How wokeness weakens the West but empowers China

He cites sociologist Robert Putnam's The Upswing. Though the relative egalitarianism of mid-century US has fallen apart, "in principle we can do it again".

The US won't rediscover its egalitarian pathway, however, from Scandinavian nations: "They are much more homogenous, have generous entitlement programs, they are also very deliberate about immigration."

I'm thinking, let's task al-Gharbi to write a micro-credential, for Treasurer's chummy productivity roundtable. Something like, Stop Helping Yourselves - Start Serving Others.

Australia and US-China

Australia obsesses. Will he (Albanese) or won't he meet him (Trump)? The US is ho-hum, though at long last NYT Australia desk is onto the case.

WWII John Curtin had pivoted, from the UK to US alliance. What to make now, of ambivalent Albanese's genuflections to China? Musa's vigorous reply isn't ANU line:

"Look, there's a lot to criticise about the American order. Our promotion of democracy is inconsistent at best. China doesn't care about it at all, democracy and freedom. The surveillance state they have for citizens, even towards the diaspora.

"There is no 'unicorn' state, the options that we have on the table right now are America and China."

Though Australia's strong focus on Indigenous issues differs from the US, other patterns are similar. What he says next isn't the ABC line, nor that of our so-called "Race Discrimination" Commissioner: "White Americans [white Anglosphere] are demonstrably some of the least racist people in the world."

Musa illustrates, via an anecdote from his father-in-law's Shia village in Lebanon. When the latter promoted a diligent Sunni ahead of an indolent Shia, this was seen as immoral. Musa reckons, "this isn't the way people think about it in the Anglosphere". Even in Alabama, the competent black will probably best a mediocre white.

The next book

At first, the grand scheme of WHNBW was 200,000 words, way overlong. The other half is to surface in al-Gharbi's recently announced second book: