Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – January 18, 2026
by Tony Wikrent
Dingbat imperialism and its malcontents
Dingbat Imperialism, the Lowest Stage of Capitalism
John Ganz, Jan 13, 2026 [Unpopular Front]
Germany planning ‘Arctic Sentry’ Nato mission to protect Greenland
[Telegraph, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
Tech billionaires behind Greenland bid want to build ‘freedom cities’
[Responsible Statecraft, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
The Oligarchs Pushing for Conquest in Greenland
Casey Michel, January 13, 2026 [The New Republic]
Trump’s fixation on filching the island territory from Denmark may seem like the demented ravings of a mad king. But to a cohort of plutocrat weirdos, it makes perfect sense.
Trump not violating any law
'He who saves his Country does not violate any Law'
Joe DePaolo, May 4th, 2025 [mediaite.com]
How Trump gave the green light for the killing of protestors.
[Borderland Talk with Jenn Budd, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
...I will argue to my dying day that he did not see her or her wife as an actual physical threat in that moment, but someone who should be taught a lesson. This analysis is based in my experience as a former agent, and teaching lessons to people who do not respect our authority is rampant in ICE, Border Patrol and CBP. Watch HBO’s Critical Incident to see all three agencies teach Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas this lesson….
But in October, things changed.
ICE shot at protestor Marimar Martinez hitting her five times on October 4, 2025. Now, Renee Good is dead. What changed? Why has ICE started shooting at people trying to warn the community of their presence when they did not before?
What changed is that ICE and other agencies performing civil immigration enforcement were given a directive from the President of the United States to label them as “domestic terrorists.” On September 25, 2025, before the Martinez shooting, Trump issued an executive order titled, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Political Violence.” This EO changed the definition of who is considered by federal agents to be a “domestic terrorist” to include:
anti-Americanism
anti-capitalism
anti-Christianity
support for the overthrow of the United States Government
extremism on migration
extremism on race
extremism on gender
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.
To be fair, people like Marimar and Renee who maintain what the right-wing and this administration considers “extremism on migration” have been considered “domestic terrorists” for quite some time now. But they were not given the green light to kill them until the administration officially designated them as ‘domestic terrorists” in the executive order….
Chris Hedges, Jan 11, 2026
The Trump administration is consolidating the familiar machinery of terror of all authoritarian states. We must resist now. If we wait, it will be too late.
I have seen the masked goons who terrorize our streets before. I saw them during the “Dirty War” in Argentina, where 30,000 men, women and children were “disappeared” by the military junta. Victims were held in secret prisons, savagely tortured and murdered. To this day, many families do not know the fate of their loved ones.
I saw them in El Salvador, when death squads were killing 800 people a month. I saw them in Guatemala under the dictatorship of José Efraín Ríos Montt. I saw them in Augusto Pinochet’s Chile and in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. I saw them in Iran under the rule of the ayatollahs where I was arrested and jailed twice and once deported in handcuffs. I saw them in Hafez al-Assad’s Syria. I saw them in Bosnia, where Muslims were herded into concentration camps, executed and buried in mass graves.
I know these goons. I have been a prisoner in their jails and spent hours in their interrogation rooms. I have been beaten by them. I have been deported, and in several cases banned, from their countries. I know what is coming….
[X-Twitter, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
Exclusive: Secret ICE Programs Revealed
Ken Klippenstein [via Naked Capitalism 01-15-2025]
Important.
‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid
[404 Media, via Naked Capitalism 01-17-2025]
“Stupod B*tch”: GoFundMe for Minnesota ICE Agent Is Chilling
[New Republic, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
US Border Agents Intentionally Stepped in Front of Moving Vehicles to Justify Shooting at Them
[Nation, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
Michale Macher, Phenomenal World, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
How a 40-second encounter led an ICE agent to shoot and kill a Twin Cities resident
[Minnesota Star Tribune, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
[NC: Comprehensive report and not a good one for ICE.]
[X-Twitter, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
My final message before I’m on an FBI watchlist: Palantir, Epstein, & The New York Times
Juan Sebastian Pinto [a former Palantir employee, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
Strategic Political Economy
China curbs high-frequency trading to de-risk markets
[Asia Times, via Naked Capitalism 01-17-2025]
[TW: Worth noting to show, yes, it is possible to actually regulate financial markets.]
