Yes, I wrote a very expensive bug. In my defense I was only seven years old at the time The Register. Free help is not cheap!
#COVID-19/Pandemics
RFK’s proposal to let bird flu spread through poultry could set us up for a pandemic, experts warn Live Science (Paul R)
We need to share this picture more. A lot of people laugh at the idea that covid can affect everything, but not enough people realize that covid can get everywhere. pic.twitter.com/d3PDBwn5aU
— PACO (@PacoOnPause) July 6, 2025
Climate/Enviroment
Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas Wired (resilc)
ECB Warns of Impact of Heat Waves on Inflation, Economic Growth Bloomberg
Can we afford to be afraid of nuclear power? Guardian
Shipping through Hungary disrupted as drought hits Europe’s major transport route TVP World
Unprecedented marine heat waves fuel fishery disaster in Korea Korea Times
Poland’s Clean Energy Usage Overtakes Coal For First Time Financial Times
German firefighters contain major forest blaze as wildfires burn on DPA
Landmark US study reveals sewage sludge and wastewater plants tied to Pfas pollution Guardian
BRICS
At the Rio Summit, signs of BRICS in retreat – just when we need serious anti-imperial muscle CADTM (Micael T). I hate to say we told you so, but we told you so after the much-hyped Kazan session in October birthed the at-best-a-mouse of the Kazan Declaration. That is not to say that BRICS has not been useful as a forum for coordinating systems development to facilitate bi-lateral payments in local currencies. But if you have been following Lavrov, of late, in meetings with Asian organizations, he has been pushing the desirability of a pan-Asian group, with the SCO as a model, as opposed to BRICS (I searched his remarks at one of these confabs, no mention of BRICS). Recently, we pointed out Professor Mohammed Marandi taking issue with BRICS as a force and instead highlighting the principles behind BRICS and organizations advancing them. A similar take comes from Chas Freeman in The Collapse of American Greatness – What No One Wants to Admit on Dialogue Works. Even though Freeman is extremely critical of the direction of travel for the US, he sees BRICS as underwhelming. For instance:
26:05 BRICS meeting quite disappointing
37:40 unpredictable moves of the US not effectively countered by the world
46:25 Don’t see the evidence preparatory work was done for BRICS summit and there needed to be some
46:45 So far, BRICS more effective as a critic than an actor
Trump threatens extra 10% tariff on nations that side with Brics BBC. Resilc: “A whim of a wacko, no agreement is safe.” Moi: Trump reflexive bullying = Streisand effect.
China?
Calls grow for China’s household sector to be bigger economic driver Reuters
China’s aging and demographics: once again, everyone is wrong Kevin Walmsley
US plans to tighten AI chip export rules for Malaysia, Thailand Asia Times (Kevin W)
Poisoned water and scarred hills: The price of the rare earth metals the world buys from China BBC. Lead story.
Australia’s Latest Temporary Military Deployment To Europe Is Connected To Containing China Andrew Korybko
India
Why India’s missile supply to Greece worries Turkey: Athens–Istanbul regional tensions explained The Week
India shamelessly forged some 30 documents for the purchase of 120tons of rare earth and tried to re-sell to the western countries. It did not pass the screening of Chinese customs though and the Indian companies involved were revoked of the right to purchase Chinese rare earth… pic.twitter.com/B6ElCzNEje
— 乔华莘 (@qiaohuanxin) July 7, 2025
Africa
Tribal Clashes and Worsening War Escalate Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan’s Northern and Darfur States Watan
Ambushes, mines, kidnappings: the Sahel’s roads of fear Arab News
South of the Border
1/ Everything is NOT going according to plan in Milei’s Argentina. The trade deficit is reopening, the peso is once more starting to collapse and is being propped up with an IMF loan. This was obviously going to happen to anyone familiar with the Argentinean economy. 🇦🇷🧵 pic.twitter.com/i2GcVBU499
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) July 7, 2025
European Disunion
Across Europe, the financial sector has pushed up house prices. It’s a political timebomb. Guardian
Brussels to stockpile critical minerals because of war risk Financial Times
Military spending splurge ‘risk factor’ for EU economy, says Denmark Euractiv
Last Saturday, Europe’s and the world’s largest right-wing extremist event since 1945 took place in Zagreb Tobias Hubinette via machine translation. Micael T:
Unfortunately, the centrists and the faux lefties have abused the “right-wing extremist”-concept so you always have to be very careful when getting “right-wing” alarms – which usually is just a guy wanting to limit immigration or take care of foreign criminal elements, which also is a fair left-wing stance – but when you have sieg-heiling going on, you are in the far-right territory without a doubt.
