Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war — both real fog and stage fog — in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.
And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.
–Yves
P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:
Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please don’t do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.
French Scientist’s Photo of ‘Distant Star’ Was Actually Chorizo Vice (J-LS)
Leopard crashes into house and rescued Daily Mirror (SBK)
France whale: Lost mammal stuck in River Seine to get vitamin boost BBC
The consciousness of bees Washington Post (furzy)
At Long Last, Mathematical Proof That Black Holes Are Stable Qanta Magazine
Earth Is Spinning Faster Now Than It Was 50 Years Ago Discover (Dr Kevin)
Solar power opens the door to banking for rural Indians Thomson Reuters Foundation (J-LS)
Streaming Is a Black Hole of Financial Loss The Bulwark (furzy)
#COVID-19
Persistence of somatic symptoms after COVID-19 in the Netherlands: an observational cohort study The Lancet
Monkeypox
Implications Of Monkeypox Being Declared A Public Health Emergency In U.S. Forbes
Safer Sex, Social Gatherings, and Monkeypox CDC. I hope IM Doc weighs in. Whatever you think of the narrow usefulnesses, “advice” like this (as in the headline!) reinforces the idea that monkeypox is a de facto STD. This looks as if the CDC is setting up gays for blame for its failures.
A Stranger Filmed Her on the Train. TikTok Users Decided She Had Monkeypox. New York Times
Climate/Environment
Nothing left in the pipes’: Europe tackles unprecedented water shortages as heatwave rages Euronews (furzy)
Drought may force nuclear power production cut Associated Press. Re France.
France creates task force to stem impact of ‘historic’ drought France24 (resilc)
No-till may not be the agricultural panacea we thought it was (furzy)
China?
The U.S. made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China NPR (resilc)
How much does Taiwan depend on China? DW (resilc)
Pelosi Aftermath
Taiwan accuses China of simulating invasion as US relations nosedive Firstpost (J-LS)
We Shouldn’t Underestimate the Incredible Danger Posed by the Taiwan Crisis Jacobin (Tom H)
Blinken chides China’s ‘irresponsible’ cut in US communication Al Jazeera (resilc)
GT Voice: US economy to pay for graduation trip by ‘god of stocks of Capitol Hill’ Global Times (DS)
Myanmar junta raps ‘provocative’ Pelosi visit to Taiwan Mizzima
Somalia supports China amid rising tensions on Taiwan Anadolu Agency
Pelosi’s Taiwan visit and the limits of American strategy Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Amid India’s Pressure, Sri Lanka Urges China to Defer Visit of its Ship to Hambantota: Report The Wire
Old Blighty
Inside London’s Struggle to Wean Itself From Russian Billions Vanity Fair (resilc)
Energy Bills Are Set To Soar In The UK OilPrice (resilc)
The people about to choose Britain’s next prime minister The Economist
When whistleblowers go to prison, we’re on the road to tyranny Salon
Australian Prime Minister Albanese refuses to meet with Assange’s family WSWS
New Not-So-Cold War
Exclusive: U.S. readies new $1 billion Ukraine weapons package Reuters (resilc)
Turkey, Russia agree to trade in rubles — Erdogan TASS and Turkish Banks Are Adopting Russian Payments System, Erdogan Says Bloomberg
Alarm mounts in western capitals over Turkey’s deepening ties with Russia Financial Times. The West has lost its mind:
Western capitals are increasingly alarmed about the deepening economic co-operation between Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin, warning of the mounting risk that the Nato member state could be hit by punitive retaliation if it helps Russia avoid sanctions.
Note Turkey has been snubbed by the EU and by Western arms makers. From DefenseNews last October:
Challenging Western sanctions, NATO ally Turkey has pledged to further its defense industry cooperation with Russia, including fighter jet and aircraft engine technologies, a second batch of S-400 air defense systems, and submarines….
In an interview with CBS show “Face the Nation,” Erdogan said America’s refusal to both deliver F-35 fighter jets — which Turkey agreed to purchase — and sell Patriot air defense missiles gave Turkey no choice but to turn to Russia for the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. The acquisition was a point of contention between Turkey and NATO during the Trump administration, and that sentiment has carried over to the new administration.
Now I see why Alexander Mercouris floated the idea that Turkey could depart NATO (not immediately, but the idea seemed impossible heretofore) and that the West will be trying (harder) to oust Ergogan
“After the confiscation of property of the Russian Federation”: the Federation Council said that Ukraine has ceased to be safe for gas transit RT. Original: «После конфискации собственности РФ»: в Совфеде заявили, что Украина перестала быть безопасной для транзита газа. Recall the discussion at NC of the pervasive political and press silence about the role of the Yamal-Europe pipeline as part of Europe’s gas woes (map here). Yamal-Europe carried 33-34 billion cubic meters of gas annually v. 55 billion cubic meters for Nord Stream 1 at full capacity. Ukraine cut off the supply on its leg of Yamal-Europe, on the pretext that it ran through Russian controlled territory, when that had been true for months. Poland refused to pay for gas in roubles, so Russia cut off their volume. So the Russian announcement is tantamount to make the closure of the leg of Yamal-Europe through Ukraine permanent (conceivably the West could have beaten up on Ukraine to stop blocking supply so the EU could get more gas, but no longer).
Academic research institute director Alexander Shiplyuk arrested on high treason charges TASS
Has the Ukraine Conflict Driven U.S. Government Officials Crazy? CovertAction Magazine (resilc)
Syraqistan
After years of hostility, Turkey forges ties with eastern Libya Al-Monitor
Israel preparing for a week-long Gaza operation: Army Mint
Bladed ‘Ninja’ missile decapitated al-Qaeda’s head Asia Times (resilc)
Zawahiri’s killing unlikely to weaken al-Qaida significantly The Guardian (resilc)
World Bank blames Lebanon for ‘deliberate’ economic crisis Al-Monitor (furzy)
Myanmar
ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar warns on further executions AP
Imperial Collapse Watch
Philippines Will Not Rejoin International Criminal Court, Marcos Says The Diplomat
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
The Officer of the Future: Facial Recognition and the Border-Industrial Complex CounterPunch
State Legislatures Are Torching Democracy New Yorker (furzy)
It’s Hard To Win A Senate Race When You’ve Never Won An Election Before FiveThirtyEight (resilc)
US library defunded after refusing to censor LGBTQ authors: ‘We will not ban the books’ Guardian
Abortion
The Bezzle
Another court case fails to unlock the mystery of bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto The Guardian
Indie devs outraged by unlicensed game sales on GameStop’s NFT market [Updated] Ars Technica
FTX-Backed PACs Expand the Crypto Lobby in Congress The Intercept
Private equity units at buyout firms contract as financial markets tumble Financial Times
US Airlines Are Cancelling Thousands of Flights CNN
Guillotine Watch
Balenciaga is selling an $1,800 trash bag that ‘looks exactly like a Hefty bag you’d use in your kitchen’ Business Insider
Class Warfare
The White House’s Plan to Stem Migration Protects Corporate Profits—Not People In These Times
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
Little monkey is anxious to save a trapped kitty pic.twitter.com/jqWpobVOiZ
— pups (@pups_Puppies1) August 6, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
