Brave Goat ‘Sneaks In’ to Livestock Guardian Dog Pack Like the Best Helper Parade Pets
Climate
Climate crisis activists halt traffic at major German airports Anadolu Agency
Antarctic is svelte from melt, but that’s not good Colorado Sun
Water
Startups Are Racing to Make Water Out of Thin Air Bloomberg
Pantanal waterway project would destroy a ‘paradise on Earth’, scientists warn Guardian
Syndemics
Doctors accused of spreading misinformation lose certifications WaPo
China
China industrial output grows at slowest rate in four months FT
China is on track to overtake France and the United States as the world’s leading source of atomic power BNE Intellinews. Musical interlude.
China to control exports of critical mineral antimony from next month South China Morning Post
* * * No quick fix China Daily
Managing the Sino-American AI Race Project Syndicate
China Warily Observes Bangladesh Political Transition China Digital Times
Commentary: Beijing’s Baltic confession exposes undersea vulnerability Channel News Asia
India
Rural aspirations: Economic opportunities need to be spread across India Business Standard
Hindenburg Report: Silence from Government and Absurd Statements Further Erode India’s Credibility The Wire
Extrajudicial Killings May Be Frequent in India’s Most Populous State New Lines Magazine
India braces for indefinite nationwide port strike Splash 247
A new Kashmir rail bridge that could be a game-changer for India BBC
The fall of Bangladesh’s iron lady The New Arab
Africa
Laundering Carbon and the New Scramble for Africa Climate and Capitalism
The Great Game
Helsinki Commission: “Georgia’s ruling party is using black money” JAM News
Syraqistan
U.S. Navy Prepares For Protracted Middle East Conflict Naval News. Commentary:
Just a reminder that the @USNavy does not have enough oilers and the ones we have are old and worn out.
1/We only have two T-AOEs left in the fleet and both are on the US East Coast. Supply just returned from a record breaking deployment with USS Eisenhower. pic.twitter.com/SucDSkscPY
— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴☠️ (@mercoglianos) August 14, 2024
US NSC to ‘Post’: Claims of sharing intel of Mossad agents with Tehran ‘Categorically false’ Jerusalem Post
Top Hamas official says group is losing faith in US as mediator in Israel-Gaza ceasefire talks The New Arab
Far-right Israeli minister sparks outrage by praying at flashpoint mosque Agence France Presse
Slogans and Lies John MacArthur, Harpers
European Disunion
The Strange Logic of Germany’s Antisemitism Bureaucrats Jewish Currents
Anti-Constitutional London Review of Books
Dear Old Blighty
Children to be taught how to spot extremist content and fake news online Guardian
Dreaming of Downfall New Left Review
We Are The Bad Guys Craig Murray
New Not-So-Cold War
A Drunken Evening, a Rented Yacht: The Real Story of the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage WSJ
The competing theories of the Nord Stream explosions FT
Germany issues arrest warrant for Ukrainian suspect over Nord Stream sabotage France24
Ukraine and Russia Plan to Keep Gas Flowing Amid Fighting Bloomberg
* * * Deception and a Gamble: How Ukrainian Troops Invaded Russia NYT
Ukraine’s Ombudsman explains purpose of establishing military commandants’ offices in Russia’s Kursk Oblast Ukrainska Pravda
SITREP 8/14/24: Zelensky Doubles Down as His Front Collapses Simplicius, Simplicius the Thinker
* * * French Fighters on Both Sides: ‘Normandie-Niemen’ Drone Squadron Helping Russia to Repel Ukraine’s Kursk Offensive Military Watch
Russians attack Odesa with ballistic missile, targeting port infrastructure Ukrainska Pravda
* * * Ukraine and Russia begin talks on exchange of prisoners captured in Kursk FT
Putin the Resilient Foreign Affairs The deck: “Predicting the Collapse of His Regime Is Wishful Thinking.”
