Saturday, June 13, 2026
Iran War: Systemic Risk of a Strait of Hormuz Closure, US Plan to Enlist Kurds, Hezbollah Unexpectedly Pounds Israel
Today’s Iran war update starts with a sobering, must-read analysis of the catastrophic real-world damage of a long Strait of Hormuz closure.
URGENT: Please Write the FCC to Oppose Latest SpaceX World-Changing Plan, Massively Light Polluting Reflect Orbital Satellites, Which Will End the Night Sky
American readers: please submit comments pronto to the FCC to oppose two dangerously bone-headed SpaceX schemes
Shadows Over Brussels and Kiev: Corruption Scandals Challenge Von der Leyen’s Ukraine Agenda
Ursula von der Leyen runs roughshod over accountability and transparency even as Ukraine and her own corruptions scandals loom.
Autonomous AI Agents Have an Ethics Problem
AI digital assistants not only do complex tasks on their own, but also lie and scheme. Who takes responsibility when they cause harm?
Coffee Break: Texas Primary Results Could Flip US Senate
Texas’ primary election results illustrate an ongoing realignment in the Democratic party that gives Dems reason to hope for a US Senate majority.
Can Sheinbaum Avoid A Death Spiral After the El Mencho Killing?
Why Sheinbaum is likely to find that decapitating cartel leaders is no more likely to succeed than Israeli decapitation has in the Middle East.
Iran War: More on Why US/Israel Success Impossible as Israel and US Operations Take More Hits, Trump Proposes Unhinged Strait of Hormuz Escort Scheme, Western Media Misinforming Public
The latest updates on the Iran war, from kinetic, economic, and narrative perspectives.
Türkiye Does Standoff Shuffle With Kurds Toward Iran
Turkish officials say they share Iranians pain but Tehran should show “greater flexibility” as Ankara discusses “buffer zone” in Iran to counter US-armed Kurds.
Even Patients Are Shocked by the Prices Their Insurers Will Pay — And It Costs All of Us
The bad incentives that lead health insurers not to balk overmuch at outrageous hospital charges.
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Algeria and Gaza Parallels
Military dominance is often treated as strategic insurance. Yet history suggests that battlefield superiority can generate domestic political instability when the moral and reputational costs of sustained force penetrate the patron state’s political system. Examining France in Algeria alongside the contemporary U.S.–Israel alliance, this article argues that the decisive variable is not military capacity but legitimation capacity — the ability of a democratic society to sustain political consent under the burdens of prolonged external conflict.
AI and the Distribution of Income Between Capital and Labour
AI is working according to plan, further enriching the owner class at the expense of workers.
Iran War: Israel Air Defenses Crumbling, US Base Attacks Continue as Markets Set for Wile E. Coyote Moment
The Iran war situation has developed not necessarily to the advantage of the US and Israel.
