Latest news with #Gordian
Nikkei Asia
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Nikkei Asia
Books: Delving into decades of doublethink on Taiwan
Books Chris Horton's 'Ghost Nation' untangles the island state's struggle to survive A woman holds cutouts of maps of China and Taiwan during a protest in Taipei denouncing China's military exercises in the waters surrounding Taiwan ahead of the island's first direct presidential elections in March 1996. © Reuters HAN GUANGE Merely describing Taiwan requires multiple feats of intellectual doublethink. The island is threatened almost daily by neighboring China, officially recognized by fewer than a dozen nations yet unofficially backed by the U.S., and perennially characterized as a "self-governing democracy" rather than in terms that might imply sovereignty and thus ruffle feathers in Beijing. Even that sentence would not escape challenge on either side of the strait that separates the two. How did we get here? Chris Horton's "Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and its Struggle for Survival " is an attempt to unpick this Gordian knot of international relations. It is punchy, passionate, and far from neutral. Maybe it could not be any other way. While flawed, it is an extremely readable outline of the awkward position of the Taiwanese people in the tangle of 21st-century geopolitics, and what is at stake in defense of their democracy.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Trump's Epstein error can really damage his brand
America's sharpest political minds always say the only one capable of cutting the Gordian knot bonding Donald Trump to his loyal supporters is Trump, himself. Even a gargantuan, decade-long effort by an inhospitable political establishment, a faithless bureaucracy, a politicised legal system, and a hostile media failed to weaken the bond. Ditto for Trump's egotistic public personality and checkered personal history. Each attack and every foible only strengthened MAGA World's affinity for Teflon Don. Read full story on TOI+ Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Straits Times
7 days ago
- Science
- Straits Times
AI and education: We need to know where this sudden marriage is heading
Despite its promise, the relationship has been fraught, raising more questions than answers. ChatGPT is reportedly experimenting a 'Study Together' feature that prompts users to ask more questions. What does 'happily ever after' look like for artificial intelligence (AI) and education? No one seems entirely sure. We've moved past the question of whether they should be together. Largely because AI didn't wait for an answer. But making the relationship work, on terms that actually serve human development, is proving to be a Gordian knot.
Los Angeles Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘The Aviator and the Showman' untangles Amelia Earhart's fateful marriage — and thrill-seeking ambition
'Sex, violent death, and mystery. If your life has one of these things people might be interested. If it has two, now you're tabloid fodder. If it has three, you're Amelia Earhart.' So begins Laurie Gwen Shapiro's enticing 'The Aviator and the Showman,' a vibrant account of the courtship and union of the famous pilot and her publisher husband whose intrusive management of his wife's career may have cost her life. Shapiro dexterously untangles the Gordian knot of their entwined passions, shared ambitions and business bottom lines. The affianced Earhart and the married George Palmer Putnam met in his Manhattan office in the spring of 1928. She was 30, he a decade older. While she'd grown up in the Midwest and spent time in California, she was currently living in Boston, employed as a social worker and indulging an enthusiasm for flying in her spare time. Although she was still honing her skills, her tall, lean beauty, capped with a tousled jazz-age bob, caught Putnam's attention. The previous year the publishing exec had rushed out Charles Lindbergh's bestselling 'We,' which detailed Lindy's solo flight across the Atlantic; he was hoping to achieve a similar success for Earhart. Would she be willing to hitch a ride with a crew that summer? Shapiro then circles back to their biographies. Earhart was born into a solidly middle-class family in Kansas, close to her younger sister, Muriel, but her father's job failures and alcoholism uprooted the Earharts, undermining the girls' educations. Earhart was full of mischief and adventure, a natural leader with a modesty instilled by her mother, who was prone to invoking her Quaker background when it suited her. Despite financial insecurity, both parents encouraged their daughters to pursue their dreams, however unconventional — their feminist, progressive spirit guided Earhart like a compass. A stint in Toronto kindled her desire to fly. After another move to Los Angeles, she took lessons from a female instructor, learning basics, but it was a hobby compared to her chosen vocation. She was also juggling men, among them the boyish Sam Chapman, whose proposal she'd tentatively accepted, to a wealthy 64-year-old who showered her with pricey presents, such as an automobile. (Earhart was susceptible to luxury items, which Putnam later exploited). Shapiro's tone is conversational, luring us into a rich story about American media. Her portrait of Putnam is equally magnetic. A large, expansive man and junior partner in a dynastic firm, 'Gyp' had a knack for packaging authors as mass-market products, adept at negotiating deals from London to New York to Hollywood. His troubled marriage to Dorothy Binney Putnam, an heiress, did not restrain him from skimming her fortune to defray his expenses. He recruited Earhart to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air, though she spent the duration squeezed between gasoline tanks, 'feeling like a faker due to George's excessive promotion of her as a pilot.' Her return to the U.S. was a Putnam-orchestrated extravaganza that eclipsed the flight: 'Wherever Amelia went, she ignited a frenzy of excitement that not only enraptured audiences but also allowed George to revel in her reflected glory,' Shapiro notes. 'He was invigorated by her carefree and glamorous aura. Amelia was the 'it girl'... urbane, relaxed, and effortlessly charming.' Their affair triggered Putnam's divorce, and the pair married in 1931, residing at his estate in Rye, N.Y. 'The Aviator and the Showman' is a lavish, layered narrative, a primer on early aviation and the transition of publishing from genteel carriage trade to an industry increasingly reliant on blockbusters. Putnam mastered the moment; to this day, corporations demand photogenic authors, high-stakes publicity, spreadsheet tweaks and magical thinking. From Big Five houses to small presses, from Amazon to Barnes & Noble to pocket independent stores: We are all descendants of George Putnam. Earhart never lost her eye for attractive men, though, tipping Shapiro into the occasional cliché or purple flourish. 