“Sending massive US forces in to try and succeed where US air power and the Saudis have already failed is the next obvious line of attack open to Trump and Hegseth and the pundits who guide them on Fox News every night. And because it is so simplistic and obvious, it is virtually a guaranteed certainty that they will indeed take it. But it will still fail, all the same.” (09/18/26)
“At least 21 people were killed and more than 100 injured Friday when a car carrying explosives detonated near a mosque in a police compound in Pakistan. Following the explosion, police in Kohat said, at least seven ‘terrorists’ stormed the compound and exchanged gunfire with officers, Dawn reported. … Local reporters said the attack was claimed by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban that supports a strict version of Islamic law.” (09/18/26)
“The economic effects of the U.S. war with Iran are often gauged by what the International Energy Agency has called the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. Cumulative losses exceeded 1.3 billion barrels as of June, and this spring prompted a global emergency oil reserve release that was more than double what the agency ordered after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Oil and diesel prices jumped after attacks on a key Saudi Arabian pipeline last week. But the fallout goes far beyond that: The war has caused a commodities crisis running several markets deep — and most of these markets have no reserves to rely on.” (09/18/26)
“Dutch riot police dispersed several hundred far-right protesters in The Hague on Saturday after violence erupted and local authorities banned a planned march in the city against immigration and asylum policies. Police officers made several arrests after some protesters started throwing fireworks and other projectiles at them. Justice Minister David van Weel called on X for an ‘extremely firm’ response to what he described as ‘disgusting scenes’ at the protest. He said that demonstrators made Nazi salutes, chanted antisemitic slogans, attacked police and threw fireworks at riot officers.” (09/19/26)
“British parents hand over more than a third of a dual income household’s net earnings on childcare. That’s the highest burden in the OECD. The reflex is to call for more public money. But the international evidence points the other way. The problem isn’t spending. It’s regulation. At the heart of Britain’s high costs sits the child-to-staff ratio. For children under four, the average is 1:4.5, among the tightest in the developed world. Norway and France manage 1:9. Portugal and Luxembourg are similarly relaxed. None of them show the collapse in quality that stricter ratios are supposed to prevent. What they show instead is markedly lower cost to families.” (09/18/26)
“The US and Denmark have announced a deal on Greenland’s security that will be signed next week.
US President Donald Trump said the agreement would grant the US ‘permanent control over security, and all other needs’. Denmark’s Prime Minister said the deal ‘strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area’ but did not address specifics in the agreement that Trump mentioned in a social media post. The deal comes after months of threats by Trump to ‘take’ Greenland over national security concerns, citing its strategic location for defence purposes and its mineral wealth.” (09/19/26)
