Weekly Roundup: December 9

By Justin D. Long, ed.

Perspective, Insight, Context, Analysis

New events

China vs. USA over Taiwan, could impact workers & work
Atlantic: The Long Fall of Taiwan, good but long read.
Atlantic: So, why can’t you call Taiwan? Explainer.
Foreign Policy: China really isn’t joking about Taiwan.
… beneath mild criticism, currents of raw, uncontrolled public nationalism
UK Guardian: Experts say Beijing leaders privately enraged, unnerved
UK Guardian: ‘A storm is gathering on the horizon’
W Post: Taiwan phone call long planned, says people involved

Afghanistan: Saudi Arabia’s many roles. Bankroll Taliban, support government.
… the emerging India-Afghanistan front against Pakistan
China: the foreign NGO law, more pieces of the puzzle
… analysis by Joann Pittman, ChinaSource
China: Breitbart has landed in Beijing
… ‘China’s elites love to share fake news, wild accusations from USA…’
China: The People’s Republic of the Disappeared
… black jails to residential surveillance, normalizing enforced disappearances
China demographics: 2-child policy driving baby boom?
… or, China’s Twilight Years: population aging and shrinking. Also, WSJ.
… longer exploration: policy change won’t help before 2035
Cambodia: Shifting Idylls: Urban-Rural dynamics in Cambodia
DR Congo: nears a bloody dictatorship as political opponents under siege
India: the village that has returned to bartering (amidst cash crisis)
… laundering: planeloads of cash seek to turn India’s black money white
Indonesia: why female genital mutilation is so prevalent in Indonesia
Indonesia: more analysis about Christian Jakarta governor row
… NYT: Jakarta’s Christian governor suspected of blasphemy
… TIME: Jakarta governor named blasphemy suspect after Islamists demand indictment
… AlJazeera: Pakistan’s Christian governor Purnama in blasphemy row
… BBC. CNN. Telegraph. Reuters.
Indonesia: update on 6.4 earthquake in Aceh (100+ dead)
Myanmar: the dark depths of the Rohingya tragedy
… the spookily empty capital city of Naypyitaw
… including the 20-lane highway with no traffic
Pakistan: church wrestles with persecution, discrimination
S Sudan: ‘epic levels of sexual violence in South Sudan’: gang rape, more
Syria: The ‘endgame in Aleppo approaches’
… Syrian army captures most of the old city.
Turkey: condemns state of press freedom in Europe, USA
… ‘pot, kettle’ says Turkey
USA: Just 10 states resettled more than half of recent refugees in USA.
Vietnam: law on belief & religion ‘deeply flawed’. Also HRWF.

New Data
Believers in Christ from a Muslim background: a global census
10 of the poorest countries are hosting half the world’s refugees

Longer reads
Identity Crisis: Standing between 2 identities of women believers from Muslim Backgrounds
MissioNexus: Status of the New China NGO law (member-only content)

Lifehacking, Tactics, Skills, Rules
10 great habit-tracking apps for iPhone, Android phones

UPG Profiles, Travelogues, Stories
Video: CNN on the ground in war-ravaged Aleppo

Futuristics/Technology
China’s police may soon have the power to cut off Internet in times of crisis
Hello, World: Inside Russia’s Creepy, Innovative Internet
… tech oligarchs, startup cities, face-finding algorithms, more.
Facebook, MS, Twitter, Youtube collaborate to remove terrorist content
… ‘would cooperate on a plan to help limit the spread’
#Medicine: Paper based diagnostic tests could save thousands of lives
… experimental paper sensors detect chemical, biological molecules
#Robots: Atlas, the life-sized robot, can walk
… new algorithm enables walking on uneven terrain
… Video: The THeMIS Adder – weaponized unmanned ground vehicles
#AI: makes strides, but has a long way to go
… systems used for a variety of problems could take decades
… The fourth industrial revolution: a primer on AI
#Surveillance: How Facebook hurt the Syrian revolution
Amplify lets you play synchronized songs across every phone in the room
… odd little app, but might be useful in certain contexts?
#Crime: Crooks can guess Visa card details in 6 seconds
… query lots of websites at once, distributed attack avoid alarms

Quotable

Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway. ~Mary C. Crowley

“Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” ~Picasso

Another flaw in human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. ~Kurt Vonnegut

“Defenders have two approaches to reducing attacks: raising cost and reducing value. Safety is achieved when attacker cost exceeds the value [to the attacker]. That is why I emphasize safety over security. Safety is when an attack *won’t* happen whereas security is when an attack *can’t* happen.” ~Dino A. Doi Zovi

“Consumerism reduces life to commodities.” ~Paul Hiebert

One of the most critical distinctions to make as a leader is between what is a bad decision and what is a good decision poorly implemented. ~Adam Greenway

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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