Some perspectives on being an expat.
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
2:00PM Water Cooler 12/28/2022
~ Today’s Water Cooler ~
Hoisted from Comments: Rosneft Refinery in Schwedt as a Microcosm of Europe’s Sanctions-Induced Energy Mess
A Rosneft refinery in Germany illustrates how difficult it is to get back to anything resembling status quo ante under sanctions.
The Ukraine Crisis Is a Classic “Security Dilemma”
Some well-meaning but going-nowhere peace ideas for Ukraine.
2:00PM Water Cooler 12/27/2022
~ Today’s Water Cooler ~
Thomas Frank on How the Feckless Democrats Trashed the American Middle Class
How Democrats abandoned populist economic ideas and whether there is a future for progressivism.
Russia Says Europe Will Struggle To Replace Its Oil Products
More debate over the impact of Western sanctions on oil price.
2:00PM Water Cooler 12/26/2022
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Holiday Thread ~
Cal Grad Student Worker Strike Ends With Deal Panned by Many Rank-and-File Union Members
One dissenting student negotiator said the tentative agreement “does not come close to our initial demands and it leaves a lot of our co-workers still rent burdened, still impoverished.”
US-China Struggle for DR Congo Resources Intensifies
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s estimated $24 trillion of untapped mineral resources is coveted by both the US and China as rivalry heats up.
NATO’s Ghosts of the Past Return in Kosovo-Serbia
Serbian president says the situation now resembles the “Chekhov’s gun” narrative principle: “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.”
