How $40-a-Pack Cigarettes Pushed Australians to the Black Market

THE NEW YORK TIMES: ax hikes made cigarettes in Australia the most expensive in the world. They have also helped fuel a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise in bootleg tobacco.

Screenshot taken from this article. | Matthew Abbott for the New York Times
A retired math teacher descended into an underground parking lot in search of her dealer, cash in hand.

Headlights flashed from the far end of the garage in a beachside, middle-class neighborhood in suburban Melbourne, Australia. She walked up to an unmarked van and soon was back above ground with the illicit goods.

A carton of cigarettes.

Australia has the most expensive cigarettes in the world, a pack of midmarket cigarettes costing on average about 55 Australian dollars, or almost $40, nearly double what it will set you back in New York City. A series of steep tax hikes — eight in 10 years — were put in place to reduce the rate of smoking, which has steadily declined. But the high prices have also given rise to a thriving black market now estimated to be a multibillion-dollar industry that accounts for as much as half of all tobacco sales in the country.

“It’s the injustice of the situation,” said the retired teacher, Pat Felvus, 75, who recounted in an interview her early experiences of buying illegal cigarettes, which cost as little as 10 Australian dollars a pack. “Why would you pay four times the amount?”

Bootleg cigarettes are readily available on every main street in Australia — at convenience stores, candy shops and tobacconists. Competition has driven the price of under-the-counter smokes lower and lower, at a time that the cost for staples is rising. Violence has erupted between organized crime groups jostling for a slice of the lucrative market, with a spate of firebombings, extortion, shootings and homicides.

The scale of the black market and the criminality has raised questions about how far governments can raise so-called sin taxes to curb undesirable behaviors. Australia is now facing the quandary: Are the high cigarette prices doing more harm than good? » | Victoria Kim | Reporting from Geelong and Melbourne, Australia | Sunday, February 15, 2026

Gaggles of stupid politicians in parliaments around the world make stupid political decisions and thus make for stupid governance! Alas, you can’t fix stupid! — © Mark Alexander

No Fuel, No Tourists, No Cash – This Was the Week the Cuban Crisis Got Real

THE GUARDIAN: Diplomats in Havana are preparing for an alternative Trump tactic: the country being starved until people take to the streets and the US can step in

Among the verdant gardens of Havana’s diplomatic quarter, Siboney, ambassadors from countries traditionally allied to the United States are expressing increasing frustration with Washington’s attempt to unseat Cuba’s government, while simultaneously drawing up plans to draw down their missions.

Cuba is in crisis. Already reeling from a four-year economic slump, worsened by hyper-inflation and the migration of nearly 20% of the population, the 67-year-old communist government is at its weakest. After Washington’s successful military operation against Cuba’s ally Venezuela at the beginning of January, the US administration is actively seeking regime change.

The Guardian spoke to more than five top-level officials from different countries, and heard complaints that the US charge d’affaires, Mike Hammer, has failed to share any sort of detailed plan beyond bringing the island to a standstill by starving it of oil. One said: “There’s talk of human rights, and that this is the year Cuba changes – but little talk of what happens afterwards.”

Some hope that rumoured high-level discussions in Mexico between the Cuban government – in the form of Gen Alejandro Castro Espín, son of Cuba’s 94-year-old former president Raúl Castro – and US officials might produce a deal, but as yet there are no signs of progress.

Instead, diplomats in Havana are preparing for an alternative tactic: the country being starved until people take to the streets and the US can step in. “We’re trying to keep a cool head,” said one ambassador. “Embassies are built on planning for the unexpected – hopefully before it becomes expected,” said another. » | Ruaridh Nicoll in Havana | Sunday, February 15, 2026 | Additional reporting by Eileen Sosin

Full Speech: Marco Rubio Declares “Europe Must Survive” at Munich Security Conference

Feb 14, 2026 | US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers his full address at the Munich Security Conference, stressing Western unity, cultural ties with Europe, reindustrialization, and strategic renewal under President Donald Trump’s vision.

