Reference News Network reported on May 16 that the Bloomberg News website recently published an article titled "Stablecoins go away, a new token is coming." The author is Andy Mukherjee. The article is compiled as follows. People in the digital currency industry are now divided into two camps.
China News Service, Zhuhai, April 4 (Reporter Deng Yuanwen) During this year's Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, a large number of Hong Kong and Macao residents "went north" to the mainland to visit relatives, worship ancestors, and go on an outing. According to statistics from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Immigration Station of the Zhuhai General Immigration Inspection Station, since April 3, as of 16:00 on the 4th, there have been more than 192,000 people entering and exiting through the Zhuhai Highway Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (hereinafter referred to as the "Bridge Port"), and more than 32,000 vehicles. Among them, the number of people and vehicles in the inbound direction reached 140,000 and 23,000, which are 2.6 times and 2.5 times those in the outbound direction, respectively.
On April 4, the Zhuhai Highway Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ushered in the peak of Hong Kong and Macao vehicles entering the country. Photo by Li Zhaode
"The mainland tour route is very cost-effective. We signed up a week in advance and planned to take the high-speed rail to Chenzhou, Hunan for three days." Early on the morning of the 4th, Peng Zhiquan and his family from Hong Kong followed the tour group from the port to visit the mainland.
The person in charge of the third team on duty at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Border Inspection Station said that "going north" for tourism consumption and leisure vacations has become a popular choice for more and more Hong Kong and Macao residents. In addition to visiting relatives and worshiping ancestors, traveling northward with group tours has become a new trend in customs clearance during the Qingming Festival. The number of Hong Kong and Macao tour groups entering the country through the Bridge Port has increased by more than 20% compared with the same period last year.
With the convenience of “getting to Guangdong with just one step” and the favorable policy of waiving tolls for small passenger cars on expressways during the Qingming Festival, self-driving has become one of the most important and popular ways for Hong Kong and Macao residents to “go north” during the Qingming Festival. According to data from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Border Inspection Station, since April 3, the station has inspected more than 20,000 single-plate vehicles from Hong Kong and Macao, accounting for more than 60% of the total vehicle customs clearance.
At the same time, the peak hours of passenger and vehicle flow at the bridge port during this holiday are earlier and longer. Starting from 10:00 on April 3, the port gradually ushered in the peak of inbound passenger and vehicle flow. From 9:00 to 11:00 on the 4th, the inbound traffic at the port reached its peak, with the maximum inbound passenger flow and vehicle flow per hour exceeding 7,000 people and 1,100 vehicle times. (over)
On April 2, U.S. Secretary of Defense Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Randy George and asked him to retire immediately. George was nominated by Biden to serve as Army Chief of Staff in 2023 and was supposed to serve until 2027.
At this time, the US-Israeli military operation against Iran is entering its fifth week, and US ground troops are gathering in the Middle East. Why was George fired? Why now?
Unusual change of generals
On April 2, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell issued a brief statement on social media: U.S. Army Chief of Staff Randy George "will step down as the 41st Chief of Staff immediately," but did not give any explanation. Multiple US media reported, citing sources, that Defense Secretary Hegseth had directly asked George to resign and retire immediately.
The 62-year-old George graduated from West Point Military Academy and is an infantry officer who participated in the first Persian Gulf War, the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War. In 2023, he was nominated by former President Biden and confirmed by the Senate as Army Chief of Staff.
Army chiefs typically serve four-year terms, and George was supposed to serve until 2027. His sudden exit with more than a year left in his normal term, just as the US military's war with Iran entered its fifth week, the Pentagon's sudden dismissal of George triggered widespread attention and speculation.
Following George's dismissal, current Army Vice Chief of Staff Christopher Raneff will serve as Acting Chief of Staff of the Army. Ranev once served as Hegseth's senior military assistant. In 2025, Hegseth transferred him back to the Pentagon from the position of commander of the 8th Army in South Korea, and was subsequently nominated as the Army's deputy chief of staff. He is considered "a proven operational leader who has the full confidence of Hegseth to execute the vision of this administration flawlessly."
