Where finance and media intersect with reality

Search

In the Blind Spot (Aircraft carriers, Rouble, Larry Fink )

This edition of the Blind Spot Wrap was compiled by Izabella Kaminska (IK) and Dario Garcia Giner (DGG). Markets, finance, economics etc… Russian rouble hits near 7-year high vs dollar as tax payments loom (chart courtesy of CNBC). Putin has been indulging in the schadenfreude. Here’s what he’s been saying in his domestic channels. The […]

In the Blind Spot on Thursday (Media, Roubles, Satoshi )

Finance, markets etc.. Germany takes a step towards rationing over payment stand-off with Russia. Why is nobody talking about the fact that Russia is demanding gold for payments. [Here’s the release from the Bank of Russia on March 28 noting that they will be buying gold at 5,000 roubles per gram.] Putin says Russia will […]

Media matters: The weaponisation of ambiguity

We all know the Ukrainians are winning the infowar, and we also know they haven’t always been honest about their claims. But I don’t think everyone is necessarily familiar with the mechanics and techniques they are using. Or the role we, as consumers of news and social media, play in the propaganda strategy. Or, for […]

Samizdata: Thoughts about vaccine mandate protests

First a quick note to apologise for lack of content the last couple of days. I’ve been struck by a bad case of sinusitis (but not the dreaded C disease). I’ve not really been following the news too closely the last 24 hours as a result, but I did want to share a few observations […]

Why Rogan is the media’s “inverted yield curve”

The TLDR: Rogan’s mass appeal — much larger than that of the legacy media — feels like a market breakdown. It simply shouldn’t be happening. It’s the inverted yield curve of the media industry. Or the snubbing of structured data in favour of the unstructured sort. Neither should make sense, so when they manifest it […]