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Links 6/15/2026

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How I Learned to Read Way, Way More John Paul Brammer

Aliens Might Exist, But These 3 Reasons Explain Why They’re Not Visiting Us StudyFinds

Earth’s Underground Fungus Network Is So Gigantic That If You Stretched It Out, It Would Reach to Other Star Systems Futurism

Climate/Environment

A Big El Niño Event is Likely in 2026. But What’s the Context Behind the Headlines, and What are the Global Implications? Daniel Swain, Inigo Insights

Phytoplankton decline hints trouble for north Atlantic food webs Oceanographic

Rethinking forest restoration beyond tree cover Mongabay

Ebola

DR Congo sees Ebola cases spiraling rapidly Anadolu Agency

Pandemics

Ebola, hantavirus, diphtheria: how distrust in health care is fuelling multiple outbreaks across the globe The Conversation

New Study Explores Potential Cross-Species Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease Morning Ag Clips

Water

Glen Canyon Dam dances with deadpool High Country News

China?

Shanghai Lifeline to Wall Street Wall: How China Saved Elon Musk, Yet Was Shut Out of SpaceX IPO George Chen

China may have fewer people living in poverty than the US Global Currents

India

India signals rethink over West Asia Indian Punchline

An Empirical Look at Indo-Russian Energy Trade Asia Cable

Syraqistan

Iran deputy FM says MoU with US to be signed in Geneva on Friday Press TV

Israel Fails to Sabotage Islamabad Accord… At Least for Now Larry Johnson

US military begins construction of ‘huge base’ outside Gaza to oversee Trump’s colonization plan The Cradle

***

Israel expands military control in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria by 1,000sq km Al Jazeera

The cry the algorithm cannot hear: “It matters to me”, the sentiment that will prevail over the annihilation of the future Patrizia Pisino (translation via GeoPolitiQ)

Old Blighty

UK Boards Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker in First Direct Interdiction Operation gCaptain

NHS patients can’t opt out of Palantir’s data platform – but their hospital can The Register

European Disunion

Ukraine and Moldova to enter first phase of EU membership negotiations The Guardian

Albania’s Civic Revolt Demands the Government’s Resignation Tirana Times

New Not-So-Cold War

Politics: reality or simulation? Events in Ukraine

Ukraine’s Naval Drone Program: Origins, Development, and the Organizations Behind It Black Mountain Analysis

How Russia is Responding to New Ukrainian ‘Drone Threat’ to Cut Crimean Corridor Simplicius

The Future of Warfare is Coming Faster Than Most Think Karl Sanchez

Tulsi’s US-Funded Ukrainian Biolabs Disclosure Is Incredibly Important To The National Debate Andrew Korybko

Onward to War Kathleen McCroskey

Imperial Collapse Watch

De-Blob-ification: A User’s Guide Un-Diplomatic

The myth of the belly of the beast Anti-Empire Project

New Military Recruitment Ad’s Hidden Message Ken Klippenstein

US business group says some critical minerals are ‘nearly unobtainable’ from China Reuters

Everything is fine:

L’affaire Epstein

Model scout who sent young women to Epstein: ‘I trusted him’ CNN

Kathy Ruemmler’s Rewrite of History The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown

South of the Border

Specter of US intervention runs through Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia El Pais

Trump 2.0

Trumpian State Capitalism Phenomenal World

Global HIV prevention declined drastically after Trump aid cuts, U.N. finds WaPo

Scoop: Trump aides fear Haberman and Swan obtained Situation Room tapes for “Regime Change” Axios

Democrats Suck

Democrats Vow ‘Day One’ Epstein Hearings if They Flip House NOTUS

Obama Legacy

A look inside new Obama museum ahead of its Juneteenth official opening AP

The Obama Center is a Monument to the More Effective Evil Black Agenda Report

Sports Desk

Sporting with Steroids Savage Minds. I hate to admit I missed the ‘Enhanced Games’ in Las Vegas last month.

