The Weekly Wrap for Saturday, 2 February 2019

Talking points Après Vale, le déluge. PHOTO: Businessweek 110 dead, 238 still missing in Brazilian miner Vale's latest dam collapse Germany announced it would wind down all coal-fired energy by 2038 Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld Asia Bibi's blasphemy acquittal The US government reopened after its longest shutdown (costing $3b) India's soaring unemployment rate spelled trouble for Modi Bluster and threats abounded in Venezuela's leadership stoush Britain edged closer to a no-deal Brexit with no solution in sight Iran continues to abide by its nuclear deal despite Trump's withdrawal The US unsealed indictments against Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou The Mueller investigation ensnared Trump confidante Roger Stone Deep Dive There's never been a quarterback like Brady. PHOTO: AP It's Super Bowl weekend and the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is eyeing a 6th championship ring. He's a hero to some, a scourge to others, and one of several contemporary athletes who have been hailed as the GOAT ("greatest-of-all-time") in their sport. This week we're exploring how that kind of achievement is manufactured.   The one-man dynasty Tom Brady is running out of fingers to put his Super Bowl rings on. Right now he has won five championships (tied with Charles Haley for the most) from eight attempts and he's looking to elevate himself on Sunday. While we tend to avoid defining people by their age, in Brady's case it's unavoidable. He is a 41-year-old playing in his 17th NFL season. Despite the helmets and padding, gridiron is a brutal sport (the average career length is three seasons). Tom Brady has become a middle-aged man in a sport that doesn't allow for it. Tom Brady's successes are numerous to the point that they start to blur together. He's got four Super Bowl MVP and three NFL MVP awards to his name. He ranks in the top three or four for passing yards and touchdown passes in the regular season. When combined with his post-season matches he is a clear first in both categories. And, with a win-loss ratio of .775, he's described (please forgive us) in American parlance as the 'winningest' quarterback in NFL history.  All that stands in Brady's way now is Jared Goff (and the Los Angeles Rams defensive line). After a detour in St. Louis (that lasted nearly two decades) the Rams are finally home at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Three years into the homecoming, Sean McVay's team have already finished first in their conference in consecutive years and now have also made the big dance. Expect great things from them on Sunday. In an electrifying little happenstance - of the kind that only sport can produce - this is actually the second time Brady has faced off against the Rams in a Super Bowl. The first was back in 2002 when he claimed his very first ring, as a fresh-faced second-year quarterback. His dynasty started, and might just end, facing a row of white, gold and blue helmets.    The best are getting better It's no secret that sports nerds around the world like to convene in pubs and (loudly) debate hypotheticals. Would the '18 Golden State Warriors have beaten the '95 Chicago Bulls? Would '14 Hawthorn top '02 Brisbane? Of course, there can be no definitive answers to these questions (but that doesn't mean they can't be debated). Still, there are very strong indications that our very best sportspeople are getting better than ever.  An arguably virtuous cycle appears to have taken hold in many professional sports: as performances improve, popularity grows, teams and administrators attract more revenue, that money is pumped into extracting even better performances, and so the athletes get even better (and richer). Global talent mobility has played an important role in this cycle; wealthy NBA teams today send scouts to the furthest reaches of the planet in the hunt for their next lanky superstar. But without a doubt the salient factor has been the revolution in sports science. Just as the "space race" once drove physical sciences to incredible new discoveries, the 200m-sprint is now unveiling more secrets of human physiology and biomechanics than we would have thought was possible.  The Italian football powerhouse Juventus is a good example. Their main drawcard Christiano Ronaldo is arguably the finest soccer player in the world. But he likely wouldn't last a season in the modern game without an army of dieticians, remedial therapists, masseurs and fitness coaches. In fact, with all the money flowing in, professional sport teams can afford to employ high-altitude training experts, aquatic therapy advisers, or just about any other expertise that they think might yield a sliver of an edge. Tom Brady himself lives on an oft-derided but clearly successful specialised diet of vegetables, water and nothing much else. And, of course, there are also the dark alchemists who help athletes skirt as close as possible to (the World Anti-Doping Authority's) "line". But the business of sport is not the only thing that's at play here. As a species we seem hardwired to push the envelope of human ability. We have all felt this as we have watched the limits of human endurance and capability being pushed to extremes. Yes, the skill makes us gape. But it is the physical, mental and emotional sacrifice behind that skill that really fires our imagination. That's the thread that binds and propels athletes across time and space. It's Serena Williams winning a grand slam while pregnant. Jasmin Paris running for 83 hours in last week's Montane Spine. Jayawardene and Sangakkara making a 624-run stand in Colombo. Djokovic and Nadal enduring a gruelling 5 hour and 53 minute Australian Open final (in 2012). And Tom Brady's meticulous preparation, which ultimately results in three consecutive third-and-long plays that extinguish the hopes and dreams of the Chiefs. In Brady's own words, "When you say yes to something you have to say no to something else. I've given my body, my everything, every last bit of energy for 18 years to this game. If you're going to compete against me you better be willing to give your life because I'm giving up mine." Worldlywise This, again. PHOTO: Reuters / Aly Song Apple peels back Facebook snooping   Yes, contrary to any sense of propriety, Facebook has opted to begin 2019 with yet another data scandal. This week Apple revoked Facebook's Enterprise Developer Certificate (i.e., license to create iOS apps for internal use by Facebook employees). It's an unusual measure that has reportedly created 'chaos' for the social network's staff who can no longer check their cafeteria