Old Blighty
Bob Vylan must be free to be vile Spiked
Starmerism is disintegrating New Statesman (Colonel Smithers)
Israel v. The Resistance
“(It) is a war against a Nazi enemy… Stop humanitarian aid, cut off electricity and water, start destroying and expel… There are no uninvolved there, no innocents…”
Jewish Power MK Zvika Fogel says there shouldn’t be a single Gazan left in Gaza at the end of the “war”.… https://t.co/VvcjYpc4uF pic.twitter.com/6P9ZH9ttdd
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) July 6, 2025
Resistance ambush leaves over a dozen Israeli army casualties in north Gaza https://t.co/KGuwvdZ3Ki
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) July 8, 2025
Netanyahu the Cancer is in Washington Again. This time, Though, he’s Showing up Truly Empty-Handed Alon Mizrahi. Wellie, Mizrahi underestimated Netanyahu: Netanyahu surprises Trump with Nobel nomination, as president hails their great success together Times of Israel
“Zero” Progress in Ceasefire Talks, Hamas Official Says Jeremy Scahill versus Top Israeli Official Says Cease-fire Deal With Hamas Up to 90 Percent Agreed Upon Haaretz
Merchant ship sinks in Red Sea; Iranian foreign minister questions global silence Janta Ka Reporter, YouTube. Featuring in part to alert readers to this channle. Provides short, fresh events-oriented videos. Unabashed anti-Zionist/ant-imperialist viewpoint.
* * * Masoud Pezeshkian, president of Iran.
(0:00) How Would Iranian President Pezeshkian Like to See This Conflict End?
(0:44) Is Iran Willing to Give Up Their Nuclear Program in Exchange for Peace?
(5:19) Was the International Atomic Energy Agency Spying on Iran and Giving… pic.twitter.com/lMPoFa5ChX— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 7, 2025
My take on President Pezeshkian’s interview with Tucker Carlson:
There is no doubt that the Israeli regime carried out all of the assassinations with the full collaboration and support of Western intelligence agencies.
Iran owes the regime in Washington absolutely nothing. pic.twitter.com/9jb10Biu0e
— Seyed Mohammad Marandi (@s_m_marandi) July 7, 2025
Regime Change in Iran Would Endanger America American Conservative (resilc)
* * * Iran receives Chinese surface-to-air missile batteries after Israel ceasefire deal Middle East Eye (Kevin W)
‘They threw us out like garbage’: Iran rushes deportation of 4 million Afghans before deadline Guardian
Trump says US has ‘scheduled Iran talks’ Anadolu Agency. BWAHAHA. Iran insisted on security guarantees. This sort of noise is beyond silly.
Four Decades of War between Iran and America Juan Cole. resilc: “Not counting 1953 UK/USAUSA coup.”
New Not-So-Cold War
Tipping Point John Helmer. Important.
But: Trump to Resume Sending Weapons to Ukraine Wall Street Journal. Sounds like vaporware.
