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Links 3/5/2026

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We Tested 49 More Baby Formulas for Lead and Arsenic Consumer Reports

Ultraprocessed Food Consumption and Behavioral Outcomes in Canadian Children JAMA Network

Climate/Environment

Nature loss could cost twice as much as the financial crash, leaked report reveals ITV News

Global economic exposure to climate change amplified by spatially compounding climate extremes Nature Communications

Pandemics

Mapping spatial and social inequities of long COVID across the United States: a retrospective cohort study The Lancet

A large immigration detention camp in Texas is closed to visitors amid measles outbreak AP

CDC staffers deployed to South Carolina to aid measles response The Hill

Water

Arizona’s water is drying up. That’s not stopping the data center rush. Grist

The Iran War’s Most Precious Commodity Isn’t Oil Bloomberg

The Koreas

Korea’s market plunge is just the start of Asia’s Iran pain Asia times

US-to-Asia oil shipment costs hit a record, some deals falter Business Times

Putin says Russia may halt energy supplies to Europe, redirect them to Asia Anadolu Agency

China?

China Orders Major Fuel Refiners to Halt Diesel and Gasoline Exports Immediately Asia Morning

China sets lowest economic growth target in decades ahead of Trump summit CNN

China to boost defense spending by 7%, slowest pace since 2021 CNBC

India

India dismisses claim that US is using its ports for strikes on Iran as ‘fake and false’ Economic Times

Myanmar

Iran Strikes Threaten Myanmar Junta’s Jet Fuel and Drone Supplies The Irrawaddy

Syraqistan

US Set to Escalate War into Ground Phase with Kurdish Vanguard Simplicius

Exclusive: Iranian girls killed by ‘double-tap’ strikes on Minab school Middle East Eye

Israel expects weeks-long war against Iran FT

The Limits of US and Israeli Air Power Larry Johnson

***

Will Turkey Invade Iran? Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They hope.

NATO downs Iranian ballistic missile heading towards Türkiye TRT World. Right on cue.

***

Chartbook 436 Unseasonal war. How the US-Israeli war on Iran threatens the global agricultural cycle. Adam Tooze

QatarEnergy Declares Force Majeure After Halting LNG Production OilPrice

Chinese shipping latest to halt Gulf services Dawn

***

The Sinister Epstein/Rothschild War against Iran – the ‘Biblical War’ leading to ‘Armageddon’ Vanessa Beeley and Fiorella Isabel

Will Trump Nuke A Canal Through The Negev Desert? The Counterprogramming Club

European Disunion

Both Sides, Now. Aurelien

European Parliament rejects debate on Trump’s threats to Spain Euronews

Old Blighty

UK economy: still winter, not spring Michael Roberts

How MI6 Laid Iran War’s Foundations Kit Klarenberg

New Not-So-Cold War

‘Arctic Metagaz’ Sinks Off Libya After Blast; Moscow Blames Ukrainian Drone Attack gCaptain

U.S. Gives Rosneft’s German Refinery Network Open-Ended Sanctions Exemption OilPrice

The unholy alliance between Ukraine’s far right and the Western defence industry Intellinews

Ukraine sending experts to Middle East to help counter Iranian drones The Hill

EU urges partners to help fill €30bn Ukraine funding gap Euractiv

South of the Border

Venezuela: PDVSA Pledges ‘Reliable’ Oil Supplies to US Amid Iran War Venezuelanalysis

Ecuador Declares Cuban Ambassador Persona Non Grata TeleSur

L’affaire Epstein

The DOJ has been taking down Epstein files. Here’s what remains. CBS News

Trump 2.0

In Iran, Trump’s Luck Runs Out American Conservative

Trump’s America First: Neoconservatism in Realist Drag Landmarks: A Journal of International Dialogue

Iran Used Tether Crypto to Evade Sanctions. Tether’s Banker is Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. Some good stuff if you get past the anti-Iran nonsense. Dougald Lamont.

