Too many capybaras: Rodents face vasectomies in luxury Argentine community El Pais
This Robot Dog Is Making Its Off-Broadway Theater Debut CNET
Don’t Panic, But the Chances Of That Asteroid Hitting Earth In 2032 Just Almost Doubled 2 Oceans Vibe
Physicists uncover evidence of two arrows of time emerging from the quantum realm University of Surrey
Ebola ruled out in NYC urgent care hazmat scare — may be norovirus instead New York Post
Climate/Environment
Pacific Coast Highway went from smoldering to flooded in just few weeks: California’s drought-to-deluge cycle on steroids Los Angeles Times
At least 9 dead in ‘historic’ Kentucky flooding. Emergency disaster declared Lexington Herald Leader
Pandemics
Trump Administration Shifts Strategy on Avian Flu Ag Web
Trump administration firings hit key office handling bird flu response Politico
Japan
Japan’s Abandoned Island of Hashima Goes from Shuttered Mine to Tourist Hot Spot The Japan News
China?
US says website update routine, after removal of reference to Taiwan independence Channel News Asia
Are China’s AI advancements a double-edged sword hanging over already dire job prospects? South China Morning Post
Rise of US dollar forwards builds risk for Asia’s central banks The Business Times
Extraordinary language from the Singapore Minister of Defense, when Singapore had always been very U.S.-friendly:
“[The US’s] image has changed from liberator to great disruptor to a landlord seeking rent.”
Src: https://t.co/sjykCf2Ujc pic.twitter.com/adb200nQxr
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 16, 2025
O Canada
Tariffs divide, but North America will soon be connected — by TC Energy’s natural gas pipelines The Narwhal
Old Blighty
India
Modi’s Hindu-nationalist project in Jammu and Kashmir has become a nightmare for Hindus Drop Site
Syraqistan
The Hostage Deal Survived Another Week, but Its Future Relies on Trump Haaretz
Arab states to reveal 5-year plan to rebuild Gaza, no Hamas or relocation i24
Why Egypt Does Not Need US Aid Egyptian Streets
***
Despite ceasefire, Israel still destroying homes in Gaza Al Jazeera
Israeli soldiers used an 80-year-old Gazan as a human shield. Then they killed him +972 Magazine
Israel’s Finance Minister Says He Hopes Plan to Relocate Gazans Could Begin ‘Within Weeks’ Haaretz
We have confirmed with multiple patient reports that in the last 1-2 weeks the Israeli government has unilaterally & sneakily begun forcing patients who medically evacuating from Gaza to sign paperwork at the exiting checkpoints saying they cannot return to Gaza. None of the NGOs…
— Taleed El-Sabawi, JD, PhD (@el_sabawi) February 15, 2025
Israel to open ‘gates of hell’ in Gaza if hostages not returned: PM after Rubio meeting Al Arabiya
Shipment of ‘heavy’ US bombs arrives in Israel: Defense ministry Al Arabiya
Forever War for Profit: The United States, Israel/Palestine, and the Global Corporate Security Economy The Project on Middle East Political Science
Africa
The Six Areas in Trump’s Executive Orders that Countries in Africa and the Global South Should Pay Attention to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine not invited to US-Russia peace talks, source tells BBC BBC vs. Trump confirms Zelensky will take part in Ukraine peace talks as US, Russia prepare Saudi meeting The Kyiv Independent
Zelensky Says He Won’t Accept Any Russia Deal Trump Makes Without Ukraine Forbes
Trump officials pitch Zelenskyy on U.S. owning 50% of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. NBC News. The deck: “The Trump administration indicated U.S. troops could be deployed to provide security in connection with the minerals if there’s a peace deal with Russia, sources told NBC News.”
🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦 If a Zelensky rejects to give the minerals to USA to pay back the loan …
Putin can offer to sell the same Ukranian minerals to USA from the same mines at a bargain price … as part of the peace deal.
