Links 5/12/2025 | naked capitalism

6 minutes read

Modern Babylon: Ziggurat Skyscrapers and Hugh Ferriss’ Retrofuturism The Public Domain Review

Climate/Environment

Spruce Trees Are Like Real-Life Ents That Anticipate Solar Eclipse Hours in Advance and Sync Up ZME Science

“It Made No Sense” – Scientist Discovers California’s New Highest Tree SciTech Daily

Nine-year study shows mountain plants won’t adapt fast enough to climate change Phys.org

Forests taking longer to recover from severe ‘megafires’ since 2010 Carbon Brief

India-Pakistan

Trump Truce Leaves India Furious, Pakistan Elated as Risks Loom Bloomberg

India has only pressed the pause button on Pakistan. It needs serious behavioural change General Manoj Mukund Naravane, The Print

Tensions, trade, and the fuel factor—India’s energy supply amid conflict with Pakistan Intellinews. “Diversification of sources with US-sources fuel seen as a benefit in time of war, but also a way to help India avoid the threat of tariffs by Washington.”

iPhone exports from India jump 116% in April amid tariff gap Communications Today

China?

Joint Statement on U.S.-China Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva The White House

China-US trade talks lead to major reduction in bilateral tariffs; outcome is in interests of both countries, world: MOFCOM Global Times

China and US agree to slash tariffs FT. “The US will lower tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 per cent from 145 per cent and China will reduce duties on US imports to 10 per cent from 125 per cent.”

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Silent Struggles: Tariff Crisis Hits China’s Garment Workers China Labour Bulletin

Ethereum Skyrockets After China Stimulus: Altcoin Season Starting? Tron Weekly

In China, record land prices return as developers bet on prime plots Business Times

How Many J-20 Stealth Fighter Will China Build? Top Expert Predicts over 1000 Military Watch

Philippines votes in high-stakes midterm election amid Marcos-Duterte showdown Straits Times

Old Blighty

British troops could join EU forces under new security pact The Times

UK sends flat-packed decoys to Ukraine in bid to confuse Russian forces The Times

Syraqistan

Hamas and U.S. reach deal. “I think we’ll have to detox from US security assistance,” says Netanyahu Drop Site

PM may call early elections to preempt Haredim over IDF draft, ministers say Times of Israel

US abandons ‘Hamas disarmament’ demands in Gaza truce talks: Report The Cradle

Israel fully endorses US aid plan for Gaza: Top diplomat Al Arabiya

As Gaza Starves, Israel Attacked UNRWA Food Distribution Center Drop Site

PM Netanyahu, today at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting: “We are demolishing more and more houses, they have nowhere to go back to. The only obvious outcome will be Gazans wishing to emigrate out of the strip. Our main problem is finding receptive countries.”… pic.twitter.com/WtZ5bBkWJH

— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) May 11, 2025

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Houthis say Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s Al Hudaydah province Anadolu Agency

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US and Iran agree to future nuclear talks as negotiations wrap up in Oman France24

Pressure without power: Why the US can no longer dictate terms to Iran Elijah J. Magnier

Seyed Marandi & Alastair Crooke: Trump’s Negotiations Fail Glenn Diesen (Video)

Prospects of Saudi ties to Israel elusive as Trump seeks $1 trillion bonanza Reuters

Trump Tower Damascus? Syria seeks to charm US president for sanctions relief Channel News Asia

European Disunion

When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs.

This fake news is being spread by France’s enemies, both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation. pic.twitter.com/xyXhGm9Dsr

— Élysée (@Elysee) May 11, 2025

This from the Elysee is in response to the allegations making the rounds:

I’m not saying Macron was hiding a bag of Coke… but let’s just say if it were a bag of sugar or a grocery receipt, he wouldn’t have tucked it away like a squirrel hiding snacks for winter. pic.twitter.com/foxWOWfsyD

— Kevork Almassian (@KevorkAlmassian) May 11, 2025

Yves here. I hate to weigh on on Conor’s post, but I’ve been out and about on Twitter, and even accounts with a history of being anti-Macron and/or anti globalist are not buying this. Many images with a zoom on what Macron grabbed, which most definitely looks like a tissue and not at all a baggie.

