Links 10/3/2026 Plus Short Iran War/Narrative Note | naked capitalism

Re the “De-Dollarization Is a YouTube Urban Legend” post, it seemed so obvious to me that the crowd that keeps chanting the mantra that dedollarization in imminent is far from the mark (look at the transaction stats – and since I do multijurisdctional commercial contracts, it’s a material fact). Perhaps some of the commenters didn’t have anything to add? That doesn’t mean it was not a really valuable post and I’ll likely share it when needed.

“Putin says Russia won’t supply diesel to global markets until sanctions are lifted”

The guys got a point. You can’t have it where the west is trying to block Russian exports of oil and gas to the point of attacking Russian oil infrastructure and tankers but then suddenly say that that will be gracious enough to let them export diesel as they are in a bit of a hole at the moment. Trump might relent but the EU countries would rather let their people freeze before giving an inch. Then they will congratulate each other on their moral courage as they go back to their heated homes.

Speaking only for myself, I find it difficult to comment when my real bottom line is that our entire leadership class needs to be slammed to the ground and handcuffed while someone’s knee presses against their neck.

I have not been this frustrated since it became clear that millions of protesters weren’t enough to stop the blatantly illegal invasion of Iraq. I try to stay engaged but the more you know the easier it is to feel like a deer caught in a truck’s headlights.

The collective West is led by insane warmongers who have viciously suppressed dissent. The only good news I’m aware of is the fact that they still haven’t shut down Naked Capitalism, one of the last objective news sites we have.

Just dropped some more in the to jar!

(Note to self: always comment on the dollar posts!)

The never-ending flood of conflicting and negative news induces sense of helplessness and futility, reducing incentive for anyone wanting to organize resistance, let alone unpacking the seeming insurmountable levels of untruth, which is no doubt the exact intention of the flooding the zone strategy. I often start a comment and then scrap it halfway in despair, with thoughts of “what is to be done”. I wonder if others feeling the same contributes to the level of comment quality on a given day.

Link fix for phys.org article on polar oceans:
https://phys.org/news/2026-09-polar-oceans-ice-habitats.html

America Wants to Make More Generic Drugs. India Shows Why That’s Hard. New York Times. America was once able to to things that were hard…

Zomg.. the essence of the argument is “it’s hard to make money on generics” not even that its hard to make them!

Meanwhile, the article describes a key Indian producer in Hyderabad that puts out a large amount of the world’s generic medications based on a staff of 1,900 people. Okay, so, in the US at competitive pay, that would be, what, $200 million a year outlay? I.e. two F-35s? less than 1 dollar per capita per annum? If we want this we can have it.

This is the problem with NYT brain disease. It becomes impossible to consider alternative social structures, it becomes impossible to do simple scale calculations, it becomes impossible to understand strategic value (like how useful it would be to have domestic medical supplies). All that is permitted is smug liberal refusal to do anything.

So instead of contemplating the *actual* difficulty of such a task, which would primarily be in cultivating an educated workforce capable of the work and smooshing all the corporate parasites that would arise to try to turn it into a profiteering boondoggle, we have something to tsk tsk at over our coffee. Thanks, NYT.

I for one found your explanation why the Dollar will keep reserve status very interesting and persuasive.

Thank you, Yves, for the preface. Two points I’ll address:

> which got no comments for many many hours and in the end garnered only a few. Why should I bother telling readers what is going on when no one is interested?

Oh, it’s not about interested. First, your previous explanations, stated over a scope of years, has already convinced me of the thesis. Currencies and international finance are topics I particularly struggle with, and there is no place/authors even remotely as informative as NC (I include Keen and Hudson here). I try to value-add with my comments, previously that wouldv’e been gnashing my priors, but that has been quenched in the tempering.

: Much of the criticism has been focused on snark. I recall Lambert’s views evolving, at least on silly names. Nat’s discussion tied in with trying to cope, what are called Defense Mechanisms in DSM-IV:

> Defense mechanisms (or coping styles) are automatic psychological processes that protect the individual against anxiety and from the awareness of internal or external dangers or stressors.

Juxtaposing two of those:

> humor The individual deals with emotional conflict or external stressors by emphasizing the amusing or ironic aspects of the conflict or stressor.

> reaction formation The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by substituting behavior, thoughts, or feelings that are diametrically opposed to his or her own unacceptable thoughts or feelings (this usually occurs in conjunction with their repression).

From a primary source, Adaptive midlife defense mechanisms and late-life health:

> Defenses are typically classified hierarchically by levels of maturity. Mature defenses (e.g., sublimation, suppression, anticipation, altruism, humor) are prominent in those with greater levels of success in work and relationships and lower levels of psychopathology; intermediate or neurotic defenses (e.g., displacement, repression, reaction formation) are less adaptive but are found across all levels of life functioning; whereas immature defenses (e.g., projection, passive aggression, acting out, denial) are associated with difficulty regulating, expressing, and understanding emotional experiences

Noting that humor includes irony, snark often involves speaking the ‘diametrically opposed’ perspective, which can confuse readers (‘we don’t need clean water, amirite?’) There’s an overlap twixt mature irony and neurotic reaction formation here. Backfires happen. A minister at a church I attended decided to speak words Satan might whisper in your ear (‘you are worthless’). Regardless of intent, he gave a ten minute sermon by Satan in a house of Jesus, I now have his voice as an evil earworm, and I can no longer stomach the services. The emotional self regulation once provided (omigod the music is good) has paradoxically shifted to bitterness.

I personally find snark to be a great emotional release. But I’m a believer in Greek theater’s use of satire in catharsis. And any drum can be beaten too hard.

>You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner Derek Thompson (Micael T). Important.

>> the two groups most likely to say they never entertained people in their home in the previous year were political independents (44 percent)

Covid had an impact, but I can date a breakdown in our broader social group to 2016. Hillary Clinton’s campaign was so divisive that a broad counter-culture group we camped with fractured on gender politics, with Fcbk playing a huge role in facilitating bitterness. It bled down to the more intimate sub-group, when the primary host (who had a dodecahedral dome with great drum acoustics) got fed up & stopped gatherings, and then went and died alone. All that remains is the extended family gathering.

“You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner”

I think that the author should have put this post more into historical context more. The base line year here is 1975. OK. So what happened in 1975? That is when Neoliberalism starting to take over. Look at this site-

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

It was then that worker’s wages started to flat-line for a start. Let’s get more explicit and compare a couple in 1975 and one in 2026. In 1975 it was still possible to work one job that would support your wife and children at home and let you pay off a home. They could look forward to annual holidays away and maybe have two cars. The husband may have belonged to a strong union and he and his wife probably belonged to different social clubs such as bowling, card-playing, lodges, etc. It was not this way for everyone but it was true for a lot of people. Because of the foods that they ate and the activities that they did, they were healthier and much more slim too.

