Recent Items

Links 1/12/2026

Posted on by

The robot cars have come for the kids New York Times

Fly-arousing orchid and zombie fungus among 2025 botanical and fungal finds The Guardian

Climate/Environment

World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam The Guardian

Pandemics

How many is too many? M (Is) Living With Long Covid

China?

China’s AI and robotics push isn’t enough to kickstart its economy, leaving growth more exposed to trade risks CNBC

US to urge G7 and partners to cut reliance on China for critical minerals Firstpost

The “Trump Doctrine” Is Shaped By Elbridge Colby’s “Strategy Of Denial” Andrew Korybko

Why Deepseek Appeasing Karens is Key to CCP Stability ChinaTalk

India

Indian shares slide as Trump backs 500% tariff on New Delhi Intellinews

BRICS wargames: Why they matter, why India opted out Al Jazeera

Syraqistan

Israel Plans to Resume Gaza Onslaught in March Antiwar

***

‘Organized network’ carried out Daesh‑like attacks in Iranian cities: Security chief Press TV. “109 security personnel had been killed in the riots across the country.”

The Enduring State: Why Iran’s Protests are Unlikely to Induce Regime Change Kautilya The Contemplator

Will Elon Musk’s X changing the Iranian flag have any impact on the ground? Al Jazeera

The CIA/Mossad Operation to Spark a Color Revolution in Iran has Failed Larry Johnson

US weighing ‘very strong options’ on Iran — Trump TRT World

Iran warns Israel, US that if Washington attacks, military and shipping centers would be ‘legitimate targets’ Anadolu Agency

US military warns Trump against Iran strikes The Telegraph

Netanyahu hopes to ‘taper’ Israel off U.S. military aid in next decade NBC News

Old Blighty

Court of Session Tomorrow on Palestine Action Craig Murray

European Disunion

Kallas pitches new Iran sanctions Politico

Trump Cronies Hired By Greenland Mining Company As Threat Grows Nate Bear

EU official plotted to ‘organise resistance’ against Hungary’s Orban, files show The Grayzone

Germany’s CSU pushes war, police-state measures and social cuts at Seeon retreat WSWS

New Not-So-Cold War

Blocking detachments and new fortifications Events in Ukraine

The New Baltic War, or Scandinavians Only Understand “Kuzka’s Mother” Marat Khairullin Substack

Nederlandse oud-militair Hendrik openhartig over verschrikkingen aan Oekraïens front: ’Elke morgen werd de nazi-groet gebracht’ De Telegraaf. A dutch mercenary details experience with Nazis and drug cartels in Ukraine.

Ukraine war briefing: Nightfall – Britain races to develop ballistic missile for Kyiv The Guardian

Moscow denounces UK’s ‘salacious fantasies’ of kidnapping Putin RT

South of the Border

Trump Declares National Emergency to Protect Stolen Venezuela Funds Antiwar

Venezuela Raid – Aftermath Black Mountain Analysis

Venezuela informa regreso del buque Minerva en operación conjunta con EE.UU. Telesur

Trump ‘inclined’ to keep Exxon out of Venezuela after CEO calls it ‘uninvestable’ Reuters

***

‘Sounds good to me’: Trump suggests Rubio as Cuba’s president, issues warning Firstpost

On the Streets of Havana, Hope That a Lack of Oil to Steal Staves Off a U.S. Attack Ryan Grim

***

Argentina reportedly delaying embassy move over Israeli company’s oil project near Falklands Jerusalem Post

Unmasking the Flames: Israel’s Shadow Over Patagonia and Milei’s Betrayal of Argentina DD Geopolitics

Trump 2.0

Fed Chair Powell says he’s under criminal investigation, won’t bow to Trump intimidation CNBC

Monopoly Round-Up: Why Did Trump Just Attack the Fed and Corporate America? BIG by Matt Stoller

***

How Trump gave the green light for the killing of protestors. Borderland Talk with Jenn Budd

War is Trump’s answer to the affordability crisis Stephen Semler

Nobel Institute rejects Machado’s peace prize offer to Trump Axios

Noem Issues New Order Restricting Lawmakers’ Oversight of ICE Facilities NOTUS

Police State Watch

Enforcement Regime Michale Macher, Phenomenal World. Well worth a read.

How a 40-second encounter led an ICE agent to shoot and kill a Twin Cities resident Minnesota Star Tribune. Comprehensive report and not a good one for ICE.

Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators Labor Politics

Weimar Republic

U-Haul drives through crowd of protesters in Westwood NBC Los Angeles

Accelerationists

My final message before I’m on an FBI watchlist: Palantir, Epstein, & The New York Times Juan Sebastian Pinto. From a former Palantir employee.

35 Theses on the WASPs Scholar’s Stage

Immigration

Family seeks answers after ICE deported man to Costa Rica in vegetative state The Guardian

2028

AOC: ICE Killing of Renee Good Exposes ‘Fundamental Difference’ Between Herself and JD Vance Common Dreams

Emanuel targets GOP and Dems as he tests 2028 campaign Axios

Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani Is A Tool Of Empire Nate Bear

Imperial Collapse Watch

The US Empire is Going SUPERNOVA Simplicius

The Emotional Stress of Imperial Decline Un-Diplomatic

ASSA 2026: part one, the mainstream – AI, tariffs, inflation and the dollar Michael Roberts

AI

AI layoffs are looking more and more like corporate fiction that’s masking a darker reality, Oxford Economics suggests Fortune

Our Famously Free Press

From New York Times Shanghai bureau chief to U.S. intelligence contractor All-Source Intelligence

Economy

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin on What’s Actually Happening in the Economy Kyla Scanlon

The ‘No Hire’ Economy Apricitas Economics

Casino Nation

Prediction Marketplace Now Allows Users To Speculate on Future Home Values Realtor.com

Class Warfare

Here’s How You Can Challenge Wage Garnishment for Defaulted Student Loans Truthout

Strata: The Consolations and Invitations of Deep Time The Marginalian

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
127 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘The Poll Lady
    @ThePollLady
    Iran was able to successfully BLACKOUT Starlink using military jammers.
    Starlink has become first tool deployed wherever US backs regime change.
    Bangladesh, Venezuela, Syria, now Iran. This time it seems the counter-tech may have come from Russia.’

