The collapse of nuclear arms control is not returning the world to Cold War stability, but pushing it into a more complex and less governable nuclear order. As treaties lapse, latent up-arming capacity, compressed decision times, and multi-actor deterrence dynamics combine to raise systemic risk. This article examines how the erosion of formal limits—rather than malign intent—has made nuclear escalation easier, more opaque, and more dangerous, and why the United States bears central responsibility for dismantling the institutional architecture that once constrained catastrophe.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Requiem for Nuclear Arms Control
Topics: Coffee Break, Guest Post
Posted by Haig Hovaness at 2:00 pm | No Comments »
Iran Regime Change Tout Spews NSFW, Misogynistic Abuse When Asked Merely to Stop Spamming
A backer of Iran regime change efforts asked to have his ugly, misogynistic exchange with me published, and I am complying with his wishes.
Topics: Media watch, Middle East, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:04 am | 40 Comments »
Links 2/17/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 57 Comments »
Trump To Host “Six Stooges” Presidential Summit in Miami to Try to Push China Out of Latin America
All six Latin American leaders share an ideological affinity with Trump, and are the closest thing his government has to strategic partners/vassals in the region.
Topics: Guest Post
Posted by Nick Corbishley at 6:45 am | 8 Comments »
Why Does Economics Refuse to Acknowledge John Ruskin’s Illith, as in Harmful Activity?
Why the economics discipline has ignored John Ruskin’s seminal concept of illith, as in destructive activity.
Topics: Environment, Global warming, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, Social values, The destruction of the middle class, The dismal science
Posted by Yves Smith at 4:20 am | 13 Comments »
Urban Slums: Stepping-Stone for Some and Traps (or Shields) for Others
A study in Brazil found that urban slums can offer upward mobility due to access to public education. But how true is that around the world?
Topics: Dubious statistics, Guest Post, Income disparity, Social policy
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:55 am | 3 Comments »
Coffee Break: Rubio and AOC Audition for 2028 in Munich
American 2028 presidential hopefuls, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, treated the Munich Security Conference like an audition.
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Nat Wilson Turner at 2:00 pm | 40 Comments »
As Alberta Separatists Court the U.S., Prosperity Is Fuelling a Sovereigntist Turn
Dreams of oil‑funded prosperity In Alberta clash with Canada’s Constitution and the realities of a warming world.
Topics: Energy markets, Environment, Global warming
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 9:55 am | 22 Comments »
Links 2/16/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 88 Comments »
War With Iran to Accelerate Trump’s Golden March to Ruin
The decision to go to war with Iran appears to have been made, and how that will sink Trump’s already failing rule and risk nuclear war.
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Economic fundamentals, Federal Reserve, Globalization, Middle East, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:54 am | 103 Comments »
Will Russia and Iran Be Forced to ‘Restore Order’ in the Caucasus?
Moscow and Tehran hold economic upper hand in the region, but current ruling groups in both Armenia and Azerbaijan are no longer responding to rational and mutual national interests.
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Energy markets, Europe, Infrastructure, Middle East, Russia, Turkey
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:00 am | 10 Comments »
Ralph Linton (1936), Identity Politics, and the Concept of Ascribed Status
Ralph Linton, arguably the father of what we now call identity politics, had some impressive insights as well as blind spots.
Topics: Guest Post, Media watch, Politics, Social policy, Social values
Posted by Yves Smith at 5:30 am | 12 Comments »
Links 2/15/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Haig Hovaness at 6:55 am | 160 Comments »
The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Defamation (2009) Run Time: 1H 31M Plus Bonus Jazz!
Defamation is a movie about the exploitation of anti-Semitism to keep Jews fearful and compliant.
Topics: Guest Post, Sunday morning Antidote movie
Posted by semper loquitur at 6:30 am | 3 Comments »
Trump’s DHS Is Pushing the Boundaries of Probable Cause and Due Process to Fuel a Farm Labor Crisis
Agricultural employers are scrambling to find replacements and the administration is turning to guest workers.
Topics: Guest Post, Legal, Ridiculously obvious scams, Surveillance state, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 5:00 am | 25 Comments »



