Links 10/3/22 | naked capitalism

October 3, 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.

* * *Rare tree dormouse not seen for 20 years found in Austria BBC (furzy)

Stadia died because no one trusts Google TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s Texts Shatter the Myth of the Tech Genius The Atlantic (Resilc)

The new American Dream is buying a house with friends: ‘It’s a co-parenting model, it’s a co-economy model, and it’s a really great friendship and support model’ Insider

At a Loss for Words APM Reports

Rate the Room Lapham’s Quarterly

Young and Homeless in Rural America NYT (Resilc)

#COVID-19

Study reveals main target of SARS-CoV-2 in brain and describes effects of virus on nervous system Medical Xpress (MN)

Monkeypox

UK health secretary rejects advice to buy extra monkeypox doses FT (furzy)

The Strategic National Stockpile failed during COVID and monkeypox. Will it come through next time? Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

China?

China is betting big on another gas engine alternative: methanol cars MIT Technology Review

China on course to elude US chip-making equipment bans Asia Times

China’s zero-Covid pursuit has seen stocks plunge US$5 trillion since 2021, benefiting India SCMP (resilc)

China is very advanced in removing illegally parked cars. pic.twitter.com/Z22VDENS0k

— Curiously Curious (@justcurious1313) September 30, 2022

Opportunistic Interests: The US-Pacific Island Declaration CounterPunch

India

How the Draft Telecom Bill Institutionalises Big Brother’s ‘Saffron Tick’ The Wire

W’Bank commits $8bn to Nigeria in 12 months Punch

Burkina Faso coup: Ousted military leader Damiba ‘resigns’ Al Jazeera

Syraqistan

3 ways these latest Iran Demonstrations are different from past Protests Informed Comment (resilc)

Lapid, Gantz Accept U.S. Proposal for Lebanon Maritime Border, Israeli Official Says Haaretz

UAE prince accused of helping Russian oligarchs evade sanctions Middle East Eye

Bipartisan letter to Blinken calls for sanctions on Algeria after Russia arms deal Al Arabiya

United Airlines Cancels Cape Town Flights Amid Jet Fuel Shortage Simple Flying

Opec+ plans substantial oil production cut to prop up prices FT (KW)

European Disunion

KLM, travel groups fed up with Schiphol’s problems; “Big bonus” will attract staff, says union NL Times

Thousands of Germans expected to spend winter in warmer countries Anadolu Agency

Gas starts flowing through new Baltic Pipe pipeline Anadolu Agency

AWS, Microsoft, Google own 72% of Euro customer cloud spending The Register

* * *Bosnia Elects New Leaders as OHR Imposes New Election Rules Balkan Insight

Latvia’s election confirms decisive win for pro-Western over pro-Moscow parties euronews

Meloni Contra Mundum Chronicles (CL)

Nicaragua cuts diplomatic ties with Netherlands, refuses entry to US envoy DW

US is recalibrating the power dynamic in East Mediterranean. Can South Asia be far behind? Indian Punchline (KW)

Old Blighty

Jacob Rees-Mogg in cronyism row after business partner made peer and minister Independent

Drax: UK power station owner cuts down primary forests in Canada BBC (furzy)

Kwasi Kwarteng U-turns on plans to scrap UK’s 45% top rate of income tax The Irish Times

Patrick Lawrence: The West—Technocrats, Incompetents, Ideologues ScheerPost (RK)

Brazil election goes to runoff as far-right’s Jair Bolsonaro finishes close second to left-wing rival Lula SBS

New Not-So-Cold War

Russia crisis challenges ETF sector’s ‘cockroach’ FT (furzy)

Germany, Denmark, Norway To Give Ukraine Howitzers Barron’s

‘Dilemma for the Russians’ after surrendering key Ukraine city Al Jazeera

Petraeus: US would destroy Russia’s troops if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine The Guardian

* * *NATO Strategy, Part I: the 10-Year Plan International Views

How the War in Ukraine Might End The New Yorker (Resilc)

The War Has Just Begun Big Serge Thoughts (CL)

Tallinn postcard: Feels like a big war is coming Yasha Levine (RK)

Notice that France, Germany, Italy & India, make more money from oil than the owners of the source themselves. The question is: how are they going to compensate for these hundreds of billions in fuel tax revenues every year once they go electric? #ElectricVehicles pic.twitter.com/AzgSzk7kXS

— Anas Alhajji (@anasalhajji) October 1, 2022