In a world of divides, this writer finds connections
What unites people in an increasingly fragmented world? A yearning for communality, and shared core values, says a Monitor columnist whose job is to trace global patterns as they emerge.
What if a veteran journalist’s job became nothing short of making sense of the world?
Meet Ned Temko.
“I look for events that are happening, sometimes on opposite sides of the world, but certainly in different countries,” says Ned. “And I try to get a sense of the patterns that connect not only the events, but [also] the ... impetus behind the events, not only among the political leadership, but [also in] the kind of grassroots impulses in different countries that connect these events.”
Ned’s Monitor column, appropriately, is called Patterns. It’s a reboot of a renowned Monitor column from decades past: Patterns of Diplomacy by Joseph C. Harsch. Where Joe’s work was largely about tracking trends and spotting precedents in global geopolitics, Ned’s increasingly plumbs human connection.
“Everywhere you look ... people feel unmoored,” he says. But “[T]he response in major news events, more often than not, involves people looking for ways to recapture ... core values.” Ned has identified empathy and compassion in the global response to the invasion of Ukraine, cooperation and compromise in the fight against political ideologues around the world.
”I think there’s kind of a common thirst nowadays for the ... certainty and security that ... used to be much more within reach,” Ned says. It may be the ultimate pattern.
“I’m always struck by the communality that marks out people’s simple human response, particularly at times of stress. It’s important to take note of that.”
Episode transcript
Clay Collins: He had a front-row seat for the Iran hostage crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Nelson Mandela’s release. A Mideast nation’s former prime minister once deferred to him when they were jointly asked a question, saying “I daresay you know more.”
[MUSIC]
Collins: Welcome to Rethinking the News. I’m this week’s host, Clay Collins.
[MUSIC]
Collins: I’m talking about the Monitor’s Ned Temko, who has a journalist’s pedigree that’s second to none. Based now in London, he’s also been posted to Lisbon, Brussels, Beirut, Moscow, Jerusalem, and Johannesburg. He’s with us today to talk about how he approaches his regular analysis column, which, as he says, “looks at what’s going on in the world that is truly significant and [asks] ‘what does it mean? And how do we understand it?’ ”
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
Collins: Ned. Thanks for joining us.
Ned Temko: It’s a pleasure.
Collins: We talked off mic about your remarkable decades long career covering big news. And some time back, you revived a storied Monitor franchise once called Patterns of Diplomacy, in which the great Joe Harsch sliced and diced geopolitics, looking at context and precedents. Can you talk a little about how you’ve approached what we now just call Patterns in a way that suits the times we’re in?
Temko: Well, I think in one basic way, what Joe did for all those many years and what I’m trying to do now, [is to] share something that’s important. [To use] a kind of wide angle, even fisheye lens. It’s about taking a step back and looking at the parts of the picture that you wouldn’t ordinarily see and drawing connections. The differences between Patterns of Diplomacy and the Patterns we do now has much more to do with the different world we live in.
Collins: Talk about the origin of a Patterns column, what are the preconditions you look for, and how do you go about shaping such a column?
Temko: Well, I look for events that are happening, sometimes on opposite sides of the world, but certainly in different countries. And I try to get a sense of the patterns that connect not only the events but [also] the kind of impetus behind the events, not only among the political leadership, but [in] the kind of grassroots impulses in different countries that connect these events. I mean, one example was another Patterns column related to the Ukraine war, but it was basically about the choice that Western Europe faces with the prospect of a cutoff of Russian natural gas, particularly to countries like Germany, which are very, very dependent on it. And the degree to which that might, among other things, erode popular and government support for a tough line against Russia on the war in Ukraine. And rather than talk about the political considerations in each of the major countries, you know, how much dependence on energy there is in Country A or Country B. But what I found striking as a kind of Patterns subject was the whole notion of solidarity and common action that has underpinned the European Union, in particular in its response to Ukraine, and how that’s reflected at grassroots level, that you have these very, very different West European countries who at least so far have buried their national or even their local differences or local interests. This is not so much a “me moment” as a “we moment.”
Collins: Some of the work of spotting patterns is anticipatory, obviously, but it must be important not to try to be too predictive. You mentioned Ukraine just now and [also you’ve spoken about] how the early takes by so many people ended up being wrong based on [presumptions about] reactions by Ukrainians. How do you manage that?
Temko: I’m very careful. Because my instinct on the eve of the Russian invasion, I’m sure, would have been along with most others, except the Ukrainians themselves, to assume the Russians would at least initially get the upper hand very quickly. And boy, would I have been wrong. I think one thing that safeguards against this is the old wide-angle lens. And again, my initial Ukraine column is a good example. I began by saying that this is Europe’s 9/11. And I didn’t know how it would play out, but I did know that we were witnessing a real major tectonic shift. And whatever the response was in the West and whatever Putin did next, the world would look very different. And people’s responses are likely to be very different than before this invasion. That required less, I guess, specific prediction. But it had the virtue of being true, I think.
Collins: Now you’re kind of on the forefront of another evolution at the Monitor, where we’re finding that there is a natural universality to the news when you take it to the level of humanity. Regular people everywhere are mostly interested in things like safety, security, fairness, freedom. And I want to rattle off a few columns in which you’ve kind of made this connection. You looked at global compassion being galvanized on Ukraine. You looked at cooperation and compromise, in fighting political ideologues around the world. Can you talk about how you found those qualities?
Temko: I think it’s more a question of these qualities and values finding me. Everywhere you look for patterns in human events these days, because the world that Joe Harsch reported on in the 20th century is under such pressure, people feel unmoored in a way. They feel a lack of security, a lack of certainty, a lack of connection that the response in major news events, more often than not, involves people looking for ways to recapture these core values. The column you mentioned on global compassion in Ukraine ... I started out, like other columnists, being quite surprised by the way in which political leaders and governments had come together in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine. But what struck me the deeper I looked was that this was powered by a real grassroots human response, a kind of natural empathy, a natural sense of connection with the ordinary Ukrainians who were forced to cower in their apartments or to flee altogether. If you scratch beneath the surface, I think there’s kind of a common thirst nowadays for the kind of certainty and security that you mentioned, that used to be, despite all the conflict and tension in the world, used to be much more within reach to ordinary people.
Collins: And why would you say this approach, this calling out of qualities, is so important today?
Temko: Change in the media and this stress to old world structures has combined to make easy solutions to very complex issues seem hugely tempting, and favored people with ostensibly easy solutions. It’s fueled anger. It’s getting more difficult to occupy the middle ground of politics. And my long experience as a reporter is that that’s where most people naturally are. And what I’m writing about, and it’s often inspiring to write about, and that is not to invent the positive, but just to take a step back and notice [it]. And I’ve lived in and covered authoritarian countries and democracies and poor countries and rich countries. But I’m always struck by the communality that marks out people’s kind of simple human response, particularly at times of stress. It’s important to take note of that.
Collins: Ned, I want to thank you so much for bringing our listeners up to speed.
Temko: Well, thank you very much. It’s been a privilege to work for the Monitor.
[MUSIC]
Collins: Thanks for listening. To read Ned’s columns, go to CSMonitor.com. This story was hosted by me, Clay Collins, and produced by Jingnan Peng, with additional editing by Samantha Laine Perfas. Our studio engineers were Tim Malone and Noel Flatt. Copyright by The Christian Science Monitor, 2022.
