Tosca and the baby seagulls One Garden Against the World
A World Built for House Sparrows (excerpt) Flaming Hydra
Gizmo the dog went missing in Las Vegas in 2015. He’s been found alive after 9 years AP
The surprising thing sharks can teach us about life WaPo
Private Equity Firms Should Prepare for Increased Scrutiny as DOJ Puts False Claims Violations Under the Microscope National Law Review
Side Letter: Alaska plays offence Private Equity International
David Rubenstein’s daughter resigns Alaska fund post after cronyism claims FT
Private Equity Investors Plead for More Clarity on NAV Loans Bloomberg. “Private equity firms should alert investors before they borrow against their funds’ assets — especially when using so-called net-asset-value loans to juice returns, according to new guidelines from a trade group for such investors.”
Climate
Scientists call for greater study of glacier geoengineering options Guardian
Warning of a forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Nature. From the Abstract: “We estimate a collapse of the AMOC to occur around mid-century under the current scenario of future emissions.”
Wildfires ravage western Canada as Trudeau sends in military to help Anadolu Agency
Park Fire rips across 125,000 acres in northern California Wildfire Today
Life at 115F: a sweltering summer pushes Las Vegas to the brink Guardian
Capitalist catastrophism and eco-apartheid Geoforum From the Abstract: “Capitalist catastrophism has three characteristics. First, a newfound ability for social movements and theorists to imagine post-capitalist futures combined with an inability to realize them. Second, cascading and mutually amplifying social and ecological crises that outrun the capacities of states and capital to contain them. Third, an unevenly distributed cancellation of human and non-human futures.”
Water
Could humans run on water? Physics World
Syndemics
US bankrolls a third of global Pandemic Fund. Can it get congressional support? Endpoints News
Where is COVID-19 spreading? These states have the highest COVID rates USA Today
Data: COVID shaved 2.6 years from life expectancy—much more in some groups—in India Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
China?
China sets launch date for world’s first thorium molten salt nuclear power station South China Morning Post
Can China smash the Airbus-Boeing duopoly? The Economist
South China Sea: Is the Philippines becoming a gateway for the West’s Indo-Pacific interests? Channel News Asia
India
George Harrison, Ravi Shankar & The Journey Of The Sitar Madras Courier
Bangladesh continues curfew amid mass arrests of protesters Anadolu Agency
Africa
Evil Empires? New Left Review
Syraqistan
Atlantis Is Lost: How the Israeli Army’s Plan to Flood Hamas’ Network of Tunnels Under Gaza Failed Haaretz. The deck: “Israel started by adopting an old and unsuitable plan, continued by ignoring professional advice and the possible danger to the abductees – and ended quietly a few months later, anyone saying whether it achieved anything at all. Haaretz surveys profiles the Atlantis project – a predictable military failure which no one stopped until it was too late.”
* * * American Surgeon Who Volunteered in Gaza Says IDF Snipers Shoot Toddlers Antiwar.com. The deck: “‘No toddler gets shot twice by mistake,’ said Dr. Mark Perlmutter.”
US humiliated itself ‘for the sake of a child killer’: Turkey’s former president Turkish Minute
* * * Netanyahu irked by “critical” Harris comments Axios. Commentary:
Some will approvingly claim that Kamala Harris is showing more "empathy" for Palestinians than Biden. But she's not calling for a single shift in the guiding policy of unfettered US support for Israeli mass murder.
She's also adopting the guiding dehumanization of Palestinians… https://t.co/u9azrh86up
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) July 25, 2024
Meanwhile:
Read my full statement on the protests in Washington, D.C. yesterday. pic.twitter.com/zJpZvdQDt9
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 25, 2024
Illegal sale of Palestinian land embraced by Biden, governors, mayors and city councilmembers MR Online
* * * ‘Pressure for this to succeed’: Will Fatah-Hamas unity deal hold? Al Jazeera
The Buffer Zone Phenomenal World
The Assad visit to Moscow two days ago about which you have heard nothing Gilbert Doctorow
Why President Pezeshkian’s Election is Good News Pluralia. Iran.
