Show notes
Found on the sidewalk, destined for the dump:
After my weekend’s ministrations:
My brother thinks I could make a lucrative side gig out of writing a newsletter about finding junk in the streets of Paris and restoring it. He thinks more people would subscribe to that than they would to the Cosmopolitan Globalist.
I don’t think I have the time to write two full-time Substacks—especially since writing a newsletter about scouring Paris for trash and restoring it would require that I actually scour Paris for trash and restore it, which is pretty time-consuming. But it’s nice to think I have a backup plan if it doesn’t work out for me in geopolitics.
It does occur to me that The New York Times is the only newspaper that’s managed to figure out how to turn a profit. The key is their recipes. Their reporting is financed by their cooking section, their games, and the Wirecutter, where they review things like sheets and air fryers. If I were to add the occasional premium feature about restoring some piece of Parisian junk, might that be the ticket to our riad in Marrakesh?
I do figure, though, that if I had to find junk on the sidewalk and restore it, I wouldn’t love doing it anymore. It’s only as fun as it is because it comes with the special frisson you get when you’re evading gainful work. As soon as I felt obliged to pick over my neighbors’ trash, I bet it would feel like work. Then I doubt I’d love doing it as much. And that would be a shame.
Blinken in China:
China’s overproduction of clean energy goods needs to be mitigated, Yellen says
China’s big factories had a terrible March, even as automakers roar to new highs.
“It is desolate.” China’s glut of unused car factories. Manufacturers like BYD, Tesla and Li Auto are cutting prices to move their electric cars. For gasoline-powered vehicles, the surplus of factories is even worse.
Xi warns Blinken: Stop being two-faced: America is “saying one thing and doing another,” Chinese leader cautions top US diplomat.
“Some people in the US are hyping up the so-called overcapacity in China with the real purpose of suppressing the development of China’s emerging industries and of maintaining its long-standing monopoly position in the global industrial chain through unfair means. Yellen attributed the bankruptcy of US’ solar companies to Chinese suppliers lowering prices in the interview. Although the attribution was wrong, it also exposed the real intention. It is not difficult to see that the so-called overcapacity rhetoric in China’s new energy industry is nothing more than a copy of the ‘America First.’ In the eyes of the US, the rapid development of China’s green industry challenges the strength and status of the US, and China's competitiveness is ‘translated’ into a ‘security threat’ to the world (the US). It can be seen that the excess is not China’s production capacity, but US’ anxiety. … Shifting contradictions, smearing and suppressing, and decoupling will only lead to a “lose-lose” situation.”—Global Times
Goodbye, Niger. A continent-wide belt of Russian influence:
All US soldiers are set to leave Niger, ending their role in the fight against Islamist insurgents.
American troops withdraw from Niger while facing pressure from Chad. Washington’’s announcement on Friday that it is withdrawing 1,100 soldiers from the Agadez base in Niger marks the loss of a strategic point for intelligence operations on armed groups in the Sahel, coinciding with Russia;s growing influence in the region.
Russian troop arrival spells end for US military presence in Niger.
Russia has tightened its hold over the Sahel region—and now it’s looking to Africa’s west coast.
The US is losing its battle in the Sahel as Chad joins Niger in demanding withdrawal of military personnel. With Russia lurking and diplomatic channels failing, Washington is preparing to redeploy its troops from Nigerien soil while pressure from the Chadian army threatens to end its operations
Al Hol
Syrian Kurdish officials hand over 50 women and children linked to Islamic State group to Tajikistan.
Syria’s Al-Hol camp: child inmates and false identities
Muskwatch
“Arrogant billionaire who thinks he’s above law, choses ego over common sense.”
Elon Musk targets Australian senator and gun laws in deepening dispute over violent video. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, whose platform X has been ordered to remove video of a bishop being stabbed, called the senator “an enemy of the people” and promoted other posts attacking Australia.
One senator, Jacqui Lambie, deleted her X account to protest the publication of the footage and called for other politicians to do the same, saying Musk had “no social conscience or conscience whatsoever.” She added that Musk should be jailed.
In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro's far-right supporters are hailing Elon Musk as a “hero.” Here’s why. The tech-billionaire got himself embroiled in major controversies as he unleashed an attack on Bolsonaro’s arch nemesis, the Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes.
Brazil judge orders probe on Elon Musk after refusal to block accounts on X. Judge Alexandre de Moraes accused the owner of X of “criminal instrumentalization” of the platform.
Musk burns bridges in Brazil after calling for senior judge to be impeached. Tycoon threatens to ignore court order banning far-right accounts on X.
Elon Musk’s X removes general option to report misleading info about politics
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