Reviving the Radical King The Boston Review
US president Joe Biden to give sermon at Martin Luther King’s church, a first Reuters
Who Is Going to Police the New World Trading System? WSJ
Enron, Madoff and now FTX: New York’s Belfer family strike out again FT. “The ability of FTX to woo the wealthy New York family gives a fresh sign of how far Bankman-Fried had penetrated the US elite in his drive to attract investment for his businesses. Billionaire Robert Kraft and several celebrities and well-known athletes are also shareholders in FTX, the court documents show.”
Climate
Davos Playbook: Mood music — Protectionism is back — Where are all the Tories? Politico
MORAL LESSON 1: It doesn’t matter how rich you are, you can’t control snowfall.
MORAL LESSON 2: When it comes to climate change, the WEF has made net zero progress. Those endless debates about climate change that have been a feature of the program for years were prescient — take a look around, climate change is literally happening before your eyes.
Even the press notices. Even the political press.
#COVID19
Kraken is dominating U.S. COVID cases, the CDC predicts, as deaths jump 44% in one week Fortune
COVID in 2023 and beyond – why virus trends are more difficult to predict three years on GAVI. I love the tweet:
As people adapt to #COVID19 and make their own assessment of the risks and benefits of their behaviour, modelling becomes more complex. @Dr_D_Robertson examines why virus trends are more difficult to predict three years on: https://t.co/VoBphmdbSp Via @ConversationUK
— Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (@gavi) January 15, 2023
“As people adapt….” Let me translate: “As global leaders, starting in the West, adopt a policy of mass infection without mitigation….”
* * * SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentration and linked longitudinal seroprevalence: a spatial analysis of strain mutation, post-COVID-19 vaccination effect, and hospitalization burden forecasting (preprint) medRxiv. From the Abstract: “[O]ur knowledge remains limited regarding wastewater concentration and effects of the COVID-19 vaccination on overall disease burden as measured by hospitalization rates…. Findings: We found strong linear association between wastewater concentration and estimated community prevalence (r=0·916). Based on the corresponding regression model, the 64% county vaccination rate translated into about 57% decrease in SARS-CoV-2 incidence. During the study period, the estimated effect of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant emergence was seen as an over 7-fold increase of infection counts, which corresponded to over 12-fold increase in wastewater concentration. Hospitalization burden and wastewater concentration had the strongest correlation (r=0·963) at 1 week lag time. We estimated the community vaccination campaign resulted in about 63% reduction in the number of daily admissions over the study period. This protective effect was counteracted by the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain mutation.”
Cardiovascular disease and mortality sequelae of COVID-19 in the UK Biobank (PDF) BMJ. n = 17,871 UK Biobank cases between March 2020 and 2021. From the Abstact: “Individuals hospitalised with COVID-19 have increased risk of incident cardiovascular events across a range of disease and mortality outcomes. The risk of most events is highest in the early postinfection period. Individuals not requiring hospitalisation have increased risk of [venous thromboembolism (VTE)], but not of other cardiovascularspecific outcomes.”
* * * Biden Administration policy of unmitigated mass infection continues apace:
As someone who directly collabed on this page I can confirm that this recommendation was declined https://t.co/NarisbiBcu
— Angela M. Vázquez, MSW (@AngelaMSWinCA) January 15, 2023
Maine CDC head who led COVID-19 response leaves for fed post AP. Good, actually. I just hope Walensky and Jha don’t corrupt him. And speaking of corruption–
The Pandemic Erased Boundaries Between Government and Corporate Interests. So Who Can the Public Believe? (excerpt) The Disinformation Chronicle. Even the excerpt is worth a read.
* * * Ultraviolet light and indoor air disinfection to fight pandemics: A technology long overdue WSWS. Part two. Maybe.
China?
How big is the local financial pressure? A key tax overhaul is coming, affecting everyone What China Reads. Paywalled, but the excerpt is arresting enough. Can any China watchers expand?
Uganda turns away from belt and road rail deal as China stalls on loans South China Morning Post
FBI Counterintelligence Raided Chinese Police Station in New York: Report National Review
The Problem With Primacy Foreign Affairs. The deck: “America’s Dangerous Quest to Dominate the Pacific.”
