The Global Cannibal Economy, or How Armie Hammer Became a Geopolitical Indicator by Our Man in Everywhere, Still Hungover from 2019 It began, as most modern scandals do, with screenshots. Messages—allegedly from actor Armie Hammer—detailed a culinary enthusiasm for human flesh that would have made Hannibal Lecter file for trademark infringement. Within hours the story…
Monica Lewinsky: The Intern Who Became a Global Metaphor for Everything Wrong, Right, and Ridiculously Human PARIS—Somewhere between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of TikTok, a 22-year-old in a navy Gap dress unwittingly turned an Oval Office hallway into the set of a telenovela directed by Franz Kafka. Twenty-five years later,…
PARIS—Somewhere between the foie-gras-scented corridors of the Palais de l’Élysée and the slightly less fragrant holding cells of the Palais de Justice, Nicolas Sarkozy has completed his improbable metamorphosis: from hyperactive “bling-bling” president to convicted felon with an ankle bracelet aesthetic. The French Supreme Court last week upheld his three-year sentence—one year custodial, two suspended—for…
The Fall of the Try-Guys’ Golden Boy: Ned Fulmer’s Infidelity Scandal as Global Metaphor By the time the news reached a jet-lagged crowd at a rooftop bar in Singapore, the bartender—an economics PhD moonlighting for fun—was already using Ned Fulmer’s implosion as shorthand for the West’s broader credibility crisis. “One minute you’re the wholesome ‘wife…
The Epstein Birthday Book: A Global Who’s-Who of Who-Me? Geneva, Switzerland – In the hushed salons where diplomats pretend the world still runs on etiquette, a slim black ledger has begun circulating like a contraband truffle. Its cover, embossed in discreet gold, reads simply “Epstein – Birthdays 1953-2019.” Inside, the pages list not cake preferences…
Michael Vick: The Quarterback Who Went Global by Way of a Dogfight When Michael Vick’s name surfaces in polite conversation from Berlin to Bangkok, it is rarely preceded by “three-time Pro Bowler” and almost always followed by the Germanic hiss of “Hundekampf.” The American football star’s spectacular fall from grace in 2007—bankruptcy, 23 months in…
