I wrote about Venezuela www.northsouthnotes.org/p/regime-col...

Adam Smith may have won the intellectual battle of ideas, but mercantilism has survived, and sometimes to good effects, from Dani Rodrik www.nber.org/papers/w34353

The “almost no one” is doing a lot of work here—acknowledging that Trump's lifeline serves asset managers and hedge funds, including Bessent’s former colleagues Druckenmiller and Citrone, deeply exposed to 🇦🇷 bonds. This is global financial corruption, pure and simple.

End of an era in Bolivia. After 20 years, the MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) leaves govt — Latin America’s most radical political experiment winds down. Happily, the far right has been blocked: Tuto Quiroga, a protégé of 1970s dictator Hugo Banzer, won't govern. The presidency goes to Rodrigo Paz.

Well, ok. But if you have Mokyr then Bob Allen should be there too.

Remember when dense networks of strategic cross-shareholdings among firms, native to coordinated market economies, went the way of the dodo? The Rhenish model, Germany, Inc. undone by Anglo institutional investors? Well, the dodo is back. Say hello to USA, Inc. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

The Nobel goes to María Corina Machado—not Trump, but a loyal disciple of his causes: backing Netanyahu, cheering Latin America’s far right, calling for a U.S. invasion of Venezuela, and dreaming of privatizing its oil. Maduro is a dictator, but this isn’t peace.

"In Gaza, destruction is rewarded with contracts and the “peace plan” is property development. Historian @adam_tooze & economist @ClaraEMattei trace how capitalism profits through ruin: war, austerity, and reconstruction form one system of control. " youtu.be/0iIEgp1LPpA

If profits shape the energy transition we need to understand the biggest profit event this century: the 2022 oil and gas price spike. Very happy our paper is now out in Energy Research & Social Science. Thread by lead-author @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social 👇

🔴BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview The new Green leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted an interview on the flagship BBC show after being elected, or during his party conference bylinetimes.com/2025/10/06/b...

News that shocks no one: Carbon offsets do nothing for climate.

Argentina is truly suffering under the man Farage and Badenoch admire most on.ft.com/3KFBl3K

MI primer acto político fue dejar de comer carne. El segundo, manifestarme por Miguel Angel Blanco. Pero no entendí lo que significa poner el cuerpo por una causa hasta hoy. Mi columna de hoy es un homenaje a los que me lo enseñaron: David Adler y @mushon.bsky.social elpais.com/opinion/2025...

“The conversations are most touching when exploring questions of how to live, which Chomsky and Mujica tether to, though never fully reduce to, the political.”

Terrific weekend essay by @henrymance.bsky.social

Ayer leía a alguien decir que por qué Bluesky no se centraba en hacer una red social guay y se dejaba de mierdas de protocolos y descentralización. Es tremendo que ni con dos de las redes más importantes del mundo cayendo en manos de la ultraderecha seamos capaces de tomarnos en serio este tema.

Japan’s biggest threat is demographic decline, but the LDP still thinks immigration is the real problem. Fair enough: opening up to foreigners once brought Japan plenty of trouble — like kanji, Zen, and chopsticks.

Austeritarianism, $20bn of illegitimate IMF debt, interest rates that reached 80%, a $20bn U.S. bailout, political backing from Bessent, and capital controls—and still the peso fell 7% in the last seven days. Milei’s predatory casino is backfiring, and Argentina’s economy remains in free fall.

Western ‘leaders’ once paraded Greta as a symbol of moral clarity—until she condemned Israel’s genocide. Now they don’t even care about her safety

Coming this spring. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

RIP Claus Offe 😔 He wrote a lot but this is by far one of the best texts written about trade unions, their structural position and limitations. www.hwiesenthal.de/publik/hw/2l...

Da Empoli is becoming a must-read for the EU political class. Yet in his latest piece he writes about an idea that’s been obvious for years: digital moguls and the far right converge structurally and will tolerate no democratic limits. Are those in Brussels only just noticing?

Many people desperately wanted to see Starmer's LPC speech as a new direction on immigration and asylum. Yet, we clearly see a continuation of an approach that basically says Farage is right on policy but morally wrong. Others have tried it, it won't work. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

My heartbreak and horror at the killing and starvation of Gazans does not negate my total support and solidarity with my fellow jewish citizens across the UK against terror. The conflation on display by some politicians and media outlets over the last 24 hours is sickening.

