Tim Walz and the Global Giggle Fit By Our Man in the Departures Lounge, somewhere over the Atlantic If you mention “Tim Walz” in a Brussels café, the waiter will nod politely while mentally calculating the tip. Say it in a Nairobi newsroom and an editor will ask whether that’s the new strain of avian…
The Global Art of Sudden Career Termination: A Brief History of Political Assassination In the grand theater of international relations, few acts are as final—or as theatrically effective—as the well-timed assassination. From ancient Rome’s floor plans (note the convenient lack of metal detectors in the Senate) to modern Moscow’s creative use of radioactive tea, the…
When the world wants to feel civilised, it opens a tab on The New York Times. From Lagos to Lima, the faint glow of its blue masthead is the modern equivalent of a Victorian parlour lamp: reassuring, slightly smug, and reassuringly smug. The ritual is global—tap, skim, nod knowingly at a headline about deforestation, then…
CBS News: America’s Square-Jawed Butler Still Polishing the Silver While the Mansion Burns By our man in the departure lounge, passport stamps blurred by espresso and regret From Singapore’s gleaming Changi to Addis Ababa’s bumpy midnight tarmac, screens flicker with the same familiar three letters: C-B-S. The font hasn’t changed since Cronkite warned your grandparents…
Arthur T. Demoulas and the Market Basket Uprising: How a New England Grocery Chain Accidentally Became a Global Case Study in Shareholder Rebellion By the time Arthur T. Demoulas was reinstated as CEO of Market Basket last August, the parking lots of 71 supermarkets from Lowell to Portsmouth looked less like suburban America and more…
When Charlie Kirk’s toddler recently appeared on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington—wearing a bespoke blazer, pre-knotted tie, and the facial expression of a hostage negotiator—international audiences collectively inhaled the way one does when a priceless vase teeters on a mantelpiece. From Lagos to Lisbon, the image ricocheted across timelines, accompanied by…
MSNBC: America’s Cable Therapy Session, Exported An international correspondent’s notebook on the channel that turned partisan outrage into a 24-hour spectator sport—and accidentally became a soft-power export. The first time I watched MSNBC in a hotel bar in Nairobi, the closed-captioning was in Swahili and the chyron screamed “BREAKING: DEMOCRACY IN PERIL.” The patrons, mostly…
Slovenia, a country whose greatest historical export until recently was existential dread packaged as ski-jumping medals, has given the planet Luka Dončić: a 6’7″ reminder that the global economy now runs on highlight reels and schadenfreude. While the United Nations still pretends to solve crises with communiqués nobody reads, Dončić quietly exports Slovenian soft power…
Emmerdale Spoilers, Geopolitics, and the Collapse of the Post-War Order By Our Correspondent, Somewhere Between Leeds and the End of the World In the grand tapestry of human folly, where superpowers trade nuclear threats in 280 characters and central banks treat inflation like a misbehaving spaniel, it is comforting—almost perversely noble—that a Yorkshire village soap…
Evergreen High School Isn’t Just a Building—It’s a Global Metaphor We Keep Pretending Not to Notice By Santiago Vargas, Senior Correspondent, Dave’s Locker Evergreen High sits 47 minutes south of Seattle, a modest cluster of brick and optimism wedged between a wetland the district keeps trying to pave and a Starbucks built, with admirable civic…
Charlie Kirk and the Export-Grade American Outrage Machine By Our Man in the Departures Lounge, Terminal B Someone, somewhere, is making money off the fact that we are all talking about Charlie Kirk again. That is the only global constant in the saga of a 30-year-old American activist whose superpower is turning campus mic-drop moments…
The Hogwarts Diaspora: How a Cast of Child Wizards Grew Up to Run the World (or at Least Its Meme Cycle) By the time you finish this sentence, someone in Jakarta will have tattooed Daniel Radcliffe’s 2004 haircut on their calf, a São Paulo startup will have launched a Potter-themed fintech, and a Brussels think…