'Captain Manning's handsome good looks and gentlemanliness greatly appealed to Amelia,' she writes. 'Sam Chapman who? Could a budding romantic connection from these intoxicating nights at sea grow after they docked?' Putnam was jealous of his wife's flirtations, and tinkered with her schedule accordingly. Shapiro chronicles the couple's reach, as Putnam stamped Amelia's imprimatur onto (white) American womanhood, a prototype still among us: role model for younger women, professional and practical, efficient by day, elegant by night. He spun her myth into fashion and merchandise, even a brief editorial gig at Cosmopolitan. (Earhart loved poetry but was no gifted writer herself.) They bought expensive cars, a stylish house in Toluca Lake and Amelia's signature Lockheed Electra. Dollar signs in his eyes, Putnam helped Earhart assemble a team for her 1937 global trek, including her trusted technical advisor Paul Mantz, and Fred Noonan, a seasoned navigator with a taste for liquor. The author's recreation of Earhart's final odyssey, manipulated by Putnam's controlling personality, will seem familiar, yet Shapiro teases out two factors: the Electra's faulty transmissions and Earhart's limitations (she never bothered to learn Morse code). 'The Aviator and the Showman' leaves no doubt about Earhart's disappearance: She misjudged her gasoline reserves, panicked and crashed near tiny Howland atoll. The wreck of the Electra sits on the Pacific's floor, Shapiro asserts, at a level deeper than the ruins of the Titanic. One reporter's 'most scathing critique was directed toward George Palmer Putnam, whom he saw as motivated more by profit than by his wife's safety, a sentiment fueled by seeing cabled messages pressuring Amelia to hasten her journey for a lucrative radio deal.' Putnam's post-Earhart life was a roller coaster of cash woes and notoriety; the following year he staged his own kidnapping, alienating his stodgy publishing community. His appetite for publicity was insatiable. 'The Aviator and the Showman' reveals the magnitude of our celebrity worship, the wonder of what we don't understand. Shapiro captures the thrill of a leap into the unknown, recalling the works of Jon Krakauer and Sebastian Junger. Cain is a book critic and the author of a memoir, 'This Boy's Faith: Notes From a Southern Baptist Upbringing.' He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Business Standard
02-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: India could face trade and investment challenges
Hello and welcome to BS Views, our newsletter that is your window into today's opinion page. Our lead editorial today looks at the chaos that President Donald Trump's tariff threats have unleashed upon the global trade order, and how they might impact India's trade and investment. The Reserve Bank of India's 'Financial Stability Report' cautions that growing trade disruption and geopolitical tensions can negatively affect India's domestic growth outlook. India's trade deal could have consequences for multiple tradeable sectors' growth. US policies could also affect global capital flows, impacting investments and that could have a deleterious effect on India's current account standing. The good news is that domestic economic parameters are holding steady, even improving, but any more global shocks could constrain a revival of investment. India has made notable improvements in its logistics ecosystem, driven by advancements in port infrastructure, multimodal connectivity, digital integration, and a renewed emphasis on trade facilitation, notes our second editorial, reading from the World Bank's recent report on country-wise performance. Trade-facilitation reforms, including digitisation, pre-arrival processing, and the Authorised Economic Operator (Aeo) programme, are steadily reducing average release times (ARTs), especially for imports. Exports, though, face longer clearance times. Given that logistics costs in India are 14-18 per cent of gross domestic product, much higher than the global benchmark of 8 per cent, further reforms are needed for India to become a reliable export hub and an attractive destination for global manufacturing. Our first columnist Laveesh Bhandari ponders the use of artificial intelligence to cut through the Gordian knots of governance. He argues that given AI's speed, if used for research, many tasks can be completed in a few weeks or days, perhaps even less. Besides, considering the information and intellectual gap between the top and bottom levels of government, AI can empower lower-level officials to enhance the ability of the higher-ups. India also has a unique opportunity that many others do not in the form of Digital Public Infrastructure, which has access to granular data and thus can be used for decision-making. However, challenges exist in the form of AI's hallucination, inherent reasoning biases, and unevolved ethical and moral core. And given that many governmental decisions only have smaller impacts individually, the human-AI interface needs to be different depending upon the scale of the potential impact. Thus, frequency and impact should be two key dimensions to assess AI, he says, and that by unpacking the problem we can better identify how AI should be used and derive the consequent benefits. The world, and India, is facing a demographic time-bomb in more ways than one. Not only will there be hundreds of millions looking for active work, there will also be millions more who will need caregiving as they exit the workforce but continue to live for many more years without paying work. Arun Maira points out that the care of these seniors will fall upon the young, but with limited earnings and ever-rising private healthcare costs, instead of societal assets, they are likely to be seen as economic liabilities. Worse, there is no solution in sight. The writer argues that it may be time to reimagine society as a 'caring' enterprise instead of a 'paying' one. We should not damage the quality of a society to grow the economy. Instead, the economy must be redesigned to improve the quality of society. Sanjeev Ahluwalia unpacks what he calls the 'Das Principles' in his review of Abhijit Das' Strategies in GATT and WTO negotiations. The book defends the benefits of trade multilateralism at a time that United States has been damaging the basic framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with its (read Trump's) unilateral tariffs against all and sundry. Das also points out that China played the game well by not trying to change developed nations' rules but by taking advantage of them. On the other hand, he says, India's WTO negotiators brilliantly defended 'perceived' national interest, but did they even read the national interest correctly? In our aversion to political risk, India successfully resisted externally driven trade and investment reform, even at the risk of scoring long-term self-goals.