The weird thingie that Merz hid was standing vertical and Twitterati showed images of it looking like a very oddball food device:

Yes, it is weird that Macron grabbed the tissue and then did such a lame job of getting rid of it, and that Merz followed suit. But the video doesn’t support the big claims here. Maybe Macron is a neat or an image freak? He is fabulously vain, after all. Maybe he was strictly instructed by handlers about images with other Important People? The fact is that Macron is an egomaniac and incompetent all on his own, as in without chemical assistance as an excuse. Merz is not well known but looks to be cut from similar WEF cloth.

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Poland and France sign “groundbreaking” treaty, including mutual security guarantees Notes from Poland

Slovak Prime Minister Fico hits back at EU foreign policy chief Kallas criticism of his Moscow trip in a scathing letter Intellinews

‼️🇩🇪 Disillusionment Sets In: Majority of Germans Already Unhappy with Chancellor Merz — BILD Reports

Just four days. That’s all it took for the German public to turn sour on their new chancellor.

According to a fresh INSA poll, only 23% of Germans view Friedrich Merz’s… pic.twitter.com/rmdUW25gux

— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) May 11, 2025

Germany Scales Back Transparency on Arms Deliveries to Ukraine Defense Express

New Not-So-Cold War

Putin proposes unconditional peace talks with Ukraine (FULL SPEECH) RT

Trump urges Ukraine to meet with Russia in Turkey to negotiate ‘a possible end to the bloodbath’ The Hill

Zelensky agrees to Putin-proposed meeting in Turkey after Trump demands they negotiate end of war The Independent. Zelensky: ““We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy…”

EU leaders demand Putin end hostilities or face crushing sanctions Intellinews

Zelensky wants ceasefire to rearm military – senior Russian diplomat RT

Source says European position hasn’t changed

— ceasefire still starts tomorrow
— Russia must agree
— if Russia attacks from tomorrow expect strong European and US response including sanctions as agreed on Saturday
— Trump post and Zelensky tweet don’t change what was agreed

— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 11, 2025

Trump Played Europe and Kiev, But Putin May Be Playing Them All Gordon Hahn

Victory Day Leftovers

Victory over Nazism? Azov Lobby Blog. “Support for neo-Nazis ‘looks like deliberate policy.’”

Terrorists R’ Us Julian MacFarlane

Mr. Market Rejoices

Dow futures rocket higher by 1,000 points after U.S.-China agree to cut tariffs: Live updates CNBC

“Liberation Day”

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack says she’s hearing from firms that aren’t sure how much tariffs will go up, so they are beginning to implement a sequence of rolling price hikes to avoid a larger, one time increase in prices. Some firms that haven’t faced tariffs are also…

— Nick Timiraos (@NickTimiraos) May 9, 2025

The U.S.-U.K. deal shows the trade war is here to stay Axios

Geoeconomic Pressure The Global Capital Allocation Project. From the introduction: “A defining feature of the current global system is the willingness of the Great Powers to use their economic and financial strength to achieve geopolitical or economic goals. This rise of geoeconomics is a major departure from the last twenty years of policymaking and has the potential to dramatically alter the landscape of the global economic and financial system.”

Trump 2.0

Trump fires Copyright Office director after report raises questions about AI training TechCrunch

Trump administration poised to accept ‘palace in the sky’ as a gift for Trump from Qatar: Sources ABC News

Trump says he will sign executive order on drug price caps The Hill

GOP Funhouse

Proposal Cutting Medicaid Aims for GOP Middle Ground WSJ

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Mark Zuckerberg is building a new surveillance state The Hill

Immigration

Trump administration offers refugee status to 49 white South Africans The Guardian

Requests to remove tattoos considered ‘suspicious’ by Trump administration are increasing El Pais

Disturbing new ‘glitch’ means mysterious ‘suicide’ of AI prophet of doom may never be solved Daily Mail

An AI Whistleblower Bill is Urgently Needed National Law Review

Healthcare?

Why Are ADHD Rates So Much Higher in the U.S.? Gizmodo

Poor family finances, family-based adverse childhood experiences, and depressive and behavioral symptoms in adolescence Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology

Antitrust