Stomach-brain communication predicts emotional symptoms and well-being, study finds Medical Xpress
‘Cortisol Cocktails’ Are The Latest Stress-Busting Trend. Here’s The Science. Science Alert
Our Preoccupation With Protein Intake Eric Topol
The real reason so many people in the US have unhealthy diets 48 Hills
Powerful earthquake in Afghanistan kills 800, injures 2,800 Straits Times
Climate/Environment
Earth’s oceans keep getting warmer – and (duh) that’s not good Balanced Weather
In the Land of the Eyeless Dragons Nautilus
Old Electric Vehicles Contribute to New Pollution Problem in Southern Africa Earth Island Journal
Pandemics
Disability data reveals hidden global burden of long COVID News-Medical
The crisis is “expasperating”: Long COVID compounds economic hardship in Argentina The Sick Times
Top FDA official demands removal of YouTube videos in which he criticized Covid vaccines The Guardian
I am a Private Citizen Seeking to Hold My Government Accountable. Dr. Vinay Prasad, a Government Doctor, Killed My YouTube Channel. Science-Based Medicine
Japan
US to deploy Typhon missile system to Japan for first time for September drills Stars and Stripes
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
‘Strategic Autonomy, Partners Not Rivals’: Modi, Xi Meet Amid Tariff Tensions The Wire
The Dawning of a New World Order Larry Johnson
Full text: Toast by President Xi Jinping at welcoming banquet of SCO Tianjin Summit Global Times
Views on/from India-China Indialog
Liu Zongyi: India’s Disruptive Role Threatens the SCO’s Future Sinification
Vladimir Putin’s Written Interview to China’s Xinhua News Agency Karl Sanchez
China?
China still waiting for factory activity lift-off as US wields new tech curbs South China Morning Post
China’s Political System Makes Consumption-led Growth Impossible The Diplomat
Old Blighty
Norway Selects British Frigates In $13.5B Defense Deal Reuters
Syraqistan
Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population WaPo
Israel’s President Herzog May Pardon Jewish Terrorist to Ease Right-wing Opposition to Hostage Deal Haaretz
Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail from Barcelona in bid to break Gaza blockade Anadolu Agency
Israel hatches plan to throw Greta Thunberg in terror cell The Telegraph
Germany blocks EU push to sanction ‘Israel’ over war on Gaza Al Mayadeen
Israel weighs West Bank annexations in response to Palestine recognition push Axios
U.S. Suspends Visas for Palestinian Passport Holders, Officials Say New York Times
***
Egypt to invest $400m in Israel gas pipeline Globes
Houthi Leader Vows Attacks on Israel Will Continue After Israeli Killing of Yemeni Prime Minister Antiwar
targeting the civilian government of a state is illegal under international law. It’s a blatant war crime. The Israelis couldn’t get at the military leaders of Yemen’s Houthis, so they decided to mass murder their civilian ministers instead. Pure genocidal death-cult depravity.… pic.twitter.com/S5fqKCYgHo
— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) August 30, 2025
***
Ditch NPT or embrace diplomacy? Snapback sanctions widen Iran’s postwar rift Al Monitor
European Disunion
Finland removes swastikas from air force flags to avoid ‘awkwardness’ The Telegraph
Sahra Wagenknecht: Europe Subjugated & Propagandised for War Glenn Diesen
🇪🇺🇵🇱🧱🇧🇾 In a surreal performance, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech through the fence to Belarusian border guards.
