Climate
Top American banks exit net zero alliance: What does this mean for their European peers? EuroNews
NOAA told to search grant programs for climate-related terms Axios
UK conservation goals insufficient to save ants and bees, says expert Guardian
Syndemics
Protection from COVID reinfections plummeted from 80% to 5% with omicron Ars Technica
China?
Xi Jinping to visit Moscow on 9 May, Russian ambassador says Ukrainska Pravda
China’s Trump Strategy Foreign Affairs. Commentary:
China is switching the world from a model based on paywalled tech tied to a subordinate productive sector to a model based on cheap/free tech subordinated to a dominant productive sector. In this world there are no shortcuts: compete or die. 🇨🇳 https://t.co/Fjv8hMB3KP
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) January 29, 2025
Why the U.S. Has a Better Hand Than China in the Great Power Game Newsweek
Taiwan’s legacy chip industry contemplates future as China eats into share Reuters
Are China’s rural poor losing faith in education’s power to transform lives? South China Morning Post
China’s Long Economic Slowdown Dissent
Myanmar
Trump Extends US National Emergency Declaration on Myanmar The Irrawaddy
Syraqistan
Netanyahu praises Trump’s ‘revolutionary, creative’ Gaza plan Le Monde. Meanwhile:
To fly to the U.S. Netanyahu’s plane flew via Europe’s airspace unimpeded, which tells you all you need to know about Europe’s “stand for justice and the respect of international law.” https://t.co/7IjziUjNjb
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 7, 2025
How Trump and Netanyahu forced Mohammed bin Salman to draw a line on Palestine Middle East Eye
* * * Israel’s renaming of West Bank is step toward annexation: Palestinian ministry Anadolu Agency
* * * Israel Police Raid Prominent East Jerusalem Bookshops, Arrest Owners, Confiscate Books Haaretz
Trump repeats pledge to take control of Gaza even as pressure mounts to renew ceasefire AP
European Disunion
Germany will support Ukraine but won’t back its NATO membership – chancellor candidates’ debate Ukrainska Pravda
Germany’s Scholz slams CDU rival Merz for accepting far-right support in heated debate France24
* * *
South of the Border
Slashing the State Phenomenal World. The deck: “Argentina under Milei’s chainsaw.”
Ecuador set for run-off in presidential election dominated by security Al Jazeera
Trump Administration
Donald Trump to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports FT
A pivotal senator says he extracted vaccine concessions from RFK Jr. How will that play out? LA Times
Trump says he has directed US Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing rising cost AP
Doge
Donald Trump vows to cut billions of dollars from US defence spending FT. The deck: “President says ‘fraud and abuse’ at Pentagon will be Elon Musk’s next target.”
* * * Alarm as JD Vance says federal judges ‘aren’t allowed’ to control president Independent
The courts stand between Musk and a Treasury takeover FT
Supreme Court that Trump helped shape could have the last word on his aggressive executive orders AP
* * * Shutting Down CFPB Is Not Like Shutting Down USAID Credit Slips
USAID’s pullback from Egypt puts employees and programs at risk Enterprise; USAID (1):
2/14
Approaching the gate manned by Egyptian guards, we bluffed our way in and drove through the su*cide b*m8er barriers. This was aided, no doubt, by the fact that we were in a Mercedes (the diplomatic car of choice) and I look unmistakably American. pic.twitter.com/mQy9BcgnLK
— Larry Alex Taunton (@LarryTaunton) February 9, 2025
USAID (2):
Ahead of his time
Former president of Bolivia Evo Morales (2013): “We have decided to expel USAID from Bolivia… never again USAID, who manipulates and uses our leaders with handouts” pic.twitter.com/SndDJRtW13
— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) February 6, 2025
* * * What Just Happened: Security Implications of Trump’s Efforts to Trim the CIA Workforce Just Security
Teen on Musk’s DOGE Team Graduated from ‘The Com’ Krebs on Security
The Elite Lawyers Working for Elon Musk’s DOGE Include Former Supreme Court Clerks ProPublica
The Scapegoat of the Hour Marianne Williamson, Transform
* * *
Democrats en déshabillé
Democratic senator says his party is ready to shut down government over Trump’s actions The Hill. Maybe soi, maybe not:
I really can’t get over this one random dude without any credentials is stopping all of Congress from entering a fking building.
Democrats are so embarrassing https://t.co/PhmzN8IG14
— Pat Just Pat 🍉 (@PatTheSocialist) February 7, 2025
Digital Watch
Creators demand tech giants fess up and pay for all that AI training data The Register
Meta staff torrented nearly 82TB of pirated books for AI training — court records reveal copyright violations Tom’s Hardware
* * * AI Governance Alliance World Economic Forum
Paris AI summit forecast: more talk than action Axios
DARPA To Launch Pre-Crime AML Program The Rage. AML = Anti-Money Laundering.
Sports Desk
The Eagles So Humiliated The Chiefs That Even Philly Fans Have To Believe Defector. Gritty is the way.
‘Not Like Us’ started as a diss. Now, it’s a Super Bowl anthem CNN. Musical interlude.
Class Warfare
Resisting Digital Feudalism Project Syndicate
LA’s rich and famous made ‘odd request’ of private armies as wildfires fueled fear, boss says FOX
Chesterton’s Fence: A Lesson in Thinking fs
Antidote du jour (Thomas Fuhrmann):
Bonus antidote, via JL:
RIP Kuli. Kuli, a feline of modest size but mythic stature, who meowed her way into our lives and hearts in early 2012. She would often accompany us on morning walks before breakfast – two humans, a dog and a cat. She was an accomplished huntress, both of rodents and warm laps to sleep on. Diagnosed with FIV as a kitten, she outlived all expectations, to a span of almost 13 years of the best cat life we could give her. Farewell Tiny Tax Assistant, we love you and miss you dearly
.
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
