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Links 8/18/2025

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Fans Say Costco’s New Sparkling Protein Drink Is “Revolutionary” Delish

Astronomers discover an ‘interstellar tunnel’ that connects our solar system to other stars Earth.com

Drifting Off into ‘Space 1.8’ Another Thought

Climate/Environment

Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying New York Times

Wildfires continue at over 51 locations across Spain Anadolu Agency

Extreme heatwaves expose vulnerabilities in Europe’s power grid amid rising air con demand Euronews

Erin vaults from tropical storm to Category 5 hurricane in just 25 hours Yale Climate Connections. Has since weakened, but…

Hurricane Erin to grow, will next threaten US coasts with dangerous conditions Accuweather

Pandemics

The Silent Front: Unraveling the Neurological Consequences of COVID-19 in Infants and Children David Lingenfelter

India

US-India trade talks scheduled for August called off Business Times

China?

Trump gave China the AI chips it wanted. Beijing isn’t saying thank you CNN

China Is Enjoying Trump 2.0 Foreign Affairs

New Chinese drones scramble naval power in Pacific, and maybe everywhere else Kevin Walmsley

Why Lockheed Martin’s Philippine R&D hub will be on China’s radar South China Morning Post

Syraqistan

US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care after far-right campaign The Guardian

Newly obtained video shows Israeli missile hitting Palestinian girl in Gaza Al Jazeera. Carrying water.

Former IDF General Calls Palestinian Death Toll in Gaza ‘Necessary’ in Recording Haaretz

Greater Israel, Weaker Army: Netanyahu’s Myth Meets Reality. Elijah J. Magnier

Israel on Hold: General Strike, Civil Disobedience Explained Palestine Chronicle

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Israeli government official arrested in Nevada in internet crimes against children sting The Guardian

US helped Netanyahu’s cyber chief evade child sex crime charges: Report Press TV

Israel’s man inside the CIA betrayed the US, new files show The Grayzone

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Israeli military bombs power plant near Yemeni capital Sanaa Al Jazeera

Israel’s covert war in Balochistan binds Iran and Pakistan in rare alliance The Cradle

Syria’s HTS Government Preps 50,000 Troops for a Large Anti-Kurd Offensive in Northeast Antiwar

Old Blighty

‘My daughter Zoe is not a terrorist. Why has she spent a year in prison?’ The Observer

The Alternative New Left Review

O Canada

Air Canada flight attendants continue strike despite order to return, airline delays restart CTV

European Disunion

Japan, Germany pledge to boost security cooperation at 1st strategic dialogue Anadolu Agency

Germany wants to be Europe’s military power. China could get in the way. Politico

Poland’s New President Is Picking Fights With His Prime Minister, The EU, & Russia Andrew Korybko

New Not-So-Cold War

White House envoy claims Russia agreed to ‘Article 5-like’ security guarantees for Ukraine NBC News

Putting Words Into Mouths–Western Spin Karl Sanchez

Putin’s Positive Readout Following the Alaska Summit, While Western Propaganda Pushes the Meme that Russia Faces Economic Turmoil at Home Larry Johnson

The Delicate Exit William Schryver

Zelensky says giving up land for peace could be ‘impossible’ as Trump rages at ‘fake news’ over his showdown with Putin – as Europe’s leaders head to the White House Daily Mail

Zelensky Drags Traveling Circus to Town for One Last Encore Simplicius

Statement of the Co-chairs of the Coalition of the Willing: 17 August 2025. Macron and Starmer say they’re ready “to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, and to help secure Ukraine’s skies and seas and regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces.”

‘Baton Dropped’ – Trump Admin ‘Abruptly Halted’ Russia Sanctions, Weakened Ukraine’s Position, Senate Report Reveals Kyiv Post

Declassified: CIA’s Covert Ukraine Invasion Plan Kit Klarenberg

The Caucasus

Moscow, Tehran push to complete Rasht–Astara railway The Cradle. Missing link in one route of the International North-South Corridor.

South of the Border

Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home Venezuelanalysis

Spook Country

Jim Sanborn has a secret FT

Trump 2.0

Rupture or Continuity? Arthur Goldhammer, The Sense of an Ending

The Uniparty

Pence: ‘I fully support’ Trump’s deployment of National Guard to DC The Hill

DNC Leadership Pressured Gen Z Member to Kill Resolution on Banning Arms to Israel The Intercept

Antitrust

Monopoly Round-Up: Will Trump Deal Away a Google Break-Up? BIG by Matt Stoller

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Let’s Turn the Tide on Surveillance – starting with radio biometrics Jem Bendell

AI

Police State Watch

Masked Border Protection Agents Open Fire on Family’s Truck After Smashing Its Windows Common Dreams

An L.A. high school senior was walking his dog. Then immigration agents grabbed him Los Angeles Times

SFPD to replace pistols said to fire without the trigger being pulled SF Standard

Eugenics

The Next Parenting Trend Starts Before Conception New York Times

Healthcare?