The Value of Trust in World Politics Valdai Discussion Club
Antitrust
What Should We Do About Google? Tim Wu, NYT
Spook Counry
It turns out that the Trump mess was no bug in the system Greg Gutfeld, FOX:
Two months ago, a man in shorts and a T-shirt walked through an open door in the [FBI] Miami field office and spent the night. First, he took a shower, then downloaded porn on a computer…. Next morning, he asked employees where he could get a cup of coffee, and they got him coffee. Hell, I don’t get treated that well at Starbucks and I own Starbucks. He was only caught when he entered a defensive tactics class, and someone finally asked who the hell he was… Now, look, no agency is perfect, but when some clown can wander into a classified facility, watch porn, wash up, spend the night, have breakfast, and then attend a tactical training session, is it any wonder a whack job can ride up on a bike and shoot Trump? Best Buy has better security…. So forget the conspiracy theories unless it’s a conspiracy of decline, and it’s everywhere.
The Final Frontier
BP to help Nasa establish base on the Moon Space,cpm
Ocean’s worth of water may be buried within Mars — but can we get to it? Space.com
NASA to decide on how to bring home stranded astronauts by end of the month Al Jazeera
Digital Watch
AI stole my job and my work, and the boss didn’t know – or care The Register
I Gazed Lovingly Into Strangers’ Eyes on ‘Eyechat’ 404 Media
Zeitgeist Watch
Diminishing returns:
BREAKING: Oreo and Coca-Cola are teaming up to launch an Oreo-flavored Coke Zero and a Coke-flavored Oreo. pic.twitter.com/elJME9nr4L
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) August 14, 2024
Class Warfare
Grocery Teamster Gets Job Back, Prepares to Organize for More Labor Notes
Defending national sovereignty and delinking. A question of class struggle and rights Countercurrents
Proteomics identifies potential immunological drivers of postinfection brain atrophy and cognitive decline Nature. From the Abstract: “Infections have been associated with the incidence of Alzheimer disease and related dementias, but the mechanisms responsible for these associations remain unclear. Using a multicohort approach, we found that influenza, viral, respiratory, and skin and subcutaneous infections were associated with increased long-term dementia risk. These infections were also associated with region-specific brain volume loss, most commonly in the temporal lobe. … Our findings support the role of infections in dementia risk and identify molecular mediators by which infections may contribute to neurodegeneration.”
Rawls the redeemer Aeon
Antidote du jour (Nicor):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
METHANE THROUGH THE NORDSTREAM
(melody borrowed from Say You Love Me by Christie McVie as performed by Fleetwood Mac)
(August 13, 2024—Germany issued an arrest warrant for one Volodomyr Z for his role in blowing up the Nordstream pipeline in 2022. If he didn’t do it, that leaves only the USA, which would mean one NATO member attacking another NATO member. No, no, no—it has to be Volodomyr Z, whoever he is, and wherever he might be.)
They’re looking lately for one Vo-lo-do-myr Z.
You know he blew up Nordstream deep beneath the Baltic Sea
He did it with some friends our data shows
From a rented yacht he laid the bombs down below
Who’s seen Vo-lo-do-myr Z around?
Diver dude who took the Nordstream down?
Ya gotta give him a big thumbs up
Ending methane through the Nordstream!
Yes it sounds crazy—we’ve searched for him the whole world over
The deed was ghastly, a bubbling bubbling gas gusher
Without that methane Europe’s bound to freeze
He’s been seen now and then but the Z man still runs free
Who’s seen Vo-lo-do-myr Z around?
Diver dude who took the Nordstream down?
Ya gotta give him a big thumbs up
Ending methane through the Nordstream!
(musical interlude)
Maybe maybe we can find this guy today
He’s a real thrill seeker—does it for the pay
What he did is so wrong it enrages me
If you see Volodomyr here’s the number where I’ll be
Who’s seen Vo-lo-do-myr Z around?
Diver dude who took the Nordstream down?
Ya gotta give him a big thumbs up
Ending methane through the Nordstream!
Who’s seen Vo-lo-do-myr Z around?
Diver dude who took the Nordstream down?
Ya gotta give him a big thumbs up
Ending methane through the Nordstream!
Methane through the Nordstream . . .
Methane through the Nordstream . . .
