The Trillion-Dollar Vassal

How Trump 2.0, Israel’s Gaza war, and Norway's two-trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund converged in a firestorm of finance, geopolitics, and genocide.

Nov 14 • 

Victor Shammas

7

2

8

This Week in Links #2

A selection of links: Things worth reading and thinking about this week.

Nov 7 • 

Victor Shammas

5

2

3

Dan Wang's "Breakneck": A Lesson in Disavowed Hawkishness

Like Klein and Thompson's Abundance, Dan Wang wants the U.S. to build. But Breakneck isn't about raising living standards—it's about preparing for war.

Nov 4 • 

Victor Shammas

5

1

4

October 2025

This Week in Links #1

Things worth reading and watching in the last week of October 2025.

Oct 31 • 

Victor Shammas

4

2

PTA’s “One Battle”: Cartoon Leftists Amid Real-World Fascists

Why Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" doesn't work in this political moment.

Oct 28 • 

Victor Shammas

5

1

3

Harris’s 107 Days and the Missing Reckoning: Gaza

Early coverage of Kamala Harris’s campaign memoir, 107 Days, has been unfair. Yet Harris still won't adequately deal with the Biden administration's…

Oct 17 • 

Victor Shammas

9

7

September 2025

The Poverty of Abundance

Abundance liberalism won't defeat fascism.

Sep 22 • 

Victor Shammas

16

2

9

August 2025

Norway's Right is Obsessed With Immigration and Crime

Norway is a safe, prosperous, and diverse society. So why can't the right stop talking about immigration and crime?

Aug 28 • 

Victor Shammas

16

4

7

July 2025

Lemkin's Concept of Genocide

A 1945 letter from jurist Raphael Lemkin takes us back to a historical moment when the concept of genocide was just beginning to take hold.

Jul 30 • 

Victor Shammas

14

8

Ringo's "Peace and Love" and the Problem of the Empty Signifier

Ringo Starr just wants "peace and love." What could possibly be wrong with that?

Jul 12 • 

Victor Shammas

10

3

4

Review: Not Enough Fight

'Fight' by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes offers a gripping account of the 2024 presidential election, placing blame on both Biden and Harris for…

Jul 2 • 

Victor Shammas

8

5

June 2025

The Dangers of TACO

Trump Always Chickens Out, or TACO, was a playful way of criticizing Trump's early second-term policies. But goading Trump into taking a firmer stance…

Jun 23 • 

Victor Shammas

7

2