menus online or call for interoffice transport. Why would Apple do such a terrible thing? It turns out that Facebook was misusing its licence to circumvent Apple's data-harvesting restrictions, and encouraging children (as young as 13) to download an app that monitored all their device usage. Apple management were rightly furious. Google has pulled a similar app. You might be tempted to see this episode as a sign of ineptitude in Menlo Park: it is not. Nor is it a benign "privacy lapse", as some in the news media have termed it. This laissez-faire - bordering on rapacious - approach to your data is in fact Facebook's animating spirit. If you need confirmation, look no further than the company's share price which jumped 16% on Thursday following stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. Privacy shmivacy. Apple also released its own fourth-quarter results today, but depending on who you read, the coverage was either negative, or not. Some news organisations seemed to laud the tech giant for sneaking in above expectations. While technically correct, they elided the fact that the expectations were sharply lowered by Tim Cook just last week and that the company has posted its first decline in revenue in 15 years. The company is also battling its own FaceTime privacy breach this week, and cascading challenges associated with the US-China trade war. US troops on patrol with the Afghan army. PHOTO: Omar Sobhani / Reuters The forever war, no more One story we've followed closely over the last two years has been America's tentative steps towards withdrawal from Afghanistan. On Monday American and Taliban negotiators agreed to a framework for ending the former's longest-ever war. Painstaking negotiations, made in good faith while fighting has still torn at the country, have delivered two crucial agreements. The first is that the Pentagon will withdraw its 14,000 troops from the country. The second is that the Taliban will not allow the country to devolve into a safe harbour for terrorists as it once was. This is unequivocally a good thing. If these talks progress they'll cap 17 years of war. In that time the world's only super-power could do no better than the Soviet Union and the British Empire had before it: immiserating and maiming a generation of Afghanis, then watching the backbone of popular support at home being snapped over the Hindu Kush mountains. Now, Washington must ask the question that it failed to ask in October 2011: what happens after the withdrawal? Any comprehensive agreement must include Ashraf Ghani's government in Kabul (which to date has been excluded at the behest of the Taliban). The unthinkable - a unity government - must not only be thought of, but realised. The talks must also bring in representatives from the duelling regional powers of India and Pakistan, though they, along with the United States, will need to make concessions. This is a truly fraught and necessary path; the alternative is unacceptable. A hasty retreat will no doubt spell the end of Ghani's rule, and trigger the country's collapse. Those in Kabul are well aware of this risk. And a civil war is in no-one's interests. The Best of Times This is the recommended number of dogs one should own. PHOTO: Justin Sullivan Walk to your local animal shelter On to the important stuff: dogs. The emotional benefits of owning a dog are so innately obvious that they bear repeating here. But what of the physical benefits? Well, a recent study found that dog owners in the UK walk a whopping 870 miles every year when taking their canine for a W-A-L-K. That's 21 miles per week (we don't need to convert that to the metric system to know it's a lot)! It is a full 50% more than cat-lovers walk over a seven-day period. Unbridled love AND a workout? It sounds too good to be true, so you'd best go adopt a pooch now just to be sure.    Freedom writer Behrouz Boochani has spent the last five years of his life imprisoned in an Australian offshore-detention facility. The Iranian-born refugee has remained steadfast in conditions that have driven others to suicide. Since 2013 he has been sending a manuscript, line-by-line, to a translator via WhatsApp. That trickle has slowly created a book, 'No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison'. This week his book won Australia's most valuable literary prize, the Victorian Prize for Literature. Bravo.  The Worst of Times An unwanted cool change. PHOTO: The Independent Polar verification A wonderfully-named but deadly Polar Vortex is wreaking havoc across the US midwest. The swirling, icy weather system has caused temperatures in Chicago to plunge lower than Antarctica and at least 21 people have died of exposure. The internet is awash with videos of toilet cisterns shattering because the water inside has frozen, and of car door handles snapping clean off. It's also the kind of weather event that invites uninformed comments. Unfortunately that included the 45th President of the United States who tweeted his wish for more global warming. And more than one Fox News anchor who apparently thought that solar panels couldn't work in the cold (likely mixing up the concepts of 'thermal' and 'solar').   Measly excuses This is another one of those stories that simply defies imagination. This week the governor of Washington declared a state of emergency over an outbreak of measles. So far 36 cases have been reported. What is galling about this is that the United States eradicated measles in the year 2000. Since then, the slow and insidious creep of anti-vaccine ideologies have started to chip away at the country's herd immunity. So it bears repeating - vaccines don't cause autism, parents should protect their children by vaccinating them, and not doing so is irresponsible on multiple levels. Weekend Reading Quote of the week "Drakes Beach and its access road from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard are temporarily closed to all vehicle, foot and bicycle traffic due to elephant seal activity in the area" - During the recent government shutdown park rangers did not attend Californian beaches. At Drakes Beach three huge bull seals moved in, and now these rather imposing creatures are refusing to vacate the premises.    Headline of the week Beheaded in Philadelphia, punched in Silicon Valley and smeared with barbecue sauce in San Francisco: why do humans hurt robots? - The Independent Featured long-reads from inkl publishers: Businessweek has the inside scoop on the Ghosn trial The Economist on the battle for Venezuela Al Jazeera goes undercover to meet China's spies Happy reading, Tom Wharton @trwinwriting P.S. Don't forget to follow inkl on Twitter and Facebook.