George was not the only Army general "removed" by Hegseth on April 2. According to multiple Defense Department officials, Hegseth also fired Lt. Gen. David Hodner, who was in charge of the Army Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green, the Army's chief of chaplains.
The concentrated personnel shakeup, which saw the removal of three Army generals in a single day, is further evidence that Hegseth's dissatisfaction with Army leadership has reached a breaking point.
Differences in command during the war
Changing the top military commander during the war itself is a strong signal.
Currently, the US-Israeli military operation against Iran has lasted for more than a month. On March 31, Hegseth made it clear during his visit to the Middle East that he would not rule out the option of using U.S. ground forces to fight in Iran. Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division and thousands of Marines are being deployed to the Middle East.
According to sources quoted by US media, George's dismissal was related to his differences with Hegseth on whether to engage in large-scale ground operations.
As a senior general who has participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, George has reservations about the Army's involvement in another large-scale ground war in the Middle East, believing that large-scale ground intervention will plunge the US military into a long-term war quagmire.
Hegseth hopes to appoint someone who can implement President Trump and his own vision for the military to replace George. Some analysts pointed out that this tension between "strategic patience" and "quick decision" was one of the core reasons why George was eventually eliminated.
This personnel change is reminiscent of a classic case during the Iraq War.
In 2003, then-Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki suggested to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld that the U.S. military needed to station 200,000 to 300,000 troops in Iraq to ensure the country's security, which was a serious disagreement with the "light and fast" combat concept advocated by Rumsfeld.
Shortly thereafter, Shinseki was marginalized and resigned as Army Chief of Staff early. George was asked to resign when the war in Iran was raging. The situation was exactly the same as that year. When the top military officials and civilian leaders disagreed on war decisions, the former often became the target of adjustment.
Support rate is low, Trump needs "one of his own"
George's dismissal was not an isolated incident. Since Trump returned to the White House last January, Hegseth has been systematically reshaping the military leadership appointed by the Biden administration. He is pushing for large-scale reforms to the Department of Defense, requiring a reduction of at least 20% of four-star generals in the US military.
The list of dismissals includes Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Charles Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General James Slife, Director of the National Security Agency Adm. Timothy Ho and many other senior generals.
George survived the first round of adjustments in February 2025, but he was still not spared a year later, which shows that the intensity and scope of this adjustment are expanding.
The deeper reason involved George's alliance with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. The two men worked together to promote the Army's transformation into a leaner, more technology-savvy direction, but there was a gap between this reform direction and the Army's operational model envisioned by Hegseth.
In addition, Hegseth also bypassed Driscoll and personally intervened in the Army promotion list to remove multiple officers from the list. After Driscoll refused to implement it, the White House directly intervened in the review of the promotion list.
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, the Trump administration’s personnel adjustments in the military field have deeper political considerations. According to US media reports, Trump’s approval rating has continued to decline since the outbreak of the Iran war, with multiple polls showing that his approval rating has dropped to an all-time low.
Previously, Trump had explicitly ordered not to fire any cabinet officials before the midterm elections, believing that firing senior officials would be seen as "showing weakness" to his opponents. However, the continued decline in approval ratings and the "positive response" caused by the previous dismissal of Homeland Security Secretary Noem within the party prompted him to change this strategy.
"Cleaning the door" has become an important means for Trump to convey a "replacement" signal to core voters and demonstrate a tough stance.
The adjustment of high-level personnel is not limited to the military system. On the same day, Trump announced the dismissal of Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the White House was still "actively discussing" the dismissal of FBI Director Kash Patel, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Dremer, among other senior officials.
Against the background of the unclear direction of the war in Iran and the approaching mid-term elections, personnel adjustments at the top levels of the United States are continuing. It remains to be seen whether Ranev can win trust during the war and whether George's departure will trigger wider changes within the Army. But what is certain is that this high-level turmoil involving the military, justice, intelligence and other departments is far from over.