European Disunion
Brussels abandons crackdown on overfishing FT
Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics AP
Dear Old Blighty
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s hopes and challenges after long wait for F-16s BBC
NATO’s false promises are encouraging misplaced Ukrainian hopes Politico
EU transfers $2.2b from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine Straits Times. “Proceeds from.”
Press review: China mediates on Ukraine and forecasting foreign policy under Kamala Harris TASS
South of the Border
Venezuela presidential candidates hold final rallies ahead of election Al Jazeera
Farming Is Hip in Brazil, Where a New Generation Is Outpacing the US Bloomberg
2024
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but crucial support AP
Seven Lessons from Joe Biden’s Candidacy The Bulwark
The Supremes
Justice Kagan says there needs to be a way to enforce the US Supreme Court’s new ethics code AP
How the most right-wing appeals court was reined in by the Supreme Court this term USA Today
Digital Watch
OpenAI to launch ‘SearchGPT’ in challenge to Google FT
Healthcare
We may finally know how the placebo effect relieves pain New Scientist
Boeing
NASA says astronauts stuck at space station until troubled Boeing capsule can be fixed France24
To Secure Undersea Cables, Take Lessons from the British Empire’s All-Red Line U.S. Naval Institute
Imperial Collapse Watch
How Four U.S. Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe WaPo. Commentary:
I rarely praise mainstream media but this is truly journalism at its very best by WaPo, revealing the economic warfare that the US wages against much of the world, and especially against poor countries, with 60% of them today under US sanctions!
Here is what their analysis… pic.twitter.com/3OSKTCRE58
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 25, 2024
What I Saw at the Discover-Capital One Merger Hearing Next City
Class Warfare
Video game performers will go on strike over artificial intelligence concerns AP
Antidote du jour (Dandy1022):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Bibi must make a plan for The Day After
All his impotent rage brings is laughter
Tanks and troops running short
Plus that ICJ court—
He must concoct a plan that’s much dafter
Netanyahu’s his own saboteur
Such a rare Fustercluck connoisseur
All his murderous plans
For the Mohammedans
Spells the last stand of Zion for sure
Natural gas right off the Gaza coast
Oh my, Israel wants that the most
They aren’t planning to buy it
They will simply deny it
To the Arabs once Gaza is toast
Settlers expand the Israeli Reich
By murder, land theft, and the like
They deny people food
As suits their turpitude
And condemn Israel with each strike
One ton bombs are loaded and fused
Then dropped on the lost and abused
Killing toddlers and mothers
Fathers and brothers—
Not one ounce of this shall be excused
Requesting a favor from the NC brain trust: Can you share any good source(s) that point out what’s really going on in Ukraine for a brainwashed consumer of mainstream media who thinks that Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing?
I recall seeing something a few months ago in the Guardian or NYT or some other place …
Thanks in advance!
Well, one good general antiseptic to M$M brain worms could be this, it is with Tucker, but he stays out of the way. There has been plenty of pushback against the Covid theories espoused but is otherwise quite sound. It has been awhile since I saw it so I don’t recall exactly how much it aligns specifically with Ukraine.
Jeffrey Sachs: The Untold History of the Cold War, CIA Coups Around the World, and COVID’s Origin
YouTube channel The Duran, and the individual channels of the two Duran guys, Alexander Mecouris and Alex Christoforou.
Judge Napoltano’s Judging Freedom YouTube is also an excellent source.
My brother found this to be very helpful and informative. It’s a timeline of all the events from 1990 on that led up to Russia starting the SMO.
Timeline: Euromaidan, the original “Ukraine Crisis”: https://archive.ph/j5QdH
I know this doesn’t fulfill your requirement for evidence that Russia is winning and Ukraine is losing but I did a quick search on gibiru.com just using “Ukraine losing” and there were several articles including in the mainstream media
Judge Napolitano and Nima at Dialog Works have a variety iof guests; Alistair Crooke and Ray McGovern.bring depth of experience to their interviews. I change settings to a higher speed and skip through some parts from the transcript. Alexander Mercuris presents full updates on the Ukrainian front.
