The Politics of the Slaughter of Everybody
Paging Santayana. What happened to the Athenians after they acted on their confidence in their ability to slaughter the Melians.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Iran’s Proposed Embargo Could Cause Chaos in Oil Markets
A brief look at the impact of the 1970s oil embargo, and what the effects might be if one were implemented now.
Read more...The Impossibility of Negotiated Settlements in the Gaza and Ukraine Conflicts
Although some analysts have given reasons why negotiated solutions to the wars in the Gaza and Ukraine are not in the cards, for the most part, they have also been hesitant to say that in a simple noun-verb sentence. Perhaps they hope against hope that a frame-breaking event will radically shift the current boundary conditions […]
Read more...The New Electric War Campaign – How the Russian Army Will Select the Ukrainian Targets
How Russia is likely to target the Ukraine electric grid this winter. Looting of aid funds for repairs has made things easier.
Read more...Links 11/4/2023
Nasrallah’s Speech Confirms that “MAD” Has Been Reached Between Israel-US & the Resistance Axis
Hebollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a fiery speech on the conflict in Gaza that fell short of a call for escalation…at least right now.
Read more...Why Fossil Fuel Companies Can’t Leave Resources Stranded
A discussion of how fossil fuel companies’ imperatives and our legal regime preclude getting them to leave oil and gas in the ground.
Read more...How Houthi Attacks Affect Both the Israel-Hamas Conflict and Yemen’s Own Civil War – and Could Put Pressure on US, Saudi Arabia
The Houthis have started harassing Israel. How much of a threat are they?
Read more...‘Worse Than People Can Imagine’: Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Breeds Chaos in States
The campaign against the poor and lower income continues apace, this time in the form of Medicaid cuts.
Read more...Did People Die from Covid Because of the Power of Populist Politics?
The role of ideology in bad Covid science and its amplification.
Read more...Egypt Is Playing an Extremely High-Stakes Game in Gaza That Could End in Genocide
Egypt firmy restates its red line of not letting Gaza refugees decamp en mass into Sinai and suggests it would go to war with Israel if needed
Read more...Plaintiffs in Mammoth RICO/Swiss Law Suit Versus Credit Suisse, Many Directors and Execs, and KPMG for Egregious Misconduct File Response to Defendants’ Objections
An update on a monster lawsuit against Credit Suisse (now UBS), KPMG, and various executives for a decade of very costly misconduct.
Read more...Elongating the Fossil Fuel Era, One Trick at a Time
A mini-catalogue of strategies the fossil fuel industry is using to forestall the transition to other energy sources.
Read more...Even Rich Nations Now Worried About ISDS
Yves here. In the US, Public Citizen deserves a great deal of credit for turning policy-makers against the multinational-favoring, national-law-and-regulation-gutting “free trade agreement known as ISDS, or “investor state dispute settlement. These disputes are arbitrated by secret panels with no appeal and pro-corporate cronies acting as deciders. Public Citizen’s relentless digging got key bad facts […]
Read more...New Report Calls Out Chemical Recycling as a ‘False Solution’ to the Plastics Crisis
ust 11 facilities are currently operational in the U.S. and they process a tiny fraction of the nation’s plastic waste, the report finds.
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