Thomas Pink

Newton and Nature does nothing in vain, pt. 4 Back in 1966 J.

Newton and Nature does nothing in vain, pt. 4 open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

Donald Trump’s coercion descends into chaos [FREE TO READ] The US’s tariff policy evokes bafflement as well as fear

My Trade Secrets today. Two theories on Trump's tariff chaos: 1. It's a cunning and deliberate discombobulation of trading partners. 2. It's a shambles from an administration full of clashing motives, wrongheaded ideas and a capricious boss.

Guess what? I'm going with 2.

First 300 clicks free.

The ejection of the FDP from government and parliament and the Mad King Across the Water have jolted Germany out if its kethargy. This would be a major fiscal package skewed heavily to defence but with a substantial infrastructure component.
Notable for its absence: mention of EU fiscal rules.

A gorgeous portrait of the White House entirely aflame, the smoke billowing and the flames lighting up the night sky. It sparks deep patriotic ferver. This is what democracy looks like. Also there's a white button with blue text below the portrait. The text reads "Learn more" and if clicked it takes you to the menu of a local brewhouse.

If you're wondering about the vibe in Canada right now, I just got served this ad for a brewhouse that is just a portrait of the White House being burned down. No text, just a bigass picture of the White House burning and a link directly to their menu lolol

I think the smart money is getting out of the world’s stock markets and putting it all into Philosophy futures. Existentialism, Stoicism and Nihilism especially bullish.

Europe struggles for relevance at Starmer's London summit The UK and European Union governments face two interlinked dilemmas in their approach to the Ukraine peace process initiated by the Trump administration. It is not clear from the conclusions of Sunday...

Anatol Lieven on the current pointless European grandstanding

Europe struggles for relevance at Starmer's London summit The UK and European Union governments face two interlinked dilemmas in their approach to the Ukraine peace process initiated by the Trump administration. It is not clear from the conclusions of Sunday...

Anatol Lieven on the current pointless European grandstanding

Europe's reckless bid for victory

Wolfgang Münchau on European gesture politics about Ukraine

unherd.com/2025/03/euro...

Visiting great uncle Don | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine Eight years ago, when Theresa May charged across the Atlantic to meet the newly-enthroned Donald Trump, I was in the Oval Office as the much-obsessed-over bust of Winston Churchill was ceremonially…

Visiting Great Uncle Don: my SKETCH of Today in Managing elderly unstable presidents. thecritic.co.uk/visi...

The Trump-Zelensky train wreck will cost Ukraine dearly Zelensky has fallen foul of a vengeful and thin-skinned man who has long been itching for an excuse to settle old scores.

Trump’s savage attack on a close American ally has no precedent in the modern history.

✍️ Owen Matthews

Could Zelensky have made a deal to stop the war? Is there any truth to Donald Trump’s extraordinary and, to many, highly offensive comments apparently blaming Volodymir Zelensky for starting the war? Speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said…

Trump is factually wrong – but not for the reason most commentators have assumed. Zelensky could indeed have averted the war back in October 2019, and came very close to doing so.

✍️ Owen Matthews

A number of prominent UK Conservatives' statements about Donald Trump resemble one of those news stories that begins with a magazine feature about a new age mystic who believes he can talk to bears and ends with a newspaper article about a new age mystic being mauled to death by bears.

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Ethics and/or Politics (E&R)

. . . and one practical
www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/107925-...

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Mind and/or Metaphysics and/or Epistemology

We are hiring. Two posts. One theoretical . . .
www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/107905-...

Machiavelli and Adam Smith on the worst polity As is well known, Spinoza and Rousseau think that Machiavelli is a republican.

Machiavelli and Adam Smith on the worst polity open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

How Can Ukraine's Security Be Guaranteed? Is there a role for a European multinational force?

For those interested this is a recent post on the issues connected with basing a European force in Ukraine post some peace deal. samf.substack.com/p/how-can-uk...

The end of the transatlantic alliance

Wolfgang Münchau tells it how it is - the EU leaders ‘are the Norma Desmonds of geopolitics, convinced they are still the stars’

unherd.com/2025/02/the-...

Donald Trump's economic masterplan

Varoufakis on Trump

unherd.com/2025/02/why-...

ON DOGE, The Articulate State, and Witnessing Truth Alex Aragona from the Curious Task (a podcast that explores "philosophy, politics, economics, and other ideas from a classical liberal perspective") and myself have an hour-long conversation (here) on...

ON DOGE, The Articulate State, and Witnessing Truth open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

Maybe amusing to @ryanmuldoon.bsky.social with shout out to @leonard33.bsky.social @drnickcowen.bsky.social

Why Trump would win a tariff war

Wolfgang Münchau on EU's weakness against Trump

unherd.com/2025/02/why-...

Mearsheimer: Great powers always act in their interest. Canada should cede territory in case Trump lashes out with nukes.

The Heirs of Avicenna: Philosophy in the Islamic East, 12–13th Centuries "The Heirs of Avicenna: Philosophy in the Islamic East, 12–13th Centuries" published on 27 Jan 2025 by Brill.

The new, open access volume of the "Heirs of Avicenna" sourcebook series is out! About 600 pages of translated material on later Islamic logic and epistemology!

brill.com/display/titl...

You can see all the original texts for this and the first volume here:

www.heirsofavicenna.net

#philsky

The View from Westminster newsletter has gone out. Free sign-up here www.independent.co.uk/newsletters

Trump’s massive power grab White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold her first official press briefing at 1 p.m.

Jack Blanchard in this morning's Playbook: Those accusing Trump of being anti-democratic might note that this is largely democracy in action.

Autobiographical Splinters. -- Finished teaching today. Possibly forever, since I officially retire at the end of September, and Summer Term I am on research leave. -- I'll give a "farewell lecture" on May 21st, at 4pm. I'd be delighted to see some of you there.

DeepSeek jailbreak

Wow! DeepSeek is really advanced.

Kemi Badenoch’s post-Southport argument is worrying Tory seems to put prior convictions ahead of specific facts at a time of potential UK counter-terrorism strategy overhaul

Today's newsletter: it is, in fact, very bad that the leader of the opposition doesn't appear to do the reading and instead goes on a strange combination of 'her personal experience', 'her instinctive prejudices' and 'potentially things that crossed her Twitter feed that day':

“The tech right is pro-American,” he said. But it’s pro-American in the sense that they see America as “an empire that takes over the world and goes interplanetary.” This was too rationalist of an approach for many on the MAGA side, which is shaped in large part by Christian faith and, at least for some, a belief that America should be a homeland for “heritage” Americans, of Northern European extraction. They are “not excited about the American Empire,” he said, or racing into space. They care more about the values of a “pre-1960s America, the values of a Western civilization.” Both sides see their path as the best approach to make America more dynamic — the MAGA intellectuals through a hoped-for refounding that would restore a sense of national identity and purpose and the tech right through drawing the best talent from a worldwide pool and letting competition and capitalism rip. Mr. Trump himself has kept something like a kingly remove from the early squabbles of the aristocracy emerging in his shadow. His vice president, JD Vance, might be able to act as an intermediary between these rival wings. A former venture capitalist married to the daughter of Indian immigrants, he nonetheless adopted the populist-nationalist style of politics.

Excellent piece on the factional and philosophical divides in the new Trump administration.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/o...