Now? It is much more frequent to have two or even three jobs just to keep your head above the water financially. Education, which was cheap back in the 70s, is now a racket that would make the mafia blush. Families are one serious sickness away from living on the streets and most people can only afford to have only a few hundred bucks in reserve. I could go on but we all get the idea. So trying to hold a party was way easier in the 70s than the 20s and you cannot compare the two eras.

The argument of the Business Insider item on the influence of AI-related borrowing on long-term bond yields is that lenders anticipate that future AI-related productivity improvements will increase business activity which will imply higher future borrowing to finance business activity, which will imply higher future competition for funds, and thus higher interest rates.

That looks to me to plainly be “loanable funds” fallacy, applied to future expectations.

Is this happy talk to quell inflation concerns?

At least for me, commenting is not a good measure of interest.

Re the intro–thanks very very much for NC and some of us think the site has gotten better and more informative. If everything seems foggy at the moment it’s because national and international affairs, as controlled by Trump, are “a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing” other than whatever impulse his ever more child like brain has latched onto.

NC has always been our corner of sanity even as the establishment institutions like the national newspapers and television news deteriorate shockingly. Those who find fault should do more commenting, less complaining. IMVHO.

“Kiev In Panic as Russian Drones Begin Severing Main-Bridge Cables”

‘They want to destroy our bridges… our data centres, the internet, mobile networks, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities – everything. They want people to flee their cities.’

If this is true, will the EU open up their doors to all these Ukrainian refugees? Or will they shut their borders to them and order them back into the Ukraine to continue to fight the Russians? I’m going with Door Number Two.

Re: Lack of comments about de-dollarization.

Yves,
“crickets” are not data
silence – the lack of noise – is not necessarily signal
and no news may well conceal good news

Granted
as a discussion starter, your commentary on de-dollarization was an abject failure
but
speaking on behalf of the grizzled cranks amongst your readers
remember that
while the furiously typed niggling point clearly punctuates the comments
the creak of a nodded head does not carry across the internet

For the record
I muttered
“But, of course”
and read on

Yves Smith in today’s war bulletin with comment on quality:

May I be the bastian contrario? I am glad to be the bastian contrario.

I have found the daily war bulletins by Yves Smith and Nat Wilson Turner to be excellent. They give me a U.S. view of the situation that isn’t New York Times, Elissa Slotkin, Faceboo blabbering, and academic maundering. Admittedly, my approach to understanding Iran (and the genocide in Palestine, as well as the wreckage of Libya and the continuing after effects of Yugoslavia) is informed by Fatto Quotidiano and a whole crew of wonderfully insightful Italian writers. The quality of writing by Italian dissident / un-mainstream writers is better than U.S. writing.

The big problem is that too much is happening. Too much is happening, and social media enhance the delusion that one is involved in what is happening. It is not the case.

I have learned that social media are a pale imitation of life – because I have participated in general strikes here in the Undisclosed Region as well as demonstrations against the wars.

Imagine, though, if U.S. readers hadn’t received these excellent daily war bulletins, as well as the many comments by people with expertise in various areas. The commenters here who understand armaments and logistics always impress me.

Finally, another datum as to how confusing the situation is: The Chocolate City is the home of many Iranians, including many young Iranians. Some are students. Some have made it here as immigrants. One cannot tell Italians from Iranians anyway – we’re all just a big pile of mongrels. Yet a day or so ago, I walked into a demonstration by pro-shah Iranians in the Piazza Carignano. And a few weeks back, a friend of mine and I went out for a drink. The bartender was a charming young Iranian man – a monarchist. My friend left the bar nonplussed. Meanwhile, I frequent a stand in the market owned by an Iranian man with his trusty sidekick (Iranian writer / film maker). They tell me things about Iran, “It’s complicated.”

It’s complicated. Keep sifting through all these buzzing conflicting data, peeps.

long time lurker and very occasional commenter here. this year i’m unable to contribute due to unemployment. but want to convey my respects to Yves and the NC team for all the work they do. NC has been my primary source of daily news & analysis since 2008, and an invaluable resource for understanding the world. thank you!

For what it’s worth I love you guys and keep doing what you’re doing.

Just because you can’t see comments doesn’t mean people aren’t reading articles. You banned me from commenting. I love Naked Capitalism and donate regularly, despite the fact that I think you are a petulant jerk when it comes to moderating comments.

> He Sold Americans a Disorder That Didn’t Exist

*sigh* You can tell grifters ’cause there’s a price tag. Vitamin D is a great counter-example, you can increase it by standing in the sun at midday (*free*), and has enormous benefits. There is a body of research on ‘grounding’ by walking barefoot in the dirt (*free*), that apparently can lower blood viscosity and pressure. The grift taints potential free benefits. Here’s a review paper, with breadcrumbs if you’re interested.

Grounding (earthing) as related to electromagnetic hygiene: An integrative review

“Perceived Importance of College Hits New Low”

And yet not a word about the ever shrinking “college wage premium”

https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2025/what-happened-to-the-college-wage-premium

Nor any consideration of ever rising college costs (which have outstripped CPI for donkeys years) nor the crushing burden of student debt — the new indentureship.

Why, oh why is perception of the importance of college falling? ‘Tis a mystery …🙄

Mike Elk is in Brazil, which is great. The Fórum article is in Portuguese and provides many more details. What excitable Marco Rubio likely forgets is that Brazilians are cool cats, as the detailed analysis in Fórum shows.

Note the mention in the Fórum article of the U.S. involvement in the 1964 coup, about which Brazilians are not likely to be forgiving, given the years of misery that followed.

I’ve studied Brazil for a long time, having been part of a project at the end of college. What literature. What music.

And Os Mutantes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETqMNQw-a9M

Panis et Circenses. Seems appropriate.

Re: Iran war and comments

One feature of the Ukraine-Russia war that helped greatly to cut through the fog of war, and false narrative promotion of known bad actors, has been the rise of the independent neutral YouTube mapper. My personal fave is Dima at Military Summary … today I learned from him that the Western Embassies are preparing to evacuate Kiev (quietly, and probably after the Nov. midterms to spare both parties further embarrassment in the US.)

Unfortunately, we don’t have anything equivalent in Iran, that I know of. Covering ground captured in Ukraine is a lot different than covering an oil tanker far out in the middle of the Strait. People still live in those towns in Ukraine and take videos, and Dima’s method of looking at video evidence showing one side bombing a position as proof that the other side still controls ground, while not failproof, is at least objective.

But if you don’t like him there is Willy OAM, Weeb Union (sadly, his channel seems inactive), and Defense Politics Asia, among others. By looking at all of them you can get a good sense of who is winning any given battle or taking ground.

