Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war — both real fog and stage fog — in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.
And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.
–Yves
P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:
Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please don’t do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.
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NASA scientists say images from the Webb telescope nearly brought them to tears Ars Technica (Furzy Mouse).
Donkeys are livestock guardians in up north battle with gray wolves MLive Michigan
Markets Are Signaling a Pyrrhic Inflation Victory John Authers, Bloomberg. What.
Revisiting Peak Inflation The Big Picture
Too Clever By Half Epsilon Theory
Climate
Deaths, Costs of Climate-Linked Disasters May Be Grossly Undercounted Bloomberg
World’s Biggest Ever Issue of Carbon Credits Planned in Gabon Bloomberg
Surveying the corporate-controlled EPR landscape in 2022 Waste Dive. EPR = Extended Producer Responsibility.
#COVID19
BioNTech, Pfizer to start testing universal vaccine for coronaviruses Reuters
How better pandemic and epidemic intelligence will prepare the world for future threats Nature. “Working together to build a stronger global trust architecture is critical: promoting transparency and sharing is more important than ever in a global context with growing challenges to data openness, reliability and trustworthiness.” I dunno. Sounds like something Davos Man would be all gung-ho for. Readers?
How Japan Achieved One of The World’s Lowest Covid Death Rates Bloomberg. “If the US had Japan’s death rate, only 82,000 people would have died. Not 1 million+.”
China v. US on Covid risk analysis:
I’ve run through those exact same numbers with Chinese academics, and they drew the exact opposite conclusion of their Western counterparts- that thermal screening worked sufficiently well to be worth implementing as part of a “Swiss cheese” multilayer protection model. pic.twitter.com/ih2BfmE65u
— Naomi Wu 机械妖姬 (@RealSexyCyborg) June 27, 2022
Covid. One Big Sigh Roden
Monkeypox
Monkeypox: What We Do and Don’t Know About Recent Outbreaks American Society for Microbiology
We learn nothing:
A friend in the Bay Area (@longestrecovery) is having trouble getting her family tested for monkeypox despite them having all the symptoms. Her infectious disease and primary care doctors want her to get tested. The Department of Public Health has denied her a test because 1/
— Hannah Davis (@ahandvanish) June 27, 2022
Overly restrictive testing criteria, as with Covid, means all our numbers are bad:
Every time someone says “in the US ‘Monkeypox’ (MPXV) is only happening in gay men,” I need you to remember that the current testing criteria disqualifies basically anyone else from accessing a test.
If you only test gay men, then you can say you’ve only found it in gay men.
— Stephanie Tait ♿️ (@StephTaitWrites) June 29, 2022
China?
China to press on with ‘zero Covid’, despite economic risks, Xi Jinping says South China Morning Post
China’s Xi Declares Hong Kong Is ‘Reborn’ After Overcoming Risks Bloomberg
Hong Kong resistance will live on SupChina
Chas Freeman, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense:
This 🔽 is the book (https://t.co/FVrRucnbmW)
Written as “a road map for what the US might do in outer space after Apollo program. It envisions large human occupied habitats in the Earth-Moon system, especially near stable Lagrangian points”
China realizing America’s dreams 🤭 pic.twitter.com/kSyqSXQZbP
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) June 29, 2022
Myanmar
The machine that went rogue Himal Magazine
This is an extremely bad idea:
Cambodian ASEAN envoy spells out that Aung San Suu Kyi must be a party to ending the conflict in Myanmar, after her transfer to prison. Earlier this month PM Hun Sen also urged the junta not to carry out death sentences of top activists. Little common ground between ASEAN & junta pic.twitter.com/JGOrmCfo27
— Jonathan Head (@pakhead) June 27, 2022
First, the situation on the ground, militarily and politically, has advanced in a direction Aung San Suu Kyi is not equipped to handle. Second, returning A.S.K. to power is a slap in the face to the Rohingya — hence to Federalism — since their slaughter took place on her watch. All that A.S.K. has going for her is name-recognition in the West, and the trust of the NGOs. Come to think of it, that’s my third point.