Groves of Academe

Stanford Students Protest Google CEO’s Speech Over The Company’s Contract With Israel Huff Post

Mr. Market

Markets cheer U.S.-Iran agreement, but some investors caution deal is yet to be signed CNBC

Wall Street Is Gaining Access to New Catastrophe Models to Help Predict Wars Bloomberg

Economy

Our Troubles Are Over: The Average Price Of A New Car Was Closer To $49,000 Than $50,000 In May Jalopnik

Guillotine Watch

Trillionaire Elon Musk’s Destruction of USAID Takes Food Aid From Millions Facing Deadly Hunger Common Dreams

I Hope The Trillionaires Die in Their Bunkers The Sentinel-Intelligence

The Bezzle

As AI companies race to go public, who else is along for the ride? TechCrunch

Crypto Platforms Sold Users on SpaceX IPO Access. The Tokenized Stocks Never Arrived Gizmodo

Bitcoin’s latest plunge revives the debate over owning it—and whether it’s just ‘crypto being crypto’ CNBC

AI

Amazon CEO’s Talks With U.S. Officials Triggered Crackdown on Anthropic Models WSJ

What Washington must do Gary Marcus

From Manhattan to Genesis Communications of the ACM. “The U.S. Department of Energy wants to build a single national platform for doing science with AI.”

Monopoly Round-Up: The Pope and a Silicon Valley Trillionaire Fight Over God Matt Stoller

AI is saving office workers hours — and stealing much of that time back in ‘botsitting’ Los Angeles Times

Class Warfare

The opposite of oppression is not freedom, but time. Kaimataara

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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79 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “New Military Recruitment Ad’s Hidden Message”

    As part of that ad, they showed combat footage of a large circle of villagers being bombed. I remember that incident well. The claim was that this was a bunch of terrorists but the truth was they were not sure who they bombed and it was a matter of custom in that region for people to gather in a large circle shape formation to have their meetings. Noticed Hegseth and Trump as part of that video but can’t recall seeing any women or black soldiers come to think of i.

    Reply ↓
    1. Alphonse

      Without mercy. That is the message I see, not the greatness Klippenstein suggests. There is no mercy or decency in the sickening killing you mention.

      I do think Klippenstein is right about the military shown as force of nature or god. It make me think of Lovecraft – mad power before which we are as ants. It cares nothing for us.

      I think the music tells the story. It is ominous and inexorable. Many of the shots are point-of-view (POV), showing men and machines in motion. The camera is close, often low. As Klippenstein says we cannot see faces. Colours are muted – greys, blues, beiges, a flash of orange in the gloom.

      There are no heroes, no vistas of possibility, no hint of valour. The world is dark and threatening. The hour is late. The POV is under threat but relentless, subsumed into a machine that will go on even if men fall.

      This is not an empire in its youth. It is old and heavy. There are no distant horizons, no new possibilities. But it is still king, still with the will to fend off challengers. Strength is the only language it remembers.

      Watching the ad for first time I though fascist. I change my assessment. Triumph of the Will begins with Hitler flying high, Germany spread beneath. It shows new technology, a wide world, youthful enthusiasm and joy on the faces of men and women. The world is large and bright. The post war consensus recast fascism as the the weight of patriarchy. I think this is wrong: it was a movement of youth, hope, energy, speed, violence. (And so we do not know it when we see it. Move fast and break things is closer to fascism than is this ad.) The meaning of the fascis is strength in unity. Triumph of the Will shows this with armies and crowds. This ad does not. It shows only the lonely view of the man in the machine.

      I don’t see greatness. I see power past its prime, resolved to rage against the dying of the light. Without mercy.

