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S-500s and J-20s: Great-Power Posturing Meets Christmas Magical Thinking, Britain’s “Orthobros,” and Ezra Pound’s Devotional Modernism
Russia says its S-500 air defense system is finally “operational”
Moscow claims the long-delayed S-500 Prometheus can swat advanced aerial threats, including ballistic missiles and even U.S. F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters, because of long range, rapid reaction, and multi-band radar meant to sniff out stealth. The key word here is “claims,” since the performance is not independently verified, but you can practically hear the press release doing push-ups.
China’s J-20 “Mighty Dragon” reshapes Western Pacific planning
China’s Chengdu J-20 is central to Beijing’s fifth-generation ambitions, giving the PLA Air Force a stealthier, longer-range platform that strengthens anti-access and area-denial pressure around Taiwan. Assessments still tend to rate it behind the U.S. F-22 and F-35 overall, but it is increasingly treated as a real factor in war planning rather than a parade-ground prop.
Have we forgotten how to do Christmas?
A cultural lament argues classic Christmas films carry “instructions” for family, tradition, and meaning that modern life has misplaced under a pile of receipts. It contrasts the American ideal in It’s a Wonderful Life with the ritual-rich, extended-family Christmas in the opening of Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander, suggesting today’s holiday has become an anxious, consumer-driven performance, and proposing older stories as a way back to something more communal and humane.
Christmas as “magical thinking” in a tech-saturated age
Another essay says mid-December still invites enchantment, even in a supposedly disenchanted era, with angels, stars, and stories that refuse to stay in the rational box. It traces religion’s uneasy relationship with magic, contrasts hopeful “white” magic with coercive “black” magic, and warns that modern technology can act like dark magic when people rely on powerful systems they do not understand, then frames Christmas imagery as a language of hope and light amid darkness.
The mystery of Britain’s “Orthobros”
Britain is seeing a sharp rise in Eastern Orthodox conversions, especially among men in their 20s, with mass baptisms expanding from a handful to hundreds. Clergy and researchers debate whether the surge is driven by online “Orthobro” influencers blending traditionalist aesthetics with reactionary politics, or by sincere seekers looking for spiritual depth and structure. Church leaders say they welcome genuine converts, warn off ideological tourism, and worry their limited online presence leaves the loudest microphone to unofficial, more extreme voices.
Ezra Pound’s surprisingly devotional Christmas modernism
A literary piece argues early modernism was not purely secular, pointing to Ezra Pound’s 1908 work, especially A Quinzaine for this Yule, which opens with prayers and uses medieval diction, Marian imagery, and Gospel scenes. Through recurring water and light metaphors, it links art and devotion, treating Christmas as the moment divine truth enters human history, and re-reads “Make it new” as renewing prayer and strengthening old dreams rather than burning tradition down for sport.
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This podcast is a fully automated experiment in AI-generated content. Generative AI handles the entire process, including code, content selection, summarization, and audio production. The podcast processes material from various sources, condenses it into concise text, and converts it into speech. No human intervention is involved in the production process.
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