Operation Beluga — or how a Soviet ice breaker played music to thousands of ice-trapped whales to save them from starving ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
Solid knitting: a different spin on 3D printing that can make furniture out of yarn ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
Antimicrobial Resistance On The Rise Due To Wars In Ukraine And Gaza Forbes (Paul R)
#COVID-19
The Indomitable Covid Virus Eric Topol (Paul R)
Climate/Environment
Global Climate Change Impact on Crops Expected Within 10 Years, NASA Study Finds NASA. Paul R: “Potentially 24% less corn and 17% more wheat by 2030. Ouch.”
Greenland fossil discovery reveals increased risk of sea-level catastrophe ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
The Adriatic is becoming tropical’: Italian fishers struggle to adapt to warm sea Guardian (Kevin W)
China?
US expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles Reuters
A good summary of the situation around US control of GPUs, but a lot of confusion remains about this story. A short thread. 🧵 https://t.co/839lBnk7qf
— Paul Triolo (@pstAsiatech) August 5, 2024
Koreas
North Korea’s Kim sends 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to border Japan Times
Disguised ships and front companies: how North Korea has evaded sanctions to grow a global weapons industry The Conversation (Kevin W)
Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ‘Iron Lady’, was the longest-serving female head of government in the world. Then she fled on a chopper ABC Australia (Kevin W)
Bangladesh Army to Install New Government After PM Flees Country Bloomberg
Bangladesh protesters won’t accept army-led government after PM Sheikh Hasina’s exit BBC
Africa
Sudan famine: Zamzam camp starvation is ‘man-made and 100% preventable’, experts say. Sky
Deadlier strain of mpox spreads to multiple African countries Science
Old Blighty
Starmer pledges ‘standing army’ of specialist officers to deal with violent disorder BBC
Rioters throw petrol bombs at police in Belfast in night of disruption Anadolu Agency
Is Britain heading for civil war? Unherd
UK pensioners left on ‘financial cliff edge’ by cuts to winter fuel payments Guardian
Britain’s universities are in financial danger New European
Gaza
Gaza live: Israel bombs Jenin, Gaza and Lebanon in fresh air strikes Middle East Eye
Alastair Crooke: Willful Western Blindness Over Israel Judge Napolitano, YouTube. 17:15: “The West wants war.” Earlier in the interview, Crooke conveys a report from a friend who was in the Iran guest house with Hamiyeh and survived (!!!) and confirms the attack was made by a projectile, and not a bomb. Also mentions that Russia electronic suppression systems, with a range of up to 5000 km (no typo) have been delivered to Iran and are apparently being put to work. Other sites have reported on the transfer of this system. Per Crooke, GPS is “not operating properly in Israel.”
“Something came from the outside”: An Eyewitness Account of the Aftermath of Ismail Haniyeh’s Assassination Jeremy Scahill (Robin K)
Benjamin Netanyahu clashes with security chiefs on Hamas deal Financial Times. Completely bizarre. Was this story posted ten days late? There is no hope for a ceasefire now. Misleading mention of the fact that Israel assassinated a, perhaps the chief, Hamas negotiator (his assassination is mentioned well into the piece and his role downplayed). So what disinfo purpose does this serve? To amplify the nutty Blinken talk of needing a ceasefire right after Hamiyeh was killed?
Resistance Axis: a calculated, simultaneous strike on Israel The Cradle
10,000 Israeli Soldiers Killed or Wounded – Report Exposes Crisis among Israeli Soldiers in Gaza Palestine Chronicle (Kevin W)
UN reports over 300% increase in malnutrition cases among children in Gaza Anadolu Agency
WELCOME TO HELL: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps B’Tselem
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (guurst)Pay attention to that “but world won’t let us” bit at the end. Never let anyone tell you that your efforts to oppose Israeli atrocities make no difference. If westerners weren’t creating pressure on western governments about this, Israel would be acting SO much worse than it is. https://t.co/KULgcMpkJs
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 5, 2024
#BREAKING: #Turkish FM: #Turkiye will submit its application to join #SouthAfrica’s genocide case against #Israel at ICJ on Wednesday in The Hague https://t.co/IflBrUjlhs pic.twitter.com/7rOTL4yTd7
— Arab News (@arabnews) August 5, 2024
Yemen’s Houthis claim first attack on container ship in two weeks Aljazeera
Syraqistan
‘Several’ US personnel injured in rocket attack on Iraq base CNN (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine war latest: F-16s are being used by Ukrainian Air Force, Zelensky says Kyiv Independent
Ukrainian forces will have to get out of the remaining pocket in the coming days if not hours.
