Learning to live with musk oxen High Country News
Diaper Spa in NH catering to adults with trauma, raises eyebrows, concerns WHDH
America Hasn’t Seen Syphilis Numbers This High Since 1950 MedPage Today
Differential peripheral immune signatures elicited by vegan versus ketogenic diets in humans Nature
Why did NIH abruptly halt research on the harms of cell phone radiation? The Hill
Climate/Environment
Climate change drives migratory range shift via individual plasticity in shearwaters PNAS
Abbott’s Border Standoff Fueled by a Climate Crisis He Helped to Create Texas Observer
Chile: Emergency State and 22 Dead Due Forest Fires Telesur
Could a Giant Parasol in Outer Space Help Solve the Climate Crisis? New York Times. What could go wrong?
Toxic Train Bombs
Rail safety legislation still stalled one year after East Palestine disaster WLBT3
#COVID-19
What Works and For Whom? Effectiveness and Efficiency of School Capital Investments Across The U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research. From the abstract: “Spending on basic infrastructure (such as HVAC) or on the removal of pollutants raises test scores but not house prices; conversely, spending on athletic facilities raises house prices but not test scores.”
India
US Drone Sale to India Unblocked Only After Key Senator Extracts Pledge on Pannun Plot Probe The Wire
Building Blocks of a Digital Caste Panopticon: Everyday Brahminical Policing in India Logic
Japan
Teachers on leave for mental illness in Japan hit record high Kyodo News. “…an increased workload amid the COVID-19 pandemic cited as a possible factor.”
China?
Chinese billionaire’s carmaker adds satellites in Musk territory Business Times
Why China needs to mind the earnings gap South China Morning Post
China Labour Bulletin Strike Map data analysis: 2023 year in review for workers’ rights China Labour Bulletin
Syraqistan
US, UK launch new strikes against Houthis in Yemen Anadolu Agency
Yemenis ditch UAE–Saudi coalition for Gaza The Cradle. The deck: “The Gaza war and renewed US–UK strikes on Yemen are shattering what remains of the UAE–Saudi-led coalition. Now Yemenis of all stripes are flocking to embrace the Sanaa government and its resistance stance.”
Red Sea attacks force firms to test new land routes via UAE, Saudi Bloomberg
Lord Cameron ‘sympathetic’ to making surprise diplomatic move to fix Red Sea Houthi crisis Express. Somaliland, “a potential location to base UK and US warships.”
***
ISIS exploits US strikes to attack Iraqi forces in Anbar The Cradle. The deck: “The US has used the nearby Al-Tanf base in Syria to train ISIS forces in the past.”
Iran Qualifies as ‘Strategic Error’ US Attacks on Iraq and Syria Telesur
Ending The U.S. Presence In Middle East Moon of Alabama
***
Poison gas new Israeli weapon threatening lives of captives in Gaza The Cradle
Sources to Al Mayadeen: Egypt to not allow Israelis to invade Rafah Al Mayadeen
Western Officials Warn of War-Crimes Complicity Consortium News
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Pakistan’s Imran Khan, wife now get 7 years jail for marriage law violation Al Jazeera
The US Toppling of Imran Khan Jeffrey Sachs
Old Blighty
The Tip of the American Spear? How the United Kingdom Could Pursue Military Specialization War on the Rocks
Mechanical issue prevents HMS Queen Elizabeth from sailing on NATO exercise Navy Lookout
Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill elected first ever nationalist First Minister of Northern Ireland Irish Times
European Disunion
Trump-Proofing Europe Foreign Affairs. Understandable that it took five authors to construct the alternate reality in this piece, e.g., “over the last few years, the world has seen a glimpse of a stronger Europe.”