Rubio warns against borderless globalism, urges stronger allies, and calls for rebuilding industries, defence strength, and shared Western identity.


Rubio criticises deindustrialisation. But ask yourselves who were instrumental in bringing it about? It was the titans of industry who are, by and large, profit-maximising right-wingers and in the Eighties by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. They did their level best to deindustrialise by deregulating and by reducing subsidies to heavy industries. These measures accelerated the decline of traditional manufacturing. Corporations, of course, always looking to maximise their profits, were helped to maximise their profits by globalisation, so started relocating and outsourcing manufacturing to countries with a ready supply of cheap labour.

Reindustrialising our economies, as Rubio suggests, is a tall order indeed, unless, of course, our politicians want to get the workforce used to working in sweatshops! For that is the only way we’d be able to compete with the much lower production costs in Asia.

Marco Rubio’s speech is more important for what it doesn’t tell you than for what it did! To really understand his sometimes-sweet rhetoric, one must read between the lines. He talked of wanting a strong Europe. Poppycock! He and his boss don’t want a strong Europe at all; rather they want a weaker, more fragmented one. The concept of the European Union is anathema to Trump. After all, a weaker, more fragmented Europe gives Trump’s America far more leverage. It is much easier for Trump to push around a European nation state than it is to push around a strong, united European Union!

Basically, these autocracy-leaning fascists want Europe on their own terms. Ooh! And something else must also be read between the lines. There was no reference to it in Rubio’s speech, but I can assure you that it was there. They want to purge America and Europe of the influence of Islam.

If Trump and his acolytes are really so fond of Europe as Rubio tries to convince us, then why is he talking of invading the territory of a European nation: Denmark?

Judging by the applause Marco Rubio received at the end of his speech, it is clear that many in the audience were flattered by his fine words and were, as a result, seemingly taken in by them. Personally, I would caution against taking his words on face value. I suggest that one would be wiser to read between the lines.

After all, we are talking about a man, here, who was behind the invasion of Venezuela, and the man who is itching to bring about the collapse of communism in Cuba. Trump, his boss, has talked incessantly about the annexation of Greenland, if not indeed the invasion of the country. It is also on record that Trump has spoken multiple times of Europe being “weak” and “decaying”. He is also known to want the break-up of the European Union. So Rubio’s fine words buttered no parsnips for me, I’m afraid.

I would there therefore suggest that we Europeans exercise extreme caution in dealing with Trump’s America. In German, there is an apt saying. It is as follows: Vorsicht ist die Mutter der Weisheit.. That means ‘caution is the mother of wisdom’. And it most surely is. — © Mark Alexander

Clara Mattei: Capitalism Is Not Natural - It’s Enforced

Feb 13, 2026 | Clara Mattei is an economist who wants us to rethink the idea that capitalism is simply the natural order of things.

Clara Mattei »

Will the Epstein Files Tarnish the Reputation of Jamie Dimon, America’s Banker?

THE GUARDIAN: The final stretch of the JP Morgan Chase chief’s career is a bumpy one, as Trump himself demands prosecutors investigate Epstein’s ties to Dimon’s bank

Jamie Dimon, the longtime chief of JP Morgan Chase, America’s biggest bank, was under oath. The occasion was a May 2023 deposition related to several lawsuits filed against his bank over its history of involvement with the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The question put to Dimon was straightforward: “When did you first learn that Jeffrey Epstein was a customer of JPMorgan?”

His answer seemed clear: “I don’t recall knowing anything about Jeffrey Epstein until the stories broke sometime in 2019” – meaning the stories about Epstein’s arrest by federal authorities in the summer of 2019 and his death a month later in a Manhattan jail cell.

Clear, but believable? This exchange can be found in the US justice department’s Epstein files, with the digital “Epstein library”, as it’s called, tabulating 204 “results” (separate documents, though some duplicative) for Dimon, at current count, and 9,404 for his bank.

