UK: Resident doctors commence six-day walkout after rejecting pay deal

Source: Independent [UK]

“Resident doctors have commenced a six-day walkout, marking their 15th round of industrial action, following the collapse of pay negotiations with the government. Health Secretary Wes Streeting acknowledged that patients will be left ‘waiting in pain or anxiety longer than is necessary’ due to delayed appointments, though urgent and emergency care will continue. The British Medical Association (BMA) rejected a government offer that included a 4.9 per cent average basic pay increase from 2026-2027, while an offer for 1,000 extra training places was taken off the table last week.” (04/07/26)

https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/nhs-doctor-strike-six-day-streeting-b2952838.html

US Troops In Iran Need To Start Disobeying Orders

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“At this point if you’re in the US military you have a moral obligation to start refusing orders. Desert. Become a conscientious objector. Ideally, get everyone together and launch a full-scale military coup. We’re in ‘Mad King’ territory. Someone’s gotta do what needs to be done. Promoters of this war told the world it was about liberating the Iranian people from tyranny to bring them freedom and democracy. Now that they got their war it’s about bombing them ‘back to the Stone Age,’ stealing their oil, and blowing up their bridges and power plants. The only people dumber than Americans who bought into Trump’s ‘ending the wars’ shtick are the Iranians who believed the United States was going to bring freedom to their country.” (04/06/26)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/06/us-troops-need-to-start-disobeying-orders-in-iran-and-other-notes/

Bitcoin drops toward $68,000 as demand weakens and whales sell

Source: CoinDesk

“Bitcoin slid toward $68,000 on Tuesday, with traditional markets closed in Hong Kong for a long weekend, as repeated failures near $70,000 left the bitcoin market vulnerable to a break lower. The drop came after another failed push above $70,000, with prices slipping quickly once they approached the lower end of the $65,000 to $73,000 range that has defined trading since late March. Intraday losses accelerated near that boundary, highlighting how little support exists when momentum turns. That calm is not being driven by strong demand. Recent Glassnode data shows softer trading volumes and subdued onchain activity even as prices recover, indicating limited participation behind the move.” (04/07/26)

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/04/07/bitcoin-drops-toward-usd68-000-as-demand-weakens-and-whales-sell

The Populist War on Technological Capacity

Source: The Dispatch
by Mar Oestreich

“This global race for AI dominance through abundant, scalable power and computation is already underway. Yet much of our domestic debate fixates on scarcity as if the pie were fixed forever, which leads to moralized calls about who then gets to use the limited resources we have. Once electricity becomes a hierarchy of virtue, you may not like where you land. This reflex is bipartisan. On the right, suspicion settles on coastal tech elites siphoning power from ‘real Americans.’ On the left, it gathers around corporate excess and environmental harm. When confidence in builders erodes, it does not leave a vacuum: Gatekeepers step forward. … Once you decide the pie cannot grow, an authority must divide it, looking for villains, assigning virtue, declaring some uses essential and others indulgent.” (04/06/26)

https://thedispatch.com/article/ai-data-centers-nimby/

Ukraine war: Kyiv regime steps up attacks on Putin’s oil network in defiance of allies

Source: Independent [UK]

“Ukraine is continuing its attacks on Russian oil infrastructure despite calls from the West seeking to end such strikes. Russian officials on Sunday said Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery operated by Lukoil and a Baltic pipeline near St Petersburg. The governor of Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region said air defence units had repelled a 30-drone barrage. Last week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that some allies have signalled for Ukraine to reduce long-range strikes on Russia’s oil sector due to rising global energy prices. Zelensky said he would be happy to do so – but only if Russia reciprocates by stopping its own attacks on the Ukrainian grid.” (04/06/26)

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-live-trump-putin-zelensky-drones-oil-network-b2945082.html

Overcoming Failures of Imagination

Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders

“In a 1961 speech, President John F. Kennedy captured the imagination of the people. He asked the world to see a man on the moon. Back then, such could only be a feat of technocracy — the idea that officials can work wonders if they have enough experts and largesse. And they did it. But, the moon landing had been peak technocracy — pushing the limits of what could be achieved in terms of expense, tax funding, and complication. Prior to that, though, Kennedy had put a symbol in people’s minds.” (04/06/26)

https://underthrow.substack.com/p/overcoming-failures-of-imagination

One Blow After Another: The Leadership Team from Hell on a Hell of a Planet

Source: TomDispatch
by Michael Klare

“On March 13th, buried in the New York Times’s coverage of the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict was a headline that would have been easy to miss amid the din of war coverage: ‘As El Niño Simmers, Scientists Warn of Weather Extremes Starting in Late Summer.’ Many readers may not even have noticed it, but that article noted that scientists at the Climate Prediction Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, had raised their estimate for an El Niño event this summer from 60% to about 80%. Admittedly, in this strange world of ours, that hardly seemed like an earth-shattering revelation. But if you had read the piece more closely, your alarm bells should instantly have gone off.” (04/05/26)

https://tomdispatch.com/the-leadership-team-from-hell-on-a-hell-of-a-planet/

UK: Regime courts Anthropic with London expansion amid Pentagon feud

Source: MSN

“British officials are moving swiftly to court Anthropic after the US Defense Department labeled it a supply-chain risk for refusing military use of its Claude AI system. The designation, currently blocked by a federal judge, has created a diplomatic and regulatory opening for the UK to position itself as a more supportive base for AI firms. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration is backing the pitch, which includes expanding Anthropic’s London operations and a potential London Stock Exchange listing.” (04/06/26)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/uk-courts-anthropic-with-london-expansion-amid-pentagon-feud/gm-GM5B53FB5E