Links 8/19/2022 | naked capitalism

August 19, 2022

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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.

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Golden eagle rescued after colliding with powerline in the Heights Billings Gazette. Sent by proud relative. Paywalled but the gist:

Josh Thometz found big hawk on ground which got electrocuted on power line, got him to the right people, bird rehydrated and survived. He put bird in shade of a chair. Sprayed him with water mister, kept it alive until Fish and Wildlife people rehydrated it with IVs and kept it alive.

Bees Increasingly Stressed by Climate Change Over the Past 100 Years – Study Bloomberg

Botanist fights to save cycads, the ‘dinosaur’ plants threatened by land clearing and zealous collectors ABC Australia (Kevin W)

Peak social media: Mount Kilimanjaro gets high-speed internet so climbers can Instagram ascent Guardian (resilc)

In Pictures: Before Virtual Reality, There Was M.C. Escher—See Mind-Bending Drawings From a Major New Survey of This ‘One-Man Art Movement’ ArtNews (David L)

Artist Celebrates the Perfection of Nature Through Meticulous Geometric Drawings My Modern Met (David L)

#COVID-19

Science/Medicine

Host anti-viral factors and pathways regulating SARS-CoV-2 infection News-medical.net (Kevin W)

Covid can cause brain disorders two years after infection, study shows Financial Times

Most People Infected With COVID-19 Omicron Variant Didn’t Know It SciTechDaily

Antipodes

Sick days double the normal winter rate in July, ABS data shows Guardian (resilc)

US

My tweets today will focus on substantive reforms needed at the CDC.

But first, can someone help me understand why Walensky and CDC employees continue to work remotely when CDC guidance says workers can go back to work sick?

Anyone?

— Virginia Buysse, PhD (@VirginiaBuysse) August 18, 2022

Climate/Environment

Europe is seriously considering a major investment in space-based solar power ars technica (David L)

Experts warn California of a disaster ‘larger than any in world history.’ It’s not an earthquake. USA Today (Chuck L)

Farm pesticides and medicines are ‘silent killer’ wiping out life in rivers, study says Independent (David L)

Children Living Close to Fracking Sites Have Two to Three Times Higher Risk of Leukemia DeSmogBlog

PFAS: Possible breakthrough to destroy harmful ‘forever chemicals’ BBC

China?

Climate change creates ‘serious, long-term problem’ for China’s energy security, carbon neutral goal South China Morning Post.

No easy middle way for Japan on Taiwan Asia Times

China’s heatwave closes factories that supply parts to Tesla, Intel, and Toyota The Verge (Kevin W)

China Sentences Tycoon Xiao Jianhua, Fines Group $8 Billion Bloomberg

Old Blighty

Liz Truss’ Global Britain Agenda Tries to Reverse Time Matthew Ehret (Chuck L)

U.K. consumer confidence falls to record low in August MarketWatch

Mali accuses France of arming jihadists Politico

New Not So Cold War

Ukraine could be put on ‘ammo diet’ – US military expert RT (Kevin W)

By the numbers: Keeping track of the single largest arms transfer in US history Responsible Statecraft (resilc)

‘They’ve Bankrupted Themselves’: Europe Gutted Own Security to Funnel Kiev Weapons, Expert Says Sputnik

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U.S. approves of Ukraine striking Russian-occupied Crimea Politico. From Wed., still germane.

Col. MacGregor – Ukraine & Russia Latest Judge Napolitano, YouTube. This seems to be where MacGregor is a guest most often. Napolitano is a right winger but not extreme. Useful on Crimea.

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Dozens of foreign fighters eliminated in strike on Ukrainian base – Russia RT

More Boogaloo Bois Are Heading to Ukraine to Fight Vice. Resilc flags and adds “Good luck”:

“Some right-wing extremists have viewed the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to gain critical combat experience which would otherwise be unavailable to them,” said Fisher-Birch, pointing out that war experience can also help boost their cachet within the movement at home. “Combat experience not only serves the purpose of increasing their own capabilities but passing those skill sets along to others in their movement.”

