When War Weakens Democracy
Wars often undermine democracy, but it appears that that result is not baked in but operates in particular circumstances.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
More Handwringing About Collapsing Birth Rates: How Focus on Gender Roles Misses the Mark
Sentimentality about child-rearing is leading experts not to look clinically enough at why birth rates around the world are plunging.
Read more...Iran Has More Options Up Its Sleeve Than Trump and Netanyahu Assume
As Israel attempts to push the US into war with Iran, more hard looks at how Tehran could retaliate
Read more...Has the Rate of Global Warming More Than Doubled?
Troubling global warming updates from the authoritative James Hansen.
Read more...Bloomberg’s $108 Oil as Worst Case Iran War Scenario: Too Optimistic?
A detailed Bloomberg report lays out different scenarios for oil prices if Iran attacks. Is its forecast of a worst case of $108 a barrel too cheery?
Read more...Suffocating an Island: What the U.S. Blockade Is Doing to Cuba
Medea Benjamin provides a gripping on-the-ground report of how conditions in Cuba are deteriorating due to the US oil blockage.
Read more...Satyajit Das: On Cinema – Antonioni’s Mysteries
A look at the major works of Michelangelo Antonioni and how he influenced film-making.
Read more...Costs of Device-Reliant Parenting: Kids Deficient in Empathy and Storytelling Skills, Can’t Read, Show Declining Cognitive Performance
Another disconcerting report on the harm done to kids by device and tech heavy parenting
Read more...Links 2/11/2026
/a>Reuters Finds AI-Using Surgery Devices Harmed Patients; Nature Magazine and Reuters Find Medical Chatbots Not Beating Patients’ Own Internet Sleuthing
More reasons to be concerned about the aggressive implementation of AI in medicine.
Read more...The Finance Curse Is Killing Britain
A well-warranted harsh look at the high cost an overly-large and ever-more-extractive finance sector imposes on society as a whole.
Read more...‘This Is Your Money’: Trump Assault on CFPB Has Cost Consumers $19 Billion
The affordability crisis includes the cost of being cheated, which due to the weakening of the CFPB alone is a handsome sum.
Read more...Links 2/10/2026
America’s Real Health Crisis? Inequality— and a Generation Pays
Raw milk won’t cut it. Even being rich won’t save you. The fast track to improving health in America is tackling inequality
Read more...The European Veal Pen: How the US Weaponized Russophobic Paranoia & Energy Geopolitics To Capture Control of Europe
Can Europe free itself from its capture by the US, which looked like a dandy idea until the US became an openly predatory hegemon?
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