Flanked by PM Tusk, she preached “European values” to cameras and uniformed men on the other side, who probably wondered wtf was going on.… pic.twitter.com/ZNhuabNXk0
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) August 31, 2025
New Not-So-Cold War
Europe has ‘pretty precise’ plan to send troops to Ukraine, von der Leyen says FT
Germany backs out of sending troops to Ukraine – Bild Euromaidan Press
A dark theory for the evening. Let’s talk about Russian strategy in Ukraine.⬇️
Looking at developments lately, specifically: (1) the Ukrainian casualty leak showing an astronomical 1.7M KIA/MIA; and (2) the Ukrainian collapse north of Pokrovsk – I thought should revisit a dark… pic.twitter.com/uOvB2gJEvX
— Armchair Warlord (@ArmchairW) August 29, 2025
Killing Ukraine softly? Julian MacFarlane
‘A Shot to the Heart of Ukraine’ Bandera Lobby Blog
New Ukrainian Missile Threat: Another Empty Hype-Train? Simplicius
Plane carrying EU’s top leader targeted by alleged Russian GPS jamming CNN
Russia’s size is its Achilles’ heel as Ukraine targets its oil infrastructure Intellinews
Lithuania has installed so-called ‘dragon’s teeth’ on the border with Russia Euronews
A Breakdown That Could Lead to an Ecological Disaster High North News
South of the Border
A Summer of Discontent in Mexico City Art Review
“Liberation Day”
US trading partners ‘dazed and confused’ after tariff court loss Business Times
Trump 2.0
Trump’s New Plan for Medicare: Let AI Decide Whether You Should Be Covered or Not Gizmodo
Imperial Collapse Watch
‘We Need to Terminate Treatment’: VA Mental Health Providers Say They Are Under Pressure to Limit Care The War Horse
Peace and Economic Democracy as Preeminent National Interests Un-Diplomatic
The Uniparty
California’s Democratic Governor leads the charge in expanding state repression WSWS
Immigration
NYC immigration arrests and deportations surge after slow start, data shows Gothamist
AI
Humans are being hired to make AI slop look less sloppy NBC News
Is the “A.I.” “bubble” “bursting”? Read Max
Accelerationists
Broken $100-billion dream city becomes refuge for tech utopians Los Angeles Times
Palantir CEO Alex Karp laughs about profiting from killing Palestinians using AI.
He calls them ‘Hamas’ ‘useful idiots’ and ‘mostly terrorists’.
But there is only one terrorist here, Palantir are war criminals.pic.twitter.com/IVL0JEHzil
— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) August 30, 2025
Groves of Academe
This Is the Group That’s Been Swatting US Universities Wired
Guillotine Watch
Bitcoin boom sees newly wealthy splurging on luxury travel FT
Zeitgeist Watch
Screaming, Crying, Throwing up: The Medieval Art of Fandom Mixed Feelings
In a first, X-rays capture the invisible swirls that shape the flow of sand and snow Interesting Engineering
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Norway Selects British Frigates In $13.5B Defense Deal”
Now if Norway intends to use those British-built ships in the local waters of the North Atlantic, they should be fine. But if they sign up to some idiotic idea to send them to the Indio-Pacific to confront China with as part of a NATO squadron, then maybe they should test them in warm waters first-
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/07/destroyers-will-break-down-if-sent-to-middle-east-admits-royal-navy
And don’t forget, in the revolving door so lucratively employed by weatern politicians, the Finance Minister of Norway is a certain Jens Stoltenberg.
Having said that the Norwegians could well need to use these new naval toys to prevent aggression from the US rather than Russia, with whom they used to have very friendly relations. Norway namely recently announced they would withdraw investment from US companies heavily involved in the Israeli genocide. Quick as a flash, Lindsay Graham started spouted off about how dare they and threatening sanctions and worse against little Norway. What larks.
Lindsay Graham really flipped out about this one. Norway’s Prime Minister had to tell him that the government does not control that fund or who they invest with because capitalism-
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/senator-lindsey-graham-threatens-norway-wealth-fund-divests-caterpillar
Alex Christoforou is right. Lindsay Graham really does act like he is the Foreign Policy President of the United States.
I saw a Lindsay Graham ad the other day. He must have a serious primary opponent. The operative words above: really does act. He is in his glory. The scold, the shill, is finally getting the recognition he thinks he has deserved all along. The man is pathetic. He leads a parade of the well compensated equally pathetic. But while professing undying loyalty to Donnie, Lindsay knows he is easily rolled.