Ukraine scatters ‘butterfly’ mines in Russia – governor RT

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2/5 EU sanctions failed to destabilise Russia; world has not lined up behind US — “A large part of the world demonstratively does not stand behind them: the Chinese, the Indians, the Brazilians, South Africa, the Arab world, Africa”;

— M. K. Bhadrakumar (@BhadraPunchline) August 18, 2022

Address to participants and guests of the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security Kremlin. Important. Defense Minister Shoigu also apparently made a formidable speech. Update: Since it is blocked from the US in English and even in Russia, we are making this Links very cluttered by embedding it at the end (hat tip Sibiryak for sending it on).

Anger letter to Scholz: “Do you really want to sacrifice your country for Ukraine?” Focus Online. Original: Wut-Brief an Scholz: „Wollen Sie wirklich für die Ukraine Ihr Land opfern?”

Second European smelter to halt production as energy costs bite Financial Times. From mid-week, still germane.

import aluminum from Russia and China.

The circle has closed.

— multipolar world order !!🇳🇬🇷🇺🇳🇬🇷🇺 (@TobiAyodele) August 17, 2022

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Europe can’t decide if it wants to punish ordinary Russians for Putin’s war CNN (Kevin W)

Syraqistan

NATO-backed network of Syria dirty war propagandists identified The Grayzone. Resilc: “US troops in Syria still never an issue…… USA USA.”

Saudi Arabia’s Enablers Condemned as Woman Sentenced to 34 Years for Tweets Antiwar.com. Resilc: “If Israel can openly kill UScits, why can’t the Saudis kill/prison their own? USA USA.”

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

The Family That Mined the Pentagon’s Data for Profit Wired

Imperial Collapse Watch

Indonesia’s Jokowi confirms Xi, Putin to attend G20 summit in Bali South China Morning Post. This will be fun! US wants Putin out when China now regularly saying Ukraine was America’s fault.

Military’s search for tech zen goes transnational Responsible Statecraft. Resilc: “Endless fucking waste that never workzzzzzzzz and is always over budget.”

A Eurasian jigsaw: BRI and INSTC interconnectivity will complete the puzzle Pepe Escobar, The Cradle (Chuck L)

Putin has always been one step ahead of the Americans 😁 pic.twitter.com/v1CU6oiPnK

— 💤 UNCLE ABOU ALI 💤 (@DrunkleZOV) August 17, 2022

Trump Raid

Judge says he’s inclined to unseal parts of Mar-a-Lago search affidavit, orders government to submit redactions NBC

FBI Unit Leading Mar-a-Lago Probe Earlier Ran Discredited Trump-Russia Investigation RealClearInvestigations (fresno dan)

FBI Sought Documents Trump Hoarded for Years, Including about Russiagate Newsweek (Tom H). If this is correct, Trump has a case. The problem for him is getting decent lawyers to argue it. From an Obama executive order still in effect, via Larry Johnson:

Sec. 1.7. Classification Prohibitions and Limitations. (a) In no case shall
information be classified, continue to be maintained as classified, or fail
to be declassified in order to:

(1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error;
(2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency;
(3) restrain competition; or
(4) prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of the national security.

Other Trump

The Senate Can Stop Trump’s Plan to Gut the Civil Service Washington Monthly (resilc)

Biden

Biden’s Climate Law Is Ending 40 Years of Hands-off Government Atlantic (David L)

Can Biden Wake Up the Youth Vote? New Republic. Resilc: “Shit lite vs shit = shit….It is not youth inspiring.”

GOP Clown Car

Democrats switched party registration in Wyoming. It couldn’t save Cheney. Politico. Kevin W: “Here is who she is https://twitter.com/abdallah_fayyad/status/1559737266053996546” IM Doc reports that at least some Democrats changed party to vote against her.

Steve Bannon Ridiculed After Suggesting John Fetterman Is ‘Satanic’ Newsweek

Chuck Grassley tells constituents he supports $35 insulin cap, days after voting against it Independent (resilc)

Abortion