    I wonder if we set up a GoFundMe for the Russians, that they could work out a way to knock every Starlink satellite out of orbit so that we could get our night skies back again.

    Reply ↓
    1. Caps Lock

      Iran was able to successfully BLACKOUT Starlink using military jammers.

      As a chef, I would recommend taking a large grain of salt with this. No one with expertise in the matter would write such sentence. I reckon this comes from the same kitchen as the news about delivery of Iskanders. Gotta get those clicks.

      Reply ↓
      1. tegnost

        I will puzzle myself why a chef has expertise in starlink, but will concur that chefs generally have a grasp of the influence of a grain of salt..

        Reply ↓
        1. amfortas

          ahem…chefs(even retired ones) are often very informed.
          chef-hood is in fact a cover for myriad varieties of near-superheroes…altho those from “the other CIA” are often an attempt at subversion, or even a sort of color revolution.
          i kept my cape in the dry goods area, over by the beans and rice, and often had to wait to do the superhero shit until the lunch rush had settled down.

          Reply ↓
          1. Carolinian

            Other sites suggest it may have to do with GPS blocking (which the Russians can do) since Starlink terminals depend on GPS.

            Crooke is not a technology commenter but often has good ME sources.

            Reply ↓
            2. Polar Socialist

              I’ve understood that the starlink system uses preset and static “handshake” (or preamble) code between the terminal and the satellite, and with government level resources one can flood both the satellites (from the ground) and the terminals (from a plane or drone) with “false” handshakes so establishing actual connections becomes practically impossible.

              When Starlink was introduced in Ukraine war, my then boss, an engineer, deemed it way too civilian for serious military use – too easy to jam, interrupt and locate. Which is why the dish is usually at the other end of a long, long cable.

              Reply ↓
              1. Carolinian

                I think we can assume whatever the Russians know the Iranians know. Of course the Iranians have been sharing their drone technology the other direction.

                Ray McGovern has disagreed with his other Judge Nap commenters and said doesn’t think the Israelis or the US will attack Iran again. Perhaps the spooks hoped the astroturf (mostly?) protest would do the job for them and they could one and done coup de grace.

                Reply ↓
              2. geode

                That sounds like an odschool Denial-of-service (DoS) attack. It remided me of Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), which is a name way cooler than anything Musk Star-This-Star-That can come up with. :)

                Reply ↓
    3. Kouros

      There was an article not long ago with the Chinese scientists/academics (?!) CAS gaming thestarlink over Taiwan and what disposition and power the radars would need to have to block the fluctuating starlink signal. And they concluded that it would be feasible and at a lower wattage than initially thought. Iran can serve as a sand box…

      Reply ↓
  2. mrsyk

    Dear Dr Maws,

    It’s terrific that there’s a new drug that improves sleep, but isn’t it concerning that, these days, people need to pop pills just to get a good nights rest?

    At your service,
    mrsyk

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      I notice that the total sleep time for that study was 9 hours. How many people get to sleep 9 hours solid these days, especially those holding two or more jobs?

      Reply ↓
      1. Vikas

        Yes, that was my first thought. Deep sleep, aka slow wave sleep, is where most of the metabolic magic and healing happens. REM sleep probably has lots of importance for memory processing and adjustment to the surrounding environment and events of life.

        kinda like deciding which child you love more….

        Reply ↓
      2. Ann

        Hardscrabble: You are correct. In an article in Nature last year, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00007-4 it was demonstrated that the nightly washing of the brain during sleep does not happen during REM sleep, or in light sleep, or in total number of hours of sleep. In a mouse model, the authors showed that “low, deep non‑REM sleep produces the vascular and fluid dynamics needed for glymphatic clearance, and that this “brain cleaning” is not simply proportional to total sleep duration or REM sleep amount.”

        Cleaning the brain in this way is the process that washes out the offending proteins and tau tangles of Alzheimer’s Disease. The drug that increases REM sleep at the cost of losing deep sleep and severely reducing the percentage of light sleep will produce an increased prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease. AD is not a problem of altered proteins in the brain, it is a drainage problem. https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-023-00446-5

        Don’t we have these percentages for good evolutionary reasons? I say don’t FAFO with this.

        Reply ↓
      3. Ghost in the Machine

        There was a link a little while ago to a scientific paper showing that the process that clears the toxins out of the brain during sleep did not occur during REM.

        Reply ↓
    3. Lefty Godot

      Here’s a guess: increasing the amount of REM sleep by 40% will lead to sleepers waking up more tired and probably being prone to more depressive symptoms over time. Doctors have experimented before with depriving people of REM sleep to treat depression, so this new drug sounds quite dicey. And oversleeping sometimes leaves one more tired in part because the later hours of sleep are heavily REM-laden (the percentage of sleep spent in REM increases steadily the longer one stays asleep).