Epstein was a client of JP Morgan Chase for 15 years, from 1998 to 2013, for the last eight of which Dimon was the bank’s CEO, the position he still holds. And Epstein was not just any client, but a prized one of JPMorgan’s private bank for ultra-wealthy customers. A JP Morgan report, belatedly filed with the treasury department, flagged about 4,700 Epstein-related “suspicious activity” transactions totaling $1.1bn, including payments to women from post-Soviet countries. Through Dimon’s bank, Epstein wired hundreds of millions of dollars to Russian banks.

Not only that, a top former JP Morgan executive, Jes Staley, undermined Dimon’s sworn testimony – claiming to have communicated with Dimon on Epstein years before the 2019 arrest. And a current senior bank executive, Mary Erdoes, often said to be on Dimon’s shortlist of candidates to succeed him as CEO, was also actively involved with the Epstein account and was aware, as documents show, of Epstein’s court-affirmed status as a high-risk sex offender. » | Paul Starobin | Friday, February 13, 2026

Will Russia Defy Trump's Warning and Send Fuel to Its Old Ally Cuba? | DW News

Feb 12, 2026 | The Russian newspaper Izvestia is reporting that Moscow is planning to send crude oil and fuel to Cuba.

The country is suffering its worst energy crisis for years, after the US choked off its oil supplies. Cuba had long relied on its ally Venezuela for fuel, but those supplies dried up after the US abducted the country's president, Nicolás Maduro.

Like many countries, Russia is evacuating its tourists from the island and suspending all flights there, because of a lack of aviation fuel. Canadian airlines also suspended flights this week - and Cuba has warned international carriers that jet fuel is no longer available.

Ricardo Torres Pérez an economist and Research Fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American & Latino Studies talks to DW.

Cuba Receives Humanitarian Aid from Mexico as Trump’s Blockade Bites

Feb 12, 2026 | Humanitarian aid from Mexico has arrived in Havana, as Cuba continues to struggle under what amounts to a fuel blockade by the Trump administration.

Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Environmental Protection Agency repealed the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.

President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet.

The action is a key step in removing limits on carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases that scientists say are supercharging heat waves, droughts, wildfires and other extreme weather.

Led by a president who refers to climate change as a “hoax,” the administration is essentially saying that the vast majority of scientists around the world are wrong and that a hotter planet is not the menace that decades of research shows it to be.

It’s a rejection of fact that had been accepted for decades by presidents of both parties, including Richard Nixon, whose top adviser warned of the dangers of climate change and the first President George Bush, who signed an international climate treaty.

And it is a knockout punch in the yearslong fight by a small group of conservative activists as well as oil, gas and coal interests to stop the country from transitioning away from fossil fuels and toward solar, wind and other nonpolluting energy. » | Lisa Friedman | Reporting from Washington | Thursday, February 12, 2026

Trump Declared War on Canada — Carney's Cold Blooded Response Stunned the World

February 12, 2026

Dollar Collapse & Trump’s Lasting Legacy: Top Economist Warns

Feb 11, 2026 | Is the U.S. dollar on the brink of collapse? Renowned economist Professor Steve Keen issues a dire warning about a coming financial storm that most economists are blind to. While the world focuses on the AI boom and tech sector promises, a far more dangerous sovereign debt crisis is brewing in global bond markets.

Decades of debt-fueled growth, reckless Trump-era fiscal policies, and Wall Street dominance have left the U.S. dollar and the global financial system dangerously vulnerable. As foreign investors pull back from U.S. Treasury bonds, inflation pressures rise, and credit cycles hit their limit, ordinary Americans face the reality of working past 65 and navigating a collapsing financial safety net.

In this critical analysis, Professor Keen explains why the current neoliberal economic model built on unsustainable debt, deregulation, and financial illusions cannot withstand the next shock. The AI boom, often hailed as a solution, is no safeguard; technology cannot fix a broken credit system.

