Proud to have my latest in @DissentMag’s Spring issue, going live today I go over the causes and consequences of the current crisis in Cuba

Doesn't colour: - Jamaica, where Scottish slave owners had a leading role - Ireland, who has suffered for centuries and was divided by settler colonialism - England, under Scottish occupation for over 400 years

It's a standoff for two reasons: 1) US success in the strait means Trump admin sees less reason to make concessions to reach a deal. 2) Iran's resistance to US econ/military pressure and continued ability to keep prices/costs high means Tehran similarly sees little reason to relax negotiating position.

Cuban baseball team, Industriales, gets first ever private sponsor - a private sector retail outlet for U.S. fuel 14ymedio.com/cuba/industrial… via @14ymedio

Syria was kind of an underrated early warning system for the kinds of ‘anti imperialist’ alt media ecosystem that would spend the next decade and a half promoting conspiracy theories and any authoritarian government or crank movement as long as it was anti-US

holy shit ChatGPT is actually developing humanlike academic skills

Lula's current finance minister, in debate with Flávio's econ advisor, argued a few weeks ago that Lula recognizes need for bitter fiscal medicine but insisted that the way to do it is gradually, with buy-in from all social sectors. Only Lula, he argues, capable of managing that

The US is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture. It was signed by Reagan and ratified and enacted into the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act, which prohibits refoulement, meaning this is illegal under US law.

Historically the primary axis of Brazilian politics has been the upper class voting right and the working class voting left. This is still true, but for the 2nd election in a row Brazil has mirrored the global education polarization trend of working class voters trending right

The threat of baguette attacks from across the channel are what drove them to this

“The prosecutor’s office said Manfred D. worked as Hanning’s chief of staff. After Hanning’s tenure at the BND, he went on to serve as chief of staff for several subsequent presidents of the BND from March 2012 until March 2026. … Both suspects are believed to have agreed, in the spring of 2010, to have Manfred D. continuously transmit valuable intelligence from the BND to Hanning “in exchange for remuneration.” “The current findings suggest that, over the years, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of which contained classified information to be used exclusively by the federal intelligence service for internal purposes, particularly for executive intelligence briefings,” the statement alleges. Hanning used the information in his private consulting work, the statement added. The office said “on one occasion, Hanning used classified intelligence provided by Manfred D. to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service.” apnews.com/article/germany-a…

US shipments of solar panels to Cuba are becoming a lifeline for those on the island trying to find a few watts to keep their phones charged or their businesses afloat amid a dire energy crisis, @jimwyss reports bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Great work by the FT trying to get comment from someone in police custody!

Another way of reading this is that the govt is gutting civil servant salaries and other parts of Iran's (fairly large) social safety net in order to free resources for paying soldiers, building missiles, and funding proxies.

The most interesting result of Brazil’s first round is not simply Flávio Bolsonaro’s 47.0% against Lula’s 45.2%, or that Bolsonarismo now seems capable of surviving Bolsonaro politically. 1/

Eating tomatoes from local farmers markets in Florence is the first time in over a year that a fresh tomato has tasted like anything.