(A topic that has been completely abandoned/banned by the Western media, preferring to instead cheerlead for Ukraine or print outright false info.)

I haven’t seen anyone keeping an independent “scorecard” using anything as objective as Dima does to refute US claims that oil is making it through, so we’re left with Team Epstein vs. Team Iran and both sides have motive to lie. Team Epstein will lie, we know that. Team Epstein’s primary sources are Trump and the Pentagon, both of which are dubious (I suppose this is an ad-hominem line of reasoning, so I will admit as such.)

The point is that the Iran war along with the tanker wars is unfortunately ripe ground for lies, propaganda, and hopium-based arguments. Perhaps we should focus on secondary indicators, like the price of gas, oil and refined product export bans, and on-the-ground reports on the economy in weaker links like SE Asia, Europe, and Alaska.

I do miss Raspberry Jam’s updates – very high quality both in the writing and the information.

And IMDoc – I think he still posts occasionally.

Any particular reason why my last comment was deleted? Maybe a glitch? All I was trying to say is that the YouTube mappers have been great in cutting through the fog of war in Ukraine, and we lack such animals in the Iran/tanker war.

I guess I’ll go join Wuk in the wilderness.

It’s not just you. News from the Gulf is in the doldrums across the board. Partially because the news is being suppressed, but also because a new phase was entered with the signing of the MoU. That signing, regardless of the implementation fiasco, recognized that the USA is out of options. Iran is not obsessed with news cycles like the American commentariat is. Please keep up the good work.

“He Sold Americans a Disorder That Didn’t Exist”

To quote Eric Cartman – ‘It’s all a bunch of tree-hugging hippie crap!’

World food prices near four-year high in September, UN says Reuters.

The link goes to a ppv article. Much better is the original source IMO. FAO Food Price Index edges up in September on higher sugar, cereal and vegetable oil prices. The index is now at the top over 2023-2026 period so you can remove the word “near” from Reuters’ headline.

Thank you for the architecture links. I send them to my son who is applying to various universities now, wanting to do architecture.

Somewhat relatedly he is also reading Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead now. Ayn Rand got onto his radar when she came up in a negative light at a family dinner, when her influence was criticized by my liberal academic sister in law. He is curious and smart. I encouraged him to read her as she has influence among the corporates etc. I told him I also read Ayn Rand in high school and was enamored. But, grew very critical of her philosophy as I aged. I remember some comment on NC in response to some CEO type hysteria resulting from criticism of corporate influence as “pearl clutching CEOs running off to Galt’s Gulch with their copies of Atlas Shrugged tucked under their arms.” Something like that. I smiled wryly at that.

In any case, if anyone in this well read commentariat has any recommended videos or readings on Ayn Rand to send to my son please let me know. I have sent a couple of interviews with people both critical and sympathetic (but not idolizing) to him so far.

re: AI: Why is Oracle leasing Nvidia chips to China at huge discounts? – Kevin Walmsley

Um, because Oracle (the Ellisons) are in financial difficulty?
From the article:
“Oracle is forecast to show negative cash flows for this year, and for next year, and for the year after that—and will need $100 billion from cash reserves, or new capital raises, to finance its data center builds. ”

In other news, rumor has it that Bari Weiss will soon be out at CBS after the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros, assuming it goes through. Ousting Bari could save a few million bucks. Ellisons own Paramount, CBS, CNN, and other outlets. The merger will take some big bucks. From Due Dissidence:

Bari Weiss Could Be OUT At CBS Post-Media Merger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXYgmVhFYzE

CBS has cancelled the Colbert Show, very popular show that’s critical of T. So thats a money loss for Ellisons. CBS has wrecked 60 Minutes. Another loss for Ellisons.

“…De-Dollarization Is a YouTube Urban Legend, which got no comments for many many hours and in the end garnered only a few. Why should I bother telling readers what is going on when no one is interested…

I’m all here for a critical look at some of the YouTube narratives. Good thing to diverge.
Of sites I visit more than just occasionally, NC has been consistent with nuanced discussion about currencies and finance.

I looked back to see the comments on that article.
No comment.

Speaking personally and reiterating some other comments here, I did find the de-dollarization myth post valuable and refrained from commenting because I simply do not understand international money markets well enough to even generate a constructive question about them.
As to the issue of generally comment quality and engagement – I have to hypothesize (from n=1 anecdata – myself) that a fair number of newer readers and commenters discovered naked capitalism from one youtube creator or another in what is at this point a rapidly growing content space for…let’s call it English-language anti-imperial political coverage, for lack of a remotely elegant construction. I think I first discovered naked capitalism as a result of Alexander Mercouris mentioning Yves by name in a video at some point in the distant past. It’s entirely possible that the newer population of readers such as myself is less analytically sophisticated than longer-tenured readers. I can imagine it’s frustrating to take on such an audience compared to the traditional commentariat – but in my view this makes posts like de-dollarization much more valuable, not less. Even if it’s a fraction of the neophyte audience that actually consumes and processes these pieces, we’re getting something unique and important out of it.
Finally, regarding the Iran war posts – these are still valuable, informative, invariably well written in the body – but they’re suffering from a phenomenon of diminishing returns as Yves alludes to – there are so many discrete events, and so many of them tangibly repeat, that the signal of these posts starts to run into noise. I read the Iran war update whenever it’s published, but it’s a skimming type of read, usually focused on kinetic developments and objective diplomatic movement (not so much on what a random official on either side says; official statements published on the dead bird app are rapidly becoming my least favorite form of discourse). I don’t believe there’s really much that could be done about this; my uninvited editorial opinion is that, paradigm-shifting events in the gulf having slowed some, there’s perhaps value in consolidating major conflict zones into a regular piece and shifting focus depending on which one has the most notable developments. I can imagine it’s difficult to track and nonsense-filter through coverage of multiple hot wars on a daily basis of course so this may be hopelessly impractical actually.

I’m sure the de-dollarization article is terrific but it’s been an unusually busy week and I am already persuaded of the conclusion by your previous arguments along this line: I’ve been repeating them for at least 10 years now.

I’ve also noticed that just in the past week or so I’ve become less able to cope with the utter confusion, stupidity, and mendacity out there. Typically I am unable to look away from the train wreck. I will probably bounce back, but at the moment I just…can’t.

Take care of yourself, Yves, and please know that your work is critically important to my being able to function in this crazy time. I did contribute to the fundraiser and will happily contribute more.

Now I am going to sign off and make some chicken broth.

