2024
January
24
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

January 24, 2024
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

Recently, the online magazine Medium ran a column (with some salty language) called “Stop Choosing Imaginary Sides.” It states, “There are a lot of would-be conquerors around today eagerly exploiting our common reflex to blame others.” 

Then I read Taylor Luck’s story in today’s Daily about how an autocratic leader in Tunisia is maintaining power. The answer: by playing on the reflex to blame others.  

I like to think of the Monitor as exploring deeper truths that go beyond who, what, when, where. Blame can work for a time, politically. But “everything humans have comes directly from cooperation, not in-fighting,” the Medium article argues. Tunisia is a test for that deeper truth.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Mike Segar/Reuters
Former President Donald Trump addresses supporters during his New Hampshire presidential primary election night watch party, in Nashua, New Hampshire, Jan. 23, 2024.

Today’s news briefs

Hassene Dridi/AP
A woman casts her ballot in elections for a new legislative chamber, in Tunis, Tunisia, Dec. 24, 2023. A record-low 11.6% of eligible voters participated in the elections, which the opposition characterized as an “overwhelming rejection” of President Kais Saied's program.
Jenny Kane/AP
Icicles hang from an electric vehicle parked at a charging station, Jan. 17, 2024, in Tigard, Oregon.
Pete Checchia/Courtesy of The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yiwen Lu (left, on jinghu) and Yifei Fu (right, on drum) perform the traditional Chinese song "Deep Night" with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia. They are led by Long Yu, chief conductor of the China Philharmonic.

The Monitor's View

AP
A young man performs a stunt on his bicycle near the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 31.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Viewfinder

Buckingham Palace/Reuters
Jonathan, the world’s oldest living land animal, makes the acquaintance of Britain’s Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, Britain, Jan. 24, 2024. Jonathan just marked the beginning of his 192nd year, though his human friends acknowledge that his birth year could actually be earlier than 1832.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris and Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thank you for joining us. We want to take this opportunity to remind you of the online event we’re holding for our Climate Generation series on Thursday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

You can find the Facebook Live page here. The conversation will be among those who produced the series, and it will look more deeply into the lives of young people leading the search for solutions. The stories changed the way the reporters themselves see the issue. We hope the event will offer fresh perspectives to you, too.

More issues

2024
January
24
Wednesday
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