The Truth about the Jobs Report, Wages, Layoffs and Trump's AI Economy in 2026

Feb 12, 2026 | Trump claims the U.S. economy is stronger than ever. The stock market is soaring. Billionaire wealth is surging. The unemployment rate appears low. But is America actually prospering? In this deep-dive analysis, we break down the latest jobs report, including massive downward revisions that wiped out over a million previously reported jobs. We examine why last year’s job growth was far weaker than first claimed, why January layoffs spiked to the highest level since 2009, and why hiring has nearly ground to a halt.

ANTHONY DAVIS can be supported on Patreon here.

Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World | Anne Applebaum with Edward Luce

Feb 11, 2026 | Autocracy no longer wears a crown or marches an army. In Autocracy, Inc., Anne Applebaum uncovers a hidden world where dictators, oligarchs, and state-run companies form invisible networks stretching across continents. Money, media, and security move seamlessly between them, bound by a single purpose: undermining democracy. A story of power, ambition, and quiet danger, Applebaum in conversation with celebrated writer Edward Luce reveals how these modern empires operate—and what it will take for the free world to resist. | Presented by HPCL–Mittal Energy Limited

UK Economy Grows by Only 0.1% amid Falling Business Investment

THE GUARDIAN: GDP in last three months of 2025 also hit by weak consumer spending, with little momentum going into this year

The UK economy expanded by only 0.1% in the final three months of last year, according to official data, as falling business investment and weak consumer spending led to little momentum going into 2026.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the economy grew at the same rate of 0.1% as the previous three months. This was less than a 0.2% rise that economists had been expecting.

The economy grew by 1.3% in 2025, an improvement on growth of 1.1% in 2024, although worse than official forecasts of 1.5%. The ONS said the economy also expanded by 0.1% on a monthly basis in December, slowing from 0.2% in November – a figure that was revised down from 0.3%.

The rise came despite there being no growth at all in the dominant services sector, which makes up about 80% of the economy. The small boost was instead driven by the production sector, up by 1.2%, while the construction industry shrank 2.1%, its worst performance in four years, the ONS said. » | Tom Knowles | Thursday, February 11, 2026

We can thank that tw*t—use the vowel of your own choosing to replace the asterisk!—Nigel Farage for the UK’s sluggish growth in the last ten years. No economist worth his salt would recommend a nation to cut itself off from the Single Market — the biggest single market in the world! And a single market on the nation’s doorstep, to boot!

Boarding the nation’s dinghy and sailing around the world on the high seas looking for little trade deals here and perhaps bigger ones there is NOT going to fix the problem! The sooner that Starmer grows a pair and levels with the nation about this ongoing problem, the better. The process of rejoining the European Union needs to be started. Fact is, we should never have left the European Union in the first place. Brexit was always going to fail. It was Farage’s folly. The sooner this country turns its back on Brexit, the sooner it will start to achieve economically again. In this world of huge economic blocks, a shrunken empire like the United Kingdom’s otherwise doesn’t stand a chance. — © Mark Alexander

Tax Breaks for Billionaires. Cuts for Hungry Kids.

Bernie Sanders explains.

How Peter Thiel Is Destroying Democracy

Dec 7, 2025 | This is Peter Thiel - a major player in Silicon Valley who wants to transform humanity. But what does he actually want? What’s his problem with democracy? And is there an endgame?

"Empire in Decline": Historian Alfred McCoy on U.S. Aggression in Venezuela, Iran & Beyond

Jan 13, 2026 | As President Trump threatens Iran, Venezuela, Mexico, Greenland and more, renowned historian Alfred McCoy says the United States is "an empire in decline," following a predictable pattern of militarism abroad and political instability at home as it loses power and influence on the world stage. "American politics become increasingly contorted and irrational," says McCoy. "I think the thing to do is to realize that we are an empire in decline, … and it will continue for another decade or two, until American power finally slips away."

McCoy just published his latest book, "Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage," on the impact of U.S.-Soviet imperial proxy wars in Africa, Asia and Latin America.


Democracy Now! can be supported here.

