Negotiations in Moscow may at last forge agreement between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents; that, in turn, would inform America’s long-promised <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/02/13/if-america-leaves-afghanistan-there-will-be-trouble?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">drawdown</a>. The International Criminal Court can investigate crimes against humans, but there is <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2021/02/28/is-it-time-for-ecocide-to-become-an-international-crime?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a push</a> to make injury to the environment a high crime, too. And a look at Britney Spears’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/03/16/why-are-conservatorships-controversial?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">conservatorship</a>, a legal arrangement ripe for abuse. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a> &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

Forces to be reckoned with: Afghan peace talks

Western fashion brands are in Chinese consumers’ crosshairs, the victims of political wranglings over sanctions and human-rights issues—a <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2021/03/27/china-boycotts-western-clothes-brands-over-xinjiang-cotton?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spat</a> that may soon consume other industries. A striking number of people in the criminal-justice system have had traumatic brain injuries; our correspondent investigates how much <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/03/27/a-huge-share-of-prisoners-have-brain-injuries-they-need-more-help?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">that link</a> has been overlooked. And why the audio app Clubhouse has stormed the Middle East.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a> &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

High threat-count: boycotts in China

After years of peacekeeping and counter-insurgency campaigns, the country is getting <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2021/03/31/the-french-armed-forces-are-planning-for-high-intensity-war?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tooled up and trained up</a> for serious military conflict. The “baby bust” brought on by the pandemic has changed global population predictions; we look into the <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/03/27/the-economics-of-falling-populations?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">down sides</a> of a world with fewer people. And the Benin Bronzes have become a <a href="https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2021/04/03/the-looted-benin-bronzes-should-be-returned?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">focal point</a> for the art world’s restitution push. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a> &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

Battle acts: France beefs up its forces

British and European regulators have addressed a possible link with blood clots. Expect more rare side-effects <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/04/07/with-millions-vaccinated-rare-side-effects-of-jabs-are-emerging?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">to emerge</a>; what seems clear for now is that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh any risks. A new analysis shows that a racist American film from 1915 left a long <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/03/27/how-a-racist-film-helped-the-ku-klux-klan-grow-for-generations?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">legacy</a> of racial violence. And a <a href="https://www.economist.com/1843/2021/04/06/the-geeky-origin-of-your-cool-sunglasses?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">shady history</a> of the function and fashion of sunglasses.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a> &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

Clotting factors: the AstraZeneca vaccine

Strange Weather - disquiet0485

sound of staircase creaking, pitch shifted and echoed in ChucK:

https://github.com/charliekramer/ChucK/blob/master/disquiet0487.ck

More on this 487th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Carillon Quotidian (Assignment: Turn a recurring sound from your life into music) – at: https://disquiet.com/0487/

This project was developed by Marty Petkovich (aka K Joule) as part of the celebration of the upcoming 500th consecutive weekly Disquiet Junto project.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/ 1

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0487-carillon-quotidian/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

The image associated with this project is by Jade, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/2sThNR

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Disquiet0487

The moment in time stretches not forward nor backwards and as such it is both inaccessible and eternal. It is out destiny to pass these moments at mind-boggling speed never being able to fixate on a single one.

On The Verge Of Knocking Impatiently

Disquiet Junto Project 0473: Placebo Effect
The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio that others will complete.

Step 1: This week’s Disquiet Junto project is the second in a sequence intended to encourage and reward asynchronous collaboration. This week you’ll be adding music to a pre-existing track, which you will source from the previous week’s Junto project (disquiet.com/0472). Note that you aren’t creating a duet — you’re creating the second third of what will eventually be a trio. Keep this in mind. Leave space for what is yet to come.

Step 2: The plan is for you to record a short and original piece of music, on any instrumentation of your choice, as a complement to the pre-existing track. First, however, you must select the piece of music to which you will be adding your own music. There are tracks by 68 musicians in all to choose from, 62 as part of this playlist:

https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0472
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I chose the track https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual/half-stereo-disquiet0472-85-bpm by halF unusuaL.

mostlY stereO feat. halF unusuaL (disquiet0473)

The third part in a 3-way collaboration with Yasha - https://soundcloud.com/yasha/chopped-duck-ham-disquiet0473 - and jasonw22 - https://soundcloud.com/jasonw22/chopped-jam-disquiet0472 - both wonderful and inspiring tracks!

More on this 474th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Police Action (3 of 3) / The Assignment: Complete a trio by adding a track to an existing duet by two other musicians — at:

https://disquiet.com/0474/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0474-police-action/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is by orangechallenger, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:

https://flic.kr/p/cGSjx7

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

phallic foe

halF policE [disquiet0474] - with Yasha and jasonw22

So far it seems the continent has weathered the pandemic well. But current numbers mask a <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/02/06/the-pandemic-could-undercut-africas-precarious-progress?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">future reckoning</a> that is likely to have dire human and economic costs. We look into the “<a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/02/02/why-the-wallstreetbets-crowd-are-able-to-profit-from-predatory-trading?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">predatory trading</a>” that in part explains recent, frenzied action in stockmarkets. And a <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/02/06/deep-ocean-plastic-is-a-haven-for-life?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">surprising discovery</a> about the plastics that sink to the oceans’ depths. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a> &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

Very long covid: the lasting risks to Africa

Disquiet Junto Project 0477: Record a piece of music in which some substantial portion is performed without looking.

I was doing something else on my iPad, sitting outside in the sun this afternoon, when the nearby bells belled. I suddenly remembered a sentence I read just yesterday, that natural idiophones where the best base for granular synthesis. I managed to record the already fading bells with the iPad and loaded copies of the samples into the Samplr App. It's three tracks with the original sample (I mixed the unchanged version to the beginning of the track), two of them very normal, one very high und unrecognisable as such. This settings and the recording in AudioShare I did by looking, then I flew blind, which is not impossible as Samplr gives you some defined area to touch (and you need to look to stop the machine or tracks with two fingers). But as the iPad surface does not give any haptic feedback, there were a lot of things going wrong anyway. This track uses around 5 minutes that sounded pretty good to me, but maybe it's just because I like church bells. Trivia: In this case it's the St. Maximilian church in Munich, Germany, and the bells have vintage names like Otto, Ludwig, Maximilian and Salve and they bell every saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. (and no, I didn't knew that until I checked Wikipedia for this description).

Track cover based on "Manto and Tiresias" by Henry Singleton (1766-1839) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Singleton_(1766-1839)_-_Manto_and_Tiresias_-_N01028_-_National_Gallery.jpg

More on this 477th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Flying Blind (The Assignment: Record a piece of music in which some substantial portion is performed without looking.) — at:
https://disquiet.com/0477/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0477-flying-blind/

Typhlotic Bells [disquiet0477]

The Economist was founded in 1843 "to throw white light on the subjects within its range".

For more from The Economist visit http://shop.economist.com/collections/audio

