Joseph Belbruno Blog

What Happens When Half a Million People Abandon Their City Irma Palmar, 52, cares for her seven grandchildren at her home in Maracaibo, Venezuela. About a quarter of the residents of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, have moved away — and more are expected to soon follow. Listen to this article · 9:18 min  Learn more It was once a thriving metropolis in the heart of oil country in Venezuela. That city, Maracaibo, no longer exists. Today, the city is rife with abandoned houses, some of which look like bombs were dropped on them, because homeowners tore windows and roofs off to sell for scrap before they took off on journeys to Colombia, Chile and the United States. Middle-class neighborhoods are filled with for sale signs and overgrown yards. Fewer cars drive down the streets, and fewer criminals are around to steal them. Christmas dinners, once packed with noisy relatives, are lonely affairs aided by webcams. Nearly eight million people — more than a quarter of the population

  « L’intelligence artificielle est une bulle : il y a un décalage entre les coûts, très importants, et les revenus potentiels » L’essayiste Cory Doctorow à New York, le 22 septembre 2022. CRAIG BARRITT / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP Né au Canada et résidant à Los Angeles, en Californie, Cory Doctorow est un essayiste, activiste, enseignant et auteur ( The Internet Con. How to Seize the Means of Computation , Verso, 2023 ;  The Bezzle , Tor Books, 240 pages, non traduits). Il chronique le développement du numérique depuis les débuts d’Internet, sur son site Pluralistic et dans différents médias,  comme, en février, dans le  Financial Times   pour critiquer l’évolution des grandes plates-formes et des réseaux sociaux .  En décembre 2023, il a évoqué  dans une chronique  l’intelligence artificielle (IA) comme une  « bulle » ,   une thématique qui, ces derniers mois, suscite un débat croissant dans le secteur. M. Doctorow doute de l’équilibre économique entre les coûts des grands modèles d’IA, co

  Sydney University turns visa factory Before the pandemic, Australia had by far the highest concentration of international students in the world, dwarfing other Anglo nations: Source: Salvatore Babones (2019) The explosion in student numbers followed the strategic review of the student visa program in 2011 (‘the Knight review’) by the Gillard Government, which greatly expanded work rights for graduate (485) visas in 2013. In particular, 485 visa holders were not required to meet skills shortage requirements. They were permitted to remain in Australia for two to four years after completing their studies rather than the previous 18 months. The Knight review was strongly in favour of expanding post-study work rights (PSWR) because it would greatly increase Australia’s attractiveness as a destination for international students, in turn benefiting Australian universities and employers. The result was that international education was quickly turned into an immigration industry. Australia’s

Biden-Harris Undercut Aukus, Their One Foreign-Policy Success Listen (4 min) President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and then British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Australia, March 13, 2023.   Photo:  Reuters Joe Biden ’s most significant foreign-policy accomplishment is Aukus, the September 2021 deal between the U.S., U.K. and Australia. But the Biden-Harris administration is putting it in jeopardy. Along with allowing the U.S. to sell conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, Aukus includes an agreement to increase cooperation on research and development in advanced technologies with military applications. Known as Pillar II, this provision provides a generational opportunity to ensure a more secure Indo-Pacific through cooperation on artificial intelligence, quantum computing and hypersonic capabilities and other innovations. To clear the way for this critical new security deal, I ensured the inclusion of bipartisan language in the 2024 Na

  Israel’s Strategic Dilemma—and Iran’s Listen (4 min) The northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona faces Hezbollah rocket fire and explosive drones, Aug. 29.   Photo:  Israel Hadari/Zuma Press The Biden Administration likes to frame Israel’s options in stark terms: Cut a deal in Gaza or face regional escalation. Iran and Hezbollah offer Israel the same choice, and many atop the Israeli security establishment agree. They would like Israel to give up on key terms in negotiations with Hamas. But Israel’s leaders won’t do so because they see the strategic dilemma differently. Last weekend was set to prove President Biden right. There was no deal—Hamas deemed Israel’s concessions insufficient—so Hezbollah moved forward with an escalation. Its Sunday morning missile launch might have sparked a major war, the one forecast to topple towers in Tel Aviv and leave Beirut looking like Gaza. It didn’t happen. Instead, Israel pre-empted Hezbollah, destroying thousands of rockets, and Hezbollah scaled

  Mathieu Bock-Côté: «Le basculement autoritaire du Royaume-Uni» Écouter cet article 00:00/04:58 Mathieu Bock-Côté. Le Figaro CHRONIQUE -  Si les émeutes qui ont secoué le Royaume-Uni du 30 juillet au 5 août dernier ont été durement réprimées, c’est parce qu’elles remettaient en cause le récit officiel d’un multiculturalisme heureux, estime notre chroniqueur. Il y a quelques semaines à peine, de puissantes émeutes anti-immigration  secouaient le Royaume-Uni . À lire la presse internationale, il fallait y voir un soulèvement d’extrême droite, animé par une pulsion raciste. Elles furent assurément le théâtre de gestes absolument condamnables. Les choses étaient pourtant plus complexes. On connaît le point de départ des événements : le massacre de trois jeunes filles par le fils d’un immigré rwandais. Mais la simple mention de ce fait faisait déjà scandale dans le système médiatique britannique, qui préférait présenter le meurtrier comme un Gallois parmi d’autres, puisqu’il était né au pa