Critical State: Israel's 'Scholasticide' in the Gaza Strip

At The Nation, Tareq Al-Sourani and William Liang reported on the near-total destruction of Gaza’s education system under Israeli bombardment.

The authors interviewed students like Hasan Barghouth, who studied under an olive tree using a solar-powered laptop. Despite the destruction of schools and displacement of students, some youth in Gaza still attempted to prepare for and take the Tawjihi — the Palestinian high school matriculation exam — often under extreme conditions, including shortages, destruction, and the threat of death.

By May 2025, over 95% of schools were damaged or destroyed, and all 12 universities lay in ruins. More than 5,400 students, 261 teachers, and 95 professors had been killed.

Despite displacement, trauma, and lack of internet, students formed online communities and makeshift classrooms to continue learning.

Scholar Karma Nabulsi’s term “scholasticide” captured the systematic erasure of intellectual life. The piece underscored how education became both a casualty and a form of resistance, as Gaza’s youth clung to knowledge in defiance of war, asserting their right to a future beyond destruction.

If You Read One More Thing: What Comes After Globalism?

For Politico, David J. Lynch reflected on decades of reporting from global flashpoints to chart the unraveling of the post-Cold War economic order.

• Lynch recounted witnessing the 1998 Jakarta riots, sparked by IMF-imposed austerity, as emblematic of globalization’s human toll. He argued that the neoliberal consensus — once seen as inevitable — had collapsed under the weight of inequality, nationalism, and geopolitical fragmentation.

• From Moscow to Beijing, Lynch observed how economic liberalization often empowered autocrats and deepened social unrest.

• Lynch warned that the absence of a coherent replacement for globalization risks ushering in instability, protectionism, and fractured global governance.

Mexicans Unite Against SpaceX’s South Texas Launches

Pablo de Rosas reported for The Border Chronicle on mounting opposition in northern Mexico’s Tamaulipas to SpaceX’s rocket launch operations near Boca Chica, Texas.

• Residents and environmental advocates criticized the SpaceX launches for damaging wildlife habitats, restricting beach access, and disrupting daily life with sonic booms and falling debris.

• Grassroots coalitions mobilized legal challenges and public campaigns to hold SpaceX accountable and reclaim community agency in the face of corporate expansion.

• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has been critical of SpaceX, assigned a local task force that “will soon make available a special team of divers to prepare reports on any major debris that is still under Mexican waters,” according to the article.

Deep Dive: GAO Finds Cost Estimation Failures in US Nuclear Construction Contracts

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that contractors managing construction at National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites routinely underestimated costs and failed to follow best practices for estimating fixed-price subcontracts. In fiscal year 2023 alone, final costs exceeded initial estimates by over $37 million — an average increase of 14% across 252 subcontracts.

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The report, entitled “Additional Steps Needed to Improve Cost Estimates for Fixed Price Subcontracts,” is mandated by the Senate’s FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. It evaluated how well management and operating (M&O) contractors adhered to GAO’s 12-step cost estimating guide. None of the seven contractors reviewed met or substantially met all 12 steps. Four contractors met most steps, while three met only a few.

GAO emphasized that “federal agencies require reliable cost information to conduct oversight of their programs and ensure the proper stewardship of public funds.” Yet NNSA’s oversight was limited, and its contractors’ policies often lacked key elements of sound cost estimation.

The GAO found that 64% of the reviewed subcontracts had final costs that exceeded initial estimates. In 43% of cases, costs were at least 20% higher than projected. Nineteen subcontracts more than doubled their original estimates. Most overruns occurred after contracts were awarded, undermining the premise of fixed-price agreements.

The largest cost increases were concentrated in subcontracts exceeding $1 million. One example cited a utility expansion project that ballooned from $3.2 million to $5.5 million — a 70% increase — after scope changes were made to avoid delays and additional procurement. GAO noted that “the proposed hours, equipment, and materials were justified by the additional scope and that the pricing was fair and reasonable.”