      Reply ↓
  2. Vicky Cookies

    I watched the White House UFC event with left friends last night. I took notes, and will be typing up my reflections when I get the time. The following tune kept playing in my head:

    (To the tune of “This Land is Your Land”)

    This land’s a poor land, this land’s a dry land
    From the data centers in the new AI land
    From the private prisons to the health food deserts
    This land was made for UFC

    As I was walking, I saw a sign there
    And on that sign it said private property
    But on the other side, it said the same damn thing
    That side was made for UFC

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      Stellar effort…

      In the aftermath of losing at Stalingrad, Adolf had a ‘total war’ get together to inspire morale, and UFC is essentially total war with no rules really, as far as I can discern-

      My bags got delayed on the flight from Amsterdam and it took forever to go through US customs in Salt Lake City, so I missed my connecting flight to Fresno and the airline bought me a motel room, with the transit van driver weighing in at over 500 pounds…

      Welcome back, I thought to myself-ruefully.

      Reply ↓
      1. Vicky Cookies

        Thanks, Wuk,

        it really is amazing: we just lost a major war and the global economy is on probation with a suspended sentence hanging over its head. Perfect time to have the Marine honor guard escort batterers down marbled steps and into an ad-filled ring. “Look over there”, our rulers shouted, stuffing their pockets with cash and passports.

        Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          A sports coat sans tie, attired in white tennis shoes is never a winning look, but you go with the late stage empire you have-not the one you want.

          Reply ↓
          1. vao

            Can somebody explain why the President of the USA was accompanied in that official circumstance by that ill-dressed bloke (I had no idea who he was, so had to resort to Wikipedia again) rather than by the first lady of the USA?

            Reply ↓
            1. Dr. John Carpenter

              Because the first lady hates his guts, can’t stand UFC and was off with Jared Kushner working on Epstein Island 2.0.

              Reply ↓
          2. RA

            I just noticed something that amused me in the shared clip of Trump’s UFC birthday party.

            As they start their long walk at the beginning of the clip the UFC guy is walking slightly behind and to right of Trump. At about 30 seconds into the clip they make a right turn. His path being shorter, the UFC guy is now walking a bit in front. Dumb UFC guy doesn’t slow down so Trump has to make a few semi-jog steps to regain the lead.

            Reply ↓
        2. earthling

          The Xitter post said the evening was “peak America”. No, peak America I think was in the 60’s when MLK and RFK stood down the segregationists, and eventually, with help and work from an imperfect LBJ, the Civil Rights Act came into being. It has been downhill from there, because people we trusted to be our leaders began to sell us out to the highest bidders. Here we are, and it’s hard to say if we are more of a kleptocracy, idiocracy, plutocracy, or gerontocracy; anything but a democracy.

          Reply ↓
              1. JP

                For sure, I lived the zenith. I just didn’t think we would run the nose up, stall and auger in all within my lifetime.

                Reply ↓
              2. Henry Moon Pie

                I’d put it just a month later: 8/15/69-8/18/69.

                Putting two men on the moon in a tin can and getting them back to Earth alive: $300 billion (in 2025 dollars);

                3 days of peace and love featuring Jimi, Richie, Joan, two Joes, Grace and Wavy Gravy: priceless.

                Even if the bombers didn’t turn into butterflies.

                Another argument for my choice: the Anti-Human, Peter Thiel, thinks my choice is when things started to go downhill.

                Reply ↓
    2. KLG

      Vicky, Woody would approve!

      I clicked on the link of the walkout and flyover. I hope that somewhere deep down the Naval aviators and Air Force pilots realized they were playing parts in a farce.

      Reply ↓
    3. t

      You are truly doing the lord’s work. Wishing you and your eyeballs a speedy recovery!

      The bots and perhaps live humans who are tragically misinformed were all over social media this weekend ranting whatabout boxing matches on the white house lawn and pride events as though there is any precedent for Easter egg hunts or a “County Fair” taking weeks to set up and costing more than the annual budget of dozen rural counties.

      Reply ↓
    2. Samuel Conner

      I was half expecting to see a novel by Dustin Gunther* on the shelf.

