War and Morality

Xi Hosts Taiwan Opposition Leader In Rare Meeting: 'We Will Not Become A Chessboard For External Intervention' All eyes remain fixated on the impending US-Iran talks in Islamabad, but big things are also happening Friday in Beijing, and they have direct impact on another potential global flashpoint: Taiwan. While Washington potentially gets bogged down in another Middle East quagmire (if talks don't go well and there's no offramp), Chinese leader Xi Jinping has welcomed the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party for a rare direct meeting in the Chinese capital. The symbolism of the timing...

Still The (Military) Base Case By Michael Every of Rabobank Hormuz traffic is climbing, but refined product prices are lagging, and crack spreads are blowing out: one can’t just look at the oil price to understand the overall energy dynamic. On the geopolitical front, things are also still mixed. Talks about the US-Iran MoU in Doha, without either side speaking to the other, went well according to the US, who are staying on for what could be indirect talks today. However, the Wall Street Journal reports Iran is split, with political leadership...

DOJ Re-Adopts Executions By Firing Squad As It Strengthens Federal Death Penalty The Department of Justice on Friday directed the Bureau of Prisons to expand death penalty protocols to include pentobarbital injections and firing squads as part of broader actions to strengthen the federal death penalty, Fox News reports.  "Today, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences — clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals," the DOJ memo obtained by...