The takedown of a Russian darknet marketplace exposed cracks within the cyber-criminal underworld — and the global effort to shut down these digital black markets.
I used to believe several things about the twenty-first century that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump’s election in 2016 have shown me are false.
Only when China and the United States elevate the threat of climate change above their geopolitical rivalry will it be possible to avert disaster.
How should we relate to working class resistance in countries with governments the US State Department has in its sights?
A call for diplomacy and deescalation, not economic and military confrontation. We should prioritize the fight for a 180-degree turnaround in the U.S. stance toward China - that diplomacy and negotiation replace trade wars and military encirclement.
In a not-so-distant future, Norway has elected a radical branch of the Green Party, and its charismatic new prime minister shuts down the country’s supply of oil and gas to continental Europe. Despite an impending climate crisis, the EU is none too pleased with this overnight weaning from petrol, and invites Russia to offer Norway “technical assistance” in restoring its fossil fuel production. Russian gunships descend on Norway’s oil platforms.
Most international political thrillers rely on the interplay of fantasy and reality, using real countries and familiar politics in the frame of a fictional narrative. What makes CBS’s Madam Secretary unusual, even within that context, is that its episodes actually borrow from recent international events, relationships, and histories. The show’s universe can often feel like a surreal look into a parallel reality.
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