"I'm here to talk about what others won’t. To tell the truth about what makes our country great and what makes it not so great. While others thrive on creating scapegoats, I am here to tell you a different story." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Israel has just arrested Greta Thunberg and many others. Statement from the Global Sumud Flotilla: “People of conscience have been abducted. The flotilla broke no laws. What is illegal is Israel’s genocide, Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, and Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon.” 1/3

scared for friends and comrades on the flotilla who have just been abducted by Israeli forces. but more than anything so so grateful for and in awe of their bravery

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

“Israeli Forces Kill 198 Palestinians in Gaza Over Three Days” It’s a genocide. Daily endless massacres, largely ignored in the West.

Colombian President Petro, outside the UN in NYC: “Humanity has been challenged by Israel, and humanity must respond; otherwise, Gaza could be replicated in many cities in poor nations. If Palestine disappears, humanity disappears.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro gave one of the most chilling speeches in recent history before the United Nations, and it has been totally ignored by US news media.

The issue is not whether 'Britain is far right' but why far-right politics have become so normalised Rather than accepting this is a bottom-up, people-driven push, I argue that we must look at those who have the power to shape the agenda and public discourse www.bigissue.com/news/politic...

Brilliant and powerful column by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A powerful piece that does not succumb to despair, by David Adler.

Join Wang Hui, Pun Ngai, Rebecca Karl, and Tariq Ali for an urgent discussion on China's evolving role on the world stage on Saturday, 4 October, at 6.30pm. Tickets are free with registration!

US support "fails to get to the heart of Milei’s problem: the inherent tension between his strategy of using a strong peso and fiscal austerity to tame inflation while trying to grow the economy and improve the country’s external balance sheet."

Driven by fear of the far right, the EU is losing its compass, whether on migration, climate or Gaza. By undermining its own principles, Europe weakens its global position and risks losing not just dignity but political agency. With @jannikjansen.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"I want to see Netanyahu and those responsible for the genocide against the Palestinian people brought before an international court of justice." – Chilean President Gabriel Boric at the UN. A rare speech: bold, morally clear, and unapologetic.

Texas, Aug. 23, 2001 - President George W. Bush on Thursday said he planned to telephone Argentina's President Fernando De la Rua [...] "to talk about the recent financial package that has been developed on behalf of his nation, so that his nation doesn't default." - United Press International.

Who knows if this will mean anything in the long run, but it's some kinda moment and worth noting all the same. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Here comes the sun. China added more solar capacity in 6 months than the US ever has, powered by a decade of smart, very efficient subsidies (~$50 bn). Absolutely worth reading.

Austeritarianism, $20bn of illegitimate IMF debt, interest rates that reached 80%—and still Argentina is back in a currency spiral. Milei made the fundamental error of prioritising fiscal over balance of payments adjustment; too late, his credibility is gone.

I came of political age hating the Bush guys and now I have to get in the trenches with them against the guy from the apprentice I would like to file several complaints

Letzte Woche haben wir bei Böll Global den Aufstieg der extremen Rechten diskutiert. Das Gespräch kann man sich jetzt auch hier ansehen. www.youtube.com/live/Gakwgrp...

From Red Vienna to Attlee’s UK, social housing has been a cornerstone of thriving, more equal urban communities. Paris shows how bold policy can still deliver tangible outcomes and confront powerful vested interests.

"...every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, convulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism...nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us."

today, Rachel Reeves meets BlackRock & Blackstone bosses to ask what British derisking state can do for them. New Rip-off Britain project by @cmmonwealth.bsky.social shows what institutional ownership has done for us: 200bn from our pockets to Big Finance!

We’re at the post WWII inflection point: the state created for survivors of the most notorious genocide in history itself commits genocide. At the same time, 100,000 Britons march for fascism in London. Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says www.bbc.com/news/article...

In a world riven by inequality and devastated by climate + ecological crisis, what would it take for "green industrial policy" to empower the working class in Global North + South, and be truly green? New @cplusc.bsky.social report by me and Isabel Estevez (1/3) t.co/78sQQe4d1g