A Primer on the Petrodollar and the War on Iran
This newsletter is a primer on some of the key concepts needed to understand the global financial system in the context of the illegal war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran.
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Could Capitalism Have Thrived Without Colonialism? A Commentary on Vivek Chibber’s Jacobin Radio Interview
The author argues that capitalism could not have thrived without colonialism. He contends that industrial, global capitalism was inextricably linked to, and dependent on, the super-exploitation, racialised expropriation, and structural plunder of colonial territories.
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Over a Billion People in the World Suffer from Mental Health Ailments
Two reports by UN agencies – Mental Health Atlas 2024 and World Mental Health Today (both published in 2025) – found that over one billion people live with a mental disorder. Most of those who suffer these maladies live in low- and middle-income countries. The most common ailments are anxiety and depression, with women disproportionately impacted.
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If You Don’t Want to Confront Oppression, Your Role as an Intellectual is Pointless
I have been to graves and memorials across the world: the grave of Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores (1971—2016) in La Esperanza, Honduras; of Lindokuhle Mnguni (1994—2022) in Durban, South Africa … Why were these people killed? Each of them believed—in different ways—in the need to expand the possibilities for human dignity in the world.
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Syria After Assad
The Syrian government has been keen to deepen its normalisation process with Israel. There is also no conversation anywhere about protection of the Alawi and Christian minorities, who have taken the brunt of the attacks by the government-led forces.
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Capitalism | Imperialism | Online Blog | USA
Unilateral and Illegal Sanctions–Mainly by the United States–Kill Half a Million Civilians Per Year
According to the Global Sanctions Database, the United States, European Union and UN have sanctioned 25% of the countries in the world. The United States by itself sanctioned 40% of these countries, sanctions that are unilateral because they do not have the assent of a UN Security Council resolution.
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The Global North Lives Off Intellectual Rents
Despite rapid technological innovations, Global South countries remain trapped in Global North-dominated intellectual property regimes designed to extract endless rents through patents and licensing fees – stripping them of wealth and stunting their development.
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Capitalism | Imperialism | Online Blog | USA
The Banana Road from South America to China
On the global banana trade, and how the United States is trying to make the commerce in bananas into a national security issue.
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Hundreds of Millions are Dying of Hunger
Enough food is produced to meet the needs of 11 billion people. Why do so many of the 8 billion people on the planet go hungry?
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A Language of Blood has Gripped Our World
In two years of the civil war in Sudan, at least 150,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million—over one fifth of Sudan’s population of 51 million—displaced. This ongoing catastrophe appears utterly senseless to most Sudanese people.
