Author Archives: Yves Smith
Africa’s Minerals Are Being Bartered for Security: Why It’s a Bad Idea
A minerals-for-security deal among the DRC, Rwanda and the US is as bad as the Ukraine “raw earths” security commitments.
Read more...The Fight for Hearts and Minds: Christian Churches Filling Void Created by Social Service Cuts, With Some Also Hard-Selling Far Right Political Messages
As safety nets shred, some Christian churches provide key services to the poor while others use the desperation to build political power
Read more...AI and Workers’ Wellbeing: Lessons from Germany’s Early Experience
An only mildly negative report on AI implementation from Germany, and why that is not likely to be generalizable to the US.
Read more...Can This Industry Be Saved? The Case of Natural Diamonds
The once prized diamond is now merely a natural diamond and losing ground to its cheaper manufactured cousins.
Read more...Links 7/19/2025
Michael Hudson: Today’s Civilizational Conflict
A new article by Michael Hudson, an extract from an upcoming book, gives a long view of colonial exploitation and China as a counter-model
Read more...When ‘Coexistence’ Is Co-Opted in Conservation Practice
Coexistence between humans and wildlife is a meaningful goal, but it’s being misused or superficially invoked.
Read more...Good Riddance: CalPERS’ Atrocious General Counsel Matt Jacobs to Retire
A partial catalogue of the horrowshow of Matt Jacob’s tenure as CalPERS general counsel.
Read more...Uneven Vulnerabilities: A Global Index of Climate Risk for Countries
A new paper rates 170 countries for climate risk exposure. This ambitious and imporant exercise neverthless seems to have key gaps.
Read more...Why Inflation Sticks Around: The Role of Class Warfare in Price Persistence
A new twist on inflation: how workers and corporates trying to preserve their financial position has the effect of perpetuating inflation
Read more...Wars, Taxation, and Increases in Representation
A historical analysis shows that greater representation was a bargain autocratic, here feudal, rulers had to strike to get support for war
Read more...Why Is the Media Normalizing Nuclear War and Its Effects on US Populations?
The meme-contour of recent articles seems designed to promote resignation towards nuclear war and other horrors of combat.
Read more...“The Corporate Takeover of Housing”
Debunking some widely held misperceptoins about why US housing is so pricey.
Read more...Project Nectar: Another Palantir Special
Meet Project Nectar, a new surveillance state initiative being tested for the UK and planned for rollout to police forces broadly.
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