Mike Norman Economics

The single most important thing that happened Friday night when the US military on President Trump’s orders launched a wave of over 100 cruise missiles against Syria was that once again the US violated the most profound international law of war: initiating a war of aggression against a nation that posed no threat, imminent or otherwise, to the US or its allies. Called a “Crime against Peace,” this violation (whose perpetrators, under the precedent set in the Nuremberg Trials that followed...

Bolton vs. Mattis. Mattis won — this time. It's far from over.Sputnik InternationalTrump Wanted to Target Russian, Iranian Objects in Syrian Strike - Reports

The country is divided into two hostile camps, a division as much geographic as ideological. On one side are the big cities, the centers of progressive politics and home to social movements for women, for gay people, for minorities, and to an unprecedented wave of immigrants. Many of the immigrants look and dress very differently from residents of longer standing, marking them as followers of a different religious faith. Many are refugees from an unprecedented wave of war and civil war....

You've probably heard about the Gulf Stream weakening and the potentially "catastrophic" effects.This climate scientist says not to worry.Note that the piece doesn't say that climate change is not occurring or claim that humans are not involved. It just says that the conventional wisdom about the Gulf Stream is wrong.Earth Institute — Columbia UniversityClimate mythology: The Gulf Stream, European climate and Abrupt ChangeRichard SeagerLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University...

An expert assessment of the recent missile attack on Syria and what's next.Sic Semper TyrannisAn interim post on Syria ... (Editorial) by PLCol. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.) At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National...

How to explain this paradox of a superb military that never gets the job done? Let me suggest that the problem lies with the present-day US military system, the principles to which the nation adheres in raising, organizing, supporting, and employing its armed forces. By its very existence, a military system expresses an implicit contract among the state, the people, and the military itself. Here, as I see it, are the principles — seven in all — that define the prevailing military system of...

The latest nonsense justification of the right to intervene in Syria, neither in self-defense or with a UN mandate, as the UN Charter specifies. The French president defended the lack of a UN resolution before conducting the strikes against Syria, saying that it was "the international community" that intervened. "We have complete international legitimacy to act within this framework," Macron said in the interview broadcast by BFMTV, RMC radio and Mediapart. "Three members of the Security...

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday he ordered strikes on the Syrian regime in response to a chemical attack last weekend. He said the strikes were in coordination with France and the United Kingdom. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country is being "invaded" by the three countries. The Russian Embassy in the USA said in a statement that "insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible." In a sensational statement, Trump asserted the Bashar Assad...

While U.S. forces carpet bombed North Korea, bombed irrigation dams, and threatened nuclear attack, their most controversial action was the use of bacteriological or biological weapons during the war. For decades, the U.S. has strenuously denied the use of such weapons. At the same time, evidence of such use was kept from the American people. Even today, very few are aware of what really happened. Only in February 2018 was a full documentary report on the U.S. use of germ warfare during...

The big question is: what institutional—and perhaps political—changes are necessary to avoid another wild swing? Larry Summers: Get to grips with vicious cycles Martin Wolf: Pathology, prophylactics and palliatives Barry Eichengreen: Get to work on jobs Jim O’Neill: Learn to learn from China Tim Congdon: Figuring out (again) where the banks fit in Pretty good at asking some of the right questions. I agree that it is a should-read. WCEG — The Equitablog Should-Read: Prospect Magazine:...