The Crapification of Mattresses and Retail Therapy (and an Iran Aside)
The sorry state of mattresses as a worthwhile distraction from the sudden US escalation against Iran.
Read more...Category Archives: Middle East
A New Pipeline Could Undo America’s Influence In Asia
A China-Pakistan pipeline deal bodes ill for the US.
Read more...America’s Arms Sales Addiction
The sorry history of how US arms sales have made the world less safe, and aren’t all that good for America either.
Read more...Why The Kurds Still Don’t Have a Country
How the Kurds always wound up on the losing end of imperial map-drawing.
Read more...The Oil Mystery Undermining An Aramco IPO
Why might investors be skittish about Aramco’s oil reserve claims?
Read more...Trump’s Withdrawal From Syria: Betrayal of Kurds or End to Endless War?
President Trump’s plan to withdraw from Syria generated widespread outrage in the US. But what would it mean for the key players in the Middle East?
Read more...Iran’s Ultimate Middle East Power Play
An overview of Iran’s grand strategy.
Read more...Iran Doesn’t Want Conflict, Says Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, But Any US-Saudi Attack Would Spark ‘All-Out War’
Iran once again has to tell the West what it ought to have figured out by now.
Read more...Drama in the Oil Markets After Attacks on Saudi Production. But This Isn’t 2007 Anymore
How the shale boom made the US less vulnerable to oil supply shocks.
Read more...The US Massively Underestimates the Trade War Blowback
US trade and economic sanctions not only have not delivered on their stated aims, but they’ve also had unwelcome side effects.
Read more...Andrew Bacevich, Ending War, American-Style
The US hasn’t won a war since World War II, and even then, the Soviets deserve most of the credit. So how do we keep up appearances?
Read more...US and Iran “At Cliff’s Edge”
Patrick Cockburn, the Independent’s Middle East correspondent, discusses the situation in Iran with the Real News Network.
Read more...China’s Ultimate Play For Global Oil Market Control
The main driving issue is the realization by the Saudis that, irrespective of the reassuring rhetoric of Trump and Kushner, their bitter nemesis, Qatar, is far more important to the US than the rest of the conservative Arab monarchies and sheikhdoms of the GCC.
Read more...Keeping the Oil in the Soil
The goal of any serious climate policy is to keep oil and other fossil fuels in the ground. The central question is how.
Read more...Trump’s Peace Plan and the Future of Palestine
Trying to cut through the noise of Trump’s Palestine deal-making efforts.
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