Notebook
Writer. Essays and notes on how the world works and how we live in it.
Neoliberalism, Neofascism and Who Holds Power
I began with a question: are neoliberalism and neofascism the same thing? Reading Robert W. McChesney, I came to see that his argument was not that they are the same. They begin from different beliefs and they use different language, but they can serve the same interests, and the weakening of democracy under one can leave the ground open for the other.
When Trust Becomes a Risk
Countries can work with a president they dislike. They cannot organise defence, trade, finance and diplomacy around a government whose commitments may change without warning.
Two Republics, Part Two: Celebration
America’s 250th anniversary speech shows how old anti-communist language can return to public life, narrowing political disagreement and turning opponents into internal enemies.
America’s Weak Center
America’s weak center is giving way to energized populist edges, as Trump nationalism and Mamdani-style left politics expose a deeper collapse of trust in the old political machinery.
The Combatant as Mediator
Trump’s claim to mediate the Iran‑Israel war is mocked: the United States is a combatant, conducting strikes and widening the conflict. Combatants cannot mediate; their rhetoric conceals their role.
Trump and Iran
The note exposes the hollowness of Trump’s “ceasefire” claim: U.S. forces bombed a girls’ school, blockaded ports and issued threats; there is no ceasefire, only rebranded war.
There Was No Golden Age
Referencing Weyl, the essay rejects myths of a bygone golden age, saying Trump’s MAGA exploits nostalgia and scapegoating and lets people ignore past injustices and avoid thinking about building future.
