Europe’s autumn unrest did not begin beneath the television cameras in Paris. Before students blockaded schools in mainland France, teachers and parents in Mayotte (a French territory in the Indian Ocean) and students in French Guiana (a French territory in South America) had already demanded the elementary conditions of an education. Their protests received little attention, since the geography of recognition follows an old colonial map. When the same anger reached the French capital and its suburbs, it became a national crisis. From there, images of marches, school occupations, and confrontations travelled across a continent where millions recognise the same predicament: everything necessary for life becomes more expensive, while the institutions meant to sustain life are steadily weakened. More

In conversations with Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, and Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store, Putin strongly emphasized that NATO expansion was among the “root causes” of the war and that root causes must be resolved as preconditions for any future peace negotiations.  Putin’s reference to “root causes” is shorthand for Russia’s maximalist war demands that include “retrograding” the membership of many new NATO members recruited during the Clinton and Bush administrations.  NATO’s members would not agree to this, but surely limits can be put on the numbers and capabilities of weapons systems placed on Russia’s western border.   More

Amazon has followed what has become the standard playbook for platform capitalism: First, be good to users, then abuse users on behalf of business customers, then squeeze the business customers to grab almost all the value. As late as 2014, Amazon’s cost to sellers was still reasonable at about 19 percent of sales revenue. Yet, after establishing its online and logistical dominance (helped by buying rivals like Abe Books, Zappos, and Diapers.com) to hook sellers to the platform, Amazon ratcheted up fees, soon reaching 30 percent. Then there is the matter of the advertising fee to generate visibility on the site. Those who don’t pay get demoted toward the bottom on searches. More