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Feb 18 2026 
Clara Mattei: capitalism is not natural – it’s enforced
Clara Mattei is an economist who wants us to rethink the idea that capitalism is simply the natural order of things.
She is an author and professor of economics whose work explores how economic ideas become tools of power, shaping policy while masking the political decisions beneath. Her new book, Escape from Capitalism, argues that… Continue reading
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Feb 18 2026 
A MAGA Manifesto in Munich: Why Marco Rubio’s Speech Exposes the Fragility of Transatlantic Trust
Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan
At the Munich Security Conference this year, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered what many in Europe took as a defining foreign policy statement of the Trump era — one that was praised in Washington but has raised profound questions across the Atlantic about the future of… Continue reading
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Feb 18 2026 
Israel’s Death Calls
Marwa Osman
Journalist Radwan Mortada wrote:
“When reality is harsher than fiction.
Yesterday, in the town of Tallouseh, the martyr Ahmad Termos (62) was on a family visit. He was sitting with his wife in her brother’s house. The sound of a drone overhead, then another. He had barely stepped inside to sit when his phone rang. Ahmad… Continue reading
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Feb 18 2026 
Will Schryver: Iran
Will Schryver
@imetatroninkNow Or Never
The US has now positioned in the Middle East a formidable array of assets to prosecute an air campaign against Iran.
In addition to what has already been delivered, CSG-12 (USS Gerald R. Ford CVN-78) is en route. But it is very unlikely it can arrive on station in the eastern Mediterranean and… Continue reading
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Feb 17 2026 
Col Douglas Macgregor: BOMBING IRAN Won’t Fix Anything
Daniel Davis / Deep Dive
U.S. military leaders are confident in their capabilities against Iran, but any war would likely involve American losses in the air, on the ground, and possibly at sea.
Senator Lindsey Graham is portrayed as accepting those risks, arguing military action is justified despite potential U.S. casualties. The speaker strongly disagrees, arguing there… Continue reading
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Feb 17 2026 
Middlegame and a Strategy for the Day after Tomorrow
Sergei A. Karaganov
National Research University–Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
Distinguished Professor, Academic Supervisor;
Council on Foreign and Defense Policy
Honorary Chairman—
Fear is the only thing the EU understands
Sergey Karaganov argues the conflict with the West has entered its middle game – and that only firm deterrence, including the credible threat of… Continue reading
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Feb 17 2026 
Patrushev on the protection of navigation and maritime borders of the Russian Federation
Nikolai Patrushev said that pirate attacks on the Russian maritime trade indicate that Western opponents decided to paralyze the foreign trade of our country / Pavel Bednyakov / RIA Novosti
(The translation is not wonderful but absolutely understandable).
“If we do not give them a tough rebuff, then soon the British, the French and even the Balts… Continue reading
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Feb 17 2026 
Iran & US hold constructive talks and exchange ideas on nuclear issue – Araghchi
Sputnik
💬 “I can say that at this round, compared to the last one, we brought up absolutely serious issues for discussion, the atmosphere was more productive. Various ideas were put up for discussion, and we had serious discussions on these ideas, and finally we found a strategic route that we will follow, along which we… Continue reading
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Feb 17 2026 
Trilateral talks on Ukraine end in Geneva after 6 hours of discussions
The talks were held behind closed doors at Hotel InterContinental
GENEVA, February 17. /TASS/. The trilateral closed-door talks on the Ukrainian settlement involving Russia, the United States, and Ukraine have ended in Geneva after six hours of discussions, a source told TASS.
The talks began at 1:56 p.m. local time (12:56 a.m. GMT). They were held behind… Continue reading
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Feb 16 2026 
Pepe Escobar: Baviera Rhapsody: Insecurity Conference targets re-colonization of the Global South
The path towards 5th Generation War will accelerate. We are entering the next stage of an “omnipresent battlefield.”
Strategic CultureNo one ever lost money betting on major farce taking over every Munich (In)Security Conference. But the 62nd edition this past weekend did send the Stupidity-O-Meter off the charts.
First of all, the context:
The “rules-based international order” was… Continue reading
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Feb 16 2026 
Alastair Crooke: Trump Kabuki theatre in Ukraine: Nothing of substance gets resolved
The Witkoff negotiation enterprise is distancing Russia from its security imperatives.
Strategic Culture
Note: If you take a look at Alastair’s teasing out the realities on the the Ukraine side, and you change the details for the BoP and a Palestinian Homeland including Gaza, it is the very same thing.
It is not a glitch… Continue reading
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Feb 16 2026 
Indonesia prepares to deploy 1,000 troops to Gaza for Trump’s ‘stabilization force’
Other nations have refused to participate in the force, fearing they would be required to ‘disarm Hamas’ and carry out operations against Palestinians on Israel’s behalf.
The CradleIndonesia is preparing to deploy 1,000 troops to Gaza as early as April as part of US President Donald Trump’s International Stabilization Force (ISF), Reuters reported on 16 February,… Continue reading
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Feb 16 2026 
Brian Berletic: At the AI Race’s Finishing Line: A World of Abundance or Automated Dominance?
NEO
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, an important but unnoticed debate is taking place within the halls of Western power and among a handful of billionaire business leaders and investors regarding the shape of the world to come as this technology permeates every aspect of modern civilization.
Western-based optimists insist that AI will bring about… Continue reading -
Feb 16 2026 
Kim Dotcom: The Palantir (alleged) Hack
https://x.com/KimDotcom/status/2023165849721536672
Palantir was allegedly hacked. An AI agent was used to gain super-user access and here”s what the hackers allegedly found: Peter Thiel and Alex Karp commit mass surveillance of world leaders and titans of industry on a massive scale. They have thousands of hours of transcribed and searchable conversations of Donald Trump, JD Vance and… Continue reading
