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Links 12/31/2025

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Trump Appoints Self To Divine Muses The Onion

Scientists replayed evolution and found a surprise ScienceDaily (Kevin W)

#COVID-19/Pandemics

US measles cases surpass 2,000, highest in 30 years: CDC ABC

Climate/Environment

2025 was one of the Three Hottest Years on Record, Scientists Say Deccan Chronicle

Historic dry rainy season triggers alarm for deepening food insecurity in the Horn of Africa FEWS Net

Cape Town is currently experiencing an intense heatwave, with temperatures soaring across the city as residents and tourists cope with the scorching sun Sierra Express

Extreme weather events are ‘new normal’ for UK wildlife The Times

Great white sharks face extinction in Mediterranean, say researchers BBC

Sunflower oil pollution could persist at the bottom of the Black Sea for more than 6 years Greenpeace

Will India’s wheat imports lead to global food crisis? Down to Earth

When you plant something, it dies’: Brazil’s first arid zone is a stark warning for the whole country Guardian

Bach Ma National Park in Vietnam Closes to Tourists Following Historic Floods and Landslides Travel and Tour World

Mapped: 16 times extreme weather drove higher food prices since 2022 Carbon Brief

Water

India’s domination of global rice trade stokes looming water crisis Reuters

The metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, the most populated urban area in Brazil, is facing an emergency in its drinking water supply, authorities said Monday Xinhua

A childhood carried in water pitchers: Climate change and lost girlhoods in coastal Bangladesh The Business Standard

Tehran at risk: The looming water catastrophe Daily Sabah

China?

China Unveils Initial $9 Billion in 2026 Consumer Subsidies Bloomberg

China expands housing voucher program amid rising inventories Nikkei

China’s cash-strapped local governments drive record sales of asset-backed securities Financial Times< Xi renews call to boost grain output after trade war sharpens China’s food security push South China Morning Post

China fires rockets into waters off Taiwan in second day of military drills Sky

Japan

Dangerous new equilibrium awaits Japan-China ties in 2026 Japan Times

Benchmark Japan bond yields extend steepest annual surge since 1994 Channel News Asia

Japanese births set to fall below lowest official forecasts in 2025 Financial Times

Koreas

North Korea fires missiles into the sea in latest nuclear weapons warning Independent

India

Foreigners Dump Record Indian Bonds as Weak Rupee Erodes Returns Bloomberg

Southeast Asia

Why Myanmar’s junta election cannot hide a collapsing economy South China Morning Post

Thailand delays return of Cambodian soldiers Bangkok Post

Africa

Niger’s military rulers order ‘general mobilisation’ against armed groups Aljazeera

Ghana reinforces northern border as Sahel violence encroaches DefenceWeb

Sudan’s El-Fasher: 1 Million Former Residents Face Famine and Mass Killings Novinite

South of the Border

Exclusive: CIA carried out drone strike on port facility on Venezuelan coast CNN

Crew Paints Russian Flag on Tanker Pursued by the U.S. Coast Guard New York Times (resilc)

Venezuela’s medicine prices soar to unaffordable level amid US blockades PressTV

U.S. Pressures Mexico Over Fuel Supply to Crisis-Hit Cuba OilPrice

European Disunion

Germany’s job market slows as employment prospects hit record low Xinhua

German business groups expect job cuts in 2026 as economic crisis drags on Reuters

Polish farmers stage nationwide protests over EU–Mercosur trade agreement EuroNews

Farmers’ Road Blockades Split Greece Ahead of New Year Tovima

Athens is bracing for renewed strain in Greek-Turkish relations in 2026, as Ankara appears to be moving into a phase of broader mobilization across multiple fronts ekathimerini

Bulgaria adopts euro as fear and uncertainty loom Agence France-Presse

Old Blighty

Majority of Brits think economy is getting worse City AM

Maggots, rats and growing despair – a year of the Birmingham bin strike Guardian

Israel v. The Resistance

Israel to suspend operations of several aid groups in Gaza as countries warn of renewed ‘catastrophic’ humanitarian crisis CNN

Israel to ban dozens of aid agencies from Gaza as 10 nations warn about suffering Guardian (Kevin W)

Anti-Israel group demands lawmakers visiting Israel resign Vermont Daily Chronicle (resilc). More of this, please.

Tehran shopkeepers protest currency plunge as rial hits all-time low Iran International

Saudis v. UAE

Saudi Arabia bombs UAE shipment in Yemen and calls out Emirati role Middle East Eye (resilc)

New Not-So-Cold War

Russia deploys hypersonic Oreshnik missiles in Belarus amid Europe tensions Aljazeera

BREAKING: Drone attack on Putin residence directed at a Russian nuclear command and control center Steven Starr

Stanislav Krapivnik: Massive Escalation – Attack on Putin’s Residence Glenn Diesen, YouTube. Useful commentary on sentiment in Russia.

