Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – India/Pakistan Tinderbox

On April 22, unknown terrorists attacked tourists in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, India, killing 25 of them. The attackers reportedly segregated the victims based on religion before executing Hindus. Like earlier terror strikes, such as the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Uri attack, and the 2019 Pulwama-Balakot crisis, the […]

Suddenly Everything Stopped: Nationwide Blackouts in Spain and Portugal Underscore Extreme Fragility of Our Modern Systems

As the system comes back online and attention turns to the possible cause(s) of one of Europe’s largest peacetime blackouts, one thing is clear: without cash, the chaos would have been far worse. 

Links 4/29/2025

Chokepoint Crazy: The U.S. Bombs Both Sides of Gulf of Aden and Considers Setting Up Shop in Somaliland

Bombs fall on Yemen. Bombs fall on Somalia. The US considers recognizing Somaliland in desperate attempt to dominate Red Sea. 

What’s Preventing a United Front Against the Trump Regime?

Trump won’t change, but his foes must, argues Norman Solomon. 

Imagine You Are a Poor Nation, Trapped by Debt and Strangled by Climate Change—What Are Your Options?

Climate change, debt, and development have a caustic relationship, hindering economic justice and national advancement, but solutions exist.

Coffee Break: Across the Pond With the Dying Western Empire

The Western Empire is dying; but, there are no Western leaders, particularly in Europe, who have any ideas on how to arrest the collapse. The ones we are cursed with can only see one way out and that is by going to war. It is not going to be an easy death.

Links 4/28/2025

Accident or Attack? Explosion at Iran’s Busiest Commercial Port Will Reverberate Beyond Bandar Abbas Either Way 

Explosion likely to exacerbate existing problems with the Iranian economy, which include high inflation that is hitting food prices particularly hard and weak economic growth due to sanctions

Tensions Over Kashmir and a Warming Planet Have Placed the Indus Waters Treaty on Life Support

More than 300 million people rely on the Indus River Basin for their survival. The treaty governing its use is falling apart.

Links 4/27/2025

The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Death Rides a Horse (1969) Run Time: 1h 55m

The Sunday Morning Movies presents: Death Rides a Horse (1969) A fine example of a Spaghetti Western in the style of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

‘We Deserve to Breathe Clean Air’: Southwest Memphians Take On Elon Musk’s xAI

Having faced decades of environmental racism, community members are in the middle of their greatest fight yet.

Links 4/26/2025

Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution

What ought to be a cause for tariffs pause: unrepresentative and often high taxes were a major spur to the French Revolution.