Trump could get them no matter what, purely hypothetically of course. pic.twitter.com/ScJhKzNIWA
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) February 16, 2025
Reuters reveals details of US request for Ukraine security guarantees RBC Ukraine. The questions sent to European governments.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Keir Starmer says he is willing to put British troops ‘in harm’s way’ in Ukraine if necessary The Independent
Poland to play key role in EU Paris meeting to counter Trump’s Ukraine talks exclusion Bne Intellinews
Zelensky’s proposed European army ‘will not happen,’ says Polish foreign minister The Kyiv Independent
***
Ukraine’s Battlefront Collapse, Zelenskiy v. Zaluzhniy 2.0, and a Split of the Maidan Regime? Gordon Hahn, Russian & Eurasian Politics
Geoffrey Roberts: Towards a New Grand Alliance? – Trump, Putin and the Path to Peace in Ukraine Brave New Europe
JD Vance’s speech: change of paradigm or new hegemonic phase? Thomas Fazi
European Disunion
Chartbook 353 How Munich got Maga-ed, or Vance, bull**** & the European furore. Adam Tooze, Chartbook
German Submission to the Americans, 1944-2025 Policy Tensor
Can the Alternative for Germany save NATO? Asia Times. “…the AfD is the only German party proposing a comprehensive revival of military conscription.”
Germany’s Merz Signals Openness to Common EU Defense Borrowing Bloomberg. Trump-Ukraine “crisis” is what they need in order to sell this. Commentary:
The only way Europe could rearm would be if they started getting cheap energy from Russia again.😂 https://t.co/UfVhFaVLPm
— Armchair Warlord (@ArmchairW) February 16, 2025
😁 After the Baltic states were disconnected from the Russia-Belarus energy grid, Estonia’s largest electricity-consuming plant, “Estonian Cell,” which processes wood, was shut down. At current electricity prices, production has become unprofitable.
“We stopped production on… pic.twitter.com/19uWJyfviS
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) February 16, 2025
EU Defends Hiring Trump-Linked Oil Trade Group DeSmog
Meta Says It’ll Tattle to Trump If EU Keeps Being Mean Gizmodo
South of the Border
Javier Milei risks impeachment after endorsing $107M Libra rug pull Coin Telegraph
Spook Country
MLK’s family fears records set for release will contain FBI “smears” Axios
Trump 2.0
What happens if President Trump defies a judge’s order? The Business Times
The Trump Doctrine Institutional War Theory
DOGE
From UNL to DOGE: Nebraska prodigy’s role in Musk overhaul shocks, pleases back home Flatwater Free Press
The education of a DOGE brownshirt; Class Struggle, Elite Theory, and “Socialisms of Fools” Unpopular Front
The federal tech workers facing down DOGE Blood in the Machine
The Debt Scolds are Back. For Now. Stephanie Kelton, The Lens
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Will Antitrust Survive DOGE? BIG by Matt Stoller
Democrats en déshabillé
Democrats confront their powerlessness as Trump flexes authority CNN
Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash New York Times. Commentary:
All the pimps & hustlers aligned with liberal democrat party funding are afraid because the obscene amounts of money sloshing around the NGO world to buy off opposition is threatened. We told you that liberals would abandon you when the s..t hit the fan. https://t.co/PvvThNs6q2
— Ajamu Baraka (@ajamubaraka) February 16, 2025
Imperial Collapse Watch
Critical Minerals and the Future of the U.S. Economy Center for Strategic & International Studies
Ceasefire With Palestine Holds, China Creates Big Problem for US Defense Industry Larry Johnson, The Son of the New American Revolution. Mostly focused on the latter.
It’s projected to take the City of Boston 20 years to build a single train station.
So here’s a thread on how long it took to build other things.
It took six years to build the Transcontinental Railroad from Omaha to Sacramento, including hundreds of stations along the way. https://t.co/CPEGO54DCB pic.twitter.com/JPovibiZcE
— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) February 16, 2025
Boeing
Trump tours Boeing plane to highlight aircraft maker’s delay in delivering a new Air Force One Associated Press
Groves of Academe
THE COLUMBIA NETWORK PUSHING BEHIND THE SCENES TO DEPORT AND ARREST STUDENT PROTESTERS The Intercept
AI
Can AI and automated planes help prevent plane crashes? Al Jazeera. Reads like a brochure for AI aviation industry, but a glimpse of what’s coming.
ChatGPT can now write erotica as OpenAI eases up on AI paternalism Ars Technica
Our Famously Free Press
Washington Post backs out of ‘Fire Elon Musk’ ad order The Hill
Book Nook
Selling the Collective: On Kevin Killian’s “Selected Amazon Reviews” Cleveland Review of Books. “The 697-page collection rescues from obscurity some of the over two thousand reviews the poet, playwright, novelist, biographer, editor, critic, and artist posted to the platform from 2003 until his death in 2019.”
Class Warfare
Amazon robots: The $10 billion cost-cutters Yahoo! Finance
Landlords Have a New Hardball Tactic: Tanking Your Credit Score Wall Street Journal
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