      Reply ↓
    4. Old Jake

      The ensuing posts by this Dr Maws includes apparent invitations to purchase this preparation, along with another naturopathic anti-flu combo. Not confidence-inspiring. Nevertheless, the main post indicates that the medication is aimed at those already experiencing severe sleep issues, uncontrolled epilepsy for one (seems to almost eliminate REM sleep). So it’s a mixed bag here, but I hesitate to accuse this person of saying everyone should be taking this.

      Aside: I often sleep 9 hours. But I’m retired. So perhaps the exception that proves the rule?

      Reply ↓
  3. no one

    RE: World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam

    This story seems highly relevant. As conditions inevitably worsen, these people will have every incentive to continue to limit the choices of the 99% of us so that they may continue their own consumption; otherwise, what’s the point of being a billionaire?

    Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      This is my analogy. You see a fellow taking a big dump in your city’s water supply. Don’t worry. It’s OK. He’s rich.

      Reply ↓
    2. Milton

      and the wealthiest. 01% blew their emission wad not longer after the champagne corks popped off while ringing in the new year.

      Reply ↓
  4. The Rev Kev

    Re today’s Antidote du jour. The original tweet has this attached to it-

    ‘B&S
    @_B___S
    This is what greets you when you get to heaven.✨
    What a beautiful thought that every dog you have ever loved and lost, would be waiting to greet you!!’

    Man that’s a lot of dogs.

    Reply ↓
    1. mrsyk

      Heaven!
      So, if I have this right, our cats will guide us across the river where we will meet up with our dogs. Sign me up.

      Reply ↓
    2. .Tom

      Having for years volunteered at the local animal shelter assisting and companioning dogs, many of whom went to new homes and happily didn’t come back, but not all, “every dog you have ever loved and lost” strikes a deeply melancholy note. For example, there are three photos on my phone from the week before last of Noah.

      So, about heaven, if they could greet me as in the photo, that looks nice so long as they then learn to walk each other and pick up after etc. otherwise it’s looking like a team job.

      Reply ↓
  5. flora

    re: AI layoffs are looking more and more like corporate fiction that’s masking a darker reality, Oxford Economics suggests – Fortune

    Catherine Austin Fitts and guest suggest it’s PE that’s driving layoffs and job loss. short utube clip

    Private-Equity Companies Are Responsible for a Number of Large Bankruptcies, Decimating the Tax Base

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbGDGMg0teM

    Reply ↓
    1. mrsyk

      I would speculate that PE is behind the Powell “investigation” as well. Admittedly, I have strong priors here.

      Reply ↓
    2. lyman alpha blob

      I don’t believe AI will be responsible for any layoffs in its current state since it doesn’t actually work.

      My experience has been that larding up with moar tech does not save on labor, and quite often increases costs. With all these companies releasing beta versions and fixing the bugs later, maybe, if you’re lucky, but you probably won’t be, work takes longer to accomplish and IT departments expand to try to keep all the crapified software from turning into a big ball of mud.

      Meanwhile, I saw this about PE likely terminating another company that had been pretty successful before the owner sold out to the vultures – https://fortune.com/2026/01/03/sprinkles-cupcakes-bankruptcy-private-equity-vending-machine/

      Reply ↓
        1. cfraenkel

          That’s a very myopic take on the character. Presenting it that way inverts the whole meaning of the character in the story. For the inference to be apropos – you’d have to assume that PE is going to turn into a humanitarian force any day now.

          According to the director:

          “There are a lot of No-Faces around us,” Miyazaki said. He explained that No-Face represents people who want to be close to others but lack a strong sense of who they are. According to Miyazaki, No-Face has no fixed personality and simply absorbs the behaviour, desires, and emotions of the people around him.

          Reply ↓
          1. flora

            I know what you are talking about. In the full context of the movie you are correct.
            I only meant these 2 snippets as a cartoon version of PE’s 2-step process.

            Will PE ever learn to control its appetite for MORE? Will be ever learn that gold is not everything? I doubt it.

            Reply ↓
            1. flora

              adding: what Milton Friedman’s economic ideas hath wrought. Shareholder value over all, don’tcha know. See The Mayfair Set. / ;)

              Reply ↓
              1. paul

                I now consider the mayfair set as part of flashing the ankle at those who believed we can prosper together through cooperation.
                It quite clearly explains that is never going to happen,
                Adam Curtis, who I consider a shameless poseur, like nicholas cave, never names his sources,(Stuaurt Even amoungst many) always presenting library footage of an american golfer with an atomic explosion.

                Glib opportunist, nothing more.
                Dramatic but not that relevant.
                If we want to see him at his worst, treat yourself to ‘the power of nightmares’

                Radical islamic guy changed the world and america won something

                Reply ↓
                2. Skippy

                  I disagree paul …

                  You would have to go back before his first doco where he was just writing about the neoliberal/economic libertarian mouth breathers getting a few conservative Tory sorts ears back in the day. Pirate radio thingy and what grew out of that – waves at Virgin. Then again Century of the Self regardless of your personal cinematographic tastes had a point, which was fleshed out.

                  Hence your projection of glib opportunist is ill suited vs say Hayek et al.

                  On the Terror thingy it has been used to good use as suggested by Bernays and others like commies/socialists and then post 9/11 to vindicate taking a lot of civil liberties and due process away – see ICE now, national guard, Trump and Co only beholden too – his – sense of morality. Given his entire life’s track record its not really any surprise.

