Author Archives: Yves Smith

Housing Market Takes Another Body Blow with Sharp Interest Rate Rise

A short update on the housing market.

Noam Chomsky: Ukraine Is a Diplomacy No-Go Zone

If this is what Western “realism” about Ukraine looks like, our goose is cooked.

Railroads, Logistics, and War, US Versus Russian Style

Now the Russian military is supposedly no good because it relies arguably overmuch on railroads and muscle rather than pallets and forklifts.

Gazprom Reduces Gas Flows To Italy

More on the dastardly gast cuts to Europe by Gazprom.

JFK’s Canadian Coup

When Canadian PM John Diefenbaker said no to nuclear missiles in 1961, JFK helped Lester Pearson replace him.

Links 6/15/2022

Can the Fed Kill This Inflation Without Killing Too Many Other Things First?

Why having central banks as the inflation shock troops is not such a hot idea.

Fertilizer Prices Are Soaring – and That’s an Opportunity to Promote More Sustainable Ways of Growing Crops

The fertilizer price crisis may represent an opportunity….but can farmers take advantage of it?

Boris Johnson’s Hypocrisy on the Northern Ireland Protocol Is a New Low

Boris Johnson has threatened for some time to blow up Brexit’s Northern Ireland protoocol, and now he’s finally set the process in motion.

SWIFT Dollar Decline

US-led sanctions are inadvertently undermining post-Second World War dollar dominance. Countries threatened are respond pro-actively.

Links 6/14/2022

Anschluss, Again — Anticipating Poland’s Strategy in Russia’s Intelligence Assessment

Is Poland scheming? And if so, what might come of its plans?

Race Is Often Used as Medical Shorthand for How Bodies Work. Some Doctors Want to Change That.

How race factors into medical assessments, often not properly.