      —

      *Not the real Dustin Gunther, but the pen name of the novelist favored by Monica Everett’s familiar, Nero, in “Secrets of the Silent Witch”

      Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      He got positively theological in it:

      Ultimately, while we can tell ourselves stories, and give in to the temptation to believe them, we cannot avoid limits. We cannot avoid being human beings. We can only choose to accept that with limits is a touch of the divine, and build lives and communities with love. Or we can pretend to be Gods, and act like sociopaths. The latter path may seem to work for a while, especially in moments when financial markets demand stories that are fantastical lies. But wisdom is earned in remembering ancient truths that transcend the NASDAQ.

      Given Matt’s intense dislike of monopolies, I’m guessing he’s a polytheist.

      Reply ↓
  6. The Rev Kev

    ‘Acyn
    @Acyn
    Hegseth: Nobody makes better or more munitions than the US.
    Brennan: But there is a crisis with those stockpiles right now.
    Hegseth: That is a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle.
    Brennan: You testified under oath that it would take years to rebuild those stockpiles.’

    Such a doofas. You wonder if when this war wraps up and Trump is looking for a scapegoat to take the blame away from himself, if he will decide to throw Hegseth under the bus. He is the obvious target. What about trust you ask? With trump’s relationships, trust only goes one way.

    Reply ↓
    1. Samuel Conner

      It gets better. At around 1:40 of the embedded clip, SoW PH says, “you don’t have to read back to me what I testified …”

      Reply ↓
  7. Sibiriak

    Democrats Vow ‘Day One’ Epstein Hearings if They Flip House
    ———————————————————————————————–

    The Democrats see the Epstein class as their sworn enemy. Blood will flow!

    Reply ↓
    1. vao

      So they assure us that the very first day of Epstein hearings — probably dealing with lots of formalities and prolegomena — will take place, but do not guarantee that “day two”, “day three”, etc, will be held. Seems legit and perfectly in line with what one can expect from the Democrats.

      At least that is how I parse their announcement.

      Reply ↓
    2. TomDority

      I have been hearing about the Epstein files for years…….it leads me to believe the Dems have been sitting around for years with fingers in their ears making them deaf to, not only the Epstien files but, the plethora of other issues upon which they carefully choreograph kabuki theater to avoid them duties to serve.
      I guess those hearing will result in more creative episodes of dramatic nothingness.

      Reply ↓
      2. John Wright

        I’m old enough to remember the Joe Biden chaired Clarence Thomas hearings that helped launch Thomas’ supreme court career.

        Joe appeared to enjoy his media moment, shut down testimony supporting Anita Hill against Thomas and, when the vote came up, voted against Thomas confirmation.

        So Biden opposed Thomas at the vote, but helped Thomas in the hearings when opposition could have made a difference.

        The Democrats may have a different plan this time, contentious hearings followed by no legislative action of note.

        But the fundraising appeals will be active.

        Reply ↓
      2. Sam Culotte

        Move to Canada where the government actually seems to care about people. Under the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit:

        A single senior with $25,000 in net income will receive a one-time top-up of $267 plus a longer-term increase of $136 for the 2026-27 benefit year (total increase of $402). In total, they will receive $950 for the 2026-27 benefit year (including the top-up).

        A couple with two children with $40,000 in net income will receive a one-time top-up of $533 plus an increase of $272 for the 2026-27 benefit year (total increase of $805). In total, they will receive $1,890 for the 2026-27 benefit year (including the top-up).

        After the one-time payment is made, eligible families and individuals in Canada will receive regular quarterly payments as of July 2026 to permit timely access to the funds to help families with day-to-day expenses. These amounts are additional to existing benefits such as the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Disability Benefit, and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

        https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2026/06/canadians-to-begin-receiving-enhanced-canada-groceries-and-essentials-benefit-starting-today0.html

        Eat your hearts out, Americans (sorry, bad choice of words). I know, socialism bad.

