Twenty-three years after the United States invaded Iraq, American forces have left the country. The withdrawal completed at the end of September closes the latest stage of an American military involvement that was not continuous: the main force withdrew in 2011 and troops returned in 2014 after Islamic State seized large parts of Iraq.

Foreign money is still flowing into the United States. The more interesting question is what foreigners are buying. Over the past year they have poured money into American shares and corporate bonds while their purchases of U.S. government debt have fallen sharply. This is not evidence of a flight from America.

I began with a question: are neoliberalism and neofascism the same thing? Reading Robert W. McChesney, I came to see that his argument was not that they are the same. They begin from different beliefs and they use different language, but they can serve the same interests, and the weakening of democracy under one can leave the ground open for the other.

That is why the AfD needs close attention. Not because Germany is fated to return to its past and not because every person who votes for it can be reduced to one motive, but because a party with this much support can change a country long before it takes control of a government.

I read an essay this morning about the end of the American-led world. Its argument stayed with me because it gave a larger shape to things that can look like separate stories in the news: tariffs, hostility to immigration, demands to bring factories home, arguments over energy, rearmament and the growing distrust between allies.

In 2023, Germany’s GDP contracted by 0.9%. In 2024 it contracted by 0.5% and barely grew in 2025 when GDP expanded by 0.2%. The German economy has spent three years in contraction and stagnation.

Saturday. 28 February 2026. It was Ramadan and the start of an ordinary school day in Mināb. Clear skies. Boys and girls made their way to school.

OPEC+ can raise oil quotas, but it cannot reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump, Iran, war and shipping routes determine whether oil reaches households—and at what price across the world.

SpaceX’s own filings reveal a private company deeply embedded in US military, intelligence and government infrastructure through satellite launches, secure communications, surveillance, sensing, targeting and long-term public contracts and programmes.

On Thursday, 6 August, about 911.5 million SpaceX shares held by employees and early investors will become eligible for sale.

America's war with Iran has evolved into a struggle over energy control. This essay examines Hormuz, sanctions, pipelines and how power comes from shaping global oil flows, not ownership alone.

Bernie Sanders wants Americans to own half of major AI companies, but global knowledge complicates national claims and raises deeper questions about ownership, public wealth, borders, and power in technology.

Argentina can raise up to $2 billion from commercial banks through World Bank and MIGA guarantees, lowering near-term costs while leaving the country responsible for repaying the debt over time.

Countries can work with a president they dislike. They cannot organise defence, trade, finance and diplomacy around a government whose commitments may change without warning.

AI draws on centuries of global knowledge, yet American firms and politicians treat its wealth as a national asset, leaving most of humanity outside the settlement they invoke for themselves.

Argentina paid its foreign bondholders without issuing new debt abroad, but the government still relies on loans, local bonds and asset sales to meet larger bills due in 2027 alone.

The EU’s proposed sanctions list brings asset freezes and travel bans into migration control, extending state power across banks and borders before courts have tested the evidence against named suspects.

An elderly priest’s arrest exposed a power long embedded in British law. The statute remained unchanged. Only the decision to use it shifted, redrawing the boundary between protest and terrorism.

America’s 250th anniversary speech shows how old anti-communist language can return to public life, narrowing political disagreement and turning opponents into internal enemies.

Iran’s state funeral for Ayatollah Khamenei reveals how political power uses ritual, mourning, and public ceremony to project continuity, legitimacy, and authority after war, succession, and uncertainty.