Fair Observer

Fair Observer’s assistant editor Casey Hermann speaks with John Feffer, director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, about US President Donald Trump’s financial activities during his second term. Feffer argues that Trump has used the presidency to enrich himself, his family and his associates on an unprecedented scale. They discuss alleged conflicts of interest, weakened legal safeguards and the consequences for the US economy and political system.

This month, Europe is enduring its fifth heat wave of the summer. On August 12, new temperature records fell across France and Wales, with towns in northwestern France reaching over 40° C. Heat has now killed more than 25,000 people across the continent this year.

Earlier this month, I launched a conversation with Kimi concerning educational technology with this assertion: “No one today would deny that education is in crisis.” We began by comparing Finland’s educational methodology with that of other Western nations and by citing my own personal experience in the field as a creator, producer and publisher of edtech tools and content.

The memorandum of understanding that was announced between the United States and Iran on June 15 may end up being one of the more consequential diplomatic breakthroughs in recent Middle Eastern history.

Federal Reserve (the Fed) Chair Kevin Warsh has reportedly raised an important question: Should the Federal Open Market Committee reduce its regular policy meetings from eight to six each year? Warsh raised the possibility of six annual meetings as a subject for discussion rather than as a formal proposal. The idea would represent a significant change because the Fed has followed its current eight-meeting calendar since 1981. But the proposal is neither arbitrary nor dangerous.

There is a particular kind of democratic despair that does not arrive quietly. It builds — through broken promises, through wars launched on false pretenses, through financial crises absorbed by the many while the few walked free. By the time it peaks, voters are not simply disappointed. They are done. Done with the polished evasions, the carefully calibrated non-answers, the whole performance of expertise deployed in service of interests that were never quite their own.

Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live great, comedy pioneer, one of the biggest stars in his heyday. Prophet? That description seems odd. You probably remember him as Mr. Robinson, Axel Foley or even Donkey from directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson’s Shrek (2001). I can recall hearing countless Coming to America (directed by John Landis, 1988) references in my house (it’s my dad’s favorite movie), and a former history teacher once told me his favorite movie was Murphy’s Harlem Nights (1989).

Editor-at-Large Ranjani Iyer Mohanty and global social-impact leader Barun Mohanty examine the rise of India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical youth movement born amid anger over exam irregularities and scarce employment. What produced the movement? Why has it resonated and what should follow its immediate protests? Barun says India must treat the uprising as an opportunity to reform education, job creation and public accountability rather than merely contain the present controversy.

Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh and Beijing-based Kiwi investor David Mahon examine Northeast Asia’s changing balance of power. They discuss declining US military influence, deepening cooperation among China, Russia and North Korea and the growing strategic uncertainty confronting Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. Mahon argues that Northeast Asia will become increasingly important to the global economy, but China’s overriding priority will remain its domestic stability.

Tribeverse, a recently released Indian cultural-adventure reality show, raised a host of controversies. Marketed as a celebration of indigenous communities of the North-Eastern state of Nagaland, Tribeverse brought contestants to Nagaland to participate in challenges inspired by local culture and traditions.