Global power shift
[X-Twitter, via Naked Capitalism 01-17-2025]
Seyed M. Marandi: Violent Riots & a Massive War Coming
Glenn Diesen [YouTube, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
‘Kill Switch’—Iran Shuts Down Starlink Internet For First Time
Zak Doffman, Jan 12, 2026 [Forbes]
We have not seen this before. Iran’s digital blackout has now deployed military jammers, reportedly supplied by Russia, to shut down access to Starlink Internet. This is a game-changer for the Plan-B connectivity frequently used by protesters and anti-regime activists when ordinary access to the internet is stopped..
“Despite reports that tens of thousands of Starlink units are operating inside Iran,” says Iran Wire, “the blackout has also reached satellite connections.” It is reported that about 30 per cent of Starlink’s uplink and downlink traffic was (initially) disrupted," quickly rising “to more than 80 per cent” within hours.
The CIA/Mossad Operation to Spark a Color Revolution in Iran has Failed
Larry Johnson [via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
The “Trump Doctrine” Is Shaped By Elbridge Colby’s “Strategy Of Denial”
Andrew Korybko [via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
Trump Declares National Emergency to Protect Stolen Venezuela Funds
[Antiwar, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
[Black Mountain Analysis, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
Felonomics
1 Year Into Trump 2.0, the Social Security Administration Is in Disarray
Martin Burns and Mary Liz Burns, Jan 16, 2026 [Common Dreams]
They’re not capitalists — they’re predatory criminals
Regulators say DoorDash and Uber Eats chiseled NYC delivery workers out of $550M in tips
[Gothamistvia Naked Capitalism 01-15-2025]
Information age dystopia / surveillance state
LAWYER: Cops Have a NEW “Social Score” to Label You a Threat
[Hampton Law, YouTube, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
[NC: Usefully tells you which settings to disable/enable on your iPhone or Android to reduce data extraction. Even though I had told my tech woman to do that, she had missed some. Surprised it does not recommend turning off WiFi save when you specifically want to use it (yours truly is perfectly happy to pay for connectivity for the sake of my privacy, which I infer is a outlier practice). My ride share app asks I turn on WiFi to facilitate geolocation, which despite GPS, is pretty poor otherwise. I prefer to type in my pickup.]
Scott Ritter [via Naked Capitalism 01-15-2025]
[Ritter’s accounts zeroed out without explanation.]
Climate and environmental crises
Ocean Temperatures Just Hit a Dire New Record
[Scientific American, via Naked Capitalism 01-13-2025]
World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam
[The Guardian, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
Democrats' political malpractice
Do the Democrats Have the Guts to Outflank Trump on Defense Industry Looting?
Les Leopold, Jan 13, 2026 [Wall Street’s War on Workers]
Monopoly Round-Up: Why Did Trump Just Attack the Fed and Corporate America?
Matt Stoller, Jan 12, 2026 [BIG]
Resistance
What to Do If ICE Shows Up: Know Your Rights
Kim Wehle, Jan 11, 2026 [Zeteo]
Here are five guidelines for how to respond if US federal immigration agents stop, approach you, or knock at your door.
1. If ICE stops or intimidates you, do not precipitously flee
2. If detained (even temporarily), you can stay silent
3. ICE can make certain arrests without a warrant, but it cannot search your home without either a judicial warrant or your consent
4. If detained, you can ask the ICE agent to identify themselves
5. You can hire a lawyer after an arrest, but whether you can immediately call one depends on state law….
Here’s How You Can Challenge Wage Garnishment for Defaulted Student Loans
[Truthout, via Naked Capitalism 01-12-2025]
Civic republicanism
Aurelien [via Naked Capitalism 01-15-2025]
Last week, I suggested that these days governments and the private sector were increasingly following a policy of nihilistic destruction, which was the logical, if uncomfortable, outcome of the kind of apocalyptic individualism now rampant everywhere after the unchallenged triumph of Liberal ideas.
I think that case is sufficiently well established, and this week I want to look in more detail at specific areas where this is happening, or has even happened, and consider what some of the practical consequences may be. They are all logically deducible from the ultra-individualist, almost autistic, mindset that Liberalism at its worst entails, and it may be worth saying just a word about that first….
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