(Editor’s email: ylq@jfdaily.com)
South Korean director Kim Chang-min was beaten to death by six people while trying to protect his autistic son! Eyewitness: He was strangled and dragged out of the store and continued beating. The suspect is still at large.
On April 2, 2026, surveillance footage of a violent death case in a restaurant in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea was exposed online. The truth about the 40-year-old director Kim Chang-min who was beaten to death to protect his autistic son finally broke months of silence.
The Korean media had been praising Kim Chang-min as "the last love left in the world", saying that he donated his organs to save the lives of four people after he died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. It wasn't until the JTBC program "Incident Squad" was publicly monitored on March 31, 2026, that everyone knew how cruel the truth was - that he was beaten to death.
A fatal choice for a late-night bowl of fried pork chops
In the early morning of October 20, 2025, Kim Changmin took his autistic son into a 24-hour restaurant in Guri, Gyeonggi Province. The child suddenly wanted to eat fried pork chops in the middle of the night, and the father went out without any hesitation. The two of them sat down quietly and waited for their meal, but the autistic child made some unconscious noises while eating. For this matter, two men in their 20s at the next table directly scolded him.
Jin Changmin immediately stood up and apologized, not once or twice, his posture was as low as the dust. It's not that he's afraid of things, he just doesn't want his children to be frightened.
But his concession only resulted in intensification. The insults escalated into provocations, with someone bumping his desk and pushing him. Jin Changmin subconsciously stood in front of the child. This action completely ignited the violence in this group of people.
6 people surrounded and beat them, strangled them and dragged them out to continue beating.
Witnesses said that there were at least six attackers, and they were not fighting each other at all, but a unilateral crushing. A tall man in black clothes strangled Jin Changmin's neck from behind, causing him to faint on the spot.
Do you think this is the end? No.
This group of people grabbed the unconscious Jin Changmin and dragged him out of the restaurant to the roadside where they continued to beat him. What is even more disturbing is that some of the perpetrators are laughing while beating. There was no trace of guilt in that laughter, it was all cruel teasing.
Jin Changmin regained consciousness briefly, struggled to stand up and opened his hands to beg for mercy. A man in a plaid shirt punched him and knocked him to the ground. The restaurant manager wanted to call the police, but the assailant rushed over and snatched the phone away, threatening to beat you "if you interfere in other people's business."
His son, who has autism, witnessed the entire process of his father being beaten.
The hospital is nearby, but it took almost an hour to get to the hospital.
There is a university hospital near the crime scene, which is very close. However, there was a big problem with emergency dispatch and communication. It took almost an hour after Jin Changmin was knocked down to be sent to the hospital. This is not an isolated case. In the same month, a senior high school boy in Busan suffered from convulsions. The emergency team contacted 14 hospitals but was refused admission. The patient was delayed for more than an hour and finally died. The loopholes in South Korea's emergency medical system once again cost Kim Changmin his life.
After being in a coma in the hospital for 18 days, Jin Changmin was judged to be brain dead on November 7, 2025. The family endured their grief, respected his last wishes, donated his heart, liver and kidneys, and successfully saved four critically ill patients.
At that time, the Korean media reported him as a positive example, but no one knew that he was actually beaten to death.
The family hid it for 5 months and did not dare to tell the truth.
Jin Changmin's sister later said that in the past five months, they had been lying to the outside world that he died of "sudden cerebral hemorrhage" because they were afraid that the six perpetrators would abscond after seeing the news.
There is another reason that is even more distressing - the autistic son has witnessed his father being beaten throughout the whole process and has been greatly stimulated. His family members simply do not dare to tell him that his father is gone. The lawyer said that the child often fell into extreme anxiety after the incident. He could not sleep at night, would scream suddenly, and would tremble with fear when strangers approached him.