Stalling, stalling, stalling
Stalling, stalling, stalling (yeah)
Stalling, stalling, stalling
Stalling, stalling, stalling
Stalling, stalling, stalling
Stalling, stalling, stalling
It’s been such a long time I had to check the lyrics for the tune, and ZOMG!
Also, please check your mail. Thank you!
Working link for “China to control exports of critical mineral antimony from next month”:
https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3274602/china-control-exports-critical-mineral-antimony-next-month
Thanks, fixed!
“Alaska Airlines flight diverts as red-faced pilot admits to passengers he’s ‘not qualified’ to land at mountain airport”
Actually I have a lot of respect for that pilot. With all those people’s lives at risk if something went wrong, he decided not to box himself into a bad situation and diverted that plane instead. If I was a passenger on that plane I would have shaken that pilot’s hand but I will let Dirty Harry have the last word here-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VrFV5r8cs0 (10 secs)
Yes! Possible tragedy averted. We should all know our limitations and admit them if it means it will keep other people safe. Hope he comes out of this with career intact and not set back.
re UK fake news spotting. For quite a while I, seeing that real productivity and what “we can actually do” meant a 4 day week was sufficient, have thought that the “fifth working day” should be a day when we ALL attend “continuing professional development” stuff.
We should all be taught how to interpret stuff like sensitivity/specificity of tests that are thrown at us by medics; how to understand that those statistics on TV regarding the “new toothpaste” are garbage; how voting systems can be manipulated etc. All the “common sense” stuff that are routinely hijacked by Elon et al.
I’m Gen X and don’t have a lot of time for younger people who present on YouTube but I’ve gotta give them something: there are quite a few of them who can present quite esoteric ideas in “YouTube shorts”. They should be given a platform to teach EVERYONE about things like fiat money, MMT, etc.
I think the competition among youtoobers has really advanced the quality of some kinds of teaching. So much better than the rubbish we got at school back in the day (not all of it bad, just some).
The flip side is that people are learning unorthodox beliefs. Back in the day all we had was TV and newspapers. Hence the big push against misinfo and hate speech and the big show of punishment. It’s already a horrible mess in the UK and going to get worse and people will suffer. But how do you get that genie back in the bottle? The harder you try the more obvious the game is. You can create a chilling effect that way but how many people must be punished to win the next election? Can that really work?
And much to my surprise it’s being remarked on in the mainstream outside the UK. On a discussion forum I enjoy that focuses on technical stuff there’s an off topic thread where people share jokes. I’ve recently enjoyed several that take Starmer’s authoritarian clamp down as it’s theme and politics isn’t even a permitted topic on the site. One was a Monopoly board, UK Edition with a picture of Starmer in the middle and every single square on the board is “Go to Jail”. It’s a good one. Another was a meme about a SWAT team at the home of a kid that shared a meme.
The Monopoly board image appears to be a rehash of an older one “The New Egypt Monopoly” from about 10 years back.
‘Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴☠️
@mercoglianos
Just a reminder that the @USNavy
does not have enough oilers and the ones we have are old and worn out.
1/We only have two T-AOEs left in the fleet and both are on the US East Coast. Supply just returned from a record breaking deployment with USS Eisenhower.’
Yeah. Unless your logistics are sorted, you will be left with Navy ships running out of fuel and no ammo to shoot. Washington is keen on staring a brawl with China but if China decides to go after oilers, cargo ships repair ships, etc. it would slowly cripple the fighting ships of the Navy and leave them hanging on the vine. The trouble here is that neocons understand nothing of such things and just expect those ships to just appear in the same way that artillery rounds were suppose to just appear for the war in the Ukraine. For them, ship availability is an esoteric subject just as industrial production is and not worth their while understanding.
The 800 bases are meant to replace the old support fleet. The Chinese won’t be concerned with the tankers but the stationary targets. 2 tankers won’t support a sustained war effort.
Local vendors who supply the bases may be fine accepting inflated payments when the threat is local thugs with AKs but against Chinese missiles keeping the bases isolated they will bail. This is why support fleets exist. The bases are too small to have credible integrated defenses at least for sustained periods.