Syraqistan
Why Does Israel Keep Assassinating Iranian Officials? Because It Works. Foreign Policy
US President Biden backs African Development Bank’s plan to feed Africa Maravi Post
UK/EU
UK extends steel tariffs, breaching WTO obligations Agence France Presse
Union Boss Becomes U.K.’s Surprise Media Star WSJ
Poll: Just 5 percent of Northern Ireland voters trust UK to manage trade dispute Politico
Scottish independence: Majority of Scots against Nicola Sturgeon’s October 2023 referendum date The Scotsman
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine drives Russian forces from Snake Island, a setback for Moscow. NYT. Of course, I’ll want confirmation and interpretation from a reliable source.
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Syria to recognize Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions AP
Biden Administration Throws Support Behind F-16 Sale To Turkey Antiwar.com (Re Silc).
Ships going dark: Russia’s grain smuggling in the Black Sea FT
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This entire thread (starts here) is a must-read. A few salient points:
Consequently, the Pentagon’s self-perception of unquestioned supremacy has served to disinform and corrupt its doctrinal and procurement decisions for multiple generations of its officer corps. For most US generals and admirals, all putative opponents are underestimated.
7/
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) June 28, 2022
And:
Even more revealing is that once-vaunted and universally feared US/UK weaponry – almost all of it rather antiquated – has proven to be far less “game-changing” than the pea-brained strategists in Washington and Whitehall mistakenly believed.
22/
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) June 28, 2022
Conclusion:
More concerningly, the Chinese have been watching all of these developments with great interest. They are almost certain to be emboldened to act decisively to secure their sphere of influence in the emerging multipolar world.
Great dangers now await in east Asia …
29/end
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) June 28, 2022
“It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” –Henry Kissinger
Ukraine Is The Latest Neocon Disaster Jeffrey Sachs, Tikkun. Good summary.
Delusion Nicolo Soldo, Fisted by Foucault. The deck: “The US Government’s Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) holds a briefing on the “moral and strategic” necessity of partitioning Russia.” Handy map:
Handing the Eastern bits to China on a platter, good job.
Military briefing: Nato brings back cold war doctrine to counter Russian threat FT
Colombia’s Historic Pact The Baffler
Biden Administration
Biden unlikely to meet bold Democrat demands after abortion ruling, sources say Reuters. “Biden and officials are concerned that more radical moves would be politically polarizing ahead of November’s midterm elections, undermine public trust in institutions like the Supreme Court or lack strong legal footing, sources inside and outside the White House say.”
Abortion
Americans United for Life Is Offering States Model Bills to Restrict Abortion Teen Vogue
Shortages
Major Aluminum Manufacturer Shuts Down Manufacturing Business Technology
Russian Gas Cuts Threaten World’s Largest Chemicals Hub WSJ
Medical contrast dye shortage forces delays in diagnostic and surgical procedures WSWS
Infant formula plant remains closed for flood cleanup; no word on how long it will take Food Safety News
Geographies in Transition Phenomenal World
Supply Chain
Rice Is Saving Asia as Ukraine War Drives Up Food Prices WSJ
Traders shift to China-Europe freight trains as European port congestion intensifies Hellenic Shipping News
Black Injustice Tipping Point
1955 warrant in Emmett Till case found; family seeks arrest Politico
Guillotine Watch
Climate damage caused by growing space tourism needs urgent mitigation (press release) University College London (dk). Original.
Samaritan’s Purse Amasses Over a Billion Dollars in Assets, Raising Red Flags The Roys Report
Class Warfare
Policy Strategies for Addressing Current Threats to the U.S. Nursing Workforce NEJM. “We contend that there isn’t a shortage of nurses, but a shortage of hospitals that provide nurses with safe work environments and adequate pay and benefits. ”
BREAKING: Pfizer has hired an army of union-busters Labor Lab
Controversy Continues Over Whether Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold Quanta. Fascinating!
Antidote du jour (via):
Bonus antidote:
G.O.A.T. pic.twitter.com/pdQ2V0mvh3
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) June 25, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