Kristi Noem Misled Congress About Top Aide’s Role in DHS Contracts ProPublica

“Liberation Day” 2.0

Trump’s tariff hike to 15% likely this week, Bessent says Business Times

GOP Funhouse

Senate Republicans defeat measure to halt Iran strikes despite growing anxieties The Hill

Democrats Suck

‘We’re in it’: Democrats won’t rule out giving Trump more money for Middle East war Politico

The Democratic Party’s Moment Of Reckoning The Lever

Rep. Valerie Foushee Defeats a Primary Challenge From the Left With Help of an AI Money Boost NOTUS

Police State Watch

Follow the Money – February 2026: Warehouses Dominate ICE Spending Project Salt Box

AI

The $100 Billion OpenAI-Nvidia Deal Is Not Happening Gizmodo

OpenAI looking at contract with NATO, source says Reuters

The Accelerationists

Anthropic’s investors don’t have its back in its fight with the Pentagon Semafor

Immigration

The Open Society Archedelia

Imperial Collapse Watch

Screening Room

‘Game of Thrones’ Movie in the Works at Warner Bros. From ‘Andor’ Writer The Wrap

Economy

‘That’s Not Winning’: Record Numbers of US Workers Are Raiding Their 401(k)s in Trump Economy Common Dreams

Casino Nation

Anonymous Polymarket Accounts Won $1.2 Million on Trump’s Iran Strikes in Suspicious Bets Futurism

Polymarket Pulls Bet on Nuclear Detonation in 2026 404 Media

Class Warfare

In Spain, Amazon Workers Win with Quick-Hit Walkouts Labor Notes

On Redistribution Symbolic Capital(ism) (AA)

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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48 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ‘Acyn
    @Acyn
    Hegseth: Flying over their capital. Death and destruction from the sky all day long. We’re playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly. Our rules of engagement are bold, precise, and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be..’

    I’m really starting to take an active dislike to Hegseth. Makes himself out to be the tough guy but has he even visited the war zone yet? He has no moral compass at all but maintains that he is superior to everybody else. The only thing that surprises me is that when that US sub sank that Iranian navy ship, that Hegseth did not order that sub to surface and machine gun the survivors in the water.

      1. ButchInWaukegan

        I remembered reading that merchant seaman Woody and others organized a sing along with fellow sailers when their ship was in danger. The captain refused to let black sailers attend and Woody and others wouldn’t play unless the captain allowed them. The captain relented.

        I could not find a reference, but I found this surprising connection:
        In fact, Guthrie did pen a song about Trump’s father. In December 1950, Guthrie rented an apartment in Brooklyn owned by Fred C. Trump and soon wrote a song, “Old Man Trump,” about his landlord’s racism. The song — discovered in the Woody Guthrie Center Archives in Oklahoma by Will Kaufman, a professor of American literature and culture at the University of Central Lancashire in England — points out that Trump refused to rent to black tenants in his Beach Haven apartment complex near Coney Island.

        https://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/07/15/age-trump-we-need-woody-guthrie

        1. Birch

          I’ve heard about that song, but never saw the lyrics. Thank you for the link.

          I love Woody’s song about Lindbergh, and how it applies to Trump:
          “They say “America First,” but they mean “America Next!””

      3. Adam Eran

        Worth a visit: the Woody Guthrie museum in (super-conservative) Tulsa. There I found out that his friend Pete Seeger married a Japanese-American during WWII. Balls of titanium!

        And while you’re in the neighborhood, Claremore OK has the Will Rogers museum, where you can see this video of Rogers’ amazing roping skills….

        Favorite Will Rogers saying: “If it weren’t for lies there wouldn’t be any politics.”

    2. t

      Do you think he practices saying things like “warfighters” in the mirror and is impressed by himself?

    3. DJG, Reality Czar

      The Rev Kev: Do not take an active dislike to Pete Hegseth. It is a waste of your time and sentiments.

      As I have written here many times, Pete Hegseth is not an alpha male.

      That’s all one has to know.

      At a certain point, we’ll find him quivering in some corner, too afraid to take the well-deserved capsule of cyanide.

