Possum found nestled in with plush toys at airport gift shop in Tasmania The Guardian
Climate/Environment
EU should spend on climate action now to avoid heavy future debt burden – report Green Central Banking
The Puzzling Pleistocene RealClimate
Don’t panic: A field guide to the runaway greenhouse The Climate Brink
Feel Like Your Phone’s Weather App Often Gets It Wrong? Experts Say You Aren’t Imagining It KQED
Pandemics
COVID probably killed 150,000 more people in its first two years than official U.S. tolls show Scientific American
Water
Japan
Japan’s Takaichi strengthens US ties, sidesteps pressure in Trump talks: Analysts Channel News Asia
Trump compares first strikes on Iran to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor USA Today
Japanese investment in China keeps rising, despite political tensions Lowy Institute
China?
Taiwan rejects China’s energy-for-reunification offer Reuters
***
Alibaba workforce shrinks 34% in 2025 as Chinese tech giant doubles down on AI CNBC
Southeast Asia
Global financial tightening makes South and Southeast Asia’s food security fragile East Asia Forum
India
West Asia Shock Ripples Through India’s Kitchens, Factories and Supply Chains Carbon Copy
Interview: Why Modi went to Israel, India’s coordination with UAE and more India Inside Out by Rohan Venkat
Syraqistan
WSJ: U.S. War Planes and Helicopters Kick Off Battle to Reopen Hormuz
The U.S. has deployed A-10 Warthogs and Apache attack helicopters to the Strait of Hormuz in an intensified campaign to reopen the waterway — now closed to commercial shipping for nearly three weeks.
Brent… pic.twitter.com/yV97nbLyVY
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) March 20, 2026
WHO officials admit they are preparing for possible nuclear weapon use in Iran The Independent
Will Trump Break the Nuclear Taboo? Consortium News
US F-35 stealth jet hit by suspected Iranian fire in combat mission TRT World
Are Bibi and Trump Looking for an Exit Ramp From the War in Iran? Larry Johnson
Iran Attacks Wipe out 17% Of Qatar’s LNG Capacity For Up To Five Years, QatarEnergy CEO Says Reuters
US Treasury chief floats possibility of lifting sanctions on ‘stranded’ Iranian oil The Cradle
Israeli military says it took out Iran’s Caspian Sea naval capabilities Reuters. Welcome to the war Azerbaijan?
Iran Warns of Military Action Over Iran International Broadcasts via Turkmenistan Satellite Times of Central Asia
IDF threatens ‘elimination’ for Russian leaders who ‘wish Israel ill’ The Grayzone
‘Deliberate attack’: RT correspondent recounts surviving Israeli airstrike (VIDEO) RT
European Disunion
Italy, Germany and France offer help with Hormuz only after ceasefire Euractiv. Bwahaha.
Germany withdraws legal backing for Israel in ICJ genocide case Middle East Monitor
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Pedro Sánchez’s ‘No a la Guerra’ Consortium News
New Not-So-Cold War
EU leaders fail to unblock €90B Ukraine loan Politico
Von der Leyen rules out purchases of Russian gas even in event of power outages in EU TASS
South of the Border
Why the US is Ramping Up Attacks on Cuba’s Medical Brigades Inkstick
U.S. Embassy in Cuba tells citizens to avoid crowds amid protests The Hill
Hezbollah in Latin America: A political bugaboo rolling out on cue Responsible Statecraft
L’affaire Epstein
Why is the GOP blocking Epstein bank records? The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown
Trump 2.0
‘Hell no’: Trump’s $200B Iran war plan faces congressional backlash Al Mayadeen
GOP Candidate Tells Americans to Support Trump’s Iran War by Taking ‘One Less Trip to Starbucks’ Common Dreams
Trump’s HUD Is Pushing Low-Income Tenants Out of Subsidized Housing Truthout
Kristi Noem’s Replacement Bows to Protesters Ken Klippenstein
The Decline of Trumpism and the Crisis of Capitalism ZZ’s Blog
Imperial Collapse Watch
AI
Why refusing AI is a fight for the soul Rest of World
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
ChatGPT’s ‘Adult Mode’ Could Spark a New Era of Intimate Surveillance Wired
Our Famously Free Press
BREAKING: Nashville Journalist Estefany Rodriguez Released From ICE Detention Migrant Insider
BOOM: State Enforcers Attack the Censorship Machine, Challenge Merger That Kicked Jimmy Kimmel Off the Air Matt Stoller
The Accelerationists
Cultural Palantirism Do Not Research