                  Reply ↓
  6. The Rev Kev

    “US to urge G7 and partners to cut reliance on China for critical minerals”

    Is this like the time that the US demanded that the G-7 and their partners nations stop using Russian energy – but then still continued to import refined uranium from Russia? Unless those Chinese sources of critical minerals can be replaced by alternate sources, any such attempt would only serve to cripple the economy of those countries that tried to go cold turkey. Having said that, I am sure that that is exactly what the EU will do.

    Reply ↓
  7. Ignacio

    Today’s recommendation. Scroll down the links list to Weir’s “Morning Dew” and click on the performance. Go up and reinitiate the scroll on links with this music as background. I didn’t know this piece of music before but it makes good company!

    Reply ↓
    1. BrianH

      A beautiful tune, originally written and performed by Bonnie Dobson, a folkie from Canada. The Grateful Dead did it justice and then some. A tragic song about a woman waking up the morning after a nuclear war with possibly the only other human survivor, her lover.

      Reply ↓
      1. lyman alpha blob

        Thanks – I’ve been listening to that song for a long time, especially the version from Europe ’72 which I got in the late 80s or so. Never knew that context before.

        Reply ↓
      2. mrsyk

        This song was a top favorite amongst my Dead Head friends back in the day. Bragging rights were exercised if one was lucky enough to see it performed live.

        Reply ↓
  8. The Rev Kev

    “Trump ‘inclined’ to keep Exxon out of Venezuela after CEO calls it ‘uninvestable'”

    Right now I am willing to bet that that CEO of Exon is having a strong drink and thanking all that is holy at dodging the bullet of having his corporation get sunk into Venezuela but being able to walk away.

    Reply ↓
    1. flora

      adding, the Canadian tar sands oil requite almost 1 and a half barrels of refined oil to heat and melt and extract one barrel of tar sands oil from the sandy tar sands muck, as I understand it.

      Reply ↓
      1. flora

        adding, I’ve searched online for an image of a tar sands cross cut and cannot find one. It’s almost like someone or somebody doesn’t want people to see what the tar sands ‘product’ is in fact as it’s pulled from the ground. I have seen it and held a chunk of it in my hands. And a chunk it is.

        Reply ↓
  11. wol

    I tried to email the Jessica Plichta arrest vid to the Ms after it was originally posted on yt but it had been erased from my History. Stay safe.

    Reply ↓
  12. Wukchumni

    Netanyahu hopes to ‘taper’ Israel off U.S. military aid in next decade NBC News
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    You almost wonder if Bibi came up with the No Kings protest idea,
    get the lefties marching with ‘see me-dig me’ signs held aloft in regards to something that couldn’t transpire until many years down the road.

    Reply ↓
  13. tegnost

    Chandra Gupta…
    THis seems to be a key point I had not considered

    Pahlavi’s rising visibility in surveys and protests therefore signals not revolutionary momentum but the absence of a credible indigenous leadership core.

    Reply ↓
    1. hemeantwell

      the absence of a credible indigenous leadership core

      So true. Part of that is due to the degeneration of the MEK, which started off as a Marxist-Islamic tendency forced by regime suppression into becoming a guerrilla movement that eventually had to lean on Sadaam for a base outside of Iran. During and after the Iran-Iraq war that was politically fatal. What has been more surprising is how groups from the Bani-Sadr social-dem spectrum have fizzled. Likely they retained too much of an anti-US orientation to find adequate material support from the US, and so Pahlavi supporters at the relevant US meddling agencies had little competition.

      Still, it is amazing that the meddlers are that stupid.

      Reply ↓
      1. lyman alpha blob

        Maybe they can try putting up Ahmed Chalabi or Mikheil Saakashvili. I think the latter at least is still alive. I’m sure the US isn’t all that particular what country the traitors actually hail from.

        Reply ↓
      2. wilroncanada

        hemeantwell, 1:05pm
        and how many possible leadership candidates have been assassinated by the US or Israel. That kind of beheading has been the policy and activities of both governments for generations, peacetime or war notwithstanding.

        Reply ↓
  14. AG

    re: why defend Russia?

    In an even worse mood today than usual I was asking myself in a devil´s advocate manner:

    Considering the neoliberal order of the Russian everday economy why should average Russians who are struggling with everyday life and unhappiness like citizens in almost all other countries care about the security of the nation-state?

    What is the “greater good” worth to them? What would be their greater good?

    Would their lives be so much different if the EU and the US were to take over?

    (This speculation works only under the assumption that Russia would not turn into a Syria or comparable 1990s era style chaos.)

    and of course this question would apply to all other countries.

    With political philosophy the issue of legitimacy of the state has always been rooted in its willingness and capability to provide the best possible life for its citizens. Which also means share the wealth and influence!

    But in a capitalist system there are major limits to how “emphatic” and altruistic the nation-state is.

    Are there any serious progressive Socialist norms in Russia that would make life there so much better and more extraordinary than elsewhere? I doubt it.

    Going back to the question of justification for going to war / taking up the gauntlet thrown to them in Ukraine.

    Asking myself who comes from an anarchist tradition and always opposing or at least doubting the state´s prerogative in questions of force and enforcement.

    Since SMO started this conviction of mine for the first time was seriously questioned. But then: Who and what are the sacrifices of SMO for actually? And what would be the results of alternative scenarios for those who make those exstential sacrifices?

    Reply ↓
    1. dons

      (This speculation works only under the assumption that Russia would not turn into a Syria or comparable 1990s era style chaos.)

