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USA Today reports that the Middle East is a major source of sulfur, as a producer and a shipper through the Hormuz Straits. 50% of the world's global seaborne trade flow of sulfur go through the Straits. Sulfur is used in the manufacture of agricultural fertilizer and the processing of low-grade ore to extract valuable metals especially copper.
With the blockade of the Straits, the US military is facing major shortages of copper that go into military materiel. According to one expert quoted in the article, the US military did not foresee this "prelogistical crisis" bottleneck.
According to three analysts at the Modern War Institute of West Point, sulfur is also used to extract cobalt and nickel, two valuable materials used in a variety of military equipment.
THE CHOKEPOINT WE MISSED: SULFUR, HORMUZ, AND THE THREATS TO MILITARY READINESS
Why the Defense Industrial Base Cannot Surge
The central problem confronting US war planners today is not merely that sulfur matters, but that its supply chain is fundamentally broken from a defense perspective. Sulfur is overwhelmingly a byproduct of processing sour natural gas and crude oil, not a commodity that can be scaled independently in a defense emergency. Furthermore, while a significant portion of sulfuric acid is involuntarily produced as a byproduct of smelting sulfide ores, such as copper and zinc, this secondary source is rigid and entirely insufficient to cover a massive wartime surge. This means supply responds to hydrocarbon production and baseline smelting operations, not to urgent military demand for copper or semiconductors. This is the byproduct trap, and it is the reason this prelogistical chokepoint is proving so dangerous: It sits upstream of war production, and it does not obey our demand signals. As sulfuric acid availability tightens, the consequences are unavoidable: Copper extraction slows, battery pipelines are strained, and semiconductor fabrication is impacted.
This has become a paralyzing, real-time problem for the defense industrial base. In theory, the United States government identifies a shortage and issues contracts. In practice, we are now seeing that those tools are utterly ineffective when the constraint is buried in industrial chemistry. A weapons producer is discovering it cannot will more sulfuric acid into existence as markets tighten, and policymakers are learning that a surge in budget authority does not translate into output when the essential reagent for metal extraction is itself constrained. The result is the reality we see today: a defense industrial base tethered to upstream conditions it cannot control and a US joint force discovering that its combat endurance is capped by the invisible industrial foundations needed to replenish it.
Can't stand spending my time on watching those videos. Written word would be better, but anyway
Of course the war will cause a global financial crisis, but like previous crises, the ultra rich won't be hurt. The US is just counting on other countries being hurt worser and enough Americans supporting the government anyway. At this point I see no way to prevent a GFC.
The US already controls a huge amount of the economy in other countries. That will shield the US to some degree. Kurt has already said he is fine with people in other countries being forced into poverty as long as it benefits (or in this case buffers) americans. From other statements, it is clear that the trump government and the maga movement are fine with it, too. But I expect it will hurt most in the US. As always the minorities will be hurt more.
i respect your views and opinions so this sort of piqued my curiostiy
i'm working so i sent my agentic avatar to his read his available substack and glean for accuracy and bias
feel free to grade the response
To analyze the bias of Oliver Kornetzkeâs Substack, we have to look at the recurring themes, rhetorical style, and ideological framing across his recent body of work.
While the "Necrocapital" post focuses on finance, his broader catalog reveals a consistent Left-Accelerationist and Neo-Marxist worldview characterized by deep systemic cynicism.
1. Ideological Framework: Systemic Collapse
The author operates from a perspective of "Anticapitalism as a medical/biological necessity."
The "Death Cult" Narrative: Recent titles like "Capitalism Is a Death Cult" and "Capitalism's eugenics reaches its apex" indicate a bias that views market economies not just as flawed, but as inherently genocidal or "self-culling."
Historical Revisionism: In posts discussing ICE or American history, he frames the U.S. exclusively as an "empire built on slavery, theft, and genocide." This is a Critical Theory bias that prioritizes historical grievances as the primary lens for interpreting modern institutions.
2. Rhetorical Bias: Absolute Fatalism
The writing utilizes highly charged, hyperbolic language to create a sense of inevitable doom.