6 perpetrators are still living a normal life on the street
After the truth was exposed, the entire Internet exploded. But what is even more desperate is the judicial progress - the police initially only identified one suspect, and the application for detention was rejected by the prosecutor because "supplementary investigation is needed." After supplementary investigation, the police applied for arrest warrants for the two main suspects for the crime of injury causing death. The court rejected the request on the grounds that "the suspects have a fixed residence and there is no risk of destroying evidence."
Six people beat a father to death, but the suspect has not been detained and can still live a normal life on the street without even a single apology.
The identities of the other four perpetrators have not even been locked.
Jin Changmin's old father held back his grief during the interview and asked: "My son was beaten to death, but those people can still walk on the street with such arrogance. Why?"
After the truth was exposed in March 2026, Korean netizens launched a petition to "severely punish violent crimes" on the Blue House's official website, which received more than 2 million signatures within 72 hours. The topic of Kim Chang-min’s bill has been read more than 1.5 billion times on Twitter.
Kim Chang Min entered the industry in 2013 and has participated in the art work of well-known films such as "The Witch" and "The Suspect". The short films he directed focused on marginalized people in society and called on everyone to pay attention to the disadvantaged groups. He had always spoken out for the weak during his lifetime, but in the end he fell to the violence of a group of thugs because he was protecting his autistic son.
And that group of people are still fine now, eating and drinking as they should.
Live Broadcast, April 4th: The NBA regular season continues today, with the Rockets hosting the Jazz at home. The Rockets have recently recovered and have won 4 consecutive games, while the Jazz have lost 7 games in a row.
In the first quarter, the Rockets began to take over the game after fighting with their opponents for less than half a quarter. They launched a 19-9 offensive from inside and outside to open up a double-digit advantage; in the second quarter, the Rockets continued their hot touch, and Durant's three-pointer in the quarter widened the point difference to 20 points. The Rockets felt very hot from the outside in the first half. Durant + Smith + Amen combined to score 46 points, which was only 4 points less than the Jazz's total. They also took a 19-point lead into the second half. After returning from the break, although the Jazz maintained a good offensive state, they could not stop the opponent at all. The Rockets scored more than 30 points in three consecutive quarters. At the end of the Jazz misfire, the Rockets launched a 12-0 offensive to expand the advantage to 29 points. The game also lost suspense. In the end, the Rockets defeated the Jazz at home and ushered in 5 consecutive victories, and also gave the Jazz 8 consecutive losses.
Data from both parties
Jazz: Cody Williams 27 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, Bailey 22 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist, Sensab 20 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, Filipovsky 17 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Hibway 15 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals, Konchar 3 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, Chandler 2 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists, Mben 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals
Rockets: Durant had 25 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks, Amen had 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, Shen Jing had 19 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Smith Jr. had 18 points and 5 rebounds, Ethan had 16 points and 7 rebounds, Sheppard had 12 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists. , Tate had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, Finney-Smith had 7 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, Holiday had 6 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Davidson had 5 points and 1 rebound, Capela had 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks, Okogie had 2 points, 2 steals, and Green had 1 assist.
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2025-2026 NBA regular season
Cultural Perspective New Media·International Observation
Issue 21, 2026, Total Issue 301
two israel
Imagine these two Middle Eastern countries. The first country is very different from the rest of the region. Its economic productivity is extremely high, with a per capita GDP of US$80,000, ranking first in the Middle East. It has top universities and a highly developed technology industry. While the country's people do not agree on all issues, they generally support liberal democratic institutions.
The second economy is more similar to its neighbors. A significant portion of its population is unemployed, and the only jobs available are often low-skilled, low-paying jobs. Their per capita GDP is only $35,000, less than half that of the first economy. Residents are not uniformly religious, ranging from ultra-Orthodox to secular, and their educational levels are relatively low. Most residents seem indifferent to, or even opposed to, liberal values.