That move to New York from the south with another dare tunnel operation forced Ukrainian forces to hand over the last 2014 heavily enttenchrd front lines in that sector without a fight.… pic.twitter.com/A3hJNMkdDp— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) August 6, 2024
Who Caused the Ukraine War? John Mearsheimer
Canadian submarine fleet poses new threat to Russia Vzglyad (Micael T)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Illinois Governor Approves Business-Friendly Overhaul of Biometric Privacy Law Reuters
Imperial Collapse Watch
The CIA & the 9/11 Plea Deals Consortium News (Robin K)
Preparing NZ for a post-American world Newsroom (mgl)
Kamala
Bill and Hillary’s daughter Chelsea could be angling for a spot in the Harris administration Independent. Paul R: “Can someone call an exorcist?”
War and recession fears test Harris campaign’s momentum Axios
Market sell-off puts Democrats on edge Politico
In Face the Nation interview, UAW President Fain stumps for Kamala Harris’ election campaign WSWS
2024
This obscure crypto super PAC has raised more money in the 2024 election cycle than any other — including MAGA Inc. MarketWatch (ma)
Our No Longer Free Press
Former Kansas police chief to face criminal charge after newspaper raid, prosecutors say Kansas City Star
Judge who authorized Kansas newspaper raid escapes discipline with secret conflicting explanation Kansas Reflector
Mr. Market Has a Sad
Japanese stocks rebound 9% after global rout Financial Times. I said privately last night this decline seemed more like some overdue volatility after too long a period of good times, ex if you were so unfortunate as to hold the wrong tech stocks. Of course if we have a war, that’s massively disruptive on its own and to commerce. But headlines yesterday were all weirdly not giving that risk anywhere near the prominence it deserved, so I don’t see Mr. Market yet adequately pricing that in. But that could change very quickly!
Greg Ip for many many years was the WSJ Fed whisperer:
There are telltale signs of recession, but while the risk has risen, the U.S. isn’t in one now. That means it isn’t too late to head off a downturn, writes Greg Ip. https://t.co/xrhLd1bJ9Q
— Real Time Economics (@WSJecon) August 6, 2024
The American wedding is shrinking Washington Post
Antitrust
BOOM: Judge Rules Google Is a Monopolist Matt Stoller. This is a huge win. We might see a less terrible search experience in a few years. But this story has been crowded out a bit by the Middle East war prospects and the market upheaval.
AI
Video Game Actors Are Officially On Strike Over AI The Verge
Nvidia Allegedly Scraped YouTube, Netflix Videos for AI Training Data 404Media
Silicon Valley Parents Are Sending Kindergarten Kids To AI-Focused Summer Camps SF Standard
The battle over who makes the rules for US companies Financial Times (BC). Important
The Bezzle
Thailand may tell us a great deal about the future of money Financial Times. *Sigh* The Thai government has been trying for years to reduce cash use. There was a marked fall in 2022, but cash still accounts for 50% of all point of sale transactions. On top of that, even though Thais are VERY wired and regularly use phone to make funds transfers, including to each other, performance is so erratic that users are too often forced back into cash. I went to a meeting last week. There was much lamenting by customers of several different major banks. They would attempt to make a transfer, the bank would insist on the customer sending a fresh selfie to verify identify, and the image would be rejected. Marching into the branch would not necessarily solve the problem. No one in the room had any remedies save carrying a lot of currency. “Cash is king” particularly when you can pay utilities at a 7-11 (pervasive here)….but only in cash.
Class Warfare
‘I Feel Dismissed’: People Experiencing Colorism Say Health System Fails Them KFF Health News
Antidote du jour. David E” “Dog, Friday market, Souillac, France.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
