Essays
The sordid paradox that was the 2025 German federal election – Euronews
, 24/02/2025
This German federal election is a paradox: Simultaneously irrelevant – in the sense that it will result into another variant of the same, quasi permanent, coalition of Christian & Social Democrats, perhaps with a splattering of the pseudo-Greens – the same coalition that put Germany on the road to a secular slump, will continue to […]
Europe in the Post-Atlanticist Era – The Guardian
, 21/02/2025
JD Vance, the US Vice President, told Europeans that their values are no longer America’s values. Pete Hegseth, the US Defence Secretary, added that Europeans “can’t make an assumption that America’s presence will last forever.” Keith Kellog, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, confirmed that Europe will not have a seat at the table […]
Donald Trump’s economic masterplan – UNHERD
, 21/02/2025
Faced with President Trump’s economic moves, his centrist critics oscillate between desperation and a touching faith that his tariff frenzy will fizzle out. They assume that Trump will huff and puff until reality exposes the emptiness of his economic rationale. They have not been paying attention: Trump’s tariff fixation is part of a global economic […]
The Argentinian President’s crypto scam exploited the dangerous illusion of apolitical money
, 21/02/2025
On Friday 14th February, President Milei of Argentina tweeted about the $LIBRA coin, encouraging his followers to buy it on the grounds that it would “help fund small businesses and start-ups”. As if that weren’t enough, he shared a link for people to buy it online. Naturally, within a few hours, $LIBRA’s price shot up. […]
Technofeudalism Is War’s Handmaiden – Project Syndicate
, 15/02/2025
War is in the air more than peace these days. This reflects not only the salience of well-known strategic traps, but also the rapid emergence of cloud capital, which is in steering the world into these traps in four distinct ways. ATHENS – The West is on a war footing. The German government is working […]
Novara Media’ Michael Walker and Yanis Varoufakis on Gaza, Trump’s Trade Wars, and DeepSeek
, 06/02/2025
Michael and I chatted about Trump’s tariffs, emphasising the need to see them as political tools that standard neoliberal economics can never fathom. On the ongoing genocide in Gaza, we discussed Trump’s ‘final real estate solution’ envisaging a Palestine without Palestinians – the Zionist’s wet dream. Finally, I explained why DeepSeek was a major blow […]
Justice for Palestinians will also emancipate Israelis and Europeans – My remarks at the Hague Group’s inaugural meeting reception
, 02/02/2025
Nine governments just signed the new Hague Group’s Declaration. Hailing from Africa, Asia and Latin America, they represent the collective voice of the Global South but also a majority of the peoples of the Global North whose governments have been so shamelessly complicit in our generation’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. We salute these […]
Η απελευθέρωση των Παλαιστίνιων ως προαπαιτούμενο για την απελευθέρωση Ισραηλινών & Ευρωπαίων: Δήλωση Γ. Βαρουφάκη στην έναρξη της Ομάδας της Χάγης 31-1-2025
, 02/02/2025
Εννέα κυβερνήσεις υπέγραψαν πριν λίγο, στη διπλανή αίθουσα, την Διακήρυξη της Ομάδας της Χάγης με την οποία δεσμεύονται για κυρώσεις κατά του Ισραήλ έως ότου πάψει τη γενοκτονία, καταργήσει το Απαρτχάιντ και τηρήσει το Διεθνές Δίκαιο. Εκπροσωπώντας χώρες της Αφρικής, της Ασίας και της Λατινικής Αμερικής, αντιπροσωπεύουν τόσο την κοινή γνώμη του Παγκόσμιου Νότου όσο […]
Yanis Varoufakis in conversation with Francesca Albanese
, 30/01/2025
Shortly after the Gaza ceasefire deal was signed, I had the pleasure of a conversation with Francesca Albanese, the UN Rapporteur on Palestine. The occasion was MeRA25’s National Convention (Jan 2025) where this video was screened. Enjoy our conversation and, in particular, Francesca’s inimitable capacity to talk like a dispassionate lawyer and, at once, a […]
China’s Trump Dilemma – Project Syndicate
, 21/01/2025
ATHENS – With Donald Trump back in the White House, the high tariffs he has pledged to slap on Chinese imports are not China’s greatest concern. China’s leaders understand that tariffs are more significant for Trump as political and symbolic moves than as economic weapons that will seriously impede China’s growth and development. The real […]
Rachel Reeves’ unbearable acquiescence to the City bankers – UNHERD
, 16/01/2025
The curse of finance ministers whose country’s business model is broken is that they are powerless to transform the economy, yet too powerful not to take the blame. But when the economy is merely stagnating, not yet in free-fall, preventing the descent into a financial crisis should require no more than average competence. Sadly, the […]
What to watch out for in the unfolding Palestinian genocide – a video briefing on 9th Jan 2025
, 09/01/2025
Watching, on the one hand, the Israeli soldiers’ video confessions of their genocidal intent and acts and, on the other hand, the Palestinians’ livestreaming of their own deaths and devastation, it is ever so easy to throw one’s hands up in the air, to despair, to want to shut the cruelty out, to find solace […]
Musk, Trump and the Broligarchs’ novel hyper-weapon – Le Monde 4-1-2025, full original English version