        Reply ↓
        1. Roland

          What, the Canada where food and rent have doubled in cost in less than five years?

          The Canada where “social housing” demands a minimum $60 K household income to access? (Vancouver). What I mean is that a taxpayer funded “social housing” project actually forbids low income people from even applying to live there! Then the government boasts of its, “commitment to affordable housing” !

          The Canada where it can take nine months on a wait list to see a G.P. ? (that’s me.)

          Or where hospital ER’s can simply put up a sign reading, “Sorry, we’re closed” ? (Williams Lake, among others.)

          The Canada that wants to adopt UK-style public surveillance?

          For God’s sake, knock off the beaver boosterism. Canada has the same sorts of problems, and the same corrupt elites, as afflict the rest of the modern West.

          Reply ↓
    5. Ben Gunn

      How will they deal with their own Epstein Class members? Is throwing Clinton under the bus on the table? I’d guess they have a plan to minimize damage to themselves.

      Reply ↓
    6. JP

      That the dems want to promote additional Epstein circus when the current level of graft and ethical failure is right now in everyone’s face. That is just pathetic. Trump may be Nero but it is the dems who will fiddle

      Reply ↓
    7. motorslug

      The congressional dems are the Epstein Class. Slovenly devotion to zionism, war, oligarchy and feigning outrage.
      If this comes to pass, they will only look at mentions of trump and maybe a few specific repubes. The rest will be buried or ignored.

      Reply ↓
  8. DJG, Reality Czar

    Margaret Kimberly. Always worth reading. Black Agenda Report.

    The library as empty suit: “Now Obama, ever the smooth talking, shape shifting, neo-liberal has erected a monument. But to what? This center is technically not a presidential library. Presidential libraries hold archives on-site which are maintained by the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). NARA is digitizing Obama’s papers but those will be held in Maryland, not at the Obama Center in Chicago.”

    Oh.

    And digitizing the presidential papers means being able to trace the searches and searchers. That’s the scary thing about books in this techno-drenched era. Books are still a private experience. They aren’t mediated by one’s telephone or located by GPS.

    PS: Michaelmas (above) recommends Stoller’s piece about Musk and his big world of nothing versus the pope, curator of an institution with plenty of problems but at least still animated by figures like Saint Francis and Saint Claire (his co-conspirator). And it is a good essay on the dilemma now in high relief in the US of A between techno gas bags and what remains of so-called U.S. religion.
    –And then you have Obama and his simulacrum of a library. Obama, the pseudo-intellectual, likely would compare this touristico-real-estate phenomenon to a short story by Borges. Stoller and Papa Francesco have other ideas.

    Reply ↓
        1. The Rev Kev

          I had forgotten how fugly that building design was until I saw that image in the “A look inside new Obama museum ahead of its Juneteenth official opening” article. It has no relationship to the land that it is on nor the buildings that it is near. And why so few windows? You read that article and it is obvious that it is in no way a Presidential Library but a sort of Disneyland trip in Obama’s honour.

          Reply ↓
          1. vao

            It somehow reminds me of a WWII Flakturm.

            The interior looks like a kind of museum, with all those exact reconstitutions of various White House rooms.

            Reply ↓
    2. motorslug

      Obama will go down in history as the Great Bamboozler.
      Rev is right though, it is one fugly building and I kind of like brutalism. That thing looks more like a bomb shelter that was disgorged by Mother Earth.

      Reply ↓
      1. RA

        I’ve thought, since I first saw it, that the big ugly Obama memorial building was an apt visual metaphor, since it appears to be —
        Rotting from the Top Down

        Reply ↓
    3. converger

      The Obama model for his Presidential Papers is arguably a much more transparent model than how other Presidents have managed their legacy.

      I know the Chicago neighborhood where the Obama library sits. I don’t like the Library architecture, and I don’t like that the Library tore up a beautiful chunk of the Olmsted-designed park network left over from the 1893 Columbian Exposition that first put Chicago on the global map.

