Instagram-famous squirrel named Peanut seized by New York state authorities AP
The Many Avatars Of Coconuts Madras Courier
What’s so special about the human brain? Nature
Monkeys will never type Shakespeare, study finds BBC
Climate
Floods in Spain: ‘The Mediterranean’s warming is dynamite’ Le Monde
What’s behind Colorado’s dirty snow? Dust blown in from the Southwest — and it’s brought problems with it. Colorado Sun
Throw Out Your Black Plastic Spatula The Atlantic
Syndemics
Tracking the U.S. bird flu outbreak has been hard. It’s about to get harder STAT
Viruses Through the Looking-Glass JSTOR Daily
China?
What is China’s biggest security threat? The US, says a top Chinese researcher South China Morning Post
Russell Hsiao on US Policies and Taiwan’s Politics The Diplomat
US Space Force warns of ‘mind-boggling’ build-up of Chinese capabilities FT
How Japan’s youngest CEO transformed Hello Kitty BBC
The Koreas
South Korea weighs arming Ukraine after North Korean deployment FT
BRICS
BRICS grows, adding 13 new ‘partner countries’ at historic summit in Kazan, Russia Geopolitical Report
No, BRICS Isn’t Trying to Rival the West Foreign Policy
Transcript of Judging Freedom, 31 October 2024 Gilbert Doctorow, Armageddon Newsletter
Africa
Botswana president concedes election, ending governing party’s six-decade rule France24
Syraqistan
Israel has damaged or destroyed nearly a quarter of buildings in Lebanon’s south WaPo
Thousands flee following Israel’s evacuation orders in south, east Lebanon France24
Lebanese Prime Minister ‘cautiously optimistic’ about truce possibility France24
U.S. ambassador to Lebanon promotes ‘internal uprising’ to assist Israel: Report The Cradle
* * * As religious Zionist IDF casualties rise, so does resentment of Haredi exemption bill Times of Israel
Ministries cut ties with Haaretz over ‘apartheid’ allegations Jerusalem Post
* * *
The New Great Game
Accounts of Georgian employees of the “Atlantic Council” have been frozen JAM News
New Not-So-Cold War
The Forest and the Trees: Ukraine’s Strategic Dissipation Big Serge
Partner or Instrument? Ukraine’s Place in US Foreign Policy Strategy Valdai Discussion Club
* * * Russia’s Swift March Forward in Ukraine’s East NYT
Ukraine is now struggling to cling on, not to win The Economist
The Putin Dilemma: Why Peace in Ukraine Requires Russia’s Defeat The National Interest
The Bizarre Case Of Two Fake Ukrainian Brigades Forbes
* * * How North Korea’s Elite Soldiers Could Change Ukraine War Newsweek
Congressman calls on US and NATO to consider attacking North Korean troops in Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda
Zelenskyy responds on whether Ukraine could request ICC arrest warrant for Kim Jong Un Ukrainska Pravda
* * * Brave1 Ukrainian military-tech cluster attracts US$25 million in foreign investment Ukrainska Pravda
Why sanctions on Russia are literally backfiring Responsible Statecraft
* * * Russo-Ukrainian war, day 981: Kyiv reveals only 10% of US aid reached Ukraine EuroMaidan Press
Ukraine may need to pressure Moldova if Stoianoglo wins election – former Ukrainian foreign minister Ukrainska Pravda
2024
AP sources: White House altered record of Biden’s ‘garbage’ remarks despite stenographer concerns AP
* * * Investors step up bets that US election will trigger market volatility FT
The U.S. election need not be scary. History shows this is the way to trade it, says Citi. MarketWatch
* * * How science journals are confronting the ‘existential’ question of politics this election STAT
Trump sues CBS News for $10B for ‘editing’ Harris interview on 60 Minutes Anadolu Agency
Antitrust
Elon Musk: “Lina Khan Will Be Fired Soon” Matt Stoller, BIG
Digital Watch
Microsoft again delays Recall feature, says it will arrive for Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs in December Tom’s Hardware
Russia fines Google more money than there is in entire world BBC
Boeing
Boeing Dismantles Diversity Team as Pressure Builds on New CEO Bloomberg
The Final Frontier
US Space Force warns of ‘mind-boggling’ build-up of Chinese capabilities FT
Imperial Collapse Watch
How the U.S. military lost a $250 million war game in minutes WaPo. Millenium Challenge.
The New Denial of Imperialism on the Left Monthly Review
Can we trust official statistics? The data gaps shaping our view of the economy FT
Class Warfare
Workers Win Union Election at Mississippi Market Co-op Workday Magazine
Amazing 30-Year Experiment Shows Evolution Unfolding in Slow Motion Science Alert
Antidote du jour (Lip Kee ):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
BIBI NETANYAHU
(melody borrowed from You’re So Vain by Carly E. Simon)
You’ve always been Bogarty as you’re stalking a dream you’ve got
You act a seemingly script defined nice guy
A dwarf not a juggernaut
But your record can’t be clearer, and it’s high time you were taught
Your Zionist dream has made only martyrs, made only martyrs (and)
You’re insane
You murder people you’re not allowed to
You’re insane (you’re insane!)