In fact, both countries refer to the same country: Israel. Although Jews make up the majority of the country, there are clear social divisions: some people are well-educated and have higher incomes; others are less educated and have lower incomes. The former, who contribute most of the country's tax revenue and wealth, are generally opposed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing nationalist government. The latter is made up mainly of ultra-Orthodox Jews and religious nationalists, and ultra-Orthodox Jews have the highest unemployment rate in the country. Both groups have a significant influence on Netanyahu's governing tendencies.
This deep division has caused substantial damage to Israeli society. It has led to severe political polarization in the country and frequent changes in government (Israel has held five general elections in the past six years). But over time, this internal division will only make the future of the Jewish state more uncertain. One trend is that the share of Israel's liberal, highly productive population is declining, while the share of conservative, less productive people is rising. As a result, Israel's tax base will shrink. Far-right religious parties will remain in power. Accordingly, Israel will become more authoritarian at home, with a fiscally strapped government likely to intensify its repression, and abroad it will become increasingly aggressive, as evidenced by the recent war with Iran in conjunction with the United States. Israel's military operations in Gaza are regarded by many Western countries as genocide and a brutal act of aggression.
These extreme actions will make Israel more like other neighboring countries in the Middle East, and even make people feel confused that Israel is becoming more and more like its old enemy Iran. Israel's right-wing government is beholden to a messianic vision and desires to provoke a war with Iran. When Trump promised U.S. support, the Israeli authorities were even more delighted.
▍Productivity gap
The composition of Israeli society is diverse, and different groups have their own unique interests and demands. But its most significant social divisions can be summarized in two groups. The first group is high-tech practitioners. They make up about 10% of Israel’s workforce, yet generate nearly a fifth of the country’s GDP — largely because the tech industry is more than twice as productive as the rest of the economy. The industry has impressive human capital, deep integration into global markets, and strong R&D networks. The industry accounts for about half of Israel's services exports and about a quarter of government tax revenue. In other words, it is the cornerstone of a country’s fiscal capacity and external resilience. In sharp contrast are ultra-Orthodox Jews. Among them, only 54% of ultra-Orthodox male believers are employed. And even when they are employed, they are mostly in low-skilled jobs, earning on average only about half that of non-Orthodox Jewish men. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women have an employment rate of 81%, similar to non-Orthodox Jewish women, but on average earn one-third less, and many of the jobs they hold are low-skilled, part-time jobs.
About one-third of ultra-Orthodox Jewish families live below the poverty line, while the poverty rate among other Jewish families is about 14%. These unbalanced figures are certainly related to individual ability endowments, but they are also closely related to institutional arrangements. For example, most ultra-Orthodox Jewish men are exempt from military service, and military service often helps to promote men's competitive advantage in the labor market and enhance social cohesion. The ultra-Orthodox are also isolated from Israel's mainstream education system. They attended schools that prioritized religious considerations and neglected core subjects such as math, science and English. This structure effectively directs large numbers of young men into religious studies or marginal employment. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women bear the heavy burden of raising large families and working part-time jobs. Because ultra-Orthodox families have relatively low incomes, they pay little to no taxes and rely mainly on public spending and offshore funding from ultra-Orthodox communities in New York and London.
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews are not the only ones struggling with employment. The Arab minority, which accounts for about 20% of Israel's total population, is also widely restricted to low-paying jobs. Unlike ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arab Israelis are not excluded from Israel's developed economy by choice or community structure. Their plight is that they face widespread discrimination and gross underinvestment in infrastructure, making it difficult for them to obtain high-quality education and high-skilled jobs. Therefore, they did not have the same employment opportunities as Jewish Jews.
Currently, ultra-Orthodox Jews make up a growing share of Israel's population. They currently make up about 14% of Israel's total population, but the total fertility rate for ultra-Orthodox Jewish women is about 6.5 children, compared with an average of only 2 children for secular Jewish women and 3.7 children for religious Jewish women, also a rapidly growing group. This means that by the mid-2040s, ultra-Orthodox Jews will account for more than a fifth of Israel's population, and by the 2060s, this proportion will be close to one-third.
