Weekly Roundup: December 2

By Justin D. Long, ed.

Perspective, Insight, Context, Analysis

New events
W. Africa: “Weapons in the Sahel”: 50pg on cross-border weapon transfers
W. Asia: “The Fate of the Kurds”
Afghanistan: the saga of underage marriage.
… ‘Mounting sense of failure’: 1/3rd of districts under insurgent control
China: pop peak at 1.45 billion in 2028, but some estimate will halve(!) by 2100
China: citizen ratings for control: from turnstile violations to filial piety
China: a chain saw to a Tibetan Buddhism center
China: Philippines mulling visa-free policy to boost travel, tourism, business
China: 25% of new HIV cases in China from Yunnan, driven by drug use
China: more on foreign influence in education
Cuba: useful timeline of Castro’s rule
… death won’t end repression of Cuban Church
Dubai: how world events impact transport, the airline industry, and Dubai
Germany: turning refugee crisis into small business boost
India: grappling with impact of withdrawing bank notes
Indonesia: sole Christian governor questioned by police amid blasphemy allegations
… foreign govts warn citizens before Jakarta rally: 150,000, possible violence
Iraq: Mosul: Water pipeline destroyed. Water cuts, rising food prices, families in crisis
… Black skies over Mosul
Nigeria: more refugees than all Europe. Troops into major Boko Haram enclave
N Korea: stiffer sanctions: cut coal exports by 60%
… China will enforce (w/face-saving protests), N Korea expected to react strongly
Pakistan: Education starved of resources, 2nd largest no. of children out of school
Pakistan-China: New Silk Road: the first train departs Kunming for Karachi
Russia: getting China’s help to censor Internet
… need Chinese tech to handle vast amounts of ‘Red Web’ surveillance data
South Sudan: ‘on verge of genocide’ (61pg). UN: ‘ethnic cleansing under way’
Syria: the fall of Aleppo will strengthen Assad’s position. 16,000 civilians displaced
… but the end of the war will not be nigh even if Aleppo is broken
Thailand: New king ascends the throne.
Turkey: 2.75mln Syrian refugees = 3.5% of pop
Yemen: 100k risk all to leave Somalia for Yemen
… Houthi control solidifies in Sana’a, Yemen de facto split in two.

New Data
Borderless Prayer: an Advent guide to praying for the People on the Move
What the world worries about, and % of each who think their country “on right track”
China’s missing girls theory overblown? births unregistered to avoid 1-child policy fines
Internet freedom continues to decline: 67% of users live under censorship, fear of arrest

Christianity: trends, stats, studies
MissioNexus: 2016 Mission CEO & Church Mission Leader Survey

Longer reads
“Facebook must stay out of China”
… would make user behavior worldwide visible to Chinese state security
“The coming war on radical Islam”
… US govt positions may impact travel, work of Americans
“How did Castro hold on for so long?”
… insights into length of authoritarian rule
Looks interesting: The End of Power
… why being in charge isn’t what it used to be
“Religion and Refugee Resettlement in the United States”
… transcript of 6/20 1-hour panel discussion

Lifehacking, Tactics, Skills, Rules
FLASH drives affect us: fear, lonely, angry, shame, hungry, rarely reasonable
… similar to HALT: hungry, angry, lonely, tired
6 traits of emotionally strong leader
… ANCHOR: authentic, nurturing, courage, humility, open, resilient
James Clear: Ultralight Packing List: complete guide to minimalist travel

Pioneer Mission Startups, Strategy
What successful movements have in common
… Clear purpose, small groups, values vs slogans, 2 more…
6 reasons why your messaging isn’t working
… lots of agencies fall prey to these
How Dominos Pizza reinvented itself: PDF of presentation
… from traditional/slow to tech-enabled/nimble disruptor
“The death of strategy”: not really, but how to do strategy as fast as tactics

UPG Profiles, Travelogues, Stories
Sayers: “In the heat and dust of Burkina Faso”
“Ankara’s Turkmen House of Cards”
… “Erodgan knows Iraq’s Turkmen are crucial to his political future”
Apocalyptic-looking photos from Aleppo

Futuristics/Technology
Surveillance: What hackers can read from a selfie photo
China on forefront of gene-editing to create superhumans
Internet use up globally, most are daily users
Top China social messaging app censors users abroad
#AI: What it will take to trust it
Drones: low-cost, detect, destroy landmines
… and dronejacking may be the next big cybercrime
Cyber Monday 2016: biggest online shopping day ever
… 70% of ecommerce traffic is mobile
First look at Facebook’s high-resolution population maps
400,000-bot malevolent force available for rent

Quotable

“He cried in the manger in wordless infancy. He, the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.” ~Augustine

“Low price is the refuge for the marketer who doesn’t have anything more meaningful to offer.” ~Seth Godin

“The words we are hearing out of Aleppo now are as dark as any that we’ve heard in our lifetimes.” ~Ambassador Samantha Power

“If you’re having a hard time getting your heart in the right place, send your money ahead of it and your heart will follow.” ~Kevin DeYoung

“Working late isn’t a sign of commitment; it’s a sign of failure [to work productively and plan properly].” ~Scott Maxwell, founder, OpenView Venture Partners, in Scrum: the art of doing twice the work in half the time.

“Play long enough and you might get lucky. In the technology game, tomorrow looks nothing like today. If you survive long enough to see tomorrow, it may bring you the answer that seems so impossible today.” ~Ben Horowitz, The hard thing about hard things.

“There is an asymmetry in the work needed to generate a good question versus the work needed to absorb an answer. Answers become cheap and questions become valuable–the inverse of the situation now.” ~Kevin Kelly

“Computers are useless. They only give you answers.” ~Pablo Picasso

“If you always get your way, you are probably going the wrong way.” ~Mert Hershberger

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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