‘Media Spread False Claims About Causes Of French Riots And Dismiss Left-Islamist Alliance Behind Them’

I know you’re a bit more US centric and less aware of national EU contexts but a US equivalent of this headline would be:

‘Media Spread False Claims About Causes Of Anti-ICE/Flock Actions And Dismiss Dems-Mexican Drug Cartels Alliance Behind Them’

Not sure you want to platform this kind of opinion.

mad respect here for all, Yves and commentariat, readers, lurkers, madmen, the discontented. Getting used to the enormity of today from all the info to process, it’s no longer tunnelvision tv and once a day newspapers. And if we live long and prosper how does all the info and opinions sort themselves out, Longevity stretches out in front of us like two lane blacktop in the desert, seemingly endless, get ready to live to 130 without drooling.
NC manages to occupy psychic realestate like no other entity, I think mostly because of the truthtelling. farmboy tiling

I have been coming to this site for a decade or more, and I don’t remember comments complaining about the dearth of posts on the Ukraine – Russia war. Nat’s over the top post was absolutely warranted given that the Iran war has turned – from a cognitive point of view- into a broken record, both due to the absolute incompetence of Trump and his corrupt, drug addicted and alcoholic minions, and also to Trump’s own, obvious cognitive decline. There’s little left to do with these attritional, forever wars than a superficial skimming, as the pattern or strategy underlying it all is obvious to anybody after Yves’ posts from months ago. If you want the kinetic facts there are plenty of channels in Telegram to waste time on.

As to wishful thinking about the dollar’s demise, well, it is also the national currency here in Ecuador, and I have yet to see even the shadow of a rumor in local social network accounts about bills with Mao Zedong’s face, even though domestic Chinese cars long ago displaced locally made Chevrolet junk and Brazil made Renaults.

Media Spread False Claims About Causes Of French Riots And Dismiss Left-Islamist Alliance Behind Them Public News (Chuck L)

IMO, this Shellenberger doesn’t add much light into the problem, very much on the contrary for what i have read. The article is mostly ppv. The full article probably doesn’t pass any decent smell test.

The situation in France is becoming quite difficult and the escalations aren’t helping. I dislike the push to burn and break things but I also believe that the repressive apparatus doesn’t help at all with +2000 detainees. The blaming game and the inability to treat the problem with many taking advantage of the situation when probably many or most students do not want violence at all and there are probably lots of agents provocateurs involved. The idiot Minister of Justice saying that the parents should pay for damages done is a very good example on how general idiocy won’t help to solve anything. Probably because very few wants things solved. In Spanish we say “a río revuelto ganancia de pescadores” meaning that there are probably too many wiling to take advantage of the situation but not precisely to solve the problems that students are asking to be treated.

Words fall short on how much I value the news aggregation that NC does, the original thinking and analysis, and yes, the comments.

I apologize my comments are not edifying and add no value, if and when I do comment.
Old habits die hard, I probably will persist.

NC and the commentariat, in my mind, is value- added, value-positive.
Even if its a small amount, NC and the crew are deserving of a few of our dusty dollars from our moth-riddled wallets– I wish the donor participation rate was 100% of regular attendee/ readers! !

Dear Yves, I for one do value the financial viewpoints, even if contrarian to parts of the commentariat. So I am coming out in favour of more financial assessments where you are confident enough to weigh in.

From Jimmy Dore.

Sunny Hostin DEFENDS “Cornell 7” — Greenwald Calls Mob Justice “Sinister & Dangerous”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUti_Wu7hHU

Sunny Hostin of The View was a NY prosecutor. She seems to know what she’s talking about.

We used to anonymize victims so they’d feel safer in coming forward. How is convicting people in people’s minds without a trial a good thing? AOC was ridiculous here, imo.

Yves, the value of what you and your team are doing is enormous. Of that there can be no doubt. I won’t take up people’s time by further elaboration of this.

I will say that I contributed early, and will now contribute again.

Disengagement is a balm in a world gone mad. The “fake news” guy is now surviving solely on fake news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IasCZL072fQ

I think the new writers are doing fine in a somewhat frontier environment. To those who want more value added comments, add more value to your comments. I don’t think anyone comes here for myself, but once in a while I add a nice ’80’s youtube clip that at least the fashionistas will find amusing.
When the fundraiser is garnering single digit increases per day there is something wrong, I doubt all those who once donated are getting their news from sulzberger now.
Look inward, you can’t go home again and stuff like that.

To the flydubai video.
They should have waited until the NTSB flight recorder data was out.
A few points don’t add up in the video. There doesn’t appear to be any hydraulic leak. No fluid around the tail section. And even it did cause a loss of hydraulic fluid there are multiple redundant systems that will allow the use of all the other control surfaces and other systems without any problems. The rudder most likely broke off due to rudder peddle use and not speed ( according to experts ) but again flight recorder data will show if that’s accurate or not. It will also show the actual attitude of the plane and speeds of much will have major information as to structural stresses that may have occurred.
And big planes don’t use the rudder at all during flight and only in a very limited way on landing or take off. And it’s usually do to cross wind issues that require rudder inputs. Sure it’s there for a reason and rather have it vs not but of all the control surfaces to lose, that one is the least important.

One piece of information going around is that the rescuers of the plane had to barge their way into the cockpit because the captain was on the floor blocking it. However Boeing aircraft cockpit doors open out, towards the cabin of the plane, not in towards the cockpit. That’s not a minor error.

“1 in 13 adults under 30 already had hidden artery plaque Science Daily”

I am in a fight with my doctor right now. I am in my early 60’s. My LDL is about 170, my HDL is 55. So he said “statin”. I said “prove it” since the last time I took it if caused severe muscle pain and my HDL paradoxically fell to 29 which increased my risk fro a heart attack.

I then showed him this Harvard note that said “about 75% of heart attack sufferers do not have dangerously high LDL levels.” (They say it is the small LDL that rasied CVD risk, and since OMEGA 3 increases large puffy LDL, my fish consumption is most likely why my arteries are still free and clear.

So I then asked him why does he want to lower my cholesterol to a point where most people get heart disease? He said if I want I can see another physician.

Can anyone tell why doctors are this way?

Tried to post this earlier but it didn’t go up, sorry if it’s a dup. A good observation that I found a couple days ago, from here:

Reading news stories over the last decade or so, from all over the political spectrum, there is one overwhelmingly consistent message about the US that really stands out:

The US is a desperately poor country and the only way to survive is for everyone to work harder, expect less, increase efficiency, direct everything towards producing the goods without which civilization will collapse, and make sure nobody undeserving ever takes advantage because in such a weak economy there is no excess and nothing to spare.

https://fortune.com/2026/10/02/trump-inflation-growth-national-debt-tariffs-ratio-balance/

“Trump just soft-launched higher inflation as the new solution for rebalancing the $40 trillion U.S. national debt”

Involves the WH leaning on the fed to let inflation go past the mandated 2% target.