Over time, this trend will make it difficult for Israel to maintain high levels of GDP per capita. It’s easy to understand why: a shrinking high-productivity group cannot indefinitely finance a rapidly growing low-productivity group. Ultimately, governments will struggle to raise public funds, including educational institutions, healthcare systems, infrastructure and the military. Individuals and businesses are likely to accelerate the transfer of capital and labor abroad.
In fact, this shift is already starting to happen. About 100,000 Israelis will emigrate in 2023-2024; many of those leaving are highly skilled professionals in the medical, engineering, academic and technical fields, according to a recent study by economists Itai Ater, Nittai Bergman, and Doron Zamir. Historical experience shows that this population loss is difficult to reverse. (Greece, for example, lost nearly 5% of its population during and after the debt crisis of the early 2010s, many of whom never returned.) The exodus will further erode the tax base and exacerbate Israel’s existing fiscal pressures. Policymakers will have to impose higher taxes on workers who stay behind, which will encourage more people to leave. Credit rating agencies could downgrade Israel's debt, causing borrowing costs to rise and further limiting Israel's policy options. The result will be a classic vicious cycle: less investment, slower economic growth and lower living standards.
▍Internal split
Israel’s economic fragmentation is closely tied to the country’s political polarization. High-income Israelis overwhelmingly support liberal democratic institutions, including an independent judiciary, a free media and limits on executive power. In contrast, low-income groups increasingly support weakening and limiting these systems.
Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties have a natural partnership with far-right religious parties. This camp accounts for approximately 15% of Israel's population. Their goal is to replace the secular civil justice system with rabbinical courts, weaken judicial review, and expand Israel's control of the West Bank. Although these goals are not the main demands of the ultra-Orthodox (they are more concerned with consolidating the right to be exempted from military service, expanding welfare transfers, and maintaining their religious education system), they also acquiesce in these goals.
Netanyahu linked the two groups. He has long-standing ties with leaders of both groups and has tried to hold together his governing coalition by responding to their respective agendas. Since January 2023, they have been launching a collective attack on the judiciary, trying to weaken checks and balances on executive power, and trying to control budgetary powers. In other words, they are trying to systematically alter Israel’s constitutional balance.
This agenda has naturally angered moderates and liberals in Israel, who have repeatedly taken to the streets in protest. Demonstrators showed admirable resilience and succeeded in stalling many of Netanyahu's bills. But the Prime Minister's agenda appears increasingly unstoppable. Netanyahu has steadily chipped away at Israel's democratic institutions during his tenure and pushed for many of its most controversial laws. Even the Hamas massacre that occurred on October 7, 2023, during the Netanyahu administration, failed to stop this agenda. The prime minister's approval ratings plummeted immediately after the attack, but ultimately he used the tragedy to consolidate his power by stoking fear and anger among the Israeli public and launching a war in Gaza. He has also provided substantial budgetary support to the ultra-Orthodox by accommodating the demands of his extreme political partners to keep the governing coalition he has assembled united amid increasingly tight finances.
In fact, while protests in Israel have subsided in recent months, the government has continued to advance a number of parliamentary bills that weaken democratic institutions and continue to use state resources to benefit parties in the ruling coalition. Meanwhile, a constitutional crisis looms as government ministers and the speaker of parliament break with convention by not inviting the president of the Supreme Court to important state events. Crucially, government ministers refused to discuss the consequences of not complying with the Supreme Court ruling. To make matters worse, the government has tabled a new bill redefining the role of a key civil servant - the government's legal adviser, who is also the attorney general. This new bill effectively reduces the status of this position, depriving this important role of its independence by separating the roles of lawyer and legal advisor and completely politicizing the latter. If the bill is passed, it will destroy the most important line of defense of Israel's democratic system over the past three years and usher in a symbolic democratic regression.
Research shows that when voters base their electoral behavior on feelings of group affiliation rather than policy evaluations—as is the case in Israel—group loyalties and perceived status differences influence voters' preferences more than economic conditions. As a result, Israel will be caught in a "paradox" in that even as Israel's economy continues to deteriorate, popular support for the country's nationalist and religious parties will remain strong.
