In the Blind Spot: Why Trump’s hidden energy ally might be Beijing
This is a guest contribution from anon. For most of 2025, China looked like the world’s hungriest oil hoarder, socking away over 100 million barrels over the last five months — roughly 700,000 barrels a day of demand that kept crude markets tighter than they really were. It helped benchmark crudes like WTI and Brent […]
Guest writer: Zero-zero margins and the illusion of riskless principal
This is a guest post by Bruce Packard, a former banking equity analyst turned financial columnist. In this piece, Packard examines the collapse of AIM-listed FX broker Argentex — an apparent victim of tariff-driven volatility, but more crucially, a case of flawed risk assumptions being brutally exposed. At the end of April, Argentex — a […]
Blind Spot subscriber note
Dear subscribers, Firstly, please accept our apologies for our missing newsletter last week, which unfortunately will be the case again this weekend. Due to external circumstances beyond our control, we had to put The Blind Spot newsletters on hold for a short while, but we can assure you we’re still here, focused on all […]
In the Blind Spot: The rise of Oceania
SNEAK PEEK — How the tariff debate masked Trump’s real agenda: building an Oceania Technate within the context of a new great game. — Britain’s mishandling of the grooming gang scandal foreshadows the reckoning society will have to have about the Covid Lab Leak, argues Izzy. — There’s an innovation puzzle at the heart […]
In The Blind Spot: Close encounters of the drone kind
SNEAK PEEK — Dario assesses America’s drone sighting panic. — What’s going on in South Korea? The rumours going around are wild. Dear subscribers, Izzy here, sadly demobilized by a sudden attack of carpal tunnel syndrome, which means typing is currently very difficult. Hence the delay. Hopefully, one week off will put me back in […]
In the Blind Spot: Just what on earth were the Germans thinking?
SNEAK PEEK — The EU-MERCOSUR deal: Von der Leyen’s push to finalize the agreement may shield Europe from U.S. trade shocks — unless it ignites a farmers’ revolt at home. — Syria’s fragmenting future: With jihadists advancing and old power centers stirring, the country could revert to its historic city-state roots. — Germany’s EV reckoning: […]
In The Blind Spot: How Silicon Valley became Silicon Vassal
SNEAK PEEK — The great migration reverse ferret: U.K. PM Keir Starmer whips out the Donald Tusk playbook on migration, but the real story is visa outsourcing. — Why the V in VC stands for Vassal: Silicon Valley is having an epiphany about how it’s been doing the bidding of the state all this […]
In The Blind Spot: War games
SNEAK PEEK — Do you know when you are being played? Dario delves into the new iteration of alternate reality games and explains why they are actually revolutionary political tools. — What if the real blind spot in nuclear war is that it’s more survivable than people appreciate? Dario explores. Dear subscribers, Here’s the […]
In the Blind Spot: Prepare to be privatized
SNEAK PEEK — There’s a big hullabaloo surrounding China’s recent issuance of dollar-denominated bonds in Riyadh. But Izzy argues this is not the show of strength most think it is. — Privatization vs Nationalisation: Why not all deregulation is being made equal. Izzy runs through the very different agendas of the competing transatlantic “efficiency” […]
In The Blind Spot: Manufacturing fetish or US growth illusion?
SNEAK PEEK — Free speech campaigners fear Elon’s status as the champion of free speech is about to clash with his role as efficiency czar in the Trump administration. — IQM’s Jan Goetz updates us on how quantum developments are going in Europe. — Germany is reawakening its nuclear ambitions in more ways than […]