Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Hundreds were feared dead after a strike on a hospital treating drug users in the Afghan capital of Kabul, which officials from Afghanistan blamed on the Pakistani military. Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the death toll had ‘so far’ reached 400 people, while about 250 people had been reported injured. He said most of those killed and wounded were patients undergoing treatment at the facility. Pakistan rejected the claim as false and misleading and said it ‘precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure’ on Monday night, dismissing allegations it had hit a civilian target.” (03/17/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/16/afghanistan-accuses-pakistan-of-kabul-hospital-strike-killed
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thiago VS Coelho
‘Humanitarian intervention’ sells itself as a moral shortcut: bypass the messy politics, send in the troops, stop the monster. Many libertarians respond with a familiar reply: non-intervention, because aggression against another nation is wrong. In his essay on Aggression Abroad, Jason Lee Byas’s point is that this reply often rests on a category mistake. If you take libertarianism seriously — if you really mean that only individuals have rights and only individuals can be wronged — then you can’t smuggle in a moral right called national sovereignty and treat states as if they’re rights-bearing persons. … So far, so interventionist: if sovereignty is a fiction, why not invade to stop atrocities? Because the same individualism that dissolves the sovereignty myth also destroys the interventionist fantasy of ‘surgical’ war.” (03/16/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/non-intervention-without-fairy-tale-sovereignty
Source: EconTalk
“The Economics of Scarcity and the UNC-Duke Basketball Game (with Michael Munger).” (03/16/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-economics-of-scarcity-and-the-unc-duke-basketball-game-with-michael-munger/
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The US Embassy in Baghdad was targeted by rockets and drones early Tuesday, Iraqi security sources said. While Iraq’s air defenses intercepted multiple drones and rockets, with no reported injuries, the officials said, shrapnel did hit the embassy compound, triggering an explosion and sending a plume of smoke into the sky. Meanwhile, a separate strike hit a house inside the fortified Presidential Compound in Baghdad’s al-Jadriya area. … Beijing has announced that it will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to four Middle East nations impacted by the war in the region: Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. … Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has said the war ‘should never have happened.'” (03/17/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/iran-war-us-embassy-in-iraq-struck-as-israel-bombs-beirut/live-76387955
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jenny Williams
“The notion of a short and decisive war has always been a temptation for politicians. This notion holds a promise of quick victories, low costs, and clear triumphs. However, the course of history over the last few decades has indicated that wars do not always follow this pattern. The current conflict between the United States and Iran seems to be a clear manifestation of this reality, as the early indications of a quick victory are not supported by the fundamental realities of the conflict.” (03/16/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/jenny_williams/2026/03/15/the-war-without-an-exit-why-quick-victories-in-iran-are-illusions/
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“The BBC said on Monday it had asked a US federal court in Florida to dismiss a US$10 billion lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump against the British broadcaster. Trump launched a lawsuit last year over a BBC documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot. The documentary was ‘never aired in Florida – or the US’ or available to stream there on any platform, a representative for the British Broadcasting Corporation said in a comment sent to Agence France-Presse. It also argued that Trump could not show that it intended to misrepresent him.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/SQ16w
Source: Reason
by Nick Gillespie
“Jesus, how do you write an obit of someone you hired? It is with a heavy heart but many, many fond memories and intense gratitude that I write about my colleague Brian Doherty, found dead unexpectedly on Friday at the age of 57. I joined Reason in the fall of 1993. He was hired later in 1994 and then left the staff for a while around the end of the decade. When I became editor in chief of the magazine and website in 2000, he was the first person I called. Come back, I said, Reason needs you. What I liked most about Brian was his abiding interest in things happening on the margins of American culture, politics, and thought, and his deep appreciation for the prodigious bounty that markets deliver reliably and without moralizing.” (03/16/26)
https://reason.com/2026/03/16/remembering-brian-doherty-chronicler-of-and-participant-in-wild-and-wonderful-subcultures/
Source: SFGate
“Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to it. The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating. President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants, and the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of people. A massive outage over a week ago affected the island’s west, leaving millions without power.” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuban-officials-report-an-island-wide-blackout-as-22079842.php
Source: Liberalism.org
by Sarah Skwire
“When personalization is king and optimization is everywhere, fiction has lessons about where to stop.” (03/16/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/mini-tacos-murder-and-the-problem-of-getting-exactly-what-we-want
Source: Bloomberg
“Aluminum advanced after one of the world’s biggest smelters of the metal closed almost a fifth of its capacity, deepening the risk of shortages as the Iran war chokes supplies from the Middle East. Aluminium Bahrain BSC has started a phased shutdown of three production lines, together accounting for 19% of its total output capacity, the firm said on Sunday. Alba, as the company is known, is aiming to conserve raw materials while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz faces disruptions. … The Middle East accounts for some 9% of the world’s aluminum output, and Alba’s cuts add to other reductions that have stoked supply fears and prompted warnings of deepening shortages for manufacturers.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/CzeEp
