All articles from Naked Capitalism
Links 3/29/2026
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Iran War: More Signs of a Long Conflict and Resulting Severe Economic Damage
The latest Iran war update: both sides dig in, virtually assuring at least a long-ish conflict and economic devastation.
The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Silence (Chinmoku) (1971) Run Time: 2H 9M Plus Jazz!
Silence is a movie about faith and its loss.
Beavers Can Turn Streams Into Carbon Stores – We Measured How Much
Natural engineers can quietly help river landscapes store more carbon for decades to come.
Links 3/28/2026
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Iran War: More Escalation – US Strikes Iran Steel Plants, Israel Sends Third Missile at Iran Nuclear Plant; Yemen Joins War
Today's Iran war update: the escalation dynamic intensifies as economies all across Asia are the first to bleed out
Book Review: How Genetics Shapes Our Ideas About Vice and Blame
IMHO, the book "Original Sin” makes a wildly unsound case for the genetic roots of sin, vice and guilt, and our attitudes toward punishment.
Coffee Break: East Asia and the War in West Asia, RIP Metaverse, Cetacean Doulas, and Social Sycophancy
Part the First: The War in West Asia Viewed from East Asia. The daily updates compiled here have been essential for cutting through the fog of war associated with the current War in West Asia. Many
The Controversy Over Deep-Sea Mining, Explained
Deep-sea mining backers want metals for clean tech. Indigenous Pacific Islanders call it a threat to life, culture, and the ocean itself.
Links 3/27/2026
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Iran War: Trump Faffs About, Extending Deadline for Strike Threat by 10 Days as US Military and Energy/Materials Shortfalls and Shortages Expected in Weeks; Iran Allows Transit of Trapped “Friendly” Ships
Today's Iran war update: Trump and his inner circle seem astonishingly oblivious to accelerating damage to the economy and the military.
The Trump Administration’s Supposed “War” on Latin America’s Drug Cartels Has a New Name: “Operation Total Extermination”
While the War Department is currently focused on partner-led deterrence operations, it does not not rule out unilateral US strikes across Latin America.
Two Verdicts in Two Days: How American Courts Are Rewriting the Rules for Big Tech and Children
Will two verdicts against tech platform operators over the danger to children lead to a tidal wave of lawsuits? That jury is out.
The War on Iran Cannot Be Explained by Material Interests Alone
The War on Iran, observed beyond geopolitics: power, belief, and history shaping conflict beyond material interests
Australia’s Fuels Dependence Turns Into a Crisis
Australia is on its way to becoming the first advanced economy major victim of the Iran war due to baffling policy choices.
Links 3/26/2026
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Iran War: Accelerating Economic Damage Creates Urgency on Strait of Hormuz Closure; Shambolic US Assault Preparations Continue; Iran Demands Recognition of Sovereignity Over Strait; Houthis Set to Strangle Red Sea Traffic if US Makes Ground Attack
Trump's fight with the Iran war tar baby is at great risk of creating even more dangerous escalation.
Satyajit Das: The Modern ‘Share the Scraps’ Economy
A clinical look at the extractive behavior that all that share, erm, sharing economy talk obscures.
How the US Became an International Serial Killer
An Iran-focused update on America's shameful, destabilizing status as global killer in chief
Coffee Break: OpenAI, Sora, Iran, the Ellison Empire, and Maybe a Recognition Event?
OpenAI's shutdown of its Sora video generation engine service and the ensuing cancellation of a $1 billion deal with Disney may represent a recognition event for the company and the larger LLM economi
Easing Capital, Reviving Risk: The Quiet Return of Too Big to Fail
Less capital, more risk. The latest move on big-bank rules suggests that too big to fail was never solved, only deferred.
Links 3/25/2026
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Iran War: Mainstream Media Starting to Acknowledge Potential Iran Victory as Trump Flails About, Readying Ground Assault; EU Reversal on Russia Oil Sanctions, Emergency Actions in Asia, Even China, Shows Accelerating Economic Damage
Today's Iran war update: the current reduction in temperatures does not mean a resolution of the war or damage to the global economy is nigh.
Clearing the Air: Fifty Answers to Our Climate Questions
We discussed Here Comes the Sun by Bill McKibben earlier this year. His message is that climate catastrophe is not foreordained, even if the current “weather” is odd and suggests that something in se
Concentration Camps, US Style: Dehumanization for Fun and Profit
Rebecca Gordon describes US concentration camps, um, detention centers, as money-driven vehicles for authoritarianism and abuse.