, 06/01/2025
How does wealth manage to persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power? By merely posing his dazzling question in 1952, Aneurin Bevan captured liberal democracy’s greatest paradox. Today, in the era of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance and their Big Tech brethren, Bevan’s time-honoured paradox has only grown preposterously. […]
Star Trek: A humanist communist manifesto for our times – UNHERD
, 04/01/2025
On 9 February 1967, hours after the US Air Force had levelled the Port of Haiphong and several Vietnamese airfields, NBC aired a Star Trek episode featuring a concept that clashed mercilessly with what had just happened in Vietnam: the Prime Directive – a general ban on its Starship captains from using superior technology (military […]
The West Is Not Dying, but It Is Working on It – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 19/12/2024
Western power is as strong as ever. What has changed is that the combination of socialism for financiers, collapsing prospects for the bottom 50%, and the surrender of our minds to Big Tech has given rise to overweening Western elites with little use for the last century’s value system. ATHENS – A motley crew of […]
My reply to Chris Giles celebration of the eurozone bailouts in the Financial Times
, 13/12/2024
@ChrisGiles (Financial Times) decided to have some fun by celebrating “The astonishing success of Eurozone bailouts”, using Greece as the poster girl/boy of that exercise in futility, the EU’s most spectacular failure. With such friendly scribblers, Europe has no need for sworn enemies! His evidence? That Greece, the basket case of the euro crisis, reported […]
Lessons from Syria: An imperialist’s enemy is not always an anti-imperialist’s friend – China Academy op-ed
, 10/12/2024
On 15th August 2021, when the Kabul US-puppet regime fell, I expressed relief that US imperialism was defeated and, simultaneously, horror at what the women of Afghanistan were about to suffer in the hands of the jihadist Taliban. Immediately, the US liberal-imperialist lobby attacked me for… celebrating the Taliban victory. You see, for imperialism’s stooges, […]
America’s Trade Deficit Is Not Afraid of Donald Trump – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 02/12/2024
If the US president-elect’s efforts to eliminate America’s trade deficit succeed, real-estate prices in Miami and Manhattan will crash, the cost of servicing government debt will skyrocket and the Dow Jones will plummet. Perhaps he should be reminded that the most vengeful of deities is one that grants him his sincerest wish. ATHENS – Donald […]
Yanis and Slavoj in London, celebrating Zizek at 75! – How to Academy
, 15/11/2024
On 15th November, I interviewed Slavoj Zizek, live on stage, on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Judge for yourself whether we had fun (and maybe had something of interest to say…) To watch the rest click below: Part 2 – Trump is a fetish Part 3 “Israel Needed War” Part 4 Optimism or […]
Brian Eno’s & Yanis Varoufakis’ Open Letter to the Judges of the ICC, on the anniversary of 7th October: Act now or International Law withers forever
, 07/10/2024
OPEN LETTER TO THE JUDGES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT 7th October 2024 Dear Judges of the International Criminal Court, When we heard in January that the Court on which you sit had decided to hear the case concerning the situation in Israel-Palestine, we were encouraged. Humanity needs an International Criminal Court that upholds the […]
The Road from Fascism – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 19/08/2024
Once fascism is in the air, it is pointless to pander to xenophobia, as liberals do when they embrace an anti-immigrant agenda, or to rail against austerity, as leftists do. Neither issue is what is really fueling far-right extremism, which is good news for progressives. ATHENS – The recent riots in the United Kingdom have […]
Macron and Europe’s Centrists Are Out of Good Options – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 26/07/2024
After four years of pandemic-induced fiscal laxity, the eurozone’s rules are back in force, requiring that France impose severe austerity measures to reduce its deficit. Though no political party ever wants to go down this road, it is the only choice that French President Emmanuel Macron has left himself. ATHENS – France’s political impasse reflects […]
Three Myths Haunting the West – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 26/06/2024
Three myths underpin the collective frustration of Western centrist political leaders, who have long taken their hegemony for granted. Each myth is worse than erroneous, and debunking them is a necessary, if insufficient, step toward making sense of the present. ATHENS – Confident elites reflect viable regimes. Today, elites on both sides of the Atlantic […]
Strict Separation Is Not the Answer for Palestine and Israel – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 29/05/2024
As the bombs continue to fall, and the propaganda war rages, it is hard to imagine any way out of the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy. But that could reflect our failure to imagine two states whose purpose is to bring the two people closer, not to create two apartheid states where there is now one. ATHENS – […]