What is the ‘Left’ in the Era of Global Fascism Black Agenda Report
WHAT WOULD A RUSSELL VOUGHT OF THE LEFT LOOK LIKE? LPE Project
Guillotine Watch
Luigi Mangione seeks trial delay, saying he wants to help pick his own jury Gothamist
Mapping Google’s Unmappable City 404 Media
Brave New World
Employees had to restrain a dancing humanoid robot after it went wild at a California restaurant Tech Crunch
Economy
‘Demand destruction has begun’ FT
Iran and the US economy Michael Roberts
‘Hidden’ housing costs are sinking homeowners Business Insider
Antitrust
Fertilizer Giants Make Farmers and Food Production More Vulnerable Food and Power
The Bezzle
The public will pay Citation Needed
Mr. Market Is Overwhelmed
Traders Overwhelmed by Iran News Are Turning to AI for Help Bloomberg
Polymarket Announces New Bar For Degenerate War Profiteers Futurism
Oil dips but stays elevated as Goldman Sachs warns prices may top $100 through 2027 CNN Business
Class Warfare
Workers in Colorado Have Shut Down One of the Nation’s Biggest Meatpacking Plants Food and Environment Reporting Network
From Race to the Bottom to Worker Power on the Road The Economic Populist
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
72 comments
Comments are closed.
“Trump compares first strikes on Iran to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor”
Although the reporters there laughed when Trump said who knew more about surprises than Japan, they shut up when Trump went on and brought up Pear Harbour, almost in belief that he would go there. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi could have said that Pearl Harbour was only attacked because of the total oil embargo and the freezing of their assets in 1941 that the US imposed but that would have only enraged Trump. Even now, when it is obvious that he needs help with the Gulf war, he still can’t resist humiliating those very same countris. If Takaichi had an idea about sending Japanese warships to the Gulf, I bet that she changed her mind now.
The funny part (to me) is that in the quote I would presume Trump is inferring the devastating attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, like the US “devastating attack on Iran”. However Japan lost WWII just like the US is going to lose this one!
How did that end for Japan, by the way?
Not well. But running out of oil would also have been a disaster. Can you imagine how it would be if the US ran out of oil? Japan would have gotten by without those frozen assets but they would not have if they had run out of oil.
Could be on track to not having to imagine…or, at least, “got very expensive.”
In other fairness to Japan, their surprise attack on Russia at Port Arthur ended well for them, so it’s easy to see how “give the other side a bloody nose first”* strategy may have been viewed favorably.
*as my Japanese history professor put it, decades ago.
Actually, Japan did not exactly attack the US. They attacked a US military base which, in 1941, Hawaii was a contested incorporated territory. Year’s later Bill Clinton apologized to the natives of Hawaii for the illegal overthrow of their kingdom.
Right you are!
https://www.nationofhawaii.org/legal/1993-u-s-public-law-103-150/
Kû‘ê…!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kūʻē_Petitions
Album of pro-independence music by the Native Hawaiian group Sudden Rush:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/k%C5%ABe/1739483851
Well, I actually thought he was going to say how we attacked them with nuclear weapons, I wouldnt be surprised by anything this uncouth cruel bully ever says or does. It would be so like him to say something like that and brag about it.
My new hobby is a sort of bird watching but what I am watching for are the signs of Trump’s white matter disease. So whenever Trump is going to speak live it is the bird watching equivalent of walking into a Kansas wetland on a spring morning. And I must say “Trump compares first strikes on Iran to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor” was one for my list!
When I heard that my jaw dropped like I saw a Wood Stork strolling through my front yard. Not only was it an insult to the Prime Minister, but it was an insult to the U.S.! I mean, as the kids say; “Are we the baddies?”
Well, but you are the baddies, as a maritime Empire since WW2.