Another project, intended to install a secondary electrical feed in an older building, faced unanticipated expenses due to outdated schematics and the inability to shut off power during design. The team had to replace a transformer and reroute a water line, pushing costs from $5.5 million to over $7 million. “These additional costs were paid for by both NNSA and the subcontractor,” the report stated.

GAO’s 12-step guide includes defining the project, identifying ground rules and assumptions, and conducting sensitivity analysis. While most contractors met Step 3 — defining the project — few met Step 5 or Step 8.

Step 5 requires identifying “ground rules and assumptions,” which GAO described as “judgments about past, present, or future conditions postulated as true in the absence of positive proof.” Without these, estimates lack a clear foundation and are vulnerable to invalidation.

Step 8 calls for “sensitivity analysis,” or what-if scenarios that test how changes in inputs affect costs. GAO warned that “an agency or contractor that fails to conduct sensitivity analysis … increases the chance that decisions will be made without a clear understanding of these impacts on costs.”

The report concluded that “not meeting these two steps can lead to poor cost estimates,” and that overly optimistic assumptions may skew budgets and planning.

Although Department of Energy (DOE) regulations require contractors to apply commercial best practices, NNSA had not ensured that its contractors’ policies aligned with GAO’s cost guide. DOE guidance mandates reviews of contractor purchasing systems every six years, but GAO found these reviews insufficient.

“NNSA has approved all its M&O contractors’ purchasing systems but has not ensured that its M&O contractors’ policies are substantially meeting all 12 steps for developing a reliable cost estimate,” the report stated.

Contracting officers are also supposed to conduct risk assessments every one to two years, but GAO found no evidence that these assessments evaluated adherence to cost estimating best practices.

GAO recommended that NNSA “ensure that M&O contractor policies incorporate commercial best practices related to cost estimating.” The agency reviewed a draft of the report but did not provide comments.

The findings come as the US plans to spend tens of billions of dollars over the next two decades to modernize its nuclear weapons stockpile and infrastructure. Many of these projects fall below the “minor construction threshold,” meaning they do not require individual congressional approval. Collectively, however, they represent hundreds of millions in annual spending.

Show Us the Receipts

At Inkstick, Abid R. Baba documented the devastating legacy of uranium mining in Jadugoda, Jharkhand, India. For over five decades, Indigenous Adivasi communities endured radiation-linked illnesses, miscarriages, and birth defects. Baba reported that one in three households included someone with a disability, while toxic tailing ponds contaminated water sources near homes. Despite India’s nuclear ambitions, villagers lived in proximity to radioactive waste and milling operations. Baba highlighted the story of Aakash Sardar, a child with deformed feet, whose family struggled to access basic documentation and compensation. The photo essay exposed the human cost of India’s nuclear infrastructure.

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Taylor Barnes interviewed Ed Firmage Jr. about how his father quietly lobbied Latter-day Saints leadership to oppose the MX missile project during the Cold War for Inkstick. In 1981, the LDS Church faxed a statement to President Reagan’s administration condemning nuclear weapons as antithetical to gospel values. This unprecedented move helped reverse Utah’s overwhelming support for the missile system. Firmage’s insider access and strategic use of historical precedent persuaded even conservative church figures. His efforts, Barnes reported, contributed to the project’s cancellation and marked a rare moment of religious influence on US nuclear policy.

At The World, Joshua Coe reported on a pioneering dairy operation moored in Rotterdam’s harbor. Co-founded by Minke and Peter van Wingerden, the three-story pontoon housed 32 cows and milk production facilities that rose and fell with the tide. Inspired by Hurricane Sandy’s disruption of food supply chains, the couple launched the farm in 2019 to demonstrate climate-resilient agriculture. The report noted that with much of Rotterdam sitting below sea level, the Floating Farm offered a model for urban food security amid rising seas and increasingly frequent storm surges.

Inkstick Call for US Pitches

Inkstick is on the lookout for pitches from the US. We’re especially interested in reported features and personal essays that examine issues like the weapons industry, the increasing militarization on the border and within the country, domestic extremism, and the people in power pushing for more wars abroad.

Critical State is written by Inkstick Media in collaboration with The World.

The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news, and insights from PRX and GBH.

With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.”

Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.