I agree with those who are not disturbed if comments drop off a bit. Remember that in commenting you are implicitly staking a claim on the time and attention of other people, so I always suggest that the first question to ask is, Is my comment really necessary? Then, do I have special knowledge, experience or insight to contribute? Do I have an angle nobody has thought of, or a question worth asking? Do I have a link to contribute? Do I even have something genuinely amusing to say, or a personal experience to contribute? Or do I just want to vent about something using the same expressions everybody else uses? I seldom if ever comment on US politics, for example, because I’m not a Murkin and my first-hand knowledge of the country and its political system is limited.

Another sensible rule is not to waste time commenting on Links or opinions which demonstrate fixed ideas, just because you think you should. There’s no real point in commenting on a “Ukraine is winning” story unless it contains some new element or unless you have specific expertise that disproves it. The same applies in the other direction. I now instinctively tune out people who routinely refer to “Banderstan” and “Nazis,” because I know what they are going to say already. I was never a great fan of Martyanov, but I gave up on him completely when he started calling Ukrainians “animals.” Likewise, by a process of auto-radicalisation, people who used to call Israel by its legal name now write “Israel,” and the “The Zionist Entity,” and now “Occupied Palestine,” at which point, you know exactly what the rest of the Link or the comment will consist of. If the author or the commenter is especially knowledgeable, I might read it, but commenting can easily lead to invective that gets nowhere.

The vast majority of the Links on NC are of very high quality, and a great credit to those who assemble them. Quite a few are expressions of either Establishment or fringe views, and that’s important in preventing the site becoming an echo-chamber. But that doesn’t mean you should judge the value of a link by the number of comments on it, nor that there should be any compulsion to comment or reply to comments. Indeed, coming late to certain stories, I’ve found that the sheer number of comments, often just people arguing with each other, can itself be a distraction.

I want to say that I agree with Yves that “Dedollarization is a Youtube urban legend.” Using other currencies also doesn’t mean that dollarization is ended. What is at issue is the entire financial system and its financial pro-creditor rules under U.S. control that Bessent is weaponizing. So the US is driving other countries to alternative currencies for the new growth in monetary reserves. But there should be a better term, like “Diversification.”
I’m saying this because Yves often criticizes me for not making this clearer when I discuss the splitting apart of national financial systems. We both think that talks of a BRICS currency — and even of the BRICS as an active group — is overdone. The SCO if anything is stronger with its triumvirate of Russia, China and Iran.

The de Dollarization post was important, I did not comment on it because I don’t have the background to fully grasp the subject.
Which is why I read it, over time I will build greater understanding on the foundations of what I learn here.
The lack of comments on a post have little to do with how important or influential the post will be, given a little time.

The whole issue of America imposing self-advantaged systems on the world – like dollar dominance – gets a sort of medium-level reflection from me. On the one hand, I recognize that my wife and I are beneficiaries of America’s privileged position and power. Our lives wouldn’t be as comfortable without it. On the other hand, is the fact of how that privileged position is unfair, and furthermore, America has been resorting to brutal and unfortunately incompetent actions to try to retain it, or strengthen it. If I were completely moral, I’d want to give up the privileged situation. But the reality is that I want to stay comfortable. I want America (if I think about it) to keep most of that position; I object sometimes when things cross some vague boundary into America acting “too badly,” like us supporting Israel’s criminal war actions, the incredibly vicious and dumb Iran war, the undue provocations of Russia; I dislike some of the country’s financial bullying moves, like its World Bank and IMF treatments of third world countries. But I don’t really want to give up the whole privileged position at all. I don’t claim to have a resolution for all of this.

I just want to add to what other readers said about appreciating Yves’ financial commentary. Her remarks on how the dollar is not going away, for example, pretty much became my understanding of the situation. I think for myself, at least, her immense competence in these matters compared to mine leaves me without much to add or say, and I wonder if that might be a more general process.

Off the top: toxins in cat food.

I poisoned Ozone, the coolest cat ever, by feeding him dry food. He was only about five years old and his kidneys shut down. My current guy, Omar, gets nothing but wet food…Wellness…5 bucks a can. You would have to do mass spectrometry on it to figure it out. It worked OK on my last guy, Ace. Ace-man lived to 19, but he had kidney issues too. With Omar I spoon in three tea-spoons of chicken broth with each feeding to assist in liquid intake and help flush his kidneys. As for the make-up of the chicken broth…nobody’s saying.

“Being completely ignored says this audience has very little appetite for analysis…either on finance topics generally or on findings that do not conform to erroneous but emotionally appealing story lines.”
Please do not try to cater to what you perceive to be the public appetite! I come specifically to hear your well thought out analysis and to guage my blindspots. I read the article and shared it without commenting as I am not able to add anything of value.

Is it possible to increase the number of links in the Recent Items list at the start of the posts? I know it might become too long but there are days I am unable to visit and it would make it easier to check previous posts. The number of posts a day has increased and sometime the Recent Items are all from just the last 24 hours!

Just a suggestion.

I can access the Reuters article directly, but not through Trading View:

World food prices near four-year high in September, UN says

FAO Food Price Index rises to 136.0 points in September, highest since November 2022

FAO sugar price index jumps 6.1% from August in third straight monthly rise

Cuts 2026/27 world cereal trade ​forecast by 0.7%

“You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner”

I don’t deny the data showing the decline in in-person social activities, or shrinking social networks. But I have a quibble with the activities surveyed. Social forms change, and some of the survey questions are centered around older social forms, without exploring modern replacements.

Playing cards is down? Not surprised. But where are stats on the boom in table top and modern board games? I can think of a half dozen gaming cafe in my city. I see people playing all sorts of games in cafes and bars. But no cards.

Dinner parties down? I think I’ve been to only a few dinner parties in my life, but countless numbers of BBQs. A quick search found data showing American attending 4 or 5 BBQs each summer. I’d guess more than went to dinner parties.

Socializing through the internet seems devalued. It may not have the depth of in-person interaction, but back in days of old it seems people could have entire love affairs by just writing letters.

I was happy to see that going to bars has only slightly declined over 30 years.

Are we socially falling apart? Maybe. Certainly the shape of how we socialize (for good or bad) has changed

Messed up the link above: https://www.tastingtable.com/1883524/how-many-summer-barbecues-americans-attend/

This comment by Yves, from my perspective, is right on the money.

“And readers make clear they are not interested in anything that does not suit their anti-imperialist priors…or on findings that do not conform to erroneous but emotionally appealing story lines.”

This is why a question, at least put to oneself privately, like “What internally, also accounts for my politics?” seems so worthwhile.

For myself, this type of self-reflection has raised personal issues linked to my own political ideology sometimes being used primarily as armor, or revenge, or to maintain a degree of certainty that can be quite inappropriate .

America is going great!

American High School Students Are Selling Guns Bound for Cartels (NY Times; archive)

They are too young to buy a beer and barely old enough to drive, yet these four teenage boys have already found their way into the criminal underworld.