(You were also the baddies as a continental empire since 1776 but nobody but the Indian nations felt it….)
Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Canada–all felt it in the 19th century. Then Spain, Hawaii. China, Korea (1901), Cuba, Puerto Rico. Guam, the Philipines. America was an empire from its inception. Stephen Decatur and William Eaton have counties and towns all over the old Northwest and Southwest for their exploits in North Africa. “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,” long before world wars.
. . . not to mention myriad Africans enslaved.
Those kids probably got it from this-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToKcmnrE5oY (2:49 mins)
Since we in the west support an apartheid state committing genocide, cracking down on free speech and even private opinion while supporting the efforts of the Trump gang to bring about a Hegemonic America, well, I have regretfully come to the conclusion that yes, we are the baddies. I guess that this is how a lot of Germans felt in the late 1930s which is not a good feeling.
At this level of impairment, I’m finding it harder to believe he only has White Matter Disease/small vessel ischaemic changes (by definition not symptomatic to the point that Cognitive/Psychiatric/Motor, etc, decline meets the criteria for another pathology) vs. now full-blown Frontotemporal Dementia, at least at the ‘Mild’ stage.
NHK news has featured that moment in their reporting. You can see Takaichi’s normal kitsune smile drop as she probably knows enough English to understand what Trump said as he said it.
‘Trump supporters relished his off-the-cuff response. His son Eric posted on the X social media platform: “One of the great responses to a reporter in history!”’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/19/trump-mocks-japan-pearl-harbor-iran-war
Eric Trump is as big an idiot as his dad is.
You are too kind. Eric is a brown shirt
I could not believe, when the topic came up in yesterday’s Iran thread, that that was actually real not a joke. Unbelievable.
The FT article on demand destruction has me thinking why aren’t we celebrating the *good news*.
Big percentages of LNG capacity off the market, along with a big drop in oil production, has to translate into less emissions. So this is a big climate win?
Aren’t nations looking for energy security going to increase renewables? Bring back nuclear?
A possible global recession looks like a de-growth strategy?
I believe this war will lead to the US military pulling back from bases everywhere. And I hope a reduction in its enormous carbon footprint.
But if you didn’t read the news and assumed benign causes, the numbers look like a policy response to climate change. FINALLY we’re getting serious about reducing green house gases!
I’m not even sure myself if I’m being sarcastic.
I hate to sound harsh, but this is another example of what this post calls symbol manipulator, or less charitably elsewhere, MBA PowerPoint thinking
It takes fuel to implement renewable solutions, like transporting solar panels.
It takes time. You need solar installations, grid upgrades, more EVs (which BTW use materials that are environmentally destructive to mine), many charging stations. You cannot magic them into existence.
By that time, there will be not much of an economy left. Too many supply chains will be irreparably harmed.
And I didn’t even get around to the impact of pervasive shortages of drugs and key medical supplies. Helium is an important consumable for MRIs to keep the magnets super-cooled, in one of zillions of examples. Helium depends entirely on LNG for its production: https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/why-the-world-is-running-out-of-helium-and-how-it-could-disrupt-modern-life-2884680-2026-03-20
Here in Thailand, which has not promoted solar so as to protect the utility incumbents, no one is talking about renewables as part of the emergency response.
Reductions in emissions from reduced car traffic (from $10/gal gasoline) negated by more wood-burning stoves and fireplaces.
Only a fundamental shift in lifestyles (as outlined in the past 30 years), such as mass-transit, conservation, reduced consumerism (which might be forced now) will lead to less atmospheric loading.
You do not get it.
We are on a trajectory to have a massive shift in how we live in advanced economies. You are assuming some sort of orderly transition. This will be a highly disorderly reset. And people will do things like burn coal and wood to survive.
They will burn a lot of tires. Apparently that has always been a thing in very poor areas in the U.S.. That is really horrible for the lung and cardiac and eye health of people in the area.
What happens with the suburbs as they are so spread out and are designed around cars.
New Atlas has used policy papers to outline the US war on Iran and an energy blockade on China and the world. The Empire doesn’t care about any of us. They want to destroy Iran and stop China. We are collateral damage.