Pathologizing Economics: He consistently uses medical metaphorsâinfection, cancer, culling, infectionâto describe social and economic phenomena. This is a "Pathological Bias" that reframes political disagreement as a struggle against a terminal disease.
Universal Complicity: He often argues that everyone is "complicit" or that the "despair is total." This binary framing leaves no room for moderate success, reform, or positive data points, creating a Totalizing Bias.
3. Socio-Political Bias: Anti-Elite and Anti-Imperial
The authorâs bias is sharply directed against the "Billionaire Class" and "Western Imperialism."
Hostility to Capital: Posts like "The American Capitalist Class Wants Slavery Back" suggest a belief in a coordinated, malicious intent among business leaders. This is a Conspiratorial Bias that attributes systemic outcomes to the secret desires of a monolithic "elite" rather than complex market or political incentives.
Technological Grief: He displays a Luddite or Degrowth bias regarding technology, viewing the internet and modern tech as tools for hollowing out human experience rather than expanding it.
4. Intellectual Bias: Post-Rationalist Cynicism
While he uses logic and "logic-gated" structures (bullet points, clear headers), his conclusions are often Post-Rational.
He starts with the conclusion that the system is failing and selects "rational-sounding" arguments to support that pre-determined outcome. This is a classic form of Confirmation Bias tailored for an audience that values intellectual rigor but feels a deep emotional resonance with "doomsday" scenarios.
Summary of Bias Profile
Political Orientation: Far-Left / Revolutionary / Accelerationist.
Tone: Fatalistic, cynical, and clinical-pejorative.
Primary Lens: Power dynamics and systemic extraction.
Omissions: He rarely acknowledges improvements in global literacy, health outcomes, or poverty reduction that have occurred under the systems he critiques.
The Bottom Line: Oliver Kornetzkeâs Substack is a high-intensity polemic. It is not "news" or "neutral analysis"; it is a philosophical project designed to deconstruct the legitimacy of modern global systems. It is effective for understanding a specific branch of contemporary radical thought, but it is deeply non-objective.
Ok, also kind of short on time, so Iâll make a quick response to this, as I think it needs one.
First-off this looks to me like another case where AI frames its response to match what it thinks the user wants to hear, or what it thinks the user should want to hear.. Itâs all about the framing.
I am not intimately familiar with all the writings of Oliver Kornetzke so I canât judge the pigeonholing being done here. Iâll assume most of it is correct and Kornetzke does think systemic collapse is imminent, that he is fatalistic, that he is anti-elitist and anti-imperial and has an intellectual bias towards post rationalist cynicism.
I share some of those views.
However, the idea that these political views are driven by a subjective, almost pathological inclination on his part with no basis in objective reality is simply an ad hominem attack dressed up as being a clinical diagnosis from an objective dehumanized tool aka AI.
The Bottom Line: Oliver Kornetzkeâs Substack is a high-intensity polemic. It is not "news" or "neutral analysis"; it is a philosophical project designed to deconstruct the legitimacy of modern global systems. It is effective for understanding a specific branch of contemporary radical thought, but it is deeply non-objective.
As such the AI agent analysis here is itself guilty of framing the argument within a set of given axioms that it doesnât question and also without laying out those axioms. This is also very non-objective and a classic example of confirmation bias, fuelled here by AI.
My take: capitalism and critiques of capitalism are not components of a simple binary system. Even Marx was a great fan of capitalism as it freed us from rural idiocy (arrogant dick that he was). Likewise, people making a critique of current social failings are not necessarily ignoring the great gains made by capitalism. I certainly am not, nor do I think is Kornetzke.
However, to ignore the malaise of the current situation and its roots would be, in my view, irresponsibly obscurantist. Just think. We live in an age where wealth creation has gone through the roof, yet this is also true (Google AI search)
Based on data analyzing income trends over the last three to four decades, a significant portion of the U.S. populationâ
roughly 50% of householdsâhas experienced little to no meaningful increase in real, inflation-adjusted disposable income. While aggregate U.S. economic data has shown growth, this growth has been disproportionately concentrated among top earners, leading to long-term stagnation for middle- and lower-income earners.
People like Kornetzke address these issues. That makes them people who are out to improve and save social cohesion and create a better world, not destroy it.