      That said, credit where credit is due: the choice of location was a bold move. It’s in Obama’s South Side neighborhood, far from trendier spots like downtown and the smarmy North Side. It’s a grittier part of town (though slowly upscaling) and is unusually diverse, culturally and economically, in what remains one of the most segregated cities, culturally and economically, in the US.

      Reply ↓
  9. leaf

    This comment will probably be put in moderation due to not being fully relevant, but this weekend there has been a mass media campaign with thousands of posts like the one below, either coordinated or through mass (AI powered) psychosis, from Hindutva supremacists running the narrative that China had and still has an Indian style caste system. It seems some genuinely believe it. I’m not sure what the goal of this campaign is (promote or ridicule the caste system?) but it has been amusing to observe.

    https://x.com/Isotope_239/status/2064934893818454411?s=20

    Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      Well. the Tao te Ching knows about hierarchy, and puts humans at the bottom:

      People follow earth,
      earth follows heaven,
      heaven follows the Way,
      the Way follows what is.

      Tao te Ching #25 (Le Guin rendition)

      What if the TechBros were to do an update on the Tao te Ching? It might read like this:

      The people do what the government tells them to do.
      The government does what the TechBros tell them to do.
      The TechBros are gods and don’t have to do what anybody tells them to do.
      F the Tao. The TechBros will re-program the Tao.

      Reply ↓
      1. Borson

        Most Chinese writers on Laozi would disagree with Le Guin’s interpretation of the last line (“道法自然” in the original), though they themselves vary on their understanding of what “自然”, which Le Guin translated as “what is”, means.

        I, for my own part, have the impression that “自” tended to be used for a more strict meaning of reflection on the antecedent in classical Chinese, with the more abstract ideas of “self” acquired later. So the correct translation should be “the Way follows its own being”. I believe this is also the plurality, if not majority interpretation (though arrived at by different arguments), of the Chinese writers.

        Reply ↓
  10. t

    I’d love to read more, but I

    am no longer single.

    The best way to read, for me, these days, is take a book and leave the house for a couple of hours.

    Same for many of my friends.

    Reply ↓
    1. Sibiriak

      Thanks! I wasn’t exactly chomping on the bit to watch another Iran war video, but that one was certainly worth it.

      Reply ↓
      1. flora

        I wonder why T was suddenly so vehement that this deal get done now.

        My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that this Iran debacle, a debacle propping up Isr – the most internationally disliked country in the world – is destroying the T brand around the world.

        How are the T international golf courses doing just now? The T name has been removed by court order from the Kennedy Center. (Another issue less related to brand name than to overstepping his authority.) The Albanians are revolting against a T son-in-law buying an island to create another T “paradise.”
        https://www.the-journal.com/articles/what-to-know-protests-grow-over-trump-family-linked-resort-in-albania/

        T might not care about rising prices or the American economy, but he’s keenly interested in his brand name’s cache:
        Big, Beautiful, The Best, The Most Amazing, Golden.
        The longer this nonsense goes on the more the brand reputation sinks, imo. From gold to… what… lead? That’s some alchemy.

        The T brand is no longer golden around the world.
        T knows it. The question is how far down the T brand goes.

        That’s my 2 cents.

        Reply ↓
        2. sibiriak

          1) Trump was told he had to get the Strait open NOW! to avoid a global economic catastrophe which he would be blamed for (and almost guarantee impeachment proceedings after the midterms.)

          2) There was no viable military option. If there had been one, he would have used it already.

