Wild animals evolving much faster than previously thought ANU (resilc)
Unusual neutron star spinning every 76 seconds discovered in stellar graveyard PhysOrg (Kevin W)
Dene filmmaker turned away from Cannes red carpet for wearing moccasins CBC (William T)
A US Government Agency Accidentally Revealed The Strategic Danger Of GMO Crops One World (Micael T). This seems to be more about quasi monoculture risk but GMO seeds do facilitate delivery.
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
I’m in a number of groups for extra-Covid cautious/high risk folks like me, and in the last two weeks there’s been a significant uptick in posts from people saying the same thing:
They are Covid+ and the only place that they could have been exposed was at an OUTDOOR gathering.
— Stephanie Tait ♿️ (@StephTaitWrites) May 26, 2022
Asia
Beijing man sends 5,000 people into quarantine after breaking Covid isolation Guardian (resilc)
Hong Kong’s Omicron crisis: ‘It took just 10 days for everyone to be infected’ BBC (resilc)
Climate/Environment
Giant Deep Ocean Turbine Trial Offers Hope of Endless Green Power Bloomberg (David L)
Climate Change Is Creating Ghost Forests YouTube
Vanuatu declares climate emergency Bangkok Post (furzy)
China?
Chinese Researchers Publish Strategy to Destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink Gizmodo (Dr. Kevin)
What a shrinking China means for the world Asia Times (resilc)
UN’s Bachelet wraps up Xinjiang trip without seeing where China locks up Uyghur activists Politico and US ‘concerned’ after UN human rights chief visits China Agence France-Presse (furzy) v. By trying to pressure Bachelet, the US and West are unable to create an ‘iron curtain’ of human rights: Global Times editorial Global Times. Note I have had Western businessmen who’ve had manufacturing operations in China virtually from the minute it was let into the WTO and for whom it is not in their commercial interest to speak up, tell me that the Chinese are running Uighur prison camps and the numbers incarcerated are not small. However, it is also possible that China got everything tidied up for appearance’s sake before the Bachelet visit, as in things were not hidden by denying her access but by distributing the detainees and guards temporarily to other places in China.
Samoa signs ‘collaboration’ pact with China Bangkok Post (furzy)
1B Meth Pills: East, Southeast Asia Drug Industry Hits Ominous Peak The Diplomat (resilc)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine is a millstone around Europe’s neck Indian Punchline (Kevin W)
Empire Solves Ukraine’s Nazi Problem With A Logo Change Caitlin Johnstone (Dr. Kevin)
Russia Moves into Severodonetsk, Ukraine Suffers Heavy Losses in Kherson, EU Split on Russia Oil Ban Alexander Mercouris, YouTube
Kremlin divulges Eurobond payment arrangement similar to gas-for-rubles system TASS
“The tactics chosen are correct, but they do not provide for quick victories”: Colonel-General Georgy Shpak on the progress of the special operation RT. See original here.
Russia suspends gas deliveries to Dutch trader GasTerra Al Jazeera (Kevin W)
Oil breaches $120 a barrel as petrol and diesel prices soar Financial Times (Kevin W)
AL-QAEDA ALREADY SELLING U.S. JAVELINS IN IDLIB FOR $15K A POP Bitchute (Kevin W)
WHAT I GOT WRONG AND WHY Patrick Armstrong
Syraqistan
On Memorial Day, let’s get the 900 US Troops out of Syria and away from any War with Russia or Iran Juan Cole
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Clearview AI fined in UK for illegally storing facial images BBC
A Face Search Engine Anyone Can Use Is Alarmingly Accurate New York Times
Imperial Collapse Watch
Tackling the controversial NGO law Bangkok Post. Lambert:
As readers know, I have followed protests and insurrections round the world, starting with the Arab spring. NGOs funded by foreign powers have been involved in all these events depending on local conditions (in Hong Kong, very little; in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, a lot). NGOs are an expression of soft power by the States that fund them (and sometimes not-so-soft, as we see in Ukraine). As such, it is natural for any State concerned with preserving its sovereignty to regulate them. The pretense that NGOs are an expression of universal (i.e., Western) values should be dropped entirely. And don’t get me started on the NGOs in the United States.
In case you missed it. Note also that the White House announced that Fiji was the first to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which it announced unilaterally and Fiji (at least as of Sunday evening) had said no such thing:
Fiji is not anyone’s backyard — we are a part of a Pacific family. And our greatest concern isn’t geopolitics — it’s climate change.
In that spirit, I had a wonderful meeting with Foreign Minister @SenatorWong to strengthen our Vuvale Partnership with Australia. pic.twitter.com/RH80dPnCAk
— Frank Bainimarama (@FijiPM) May 27, 2022
Biden
Is the US really committed to its new Indo-Pacific economic initiative? ASPI Strategist (Robert C)
Pentagon under pressure to protect abortion access The Hill
Scoop: PAC to spend $1M to oust ‘Squad’ member Tlaib Politico (Chuck L)
Gunz
U.S. marks Memorial Day weekend with at least 11 mass shootings MSN (resilc)
“We Cannot Sanitize These Killings”: News Media Considers Breaking Grimly Routine Coverage of Mass Shootings Vanity Fair (Dr. Kevin)
The Science Is Clear: Gun Control Saves Lives Scientific American. Resilc: “USA USA only cares if unborn students are murdered in the classroom.”
Handguns: Canada proposes complete freeze on ownership BBC (furzy)
The Texas Law That Has Banks Saying They Don’t ‘Discriminate’ Against Guns New York Times
Our No Longer Free Press
Ten Times Empire Managers Showed Us That They Want To Control Our Thoughts Caitlin Johnstone
Supply Chain/Inflation
Hunger games: How the world’s farmers have become collateral victims of sanctions against Russia RT (Kevin W)
How San Diego secured its water supply, at a cost ABC (ma)
Class Warfare
How Starbucks ‘Connection Scores’ leave workers at the whims of customers NBC (furzy)
Thousands are estimated to be living on the streets just a few miles from gates of Disney World Daily Mail (resilc)
Illegal Immigration Is Down, Changing the Face of California Farms New York Times (resilc)
Walmart to begin America’s first large-scale drone operation in 6 states Axios (Tom H). I recall that property owners have air rights up to a certain height, and therefore a drone going over your property too low = trespassing. But that does not give you the right to shoot a drone (unless you can perhaps argue you thought it posed a threat to safety….)
World’s top graduates get new UK visa option BBC. Resilc: “Not worth as much with Brexit.”
Twilight of Tech Gods: era ends with recession, stock market crash, layoffs Business Insider (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour (furzy, from Pattaya News):