      Assumption of a can opener, or whatever the meme is called.

      Reply ↓
    2. JonnyJames

      Why bother? Russia could just acquiesce and go back to the golden years of Yeltsin, collapsed economy, collapsing average life expectancy, allowing the west to rape and pillage the place etc. While no rainbows and unicorns will be forthcoming, the economic and social improvements in the last couple of decades in Russia are pretty clear to me as an outside observer who has never visited Russia.

      Given the stated aims of the west, the actions of the US and vassals, I would agree that Russia had been backed to the wall and had to make a choice. The Russian leadership has been more than restrained in their responses. We are lucky to not have had a nuclear escalation, thus far. Politics is not about what I wish for, it is about the collective actions of fallible human beings in mass societies. We humans can be highly irrational, self-destructive and arrogant creatures.

      If murderous fanatics bombed and invaded your patch, what would you do? I used to have a colleague who was born in Donetsk, and she was very clear about the answer.

      Reply ↓
      1. Procopius

        If you look at the number of civilian casualties in every one of their attacks, it is clear their military is careful to minimize civilian damage, in accordance with the “laws of war.” They can’t achieve zero often, but the numbers are very small compared with U.S. practice.

        Reply ↓
    4. JP

      I think it is all about stability. NATO encroachment increases Russian instability. The US and Europe are currently only good at decreasing stability and leaving behind failed states. I would consider Israel a failed state. I believe the anarchist view point is that all governments are at the root criminal. However the people want a system of justice to keep a lid on criminality and promote stability.

      Reply ↓
    5. Polar Socialist

      I would not say Russian everyday economy is neoliberal. Unless you think growing public sector, diminishing poverty, price controls on certain food categories, progressive taxation, public health care and under 2% unemployment are neoliberal economics.

      To me Russia is oscillating between conservatism, liberalism (the old school) and social democracy. Which, not completely surprisingly, are the three biggest political parties.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        Doesn´t today´s Russia resemble much more the “capitalist West” than it would differ to it?

        In rare statements from texts but also friends from Russia or with Russian affiliations I did understand that Russian everyday life can be as nasty as we know it from Europe or the US.

        But all that is merely anecdotal often flimsy hearsay.

        I would really appreciate a profound study on these issues.
        It´s insane how little our academia know or communicate about these subjects when it comes to Russia.

        Reply ↓
    6. Daniil Adamov

      “This speculation works only under the assumption that Russia would not turn into a Syria or comparable 1990s era style chaos.”

      At least some of the people who support the war openly assume the opposite. And if the EU and the US were to take over (which, however, I find incredible), that would be the most likely outcome, in which case the present reality is preferable for the vast majority.

      For other “hawks” it is the IMHO more realistic concern about what happens to people in the Donbass and Crimea, with whom they sympathise and whom they consider to be their countrymen (first in spirit and now on paper – as far as Russia if not most of the world is concerned). National solidarity. I wouldn’t overestimate it or its spread, but it is a real force.

      “With political philosophy the issue of legitimacy of the state has always been rooted in its willingness and capability to provide the best possible life for its citizens. Which also means share the wealth and influence!”

      I agree with this outlook. Our state does share to some degree, though nowhere near as much as I’d consider necessary. Still, there is a social state, how ever damaged and uneven. I have benefitted from it, as have many people who hate it more than I do. I am not sure that it is in actual danger from abroad, though obviously if we assume the West has the power to make good on its fantasies of breaking up Russia, that would cause great damage to the population – though the disruption of basic order that would involve would probably be worse.

      “But in a capitalist system there are major limits to how “emphatic” and altruistic the nation-state is.

      Are there any serious progressive Socialist norms in Russia that would make life there so much better and more extraordinary than elsewhere? I doubt it.”

      This is the part that I honestly do not understand. There are always limits. For that matter, I would not say that life in the Soviet Union in 1941 was better than life in Germany, outside of those who ended up in the concentration camps. By all Russian accounts I’ve encountered it was considerably worse, despite some positive tendencies and promised great improvements at an uncertain point in the future.

      That had little to do with the question of whether there was anything worth defending, though. While there are always some idealists, the population at large did not and does not fight for ideals or for superior institutions – it fights first and foremost out of group solidarity and for self-preservation against enemies. Why defend? Because they’re attacking (as happened in 1941). Or are going to attack if we don’t attack first. Or are attacking some people who we decided also count as “us”.

      In our current case the attack is much feebler outside of the frontline area, the threat much less tangible, so the popular mobilisation is weaker, but it’s still the same factors in play. Soldiers in their interviews talk about committing to their country in a crisis, fighting alongside their comrades, avenging torture of PoWs, defending the Donbass… they don’t talk about how our economy is better-ran or more equitable than theirs, or at least I haven’t seen that. As for the other choices, they are to try and sit things out (as I do, though I have the added excuse of poor health), or else (especially if afraid of mobilisation and/or morally opposed to the war) run away and abandon all they have achieved here in their lives and careers up to this point, as one memorable interviewee put it.

      Reply ↓
      1. Daniil Adamov

        It works the same way everywhere, of course. But while I have my doubts about how serious foreign threats to Russia are right now, I have no doubt that America has no serious foreign threats.

        Reply ↓
    8. .Tom

      AG: Who and what are the sacrifices of SMO for actually?

      Independence.