          Reply ↓
  12. The Rev Kev

    ‘user avatar
    Julia 🇺🇸
    @Jules31415
    Everything about the UFC Freedom 250 opening ceremony at the White House is peak America, from President Trump’s walkout with Dana White to the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds flyover during the Zac Brown Band’s performance of the National Anthem 🇺🇸’

    They had some footage of this event on the news tonight and I noted two things. The first was that – like the FIFA cup – that there were empty audience sections which could not be hidden. The second was that there were whole sections that were filled with service personnel. This would seemingly confirm a report from the other day that they had difficulty in filling those seats and were resorting to bringing in service people to hide this fact.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      Wasn’t the whole event catered to appeal to young adult males of voting age?

      Benedict Donald gave an hour and a half talk with local boy turned twitch streamer/compulsive gambler Adin Ross, in the run up to the 2024 election.

      His approval ratings currently must be all evangs, and nobody else.

      Reply ↓
    2. flora

      Yesterday was Flag Day in the US, where households will fly the flag on their porch or doorway and the main streets in towns will fly the flag on street corners. It’s an old custom going back to the US Civil War. Call it a gentle patriotic display.

      This is the first year I didn’t see any American flags flying on the main street or private residences. Nobody I know is excited about the US 250th anniversary. It seems like another country now rules D.C.

      This admin has done more damage to US morale than even W did. That’s quite the…uh… accomplishment? / my 2 cents

      Reply ↓
      2. Jonathan Holland Becnel

        We excited down here in the South.

        I’m seeing more “250” flags popping up.

        AMERICAN REVOLUTION 2

        🫡 🇺🇸

        Reply ↓
  13. AG

    re: Nordstream 2 lawsuit revealed

    BERLINER ZEITUNG

    google-transl.

    Nord Stream 2: Now the operator is suing against the EU’s withdrawal from Russian gas.

    The pipeline company Nord Stream 2 AG is demanding the complete repeal of the EU regulation. The lawsuit was not previously public knowledge.
    https://archive.is/TMexn

    “(…)
    According to a procedural notice published Monday in the Official Journal of the European Union, the operating company, Nord Stream 2 AG, filed a lawsuit against the European Parliament and the Council of the EU at the end of April. However, it only became public knowledge now.

    The lawsuit challenges EU Regulation 2026/261, which aims to phase out Russian gas imports from 2027 onwards. The case is being heard before the General Court of the EU under case number T-264/26.
    (…)
    The company argues (…) that the regulation amounts to a de facto expropriation without compensation.
    (…)
    Furthermore (…) should have been enacted on a different legal basis.
    (…)”

    Can take years though. Outcome unclear according to this report.

    Reply ↓
    1. vao

      I have not followed this for a while, but at some point Nord Stream 2 AG had filed for insolvency. I wonder what exact kind of reprive that firm was given if it still exists as an entity able to launch a judicial process in a court of law.

      Reply ↓
      1. AG

        what Wiki German says in the last chapter of the entry on “Nord Stream 2 AG.” (I haven´t checked the details):

        “(…)
        On February 22, 2022, Germany suspended the approval process for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in response to Moscow’s recognition of the territories in eastern Ukraine—which had been progressively occupied by Russia since 2014—as independent states.[11] The then-Managing Director Matthias Warnig and other staff members were directly subjected to sanctions on February 23, 2022.[12]

        Following the demise of Nord Stream 2, the five lenders were forced to write off several billion euros.[13]

        In late February 2022, 106 Nord Stream 2 employees were laid off as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine; additionally, on March 3, 2022, Nord Stream 2 denied reports of bankruptcy that had circulated in the media on March 1.[14][15] By the end of 2022, approximately 40 employees remained, handling technical and administrative tasks.[4] On February 28, 2022—four days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine—Shell announced its intention to terminate its cooperation with Gazprom and associated companies, including its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.[16]

        On May 10, 2022, the Cantonal Court of Zug granted a provisional moratorium on debt enforcement until September 2022 and appointed a provisional administrator.[5] This period was extended several times by six-month intervals, most recently until May 9, 2025.[5] A further extension would not have been legally permissible.[17] On that date, a court in Zug confirmed the composition agreement for Nord Stream 2 AG, as an agreement had been reached with the creditors. This enables financial restructuring through a debt write-down and avoids formal insolvency proceedings. This approach ensures that the pipeline’s approval process—which had not yet been concluded—does not need to be restarted from scratch.
        (…)”.

