Oil powers cars. Nitrogen powers crops. If the strait of Hormuz closes, the most consequential price may not be Brent crude but the cost of feeding the world." In The Conversation authors Nima Shokri and Salome M. S. Shokri-Kuehni highlight yet another unintended consequence of the chaos spiralling from US and Israeli attack on Iran: fertiliser shock. '"Tehran is moving … [Read more...] about Global food insecurity: another dividend from Trump’s war of choice
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Israel’s biggest security threat: Netanyahu
Over the past two years, Israel has killed over 66,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the vast majority of whom were civilians, including 20,000 children. Tens of thousands more have been wounded, many with life-changing injuries, or are still missing, mostly buried under rubble. This mass slaughter of Palestinians, which a UN commission of inquiry last month found to be a genocide, has … [Read more...] about Israel’s biggest security threat: Netanyahu
Middle East transformed in two years of war
The morning of October 7 2023 set in process a series of events which have profoundly changed the Middle East. At the beginning of that month, the region looked very different to today. Saudi Arabia appeared ready to normalise with Israel, having recently set aside longstanding differences with Iran. With the normalisation of relations between the region’s two preeminent … [Read more...] about Middle East transformed in two years of war
Demarco’s gauntlet of truth to authoritarianism
In early August, Chris Hermann of the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote about how the Trump administration aims to remodel Europe. He wrote: “In April, Marco Rubio’s state department launched a blog on Substack. In a post called “The Need for Civilizational Allies in Europe” the article saw the Trump administration draw the battle lines of a civilisational conflict … [Read more...] about Demarco’s gauntlet of truth to authoritarianism
Forget Trump: ‘Everybody loves the sunshine’
"Just bees, and things and flowers" Like a lot of formerly news-hungry journalists these days I can hardly bear to open the many journals I subscribe to. But today I read last week's FT Life of a Song. And Roy Ayers Sunshine blew Trump thunderstorms away. At the end of the piece, filled with enticing links and references, the author, Arwa Haider, invites readers to share … [Read more...] about Forget Trump: ‘Everybody loves the sunshine’