    4. MatF

      Like Trump, he’s just saying out loud what the RoW has realised is the ugly face of the US war machine for a long time now. Why do you think North Koreans like the US so much? Or Mexicans, or Cherokee? There’s an endless, endless line of peoples having experienced the noble character of the US Army.

  2. schmoe

    Tangentially related to China slowing its defense spending growth, the Iran and the Pakistan / India conflicts made Chinese air defense look like vaporware:
    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-hq-9b-again-in-spotlight-after-reports-of-failure-of-iranian-air-defence-system-amid-us-israel-strikes/articleshow/128942437.cms?from=mdr

    I would think China would consider testing some of its systems in Ukraine since some are not working as advertised, but China’s semiconductor industry very vulnerable to retaliation and could be dealt a near mortal blow if ASML stopped servicing its lithography machines or Japan ceased providing photoresist chemicals.

    On the other hand, Chinese long-range air-to-air missiles were effective against Indian aircraft.

    Russia’s S-400 made a more favorable impact on India:
    https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/india-to-double-its-arsenal-of-s-400-air-defence-systems/

  3. Jakob W

    Iran Used Tether Crypto to Evade Sanctions.

    Nice to see crypto working exactly as designed!

  4. The Rev Kev

    “EU urges partners to help fill €30bn Ukraine funding gap”

    Seriously? With war in the Middle East, the world’s economy is about to go sideways. All that LPG that the EU depended on coming from Qatar is now g-o-n-e- gone for at least the next coupla months. Putin is saying that since the EU does not want Russian gas & oil, he will stop it for them. And now the EU wants their member States to cough up a coupla billion each for Zelensky? All those countries in the EU should be battening down the hatches now in face of the coming s*** storm. The Ukraine? What’s that?

  5. hazelbee

    I’ve been thinking overnight on escalation and on the timing of UK, France and german announcements.

    I accept that we are in the fog of war, heavy propaganda from all sides, lots of AI fakery around.

    However… even with that something doesn’t “feel right” about this.

    We went from Feb 28th condemning the illegal actions and downplaying our involvement intercepting drones to drones and missiles from mysterious locations heading to Cyprus (uk involvement) or Turkey (nato?)

    to letting the US use bases for “defensive” operations, intercepting drones and sending ships very quickly.

    All seems too conveniently quick – like this was planned and manufactured to draw us in.

    I’d like to know:
    what did uk, france and germany know beforehand/?

    did the iranian regional response genuinely catch them by surprise?

    and my real nagging question – why are we needed?

    US and Israel kicked this off. for us to help the gulf states means it frees up US and israeli forces to attack iran.

    Are they really in need of that help so early?
    We don’t see much coming out of israel because of the censorship there. We don’t see any of the possible nervousness behind closed doors about the closing of hormuz, missile interceptor stocks.

    It just seems all very rushed. It smells of panic.
    We are being dragged in, with a manufactured narrative, to a point where we can’t easily get out.

    and once we get the first Brit death it becomes harder to reverse gear. Already had Kemi badenoch on radio this morning opining that we are already dragged in so therefore must do more. politician false framing of the argument, the “there is no alternative” narrative.

    Meanwhile we have spain saying “no”.

    anyone else have their spider senses tingling around the timing, speed, narrative control, reactions of the uk, eu leaders ?

    1. vao

      Prior to what you describe, the EU was in a situation where it was not only ready to cut itself from whatever oil and gas it still got from Russia (either via pipelines or via tankers) after cutting itself off from Russian coal and uranium, but Ukraine had also sabotaged an oil pipeline that was vital for a few EU members. Now, major sources of gas (from Qatar) and oil (other Gulf States) they relied upon abruptly and unexpectedly (well, they had been warned it was likely to happen) dried up.

      They are desperate. Their African suppliers of gas and oil are maxxed out. European countries urgently need the transport of hydrocarbon to proceed unimpeded through the Hormuz strait. Since they are never, ever going to oppose the USA and Israel by demanding them to stop the war, their only option is to join them in attacking Iran, or at least support with everything they have the bombing of Iran.