A record breaking deployment means the Houthis aren’t just blocking transit of the Suez but supply runs from bases and local vendors.
This was all a known critique of Clinton’s scrapping of the support fleet back in the 90’s to look like money was being saved. Senator Jim Webb was really big on this as a problem, and interestingly, Shrub made noises about this before the crusade.
Neoliberal-neocon “understanding of the world” seems delimited by “rules” learned by playing “Monopoly ™,” which was actually created to warn of the DANGERS of acquisitive renter capitalism, https://www.lolaapp.com/origin-of-monopoly/, and “The Game of RISK! ™,” played in a patently fairy-tale world space. “As the name suggests, the goal was world domination, and it had players waging war with Napoleonic armies and navies across the globe until only one remained.” https://www.thehistoryreader.com/cultural-history/risk/
But no sense even trying to understand and comment on the trajectory we are forced onto by our “successful betters” and their minions. Find a small community with its own well, and settle in to maybe weather the descent or prolong the inevitable. “In the end, we are all dead.”
If they’re true neocons, nearly everything is esoteric, in the sense that it can be interpreted as justifying that which you already intended to do.
I scoff at the article about turning something as nebulous and self centered as “Liberalism” into a church but then I remember Scientology exists…the human creature is malleable indeed!
Is there a term for this kind of tired intellectual, who can barely muster the energy to trot out cliches that any Tiki-Toking 12 year old can now see right through and moreover layout the nature and practice of apartheid in the West Bank? I’m imagining an older type who goes to more dinner parties than conferences and who rarely uses a smartphone or social media. If this letter wasn’t a laughing stock when first printed in French, then the Parisian intelligentsia must not be reading Harpers or LeDevoir anymore.
IIRC, recent war-gaming of US/China naval confrontation in the South China Sea resulted in China victory in less than an hour.
When your aircraft carrier sinks, it no longer needs fuel or armaments.
Recent experience with Iran’s tactics indicate swarms are really difficult, maybe impossible to defeat.
The German justice system and Nordstream.
Why now? To what end? The bevy of articles in the Links makes me wonder what “message” we are meant to receive from the Powerful about Nordstream.
From the France 24 article: “The Ukrainian suspects are accused of transporting the explosives used in the attack in a sailing yacht called the Andromeda, according to the German media reports. According to reports at the time, a team of five men and one woman chartered the yacht from Rostock port to carry out the operation.”
The Andromeda is a single-masted yacht.
Several commenters here with experience as divers and in explosives pointed out how much special equipment would have been required as well as how sizable the four charges on the gas pipes would have to have been.
All mysteriously delivered to a single-masted yacht.
So we’re still getting the story that Ginger, the Professor, Thurston Howell III, and Volodymyr Zhuravlov set off from the port of Rostock with hundreds of kilos of equipment and explosives, unbeknown to anyone.
Zhurovlev then supposedly lived in a village in Poland unnoticed until his recent retreat to Ukraine. (Like U.S. killers, “He was a quiet man…”)
What is the purpose of this denial of facts about how such an operation has to be carried out? Is this another instance of Our Betters thinking that no one knows anything about logistics? Is someone trying to pin the Nordstream mess on Zelensky as he slides into oblivion?
Meanwhile, Fatto Quotidiano today ends its coverage of The Mystery with a quote from German government spokes-hole Wolfgang Büchner, “Our support for Ukraine will not change, regardless of the results of the investigation.”
Oh.
I will await further information from our German correspondents.
The story has as many impossible to believe holes as the Skripal novichok saga. But the media will continue to unquestionably push it, if told to by the PTB.
I read through the Wall St Journal account.
It is like the scenario for a straight-to-Netflix thriller.
Just one niggling thought: where on that 50-ft sailing boat was the decompression chamber? Who rented that? Where is it now?
I honestly know nothing about deep-sea diving, never having been below 30 feet. But, I have seen compression chambers and they didn’t look like something you could just pick up at Wal-Mart or stick in the back of a Toyota on your way to the Marina.