Simplicius The Thinker has regular Sitreps mostly referring to western sources, so he could be palatable, at least to an extent.
I wish there was an animated map available showing how the “Ukrainian victories” keep creeping towards west, and how the creep has picked pace recently.
It should tell something that all of sudden Ukranian media is allow to speak about negotiations and quick end to the war instead of banging about victory.
I don’t agree re Simplicius. He is extremely uneven and not careful about sourcing. He too often publishes garbage and he should know better. You have to be knowledgeable about this beat to tell the often great Simplicius posts from the piss poor ones.
His column last week about the coming AI drone swarms is an example.
John Mearsheimer has credentials, demeanor, and a public track record of predictions that make him hard to dispute.
https://twitter.com/RWApodcast
openly Russo-phile (culture wise). one of the most level-headed Twitter accounts in Russophile-Twitter.
very conservative on sharing breaking news.
your mileage may vary.
With that tweet, Harris has already lost Michigan.
>Could humans run on water? Physics World
I submit the basilisk as a candidate for the Antidote de jour.
Fast feet The basilisk lizard is known as the Jesus Christ lizard for its ability to sprint several metres across the surface of water to escape predators
>How Four U.S. Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe WaPo. Commentary
The system [financial sanctions] built slowly…
All that changed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Congress enacted legislation to compel financial institutions to maintain records of consumer transactions and hand them over to law enforcement. Suddenly, U.S. officials had volumes of information on the world’s banking customers, just as the rise of digital banking gave new insights into the worldwide flow of money.
As the Treasury Department became a key player in the global war on terrorism, U.S. policymakers began to understand the power of the nation’s financial hegemony.
No, I do not think it was in the wake and as a consequence of “global war on terrorism” that U.S. policymakers began to understand the power of the nation’s financial hegemony anymore than I think the U.S. is a “reluctant” empire. I think financial scenarios were analyzed/understood and gamed-out a long before 9/11, the event, intentionally or not, provided the opportunitey/cover to extend/preserve/lockdown that financial hegemony.
US bankrolls a third of global Pandemic Fund. Can it get congressional support? I can only get part of the first sentence without signing up, yet this seems enough. The US Treasury has committed $667 million for a global Pandemic Fund hosted by the World Bank, a third of the $2 billion the fund … It looks like a SPAC for grifters, congress should lap it up.
>George Harrison, Ravi Shankar & The Journey Of The Sitar
A puff piece that starts off with: The Sitar is one of the most popular instruments in the world. The stringed instrument, popularised globally by two of the greatest artists from the East and West – Pandit Ravi Shankar and George Harrison…
Shankar was truly a great artist who spent his entire life developing that artistry. George Harrison was a rudimentary guitarist who was a member of an enormously popular musical group that made some nice music and sold vast numbers of records. I was a teenager when they came along, and I liked them, but I would never have called him or them great instrumental artists, though there was an obvious synergy (aided significantly by George Martin).
It was Harrison’s interest in the instrument (which if he had studied and practiced it eight hours a day for a dozen years he might have been competent at) which brought the instrument and Shankar into wide public view. For anyone not aware, there was a meeting of two of the greatest artists from East and West.
1967 – Ravi Shankar & Yehudi Menuhin – West Meets East – Swara-Kakali
I have that lp. I remember liking it, and now I’m going to have to dig it out and give it a fresh listen. I see that Shankar has a collaboration with Philip Glass from 1990. If anyone can make Glass listenable…who knows.
Brian Jones did better sitar.
Netanyahu irked by “critical” Harris comments Hmmm. We should be expecting narrative construction here at this candidate transitional point. Any breathless commentary about how KH is more sympathetic to Gaza should be taken with a pinch of Dead Sea bath salts.
Gounod – Funeral March of a Marionette
There is, of course, the clip used in Alfred Hitchcock’s TV intro.
