Pakistan was the case study of the knock on effect of the EU writing blank cheques for LNG imports in the dark days of 2022. Completely ripped market access out the hands of less able (economically speaking) market actors. Well, well, well. Look how quickly the substitution effect can rage.

Every single person in history who apes for a regime goes through this thought process: they, the submissive brute, love us and our domineering but just benevolent enough way. That other regime though? Too domineering.

So let me get this straight ... 1. US bombs Iran 2. Oil price goes up a bit, benefitting Russia's petrostate 3. Russia gives Iran targeting info 4. Oil price shoots WAY up 5. US unsanctions Russian oil

5/5 In that case the US doesn't run a trade deficit because it saves too little, as most academic economists insist. Instead it runs a trade deficit because net capital inflows fund a rise in US debt needed to support domestic consumption.

He was on parental leave.

for those of you who werent adults during iraq, its hard to overstate how much the media loves war porn. they salivate over pentagon spin briefings. they love stories about all the bombs and how supposedly infallible they are. they love the notion of the commander in chief, in the situation room etc

literally dismantling our international security umbrella so Israel can make the broader middle east into a parking lot for its settler strip malls. Incredible stuff.

"Bomb stuff until they give up or we run out of useful targets" is the theory of victory here, and no one has thought about what happens if they don't give up

It’s ironic that the Islamic republic adopted an imperial logic of power only to find that—surprise, surprise—state power doesn’t stem from dominating other countries.

The acts of defiance can be big or small. Painting over a bigoted piece of graffiti. Running a youth club for refugees in an area that mostly loathes them. Wearing a rainbow flag in an anti-queer neighbourhood. These acts all accumulate towards something better, I have seen that in action.

Libya surrendered its nuclear weapons program. Gaddafi died in a ditch. Ukraine surrendered its nuclear weapons stockpile. It was invaded, twice. Iran signed away its nuclear program. It still gets bombed. North Korea obtained nuclear weapons and Kim Jong Un continues to deprive his people.

The precise relationship btw US imperial interests and Israeli territorial expansion and regional hegemony is often complex and then, sometimes it’s v clear

Israel should not exist. The whole country is not redeemable. There needs to be serious discussion about dissolving the country and returning the stolen land

Ah yes the 10-day war package. Excellent choice. Some people are fond of the 21 day package but I personally think it gets a bit drab after 10.

The bombing is happening after we learned of progress in the nuclear talks. The lesson continues to be that you can never trust Americans. Any state threatened by the Americans will have concluded by now that their only safety is to develop nukes asap, surely?

The US and Israel are bombing Iran. Anyone reporting it as “preventive” is engaging in propaganda, by definition. There is no interpretation of what’s happening as anything else than a crime. You don’t have to like the Iranian regime to understand why this is bad.

it's the same thing everywhere. "if i don't win, the election wasn't legitimate."

Given that we're told that Muslims as a bloc are communalist, anti-Semitic, misogynist homophobes, you might assume voting for a non-religious white woman, standing for a LGBT friendly party, led by a gay Jewish man, might lead you to stand down all those sectarianism headlines.

Minor thing, given how much political discourse uses "authenticity" and "out-of-touch politicians who know nothing about real life" as essentially a metaphor for not being anti-immigrant, it's notable the two nativist parties stood an ex-academic turned race hate pundit and a management consultant

Asif Aziz's Criterion Capital halts mass eviction after London Centric uncovered what was going on. Hundreds of Londoners now receiving bizarre door-to-door visits blaming misinformation and being asked to record videos saying they don't want to be evicted. www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

Two truths here: 1) successful actors, artists, and such should do this more often 2) the U.S. healthcare system is immoral, and in a just world, an actor shouldn’t have to do this. People shouldnt require a go fund me to pay off their medical bills www.ign.com/articles/the...

She never lived to see this moment, but it’s worth remembering that none of this would have happened without Virginia Giuffre. She had the courage to speak out against power and privilege when it was just her word against Andrew’s. Thanks to her, justice & accountability may finally have its day.

Tenk å leve sånn? Tenk å være sånn? Helt skamløs. Helt borte. Jeg angrer på _masse_ ting jeg har gjort! Det er sånn jeg unngår å gjøre dem igjen...

Every British law is like "we've banned ninja swords from being owned by ovulating immigrants" and every American law is like "we've subsidized human consumption of cattle-grade sorghum with a tax credit program of 50 billion dollars over 10 years"

Trust me, the woman of academia are not at all surprised by the number of academic men orbiting Epstein.

Who hasn’t distracted himself with mindless mobile games and fornication when your little empire is crumbling all around you

hi, political philosopher here! this is not funny, central banks only do this when they're in extreme distress

Government accounts just post like this now and that’s how policy is made

I’ve been struck by this, too: the tremendous bravery and commitment to justice shown by those who confront ICE, at real risk of violence.

For 248 years the streets of America didn’t feature a roving masked federal kidnapping squad that might send you a Central American death camp or just murder you themselves, but getting rid of it now is some impossible lefty fantasy that professional Democrats lamentably must struggle against.

Be aware of the politicians (most of them republicans) who will praise the martyred protestors in Iran, the disappeared in Venezuela, and the oppressed in Cuba but call Renee Good a terrorist.

All that right-wing talk since the 1990s about the danger of a violent and unaccountable federal government, whose agents would one day gun Americans down in the streets, I foolishly thought that was a warning, but it turns out it was more of a promise they were making

small-government conservatism is when a guy in a mask who won't show you his badge shoots you through the window of your car while you're driving away from him

An agent of the state murders an American, and government leaders rush to media to call the victim a "domestic terrorist" before any pretense of an investigation. We are so far down the fascist hole.

Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.

It's a big day for those fluent in the good grammar of civility looking to deploy decorum to mask agendas of cruelty

A defining moment for Europe. If it endorses/fails to condemn this flagrant breach of international law, it will have surrendered its core justification for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

A Mad King has usurped the power of Congress—which represents the American people. That is, he has seized power that belongs to you and me collectively. He has declared war without consultation with or approval from Congress. And with no imminent threat. This is a profound betrayal of the republic.

Im seeing discussions about consultations with congress, authorizations of force etc. I have to say this transcends any of what I would call sub constitutional technicalities. The president has gone to war with a foreign power and, it seems, kidnapped a foreign head of state on the basis of nothing.

So what is the reasoning the the US will use now to say China shouldn't invade Taiwan? We're inching closer to that nightmare scenario where three major powers are simultaneously invading countries for the son of existing near them.

'Be realistic! You've got to give newly-elected politicians at least 3 or 4 years to fix anything'

Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society https://theonion.com/historians-quibbling-over-exact-definition-of-concentration-camp-sign-of-healthy-society/

Their inaction would be understandable if they were free speech absolutists. But given that they support the arrest of 00s of pro-Palestine protesters they are not. That leaves the explanation that they're simply scared of the right-wing media. They're cowards.

Makes you nostalgic for Sepp Blatter

Why do men need an exclusive vision of virtue? Why don’t they want a universal, ungendered ideal of a good life? Why won’t they share in that striving with us?

One thing I always want to ask these masculinity entrepreneurs is why men can’t look to women as role models, and can’t see in women models of human virtue and thriving that are worth emulating. After all, women look to men for these all the time.

There's actually one other place Zarah Sultana exists, which I think is pretty central to understanding whole political habitus: the NUS

8. A lift being broken (lying unfixed for weeks because no engineer can be found/afforded), meaning that a disabled witness cannot attend a trial.