    2. t

      I don’t have a clue.

      That said, knowing beforehand with the Trump admin is a guessing game. I doubt there’s anyone, except possibly Miriam Adelson, who has any confidence in anything he says, even in private meeting with witnesses like J.D. or human thumb Stephen Miller.

    3. lyman alpha blob

      I chalk it up to misplaced guilt over WW2 and European leaders continuing to be the US’ loyal poodle dogs that they have been for quite some time now.

  7. The Rev Kev

    ‘Despite hosting these sailors as guests on Indian soil just days earlier, the Indian government has issued no public statement, offered no assistance, and extended no condolence. This silence raises profound questions about India’s strategic autonomy and its willingness to stand by partners who participate in its military engagements.’

    I would guess that the Chinese and the Russians are scrutinizing Modi’s India very closely right now. They may still be part of BRICS but I think that investment in India will go down from the other members as India aligns itself with a hegemonic America. But did India choose poorly?

    1. flora

      Sex abuse scandals in the House and Senates are rife. None of them want to open that can of worms, imo.

      The most recent:

      Rep. Tony Gonzales admits to affair with staffer who died by suicide
      Published Wed, Mar 4 202612:10 PM ESTUpdated Wed, Mar 4 20267:58 PM EST

      https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/04/house-ethics-gonzales-congress.html

      and from the Texas Tribune:

      Texts show Rep. Tony Gonzales asked for explicit photos from aide who later died by suicide

      https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/23/tony-gonzales-affair-dead-staffer-texts-police-report/

      Don’t worry about Gonzalez.
      He’s quoted as saying,“Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel,” he continued. “I’ve asked God to forgive me, which He has. And my faith is as strong as ever.”

      1. Screwball

        You are probably right, but some of the same people are/were screaming to release the Epstein files. Doesn’t make sense unless it’s all performative theater, which is probably is.

        Given the way the Epstein files were handled, and now this – how can anyone not be totally disgusted with all these people, sans a very few. But that won’t happen, they can’t get past their tribal love for these sick pukes.

        We are truly FUBAR.

  10. Bugs

    On a different wavelength from current events – or maybe not – I came across this website that slops some gloomy AI onto all those contemporary typical fancy happy pretty greenery-filled architectural renderings to show what they’ll end up looking like in grim real life. Sort of a hoot.

    https://antirender.com/

    The user gallery is here:

    https://antirender.com/showcase

    Finally a use for AI that makes me smile. Sort of.

    1. nippersmom

      The primary differences between many of the “before” and “after” views seem to be spring/summer vs. winter (deciduous trees and plants have shed their leaves and grass isn’t green), whether the sun is shining or the sky is overcast, with evidence of recent rain, and if the images are of buildings that are occupied, or during off-hours when there is no foot traffic. The “after” images all also seem to have a filter on them. Not sure a late Sunday afternoon in winter after a rain, with the still clouds overhead, is any more “real life” than midday on a Tuesday in June.

      1. juno mas

        Good observation. . . but the foreground tree in the upper left rendering is a pine tree and they are evergreen.

  12. JM

    Another AI related study, this time on “Cognitive Surrender“, basically outsourcing thinking/reasoning to the computer and how they’re more likely to trust it just because it came from a system. The more the person trusted the LLM or disliked critical thinking, the more likely they were to just accept a LLM provided answer, whether it was correct or not.

    Here’s a pretty long public excerpt of a post discussing the study: https://www.thealgorithmicbridge.com/p/a-new-wharton-study-on-ai-warns-of

  13. ciroc

    >How MI6 Laid Iran War’s Foundations

    We must not forget that it was Britain, not America, that led Ukraine into a catastrophic confrontation with Russia. Based on history, Britain is arguably the most evil country in the world. Its former colonies, such as the United States and Israel, lack its cunning.

  14. Carolinian

    Doesn’t seem to be any real news in the SC/measles story and nothing to report from yours truly beyond previous comments.

