The Bear Necessities of Larceny: Californians Arrested for Fraudulently Staging Bear Rampage Jonathan Turley
Immaculately Preserved Saber-Tooth Cat Cub Found in Siberian Permafrost Gizmodo
Three days with the true believers who won’t let Bigfoot die FT
Climate
Oil sector lobbyists the forth largest delegation at COP29 climate summit BBE Intellinews
Dispatches From the COP29 Climate Talks in Baku Exposed by CMD
* * * To Protect Vast Expanses of Ocean Beyond All National Boundaries, 60 Nations Must Ratify the Treaty of the High Seas Inside Climate News
Syndemics
California DPH Reports First Known U.S. Case of Emerging Mpox Strain Avian Flu Diary
Emily Oster and raw milk Closed Form
Nursing aides plagued by PTSD after ‘nightmare’ COVID conditions, with little help NPR
China?
Readout of President Joe Biden’s Meeting with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China The White House
At APEC 2024, Chinese leader Xi tells Biden he’s ‘ready to work’ with Trump Al Jazeers
Attempt to block economic cooperation is nothing but ‘backpedaling’: China’s Xi Anadolu Agency
Globalization without America? CGTN
* * * New Details on China’s Powerful Hypersonic Glide Vehicle with Drone and Bomb Submunitions Military Watch
How Beijing flipped the South China Sea game with a single island South China Morning Post
* * *
What’s behind some Southeast Asia countries’ push to join BRICS and will Trump’s win be a catalyst? Channel News Asia
Far From Home: Through choppy seas and porous land borders, migrant workers risk it all to enter Malaysia. Why? Channel News Asia
India
A day in the life of a New Delhi roadside barber Al Jazeera
Why it is so difficult to walk in Indian cities BBC
If All the World Were Paper: A History of Writing in Hindi Asian Review of Books
How Big Toilet Paper dupes us all Vox
Syraqistan
Israel grants gas exploration license in areas considered to be within Palestine’s maritime boundary Anadolu Agency. Handy map:
Israel gives exploration licenses for natural gas in locations that are considered to be within Palestine’s maritime boundary in preparation for ‘occupying’ these areas
Concerns raised over potential violation of international law and humanitarian consequences… pic.twitter.com/lAhQKoiPCZ
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) February 15, 2024
* * * What have Trump administration nominees said about Israel and its wars? Al Jazeera
Trump’s ‘pro-Israel’ Appointees Are the Worst of Our Enemies Haaretz
* * * US envoy Hochstein expected in Israel after Lebanon visit for cease-fire efforts Anadolu Agency
Lebanon considers cease-fire plan while Israel launches new strikes The Hill
Hezbollah rebuilds resistance as national unity prevails, for now Middle East Eye
* * * Reports claim Houthis make Red Sea vessel attacks a $2B business Freight Waves
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine may reconsider nuclear weapons if NATO membership is denied, says military expert Euromaidan Press
Russia pounds Ukraine’s power grid in ‘massive’ air strike Reuters
* * * Is Ukraine becoming a kleptocracy? Unherd
Corruption looms over Ukraine’s massive reconstruction effort France24
* * * Zelenksyy hopes Ukraine war will end in 2025 through diplomacy not fighting Euronews
Elon Musk mocks Zelenskyy’s insistence that Ukraine cannot be forced to “sit and listen” Ukrainska Pravda
Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy switches rhetorical tack from victory to resistance BNE Intellinews
* * * Russia’s War Economy Is Hitting Its Limits Foreign Policy
Trump Transition
Trump names fracking executive Chris Wright energy secretary BBC
* * * Jay Bhattacharya, an NIH critic, emerges as a top candidate to lead the agency WaPo
Elon Musk backs Howard Lutnick as agent for ‘change’ at US Treasury FT
* * * Undocumented migrants hope Trump mass deportations only ‘for criminals’ BBC
Biden Administration
U.S Department of Commerce finalizes $6.6 billion CHIPS Act funding for TSMC Fab 21 Arizona site Tom’s Hardware
2024 Post Mortem
A Graveyard of Bad Election Narratives Symbolic Capital(ism)
Liberals speak a different language FT
The boys in our liberal school are different now that Trump has won Guardian
Digital Watch
The Great Migration to Bluesky Gives Me Hope for the Future of the Internet 404 Media
Bluesky and enshittification Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic
Zeitgeist Watch
The Overwhelming Noise Makoism
We have a dangerous blur: Philip K. Dick’s cult essay about false realities is as relevant as ever. Literary Hub
The Final Frontier
Where did the universe’s magnetic fields come from? Space.com
Imperial Collapse Watch
How America Lost the Arctic The National Interest
Guillotine Watch
Versailles’s Legendary Salon de Diane Is Getting a Lavish Restoration Artnet
Class Warfare
“Everyone loses”: Report Finds that Minnesota Workers Lose Billions of Dollars Annually Due to Payroll Fraud Workday Magazine
The Seeds of Social Revolution: Extreme Wealth Inequality Charles Hugh Smith
Social Theory for the Mid-21st Century: Part II. From -73000 to 2055: Malthusian Poverty to Modern Economic Growth Brad DeLong, Grasping Reality
“Here I Gather All the Friends” Public Domain Review. The deck: “Machiavelli and the Emergence of the Private Study.”
Antidote du jour (Rhododendrites):
Bonus antidote, via alert reader WE:
WE writes: “Here’s a shot from a friend who took in a hurricane refugee and her dogs. The trio, normally very rambunctious, turned into model guests during their stay. Sensible, given the likely emergencies to come.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