On weekends, they drive into the Sonoran Desert outside Phoenix. I watched them line up AR-15s and AK-style rifles against their cars, pose for photos and spend the afternoon shooting targets. At night, they head to parties, smoke pot and scroll endlessly through their social media feeds.

Better than sports gambling I guess?

On commenting in general, I think to some extent everyone is starving for a win. Or at least the glimmer of a sign of one. It increases your fatigue and dulls your ability to be objective over time.

I see it in other social contexts as well.

For more than 30 years I have told those around me that America is headed for a very dark place with no ‘hero’ on the horizon to intervene. I have found that the last few years they have gone from polite disbelief to a sort of desperation to show me concrete signs that as right as I now appear to be they are still justified to continue to believe I am wrong.

Many people, in small ways and large, can now see the outline of a crash in their own personal world and it frightens them. Even those as wise and experienced as the NC commentariat.

Re comments —

NC is my daily go-to site and link to sanity. My MBA professors occasionally admonished me for not speaking up more in class, but I always replied that (coming into business school from the military) I had less to contribute to classroom discussions than my more seasoned classmates, therefore I only spoke up when I had something useful to say. And that’s the same standard that I use when commenting on NC.

I had no problem with Nat’s use of sarcasm a few days ago. I would only politely suggest that NC has many readers who are not native English speakers, and that my experience of foreign languages is that sarcasm does not translate well. Therefore I avoid it when dealing with non-native English speakers.

As for the de-dollarization post: I read it (and even clicked through to Mish Shedlock’s link) but had nothing to add, because I agreed with everything. But since we’re here, I will add a personal anecdote which reinforces the blunt fact that the mighty USD is deeply embedded into the international financial system, physically and legally and (perhaps most importantly) psychologically:

Back in 1997-98, I met in St Pete with my local RU business partner of many years (at a snazzy restaurant on Nevsky Prospekt). He was a natural blabbermouth and I’m a natural listener. He proudly showed me his latest accomplishment! He was now the owner of a shiny new USA corporation (yay!); the usual setup, a Delaware corporation with a Brighton Beach registered address (ha!) and a Latvian bank account. He babbled on about how he now could receive gold-backed dollars and would be set for life. I gently pointed out to him the history of Bretton Woods and Nixon’s 1971 abandonment of the gold peg. He stared at me and said absolutely nothing for a solid two minutes (I enjoyed the silence, it was unprecedented in our relationship). It was as if I had just shattered his entire view of the world. And notwithstanding his USD ignorance, he was about as smart as smart gets: a very successful 1990s entrepreneur.

I can say from personal experience that you can walk into any dive bar in Siberia and flash a couple of Ben Franklin notes, and amazing things will happen. The bartender will quickly give you the beverage of your choice. The wait staff will treat you attentively. Comely young 20-somethings will approach you (if you’re a male, anyway) and strike up unsolicited conversations.

The power of the USD is not to be underestimated.

Please keep up the good work.

Dear Yves,
I certainly empathize with your current health insurance situation and hope you have it worked out quickly. I’m a U.S. octogenarian facing the annual churn of Medicare Advantage policies. I hate this time of year, the uncertainty, and the annual rise in costs because I live on social security alone. It’s an insult.

I read NC in the morning each day. I remember when I read the NYT with my coffee. NC has replaced that for me and while I don’t comment often, I’m enormously enriched by you and your team. I do my insignificant financial contribution to NC monthly. Thank you and Nat and Collin and everyone else writing and commenting here.

Regarding the fatigue, I’m curious about it too. I marched against Viet Nam and later Iraq and Afghanistan and now Iran. I wonder why Americans aren’t in the streets protesting the Iran debacle, or the poisoning of their water supply, or the recent new roads into National Parks for lumber and mining interests, or … sometimes I wonder if its residue from Covid brain fog or if everyone but a small dedicated group of anarchists is hiding from the surveillance state? I can’t make it out, so I keep asking myself the question: Is this what happens to every declining empire? Do they always put the idiotic, the vulgar, the criminal, and the avaricious into high position while the precariat struggles on less and less?

Now I’m going to have a walk outside and focus on autumn descending around the Puget Sound.

Putin had just announced there will be no more diesel exports until sanctions are lifted. China has halted energy exports when its refiners have been described as the only meaningful remaining global spare capacity. US refiners have scheduled, as in contracted-for maintenance coming, so US output looks destined to drop off even if there are no mishaps like a Gulf hurricane or a big outage.

I think this video breaks down the situation very thoroughly and cleanly (although it doesn’t mention the scheduled maintenance of the US refiners):

Max Fisher | The oil apocalypse is here [35:28]
Here.

I want to emphasize one element of NC’s coverage that hasn’t been treated at length here: the daily links. In addition to the breadth and sweep of the topics addressed by responsible, generally reliable sources and outlets, I don’t know of another blog or site that consciously posts items contrary to its “priors” as part of its mix without labeling them as such.(“We seek to represent all viewpoints” bla bla bla). Many times the comments contradicting or deriding those posts are ultra-informative, bringing attention to a topic that might not have been responded to so fully if a more congenial viewpoint had been linked to instead. Since I rely on NC as a tool to challenge my own priors, I appreciate those curveball posts (if such they be) as much as the others.

You’re no longer invited to dinner
Reminds me of another article that made the rounds a couple years ago. It was about how Americans, a people prone to forming groups and creating associations for this or that purpose, had gradually been doing it less and less, from the 50s onward. Reasons invoked : a TV into every home and the “suburbanisation” of the habitat.

Today’s is actually the follow up to that. First associative life retreated but we still invited friends over, then even that suffered. We stacked new tech on top of the old but it didn’t counter the effect, rather it accelerated it, like a positive feedback loop. A Great Withdrawal of sorts.

Finally, the Covid effect. We all knew some things never came back the way they were, but to see it graphically illustrated really hits. If times were “normal”, it may have taken us a decade, at worst a generation to socially recover, BUT since then the crises have compounded. Ain’t no tellin’ where this leads.

Cooool

Ian Proud after returning from Valdai was detained by UK police for 5 hours.

DETAINED BY UK COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICE AT HEATHROW: BRITAIN BECOMES MORE TOTALITARIAN

Join me live at 1900 BST on 3 October
https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/detained-by-uk-counter-terrorism

If I can be arrested for promoting real discussion about peace then anyone who expresses a view that differs from the government’s can be too.

On the night of 2 October, when I arrived at Heathrow following a visit to the Valdai discussion club in Moscow (27 September – 1 October) five members of UK Counter-Terrorism police were waiting for me on the jetway to the plane and took me into custody under the UK Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act of 2019.

I was searched, interrogated for 3 hours, had all my electronic devices taken (I had to purchase a new laptop today) and was told that I had no right not to comment.

