Notebook
Writer. Essays and notes on how the world works and how we live in it.
What Israel's Election Offers the Palestinians
Israel’s October 27 election left Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot short of a majority. This essay asks whether any coalition would change life for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
What Washington Sees
Ukraine's air defense depends on American missile warnings, Starlink bandwidth and Patriot interceptors. Washington's control of these systems shapes Kyiv's defense and limits Ukrainian pressure on Russia during the war.
Germany’s Workers Are Being Asked to Pay for Its Industrial Crisis
In 2023, Germany’s GDP contracted by 0.9%. In 2024 it contracted by 0.5% and barely grew in 2025 when GDP expanded by 0.2%. The German economy has spent three years in contraction and stagnation.
Hormuz Has Changed
Drone strikes and U.S. retaliation expose how the Strait of Hormuz’s reopening did not restore normal shipping; it created contested passage, reshaping shipping risks, geopolitical power, and global oil security.
When Peace Means Insurance
Peace does not simply reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It moves the war into insurance, sanctions, naval protection, shipping routes and the fragile machinery that lets oil move again.
Oil, Hormuz, and the price of reopening
Oil fell because markets began pricing a reopened Strait of Hormuz, not peace: a temporary bargain marked down interruption risk while leaving the deeper security structure intact.
Inflation, Cash and Hormuz
Inflation, Hormuz, and the cash boom are part of the same signal: when prices, geopolitics, and risk collide, cash becomes caution.