Imperial Collapse Watch

Junk Empire Triple Canopy

Our Famously Free Press

Screening Room

Why Did Hollywood Stop Making Comedies? A Statistical Analysis Stat Significant

Class Warfare

Mucking through local democracy Working Class Storytelling

Genus Irritabile Vatum: Why You Should Write Cathartic Poetry Meon Journal

Travis Chi Wing Lau and the radical act of remaining tender Matter

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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8 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘sarah
    @sahouraxo
    Israel is literally shooting pregnant Palestinian women in the uterus.
    “An exploded fetus with a bullet through its neck — that’s not something a human should ever have to see.”
    —American doctor, Aziz Rahman, upon returning from a medical mission in Gaza’

    Not surprising at all. NBC News reported that Israeli soldiers at the ending of training courses would receive a t-shirt showing a pregnant woman in cross-hairs and the slogan “1 Shot 2 Kills.”-

    https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29837969

    And that story was from way back in 2009. It’s who they are and what they do.

    Reply ↓
    1. Geo

      Had to look it up. Not because I didn’t believe you but it’s just hard to wrap my mind around such a thing. The Haaretz article is paywalled but screen grab here for anyone wanting to see it as well: https://x.com/8zal/status/1950909818811638158?s=46

      I have no words for it, only disgust, but it does conjures in my mind the words of DH Lawrence (and his pessimism about humanity) in his book Apocalypse:
      “Society consists of a mass of weak individuals trying to protect themselves, out of fear, from every possible imaginary evil, and, of course, by their very fear, bringing the evil into being.”

      Reply ↓
  2. Ignacio

    “Avoid sharing towels and razors” Is this the best advice we can take from the media?What is needed, and the resources are readily available, is a comprehensive analysis of MRSA prevalence (and E coli BLEE) in all kinds of environments. This goes well beyond supposed increases in susceptibility.

    Reply ↓
  3. The Rev Kev

    “US-India trade talks scheduled for August called off”

    ‘Trade talks between New Delhi and Washington collapsed after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India’s vast farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases.’

    I would imagine that for the US negotiating team, who would have received their brief from Trump, that those two demands are red lines for the US and that India must comply with them.

    Now consider how it looks to India. If they complied with the first demand, the entire agricultural sector in India would be thrown into chaos with tens of millions of farmers & their families losing their farms. You would find higher prices, farmer suicides and the support base for the Indian government would collapse, simply so that some US Big Ag corporations could make a few more bucks.

    The second demand would wreck a major revenue source for India throwing their budget into disorder. In addition, countries like the EU that receive that oil would also have economic meltdowns but Washington could hardly care. So I imagine that at this point India has given up and is now calling countries like China and the rest of BRICS.

    It takes a Trump to drive India and China together.

    Reply ↓
  4. Wukchumni

    ….only 129 days until xmas

    Slay bells ring, are you listenin’
    In the lane, bodies are glistenin’
    A horrific sight
    There’s less of us tonight
    Woking in a nuclear winter wonderland

    Gone away is the old world
    Here to stay is a new radioactive swirl
    It sings a fallout song
    As we go along
    Woking in a nuclear winter wonderland

    In the meadow we can build a snowman even in August
    Then pretend that Santa Claus will adjust
    He’ll say: Have you been naughty-not nice?
    We’ll say: No man
    But you can expect i’ll be back on the job
    When you’ve rebuilt chimneys-yeah that’s the plan!

    Later on, we’ll conspire
    As we dream of finding survivors
    To face unafraid
    The plans that we’ve made
    Woking in a nuclear winter wonderland

    In the meantime we can build a strawman
    And pretend that he’s that Leo Szilard clown
    We’ll have lots of fun with mister strawman
    Until the other survivors knock him down

    When it snows all the time, it won’t be thrillin’
    As everything you try to grow gets a chillin’
    We’ll frolic and play, the Eskimo way
    Woking in a nuclear winter wonderland

    Woking in a nuclear winter wonderland
    Woking in a nuclear winter wonderland

    Reply ↓
  5. Geo

    “Hillary Clinton praises Donald Trump’s foreign policy.”

    Funny that just a week or so after he got Ghislaine on his side to see the Clintons suddenly find reason to compliment Trump.

    Reply ↓
  6. The Rev Kev

    “SFPD to replace pistols said to fire without the trigger being pulled”

    Yeah, I’ve read reports of those Sig Sauer P320 pistols going off, even when they were not even being touched. Is it that hard to design a pistol that does not do this? It’s simple mechanics with no electronics or software and only about 60-70 parts so how hard can it be? Maybe they should go back to an oldie but goodie until Sig Sauer can get it’s act together-

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol

    Reply ↓

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