My crime? Attending a conference to discuss how to bring peace not only in Ukraine, but elsewhere including Iran, the middle-east etc.

Join me for a live discussion at 1900 BST today, 3 October, in which i will describe what happened and explain why Free Speech in the UK has never been under so much threat.

Just to add. The clear-eyed analysis presented on NC is exactly what makes it so valuable, imho.
And to thank all the contributors and Ms. Smith for all their efforts to keep us reliably well-informed, I’m sure those efforts are very greatly appreciated.

Here
Ian live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOFvUbfwwe8
I don´t like emotional statements on these media but he was initially shocked.

Ended. Was just a short reaction by him. But it´s important.
So we have two former diplomats now with Craig Murray and Ian Proud. Welcome to the club Ian.

Comments about Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe remain of consistent high quality at NC in my opinion. I found recent discussions about Russia and the former USSR involving a Siberian commenter to be fascinating. Where but NC could one find that?

My academic background is in Russian and East European History (my undergraduate minor was in Hungarian Studies because, well, whose isn’t, right?). But I don’t comment on that area of the world because there are much better qualified people here than I, especially on military affairs (not my specialty). Hearing from people who are in Russia and Eastern Europe or have recently been there is invaluable because it gives us on the ground reports. And NC has them in comments! Thank you!

Also the cat antidotes. More, please.

Regarding Yves’ meta-remarks about comments in NC lately:

Strangely, I was having unformed but perhaps somewhat similar thoughts this week, that NC was lately becoming more “average” as something for me to read every day. I have never thought this before, and so this was accompanied by some feelings of discouragement (though of course it’s not fair to place the slow motion collapse of the entire society at the feet of one blog).

I’m aware that engineers are prone to looking for technical solutions to problems, and thus I try to avoid reaching for that sphere as a source for ideas when I see something that needs to be improved. But I thought what follows was at least worth bringing up for consideration by our famously enlightened commentariat.

I was in enthusiastic participant in the Reddit blog back before the whole site was pretty much ruined by the machinations around the IPO and most of the readership and writership fell away. I remember spending hours or days participating in (and often just reading) intense, high energy discussions with other redditors, even on fairly trivial topics or on things I didn’t know much about. I think the reason for that is that the actual blog was (and is) technically set up to promote and encourage back and forth discussion. In particular (a) it is easy for me to find my own previous comments, and (b) I get a notification when someone else replies to one of my comments. These small things seem to provide enough of a nudge that I will go back to my past writings and perhaps add some additional commentary in some cases.

By contrast, NC (and the vast majority of other blogs) are pretty much “write-only” in the sense that after I hit the post button after writing a comment, I will never revisit that section of comments again. Only very rarely do I reply to someone who replied to one of my comments, just because I never know the reply had happened. I also rarely or never post comments that ask provocative questions, since I’m certain no one will ever answer.

However, it’s impossible to have a conversation with yourself, and in many cases a conversation takes some back and forth in order to build up enough interest and energy to reach it’s potential. So I suspect that much of what NC readers would like to read and write is left untapped inside heads all over the world, instead of being put down on paper.

So, I argue and claim that some technical changes in the NC blog itself could do a lot to improve the quantity and quality of the comments appearing.

P.S.: There’s a writer who goes by the pen name admiral cloudberg that seems to be using Reddit as an ancillary site for collecting comments and discussion for her main blog. Maybe NC could do something similar, at least as a prototype, to see if something like this is going in the right direction.

Stopped by the tip jar earlier.

I read Naked Capitalism “cover to cover” every day. A dozen years or so. Seldom comment unless I have a quip or, personal experience. These can be lengthy but usually don’t show until toward the end of the day. I tout this site and share articles far and wide.

Thank you for helping us find our way through the golden age of corruption. I’ll close with this example found today.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: How local police get paid big money for just a few immigration arrests

https://archive.ph/b2rvB

Also regarding Yves’ meta-remarks about comments in NC lately:

I’ve also had a bit of a feeling lately that the daily links post is slowly converging with something like Google News, and it struck me that maybe the headings in this post are the source of the problem. Perhaps the person who is doing links for the day feels subconscious pressure to find links for each category and it creates a “quantity over quality” mindset (“oh man, I still haven’t found anything for Old Blighty. Better google England news…”).

I think what’s needed for the Links post is a curator’s mindset, with the goal of finding strange and weird happenings from odd corners of the internet. Maybe a way to move towards this would be to just ditch the standard headings every day, and either have no headings, or have the writer make up their own as needed.

Keep up the great work!

Made another donation with my thanks! I hope this fundraiser closes strongly.

Re. Comments and commenters… i am a long time reader, going back to the GFC. Came here through the Oil Drum and recall Yves on PBS Bill Moyers. Dunno when we began contributing, but I scaled it based on my FT print subscription, canceled in 2022 when the SMO began (they should pay us to read propaganda). I do miss that tactile read!

As many stated, particularly with finance or economics, are subject areas outside of my education, expertise and understanding. That’s what brought me here. I am here to learn in those subject areas, I rarely comment there. De-dollarization, currency sovereignty or MMT have been frequently covered by Yves or guest contributors and I get it… but most people haven’t a clue. The readership here is dynamic and such fundamental points are certainly worth repeating regularly, especially in today’s “information environment”. People come here to learn. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody comments doesn’t mean it didn’t make a sound.

When I do comment, it is in subject areas I have experience or detailed interest (eg, railroads, Lithuania, electric transmission and reliability, a bit on renewables). I also have read a lot of history and experienced much since the 70s and often comment on those subjects.

I miss the informed expertise and depth of commenters like Raspberry, Clive and the reduced presence of PK or IMdoc (I sometimes almost thought these people were AI themselves, given the depth and breadth of their comments!) plus others I don’t recall. But sometimes the community response to their positions could be dismissive or even confrontational. Certainly with Raspberry or Clive. What I don’t miss are class clowns. Some snark or levity is OK, but not a dozen daily comments.

Given today’s information environment, I often fear getting a 404 message someday checking in here. We thankfully have first amendment rights in the US, but who knows what follows… yesterday Ian Proud was detained and his devices seized at LHR, it happened to Max Blumenthal at IAD recently. Things are not pretty.

This site has been an information anchor for me and my family for close to 2 decades now. I continue to be amazed by the integrity, energy and expertise of Yves and the contributors. Thank you for providing this service for so many years!

I don’t think you can necessarily take a lack of comments as being ignored. For that particular video, I wouldn’t comment, because I agree with you. I’m not going to post “Yeah, you’re right Yves.”. You’ve stated you want informed commentary, not just metoo nonsense, so if we all agree with some point of view you present, I’m not sure why you would expect a lot of comments pushing back, or saying “Yes, you’re right.”.

re: Ian Proud & Valdai affair

This may grow into something larger.