Re: Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population (wapo)
This is some sociopath stuff, reported as if it is normal. It’s a f******* war crime added to the other war crimes. It’s not an attractive real estate plan. It’s sick.
A catchy song provides the soundtrack. “Donald’s coming to set you free/ Bringing delight to all you see. No more tunnels, no more fear/ Trump Gaza is finally here.”…
….The plan talks of Gaza’s location “at the crossroads” of what will become a “pro-American” region, giving the United States access to energy resources and critical minerals, and serving as a logistics hub for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that was first announced during the Biden administration but derailed by the Israel-Gaza war….
…Those who own land would be offered a digital token by the trust in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, to be used to finance a new life elsewhere or eventually redeemed for an apartment in one of six to eight new “AI-powered, smart cities” to be built in Gaza. Each Palestinian who chooses to leave would be given a $5,000 cash payment and subsidies to cover four years of rent elsewhere, as well as a year of food….
Voluntary my a**
Forced displacement is governed by international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law, which prohibit forced population movements during armed conflict and in peacetime, respectively. Key instruments include the Geneva Conventions, which ban forced transfers and deportations in occupied territories, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which classifies forced displacement as a war crime or crime against humanity. International human rights law permits forced displacement only in exceptional circumstances, requiring it to be lawful, necessary, proportionate, non-discriminatory, and consistent with other legal obligations
Yet such laws do not apply to Israel. In fact no laws or international conventions apply to Israel. Mindboggling.
‘DD Geopolitics
@DD_Geopolitics
🇪🇺🇵🇱🧱🇧🇾 In a surreal performance, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech through the fence to Belarusian border guards.’
I think that those Belarusian border guards missed a once in a lifetime opportunity here. You could have had a coupla of them turn around, drop their daks and started to moon Ursula while she was talking and being filmed. Would they have been punished for doing that? Probably, though Lukashenko would likely order that they be firmly slapped on the wrist by their officers instead. But how many Belorussians would like to buy the guys who mooned Ursula a coupla beers? Worth it!
It has electrolytes!
Re Maxread on twilight of the AI
There is a pervasive suspicion among A.I. skeptics (many of whom were and are also crypto skeptics) that the A.I. boom is a redux of the crypto boom–which is to say, effectively, a grift forced on consumers and abetted by unwitting journalists and other eager marks. And this suspicion can be converted by the more cavalier A.I. haters on Bluesky into a kind of fantasy of righteous vindication: When the A.I. bubble pops, “A.I.” will be revealed as a scam and a waste of time, and “all come crashing down.” Financial ruin for bad actors, eternal shame for duped boosters, and a rollback of all stupid L.L.M. implementations online and at the workplace.
Amen?
One imagines a Disneycorp updated remake of The Graduate where the party guest buttonholes the hero by the pool. “One word Benjamin–tulips.”
‘Armchair Warlord
@ArmchairW
A dark theory for the evening. Let’s talk about Russian strategy in Ukraine.⬇️’
With the rate of Ukrainian casualties and the demands of the US, EU and the Ukrainian nationalists to continue the war, what exactly is Ukraine’s fate after the war? Demographically I mean. At least 1.7 million men are gone and millions of men and women – and their children – have fled the country and most of them will never return to the Ukraine ever again. How will they generate the numbers for a workforce? Maybe as they really no longer have an economy, that that is a moot point. They will be hard pressed to try to raise another huge army too but likely they will not be allowed to do that. Once the war is over the west will walk away as if they were a one-night stand and they will take their money with them as well. They won’t be in NATO so will not be able to trigger a NATO/Russia war and they won’t be in the EU so will not be able to flood them with cheap, farming produce and Ukrainian workers. Add in the fact that the Oblasts they they are losing generated about 80/90% of that countries GDP does not leave much left. The really sad thing? It was all their own fault – they believed western promises.