Wretchard.com

New at the Belmont Club. How what looked like Obama’s third term became a nightmare ride.

The Bait Car of History

Don’t count your utopias before they’re hatched

New at the Belmont Club. Every civilization experiences an invasion of True Believers. It’s the West’s turn.

The Management of Fanaticism

Zombies we have known

New at the Belmont Club. Where do magic and bad luck come from?

Sword and Sorcery

The age of ignorance and wonder

New at the Belmont Club. A globe on the edge of either renewal or catastrophe.

The War of the Zombie Empires

The old world is really old

New at the Belmont Club. Big Iron, the Big Network and the plan to rule the world.

Beware the ‘Sure Thing’

Information superiority doesn’t replace judgment

New at the Belmont Club. Information is too valuable to be squandered on placing ads and selling political ideologies.

A Society Convinced It Needs Seeing Eye Dogs

What Twitter should have been

New at the Belmont Club. When people incapable of mistakes get things wrong.

Prisoners of Our Own Device

The infallibility trap

New at the Belmont Club. Can the computer predict how long till we’re back to business as usual?

When Do Things Go Back to Normal?

The elusive crystal ball

New at the Belmont Club. Don’t look in the mirror if you won’t like what you’ll see.

What We Can Learn From Russia’s Debacle

All hat and no cattle

New at the Belmont Club. Both Putin and Biden are dealing with consequences they never expected.

The Unexpectedly Long War

Surprise.

It was a tale of two blunders. Both Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin made the mistake of believing that the Russian army could conquer Ukraine in two days. The New York Times wrote in perplexity, “In Afghanistan, intelligence agencies had predicted the government and its forces could hold on for at least six months after the U.S. withdrawal. In Ukraine, intelligence officials thought the Russian army would take Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in two days. Both estimates proved wrong.”

New at the Belmont Club. Getting ready for the long haul. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

When Will the War End?

Do you hear horses?

New at the Belmont Club. Remembering the days when the only problem the great and good had was how to save the world from Climate Change.

The Last Party in Davos 2019

When the world came down from the magic mountain

New at the Belmont Club. Getting past dead empires and mid-20th century visions of the future.

The End of the Old Normal

The past was a long time ago

New at the Belmont Club. When a nuclear armed supervillain loses his shirt at a poker table, what happens next?

Putin’s Failure

Strictly from hunger

New at the Belmont Club. Biden is waiting for Putin to come through the door, not saw a hole in the floor he’s standing on.

Slow Boiling the Western Alliance Like a Frog

The invasion in being

New at the Belmont Club. When you realize the driver has no idea where he’s going.

The Crazy Years

Woke enters senescence

New at the Belmont Club. When the pandemic finally ends, there’s one last drug you need to stop taking.

Can Politicians Quit the Power Habit?

Just step away from the mandate

New at the Belmont Club. When the officially nonexistent starts knocking at your door.

Protests From Out of Nowhere

Gradually then all of a sudden

Boris Johnson warns Russia has “60 … battle groups” (presumably battalion tactical groups) ready “for a lightning war that could take out Kiev”.

Johnson warns of painful and violent Ukraine ‘lightning war’

Prime minister to hold talks with other political leaders amid fears of imminent Russian invasion

New at the Belmont Club. Making the most of a weak hand.

Is Putin Bluffing in Ukraine?

Who’s winning what’s already started