    Maybe the fact that our small state is getting attention from this will distract from Lindsey Graham being our senator? In any case we offer a blanket apology and for armageddon in the ME too if that one can be tracked back to Strom’s successor.

  15. vidimi

    Re Whitney Webb’s Palantir and Epstein comments, Epstein’s operation wasn’t primarily about blackmail. He was mostly a fixer. And even then, the blackmail that a Palantir can provide, spying on your day-to-day life, can only yield so much. A gay affair, exotic porn, some minor corruption. None of that is going to shake the world.
    What Epstein offered was so much darker. Initiations of gang-raping children, ritualistically murdering them, perhaps even consuming parts of them. Stuff so wicked that it wouldn’t be believable unless there was video evidence. Stuff that leaves no reverse gear for whoever gets involved. He was just one of many, of course. I think the Podestas or Richard Branson are likely just as vile. Palantir won’t replace them, only complement them.

    1. Carolinian

      MSM and politicians: bigotry is ok if we do it. This has always been the problem with the “anti-racism” absolutists as partly discussed in the Aurelian. Moral judgments are slippery things, but useful for pounding the table.

  18. Wukchumni

    The first, Noem the Donald did slay
    Was due to certain ad campaigns in fields as they lay
    In fields where they lay making their keep
    On a cold winter’s night the bullshit was so deep

    Noem, Noem, Noem, Noem
    Bored is the lackey of Israel

    They looked up and saw a czar
    Shining in the east, beyond them far
    And to the earth he gave a great tariff fight
    And so it continued both day and night

    Noem, Noem, Noem, Noem
    Bored is the lickspittle of Israel

    And by the light of that same czar
    A Zionist man came from country far
    To seek for a conflict was his intent
    And to follow the war wherever it went

    Noem, Noem, Noem, Noem
    Bored is the pawn of Israel

    This czar drew nigh to the north-east
    O’er DC it took its path of resistance least
    And there it did both stop and stay
    Right over the place where Cricket lay

    Noem, Noem, Noem, Noem
    Bored is the bootlicker of Israel

    Then entered in Susan Wiley
    Fell reverently upon her knee
    And offered there in her presence
    Noem’s new posting you see

    Noem, Noem, Noem, Noem
    Bored is the toady of Israel

    Then let us all with one accord
    Sing praises that she was finally gored
    That hath Minnesota murder changes come of naught
    And with ICE blood on her hands mankind hath sought

    Noem, Noem, Noem, Noem
    Bored is the minion of Israel

  19. flora

    So musk want to light up the night sky and the govt pours money into data centers and AI. Is there a connection among these developments? File under Big Brother Watching You.

    From Judge Napolitano, utube, ~21+ minutes.

    **SPECIAL** w/ Harrison Berger : Trump Seeks to Extend Domestic Spying Powers He Once Condemned

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

  21. ChrisPacific

    Well-researched piece by NYT:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-school-us-strikes-naval-base.html

    Concludes that it was almost certainly the US that hit the girl’s school and that it was deliberately targeted with a ‘precision strike’. Speculates that it may have been a target misidentification as it was right next to an IRG compound; however the evidence that it was a school was very clear from satellite photos, so this would have been gross negligence at a minimum.

    This is the current headline here.

    1. frank

      People who prosecute a genocide have no qualms about slaughtering civilians during a shock and awe campaign.

  23. joey_n

    Putin says Russia may halt energy supplies to Europe, redirect them to Asia

    The news came in like a bombshell to me on the morning of the 4th (UTC-8).
    I had long understood the conflict in Ukraine as a means for the US to drive a wedge between Russia and the rest of Europe and reinforce the Anglo-Zionist stranglehold on the latter. Is Putin acquiescing to that? It makes me angry enough with the USA to see 450 million taxpaying citizens suffer as a result of the decisions of these US-trained and installed elites. Seeing all the gloating, rejoicing and Schadenfreude in comment sections of RIA, RT and Twitter, and the lack of counterarguments to Putin’s proposal, makes me wish I were in Khamenei’s shoes right now – the USA is not called the Great Satan for nothing.

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