“The United States Is an Empire In Decline”

Feb 7, 2026 | We spoke to renowned historian Alfred McCoy about his latest book, "Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage," and why he believes the U.S. is losing its dominance on the world stage.

Cuba’s Government Has Lasted 67 Years. Will It Fall Under Trump?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Trump administration, which has tightened the U.S. chokehold on Cuba by cutting off foreign oil, is betting that this is the Cuban communist revolution’s last year.

Celebrations broke out in front of Miami’s Versailles restaurant nearly 20 years ago after Fidel Castro announced that he was so sick he had to temporarily step down as president of Cuba.

Cuban exiles rejoiced again two years later when he quit for good — and once more when he died in 2016, though his brother Raúl Castro was president at the time.

Now, the country’s economy is in free fall, its electric grid is failing, millions of its citizens have left and the Cuban government is facing off against perhaps its most menacing foe: President Trump.

Mr. Trump has closed off Cuba’s access to oil shipments, helped cripple its vital tourism industry and declared that Cuba’s government is “going down for the count.”

The Trump administration and the many Cuban exiles who have been waiting nearly seven decades for the fall of Cuba’s Communist government said they believed this might finally be their moment.

After years of U.S. presidents trying various economic pressure tactics to hasten the demise of the Cuban government, the Trump administration’s cutoff of fuel has raised the ante drastically because oil keeps the country — from public transit to factories to farms — running.

…

After the U.S. military captured the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Mr. Trump halted Venezuelan oil to Cuba. Venezuela had long kept Cuba afloat with 35,000 barrels of oil a day in exchange for medical services by Cuban doctors. Read the whole article in today’s NYT HERE ». Y en español AQUÍ.

Michael Lambert: Why No Leader Can Fix Britain’s Current Course

Feb 7, 2026 | In this video I reflect on recent events in British politics from a very different perspective — speaking from Bangkok and watching the UK from afar.

I discuss the latest defections to Reform UK, why Nigel Farage still represents a political cul-de-sac rather than a governing future, and what these shifts say about the Conservative Party’s decline.

I also look at Keir Starmer’s trip to China, the reality behind the so-called “sophisticated relationship”, and the uncomfortable truth about Britain trying to negotiate alone in a world dominated by large trade blocs.

Along the way I touch on Peter Mandelson, Labour’s leadership dilemma, Andy Burnham, Davos and the wider question of whether Brexit has left Britain trying to play a role in the world that no longer exists.

«Je réalise qu’il y a un monde où je peux tout perdre» : la chute du bitcoin fait vaciller les certitudes des possesseurs de crypto

LE FIGARO : TÉMOIGNAGES - Alors que le bitcoin s’effondre après une année d’euphorie, des investisseurs, souvent jeunes, mesurent avec amertume les risques d’un pari qu’ils pensaient gagnant.

La fin du Bitcoin a-t elle déjà sonné ? C’est la question que se posent nombre d’épargnants conquis par l’engouement des cryptomonnaies qui a gagné les marchés et la toile depuis un an. « Je suis parti avec 1 000 euros en misant sur le bitcoin. Aujourd’hui, mon portefeuille vaut la moitié », confie Arthur*, 29 ans, employé du secteur de l’édition. Comme beaucoup de jeunes diplômés de sa génération – les « milléniaux » –, Arthur a été séduit par les discours des prophètes prônant la diversification par la cryptomonnaie.

Enchanté à ses débuts dans l’univers « crypto », Arthur déchante sérieusement depuis quelques semaines. Le bitcoin a chuté de presque 50 % depuis mi octobre 2025. Ces derniers jours, la baisse est encore plus brutale. Après avoir culminé à plus de 100.000 dollars, rien ni personne ne semblait douter de l’ascension de cet actif numérique qui, il est vrai, a déjà montré sa résilience face aux soubresauts du secteur. Un lointain souvenir ? » | Par Louise de Maisonneuve et Enguerrand Armanet | vendredi 6 février 2026

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