All articles from Naked Capitalism
Why governments insist on CBDCs or stablecoins when most people don’t want them
CBDCs could create a two-tier wealth system: non-programmable assets for the elite and total digital surveillance for the population.
Has the Rate of Global Warming More Than Doubled?
Troubling global warming updates from the authoritative James Hansen.
Links 2/12/2026
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Bloomberg’s $108 Oil as Worst Case Iran War Scenario: Too Optimistic?
A detailed Bloomberg report lays out different scenarios for oil prices if Iran attacks. Is its forecast of a worst case of $108 a barrel too cheery?
Suffocating an Island: What the U.S. Blockade Is Doing to Cuba
Medea Benjamin provides a gripping on-the-ground report of how conditions in Cuba are deteriorating due to the US oil blockage.
Satyajit Das: On Cinema – Antonioni’s Mysteries
A look at the major works of Michelangelo Antonioni and how he influenced film-making.
Coffee Break: Crisis of Credibility Edition
The crisis of credibility faced by Western elites as they try and fail to patch over the bursting abscess that is the Epstein files release heralds something much more profound: potential systemic col
Costs of Device-Reliant Parenting: Kids Deficient in Empathy and Storytelling Skills, Can’t Read, Show Declining Cognitive Performance
Another disconcerting report on the harm done to kids by device and tech heavy parenting
Links 2/11/2026
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Health and Wellbeing in the Age of Diagnosis
In this modern world, sometimes it seems that everyone has “something,” and many of these conditions are relatively “new” and their incidence is increasing. Leading diagnoses from the Diagnostic and
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – The Incredible Shrinking “Most Powerful Military in History”
The United States is not merely losing military capacity—it is losing the ability to recognize what it no longer has. As political posture outruns material readiness, allies and adversaries are condit
‘This Is Your Money’: Trump Assault on CFPB Has Cost Consumers $19 Billion
The affordability crisis includes the cost of being cheated, which due to the weakening of the CFPB alone is a handsome sum.
Links 2/10/2026
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The Ultimate Insult: As Washington Starves Cuba of Energy (And Most Everything Else), It Offers $6 Million in Humanitarian Aid
The US State Department insists that US restrictions on oil in Cuba are not amplifying the need for humanitarian aid there.
America’s Real Health Crisis? Inequality— and a Generation Pays
Raw milk won’t cut it. Even being rich won’t save you. The fast track to improving health in America is tackling inequality
The European Veal Pen: How the US Weaponized Russophobic Paranoia & Energy Geopolitics To Capture Control of Europe
Can Europe free itself from its capture by the US, which looked like a dandy idea until the US became an openly predatory hegemon?
Coffee Break: Trump’s Stochastic Election Attacks, AIPAC Misfire
In 2026, U.S. politics is definied by two trends: Democrats surging in special elections and Trump attacking the very idea of elections.
Journalism May Be Too Slow To Remain Credible Once Events Are Filtered Through Social Media
Some hand-wringing, as well as blame shifting, as to why social media and independent sites are eating the lunches of mainstream media.
Iran War Watch: US Moves Towards Attack Footing Despite Questionable Odds of Success
On the Iran front, the US is taking steps that do not look like mere posturing. Many experts, including ones in Iran, think war is nigh.
Links 2/9/2026
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An Iranian Architecture Appreciation Post
Sanctions have spurred “creative destruction” in Iran where brickwork draws on the past to create shade, natural light, and ventilation.
An Effort to Ease Water Pollution With Oysters Fizzled. Why?
A Maryland program that lets oyster farmers capitalize off the environmental benefits of the bivalves had few takers.
Links 2/8/2026
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The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Paprika (2006) Run Time: 1H 38M
Paprika is a movie about the boundaries between dreams and the waking world, and what happens when they break down.
With ICE Using Medicaid Data, Hospitals and States Are in a Bind Over Warning Immigrant Patients
ICE access to Medicaid data is forcing hospitals and states to consider alerting immigrant patients that information from emergency medical coverage applications could be used in efforts to remove the
Links 2/7/2026
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How Much Further Can U.S. Forces Go in Mexico?
A drug kingpin's arrest in Mexico shows Trump using the war on drugs to justify intervention. Will he deliver on his military action threat?
Why Futuristic, Tech-Centered ‘Smart City’ Projects Are Destined To Fail
Why the smart city idea regular falls short of its hype.
Coffee Break: Science and Medicine, Bad and Good
Part the First: Predatory or Not? Over the past six years the biomedical literature has accumulated 494,547 scientific “publications” with “COVID” (case insensitive) somewhere in the paper. A search
Q&A: Tech Billionaires’ AI Space Empire Fantasies Are ‘An Insidious Form of Climate Denial’
Science journalist Adam Becker dissects offensively crazy tech billionaires' schemes that greenwash their planetary looting.
Links 2/6/2026
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The Political Fallout from the UK’s Mandelson-gate Scandal Has Only Just Begun
One thing is already clear: Peter Mandelson (aka the Prince of Darkness) is now a spent force in British politics.
Bitcoin/Crypto Crash Captures Headlines as Potentially More Serious Tech-Driven Debt Retreat Progresses
As much fun as it is to watch Bitcoin swoon, a more serious erosion is underway on the big tech borrowing front.