      For Russia to be able to set and pursue its own policy agenda it must resist the bullying, pressures, and manipulations of the USA and its allies and those of the international capitalist cartels. In other words, gaining independence demands establishing its strategic deterrence capability. Secondary to deterrence is establishing more effective and stable internal control of social and economic resources. These are the main things the SMO is for, IMO.

      As it has turned out, the USA and its allies appear to prefer the risk of their utter humiliation and the complete loss of Ukraine in the SMO before acknowledging Russia’s strategic deterrence capability. This was not obvious in Dec 2021 when it was not clear what would be required. Actually it’s still not clear although we now have a rough lower bound on the costs.

      AG: And what would be the results of alternative scenarios for those who make those exstential sacrifices?

      Russia may alternatively prostrate itself to the will of the USA and to international capital.

      Reply ↓
      1. Jonathan Holland Becnel

        Speaking of Independence:

        On January 12, 1776, the American Revolution was heating up:

        Thomas Paine’s fiery independence pamphlet, Common Sense, had just been published days earlier (Jan 10) and was spreading rapidly, influencing colonists toward separation from Britain, while George Washington was busy managing his troops at Cambridge, promoting discipline and dealing with logistics, with events in Philadelphia shaping the path to open rebellion.

        Key Events Around This Day:

        Common Sense: Paine’s radical call for republicanism and independence was becoming a major force, shifting public opinion.

        Washington’s Leadership: Washington was trying to instill military discipline and address supply issues within the Continental Army, as detailed in his correspondence.

        Military Actions: Just days before, a nighttime raid by Knowlton’s Rangers near Bunker Hill demonstrated American resolve, noted by Washington in his general orders.

        While specific major battles didn’t mark this exact day, the period was crucial for building momentum and shaping the revolutionary spirit leading to the Declaration of Independence later that year.

        Reply ↓
        1. Steve H.

          ‘Those who remember the past but are outnumbered by those who forget are also doomed to repeat it.’ – Some guy.

          Reply ↓
      1. principle

        It does. As an example, I have seen reports that young Germans are not really interested in defending Germany, which is understandable. Projecting that to Russia doesn’t quite work, because those two countries have very little in common.

        Reply ↓
        1. AG

          In the history of man people mostly had to be forced to defend the country where they lived. If not then they were paid or compensated for.

          To try to convince via ideology is never an honest way and was more an achievement of the rise of the “nation”.

          Some of the few examples I would assume where people did participate in a war completely voluntarily on progressive grounds and not based on fascistic ideas were events like Spain in the 1930s, France 1940 or the USSR 1941. (I don´t know the Asian battlefield well so I exclude that.)
          But even in France 1940 there were many who denied to fight. I don´t know about the USSR.

          And such cases as Vietnam or other classic anti-Colonialist insurrections.

          However most wars were quickly identified by the rabble as a sick game of those who ruled over them.

          “Those who start wars never fight them”.
          This wisdom was one major root for the traditions of antiwar movements.

          In his Collège lectures Michel Foucault laid out that his findings suggested that in fact the king had to agree to guarantee certain services to make life more agreeable in order to be granted the right to impose taxes and be able to build a powerful enough kingdom. In return and with rising living standards and security he would expand the right to enscript an army. Which again had to be fed and so on.

          So the creation of the nation out of this conflict was the result of a quid-pro-quo – a transactional relationship between resident/citizen and ruler.

          Once warmaking was not deemed a usual state other tools needed to be introduced.

          Among these ideology of “a nation” into manipulating the masses was the most effective way to make self-sacrifice an acceptable price.

          So I do not see any natural right for expecting citizens to fight for the nation where they live.
          That is a nasty idea imposed by the ruling class. Or it is a mundane “contract”. Nothing more. Exceptions prove the rule.

          Reply ↓
  15. Csps Lock

    Ukraine war briefing: Nightfall – Britain races to develop ballistic missile for Kyiv The Guardian

    Three industry teams would each get £9m to design, develop and deliver their first three Nightfall missiles within 12 months for test firings, said the MoD.

    LOL. I hope one of the teams is Chinese (or maybe Iranian), because only they would have a shot at delivering for the pocket money offered.

    Reply ↓
  16. principle

    Moscow denounces UK’s ‘salacious fantasies’ of kidnapping Putin RT

    I’ve seen the video yesterday. As hilarious as wishful thinking can be. I bet the guy has an ordered list that goes something like:
    1. kidnap Putin
    2. grow hair
    3. date a Playboy Playmate
    …

    Reply ↓
  18. AG

    re: Germany freedom of speech and the Constitution

    1) daily NEUE OSNABRÜCKER ZEITUNG

    German-language commentary

    Many want to protect freedom of expression – they should leave it alone.
    https://archive.is/n68Bj

    “(…)
    Well-meaning forces everywhere are currently trying to protect freedom of expression. I think they should stop. Freedom itself is best served by freedom. Protecting it restricts it.

