Read the Weekly Roundup: February 24

By Justin D. Long, ed.

Perspective, Insight, Context, Analysis

New events

North Africa

Egypt: ISIS video vows more attacks on Christians in Egypt: their ‘favorite prey’
… 2 more Christians killed in the Sinai Peninsula: shot, burned alive
Libya: Libya After ISIS: the threat of (more) civil war is still near
… ISIS driven back, oil production up, but more polarized and fragmented than ever
Tunisia: ‘The Libyan crisis is a Tunisian crisis’: half a million work in Libya, unemployed

West Africa

Gambia: treasury says millions of dollars missing after looting, misappropriation
Guinea: 5 killed amid student protests over teacher strikes: hundreds demonstrate
Mali: The world’s most dangerous UN mission: 118 peacekeepers killed in 4 years
Nigeria: UNICEF says Boko Haram recruited 2,000 children in 2016
… and, Fulani violence: 21 dead in Kaduna.
… 27,000 fled their homes due to violence, 800 killed since Sep 2016.
… between 10k and 20k killed in Kaduna since 1980.
… Current violence is the longest on record.
… an in-depth look: who will protect Nigeria’s Christians?
… and, risk of famine: millions risk starvation in insurgency-hit Lake Chad region

East Africa/Horn:

Why China is popular in Africa: mainly because of the infrastructure it has built
Eastern Africa Regional Humanitarian Snapshot: looming famine
Somalia: Securing Somalia, and the challenges awaiting its new president
S Sudan: promises free access for all aid workers, responding to famine declaration.
… Al Jazeera: war disrupted agriculture: who is to blame for the famine? (24-min video)

Central Asia

Kazakhstan: government abusing tax issues to harass human rights groups.
Kyrgyzstan: a haven for reporters amid love and strive.
… ‘how Bishkek has established itself as a destination for those seeking freedom’
… and, religious scholars say the fundamentalist Salafi movement is gaining ground.

West Asia/Gulf

Azerbaijan: appointed his wife as First Vice President.
Bahrain: Parliament backs military trials for civilians.
… ‘government tightening grip on political protests, which have entered their 7th year’
Iraq: forces take most of Mosul airport in important milestone against ISIS
Israel: Exhibit explores Israeli artists’ complex relationship with Jesus
Jordan: King Hussein of Jordan: Survival of a dynasty, Part ½
… telling the story of Jordan’s monarch from 1952 to his death in 1999.
Kuwait: ‘too many foreigners’ becomes a frequent refrain
… series of steps are targeting foreigners, including hospitals only for Kuwaiti citizens
Saudi Arabia: New York, London, Toronto all under consideration for listing Saudi Aramco
… selling a piece of the company key to funding investments to diversify away from oil
Syria: fighting in Al-Bab, still controlled by IS.
Turkey: ‘allows’ women in military to wear hijabs, in cultural shift’
… a strong indicator of the shifts happening in Turkish society away from secularization
… and, refugee influx to Turkey sharply rises: to 3.551 million by Feb. 2015. Lots of details.
Yemen: Health system crumbling, and Largest food insecurity emergency in the world.

South Asia

Afghanistan: The Stolen Tale of Khorasan
… ‘the region is often associated with war & conservatism yet has a rich history of tolerance’
… but ISIS may be developing a regional powerbase in northwest Afghanistan
Bangladesh: despite strides, country still among top 10 for malnutrition prevalence
Iran: How ‘Half the World’ is attracting tourists to Iran: Esfahan.
… 5.2 million visited in 2015; named among ‘top 50’ and ‘top 20’ destinations by various
India: Regional inequality is increasing: India’s growth mostly benefits India’s rich
… a look at how different provinces are doing, and why
Pakistan: launches Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad against terrorism in wake of bombings
… is it enough? Argues more high-level strategy is required. Punjab is the primary focus.
… From Lahore to Sehwan, Pakistan’s week of violence: an infographic
Sri Lanka: Building new international city derailed by political chaos, violent protests
…. and, panel created to stem sexual abuse of women, esp. Tamil minority.