So, I put it as a question to better informed commenters: is this a potential hole in the story? Or, should I just put it aside as I do most such McGuffin’s used to jumpstart conspiracy theories on X?
Not out of thin air, but rather seawater. This woman’s device is made from readily available materials:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GsTuljsbFUw
“NASA to decide on how to bring home stranded astronauts by end of the month”
It would be hilarious if Putin announced that astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams could come home aboard the Russian Progress MS-28 cargo ship that is due to dock at the ISS in a day or to. Then you would see the Biden White House having to explain why that would be totally unacceptable and why. But I’ve got an idea. Maybe when SpaceX sends its Crew-9 mission to the ISS next month, they could send along Felix Baumgartner and two spare suits. It’ll be great and maybe Red Bull can sponsor it to cut costs-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I (1:30 mins)
I often think about Barry and Sunita and the conversations they have between themselves up there about how to get down from there. They know Russia could help but that Biden wouldn’t allow it so they’d have to stow away. I think that would make a cool movie plot. Then back on the planet surface they get stuck in prisoner exchange negotiations.
‘Lost In Space’ TV show pitch:
Z. Smith… head engineer, sneaks tweaks on board the Starliner, er the ‘Miss Family Robinson’.
Smith is revealed to be a saboteur working on behalf of an unnamed nation or organization that is obviously happy utilizing the lowest bidder and the highest paid executives.
Ukraine’s rating downgraded to restricted default – Fitch agency
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/ukraine-s-rating-downgraded-to-restricted-default-fitch-agency/ar-AA1oMPvk
Guess it’s time to send Z more billion$. / ;)
Harper’s Slogans and Lies. The author is saying what Israel cannot be: “Zionism is racism,” “Israel is an apartheid state,” “Israel is engaged in a genocide in Gaza,” or “Israel is colonialist.” Then seems to invalidate the idea with this statement: ‘Frankly, project “Eretz Yisrael” is not so different, in principle, from the “manifest destiny” America inflicted on the country’s Indigenous population.’
Really? I wouldn’t go there, as I don’t see any native American’s here and this was Creek land before Europeans got here. I stopped reading there. Life is too short.
Murray’s recent We Are The Bad Guys blog post was discussed in comments a bit yesterday. It’s a good read and concise summary of a few things but more than that it has the power of personal testimony of an intellectual and moral revelation. In his career Murray was a high level servant of the British state and now he says “It is a hard thing to lose the entire belief system in which you were brought up.” That’s strikingly similar to my own wording.
Anyway, I was thinking yesterday of the moment in the Fight Club movie when Jack finds out the truth: “We have lost cabin pressure.” The collapsing feeling of discovering the worst possible thing did happen and you did it. I watched the clip and there’s another analogy in it that I wasn’t aware of before. It seems like a story about human psychology and satire on consumer obedience but it can also be seen at the level of societies, states, and proxies, with Tyler as the rampaging hoard and Jack the fragile veneer of freedom, democracy and human rights. I’ll let you search YouTube for it on your own if you want. First hit on “fight club cabin pressure”. Not safe for work.
I lost my entire belief system in 1965 with the onset of the Vietnam War. It continues to depress me how little shame white people have.
Is race the issue? Or is imperialism the issue? / ;)
The author of “Rawls the redeemer” won’t like it, but the liberalism he’s describing is a religion (even if, like romanticism, it’s a “spilled religion”), a crusading religion no less, and he one of its “priests.”
A little more self-awareness, please …
Goooooooood Mooooorning Fiatnam!
It’s 0520 hours. From the delta factor of reserve banking, to the DMZ (demonetized zone) of crypto, back to Bitcoin all in one byte. Today’s forecast calls for a hundred percent chance of clout crowding the market in the cloud, not that any of it exists except in fertile mind fields we’ve carefully laid utilizing furrowed brows pecking away furiously.
It was the best of times to panic-while it was the worst of times to panic, everybody was in agreement while transferring funds from Plan A to Plan B on QWERTY using light digital pressure on the very ends on their arms to move alms.
You couldn’t really call it panicking if all you were doing was losing faith in various banking establishments and parking the money in Treasuries, essentially putting all your faith in Federal fiat.
