influence are likely to create friction. China for eg sees Taiwan as a “core” national interest but the US doesn't want Taiwan's semiconductor industry to fall into China's hands www.ft.com/content/dcd8...

Trump on Jan 4,2026: “Right now, #Greenland is covered with Russian & Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you.”

Per @washingtonpost.com: Why #Trump is refusing to support #Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado. “If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” said a “person close to the White House”.

Per @politico.com : Asked what the top priority should be for #Maduro’s successor, #Trump said: “We need total access. We need access to the oil.” #venezuela

Professor Carlo Masala's bestseller If Russia Wins imagines an audacious Russian military operation in Estonia. With #Trump reaffirming he wants to seize Greenland, within hours of kidnapping Venezuela's president, here's another book title: If a Rogue #America Wins www.rashmee.com/if-a-rogue-a...

‘If a rogue #America wins’. An updated scenario to the one about Russia? www.rashmee.com/if-a-rogue-a...

Why Donald #Trump cited a 203-year-old statement to justify the lightning invasion of #Venezuela and the abduction of its president. #thisweekthosebooks thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/why-americ...

The Monroe Doctrine has mostly been observed in the breach, as our first book explains, via a quote from 19th century Cuban national hero José Martí. #thisweekthosebooks in @medium.com medium.com/this-week-th...

#thisweekthosebooks #US #Trump #Venezuela #MonroeDoctrine thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/why-americ...

#thisweekthosebooks #US #Trump #Venezuela #MonroeDoctrine thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/why-americ...

Some say the focus on #Venezuela’s oil stems from an imperialist US worldview & the two-century-old Monroe Doctrine. But #Trump’s display of power reverses the Doctrine’s basic principle – no further colonisation in the Americas #thisweekthosebooks thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/why-americ...

Why America's backyard is a frontline open.substack.com/pub/thisweek...

Lovely @londonermag.bsky.social piece on shops that are veterans of the London's scene, for eg. an iconic umbrella store that opened in 1830. www.the-londoner.co.uk/how-londons-...

Happy new year from #thisweekthosebooks thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/bakers-doz...

Very interesting @jamesomalley.co.uk : Not being presumptive but happy to count as part of your community :-) Happy new year open.substack.com/pub/jamesoma...

Very true @billemmott.bsky.social Emmott, what has been happening, has not been deglobalisation but rather deAmericanisation & the big question is if it can be extended to the rules, norms, institutions & alliances that America built & has now chosen to disown billemmott.substack.com/p/a-year-of-...

The Holy City was extracting money from tourists even when Mark Twain visited in 1867 ✏️ @rashmee.bsky.social

With the maker of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey pausing production for a year on account of retaliatory import taxes after Trump's so-called ‘Liberation Day’, this book is relevant #thisweekthosebooks thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/bakers-doz...

Per @semaforben.bsky.social . Glad to have this reminder of why we should pay attention to Dave Weigel's observations from across the road in the #US. www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...

Wanted to highlight the truths in this 2018 piece: Far-right parties in the West often portray #Islam as at war with Christianity. What gets lost in the white noise is a key fact: #Jesus is an important figure for Muslims, too. thearabweekly.com/christmas-st...

Per @axios.com : High-level delegations from at least 9 countries descended on the same locale for parallel negotiations this weekend on Ukraine & Gaza. Not Geneva or Paris, but Trump envoy Steve Witkoff's sprawling country club outside Miami www.axios.com/2025/12/22/u...

It was baffling to see such self-deprecation. #Aachen has a storied history, a 9th century cathedral, a Christmas market, a connection to Anne Frank, an international newspaper museum, the world equestrian championships and the annual international Charlemagne prize www.rashmee.com/aachen-a-cit...

It was baffling to see such self-deprecation. #Aachen has a storied history, a 9th century cathedral, a Christmas market, a connection to Anne Frank, an international newspaper museum, the world equestrian championships and the annual international Charlemagne prize www.rashmee.com/aachen-a-cit...

Aachen: A city that was surprised we were here www.rashmee.com/aachen-a-cit...

@tansyhoskins.org 's three shorts on the extraction cost of fashion are excellent. tansyhoskins.org/the-real-cos...

@billemmott.bsky.social is 100% right: For as long as Trump is president, the US clearly has no intention of combatting imperialism by its fellow great powers, unless its own national interests are threatened billemmott.substack.com/p/an-importa...

Spot on @billemmott.bsky.social: From now on, #Europe must act as if the transatlantic alliance does not exist, because under #Trump-Vance it doesn’t. open.substack.com/pub/billemmo...

#Bethlehem #twain #christie #thisweekthosebooks thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/exit-bethl...

Christie’s simple belief that human beings should practice what they preach finds an acerbic echo in Twain and may be the essence of Bethlehem’s story. via @thenewworldmag.bsky.social www.thenewworld.co.uk/rashmee-rosh...

In light of how one man is behaving, this book – from my baker’s dozen of fave reads of 2025 – is relevant. Paul Lynch imagines how authoritarianism can come to a democracy. He writes “the end of the world is always a local event” #thisweekthosebooks thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/bakers-doz...

In light of how at least one powerful man is behaving, this book, one of my baker’s dozen of favourite reads of 2025, is particularly relevant. Paul Lynch imagines how authoritarianism can come to a democracy and as he writes, “the end of the world is always a local event…” #thisweekthosebooks

“However dim Europe’s bulbs have grown — and they have dimmed — the rest of the west can still emit light.” My Swamp Notes with @gideonrachman.bsky.social on how we must call the old world to help redress the balance of the new. as.ft.com/r/783475a5-c...

AP photo of the Quellenhof Hotel, #Aachen, #Germany, on Oct. 25, 1944. And the same part of the hotel today, as photographed by me: 81 years of #peace will do it! www.rashmee.com/heres-what-p...

AP photo of the Quellenhof Hotel, Aachen, Germany, on Oct. 25, 1944. And the same part of the hotel today, as photographed by me: 81 years of #peace will do it! www.rashmee.com/heres-what-p...

Nothing demonstrates being joined together than borders without barriers, guards or checkpoints. So it is with Drielandenpunt, one of 7 or so points in the EU where many borders converge. A great advert one would’ve thought for the European project…if you can find it. www.rashmee.com/blink-and-yo...

Blink and you’ll miss Drielandenpunt, high note of Europe-sans-borders www.rashmee.com/blink-and-yo...

Neither Christie nor Twain are known for their faith or devotional writings. Yet each seems to regard #Bethlehem as something more than a brand name for believers to buy into. via @thenewworldmag.bsky.social www.thenewworld.co.uk/rashmee-rosh...

Here’s what peace looks like. Two views of Aachen www.rashmee.com/heres-what-p...

via @thenewworldmag.bsky.social : Neither Christie nor Twain are known for their faith or devotional writings. Yet each seems to regard Bethlehem as something more than a brand name for believers to buy into. www.thenewworld.co.uk/rashmee-rosh...

#Aachen, the first major German city to be captured by the Allied forces in 1944, is a testament to much more than the act of reconstruction. It shows that painful memories too can be consigned to the past. #peace www.rashmee.com/heres-what-p...