This is not my issue with him. You have not read my objections with care
He acts as if US plans are ever and always effective, except in Ukraine, where he has very carefully documented US not doing so well, from statement of US officials and various think tank documents. This is simply not the case with US regime change scheming in many countries where he acts as if the US has succeeded in pulling local strings to a vastly greater degree than they have.
I have not read your comments on his views. I watch part of his videos on my way into work (330 am est). I read your daily info around 8 and listen to a podcast of someone looks interesting. I remember that you addressed the China war theory but I am at information overload.
I agree with you that people have no idea about what this all means for the global economy. I am hopeful that the US has some sort of plan since I live here…but I honestly doubt it. Or at least the plans they have are all magical thinking..since most if not all of them have zero operational experience.
The big ” fundamental shift in lifestyles” coming with this development will probably be a mass reduction in world population. Shortages of medicines will increase death rates from disease and accident. Shortages in fertilizer production will increase death rates from starvation. Shortages in public services, due to loss of energy surpluses, will lead to deaths from not only lack of public supports of various kinds, but also violent civil unrest.
This is a prime Jackpot enabling scenario.
Yves
The symbol economy versus the real economy is mentioned in the index to a Peter Drucker symposium in 1981. It is held in the Drucker archives at the Claremont Colleges Digital Library. The audio was transferred to CD .You may be able to get access to it.
https://ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/dac/id/4796/rec/1
Much of what you note is also involved in fossil fuel extraction, refinement, distribution, and consumption. The point of renewables is not elimination, but reduction, of environmental degradation.
Renewables don’t even rise to being a band aid a gunshot wound. I’m not on board with fantasies that these measures are adequate. I see them as instead enabling the fiction that we can preserve modern lifestyles. We need radical conservation, as massive reductions of energy and resource use
Oh are you ever on target. My brother and I have this conversation all the time, “ what ever happened to conservation”? These sorts of things with cars and solar panels are wholly inadequate to solve our issues. I look out every night to see house after house with every light in every room on and overdone outdoor lighting enough to land a plane and god knows how many other electrical devices plugged in or in use. No one ever mentions conserving. Why aren’t we doing that first and foremost.
Is this what people mean by “command economy”?
It is commanded therefore it will happen. Presumably, Party technocrats will just magic up enough oil and gas out of thin air.
/sarc
PM orders no fuel shortages, weighs price stabilisation support (Vietnam News)
Fuel shortages must not occur under any circumstances, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính said while chairing a meeting of the Government Standing Committee on Monday
According to the Prime Minister, petrol prices should follow market mechanisms while being regulated by the State through flexible and effective stabilisation measures. Policies must ensure a balance of interests among the State, businesses and the public.
If the military conflict in the Middle East persists, ministries were told to consider reporting to competent authorities on the possibility of allocating State budget resources to support petrol price stabilisation. The policy approach should prioritise production, business activities and people’s livelihoods to minimise negative impacts on the economy and daily life.
—-
Who knows what’s really going on Vietnam; it’s impossible to get news.
fwiw my city (Da Nang) will probably get favourable treatment at the expense of poorer non-industrial areas as the Party is trying to turn us into an ASEAN Dubai, complete with tacky reclaimed land islands in the bay.
International news shows that domestic flights will stop at the end of the month as our two sources of jet fuel (Thailand and China) have stopped exports.
Gas stations remain normal here for now.
Mercagliano on the Strait of Hormuz situation and T’s “plan”.
From What’s Going On with Shipping, utube, ~31+ minutes.
What is happening on board ships in the Persian Gulf? | Update on Strait | Trump Admin Acts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcGKmkZT3Rg
Re A-10 Warthogs and Apache helicopters
I’ve been reading about the effectiveness and reliability of these two aircraft for decades. Perhaps those with greater technical knowledge can correct me, but my assumption was that these craft have been so effective because our various wars have been against ground forces with little or no air cover (highways of death, lightly-armed salafist groups in various countries, etc.). If Iran is capable of taking down an F-35, then wouldn’t the Warthog be a relatively fat target? Maybe I’m wrong (again, my technical knowledge is limited), but when Iran’s foreign minister basically says “bring it on” with regard to a ground invasion, I can envision these craft as targets. As with a naval “convoy” in the Gulf, this seems to assume complete air superiority.
