Matt Steinglass

Gas prices soar as Iranian attacks force shutdown of Qatari production Saudi Arabia also closes an oil refinery after strike

First Ukraine, now Iran. For Europe relying on gas is starting to look like foolish nostalgia. It should electrify and shift to renewables everywhere possible, as fast as possible, as a matter of economic survival. www.ft.com/content/dac7...

For those of us who have never been good at reading facial expressions, Botox has really helped level the playing field

So the point is that the overpricing of the underpricing is overpriced, or that the volatility is less likely not to be volatile

(AXIOS) - No president in the modern era has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump.

@axios.com
www.axios.com/2026/03/02/t...

How many more times do these people need to get hit in the face by the reality before their publishers finally begin noticing?

Yet it’s us voters ourselves who create it, so we can hardly complain I guess

That said Amsterdam is a pretty well run city imho so maybe it’s all working great!

Arguably the local parties add more outside the big cities, where they can provide non-ideological platforms for local issues that don’t have a voice in the national parties. One in Haarlem was quite good on transit and housing. But I’m just not sure we can cope with this level of complexity

I think he may be more concerned that they are killing national leaders now than that it was his ally

There are municipal elections coming up in the Netherlands and nowadays a significant % of votes go to local rather than national parties. This is supposed to be a win for democracy. For me it is information overload. There are 11 *national* parties represented in the Amsterdam council

OFFS. When Iran tried to interefere in 2020, researchers caught them and called them out. Then the Benz-Weiss-Taibbi-Musk-Jordan-Trump axis labeled those researchers "censors" ... and set about defunding them and dismantling their organizations.

Important announcement by the world’s biggest container shipping company. No more of their ships will be entering the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

This can hugely disrupt supply chains and fire inflation.

I thought this was the best/clearest evaluation in the piece

We tried to teach people like Farage the basic principle “No taxation without representation” 250 years ago, but some people never learn.

I would imagine so, if the straits close. Not sure Iran has the capacity to do that, and if so maybe not for long.

Insurers to cancel policies and raise prices for ships in Gulf and Strait of Hormuz Brokers say cost of cover to increase by as much as 50% after conflict erupts

Apart from energy costs I’m not sure Europe has much at stake in the Iran conflict. Curious what a 50% bump in insurance costs for a tanker does to oil prices, seems pretty modest www.ft.com/content/2dc1...

Ali Khamenei grabbed power and held it, at bloody cost Iran’s supreme leader died on February 28th, aged 86

“The man who kept Iranians isolated from the world for more than three decades, who ruined their economy and who, when they dared speak out against his misrule, ordered them slaughtered by the thousands, is gone.”
economist.com/obituary/202...

So you’re saying ils ont manqué une bonne opportunité de se taire

I like to distract myself from the terrifying political news by reading the ridiculous political news.

Agreed

Donald Trump’s approval rating Follow our presidential approval rating poll tracker to see how favourably Americans view Mr Trump

FWIW Trump currently has solidly positive approval ratings in Idaho, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. These have a combined 11 electoral votes. He is slightly above water in a further 6 states with 43 electoral votes
www.economist.com/interactive/...
from The Economist

Jesus. WTF? Do we need to request immediate air defense aid from Ukraine?

This is good

The key to understanding Trump is that he’s the Penny Stock President.

You always need to be changing the story.

Never forget who you’re fighting for.

The ones attacking Ukraine are now made in Russia. Russia licensed them years ago and has by now improved the tech. Parts bought from China iiuc.

Both true. And maybe the security infrastructure splits somehow.

I don’t think I agree with that—I can’t see a way that Ukraine benefits here. Iran is not really an important ally for Russia. (Which will be demonstrated by Russia’s failure to do anything to help it.)