East Asia

China: orders all cars in troubled Xinjiang to have GPS tracking installed.
… Living in Xinjiang: one foreigner’s perspective
… and, North Korea: China bans coal imports (but ban not 100% implemented)
… don’t count on China to rein in North Korea.
… North Korean coal ban squeezes China border town. Reuters video.
… and, China launched a rail freight service between Beijing and London.
… and, China’s millennials are hustling for part-time gigs instead of traditional jobs.
… and, navigating the new improved Green Card scheme for foreigners
… and, the cost of marrying one of China’s outnumbered women skyrockets
… (parents can favor the males, but who will the males favor…?)
… and, what’s behind the rapproachment between Beijing and the Vatican?
Japan: Global gambling chiefs ready to spend $10 billion or more to set up shop in Japan
Mongolia: recent extreme cold weather impact children, two papers examining impact
… and, Mongolia’s nomads warm to solar power.
N Korea: 60 Minutes’ odd journey to the North Korean border
… ‘everything that happens close to the DMZ has the potential to ignite conflict…’
… ‘if war were to break out, 10s of thousands could be killed, US pulled in immediately’

Southeast Asia

Cambodia: HIV stalks prostitutes and their children.
Indonesia: Saudi Arabian king to visit in March, along with entourage of 1,500.
… hopes to increase travel between them and Saudi Arabia: hajj, domestic workers
… and, Islamists urge ouster of Jakarta’s governor, plan protests.
Malaysia: ‘Relations with North Korea have turned hostile.’
… Lots of questions, including (for a while) whether the man was actually Kim Jong-nam.
… ‘Malaysia insists on a DNA sample to identify the deceased and claim the body.’
Singapore: revamping venture capital rules to angle for a piece of Silicon Valley
… wants to attract venture capitalists to grow a stable of startups
Thailand: army claims breakthrough pact with one separatist group in south
… but unclear if it could succeed without support from other groups
… and, proposed law could bring total government control of the press.
Vietnam: From war to peace and now prosperity in rural Vietnam

New Data

Global arms sales at highest levels since end of Cold War; Asia accounts for 43%.
Global slavery index: 45.8 million in 167 countries enslaved in 2016
… 5 highest absolute populations: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan
… highest % of countries enslaved: N Korea, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, India, Qatar
McKinsey: Global migration’s impact and opportunity
… migrants are 9.4% of global GDP, 3.4% of global population

Longer reads

African leaders increasingly silence the Internet to stem protests
… but turning it off hits the increasingly fragile economies of developing nations.
Religious intolerance in the Gulf States: an analysis
Africa’s Cities: Opening Doors to the World
… argues many African cities are closed to the world; to develop, must open
Chinese missionaries–being filial and faithful

Pioneer Mission Startups, Strategy

Strategy+Business: 10 principles of strategy through execution
… aim high, build on strengths, be ambidextrous, clarify everyone’s strategic role, more…
How big is the manual for an aircraft carrier?

UPG Profiles, Travelogues, Stories

China: a million people live in old underground atomic bunkers in Beijing.
India: how caste shapes the work of choice in one Uttar Pradesh village.
Kenyans share their dinner to save their livestock
Cambodia: Beng Mealea, a hidden jungle temple
Nigeria: Borno women have varied reactions to ‘one wife for the poor’ proposal
Oman: 10 reasons why the Norway of the Middle East should be your next destination

Futuristics/Technology

#AI: The problem with all female digital assistants.
#AI: Google introduces Perspective, new tool to help score/moderate comments.
#Autodrive: GM and Lyft plan to deploy thousands of self-driving Chevy Bolts.
#Drones: France is training eagles to destroy drones.
#Mars: The UAE wants to put 600,000 people on Mars within a century.
… China wants to go too.
#Migration: new tech startup aims to help immigrants ‘take control of their journey’
#Robots: most Americans believe a robot couldn’t replace them in the workforce.
… what will mass replacement do to the economy, charitable giving?
#Social: Facebook’s vague new mission: what is that, anyway?
#Surveillance: How Palantir helped the NSA spy on the whole world.
#Entertainment: Why ever stop playing video games
… many Americans have replaced work hours with game play, and ended up happier.

Quotable

We don’t have to know how it’s all going to be worked out in the future; we just have to have a team that continually learns. ~Jonah Peretti

You look to customers to define the problem, not prescribe the solution. ~John Warnock

Amazon’s success is a function of how many experiments we do per year, per month, per week, per day. ~Jeff Bezos

If you give people facts without a story, they will explain it within their existing belief system. The best way to promote a new or different belief is not with facts, but with a story. ~Dave Gray

Incentive structures work, so you have to be very careful of what you incent people to do, because various incentive structures create all sorts of consequences that you can’t anticipate. ~Steve Jobs

The company will build whatever the CEO decides to measure. ~Sam Altman

Justin Long, a missionary researcher serving with Beyond (a Missio Nexus member) provides the Weekly Roundup. Sign up to get it every week or visit his daily blog: justinlong.org. Member organizations can provide content to the Missio Nexus website. See how by clicking here.

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