Those aircraft are in a MANPAD’s wheelhouse*.
For those not familiar with the idiom-
*The phrase “in the wheelhouse” refers to an area of expertise or a field where someone excels.
These are the most recent obits for the region in which I grew up. Scroll down and take a look at the first twenty or so, specifically the ages of the deceased. I keep yakking about this but it is true, these are young people. Yes, there are old people too (but maybe in the past they would have lived longer) And no, these are not deaths of despair (of course those matter too just as much); these are people with regular jobs and family relations.
I was just back there and people look sick. They look older than they are. So did the people on the flights I took.
I would advise avoiding catching covid to the extent possible.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/thewesterlysun/browse
To anyone who needs a bright spot, I recommend you dip your toe in the Afroman defamation case. He is a unique American, defending his 1st amendment rights in a uniquely American way. Tl;dr Police kicked down his door, stole his money and he’s not having it. https://x.com/thefactsdude/status/2033050969747968187?s=46
I think his “Hunter Got High” helped Trump win. If you haven’t watched that music video it is a must watch; it is brilliant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgLD1yhxNik. At the end he points out how his treatment by law enforcement differed so greatly from Hunter’s treatment.
“EU leaders fail to unblock €90B Ukraine loan”
I was watching this on the news. I think that Adolf would have been treated more better there. It is a simple deal. The Ukraine opens up that pipeline again and Orban would sign for that loan but Orban for some reason will not take an EU promise instead. Until recently, the Ukraine has blocked an EU inspection team to go check those pipelines until Ursula promised to give them a fund to go with that inspection team. It is so strange to see such hateful rhetoric to a fellow member of the EU and all for the sake of a country that is not even part of the EU at all but is acting against the interests of the EU.
How does Ursula de Luded get away with being the boss of everything and everyone in Europe?
Did she get a farewell gift from Jeffrey?
As has been mentioned elsewhere, after the “loan” is disbursed then “Whoops! Those evul Rooskies blew up that pipeline AGAIN!”
Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary.
re: Iran MAGA
JAMES CARDEN
a short opinion…
There Is No GOP ‘Civil War’ Over Iran…
It’s a reversion to the mean.
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/this-isnt-a-gop-civil-warits-a-reversion
No surprises here! And it will only get worse. Maybe debtors prisons would help?
Record Number of Student Loan Borrowers Are in Delinquency and Default NYT
MSLDIBA!!!
Make Student Loans Dischargeable In Bankruptcy Again!
“How does it feel being not as ‘smart’ as an AI, meat?”
-human resources AI chatbot
A message from our Beloved President who was chosen by Divine Providence to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
“There’s nothing but blue skies and good times ahead as each day gets better and better in this, the best of all possible Worlds”
If you can’t trust Donald John Trump, who can you trust ?
Don’t worry, be HAPPY!
And go shopping, whole foods is having a sale on lemon pound cake.
To anyone who needs a bright spot, may I recommend you dip your toe in the Afroman defamation case. He is a unique American, defending his 1st amendment rights in a uniquely American way. Tl;dr Police kicked down his door, stole his money and he’s not having it. https://x.com/thefactsdude/status/2033050969747968187?s=46
Afroman just “won” his case. The jury returned a verdict in his favour.
See: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afroman-wins-lawsuit-ohio-police-raid-music-videos/
“IDF threatens ‘elimination’ for Russian leaders who ‘wish Israel ill’’
The hubris with these people are beyond belief. What do they imagine would happen if they start bumping off Russian leaders? Do they think that the US would protect them from blowback? I have noticed a trend with hard-core Zionists to treat Russia as a sworn enemy but have no idea why. But I do remember that saying that when people show you who they are, believe them the first time.
Rev, Long Covid is no joke and Covid induced anosognosia is a very real thing.
The increase in risky behavior since ’20 is remarkable.
It’s a rare venture out where I don’t see someone run a red light and every few weeks I will see a pedestrian deliberately waiting for the light to turn against them before crossing the street.
Politicians out of necessity are shaking a lot of hands, they can’t wear a mask because that would show fear,weakness.