You’ve trapped two million people without food
Get trucks through, trucks through!
Oh, you’re starving kids and mothers, and you offer them no reprieve
Negotiation charades from an empty chair—your toilet in Tel Aviv!
While America works hand in glove, they don’t like what they see
Your UN speech makes you sound kamikaze, sound kamikaze (and)
You’re insane
You murder people you’re not allowed to
You’re insane (you’re insane!)
You’ve trapped two million people without food
Get trucks through, trucks through, trucks through!
(musical interlude)
Your UN speech makes you sound kamikaze, sound kamikaze (and)
You’re insane
You murder people you’re not allowed to
You’re insane (you’re insane!)
You’ve trapped two million people without food
Get trucks through, trucks through!
Now your current plan wants to provoke a
World war to block the sun
When your Air Force and missiles cannot approach a
Completely prepared and well armed Iran
There’s no doubt you’re guilty of high crimes
And now you’re caught beneath your mountain of lies
Yet you still try to pretend, still try to pretend (and)
You’re insane
You murder people you’re not allowed to
You’re insane (you’re insane!)
You’ve trapped two million people without food
Get trucks through, trucks through, trucks through! (now!)
You’re insane
You murder people you’re not allowed to
You’re insane
You’ve trapped two million people without food
You’re insane
If only it were a case of insanity instead of the manifestation of evil incarnate.
Insane indeed. How is this still going on?
Undoubtedly an IgNobel Prize candidate. The only question is which category. Mathematics? Neuroscience?
Funny thing is, I’m not sure Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.
https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Shakespeare-Code-Jorgen-Friberg/dp/B07CQP6QYN
Literature. Because eventually every monkey would progress to intelligence but get so annoyed at the weird interchangeability of letters F and S that they’d type SSF and storm off.
Maybe FFS?
Err, that was my lame attempt at a joke. Must remember to add /s etc in future!
You got a chuckle out of me. I was going to make one where Flipper must be the author of the monkeys can’t write piece.
“Zelenskyy responds on whether Ukraine could request ICC arrest warrant for Kim Jong Un”
This is just Zelensky being Zelensky. North Korea is not a signatory state to the ICC so it means nothing. Well, you would think so. However, in a 2016 complaint to the ICC-
‘The complainants had said that although North Korea is not an ICC member state, the ICC may exercise jurisdiction over its leader, given that under South Korean domestic law, he may be considered a national of South Korea.’
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20191206000481
Wouldn’t want to be the cop trying to serve Kim Jong Un with an arrest warrant though.
The Duran has considered that the MSM is pulling a Don Draper with the N Korea narrative.They don’t want to talk about Ukraine losing.
“If you don’t like what’s be said, change the conversation.”
The msm parrots what they are told. They don’t do anything other than wait for a policy shop to tell them. “Ukraine might lose” didn’t garner the necessary traction, so the Ukraine war backers have moved to “omg north korea.”
Guys like Biden in his more lucid moments wants Ukraine gone without a collapse, and the Likudniks are way more concerned with genocide.
Remembering Gonzalo Lira, I rabbit holed the Blog Roll and found this:
> The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department, recommending former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo be charged with making false statements to Congress.
[headlineusa.com/house-covid-committee-tells-doj-to-prosecute-andrew-cuomo/
Wasn’t he the same guy that said recently that any attacks on him were antisemitic?
Isn’t he the NYC mayor in waiting? Oops.
Bonus antidote: Baby sheep is all smiles
https://hachyderm.io/@ian/113403786452313898
Re: Space Force
sounds like…GASP… a missile gap!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuPh6TfK4iY
>Throw Out Your Black Plastic Spatula The Atlantic
First useful article from The Atlantic I’ve read this year…
Silicone instead.
Of course the irony is that the flame retardants themselves are likely a consumer protection measure mandated by government for the source electronic device housings. And the popularity of plastic spatulas is in order not to scratch the potentially hazardous nonstick coating of many of today’s pots and pans. Better living through chemistry??
I’ll avoid those spatulas but could be that our modern world has bigger hazards to worry about. As Butch says to anxious Sundance, “the fall alone will probably kill ya.”
Lol, let’s not get carried away. Besides, didn’t everyone throw out their black plastic spatulas years ago?
“The Bizarre Case Of Two Fake Ukrainian Brigades”
‘The 88th Mechanized Brigade and 13th Jager Brigade only appear real. Given that the people behind the two fictitious units never tried to raise money, it’s unlikely the “brigades” were part of some elaborate financial scam.’
Not so fast there, pardner. Two brigades would be about what, eight to ten thousand men? So are these “troops” being paid by the Ministry of Defense like real life troops? In many units officers do not report the deaths of their men so that they can pocket their wages and the Russians have filmed the Ukrainians dumping the bodies of their own soldiers in out of the way places so that they do not have to be reported as KIA. That is a retail approach but it looks like with those 2 brigades somebody wanted to do it on a wholesale level.
