Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler

“Between now and November 29, there will be widespread speculation about whether the ‘Houdini’ of Spanish politics, as Sánchez is sometimes called, can extricate himself from another tight spot; and there will be hand-wringing editorials in the center-left press about the potential demise of Europe’s only ‘progressive’ leader and the deterioration of European democracy. All of which misses the point—because Sánchez himself has done a lot to damage Spain’s democracy. The key question posed by the snap election is ‘Why didn’t Sánchez call one sooner?’ Or, to put it the other way around: ‘Why is he still in power?'” (10/13/26)

https://fee.org/articles/going-going-gone/

Source: Common Dreams
by Nicolas JS Davies

“On October 9th, the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize Was awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African international lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid political prisoners on Robben Island, and went on to serve as a judge on the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court (ICC), then as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 2025, Navi Pillay led the UN Commission of Inquiry that confirmed that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. With the world in the grip of seemingly intractable war and chaos, the Nobel Committee clearly wanted to honor someone who has worked against the tide of militarism and violence to uphold international law. And yet, on the same day, the United States unveiled unilateral, illegal coercive measures or “sanctions” against the ICC, where Navi Pillay served as a judge from 2003 to 2008.” (10/13/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/un-and-the-hague-confront-impunity-for-war-crimes

Source: Asia Times

“For a time, the West comfortably regarded China as the world’s workshop, a place that made cheap goods and left the clever work to others. By the 2020s, that picture was untenable. Chinese companies led in electric vehicles, batteries, green energy, and 5G, and competed hard in artificial intelligence and semiconductors. Policymakers in Washington and Brussels were stunned. Like a bereaved person who functions normally on the surface while feeling nothing underneath, the West was slow to grasp that its monopoly had gone. Shock tends to give way to denial, and the Western response followed the pattern. … Reconstruction occurs when one ceases to wonder why this had to happen and wonders instead what could still be done. The crucial realization is that while one cannot change the situation, one can determine how one reacts to it.” (10/13/26)

https://asiatimes.com/2026/10/the-seven-stages-of-american-decline/

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya

“Texas Republicans recently became embroiled in a dispute between two factions that we could call, for purposes of exposition, the ‘Heritage Texans’ and the ‘Creedal Texans.’ Heritage Republicans believe that a nation is constituted by a specific and identifiable people who are historically rooted in a place over time, while Creedal Republicans believe in a concept they call ‘the idea of Texas.’ Their idea of Texas involves hard work, love of football, and the savoir-faire to say, ‘Hook ‘em Horns.’ To the Creedals, anyone from anywhere in the world who embraces this idea is as much a Texan as anyone whose ancestors rode with the Texas cavalry in 1861. Which of these factions represents true conservatism? What is real conservatism, anyway, in a situation where different sides of an allegedly conservative party are unable to agree on such a fundamental issue?” (10/13/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/natural-law-principles-conservative-tradition