Warlord Economics
Charles Taylor had rubber. Jonas Savimbi had diamonds. Mohamed Farrah Aidid had bananas. A look at how five notorious warlords financed their armies through resources, smuggling and makeshift taxation.
statecraft
The 12th-century military disaster that forever changed global finance
After a plague-ridden crusade left Venice drowning in debt, the republic created the world's first bond market, changing the relationship between the government and its citizens.
The Side Door · Solstice No. 10
Nobody stops the barrels now.
Ranked: Central Bank Assets as a Share of GDP by Country
See which countries have the largest central bank assets relative to GDP, led by Hong Kong at 130%.
Note: I'll pull up the article for you. Here's a summary of **Ranked: Central Bank Assets as a Share of GDP by Country**: ### Main takeaway Central bank balance sheets grew sharply after the 2008 financial crisis as authorities responded to successive economic shocks. This piece ranks 20 major economies and financial centers by central bank assets as a share of GDP, using the latest Q1/Q2 2026 data…
Why Thailand was never colonized
Diplomacy, reform, and a convenient stone
Mongkut came across a remarkable object: a four-sided, black stone monolith, about a meter high and inscribed with an unusual script. The stone would become known as the Ramkhamhaeng Stele.
The discovery of the Stele was, as it turned out, serendipitous. Over five centuries, European powers colonized virtually every other territory on Earth
The CIA's Mystery Plane?
A plane registered to a Virginia LLC wound up involved in a CIA covert action near the Galapagos
Nothing Moves the Needle
Not that long ago, the press could root out corruption, topple presidents, and end wars. Now, even the biggest scoops have little impact. Here's how and why the media lost its mojo.
General Dynamics Failed to Build Artillery Shells for the Army — ProPublica
General Dynamics opened a Texas factory to churn out artillery shells for Ukraine, but the machines kept breaking. Robot arms smashed into things. Hunks of metal crashed to the floor. There was even a real-life dumpster fire.
The phone book that led us to Assad's spy chief in hiding
How we tracked down "The Spider" who was once one of the most-feared men in Syria.
The Great Chinese Oil Mystery
America’s greatest rival is single-handedly averting a global energy crisis. No one knows how the country is doing it—or why.
Yes, Transformers Are a Problem...
But So Are Converters, Inverters, and MMCs!
Inside Israel’s Secret Operation to Cultivate Ahmadinejad
The yearslong effort to groom the former Iranian president as an intelligence asset culminated in a dramatic effort to take him to an Israeli safe house in the early days of the war. But the plan fell apart.
The flag stranglers - Works in Progress Magazine
Most flags used to be ugly. They were probably better that way.
A satellite company supporting Ukraine appears to be in Russia's crosshairs - Ars Technica
This capability is not common for satellites conducting typical missions."
What's the Sticker Price of Exorbitant Privilege?
If you buy into this Pflueger/Yared perspective, then the price of exorbitant privilege is outspending your military adversaries. And the US has outspent other advanced economies by a large margin when you express defense spending as a fraction of GDP. I took its NATO partners…
How the Cold War Superpowers Tried to Reduce the Threat of Nuclear Annihilation | TheCollector
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between US President Richard Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev were a milestone in the Cold War arms race.
Can we please talk about WHY we are in a missile shortage?
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are being cajoled into spending billions more on the military budget need to read this first
Russian ship bound for N. Korea sank in ‘mysterious circumstances’, report finds
The 2024 sinking of the Ursa Major occurred just months after Pyongyang began assisting Moscow in its war against Ukraine, a CNN investigation found.
Shall We Play a Game?
Historian Jon Peterson traces the route from Prussian military headquarters to Gary Gygax’s basement.
The Aluminum Tech Stack
few analysts have sought to dissect how China’s market share of unglamorous bulk raw material inputs and intermediates across its minerals, metallurgy, and chemicals sectors actually directly enables their market share in these finished, shiny consumer products.
In reality, metals and chemicals production require muscular industrial policy of their own to succeed
The Donut Empire: Demythifying the USSR
How the Soviet Union inverted the logic of empire, and why it explains everything Russia does today.
Iran Studied the Wrong War Game, America's Triple-Layer Kill Chain Just Proved It
120 Ships Destroyed, One Strait Still Closed. Until the A-10 Changed the Math at Hormuz.
The Greatest Double Agent Ever: How a Spanish Chicken Farmer Became the Most Important Double Agent in WWII
Juan Pujol García was one of the rare individuals whose participation in World War II made him a Member of the Order of the British Empire and earned him the Iron Cross. He gained that unlikely distinction in perhaps the riskiest of all roles in espionage, that of a double agent.
