It's kind of funny how Hayek's (mostly correct) argument against central planning because concentrating that much economic power in one place inevitably lead to totalitarian behavior is also a pretty strong argument against like, extreme concentrations of wealth and market power

wealth concentration is already 200% as bad at is was in 2020. think about that

1/2 AFP: "WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Friday urged China to change its growth model, arguing that its soaring trade surplus risked sparking new trade barriers. “The $1.2 trillion trade surplus is not sustainable because the rest of the world cannot... business.inquirer.net/574306/wto-c...

4400 times

Poison dart frogs. Notoriously native to Siberia. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I guess this was inevitable, given the evidence likely to be put before the court. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Exclusive: India's Reliance wins US licence for Venezuelan oil, sources say reut.rs/463vI7r

Good grief.

Sigh. "Initially stating that five jets were shot down, Trump gradually raised that number to seven in October, and then eight in November." Now ten. www.dawn.com/news/1972507...

Bravo, QUT.

Behold the sharp wit and subtle banter of debate in the Mother of Parliaments!

Everyone knows China’s #1 foreign policy objective is eliminating Canadian hockey

Looks like the UK will soon have its 7th prime minister in ten years. Let’s hope this one is indeed lucky.

The decision of my university's email system to block review requests from manuscript central is generating more mixed feelings than I would have anticipated. It doesn't help that I still get the irritated follow up messages from editors asking why I haven't replied.

Very hard to imagine that a major Indian paper would have published a picture like this under Trump 1.0.

Once again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”

I am relieved to see this climbdown from the Trump administration, removing the 25% additional tariff on India imposed due to the latter's imports of Russian oil. But damage is still being done to US credibility and the US-India relationship. 1/2 www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/t...

"Jo ucchit samjho woh karo..." says a Defence Minister to a General. Not my area, but I think that what is emerging about what happened in 2020-21 and in May 2025 might well lead scholars to revise their understandings of India's civil-military relations. theprint.in/defence/augu...

Extraordinary that Russian operations depend on a US system - and the Kremlin allows it. Also extraordinary that the US permits this.

A rather stern local. Jakarta.

New issue of @bluesecprogram.bsky.social Maritime Affairs by Su Wai Mon and Vu Hai Dang on cybersecurity at Southeast Asia's ports.

Journalism literally dying in darkness

President Trump said India is going to stop buying Russian oil. Such a move is easier said than done.

Or Rafales…

It is sexism all the way down.

Volume of Russian and Iranian oil loitering at sea is hitting records • Indian and Chinese buyers/ports are increasingly fearful of falling foul of sanctions • Tankers become 70% less productive (in tonne-miles) in six months after being placed under US sanctions www.economist.com/finance-and-...

50,000 fatalities a year - and perhaps more. Not as deadly as the awful roads (150,000+ per year) but still a lot of avoidable deaths. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Also evidence that essentially eliminating irregular immigration - as Australia has - doesn't, by itself, stop the radical right.

The biggest operation in a while, I think.

As someone posted the other day, we need to be thinking about mandating or allocating time consuming off line hobbies to the over-50s.

Lol

There is probably a good book to be written about how UK foreign policy lurches backwards and forwards between often risible moralism (remember the "ethical foreign policy"...) to near xenophobia without ever approaching a happy medium.

Middle aged white men (and I’m 49, so I’m in the demographic) absolutely need ridiculous Dad Hobbies or they get squirrely. I think if you’re can’t prove you have a preexisting Dad Hobby or 2 by age 45, you get entered into a national hobby draft and get assigned one. It would solve so many things.

Yeah...

New: Tesla 4th quarter profit plunges 61% year-over-year; annual profit down 46% the brand damage: -1 million lost vehicle sales, per study -Declining revenue, profits, deliveries in 1st half of '25 -Lower total production/deliveries than '24 -Lost crown as world's leading EV seller wapo.st/3LYTef1

Just sent out this free piece. The response to the execution of Alex Pretti reveals how we have gotten into this mess. The anger is not directed at Trump, who caused this whole situation. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Xi Jinping will be pleased. A "new era" indeed. Yikes.

Note too that if the EU gets this trade deal over the line, it will have done better than the first Trump admin, which failed to negotiate one, and the second one, which has so far failed to negotiate one.

This ranting and raving does not make the US look strong, regardless of the rights and wrongs. www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/f...

End of an era for some of us. RIP.

Suggestion: let’s have a Cathy Freeman Day. 25 September or nearest Monday. It can replace the problematic one… and we need more public holidays in the second half of the year.

Very much a read. It’s about regional Queensland, folks.

*Queensland outside Brisbane.

New Yorker cartoon by Ivan Ehlers

Yikes

Zhang Youxia, the senior of the two vice chairs of the powerful Central Military Commission, is the latest figure to fall in a long-running purge of military officials.

Never change, universities.