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Cheap Guidance and Big Consequences
The most important change in modern warfare is not the proliferation of drones or missiles, but the collapse in the cost of precision guidance. Weapons no longer need to be highly sophisticated to be
Economic Questions: The Robert Nozick Question
On the simplistic reasoning Robert Nozick used to justify inequality and a minimal state
Links 3/24/2026
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Iran War: US/Israel Attacks Near Iran Energy Infrastructure; Temporary TACO as Boots on the Ground Moves Continue? Postol on How Iran Nukes Israel in Retaliation and the Horrific Consequences; Gulf States Double Down on Loyalty to US
Today's Iran war update: Trump moves toward a ground attack as positions on all sides are hardening and the global economy bleeds out
Spanish Government Intensifies Criticism of US-Israeli War on Iran As Trump Mulls Withdrawing US Troops from Spanish Bases
"We will not be complicit in something that is bad for the world and that is also contrary to our values and interests, simply out of fear of reprisals from someone.”
The Economic Consequences of a Low-Skilled Immigration Sudden Stop: Evidence from Korea’s Guest Worker Programme
The example of South Korea suggests that a halt in immigration by low-skilled workers does not boost pay or job conditions for natives.
Coffee Break: Trump’s TACO Designed to Manipulate Markets
Today's moves by the Trump regime employed one of the key elements of U.S. strategy in the Ramadan War on Iran: using deception to influence financial markets.
Claims About Genetic Superiority Ignore the Real Drivers of Human Inequality
People should be more concerned with the effects of the policies imposed by the Trumps and Musks of the world than the DNA passed on by their parents.
Links 3/23/2026
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Iran War: Trump’s 48 Hour Deadline Approaches; Soldiers Fearful as Lindsey Graham Calls for Their Sacrifice; Complacency in Face of Intersecting Shortages, Like Food and Plastics
Today's Iran war update: Let us hope that this saying proves not to be germane – Things look the darkest before they go completely black."
War Widens to the Caspian. Why Isn’t Iran Attacking Azerbaijan?
Iran issues warnings to Baku as Israel strikes its Caspian fleet in maritime space shared with Russia.
Boomerangs of Empire: Latin America as Colonial Laboratory
A Latin America case study on how the pursuit of empire has come to haunt the US.
Links 3/22/2026
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Iran War: Trump Issues 48 Hour Unhinged Ultimatum to Iran; Iran Vows Mass Destruction Countermeasures; Israel Takes Hit to Dimona Area, Other Blows After Second Firing on Iran Nuclear Reactor Site ; More Warnings of Deep Damage from Strait of Hormuz Closure, LNG Reduction Effects
Today's Iran war update: Trump threatens action which will lead to Iran retaliation that will destroy the world economy. Will he proceed?
The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Solaris (1972) Run Time: 2H 47M
Solaris is a film about the nature of memory and human encounters with the alien.
Apocalypse Now— West Asia Edition
The empire has backed itself into a corner: admit defeat or resort to increasingly deranged measures.
Links 3/21/2026
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Iran War: Trump Escalates via Preparation for Ground Assault; Israel Takes More Pounding, Husbands Air Defenses; Coming Helium, Jet Fuel Shortages; Prospects for Vastly Higher Oil Prices
Trump gives trademark mixed signals as the US moves to deploy special forces in the Iran war in the face of kinetic and economic losses.
Michael Hudson: Iran, Israel, and World War III
Michael Hudson provides a deep dive into US foreign policy and its use of dollar dominance.
Many ACA Customers Are Paying Higher Premiums. Most Blame Trump and Republicans, Poll Finds.
ACA premium hikes and loss of Covid-era additional support are creating a coverage crisis, deservedly adding to Republican midterm woes.
Coffee Break: Breaking American Science, COVID Undercount, Food Politics, St. Patrick, and a Brief Diversion
Part the First: The Slow Death of Biomedical Research Continues in the United States. We have covered this before, but the entire unfolding situation gets more surreal by the week. STAT News has bee
Manure-to-Energy Project Touted as Climate Fix Emits Thousands of Tons of Methane
Manure digesters for cattle are yet another rentier-enriching climate con.
Links 3/20/2026
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Iran War: Even as Breakdowns and Lasting Damage Mount, Denial, Normalcy Bias, and Arrogance of the Belligerents Will Produce a Long and Highly Destructive War
Today's Iran War report: denial will kills us all. Refusal to see where this war is probably going increases the odds of worst-case outcomes.
Will World’s “Most Zionist President”, Javier Milei, Deploy Argentina’s Navy for Trump’s Kamikaze Strait of Hormuz Mission?