Larry Johnson: Russia Will Retaliate After Attack on Putin’s Residence Glenn Diesen, YouTube

Poland announces €2 billion anti-drone wall along eastern border Turkiye Today

Imperial Collapse Watch

CIA loses nuclear-powered gadget in the Himalayas, shrugs BoingBoing

Trump 2.0

Five restraint successes — and five absolute fails — in 2025 Responsible Statecraft (resilc)

Kennedy Center renaming prompts a new round of cancellations Associated Press (Kevin W)

How RFK Jr. upended the public health system Washington Post

Mr. Market is Edgy

FTSE 100 poised to end 2025 at record levels The Times

Banks tap Fed liquidity tool amid year-end pressures Reuters. Note liquidity is thin at year end and the Fed has been extremely inept in managing it in the era of managing interest rates via paying interest on reserves than in the old days of intervening via its NY Fed money markets desk. So is this warranted or a Powell put lite? I thought the Fed over-reacted in December 2007 with its interest rate cuts and launch of new facilities. Dropping interest rates below 2% set up the ZIRP-super low rates era, which stoked leveraged speculation and further increased already serious wealth inequality.

Federal Reserve minutes highlight deep fissures at US central bank Financial Times

AI

China to crack down on AI firms to protect kids BBC (Kevin W)

Class Warfare

Middle class households overwhelmed as US cost of living crisis spirals Telegraph

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus:

A second bonus:

And a third. Happy New Year!

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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12 comments

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      Thanks. I checked Bangkok Post 30 minutes before Links went live. Disappointing that they are not better about updating on a big story for them but now I know.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        They must be very slack and maybe it was because they wanted to get away early to go partying. I watched the handover on the TV news about about three and a half hours before today’s Links came online.

        Reply ↓
  2. Louis Fyne

    Re. Minnesota welfare fraud allegations and PATRIOT Act

    This has been memory-holed at the NY Times (not Fox News), but there are allegations of funding fraud among MN NGOs that receive govt funding. (innocent until proven guilty, etc)

    My point related to NC…it appears that the alleged perpetrators were using rather crude, clown car-ish, and lazy (shell company) tactics to move their cash, which shoyld have triggered banking surveillance flags (and why you will get the Spanish Inquistion from your normally friendly local bank teller if you asked to withdraw $20,000 in cash, in person at 10am today).

    Which begs the question….why are all these SAR (banking transaction surveillance), PATRIOT Act measures still in place when they can’t even detect the “Keystone Cop” scammers? (of course the right-wing won’t ask this question cuz they’re giddy over catching malfeasance in a blue state)

    i guess we all know the answer…it’s a feature, not a bug

    Reply ↓
  3. The Rev Kev

    “Sunflower oil pollution could persist at the bottom of the Black Sea for more than 6 years: removal and remediation are needed”

    Certainly Greenpeace is upset about the damage that sunflower oil pollution can cause for which they directly blame the Russians. Didn’t think of it until now but when those two oil tankers carrying Russian oil in the Black Sea were attacked that had the potential to spread an oil slick both near and far, I never heard Greenpeace coming out with a statement decrying how dangerous this could be in terms of the wildlife that could be harmed by such an oil slick.

    Reply ↓
    1. JohnA

      It was hardly objective reporting from Greenpeace Ukraine. Another article on the webste blamed Russia for an oil slick in the Black Sea that came from a Turkish flagged ship that was heading for the ‘temporarily occupied Crimea’. Numerous references to the aggressor (Russia) etc., etc. Dialling down the rhetoric in order.

      Reply ↓
  5. Wukchumni

    I want you to want me
    I need you to need me
    I’d love you to love me
    I’m beggin’ you to beg me

    I want you to want me
    I need you to need me
    I’d love you to love me

    I’d shine up the old golf shoes, I’d put on a brand-new shirt
    I’d get in 9 holes during work if you say that you love me

    Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you liberals cryin’?
    Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you liberals cryin’?
    Feelin’ all alone without a friend, you know there’s no denying
    Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you liberals cryin’?

    I want you to want me
    I need you to need me
    I’d love you to love me
    I’m beggin’ you to beg me

    I’d shine up the old golf shoes, I’d put on a brand-new shirt
    I’d get in 9 holes during work if you say that you love me

    Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you liberals cryin’?
    Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you liberals cryin’?
    Feelin’ all alone without a friend, you know I have no empathy
    Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you liberals cryin’?

    Feelin’ all alone without a friend, you know but I can pretend
    Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you liberals cryin’?

    Ooh!

    I want you to want me
    I need you to need me
    I’d love you to love me
    I’m beggin’ you to beg me
    I want you…

    I Want You to Want Me, by Cheap Trick

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qgpewMCVjs&list=RD-qgpewMCVjs

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      A great song, thanks for the adaptation to modern times.

      Playing Devil’s advocate for Donald, at least he’s working a half day. Unlike “Milk Carton” Mikey Johnson,

      Happy New Year’s Eve!

      Reply ↓
  6. Wukchumni

    Mapped: 16 times extreme weather drove higher food prices since 2022 Carbon Brief
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    They managed to not mention the main culprit for iffy harvests since 2022, with resulting price rise… similar to what led up to the French Revolution after a series of Icelandic volcanoes erupted in the 1780’s~

    Hunga Tonga blowing up real good!

    Of course the world is much more connected now, but this is what happened in the aftermath of a volcano far away erupting in a similar fashion to Hunga Tonga

    The Russian famine of 1601–1603, Russia’s worst famine in terms of proportional effect on the population, killed perhaps two million people: about 30% of the Russian people. The famine compounded the Time of Troubles (1598–1613), when the Tsardom of Russia was unsettled politically and was later invaded (1605–1618) by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The many deaths contributed to social disruption. The famine resulted from a volcanic winter, a series of worldwide record cold winters and crop disruption, which geologists in 2008 linked to the 1600 volcanic eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru

    Reply ↓

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