March 3, 2026

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March 3, 2026

The strikes on Iran show why quitting oil is more important than ever (Hussein Dia, March 1, 2026, The Conversation)

In 2015, India blocked Nepal’s oil imports, triggering chaos. In response, authorities encouraged the very rapid growth of electric vehicles. Oil imports have begun to fall.

More recently, the Russia–Ukraine war and US strikes on Venezuela and Iran have brought new focus on reducing oil imports and bolstering domestic energy security.

In oil-dependent Cuba, US pressure has slashed the supply of oil. Blackouts are common and cars stay put. In response, authorities and businesses are importing 34 times as many Chinese solar panels as they did a year ago.

It’s not ideology driving this shift – it’s necessity. Electric vehicle imports, too, are soaring. “Cuba may experience the fastest energy transition in the world,” a Cuban economist told The Economist.

Renewables are the only reliable energy source.

Latin America

hISTORY eNDS EVERYWHERE:

March 3, 2026

Under Pressure from Trump, Cuban Leader Calls for ‘Urgent’ Economic Change ( Luis Ferré-Sadurní and David C. Adams, March 2, 2026, NY Times)

Mr. Díaz-Canel spoke of the need to give municipalities and the Cuban private sector more autonomy, urged more foreign investment in the energy sector and called for a “resizing of the state apparatus,” according to state media.

“We must focus immediately on implementing the most urgent and necessary transformations to the economic and social model,” Mr. Díaz-Canel said in a speech to the Council of Ministers, the highest body of the government, according to state media.

Mr. Díaz-Canel’s calls for change, which were vague and light in details, appeared to be a direct response to the United States’ increased pressure on the Communist regime and a stark acknowledgment of the toll the U.S. oil blockade has inflicted on Cuba, which is facing one of its most severe economic and humanitarian crisis in decades.

Help them do so.

End of History

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March 3, 2026

The Coming Iranian Revolution (Abbas Milani, 3/03/26, NY Times)

The people of Iran wanted a revolution based on the idea of modern citizenship and a social contract, to bring democracy, freedom, independence and a republic, even an Islamic one but without clerical rule. Ayatollah Khomeini promised those ideas, giving Iranians and the Western powers what they were desperate to hear. In the end, what he orchestrated was a counterrevolution.

In a suburb of Paris, in the months before the overthrow of the shah, the ayatollah gave scores of interviews. He concealed his political ambition and suggested he would ultimately step back from governance, though in past writings he often espoused rule by the clergy. He even wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter, asking him to defang the Iranian military and promising to keep Iran free of Soviet domination and the country’s oil on the markets. But all along, he was keen on clerical despotism and, as it soon became apparent, harbored deep resentments against the United States.

In another indication of his counterrevolutionary mode, many people in predominantly Shiite Iran believed that a reformed conception of Shiism was needed to make it amenable to modernity. But Ayatollah Khomeini, from his first major book in the 1940s and later as the supreme Shiite religious authority, insisted on keeping traditional rituals and dogmas, thus quashing the idea of modernizing Shiite Islam.

The romance of revolution, ignorance about Ayatollah Khomeini’s past writings and his pose as a defender of a liberal democratic polity in the months before the shah’s overthrow made the bait and switch work, albeit briefly. Iranians from all walks of life, Western leaders and many prominent intellectuals saw him as the flag bearer of Iran’s democratic aspirations.

Now Iran just needs to return to the traditional Shi’a wait for the messiah, like the West.

It's a RICO case

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March 3, 2026

Another Big Loss for the Little Bully (Joyce Vance, Mar 02, 2026, Civil Discourse)

This morning, the Erin Mulvaney and C. Ryan Barber at the Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department plans to “abandon its defense of the president’s executive orders sanctioning several law firms.” Until now, the administration had been pursuing the cases it suffered early losses in.

Perhaps someone in the Solicitor General’s office pointed out that the cases were inevitably doomed to failure and suggested dropping them while the news cycle is focused on Iran. After the administration’s loss in the tariffs case, the president may have a newfound concern over the sting of losses like this. So far, four different federal judges have held the orders are unconstitutional. While one of those judges was appointed by Barack Obama and another by Joe Biden, two of them were appointed by George W. Bush— bad math for the administration.

Energy

THAT WAS EASY:

March 3, 2026

The Race to Build the World’s First Commercial Fusion Plant Is Heating Up (Gayoung Lee, March 2, 2026, Gizmodo)

Germany is not the first to pursue commercial fusion plants. In the United States, several private companies have expressed interest in realizing commercial fusion plants. For example, Helion intends to complete a fusion plant to power Microsoft buildings as early as 2028, whereas Type One Energy has partnered with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge National Laboratory for its project. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has also explicitly stated it aims to bring fusion power to commercial grids by the mid-2030s.

In that sense, Proxima’s new contract—involving government interests, the country’s most prestigious research institute, and sizable private firms—reflects Germany’s keen interest in getting ahead of the competition. Or at least, to keep up.

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