    The framers of the Basic Law already saw it that way. Fact-checkers, reporting centers, and ever-expanding supervisory bodies were not part of the original plan. Instead, the Federal Constitutional Court wrote in a 2009 ruling, in a beautiful and clear manner: “The Basic Law relies on the power of free debate as the most effective weapon against the spread of totalitarian and inhumane ideologies.”
    (…)
    It wasn’t until 2022 that the judges reaffirmed that the protection of freedom of expression exists “regardless of whether the expression is rational or emotional, reasoned or unfounded, and whether others consider it useful or harmful, valuable or worthless.”
    (…)
    In 2018, they had clarified that “the potential confrontation with disturbing opinions, even if their logical consequences are dangerous (…), is part of a free state. Protection against a ‘poisoning of the intellectual climate’ is no more a reason for intervention than protecting the population from an affront to their sense of justice.”
    (…)
    Those with a higher status may be more afraid than members of the lower class of being ostracized from their bubble if they do not conform: they subjectively feel they have more to lose.
    (…)”

    2) German Constitutional Court principal ruling from 2009:

    English version:
    Order of 4 November 2009
    https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2009/11/rs20091104_1bvr215008en.html

    Headnotes:

    Even though it is not a general law, § 130.4 of the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch – StGB) is compatible with Article 5.1 and 5.2 of the Basic Law. In view of the injustice and the horror which National Socialist rule inflicted on Europe and large parts of the world, defying general categories, and of the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany which was understood as an antithesis of this, an exception to the ban on special legislation for opinion-related laws is inherent in Article 5.1 and 5.2 of the Basic Law for provisions which impose boundaries on the propagandistic condonation of the National Socialist rule of arbitrary force.

    The amenability of Article 5.1 and 5.2 of the Basic Law to such special provisions does not rescind the substantive content of freedom of opinion. The Basic Law does not justify a general ban on the dissemination of right-wing radical or indeed National Socialist ideas already with regard to the intellectual impact of its content.

    Reply ↓
  20. AG

    re: Germany egg prices

    With January eggs now cost 25% more. However nobody really knows the reason. ALDI discounter which is the main driver behind this gives only very scarce info.

    Bird flu may be one reason. Also Germany needs to import up to 30% mainly from Netherlands. There the number of chickens allowed has been lowered recently.

    However it seems totally unclear if any of the revenue reaches the actual farmers.

    Reply ↓
    1. geode

      It’s all because of Putin. Or maybe, we should follow the money. If nobody really knows the reason, then someone is really trying hard to hide where the extra money is going. I thought Germans are hardcore on bookkeeping.

      Reply ↓
    2. Ignacio

      Two reasons: 1) high-protein diets are fashionable now and increase demand (this for a longer term trend) and 2) Bird flu with the latest strains being more virulent than previous ones. As geode says we can blame Putin, as usual, for both 1) and 2).

      Reply ↓
  21. XXYY

    The Enduring State: Why Iran’s Protests are Unlikely to Induce Regime Change Kautilya The Contemplator

    This is a really good and thought-provoking peace on the distinction between protests and revolutions. It shows very clearly why US elites, attempting to foment revolutions elsewhere, repeatedly and consistently fail. Protests are not revolutions and lack the necessary elements to overturn and existing societal structure. Figures supported by external kingmakers (looking at you, Guaido!) lack the legitimacy and deep connection to the society needed to overturn an existing order.

    External military pressure has also historically tended to consolidate rather than fracture [target] state cohesion by activating nationalist and sovereignty-based legitimacy.

    This point is highly relevant to current US attempts to overturn the government of Venezuela. Yanquee military attacks obviously activate a big flashing red light for every citizen of Central and South America who has had centuries of experience with societies run by foreign Invaders.

    This passage also strikes me as being the playbook of Israel since at least the early 1970s. By emphasizing and encouraging external military pressure from its neighbors, it has been able to play up its own legitimacy and national sovereignty and invest its own government with feelings of loyalty from the citizens. The region that became the United States also used this playbook for the first several centuries of its existence and is arguably still doing so now.

    At any rate, a nice piece of writing by Kautilya The Contemplator! Thanks for finding and posting this, Connor.

    Reply ↓
      1. principle

        From “we love Iranians” to “let’s starve those bitches” in under 24 hours.

        A bipolar president of a unipolar world.

        Reply ↓
  22. AG

    re: Germany EU sanctions/Hüseyin Doğru

    insanity, cruelty and despotism rule

    BERLINER ZEITUNG

    machine-translation

    EU sanctions put Berlin journalist and his family in a “life-threatening situation”

    The EU has sanctioned journalist Hüseyin Doğru for allegedly spreading Russian propaganda. Now even his basic living expenses are frozen, affecting his family with three children.
    https://archive.is/R0iLI

    Reply ↓
  24. ISL

    China Talk – let me get this multiple-thousand-word monologue correct – it is BAD if an authoritarian government fixes problems identified by citizens, implying it is good if things in a non-authoritarian government never fix anything. So democracy is never having society respond to your daily concerns, but you can swap tweedle dee from tweedle dum and nothing ever changes, but an authoritarian government responds to daily concerns and that is bad?

    I recall living in Holland and noticing that broken bicycle traffic lights (they are a thing in Holland!) get fixed very quickly. Meanwhile, traffic bottlenecks in the US (example Atlanta) never get fixed – I guess the priority is is daily life in Caracas or Baghdad or Kabul: Clearly this is non-authoritarian if it benefits no citizen except uber-pricey contractors (sweet!heart deals).

    Could the anonymous author (or the named editor) not see the big brother character of their argument, or is this a psyop?

    The only interesting thing (other than “non-authoritarian” governments are responsive to the citizens’ needs, which is bad), the author asserts that protestors were blocked in 2012 or arrested to maintain stability (or block a foreign-sponsored destabilization – see Iran today for a current example)? True? perhaps. Meanwhile, here in the non-authoritarian societies, governmental masked security forces take the non-authoritarian approach of – daytime extrajudicial killings celebrated by the non-authoritarian authorities, as a democratic warning – clearly an improvement as in the recent past, non-authoritarian upstanding US citizens masked with white sheets to hang strange fruit in trees, with vast crowds of good folk picnicking and taking selfies.
    {/snark}

    Reply ↓
  25. Tom Stone

    The tech bros and TPTB seem awfully confident that the population management tools perfected in Gaza will scale well enough to work in the Land of the Free.

