Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott

“For many people, ‘AI’ is something small that fits neatly in their pockets, confined to their 6.1″ phone screen, consigned to a little icon that lurks on their home screen or in a folder labeled ‘productivity.’ … But in Southeast Asia, ‘AI’ is something real, tangible, physical—and increasingly intrusive. The region has long been recognized as the most attractive place for global tech firms to invest when it comes to growing their AI capacities, with over $55 billion having been poured in by major tech companies already—a figure that is expected to double by 2028—and it’s easy to see why. Southeast Asia in general benefits from low energy costs, vast tracts of undeveloped land, and—crucially—readily accessible water.” (12/04/25)

https://fee.org/articles/ais-global-realignment/

Source: The Realist Review
by Martin Sieff

“After a month of effort, the picture is sadly and depressingly clear: The old, all too familiar broken equation remains jammed into place: There will be no peace deal on Ukraine, the remorseless virtual annihilation of the Ukrainian people will continue. US President Donald Trump and his top team genuinely want peace: But they have been blocked, pressured, brainwashed, love bombed and intimidated by the US Deep State and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and NATO into refusing to pay the price that Russia insists must be paid for a war that Moscow has already won. Thus, the long slow remorseless drift into the abyss of global thermonuclear war continues. Indeed, it is likely to accelerate.” (12/04/25)

https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/the-death-of-the-latest-ukraine-peace

Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie

“Many people equate economics with the stock market, personal finance and business management. Whereas what economists actually study are incentives, choices, trade-offs, markets, institutions, and how scarce resources are allocated. Money is involved, but it’s only one piece. Non-economists tend to ignore trade-offs. They often assume we can have lower taxes and higher spending, or strict environmental rules and unchanged consumer costs. Many think we can have price controls and no shortages. Economists emphasize opportunity cost; everything has a cost, even if it isn’t a monetary one. Non-economists sometimes confuse individual behaviour with aggregate behaviour, reasoning from personal experience. They say things such as ‘I lost my job, so the economy must be worse,’ or ‘I’m spending more, so inflation must be rising.’ Economists focus on aggregate interactions, which often behave differently from individual components.” (12/04/25)

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/what-non-economists-often-misunderstand

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“One thing I try not to think about very often is how many reports we’ve been seeing about Israeli prison guards training dogs to rape Palestinian captives in torture camps like Sde Teiman. Drop Site News has a new write-up about a testimony from a journalist published by the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center. The reporter says that during his 20 months of hell in Israeli prisons he was electrocuted, beaten, starved, and sexually assaulted on film. He also says he was sexually assaulted by ‘a trained dog’ — just the latest in a long string of such allegations coming out of Israel’s notorious network of torture prisons. Last month Novara Media published an article titled ‘Israeli Prison Guards Are Using Dogs to Rape Palestinians, Former Detainees Say’, based on information collected by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.” (12/04/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/04/sorry-if-this-is-antisemitic-but-i-think-its-wrong-to-train-dogs-to-rape-prisoners/

Source: The Daily Economy
by Donald J Boudreaux

“Forced redistribution dominates public discourse about wealth inequality, yet much of the debate overlooks how people earn, trade, innovate, and create value.” (12/04/25)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/economics-of-envy-cant-answer/

Source: spiked
by Luke Gittos

“There is a grim irony to David Lammy’s plan to restrict jury trials. This week, the UK justice secretary confirmed that juries would be abolished for all criminal trials where the maximum penalty faced by defendants is less than three years’ jail time. He claims that a court backlog of 80,000 cases, and a consequent delay in bringing matters to trial, had made this necessary. Yet in doing so, Lammy is undermining a significant chunk of his own life’s work.” (12/04/25)

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/12/04/lammys-war-on-juries-exposes-the-futility-of-the-echr/