Guardian (February 10)
“Across the UK, firms and consumers are discovering costs of Brexit that Mr Johnson denied. That denial was born of a failure to understand the trade-off between regulatory autonomy and market access. The prime minister swapped seamless trade for notional sovereignty and passed the cost on to unsuspecting businesses. Naturally, he wants to blame the EU for any pain. These are not teething troubles in implementation of the deal. They are the deal.”
Tags: Blame, Brexit, Consumers, Costs, Denial, EU, Failure, Firms, Johnson, Market access, Regulatory autonomy, Seamless trade, Sovereignty, Trade-off, UK
Chicago Tribune (January 7)
“Australia burns as the planet bakes.” There’s no mystery why events like these have grown more common and more destructive,” but there’s still widespread inaction and occasionally denial of global warming. “If we want more of what Australia is suffering, doing more of the same is fine. If we hope to see a better future, we will have to take action to bring it about.”
Tags: Australia, Burns, Denial, Destructive, Future, Global warming, Inaction
Chicago Tribune (October 19)
“As genetic engineering continues to advance, playing God has never seemed so easy. Yet humans have never seemed so powerless.” We may finally be able to “create blue roses. But our real talent is destruction.” Collectively, we prefer to ignore this. While our denial continues, “the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all the creatures that crawl on the Earth will disappear.”
Tags: Blue roses, Creatures, Denial, Destruction, Earth, Engineering, Genetic, Humans, Powerless
Wall Street Journal (February 16)
“North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests are driving some welcome changes in South Korean strategy.” Namely, Seoul will install a U.S. built missile defense system and close the Kaesong industrial zone. Ending the denial that allowed the Sunshine policy to limp along is essential. “Burying the Sunshine Policy requires a willingness to confront Pyongyang’s horrors—and removing its nuclear threat requires burying the Sunshine Policy.”
Tags: Defense system, Denial, Kaesong, Missile test, North Korea, Nuclear, Pyongyang, South Korea, Sunshine policy, U.S.
New York Times (January 19)
“China’s announcement last year that it would set up a national cap-and-trade system was hugely encouraging—the world’s largest emitter agreeing to tax itself to help solve a problem that, only a few years ago, it barely acknowledged.” This stands in stark contrast with the U.S. Congress where heads remain firmly planted in the sand of denial and falsehood. “Congress has refused to act even as it becomes clear that putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions is the most direct and cost-effective way to address climate change.”
Tags: Cap and trade, China, Climate change, Congress, Cost-effective, Denial, Emissions, Greenhouse gas, Tax, U.S.
New York Times (December 7)
“Revelations of the extent of Volkswagen’s efforts to hide the true level of its automobile emissions just keep piling up, yet the company appears incapable of coming clean, responding to each new revelation with denial, feigned ignorance and weak apologies.”
The Economist (July 12)
“Electronics companies in Japan are starting to turn themselves around, but they are a shadow of their former selves…. After years of denial that surgery was needed, optimism is rising that Japan’s consumer-electronics firms are facing up to their steady loss of global market share.”
Tags: Consumer electronics, Denial, Electronics, Japan, Loss, Market share, Optimism, Surgery, Turn around
Los Angeles Times (January 18)
Though the Rape of Nanking took place 75 years ago, it remains a major irritant troubling the relationship between China and Japan. “What is alarming is that the leaders of Japan…have an understanding of their country’s wartime history that is grounded primarily in fiction.” There can be no question that the notorious event took place given the abundant evidence including eyewitness testimony and film footage. “Japanese denial in the face of all this ensures that a historical event will continue to fan the flames of anger and distrust. The sooner the facts are recognized and Japanese leaders renounce paying tribute to mass killers and rapists, the sooner true healing can begin.”
Los Angeles Times (October 4)
“The United States experienced the warmest July in its history, with more than 3,000 heat records broken across the country.” Globally, it was 36th year in a row that temperatures in July have exceeded the average of the 20th century. There’s one good thing about all the heat. “The increasingly powerful evidence of a long-term warming trend is making climate-change denial more difficult to defend.”
Tags: Climate change, Denial, Global warming, Summer, Temperatures, U.S.
The Independent (May 12)
“The Franco-German elite which rules the euro is still in denial about the failure of its core project,” but the “Euro’s day of reckoning looms.”