    I’m sorry, I see that’s been updated to “The Land of the Fee and the Home of the Grave”.

    Reply ↓
  26. Ignacio

    RE: Kallas pitches new Iran sanctions Politico

    Well. Is Kallas worried about human rights in Iran? In short: Absolutelly not. This looks very much like appeasing by the vassals and, IMO, it won’t work. I didn’t understand the article, and in particular, two bullet points:

    The risk for Europe, as always, is being left to play catch-up in a volatile region where its levers — sanctions, development money, diplomatic pressure — are often overshadowed by the threat of brute force.

    Europe catch-up what? In idiocy? EU levers on Iran? hahaha!

    The bottom line: It’s too early to say how this round of protests will end. What’s different is that the regime has been weakened since its 12-day war with Israel last year — and Trump seems determined to keep up the pressure. Europe, once again, is searching for its voice.

    Voice, what voice? The voice of the vassal?

    Reply ↓
    1. paul

      It might not be illegal to hold an opinion that the UK government’s sponsors dislike.

      The fat,smug and very little toad, starmer, squatting on the diseased lillypad of blairism and an entirely spurious reputation as a human rights lawyer, will just have to change the law again and again.

      That, with peter mandelson, a political organiser who had to wait for a government on a highwire with a bottle in its hand to prove his unique talents, going full former prince andrew for a dead scientific philanthropist human trafficker, leaves my head spinnining.

      Luckily, my head goes 360 like frau baerblock.

      Reply ↓
  29. Tom Stone

    I think it is wonderful that Trump is now the acting President of Venezuela!
    Is the ticker tape parade through the streets of Caracas scheduled for February 30th?
    Asking for a friend.

    Reply ↓
  30. ISL

    China Talk (from an anonymous writer) is up in arms that “authoritarian” China addresses common people’s everyday concerns. Wish my govt did the same.

    Psyops?

    Reply ↓
    1. Daniil Adamov

      But whose? You’d think this would be Chinese propaganda, not anti-Chinese.

      In all seriousness the text just seems weirdly clumsy, especially with its insistence on using the term “Karen” for something unrelated to the standard usage.

      Reply ↓
  32. Jason Boxman

    So apparently PayPal is encouraging me to use my face, fingerprint, or passkey to login faster next time; I’d stooped to Ebay, because I wanted to buy a replacement for my dead father’s Bill Blass crewneck sweater.

    It was cut off of him on I-40 where he died in his truck, probably in terror. I sleep under the tattered remains of that sweater. I can’t decide if I want to come back from this, even if it is possible. The Pandemic and Climate are there to greet me; I might be wishing for his death at my end.

    Given the technology of this era, it ought to be pretty simple for someone to steal your facial geometry, or you fingerprints, so that security that PayPal offers is ass. A passkey can be better, but not if you’re using say face or fingerprint login on your mobile device or laptop.

    Fun times.

    On the flip side, the number of passwords that we need to keep track of is simply unfathomable. My dad’s lastpass had almost 200 passwords in it when he died.

    How is that sustainable?

    Reply ↓
  34. Zeth

    re: The New Baltic War, or Scandinavians Only Understand “Kuzka’s Mother” Marat Khairullin Substack

    “The Swedish strategic island of Gotland was conquered back in 1808, and there was a Russian garrison here. As a result of WWII, the USSR liberated and returned the island to Sweden on the condition of Swedish neutrality and complete demilitarization of the island.”

    well, wikipedia tells me the russians where only there 22 days cause they didnt want to fight the swedish army, so what is he even referring to with “as a result of WW2” ??

    Reply ↓
  35. john smith

    Yves, thanks for your long winded reply.

    Whether the ICE shooting was legal or not is yet to be decided by
    courts. Rittenhouse and Zimmerman shootings were also deemed illegal
    by experts. I believe the DHS guidelines to shoot are not special to
    DHS and apply to any discharge of a firearm by anyone in the USA.
    Even stand your ground laws require hazard to life. I think the issue
    isn’t weather she was mouthing off to the police but, her not
    complying with their — in their mind — legal order, by not getting
    out of the car. The police have all kinds of qualified immunity if
    they think they are giving legal orders. The officer saying “fucking
    bitch” proves he was angry. Wouldn’t you be if you thought someone
    just tried to kill you? It does look like she was trying to drive
    around him, but as he was standing right in front of the car and had
    to dash out of the way, he can convincingly (to me) argue that he had
    no way of knowing that and was in fear of his life. It’s strange to
    me how some people treat cars as harmless rather than the 2 ton missiles of
    destruction. I am reminded of the Philando Castile shooting, where
    the driver reached for his drivers license too quickly, and the cop
    shot him. The cop was acquitted.

    Reply ↓
    1. Yves Smith

      Police can order someone out of a car only pursuant to a traffic stop. This is the case in most states and I would assume MN as “liberal” would hew to that norm.

      ICE and DHS cannot do traffic stops in MN. The order was illegal.

      In addition, it has been widely debunked that she was driving at him. He stepped into the path of the car as she started moving. She had her wheels turned away.

      Shooting into a moving car is against even DHS policy. Shooting someone who is fleeing is flat out illegal.

      Many many police instructors have said the shooter easily could and should have gotten out of the way if he really was worried about being hit.

      Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *