Good morning. It’s Saturday, and so I’m back to bring you another round of interesting stories from around the Guardian.
First, to Gaza.
1. Going hard: one view on Israel’s Gaza strategy
“How to make sense of the sheer intensity of Israel’s war in Gaza?” Paul Rogers asked this week. He’s the emeritus professor of peace studies at England’s Bradford University. And there is, he argues, a reason Israel’s “pause” in bombardments was never going to last long: the Dahiya doctrine.
What is it? During the 2006 war in Lebanon, Rogers says, the IDF directed air attacks at centres of Hezbollah power in the Dahiya area, in the south of Beirut, “but also on the Lebanese economic infrastructure”. A paper released two years later extrapolated this as a replicable strategy: don’t just focus on defeating your opponent in the immediate conflict; think about how to inflict “a truly long-lasting impact”.
Disproportionate force is a strategy that’s been used in Gaza since 2008 – and this time round, Rogers writes, it’s “far worse”.
How long will it take to read: three minutes
Further reading: Needless to say, many other perspectives on the war are available. You can find our complete coverage here.
2. ‘I crossed the whole Andes on foot’
Nando Parrado’s plane crashed in the Andes in 1972, when he was travelling with family and friends. The remains of the craft were stranded on the side of a glacier, surrounded by “snow-capped peaks and plunging valleys” at high altitude.
“I saw the magnitude of the place we were in. It’s immense. It’s huge,” he tells Chris Godfrey. “And I said: ‘Fuck. This is going to be horrible. How are we going to get out of here? They won’t find us here.’”
What happened next? Spoiler: he was right. But 72 days later, he made it off the mountain alive with 15 other passengers anyway. Though not before eating human meat. The story is, as Godfrey writes, “an astonishing tale of survival” (one that’s been made into a film, and is about to be a Netflix thriller).
How long will it take to read: ten and a half minutes
3. Replay syndrome
Keep seeing confusingly fresh posters for groups you liked in 2004? (The Streets, in Sydney? Now?? Just two weeks before … Incubus????) It’s not just you – Sinéad Stubbins has been hit by a similar realisation (at a Bloc Party show).
“It was at this moment – jamming with this newly divorced dad and sipping a flask that made me feel as tough and sophisticated as a leather jacket – that I had two thoughts: is this band in possession of the world’s last surviving skinny jeans? And should I feel weird that lately I’ve only seen bands I loved when I was 14?”
Bigger questions: “When you reach a certain age, does your musical taste stagnate?” she asks. “What did it mean that all my sonic thrills involved me reaching ceaselessly back into the past like those goddamn Gatsby boats?”
How long will it take to read: two and a half minutes
4. Lumet’s look at bent coppers
A couple weeks ago I took myself to see Serpico at the Ritz. As I walked in there were maybe four men in total, also alone – just me and the guys. We sat squinting in the half-light, arms pensively crossed, grappling with the institutional corruption of New York City in the 70s and Al Pacino’s collection of unusual hats (both, it seems, bottomless).
Anyway, I agree with Scott Tobias that this “rough-around-the-edges docudrama of cops misusing their power seems even more provocative today”. Fifty years after its release, “the movie, like the life of its hero, remains a clear public good”.
How long will it take to read: A couple of minutes. Then watch the whole of Sidney Lumet’s masterpiece, ideally in a mainly empty cinema. Very good.
Further reading: Peter Bradshaw’s neat little ode to the film, which he calls “one of the most complex, densely achieved performances” of Pacino’s career.
5. Sweat ’til you’re satisfied
There are 3m saunas in Finland, where a good steaming is less a lush occasional treat and more an everyday given. Miranda Bryant went to find out why – and if it has much to do with the country’s consistently high happiness rankings.
“When you’re in the sauna you don’t have your fancy clothes,” one student tells her. “We’re all just people … That’s the best part.”
Did you know: Lots of older Finnish people were born in saunas, apparently. Thinking too hard about what this might involve for whoever is in labour makes me feel tired.
How long will it take to read: Four and three-quarter minutes
Do you like to sauna? Tell us why at australia.newsletters@theguardian.com – and have a lovely weekend.
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