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    How “Social” Is Social Media?

    According to current estimates, more than 3 billion people worldwide are routine users of social media. And if you’re one of those billions, then you know good and well that social media is used for far more than posting cat videos or wishing happy birthday to your long-lost college roommate. Now more than ever, social […] More

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    Coronavirus Outbreak Puts the World’s Governments on Notice

    A lot of attention is being paid to the profound impacts COVID-19 is having on the Chinese and global economy, steering us into uncharted waters with uncertain long-term consequences. Supply chain, trade, investment, lending and GDP impacts are readily measurable, but less attention is being paid to the political impacts the virus is having around […] More

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    CNN and the Art of Overstatement

    After echoing a report leaked by The Washington Post a day before the Nevada caucuses claiming that an intelligence briefing a month earlier had informed members of Congress that Russia was once again interfering in US elections to get President Donald Trump reelected, CNN made an effort to find out what was behind the story. […] More

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    The Gray Lady and Withdrawing US Troops From Afghanistan

    The New York Times editorial board weighs in with its ethical take on the news of the agreement with Taliban leaders to end the US military presence in Afghanistan. The newspaper’s editorial describes the peace deal as “a ticket out of Afghanistan for American troops who’ve been there far too long.”  If the title wasn’t […] More

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    Making America Unsafe Again

    Donald Trump is all about boundaries. At a personal level, he doesn’t like touching strangers for fear of infection. Politically, he makes no long-lasting close alliances. And geopolitically, he obsesses over strong borders: big walls, more stringent immigration requirements, tariffs on foreign imports. But Trump is nothing if not a walking contradiction. For a guy who shies […] More

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    The Billionaire Who Buys Elections

    The spectacle of a televised presidential debate in the US throws little light on politics and does nothing to clarify issues of governance. Debates exist as specific moments of entertainment in a serial drama abusively called a “democratic election.” When candidates go slightly off script, they do, however, manage to reveal unexpected clues about the […] More

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    Doubtful Information on What Is Doubtless Disinformation

    New York Times journalist Lisa Lerer may see herself as US media’s top expert on the phenomenon of disinformation, which includes fake news. Even before Donald Trump’s inauguration, in December 2016, she was among the first to promote Hillary Clinton’s delirious ravings accusing Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of directing Trump’s 2016 campaign because, in Clinton’s […] More