▍The road ahead is full of thorns
So the future looks bleak for Israelis. Without a radical change of direction, Israel will become poorer, less democratic and more divided in the coming years. It may also become more militant. As the country's economy declines, its nationalist politicians will tend to pursue more aggressive foreign policies as a way to unite the Israeli public.
Indeed, Netanyahu will use the ongoing conflict with Iran to bolster his coalition's chances in parliamentary elections later this year. If public support for his governing coalition improves, he will seek elections as early as June. If the ruling coalition continues to lag in the polls, he may declare a state of emergency and postpone the election. This is a typical example of populist politicians using war to seek political survival and destabilizing the region in the process.
Iran's trajectory provides a sobering analogy. In terms of GDP per capita, Iran and Israel were relatively close in the 1960s and early 1970s. But after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran experienced a sharp decline and long stagnation as Iran's leadership transformed the country into a theocracy, diverted academic research and public resources into the military sphere, and destroyed the secular judicial system. Today, Iran’s GDP per capita is only one-tenth that of Israel—yet its political system has remained largely unchanged over the past 47 years. Iran's experience shows that regimes based on religious authoritarianism can survive even in the face of severe economic pressures. Incredibly, Israel is now on a similar path.
There is still hope for the Jewish state. Israel’s massive protest movement shows that the country still has a vibrant and strong civil society and that its people are capable of taking action outside of formal electoral channels. This engagement is a defense against economic stagnation and further slide into illiberal abyss. If Israeli business leaders, especially in high-tech fields, can mobilize, they may be able to prevent the situation from getting worse. Jewish communities and liberal foreign governments around the world may also be able to help. But one thing is certain: Israel’s future is still full of thorns.
I believe that writing papers and searching literature is a concern of many college students and scientific researchers. But CNKI’s user experience is hard to describe (maybe it’s not that outrageous). Therefore, as a master of commonly used paper writing, I share four treasure websites such as Titanium Academic, FindaRticles, and SemanticScholar to replace CNKI.
1. FindaRticles literature search
Advantages of the platform: The categories are relatively rich and the volume is relatively wide, covering tens of millions of papers from publications in art and entertainment, automobiles, business and finance, computers and technology, health and fitness, news and society, science education, sports, etc.
Platform evaluation: The search operation is simple, and the quality of the documents may be lacking, but it has a total of 11 million documents, with data coming from magazines, periodicals, newspapers, etc., and it is a search site adapted to Google.
2. Titanium academic literature platform
Platform advantages: It has an ultra-wide collection perspective and a powerful NPL algorithm. It has collected more than 240 million documents of all kinds and is the most powerful one-stop document retrieval website in China.
Platform evaluation: There are many practical functions, including but not limited to rich search methods, efficient document search functions, detailed document details pages, analysis of topic selection, etc. It is committed to saving students the time of analyzing the value of the content after downloading.
3. SemanticScholar academic search engine
Platform advantages: Founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, its search results come from journals, academic conference materials or documents from academic institutions. This search engine can retrieve 80% of free papers, approximately 3 million copies.
Platform evaluation: Like the Titanium Academic function, it can provide chart previews, which makes it easier for researchers to save more screening work. In addition, the information screening technology can search for the name of the conference where the paper was published, the time when the paper was published, and filter out key phrases from the paper text.
4. Base Search Bielefeld, Germany academic search engine
Platform advantages: A multi-disciplinary academic search engine developed by the Library of Bielefeld University in Germany, providing integrated retrieval services for global heterogeneous academic resources. Base integrates approximately 160 open resources, or more than 2 million document data information.
Platform evaluation: The site is streamlined, searching for documents is relatively fast, and it mainly focuses on subject materials.
If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools! The sharp tools are ready, and the rest is left to you - on these websites we can download a lot of professional information, papers, documents or books, etc. It is very helpful for college students to write papers or do scientific research.
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