Think-tank expert argues that U.S. military can’t leave the Middle East

Foreign Affairs, 10/12–The Iran war has not demonstrated that the United States no longer has interests in the Middle East. It has demonstrated, very painfully, that it does and that the way Washington has been pursuing them for a generation is unsustainable. The lesson is not to abandon the region but to rethink an approach that has become both too costly and counterproductive…Oil is a fungible commodity with a single global price. As the Iran war has shown, when supplies are cut anywhere, Americans pay more at the pump, and slower growth in Asia and Europe drags down the U.S. economy…and fossil fuels still supply roughly 80 percent of the world’s energy…

Pakistan’s opposition party leaders arrested in latest crackdown

The Guardian, 10/12– Politicians from ⁠the party of the former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan have been detained after the suspension of a provincial government now under emergency rule. Pakistan’s president declared a state of emergency and suspended the ⁠government in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province…The imposition of emergency rule and suspension ‌of the provincial government have sharply escalated ‌confrontation between the 74-year-old former cricket star and the country’s powerful military. The emergency rule came a week ‌after Khan’s supporters had rallied for days in the province, intending to march to Islamabad to demand his release and provide medical treatment.

Chinese workers protest capitalist tricks to extract profits from their work

Reuters, 9/28–With China set for a week-long holiday at the start of October, many workers are taking to social media to complain about the widespread practice of requiring staff to work weekends either side of the break to maintain output. The online outcry is the latest in a series ‌of social media flare-ups over gruelling schedules, low pay and weak labour protections, with growing calls to punish employers through consumer boycotts or legal action emerging as a new tactic and highlighting deepening labour market strain…Today, promotions, wage growth, and employment are all much more uncertain, yet excessive overtime persists. 

Miners in Sudan killed in air strike

Al Jazeera, 10/12– An air raid at a gold mine near the disputed Sudan-Egypt border has killed at least 72 workers, according to a Sudanese rights group, after survivors described scenes of chaos in the mountainous region. Emergency Lawyers, which documents atrocities in Sudan’s war, accused the Egyptian military of carrying out the attack…It was this year’s second attack on the mountainous border region of Jabal al-Uqaydat, a gold mining area. Similar strikes, also reportedly carried out by Egypt, killed 23 workers at the gold mining site in June… The border between Sudan and Egypt is disputed, with both countries claiming the resource-rich Halaib Triangle.

Economist explains why grocery bills will continue to rise

New York Times, 10/11–For decades, we had expanding globalization, and effectively infinitely elastic supply. If you had…a component that failed, or you had a problem sourcing it, easy just to substitute it and get another one. Just wait for the next container ship, and you’re all set. That has started to change because of the fracturing of the global economy…We’ve built supply chains that have these multiple single sources of failure…This is the inevitable consequence of the ever-expanding globalization period ending. Globalization worked really well from a cost perspective…It will be more expensive to create more resilience amid this fracturing of the global economy.  

Haitian elections not coming any time soon as bosses fight over control

LeMonde, 10/6– Haiti, which has been engulfed by years of gang violence and political chaos, has indefinitely postponed elections due to be held later this year, officials said Tuesday, October 6. The first round of presidential and legislative elections had been set for December 13, and the second round for February 21, 2027. Haiti has not held elections since 2016, and its last president, assassinated in 2021, has not been replaced…Of its approximately 11 million inhabitants, nearly 1.5 million are internally displaced by violence…A UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) is being slowly deployed to assist overwhelmed local police.