13th of May 2025 As the Ukrainian war enters its third year, there has been renewed, if rather limp, talk of a ceasefire followed by negotiations. The premise is that since neither side can ‘win’, it makes sense to start making peace. Few now remember that the war almost ended before it got going. On … Continue reading The Lost Peace?
Reading
15th of May 2025 As John Lanchester recently remarked (LRB 27 April 2025) ‘However little money there is for anything else, there’s always enough money for a war’. The failures of neoliberal economics threaten all kinds of political backlashes, some of which have already been seen in the nationalist turn of international relations. ‘Military Keynesianism’ … Continue reading Military Keynesianism?
27th of May 2025 I. Some of you may know the famous scene at the start of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, when one of our fur-covered ancestors picks up a bone from a skeleton lying on the ground and realises that it can be used to fight off enemies. Having killed the leader of … Continue reading Robots as Weapons of War
5th of June 2025 In George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother’s state of Oceania is perpetually at war. This never-ending conflict is not a conventional war to be won, but rather a tool of control. The paradoxical party slogan “War is Peace” is the key idea. Continuous war justifies continuous surveillance. Orwell’s novel vividly illustrates how … Continue reading 1984 Revisited – Robert Skidelsky and Attila Mesterházy Jr.
Fri 13 Jun 2025 Fiona Hill’s assessment of the Russian threat to Britain is a classic example of how a seemingly rational argument based on a false premise and scanty evidence can lead to a mad conclusion (Russia is at war with Britain and US is no longer a reliable ally, UK adviser says, 6 … Continue reading Letter in The Guardian: Russia adviser Fiona Hill’s alarming conclusion
14th of June 2025 Link: https://www.rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/619279-london-moscow-enemy-benefits/
The U.S. is helping Israel wage war on Iran over its nuclear program. But U.S. intelligence says Iran is not building a bomb.
The post U.S. Intel Says Iran Isn’t a Nuclear Threat. Israel Wants the U.S. to Bomb It Anyway. appeared first on The Intercept.
As the president pressed for an Iran nuclear deal, he approved Israel’s new war. Will America’s own military soon be directly involved?
CHAIR: This meeting will come to order. Will the secretary please call roll.
SECRETARY: Single Unit Homes?
SUH: Here.
SECRETARY: Duplexes?
DUPLEXES: Here here.
SECRETARY: Triplexes?
TRIPLEXES: Here here here.
SECRETARY: Mom and Pops?
M&P: Oh yeah, present.
SECRETARY: Conglomerates?
CONGLOMERATES: Thanks for your question. I am out of the office for the remainder of the week. In the event of an emergency, call the after-hours number.
CHAIR: Is he ever here?
SECRETARY: (rustles papers) Not when we are.
(…)
CHAIR: Any ongoing business from our prior session?
SECRETARY: We ended by tabling the vote on enacting longer delays for even the most basic of maintenance.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are exploiting patent law to extend their brand-name drug monopolies for years past their original expiration date.
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The first career-spanning book from Bay Area artist Tucker Nichols, Mostly Everything: The Art of Tucker Nichols attempts to capture, in one extravagant volume, decades of the artist’s varied work, from drawings with words, drawings without words, paintings, and sculpture, to large- and medium-scale public works, editorial illustrations, picture books, doodles, notes, charts, lists, and more.
Nigel Farage's party is culling anything to do with tackling climate change, including local planning for rising sea levels
Courts couldn’t issue injunctions or restraining orders against the government unless plaintiffs pay for a security bond.
The post Under GOP Budget Bill, You’d Have to Be Rich to Sue the Trump Administration appeared first on The Intercept.
Doctor Who companion Sophie Aldred has launched the charity book Ace's Jacket: The Inside Story, with proceeds going to deserving causes.
We may be approaching a time when the illusion of selfhood is strengthened, not weakened, because we are surrounded by machines enacting it.
At a time when many may feel that good news has gone the way of the dodo, look no further than the homeland of that long-extinct bird — Mauritius — for a dose of encouragement. There, among the islands of the Indian Ocean, news can be found about the power of resistance and the ability of small groups of people to band together to overcome the powerful. Amid ongoing slaughter from Gaza and Ukraine to Sudan and the Congo, the news also offers a victory for resolving conflicts through diplomacy rather than force. It’s a victory for decolonization and international law. And it’s a victory for Africa, the African diaspora, and indigenous and other displaced peoples who simply want to... Read more
Source: Resistance Works appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
An upcoming BBC podcast about the reporter's disappearance in August 2012 has unearthed new details of his case - some of which his family has dismissed
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Through mindful eating and a shift in mindset, you can alleviate unwarranted negative feelings and embrace the joy of food
- by Vivienne Lewis
For Emil Cioran, ‘true contact’ with another is the deep intimacy that emerges through mute togetherness
- by Sam Dresser
“Even if they rebuild all of Syria, Yarmouk will remain destroyed,” said one Palestinian refugee.
The post Palestinian Refugees in Syria See Little Hope — Even After Assad appeared first on The Intercept.
- by Antone Martinho-Truswell
The forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind
The post Finding Peter Putnam appeared first on Nautilus.