The number 88 is significant among the neo-Nazi and white supremacist crowd. H is the 8th letter, so 88 means HH and Heil Hitler. I have no doubt that was top of mind by whoever created the brigade…
Jaeger means hunter in German and a quick search shows there was no 13th Jaeger in Germany during WW2, although there was in WW1.
And Norway, Netherlands, Sweden and Finland currently have Jaeger units. The US also has a Jaeger unit. I guess they admire Germany or something.
jägare means hunter in Swedish, probably derived from German as many words are, but Sweden was neutral for 200 years until the latest clown show governments that are so desperate to burnish their lackey vassality credentials to the US that they rushed the country into Nato without a hint of asking the people. Nothing to do with admiring Germany.
Another oddity – the paychecks sent by the Ministry of Defense are all made out to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Who woulda thought there were so many Ukrainians with the same name??!!??
“Russia fines Google more money than there is in entire world”
Who would have ever suspected before this war that Russians were masters of trolling? Not me.
Proper trolling would have been to fine them a googol dollars/roubles.
Missed opportunity there.
Right? That headline came across my feed last night. I couldn’t stop laughing. Westernize Russia? Mission accomplished!
I don’t have a NYT sub so I admit to not having read the article but the headline “Stop the Boycott of Israeli Culture” immediately provoked two questions. What is Israeli culture? What is the boycott of Israeli culture?
1. Explaining why they are the
master racechosen people2. My guess is the market is saturated and there isn’t room for yet another book/movie about the Holocaust and the publishers are having a sad
They might be scared that Israel might be “canceled” the same way that Russia has been the past two years. It could happen. Google won’t cough up the link but very recently authors were being warned not to dare criticize Israel if they knew what was good for them. So this boycott of Israel may be a counter protest and them saying that they will not be silent in the face of a genocide. But if you ask Israel, they will tell you that all those boycotters are Hamas.
It’s by some Israeli literary agents.
“Our writers have earned international reputations by inspiring readers and exploring the complex texture of Israeli life — writers like Meir Shalev, Yehuda Amichai, Tom Segev, Zeruya Shalev, Matti Friedman and Hila Blum, who more often than not challenge the powerful with the truth.”
That claimed challenge doesn’t seem to be having much effect. Meanwhile thousands are having their right to live challenged so that “complex texture” can carry on.
Going by our major media outlets not to mention my local library I’d say the Israeli point of view, challenging or not, is not exactly hidden under a barrel here in the US. If boycotts mean Israeli writers can’t attend literary festivals or receive prizes that is so terribly sad, surely worthy of a piece in the Times.
Should you wish to do so you can access the article here: https://archive.ph/OIO6Y
Re: Human Brain
«There must be something about the human brain … that explains why humans get devastating conditions that other animals don’t — such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.»
Sure there is. It’s called language. An especially rich and deceptive environment that humans have had to adapt to.
“As religious Zionist IDF casualties rise, so does resentment of Haredi exemption bill”
Got that right. Last month alone the Israelis lost at least 62 soldiers – at least. Those soldiers are getting called up again and again to fight a war that they have never prepared or trained for. So what is the government telling those soldiers in light of the fact that the Haredi are still getting a free pass? ‘Shut Up and Fight’-
https://archive.is/EWvzu#selection-533.46-533.63
Russia fines Google more money than there is in entire world – BBC
That’s actually hilarious and makes a point.
Insane fines for insane valuations.
It is an interesting contrast reading “The Forest and the Trees: Ukraine’s Strategic Dissipation” by Big Serge and subsequently “The Putin Dilemma: Why Peace in Ukraine Requires Russia’s Defeat” The National Interest by Dr. Aurel Brown who I think missed a few doses of Calmodon(TM) tablets to prevent the Putin Derangement Syndrome overwhelming his writing/thinking capacities.
Even if the contrast is stark you can take the very same conclusion from both readings: the West is negotiation incapable. If you go with Serge’s take it will end with total defeat of Ukraine in some undefined future and if you go with Brown’s one this will end in a happy “Ukraine in NATO” future involving total dismantlement of Mord… er Russia. One of these alternatives looks more rooted in facts than the other. For now, you are free to choose.
Turley on garbage gate.
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/11/01/dumpster-fire-white-house-press-office-faced-internal-criticism-over-the-rewriting-of-president-bidens-garbage-comments/
Personally I have no doubt Biden meant what he really said. He has been proving it by his actions for four years. It’s the same message as Bush Jr.–“you are for us or against us.” Being right matters far less than being on the right side.
“Congressman calls on US and NATO to consider attacking North Korean troops in Ukraine”
“North Korean troops do not belong in Europe attacking another European nation,” Turner said.
But apparently that Congressman is fine with soldiers from as far afield as Japan and South America coming to Europe to attack a European nation. I’m just waiting for some idiot to have the bright idea that what they should do is bring two or three brigades of South Koreans to the Ukraine to fight the Russians as it would be only fair. The South Koreans were stupid enough to let themselves be convinced to send artillery rounds and military gear to the Ukraine but I can’t see them jumping at such an offer to send their own troops there.