Lots of exposure and those that are older get hit harder.
Brain damage, anyone who thought this was the stupidest timeline five years ago has been proven decisively wrong.
I think these people believe they already beat Russia once.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Schiff
So, we are the new Japanese, I guess. (Confirmed by Trump praising the Pearl Harbor attack…)
“Why the US is Ramping Up Attacks on Cuba’s Medical Brigades”
Socialism must be destroyed, especially if it involves healthcare. The US is demanding that all those countries send those Cuban doctors home, even though that would lead to higher death rates in those countries. Certainly Trump America will not send medical help to replace those doctors as 1) Because markets and 2) Go die. But if the US takes over Cuba, you can be guaranteed that they will completely destroy Cuba’s socialized healthcare and will probably introduce the American healthcare system instead. God help them.
Today, a large multinational, non-US-based bank where I am employed sent a notice to employees that on March 18, the US Treasury issued Venezuela License No. 52 authorizing transactions involving Petróleos de Venezuela SA.
Payments must now be routed through US Treasury-designated accounts and cannot be made directly to the Government of Venezuela. Any transactions with any US or Venezuela-based company that is controlled, owned, or partnered with a Chinese entity are prohibited. All contracts must be subject to US law.
Despite these changes, all transactions must still be elevated to the Sanctions Compliance department. Venezuelan-owned entities are still forbidden from using property as collateral (will probably be forced to take loans per US terms).
A data point that further reinforces this recent Venezuela-Iran gambit, if I may call it that, indicate at least a secondary strategy to turn the screws on China through controlling the flow of energy.
Rev, I think Trump has changed that to “Because Markets” DIE! DIE! DIE! hahahahaha…
Trump trusted Kushner and Witkof to negotiate with Iran, Witkof a Zionist and Kushner the man who as a boy, gave up his bedroom to Bibi when he was in town.
And, according to “Responsible Statecraft” they lied to Trump about the Iranian negotiating positions.
Perhaps Kushner was more honest in his daily conversations with the head of Mossad?
It is going to be an interesting year.
For those who want to keep track of reports from people on the ground in war torn areas, like Vanessa B. in Lebanon…
Dimitri Lascaris has just entered Iran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1K8tPiYZjk/
It pains me he left Canadian politics, but he is doing extremely valuable work out there. I hope he stays safe in his travels to Iran.
Wowzers. You can’t login to Chase. For a week or two now.
I called and the CSR said they “revamped” their web site, and now the authentication challenge doesn’t work, and you need to call and be given the six digit code. I went around in circles on the phone menu, finally having to press 0. I guess they think getting your card balance information and stuff is sufficient for people, so callers go away.
Chase. For a week now. About the largest bank in America.
America is going great.
This was for a notice of non-usage of my Chase Freedom card. Rotating rewards programs are such trash. I see they’re trimming cardholders then. This only seems to happen in times of economic stress.
Saagar Enjeti from Breaking Points interviews Joe Kent,
Saagar X Joe Kent: RESIGNATION, Israeli NUKES, Epstein, Charlie Kirk, Mike Huckabee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XMyC2Cr7X0
Watching GI Joe Kent (The man brian hegseth would want to be), I got the terrible feeling he is just a trial domestic off ramp for the president.
He waited until it was obviously out of control before resigning and I find it odd that he happily worked for a man who gladhands a lapsed terrorist who headed up the gang who killed his wife.
re: Habermas
JACOBIN
Jürgen Habermas’s European Illusion
By Hans Kundnani
The late Jürgen Habermas saw Europe as a vehicle for a social democratic, postnational politics. But as the real European Union increasingly diverged from this ideal, Habermas’s thinking failed to reckon with the project’s fundamental limits.
https://jacobin.com/2026/03/habermas-eu-colonialism-liberalism-gaza
“(…)
In those first two decades after the end of the Cold War, it was still just about possible to believe that the removal of borders within Europe was a precursor to a borderless world. But during the last decade, and especially since the refugee crisis in 2015, the EU has come to see a hard external border as the necessary corollary of the removal of internal border checks. Tellingly, the budget of Frontex, the EU’s border agency, went from €142 million in 2015 to €1.1 billion in 2025. Thus the illusion that the EU was an attempt to go beyond the “territorial principle” has been shattered, and it is now clear that it does not so much “deborder” as “reborder.” In fact, what it seems to have done is to have redrawn borders along civilizational lines.