Proud corresponded with the Moscow Embassy and the FO before he went to Valdai to ask for advice and to preempt possible trouble.

He now posted part of the email correspondence:

Did the Foreign Office tip off Counter-Terrorist Police to arrest me?
My correspondence with the Foreign Office prior to attending the Valdai Discussion Club

I didn’t go to Moscow in secret with anything to hide, I informed the British government beforehand.

Prior to attending the Valdai Conference this past week, i was concerned about the risks associated with my attendance. My first step was to consult the former British Ambassador to Moscow for his advice on what I should do.

https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/did-the-foreign-office-tip-off-counter

I haven’t had much time or mental bandwidth to read even articles I’ve been interested here, and I’ve been feeling that commenting is best done when I can actually say something meaningful instead of just commenting, which isn’t all that often. About dedollarization specifically, though I think I ended up not reading that one article, I will say that Yves has convinced me (for a while now) that it’s a long shot. I was much more sanguine about it before I actually understood what it entailed, so I can at least say that for me NC’s general interpretation of BRICS and the supposed multipolar dynamics at work have felt a lot more realistic, even though I would in principle prefer happier news (the truth isn’t always easy, as it goes).

As for the Iran situation, I’ve barely been following it but I am of the impression that it’ll take until next year for things to really hit the fan, with the actual depletion of reserves, high food prices from the fertilizer problems, etc. So I expect for us to see more or less the current situation for a while until something important fails and potentially causes a cascade of failures, with a lot of changes happening very fast. Credit where credit’s due, the arsonists in power have managed to delay the worst effects for a while (potentially at the cost of causing much worse effects later down the line). It remains to be seen for how long.

Iran War

Will Schryver
@imetatronink
22h
I note that Col. Douglas MacGregor is predicting an American ground invasion of Iran.

I will repeat what I have said many times: there is ZERO probability of a US ground invasion of Iran. It cannot be done and will not happen.

Oct 3, 2026 · 1:19 AM UTC
____
What follows is tweet after tweet of “yeah but”. Quite funny to read.

On commenting…

Better to not comment and be thought a fool, than to comment and remove all doubt. (Which goes through my mind every time I start to write out a comment, only to delete it before posting it.)

I do appreciate the site very much.

One thing that helps to keep sane is to think about your span of control. I may not, individually be able to change the course of events at a macro level, but locally each of us can take the time to make our small part of the world a little better. Even if it is just being nice to the people we meet day to day.

Very much worth a read.

https://mattbivens.substack.com/p/how-the-government-forces-doctors

Yall are doing fantastic work, Yves.

I know I use yalls information to do IRL organizing and trying to foment American Revolution 2 over here in Louisiana.

Everything is super expensive rn as I see members of my family struggling, so of course there’s gonna be a drop off in money coming in.

We are all learning political economics from yall and are becoming increasingly smarter.

I would hope that we are applying what we learn to our local situation which would require less screen time on NC naturally.

PATRIOTS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST THE EPSTEIN EMPIRE

TIME TO THIRD PARTY THE DUOPOLY USING ECONOMIC POPULISM FOR AMERICAS 250TH

🇺🇸🫡

Months ago I felt I was getting less and less from NC. To my surprise under “Dear patient readers” I read that It wasn’t just me. Over the decades I’ve seen several good sites rise, stagnate, then fail leaving many participants frustrated. NC was already well established when I started adding my 2 cents and I was getting more out of the comments than from the articles. I see that not even NC has not been able to avoid the disappointing trend.

About thirty years ago I began a study and analysis of world events which took about 5 years. The purpose was to provide myself with an unbiased view of likely future events so that I could plan my own future. The analysis told me that I should leave the US as soon as possible. I obtained passports for the family and began reading up on possible expat sites. Of course shit happened. Nearly all of the study’s predictions have now come true but I now live in rural SW Idaho where we’re mostly isolated from the worst of those predictions. We were also isolated from the worst of the Covid pandemic and neither of us caught it.

Back to NC. I can no longer perform such an analysis but the broad range of what I’ve read on NC and other news and commentary sites has allowed me to extend the previous analysis for perhaps another year or two. My location in Idaho still provides some isolation, even from nuclear war, but those who consider the world situation as a collection of localized problems that can be managed are, in my opinion, delusional. Just as web sites grow, stabilize, and fade the world is now following the same path. In my opinion conflicts throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, North and South America, and even the Arctic, have passed the stagnation point and the world is quickly deteriorating. So many of the governments, especially the US, UK, and Europe have become not only irrational but in fact psychotic that the world is beyond recovery. Add to that much of the world is run by oligarchs who care about nothing but their own wealth, an epidemic of AI engines that have already proven uncontrollable, spy agencies run amok, nearly every developed nation developing viruses for warfare, and the list goes on. If I were to describe the world in one word it would be “Hopeless.”

I appreciate all I’ve learned from NC and those individuals who’ve spent countless hours making it the great site it has been. I may even be wrong and everything is going to come up roses. I hope so but I’m not going to bet my life on it.

“Why should I bother … when no one is interested?” Oh my gosh, this is sooo untrue. Your analyses are always welcome! I am one of your readers who, until now, has not felt qualified to venture an opinion or offer additional insight in the Comments. But I am 100% qualified to say this: You cannot judge the appeal of anything you write to your reading audience simply by the number of comments you receive. Just keep writing on those topics you and your fellow team members deem important. I love tapping into the superior brain power you bring to the table and would be terribly disappointed if you changed the kinds of topics you write about or the depth to which you delve into them. There are a lot of really smart people in the world but only a handful are like you— willing to share their gift with others to “do good.” Thank you. And thank you, again.

I read these comments 12 hours ago and just again now I’m barely half way through, apologies to those others.

To my mind; Yves has sparked a remarkable exposition of the depth of thinking hereabouts.

From my mind; a labor of love is a labor for truth.

Knowing that one must keep on.

Re comments:
I would like to echo what many others have written, ie that if I have nothing useful to add I don’t make a comment. I do have quite a bit of hands on experience in labour issues, manoeuvering in hierarchical organisations, election campaigns, certain economic matters, and some knowledge of monetary operations. Many years ago I also worked as a food chemist.
But, re the topic at hand, I have no personal insight into the issue of US dollar hegemony. Nonetheless I was very interested in Yves’ latest very persuasive post and passed it on to a friend. The lack of a comment by me was not a sign of lack of interest.

Somalia won’t accept Israeli presence ‘under any circumstances’: President (Al Jazeera)

Somalia will not accept Israeli presence in the country “under any circumstances” and will resist any attempts to be pulled into the Middle East’s crises, its President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud tells Al Jazeera.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Mohamud said that Israel was planning to establish a naval base in Berbera and use the city’s airport, adding that its real aim was to get closer to the Gulf states and Iran.