🇺🇦‼️Urgent relocation from Kiev: The government of Ukraine is looking for new accommodation in the west of the country‼️
July 6, 2025
The well-known war reporter Yuriy Podolyaka published information on his Telegram channel with the claim that the Ukrainian government is… pic.twitter.com/1yypRkcf6a
— Djole 🇷🇸 (@onlydjole) July 6, 2025
The US and Russia: Space War? Julian Macfarlane
Note Chuck L did not find a link to the Rand report:
🇷🇺💻Russia excludes Pentagon satellites – US LOSING SPACE WITHOUT A VIEW
RUSSIA EXCLUDES NATO FROM DRONE STRATEGY📍 RAND Corporation – the Pentagon’s think tank – publishes a report:
“Russia is systematically interfering with the work of American satellites. “
Signals are going… pic.twitter.com/P1jHxiEaqZ— Peacemaker (@peacemaket71) July 6, 2025
Turkish president urges Azerbaijan, Russia to show restrain amid tension Anadolu Agency. Turkiye adding insult to injury.
Syraqistan
Turkey’s water policies leave Iraq parched and poised for unrest Arab Weekly
Imperial Collapse Watch
Time for a New American Revolution CounterPunch. resilc: “There will be blood.”
Major Satellite Suddenly Disappears Futurism
Trump 2.0
Orange Lotus: How the Trump Show Outwits Reality Tina Brown (resilc)
MAGA Rep Literally Cheers for Budget Taking Away Free School Lunch New Republic (resilc). Don’t assume this posture is not a winner. Margaret Thatcher as Education Secretary was “the milk snatcher” for eliminating free milk in schools.
Trump and Congress finalize law that could hurt your Wi-Fi arstechnica
WNN Episode 2 YouTube (resilc). Trust me…
Tariffs
Donald Trump renews threat to hit trading partners with steep tariffs Financial Times
Trump hits Asian nations with tariffs, including allies Japan, South Korea Aljazeera (Kevin W)
From ‘fantastic’ to ‘spoiled’: How Japan’s trade effort to woo Trump backfired Reuters (resilc)
Trump Caves Again Over Tariffs – Uncertainty Increases Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
China reroutes exports via south-east Asia in bid to dodge Trump’s tariffs Financial Times. This was apparent in the surge of Chinese exports to Southeast Asia, as we pointed out after the “Liberation Day” noise started. But this has more detail. Note that the US is trying to counter this practice by imposing higher tariffs on Chinese re-exports (20% base rate v. 40% for re-exports in the case of Vietnam). But success depends on decent monitoring and enforcement, which seems unlikely to occur.
Democrat Death Wish
‘Hit Us, Please’ — America’s Left Issues a ‘Broken Arrow’ Signal to Europe Jonathan Turley (Li). A bizarre admission of “left” weakness in the US. And did they miss how EU leaders are fawning all over Trump in hope of attenuating the reduction of US support for Ukraine and NATO?
Mr. Market Is Moody
Private credit’s trillion-dollar boom is fueling warnings of a hidden financial contagion CNBC
The global economy is suffering from the Rashomon effect Financial Times
AI
China Is Quickly Eroding America’s Lead in the Global AI Race Wall Street Journal
The Force-Feeding of AI on an Unwilling Public Honest Broker (resilc)
People Are Using AI Chatbots To Guide Their Psychedelic Trips Wired
Bosses Are Using AI to Decide Who to Fire Futurism (Dr. Kevin)
College grad unemployment surges as employers replace new hires with AI CBS (resilc)
The Bezzle
Viva Las Vegas? Tourists shun Sin City over ‘ridiculous prices’ The Times (resilc)
Samsung to buy US healthcare services company Xealth Reuters (Paul R)
Class Warfare
America Has Two Labor Markets Now Axios
What is a micro-retirement? Inside the latest Gen Z trend Fast Company (Micael T). This is crazy. What was formerly a normal vacation is now so rare it needs a new name and is treated as radical.
The Technopoly Tightens Its Grip William Murphy. But sometimes not, see: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2965620/thai-immigration-biometric-system-no-longer-functioning
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
Baby elephant asking for watermelon pic.twitter.com/n9VLDQJLAL
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) July 7, 2025
A second bonus:
This little pup adopted by a mama cat
pic.twitter.com/OQ8irf2tcL— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) July 6, 2025
And a third:
A Racoon picking up its drive thru orderpic.twitter.com/t4yuCE4pPT
— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) July 8, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
