Weekly Roundup: December 16

The Weekly Roundup

The Weekly Roundup

By Justin D. Long, ed.

Perspective, Insight, Context, Analysis

New events

Syria: Aleppo Falls.
Reuters: Battle of Aleppo ends after years of bloodshed with rebel withdrawal
NYT: turning point: all key cities now under Syrian control
WPost: Timeline of key events since March 2011
WPost: Russia says all military action has stopped, Syrian govt now in control.
Evacuation deals reached for last rebel zones in Aleppo
Here’s what the end of Aleppo’s rebellion looks like (horrible)
NYT: ‘A complete meltdown of humanity’: Aleppo civilians gunned down as they flee
Atlantic: How Assad, Russia achieved major victory at devastating cost.
New Yorker: The battle for Aleppo, Syria’s Stalingrad, ends (longread)
Al Jazeera: a quick take on some key questions about what’s next for Syria’s war
… because it’s not quite over yet.

China vs. USA over Taiwan, could impact workers & work
BBC: China: Trump’s one-china comments risk Taiwan peace
Reuters: South China Sea tensions spike (Video).
Chinese weapons systems on islands. US admiral with strong words.
Chinese billionaire Wang JIanlin warns Donald Trump about losing US jobs
Keep the long view: 5 myths about US-China relations
NPR: Trump, China and a long history of misunderstandings.
At the same time, keep in the mix the new NGO management law:
Security message for US citizens as foreign NGO management law goes into effect 1/1
… ‘may face special scrutiny’

Also:

Africa, #War: The Islamic State is losing, and Al Qaeda is winning.
Afghanistan: Kunduz: Tending to the living & dead in a battle-torn Afghan city
China, #Connectedness: map shows how it’s building a global trade empire.
Chinese airlines are flooding the world with super-cheap airfares.
… #Unrest: Xinjiang adopts strict Internet controls.
Egypt, #Unrest: Deadly bombing at Coptic Cathedral. IS group claims responsibility.
… FP: How Egypt’s Copts fell out of love with President Sisi
… Province Mag: A rough stretch in a season of waiting for Egyptian Christians: nuance.
… NYT: Egypt’s Christian-Muslim divide, from 2005 but still relevant.
India, #Corruption: just made a big mistake with its currency ban
… ‘without new measures to combat corruption… doubt… lasting benefits’
India: No questions please, you are the media
… ‘government monitors every word of journalists but dare them to question it’
Iran, #Connected: Boeing signs deal to provide 80 airplanes.
Indonesia: NYT, #1Religion: Jakarta governor issues tearful denial of insulting Islam.
… BBC: Emotional scenes as Ahok trial begins.
Nigeria: Deepening food crisis, imminent famine threaten northeast.
UNICEF estimates 400,000 children at risk of starvation.
Famine may have killed 2,000 in the northeast this year.
… ‘humanitarian crisis created by Boko Haram’s Islamic uprising…’
N Korea: with uncertainty in Washington & Seoul, what next for Pyongyang?
… and, How big is North Korea’s market economy?
Syria, #War: ISIS re-enters Palmyra.
Turkey, #Unrest: Suicide bombings in Istanbul near stadiums kill 44.
Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility.
… Turkey arrests 200, mainly Pro-Kurd Party members.
Yemen, #War: the impact of the war on Yemeni diaspora beyond the borders.

New Data

CFR: Preventive Priorities Survey, 2017: top threats to watch out for
Pew: key findings on how world religions differ by education.
… Jews, Christians have most schooling; Muslims, Hindus have lowest.

Longer reads

EMQ ($): Piercing the Purdah.
… empowering women for active engagement in mission through entrepreneurship
… a case study of ECWA in northern Nigeria: purdah, poverty, persecution
EMQ: Fruitful near-culture church planters: a qualitative study.
… two most oft-mentioned fruitful practices: ‘persevering through suffering’
… and ‘engaging in regular, frequent prayer.’
EMQ: The Launch Survey: helps/hindrances for launching into long-term.
… Relationships matter, Millennials are different, much more
IJFM: Defining “Unreached”: A short history.
… From April-June 2016 issue, but if you haven’t seen it, you should.
IBMR: “Do not remember the former things.”
… a mild critique of people group thinking, captures the idea of ground complexity
… our people group lists can create boxes in our minds.
… we need ethnographic skills to exegete the complexities of local realities
IBMR: “Global Trends & the North American Church in Mission.”
… advocates N American role as “facilitator and servant” and partner.

Books Mentioned

Donald A. McGavran: a biography of the 20th century’s premiere missiologist
book review by George C. Hunter

Lifehacking, Tactics, Skills, Rules

How one founder went dark on social media, and the benefits
… importance of personal, face to face relationships & time management
Nir Eya: How to stay informed without losing your mind.
… ‘purveyors of online news profit most when we feel at our worst’
… ‘The internet never says, you’ve had enough, now go away’
Brad Feld: December Depression
… importance of “How am I?” and check-ins, relationships, personal health.
Sorry, you can’t speed read: about comprehension, not visual ability.

Pioneer Mission Startups, Strategy

“Give away your legos” and other commandments for scaling startups.
… ‘if you don’t manage scaling proactively, you can end up in trouble.’
… ‘if you personally want to grow as fast as your company,
… you have to give away your job every couple of months.’
Speed as a habit.
… ‘I’ve long believed that speed is the ultimate weapon…’
… ‘defining characteristic of the leader in virtually every industry…’
… ‘deciding on when a decision will be made is a profound change…’

UPG Profiles, Travelogues, Stories

Varanasi, India: air quality in holy city ‘most toxic in India’
South Sudan: ‘This fighting will continue to our children

Futuristics/Technology

Niv Dror: Moore’s Law, shown graphically and analyzed,
… and put in context of accelerating returns and exponential growth.
Silicon Valley engineers pledge to never build a Muslim registry.
#AI: The Great AI Awakening. Google, Translate, reinventing computing itself.
#Drones: Amazon flies package to customer in England.
Google Trusted Contacts: friendly peer surveillance to make sure you’re safe.
Facebook’s walled wonderland is inherently incompatible with news
… no objective interest in fixing its fake stories problem, and here’s why.
… ‘the last thing Facebook wants is to contradict you in any way.’
#Environment: 20 billionaires commit $1 billion to new cleantech fund
#Mobile: Benedict Evans on the future of mobile: all the slides, plus highlights
#Security: The periodic table of cybersecurity. Huge space, 120+ companies.
#Translation: Skype introduces first real-time voice translation.
2035. Next-generation combat vessels feature lasers, alternative energy.

Quotable

“… often our chief snares are entwined with our blessings.” ~John Newton

“Plans are merely good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” ~Peter Drucker


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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