How Vulnerable is the US Electrical Grid to Winter Outages?
A look at the shaky state of the US electric grid and how it came to be in such sorry shape.
The Epstein Files as a Weapon in the Conflict Over Currency and the “Central Domain”
What the Epstein scandal reveals about the conflict for digital sovereignty, currency and the shift between Carl Schmitt’s 'central domains'
The Actual Gavin Newsom Is Much Worse Than You Think
A Gavin Newsom rap sheet, starting with his fake progressiveness.
Links 2/5/2026
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American Society for Plastic Surgery Position Statement Withdraws Support for Transition Surgery for Those Under 19 as New $2 Million Judgement Points to Looming Liability for Hospitals
How large is the exposure of gender transition doctors who were quick to provide treatments to teens? A $2 million award says pretty big.
Historia Arcana of the NATO Pact
Did the success of former Nazi officers in landing key positions in NATO help explain NATO's Russia hostility even after the USSR fell?
ICE and Border Patrol in Minnesota − Accused of Violating 1st, 2nd, 4th and 10th Amendment Rights − Are Testing Whether the Constitution Can Survive
A law professor recaps ICE and DHS violations of the Constitution in Minnesota alone and their import in reversing Federal oversight.
Coffee Break: Elon Musk Headed for Supernova with OpenAI Suit, SpaceX-xAI Merger?
Elon Musk, on paper the world's wealthiest human, threatens to go supernova under the pressure of his appearances in the Epstein Files, his suit against OpenAI and Microsoft, the merger of SpaceX and
Turmoil at FEMA Adds to the Revolt Against Kristi Noem
Is Kristi Noem incompetent, evil, or just doing exactly what Trump wants her to do? Her misrule at FEMA provides more to consider.
Links 2/4/2026
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Collective West Press Starting to Acknowledge Ukraine’s Untenable Position and Inevitable Loss
More truth nuggets about Ukraine's desperate position are appearing in the Western press, but the level of denial is still high.
Türkiye Plays Peacemaker But Has Central Role in Iran Encirclement
While Trump’s “armada” gets the attention, Türkiye plays major role in bringing hostile actors to Iran’s borders.
Why American Life Expectancy is Falling Behind Globally, Falling Apart by State
The features of American life, policy, and economics are stalling out and even shortening life expectancy and what we can do to change it.
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – The Folly of Bombing Iran
Escalation advocates argue that bombing Iran could extract concessions, collapse the regime, or permanently secure Israel. History suggests otherwise. Strategic bombing has repeatedly failed to produc
US Military Helping DHS Build Massive Network of ‘Concentration Camps,’ Navy Contract Reveals
DHS is using a repurposed $55 billion Navy contract to turn warehouses into makeshift jails and plan sprawling tent cities in the boonies.
Links 2/3/2026
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Mexico Warns of “Far-Reaching Humanitarian Crisis” in Cuba, As US Seeks to Starve Island Nation Into Final Submission
Donald Trump’s vision of low-cost colonialism bears echoes of the fiscal receivership model pioneered by Theodore Roosevelt, which did not end well for most concerned.
Modi Appears to Cave to Trump, Agrees to Buy Venezuela Oil in Place of Russia’s, End Tariffs on US Agriculture
What was Modi thinking? Even though Trump is surely exaggerating what his deal amounts to, it looks like a big climbdown for India.
It’s 2026 and You’re Uninsured. Now What?
Congressional inaction and rampaging heath premium increases mean even more Americans will go uninsured. Some suggestions about what to do.
Coffee Break: The Mask of Unreality Slipping?
Trump's mask of unreality is slipping as the narrative collides with inconvenient realities like the Epstein files and election results.
Michael Hudson and Vijay Prashad: How Hyper-Imperialism Shapes Global Conflict
A rich discussion of how industrial capitalism evolved into imperialism and how its impulses and contradictions are creating more fractures.
Links 2/2/2026
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Iran War? A Look at Boundary Conditions Says Trump Will TACO With Intent to Strike Later; Israel Terrorism Set to Continue
Many factors point to the value, one might even say necessity, of Trump going TACO on Iran soon. But what might happen then?
Links 2/1/2026
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The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Lilya 4-Ever (2002) Run Time: 1H 44M Plus Bonus Horror
Lilya 4-Ever is a film about the desperation of post-Soviet Russia and it's exploitation by the West told through the life of a young prostitute.
Cybernetic Attention: All Watched over by Machines We Learned to Watch
Before the attention economy consumed our lives, “pursuit tests” devised by the US military coupled man to machine with the aim of assessing focus under pressure. What connects them to AI?
Links 1/31/2026
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How a US/Israeli Strike on Iran Could Ignite a Wider Conflict
Neither Iran nor Trump look likely to blink in their regime change staredown. What happens if the US proceeds and can't win quickly?
Why Venezuela’s Oil Comeback Is Proving Harder Than Trump Expected
Quelle surprise! More on how Venezuela's oil production prospects fall way short of Trump hucksterism.
Coffee Break: Never Underestimate What People Can Do As Members of Community
Part the First: Whalers in Brazil 5,000 Years Ago. Whaling rightly has become anathema in this modern world, except in certain, very limited, circumstances. But the historical origins of whaling rem