After the euro crisis brought to a rather abrupt end the “pro-European” optimism of the two decades after the end of the Cold War and the EU appeared to become what the Italian economist Luigi Zingales called “a bad version of the IMF,” Habermas engaged in an ongoing debate about it with Wolfgang Streeck. With the publication of his book Buying Time, published in German in 2013, Streeck had become Germany’s leading left-wing Euroskeptic. Habermas, like much of the European center left, had long believed that Keynesianism was no longer possible at the national level but was possible at the European level. Streeck thought that the way that the EU had constitutionalized neoliberal economic preferences in the form of the eurozone’s fiscal rules meant that it was now only possible at the national level. Habermas accused him of nostalgia.
Yet centrists who now claim Habermas as a “pro-European” tend to overlook how critical he was of the really existing EU. In fact, Habermas agreed at least to some extent with Streeck’s analysis of the EU as both neoliberal and undemocratic. Further integration along existing lines, which many centrist “pro-Europeans” were arguing for at the time, would produce what Habermas called “market conforming executive federalism.” What he wanted instead was a truly democratic political union that would have the power to redistribute at the regional level. The problem was always how to get there. Already in 2005, voters in France and Netherlands had rejected the European constitution that Habermas said the EU needed.
(…)”
Karl Popper on Habermas
Transcript of image:
A biographer of Habermas said in an interview, that the philosopher was bitter and disillusioned in his last years, which is deserved for a man, who was considered as the represantative thinker of the Schröder/Fischer Government.
But at least he wasn’t a member of the Mont Pèlerin society like a certain Sir.
Judge Napolitano and Max Blumenthal. utube, ~28+ minutes.
🔥🔥 MAX BLUMENTHAL 🔥🔥 : What Joe Kent Knows and Why He Dumped Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9H7IKU7No4
Trump admits Dems will win Congress & presidency unless he’s allowed to disenfranchise voters
He’s calling for the “nuclear option,” but Senate Republicans seem unwilling to go along with him… for now.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/03/admits-dems-will-win-congress-presidency-unless-hes-allowed-to-disenfranchise-voters/
Hundreds of millionaires are trying to escape the US
Column: The ruling class is destroying the country — and now they plan on leaving it behind for us to deal with
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/california-millionaires-golden-visa-22083660.php
Meanwhile influencers on X…
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/178606#
hooboy.
Submitted for your approval …
Australia’s prime minister [] booed and shouted at by protesters during a visit to the country’s largest mosque. (Sky News via X)
Today (or rather yesterday US time) is Eid Ul Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. Anthony Albanese, who has lorded over imposing N10zi5t restrictions on free speech (Exhibit A, via TheGuardian), thought he was gonna slide with a photo op at Australia’s largest mosque. Well, he was severely mistaken … the photo in this tweet is sweet … Albanese was afraid, and I think we need more of that against the oppressors of our pathetic age (::musical interlude via YT)
This is like the time when PM Scott Morrison aka Scotty from Marketing, went on holidays to Hawaii while bushfires were burning down half the country. When he returned and visited a burned out town. people refused to shake his hand and heckled him to his face. Actions, it seems, have consequences.
> Actions, it seems, have consequences.
#MOAR (via giphy)
File under online scams. From Steve Kirsh’s substack.
The “vote for me” scam: How to lose your X account permanently!
If you get a DM on X saying “vote for me,” it is a scam. It will ask for your login credentials for X. At that point, kiss you X account goodbye FOREVER, because X will NOT allow you to recover it.
https://kirschsubstack.com/p/the-vote-for-me-scam-how-to-lose
EU economy vs. the world
BERLINER ZEITUNG
machine-translation
Following the NATO model: EU liberals call for a new “geoeconomic deterrence pact”
Renew Europe aims to counter pressure from the US and China with a trade protection pact. New partners are expected to include Canada, Japan, and South Korea.
https://archive.is/HjolB