Germany’s dream of 15 million electric vehicles is fading away Business Times
New Not-So-Cold War
ICJ Delivers Preliminary Objections Judgment in the Ukraine v. Russia Genocide Case, Ukraine Loses on the Most Important Aspects EJIL: Talk! Commentary:
Media done its best to bury the ruling, not only by ignoring it, but completely distorting and inverting its substance. Common spin was ICJ can now consider “part” of the genocide case against Russia. What’s not stated is this “part” is whether *Kiev* itself committed genocide. pic.twitter.com/6pYU16Kala
— Kit Klarenberg (@KitKlarenberg) February 2, 2024
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15 killed in attack on bakery in Ukraine: Russia Anadolu Agency
US P-8 Poseidon ‘Key Suspect’ Behind Sinking Of Russian Ivanovets Warship By Guiding Ukrainian Naval Drones? EurAsian Times
Kremlin comments on Nuland’s latest Kiev trip RT
Ukraine’s Leadership Soap Opera Continues to Boil Larry Johnson
***
By me, @HenryJFoy and @lauramdubois: the big idea being talked about in G7 on seizing Russian assets has come out of Belgium. Give money to Ukraine now, bill Russia and — if they don’t pay — seize the assets.
— Chris Cook (@xtophercook) February 3, 2024
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Gaza Method The Ninth Wave. The deck: ‘The West’s evolving blueprint for controlling a poly-crisis world by mass-murdering and subjugating the poor, the rebellious, and those deemed “superfluous.”’
The Three Strands to the ‘Swarming of Biden’ Alastair Crooke
America’s displacement anxiety and the decade of living dangerously Warwick Powell, Pearls & Irritations
Congress poised to cede more foreign weapons oversight. Why? Responsible Statecraft
Does The White House Have A Drug Problem? The Deep Dive
South of the Border
Self-described ‘world’s coolest dictator’ heads for reelection in El Salvador SEMAFOR
Democrats en déshabillé
Democrats Are Demented Genocidal War Sluts Caitlin Johnstone
GOP Clown Car
Former Trump adviser: Republicans will pass a military-only Ukraine aid bill SEMAFOR
Ron DeSantis has been dreaming of complete military power for three years. Florida lawmakers may finally give it to him. Seeking Rents
2024
AI
Unlearning Machines New Left Review
Healthcare?
Your Money or Your Life HEALTH CARE un-covered
Antitrust
The Dirty Business of Clean Blood BIG by Matt Stoller
Hungry for profits SOMO. The deck: “How monopoly power tripled the profits of global agricultural commodity traders in the last three years.”
Police State Watch
Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands AP
A Wave of States Reduce “Death by Incarceration” for Young Adults BOLTS Mag
Guillotine Watch
Ad firm Publicis, drugmaker Hikma settle US opioid cases for $500 million Reuters
Justice Department Secures Agreement with Pennsylvania Courts to Resolve Lawsuit Concerning Discrimination Against People with Opioid Use Disorder US DOJ (press release)
The Bezzle
How bad is Tesla’s hazardous waste problem in California? The Verge
Over 2 percent of the US’s electricity generation now goes to bitcoin ars Technica
Our Famously Free Press
Easily one of the more unhinged Thomas Friedman NYT column…
He decided to “understand the Middle East through the animal kingdom” (always a great idea to go compare peoples to animals in a context of genocide and dehumanization) and, surprise, surprise, the more noble animals… pic.twitter.com/jnl8lum2px
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 3, 2024
BREAKING: Tucker Carlson reportedly spotted in Moscow, Russia as speculation swirls that he will be interviewing Vladimir Putin.
Carlson said he previously planned on interviewing Putin until he found out the U.S. government was spying on him.
“The NSA broke into my signal… pic.twitter.com/MahlBIDEFa
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 3, 2024
Class Warfare
Lies, Damn Lies, and Economic Impact Reports Boondoggle
Getting Comfortable With Illegal Strikes How Things Work
The hidden political history of SF’s 1906 earthquake and fire—and what it means today 48 Hills
I Sing the Bioelectric Atmos
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
