{"id":4703,"date":"2026-04-14T10:02:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T14:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/?p=4703"},"modified":"2026-04-14T10:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T14:12:55","slug":"serendipitous-conjunctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/?p=4703","title":{"rendered":"Serendipitous conjunctions"},"content":{"rendered":"

…happen pretty much daily, and enliven and inform and provoke. This morning’s thusfar:<\/p>\n

(1) Cory Doctorow:<\/p>\n

These are anxious times. I don’t know anyone who feels good right now. Particularly this week, as the Strait of Epstein emergency gets progressively worse, and there’s this January 2020 sense of the crisis on the horizon, hitting one country after another. Last week, Australia got its last shipment of fossil fuels. This week, restaurants in India are all shuttered because of gas rationing. People who understand these things better than I do tell me that even if Trump strokes out tonight and Hegseth overdoes the autoerotic asphyxiation, it’ll be months, possibly years, before things get back to “normal” (“normal!”).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n(2) Bangladesh\u2019s Energy Crisis worsens as US-Israeli War on Iran Drags on<\/a> Zulker Naeen at Informed Comment (on the local consequences of Anthropocene crises, induced by distant events and system dependencies of global scope)<\/p>\n

…The ready-made garment industry accounts for 84 percent of Bangladesh\u2019s exports and employs millions of workers. When power cuts doubled to as much as five hours per day, factories faced impossible choices. Industry leaders described a nightmare scenario unfolding since the conflict began in late February. Running diesel generators during extended outages dramatically increased operating costs. In recent months, many textile and garment factories operated at only 40\u201350 percent capacity. These production losses threatened export orders. By early March, diesel reserves had fallen to just nine days of supply, measured at 115,473 tons as of March 4. The government scrambled to secure emergency shipments. Bangladesh received 5,000 metric tons through a cross-border pipeline from India\u2019s Numaligarh Refinery. Officials were negotiating for an additional 30,000 metric tons from the Indian Oil Corporation. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n(3) Will Trump\u2019s Blockade of Hormuz spark Conflict with China?<\/a> Juan Cole<\/p>\n

…A big problem with a US attempt to serve as gate keeper for shipping through the Strait is that 90% of Iranian petroleum exports, totaling about 1.5 million barrels a day, goes to China. If the US does not allow those ships bound for China to transit Hormuz, that would actually be a blockade of Chinese commerce, which is an act of war in international law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nand (4)