Regarding Netanyahu giving grief to Harris, I’m wondering how our New Leader will handle this type of stress? Hope not with downers like say Valium. A Harris/Valium combo might make Biden look lucid in comparison.
US sanctions – the sanctions inflict pain, misery and death on civilians in the target countries but do not achieve what is intended. If this is not pure evil, then what is?
Thank you, Lambert.
Further to the sabotage in France, have Gladio Langley and Vauxhall “the hundred years war is far from over” Cross officially denied involvement yet?
Re migration from Israel. Unfortunately, some of these family bloggers are coming here. As if Blighty did not have enough problems.
Speaking of Israel, fun fact for readers: For the past twenty years, Israeli security forces have been seconded to train and deploy alongside their British peers in Blighty, including the team that murdered Jean-Charles de Menezes and had the murder covered by by chief prosecutor Starmer. The programme was renewed by Home Secretary Priti Patel and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace under Johnson and includes funding for a parallel Jewish police force called Shomrim.
Thanks Colonel. Well, the Israelis have been quick off the mark, with their Foreign Minister accusing Iran of the sabotage.
More seriously, the problem is that there is an almost infinite variety of ways in which the Olympics, and especially the opening ceremony, can be targeted, ranging from individuals with knives, to drone attacks, to demonstrations to cyber-attacks: the list is almost endless, and of course the one thing that happens will be the one you didn’t expect. There has been an enormous international effort to find and break up potential conspiracies (I know from personal contacts that the UK has been involved, for instance) but you can’t cover everything.
However, it’s worth pointing out that the sabotage may not be directly linked to the Games: this weekend is one of the busiest of the year for people departing on holiday, and in the present febrile environment, where people have been doing silly things already, it’s a good moment to strike if you want to create the maximum impact. There are plenty of groups in France with a tradition of doing this kind of thing just for the hell of it.
Meanwhile, everyone is freaking out about the opening ceremony this evening. I’m not going to watch it, but I do see the forecast is for rain, which is promising.
And the beat goes on. Now we have the possible “shrapnel” theory that Wray had the brass ones to present in front of Congress, but the NYT at least tries to sort of debunk that here: Speculation Swirls About What Hit Trump. An Analysis Suggests It was a Bullet https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/us/politics/trump-shooter-bullet-trajectory-ear.html?smid=nytcore-android-share although the headline is just bad comedy, and they’re implicating the Trump crew by saying they haven’t said whether or not it’s a bullet wound. Furcryingoutloud. Shades of the magic bullet theory. These people have no shame.
This (press focus, not your comment) annoys me to no end. What exactly is the point of publicly determining whether it was a bullet or shrapnel?
Well, first of all, how can it be “shrapnel”? That slots in to the “broken teleprompter” theory, which is also absurd. Was there a broken teleprompter or metal object of the stage? That would be easy to find. But, no, c’mon, I’m just playing their game if I continue down that alley. And how in the world can Trump or his campaign people tell the difference? Anybody, for that matter. As though we can trust the FBI forensic results.
The point is to dilute the act, somehow, water it down with stupid speculation, so that the conspiracy theorists can have some support that Trump somehow faked this, or is exaggerating his injury. They don’t want that campaign poster with the first and the blood and the flag to have full effect. But, it will.
Was the article ‘Scandal Erupts in Germany As Leaked Documents Confirm Government’s “Pandemic of Unvaccinated” Claim Was a Lie’ taken down? In Recent Comments its title is prefixed “Private:”
It looks like it. Just as I attempted to post a comment — which is now gone in the ether…
CQC “not fit for purpose”. And water is wet. A few years ago I applied for a job (interview online due to pandemic restrictions) there under the highly mistaken belief that being someone who had called out bad practice before might stand me in good stead.
Boy oh boy was I dumb. Middle of my interview the “big Zoom outage of 2020” happened. Was I offered new interview? No. They hadn’t even unlocked the Excel file for me to do the test. Clowns or worse.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Dunno but one might ask if they live in a Tory tax haven.