Despite 'Soft' Survey Strength, US Manufacturing Unexpectedly Tumbled In August

Thursday’s diplomatic negotiations (26 Feb) – for all the panglossian noise from mediators and negotiators – confirmed the essential impasse. The US demands presented to Iran were: These demands plainly were formulated to obstruct, rather than facilitate, any diplomatic solution. It reflects a strategy rooted in the viscerally-held presumption of Iranian weakness that, in the […]

Social contract theory was used to critique a form of the state, but was also used to legitimize the modern nation-state.

"Expect Moderate Disruptions": Oil Tankers Avoid Strait Of Hormuz As Operation Fury Hits Iran Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking data indicate that multiple tankers abruptly reversed course near the entrance to the critical maritime chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday, following the U.S.-Israeli operation (Operation Epic Fury) targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command-and-control infrastructure in multiple Iranian cities. Bloomberg reporter Stephen Stapczynski pulled data from the Terminal that shows shipowners of crude oil, crude products, and LNG tankers are avoiding the strait, even though the waterway remains open and...