Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Links 1/7/2026

American Hegemony by AI: The Role of Israel

The India-Middle East-Europe Corridor is back from the dead, but what of all the issues with an imperial strategy that relies on data centers and desalination in a hotbox ready to blow. 

Why Politicians Won’t Fix Affordability

Why affordability crisis is a symptom of predatory neoliberal practices. Concentrated wealth looks set to keep this new norm in place.

Two Decades of Chinese Industrial Subsidies

A profile of China’s subsidies and how they have changed over time. Counter-intuitively, agriculture is the most important recipient.

Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – U.S. War Without Boundaries

Over the past two decades, use of U.S. military force has shifted from an exceptional act governed by law and public accountability to a flexible, discretionary instrument of policy. This article examines how post-9/11 legal authorities, institutional convergence, and secrecy have eroded the boundaries between war, intelligence, and governance—producing a system of permanent, unbounded conflict.

With Global Attention on Venezuela, Israel Intensifies Assault on Gaza, Lebanon

Israel continues to kill children because it can.

Links 1/6/2026

Reopening the Veins of Latin America

It seems that a new chapter in Latin America’s long history of “open veins” is about to be written, and unfortunately Eduardo Galeano is no longer around to do it.

Trump’s Greenland Threats: Will He or Won’t He Act?

Why Trump’s saber-rattling over Greenland should be taken seriously.

Fed’s Standing Repo Facility (SRF) Drops to Zero, from $75 Billion on the Last Balance Sheet as Yearend Liquidity Turmoil Dissolves

Unpacking the much-ado-about-nothing over year-end use of the Fed’s pet liquidity-providing mechanism, its standing repo facility.

Coffee Break: Microsoft’s Satya Nadella Makes Microslop Trend

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has made the term Microslop go viral with his admonition to “get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication.”

EU’s Carbon Border Tax Goes Live, Eliciting Threats from China and Perhaps Soon, the US

China and India are unhappy about a new EU carbon tax on exports like steel. The US is expected to join the chorus. Will they retaliate?

Links 1/5/2026

Dollar Supremacy Strategy or All-Time Grift? American AI Imperialism’s Reliance on the Middle East 

Washington plots to ride the AI bubble back to the top—using Persian Gulf capital and energy to get there and make everyone rich along the way—and what this can tell us about war against Venezuela.

Even the Wall Street Journal Doubts the Trump Seize-Venezuela-Oil Scheme

Despite Trump’s loud proclamations, his fevered Venezuela oil heist dreams are set to go nowhere. So what happens then?