Here’s a song coming your way right now. “Nowhere To Run To” by Martha and the Vandellas. Yes! Hey, you know what I mean! Too much?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQRIOKvR2WM
Re; Syraqistan
Iran feeding the tension as Israel waits in anticipation:
Explainer: What are the scenarios and potential targets of retaliatory strike on Haifa?
While Tel Aviv has been identified as one of the possible targets of the planned retaliatory operation, other potential targets are located in Haifa, a strategic city in the north of the occupied Palestinian territories.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/08/15/731412/Israel-Haifa-Iran-retaliation
Tel Aviv was the subject of this feature a few days ago, and I would not be surprised if this weekend the Iranians highlight potential targets in Jerusalem as well.
It seems that this time the Iranian response is not only intended to “send a message” to Israel’s government and military, but to the general public as well (“your political leaders are threats to your safety”).
All those oil and fuel storage depots that Israel has would make a great target, especially if they wait for that ship carrying all that jet fuel to arrive and offload its cargo. They are definitely a military target and their destruction would throw a massive spanner into the IDF’s mobility, including it’s air force. And even though there is more and more support in Israel for an invasion of Lebanon, without fuel they would have to hoof it. Come to think of it, Israel might have to agree to a ceasefire if they do not have the fuel to carry on their war. Sure they could drain the fuel out of 80% of their armoured vehicles to keep the other 20% going but that is only a temporary fix.
From today’s Times of Israel newspaper:
US said to believe IDF can’t make further gains against ‘diminished’ Hamas in Gaza
Current and former officials say military achievements have exceeded original expectations, but the only way to free the hostages remains an agreement with Hamas
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-said-to-believe-idf-cant-make-further-gains-against-diminished-hamas-in-gaza/
This is a change in the narrative.
Probably because for the Democrats the election is getting closer & closer and they want the whole war to go away so it does not become a political issue. And that can’t happen until it ends.
Isn’t the timing of the charges for the Nordstream diving suspect interesting. Didn’t insurers win a court case recently refusing payment claiming that it was state action that destroyed the pipeline? If the Germans can prove it was not state actors but rogue elements they might be able to get that decision thrown out.
Re: Gaza ceasefire talks
These phony talks have become a lot like Zelensky’s “Peace Summit” in Switzerland, as only one side of the two parties in conflict is actually present at the table:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0e8gzyp8e2o
The media are doing their best to spin and claim that Hamas can be briefed afterwards, but essentially Israel is negotiating against itself.
The plan cited in the July 2 speech by Biden turned out to be fraudulent. Blinken lifted an old Israeli proposal that had not been approved, being the equivalent of a musical out-take never meant for making the final album cut. Of course, Israel was furious, and ever since they’ve been figuring out various games to make it look like they’re negotiating, when they really aren’t.
So, Hamas has every right to just stay away as both Israel and the US are negotiating in bad faith.
What is the point of John MacArthur’s “Slogans and Lies”? That there are bad people on “both sides”?
His elision of relative power at work here is profoundly mendacious.
Re: Gutfeld
The “weird” frame is sticky because it’s just … true.
Hard to explain exactly how or why but I find right-wingers to be inherently creepy.
I try to expose myself to thoughtful folks on the right. I particularly have a good deal of time for libertarian critics especially on issues such as war and peace, the police state, legalization of drugs but they just can’t not be creepy and weird.
Gutfeld makes some excellent points but he’s not funny and his demeanor impacts me on a cellular level.
Sh*tlibs just piss me off but they don’t creep me out.
Maybe this has something to do with the tribal nature of politics in America circa right now.
now define “right-winger” / ;)
OK, happy to give it a shot once you define the word “define”
Armas’ “This sceptered isle” is amusing if you enjoy watching the lickspittles of empire at work, romanticizing an England that never was.
Some of us less favourably disposed to “the auld enemy” are rather enjoying the long, miserable decline that’s been playing itself out since the end of “imperial preference” — the lamentations of Armas and his ilk only making the experience all the more satisfying.