Watching and Ignoring

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Karl Marx’s birthday parties — Karl Marx turns 200 years old tomorrow. We’ll be watching to see how people around the world mark the occasion and, of course, what sorts of presents he gets. Happy birthday, Karl!

The Age of Fake Video — Signal has warned this moment would come sooner rather than later. A US Senate candidate in West Virginia is running a TV ad that shows a Republican campaign rival shaking hands with Hillary Clinton. This is a doctored image of the same man shaking hands with Donald Trump.

China’s View of Venezuela — For years, the crisis-plagued Venezuelan government has gotten by with a little help from its friends, particularly deep-pocketed China. Between 2007 and 2016, Chinese state-owned banks lent Venezuela $60 billion. Crude oil served as collateral. But Venezuela’s oil output isn’t what it used to be, and political paralysis has taken a toll. In 2017, Chinese banks offered no new loans. Last month, a two-year grace period on a remaining $19 billion debt to China expired.

Second acts in Iraqi life — Remember the Baghdad press conference in 2008 where an Iraqi reporter threw both his shoes at George W. Bush? Convicted of assault on a foreign leader, Muntader al-Zaidi called his nine months in prison a time of broken bones and teeth. Now he’s a candidate for Iraq’s parliament on the list of a multi-party alliance called “Marching Toward Reform.” He pledges that, if he wins a seat on May 12, he will “sweep away the thieves and corrupt people, prosecute those who steal Iraqi money, and stop public money being wasted.”

WHAT WE’RE IGNORING

Math, apparently — Last week, I wrote that South Korean officials estimate their country is targeted by one North Korean hacking attempt every 17 seconds. I should have said 17 hacking attempts every one second. I regret underestimating North Korea’s capacity for cyber mischief… and my math mistake.

Your plan to invade Azerbaijan — Think you can take down Azerbaijan’s border force? Think again.