We thought no head of state was mad enough to volunteer for such a mission. Maybe we were wrong.
The Epistemic Break of the Iran War
The Iran War is shattering the U.S. illusion of power, breaking truths that are being replaced by AI models and creating an epistemic collapse
Tall Buildings Lead to More Compact and Productive Cities
On the benefits of urban density and the role of tall buildings in achieving that result.
Links 3/19/2026
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Iran War: Leap Up Escalation Ladder with Israel//US Attack on Iran Gas Field, Nuclear Plant, Iran Retaliation on Qatar Gas Facilities, Other Energy Infrastructure Across Region; MSM Initial Under-Reporting Not Blunting Surge in UK, EU Gas Prices;
Iran war news: The Middle East burns thanks to epically stupid Israeli attacks on Iran's energy assets, which produced a fierce response
Trump FBI and IRS Team Up to Probe US Nonprofit Groups for ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Links
Trump had threatened independent voices via revoking IRS non-for-profit status. He is upping the ante with FBI and terrorism probes
Rifling Through the Evidence: Uncertainty in Firearms Analysis
Recently published studies raise basic methodology questions about the tests used to vet firearms ballistic analysts.
Coffee Break: Silicon Valley Accelerationists Take On the World and Everyone in It
Multiple Silicon Valley accelerationists like Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and Mark Zuckerberg are getting attention for what some consider their challenges to values that many consider ce
AI-Powered Robot Dogs Guarding Reviled Data Centers Is Where We Have Arrived
Robot dogs, known as “quadrupeds,” patrol sprawling energy-sucking complexes, which are increasingly met with protest around the country.
Links 3/18/2026
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Iran War: Joe Kent Resignation Bombshell; US Deploys Bunker-Busters Near Strait of Hormuz; Iran Makes Retaliatory Strikes on Israel, Across Gulf for Ali Larijani Assassination; Real World Oil Prices Diverge from Paper Oil
Today's Iran war update: attritional slugging continues as Joe Kent's resignation shows MAGA doubts and the economic tsunami starts rolls in.
What Does Europe Do Now?
EU economy chief downplays risks from war against Iran as misleadership class seeks ways to make crises even worse.
“Regime Tweaking” In Cuba Is The Most Realistic Outcome Of Its US-Instigated Crisis
Cuba has no option other than to knuckle under in the face of US economic strangulation. What comes next?
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Distributed Deterrence
Military superiority has long been assumed to confer decisive strategic advantage. Yet the spread of precision missiles, mobile launch systems, and low-cost drones is eroding that assumption. A new co
Why Insect Farming Startups Are Going Bankrupt
To the frustration of Davos Man, insect agriculture has found it difficult to compete with the traditional meat industry.
Links 3/17/2026
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Iran War: No Uptake to Trump Plea for Help With Opening Strait of Hormuz; Israel Claims Assassination of Iran Security Chief; Iran Clarifies That Friendly Countries Can Transit, Strikes UAE Terminal at Fajarah, Trump Delays Xi Summit
Today's Iran war update: Trump embarrassment, more Israel decapitation, Iran continues working over Israel, US airbases, and the Gulf States.
Palantir Faces Growing Backlash in UK Following Mandelson-gate Scandal
But is it already too late to reverse course?
Causal Evidence on Cost-of-Living Shocks: How the Energy Crisis Affected Energy Demand, Labour Supply, and Financial Strain
Quelle surprise! Poorer households have to make across-the-board spending cuts when hit with a price shock.
Coffee Break: AIPAC, Crypto, Gambling, AI Money Coalitions Up The Dark Money Game in Dem Primaries
With Israel's popularity nosediving among Democrats, AIPAC is having to up its dark money game to impact primaries, often in concert with AI and crypto interests.
Economic Questions: The Thorstein Veblen Question
A timely recap of Thorstein Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption and its implication.
Links 3/16/2026
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Iran War: Trump Administration Attempts to Deny Long Conflict Risk; Trump Threatens NATO Over Hormuz Scheme; Kinetic and Economic Situation More Desperate Than Acknowledged
The latest Iran war update: Trump harangues allies as his team offers hopium despite more evidence of kinetic and real economy damage.
With Shipping Industry in Meltdown, Struggle to Oust China from Global Ports Intensifies
Panama “retakes” canal, and Blackrock-led consortium doubles down on efforts to acquire dozens of global ports from Hong Kong-based company, including ones in Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
‘Serious Threat to the First Amendment’ as Trump Admin Wins First Antifa Terror Charge
“A case like this helps the government kind of see how far they can go in criminalizing constitutionally protected protest,” one legal advocate said.