Photo by Greg locke © 2015 – www.greglocke.com
Seventy years ago this month the Pacific War of World War II ended, and the Atomic Age began. First off this week, F&O focuses on the war, and continuing aftermath:
Japanese Remorse: Once More With Feeling, by Jonathan Manthorpe (*subscription)
Japan’s current Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is having another crack on August 15, the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, at finally drawing a line under the country’s imperial past.
European Scientists and Yankee Managers build ‘The Bomb,’ by Jim McNiven (*subscription)
A week short of a year after America’s entry into World War II, on December 5, 1942, an enemy alien set off a nuclear reaction about five miles south of the Loop in Chicago.
Why do we pay so much attention to Hiroshima and Nagasaki? by Matthew Seligmann (*unlocked)
This may seem an odd question to ask, especially at the time of their 70th anniversaries, but it is not as flippant as it sounds
Hiroshima’s literary legacy, by Daniel Cordle (*unlocked)
Perhaps John Hersey’s greatest achievement is to render the Japanese bomb victims human to his American audience.
Shadows of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a photo essay by Issei Kato of Reuters (*unlocked)
Related: Iran, nuclear waste, and Fukushima, by Penney Kome (*unlocked)
The world still contends with every scrap of radioactive nuclear waste generated since Enrico Fermi’s first controlled chain reaction in 1942 – some 250,000 glowing toxic tons of used fuel alone.
World and War, by Deborah Jones, 2014 (*subscription)
Our predecessors followed the passionately intense ideologues and imperialists of the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, all the way into a world war. Asking, a century after World War I began, what are today’s failures of imagination? Which ideologues and imperialists are we failing to stand against?
In Arts:
From the West End to The Well-Manicured Man: John Neville, Arts columnist Brian Brennan’s new Brief Encounter (*subscription)
John Neville was a star of the London stage during the 1950s, excelling both in Shakespearean roles and in productions of contemporary plays, before moving into the artistic management side of theatre — then back to acting, and the role that made him most famous: the Well-Manicured Man in The X-Files.
In our Loose Leaf salon:
Science and “the environment” should not be separated. By Manu Saunders (*unlocked)
Does the natural world have any relevance to modern science?
In Dispatches:
Military gambit behind Putin’s Arctic oil ambitions. By James Henderson (*unlocked)
It is hardly surprising then that all the countries whose coasts encircle the Arctic region, the US, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia, have made claims on territory outside of the clear boundary for each, which stretches 200 nautical miles from their shoreline.
Science seeks solutions for drug-tainted waterways, by Elizabeth Grossman (*unlocked)
The reports are disturbing: of fish and birds responding with altered behavior and reproductive systems to antidepressants, diabetes medication, and other psychoactive or hormonally active drugs at concentrations found in the environment. Of opiods, amphetamines and other pharmaceuticals found in treated drinking water; antibiotics in groundwater capable of altering naturally occurring bacterial communities; and over-the-counter and prescription drugs found in water leaching from municipal landfills.
Blasts in Chinese port kill 50, injure at least 700. By Sui-Lee Wee and Adam Rose (*unlocked)
Huge explosions tore through an industrial area where toxic chemicals and gas were stored in the northeast Chinese port city of Tianjin, killing at least 50 people. At least 700 people were injured, more than 71 seriously.
Related: Warehouse owner violated safety tests in 2013. By Reuters (*unlocked)
Watch a video of the explosion. (Warning: language may be offensive.)
In case you missed it:
- Battling the Brit Invasion: the fight for American pop independence/JOHN COVACH
- The Man Booker is stacked in favour of big publishers/STEVIE MARSDEN
- No snow, no problem — China wins 2022 Winter Olympics/OSSIAN SHINE et al, Reuters
- Living With an Ankle Bracelet in America /MM
- Forgiveness: the first step in reconciliation/ FRANCIS X CLOONEY
- Wanted: A new story of humanity’s place in the world/PHILIP LORING
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*Facts and Opinions is a boutique journal, of reporting and analysis in words and images, without borders. Independent, non-partisan and employee-owned, F&O is funded by you, our readers. We do not carry advertising or “branded content,” or solicit donations from foundations or causes; this is possible because some of our work is behind a paywall. Please support us by purchasing a $1 day pass or subscription (click here), making a donation, and/or spreading the word.