        Reply ↓
  15. pjay

    – ‘De-Blob-ification: A User’s Guide’ – Un-Diplomatic

    – ‘The myth of the belly of the beast’ – Anti-Empire Project

    – ‘New Military Recruitment Ad’s Hidden Message’ – Ken Klippenstein

    Thank you for posting these. Taken together, they provide an excellent answer to the age-old question, “why no socialism – or “revolution” or even much of a “left” – in the US?” The Anti-Empire Project essay gives us a comprehensive summary of the multi-level mechanisms of ruling class hegemony in the US. Former Blobster Van Jackson’s description of the Blob, and its take-over by the even more reactionary MAGA cadre, is very useful (I’d add Ray McGovern’s very descriptive acronym ‘MICIMATT’ to better define Blob elements). And Klippenstein’s example illustrates the effects of Blob take-over by the even greater war-mongering Zionist MAGA faction. These all appear under the Imperial Collapse Watch heading. Unfortunately, each illustrates why we are still waiting for that to happen.

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  16. In Cold Chud

    Re: I Hope The Trillionaires Die in Their Bunkers

    For me, the endpoint of a kind of hope something like what the author is describing is that, once the human species has exterminated itself, the biosphere will recover without us. Is there an argument for being attached to this species while eschewing individual or tribal graspings? Why is it so important that human consciousness witness everything? There is no reason to believe that anything humans build after this will be any better than the nightmare we have created for ourselves now.

    Imagine hating this planet so much that you devote your entire life to trying to escape it, to go live on a dead red one.

    The essential ugliness of the idea of space colonization cannot be stressed enough. It is the belief that the Earth is an empty beer can to be crushed against one’s forehead, perhaps while loudly belching, and cracking open another.

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  17. pjay

    – ‘Scoop: Trump aides fear Haberman and Swan obtained Situation Room tapes for “Regime Change” -Axios

    Very interesting for a lot of reasons – if true. It is Axios, after all, but at least Barak Ravid didn’t write this story. There are some obviously important implications if the story is indeed factual. But even if not, if the administration believes it to be there could also be some significant fallout. At least they can’t blame it on Tulsi, since she was never allowed into the room with the Big Boys and Girls.

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  18. Sam Culotte

    >Bitcoin’s latest plunge revives the debate over owning it—and whether it’s just ‘crypto being crypto’

    What plunge? When was the latest? The article never says. It only says that Bitcoin has lost nearly half its value since $125,000 in July 2025. I read it all. That’s it.

    More information please CNBC, or get consigned to the click-bait rubbish bin.

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  19. AG

    re: EU sanctions so old it´s new

    Pondering about the insane idea of sanctions by the EU I remembered that this madness is not all that new.

    Some might recall that in the heyday of Austrian rightwing Jörg Haider when his FPÖ dared form a government with the larger conservative Austrian ÖVP under Wolfgang Schüssel the EU simply sanctioned the country because Brussels didn´t like the parties in power.

    It wasn´t particularly legal. And certainly not legitimate. But already then EU elite liberal class was all Gung-ho to save the continent from fascism.

    This happened 26 years ago.

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  20. AG

    re: Tulsi’s US-Funded Ukrainian Biolabs Disclosure Is Incredibly Important To The National Debate – Andrew Korybko

    Korybko offers an interesting take turning the issue into a piece not about geopolitics in Europe but US domestic politics and the mid-terms.

    But then he eventually delivers such puzzling statement:

    “the Director of National Intelligence under whose watch Trump 2.0’s Neo-Reagan Doctrine has rolled back Russian influence worldwide.”

    Anyhow the topic of biolabs in Ukraine was discussed here many times. I am not gonna rehash it.

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