After months of destructive attacks by Ukrainian drones, it is becoming clear that Russia cannot protect its petroleum refineries, depots, gas pipelines and other related infrastructure. What s also clear is Russia currently lacks the manufacturing capacity to do more than make superficial repairs to these facilities after they are damaged. As the Ukrainians develop [ ]
In light of Hamas assault on Israel on the 7th of October and the ongoing Israeli reaction against Gaza, this article from 2014 is still timely. Oscar Wilde famously observed that, Life imitates art . Fast forward a hundred years from Wilde s Belle Époque; art is dead and life imitates Netflix. Everything the West [ ]
The Big Lie at the root of a war of aggression is that it is going to be easy. Obviously, if an aggressor considers a war to be unwinnable or difficult it will not be undertaken. The lie is needed to neutralize unwinnability; it does so by being de-contextualized and purposefully non-measurable. It defies [ ]
Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally” Keynes The rumors of its death might be premature but who knows? There are more economists than at any time in history but at the same time fewer who appear relevant. Economists have become today s version of post-dispatch [ ]
It was a bit shocking to discover John Mauldin does not have a Wikipedia page. Wikipedia pages are the measure of how important individuals and events are in the general scheme of things. Not being on Wikipedia is a bit like being a medieval serf. Gerald Celente and Jeremy Grantham have pages as do [ ]
This article is reprinted because it was in a now-removed menu item at the top of the front page. A strategy of denial is to treat (unpleasant) factual arguments as opinions and assertions and to offer unsubstantiated contrary opinions and assertions. One set of opinions cancels out the others; in the meantime the firms [ ]
Last week tens of millions of hopeful Americans and citizens around the world rang in spanking new 2021 by watching the tail end of Donald Trump s presidency explode spectacularly on the landing strip. Think of Trump as a metaphorical airline: he had but to taxi his presidency to the gate, walk off the plane with [ ]
What s caught my eye The Syrian government scrapes the bottom of the barrel, relying on ransoms paid for family members kidnapped inside Syria by Assad security forces: Syrian Detainees Families Forced to Pay Huge Bribes to Corrupt Officials Report (Guardian) Ahmad is one former prisoner who thought he would never see his family [ ]
Just heard David Graeber, author of Debt, The First 5,000 Years and others has died. Debt is worth reading, the rest, maybe not. Renowned for his biting and incisive writing about bureaucracy, politics and capitalism, Graeber was a leading figure in the Occupy Wall Street movement, and professor of anthropology at the London School of [ ]
Turn on the TV and you can see the US turning itself into the Weimar Republic under everyone s nose. Gangs of hoodlums battle in the streets while the police stand to the side and watch. In post-World War One Germany, public life for 15 years was little more than street brawling between gangs of disgruntled [ ]