Who Is Paying for the 2025 U.S. Tariffs? - Liberty Street Economics
Over the course of 2025, the average tariff rate on U.S. imports increased from 2.6 to 13 percent. In this blog post, we ask how much of the tariffs were paid by the U.S., using import data through November 2025. We find that nearly 90 percent of the tariffs’ economic burden…
How a small island capital reimagines the bureaucratic state | Aeon Essays
Buka Town in Bougainville shows how bureaucratic states could be reimagined, not as concrete buildings but as living gardens
An autopsy of Venezuela’s $2 billion Russian S-300VM missile system
Venezuela purchased Russia's S-300VM air defense system because it was supposed to be an impenetrable umbrella. It was full of holes.
We Are Building the Wrong Factories
Why Silicon Valley's Defense Obsession is Missing the Real Path to American Reindustrialization
How Did the CIA Lose a Nuclear Device? - Slashdot
Sixty years after a team of American and Indian climbers abandoned a plutonium-powered generator on the slopes of Nanda Devi, one of the world's most forbidding Himalayan peaks, the U.S. government still refuses to acknowledge that the mission ever happened. The device, a…
Teaching when to trust
As fake news accelerates, we need to teach our children how to think critically. Finnish schools are leading the charge
A Brief History of NSA Backdoors.
A Theology of Smuggling
In the early 1980s, in Tucson, activists and religious leaders joined forces to protect refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border. Their collaboration galvanized the Sanctuary Movement.
‘Resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like’: The rise and fall of the Baader-Meinhof gang
In the 1970s, the radical leftwing German terrorist organisation may have spread fear through public acts of violence – but its inner workings were characterised by vanity and incompetence
Why Is Moscow So Weird?
Why so far north? So cold? Why not on a big river or a coast? Why the biggest city in Europe? Why the capital of the biggest country on Earth?
America Against China Against America
notes on shenzhen, shanghai, and more
Note: involution - that's a new one.
TheCollector
The Mongols are known for their brutality when it came to warfare. But just how brutal were they?
Order of Operations in a Regime Change
A review of Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union, by Vladislav Zubok
Nukes, Nubs And Coners: The Unique Social Hierarchy Aboard A Nuclear Submarine
Getting assigned to your first sub doesn't make you a submariner and once you become one you'll find yourself in a social structure unlike any other.
The Secret History of Tor: How a Military Project Became a Lifeline for Privacy
A story of secrecy, resistance, and the fight for digital freedom.
The Epic Story of El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar)
Read on to learn all about El Cid, one of the most revered figures in European history.
Medieval Battles Where Archers Ruled the Field | TheCollector
Cavalry, armored and using superior mobility, dominated the medieval battlefield. That is, until archers with powerful bows and better military tactics won key battles, demonstrating otherwise.
It’s hunting season in orbit as Russia’s killer satellites mystify skywatchers
“Once more, we play our dangerous game—a game of chess—against our old adversary.”…
7 Medieval Weapons & Armor | TheCollector
The Medieval period was a time of constant innovation, with a wide array of weapons and armor developed to give warriors an edge on the battlefield.
How the Hittites Used Fear & Strategy to Create a Bronze Age Empire | TheCollector
The Hittites built a successful empire in the ancient Near East. Their military success was based on their religion, technology, and military tactics.
The Siege Warfare That Shaped Ancient Greece & Rome | TheCollector
While battles got the most attention, sieges were an important warfare tactic in ancient Greece and Rome. It took time and ingenuity to breach city walls.
Hannibal’s Master Class in Ambush Tactics at the Battle of Trasimene | TheCollector
On June 21, 217 BCE, an entire Roman army marched into an ambush set by the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca.
Ukraine’s New Way of War
American weapons are important, but Ukrainian drones have changed everything.
How Humans Wielded Insects in Early Battlefield Skirmishes
Insects are among the oldest of weaponry
Collections: Why Archers Didn’t Volley Fire
This week we’re looking at a specific visual motif common in TV and film: the arrow volley. You know the scene: the general readies his archers, he orders them to ‘draw!’ and then…
How a Forgotten Battle Created a More Peaceful World
The legacy of Solferino is in more danger than ever
On War, by General Carl von Clausewitz