Japan, U.S. strongly in sync over radical defense buildup Asahi Shimbun
US to Boost Aid to Micronesia in Exchange for More Military Access Antiwar.com
Myanmar
Myanmar shadow government raises $100m to oppose junta Bangkok Post. The NUG seems to be a little, shall we say, unworldly about crypto, but nevertheless the rest of the cash will buy some weaponry (and hopefully not be diverted to NGOs).
Fatal Business: Supplying the Myanmar Military’s Weapon Production (PDF) Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Syraqistan
Pakistan province calls for local assembly to be dissolved in win for former PM Khan Reuters. Punjab.
Latin America
Peru declares state of emergency in Lima after deadly protests FT. Somehow the FT manages not to mention the (US-greenlit) coup that brought the protests about.
New Not-So-Cold War
Repaired German Leopard tanks for Ukraine won’t be ready till 2024, says arms maker Straits Times
Ukraine says German battle tanks ‘essential for survival’ Deutsche Welle. So Germany has some leverage, then?
German defence minister resigns after series of gaffes FT
* * * Bloody Bakhmut siege poses risks for Ukraine WaPo. The URL, which gives the original headline: bakhmut-wagner-battle-strategy. So the reporter thinks Russia has agency. The editor, writing the headline, says Ukraine does.
Subsonic, supersonic, hypersonic and nothing-onic. Empire, Communication and NATO Wars. Mercouris, January 15.
Russia-Belarus begin joint military exercises, sparking fear in Kyiv of new offensive Reuters
Expanded US training for Ukraine forces begins in Germany AP
* * * Laying the foundations for a settlement in Ukraine Responsible Statecraft. The Nazis would like a word.
Review of Nicolai Petro’s “The Tragedy Of Ukraine” Natylie’s Place: Understanding Russia
How Muscle Works in Moscow Foreign Policy
Biden Administration
The U.S. Can’t Make Enough Plutonium Triggers for Its Nuclear Warheads Vice
2024
Biden may have jeopardized national security with document stash, Schiff says NY Post. D-. Cui bono?
Total number of Biden documents known to be marked classified is about 20, source says CBS. Commentary:
Worth noting that the President seems to have absconded with more classified documents than many whistleblowers. For comparison, Reality Winner was sentenced to 5 YEARS for just one document.
Meanwhile Biden, Trump, Clinton, Petraeus… these guys have dozens, hundreds. No jail.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 11, 2023
Biden taps problem-solver Bob Bauer as personal lawyer in document probe Reuters. Late of Perkins Coie. Naturally.
Drug-addled Hunter Biden lived at Delaware home where classified docs were kept NY Post. Paying $50,000 a month to the family laundry business.
Tech
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ‘Dune’ Was Never Made, but With A.I., We Get a Glimpse of His ‘Tron’ NYT. No, you really don’t. Every single one of these journos must think that AI is coming for the other guy’s job. Because their own brand is so distinctive or sumpin.
When M.D. is a Machine Doctor Eric Topol, Ground Truths
Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor (PDF). Journal of Economic Perspectives
A Luddite Library Librarian Shipwreck
Gen Z has a new ‘vintage’ technology to obsess over CNN (MN). Flip phones. Quite sensible.
The Bezzle
Addressing the risks in crypto: laying out the options (PDF) Bank of International Settlements. Worth a read. It would be amusing if crypto turned out to be a Trojan horse for CBDC (Cental Bank Digital Currencies), the tool with which finance capital will take our cash away.
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
How Police Exploited the Capitol Riot’s Digital Records IEEE Spectrum (PU). PU writes: “Dystopian hellscape of a country.” Wait ’til cash is outlawed!
Our Famously Free Press
Is Biden Being Blackmailed to Send US Combat Troops to Ukraine? Bill Totten’s Weblog. Normally, I don’t run Unz Review-adjacent material (and don’t @ me). But this is absolutely egregious. Bing:
Yandex:
Google:
Looks like the domestic intelligence operation orchestrated by the spooks, and so well-described by Taibbi et al. in “The Twitter Files,” is still fully functional. Take that, wrongthinkers!
Ames:
The most satisfying revelation so far from the Twitter dumps is getting unvarnished confirmation that all the Russiagate “disinfo-warrior” conjobs like @SecureDemocracy‘s Hamilton68 and @ClemsonHub are just straight-up rackets that everyone privately holds in total contempt.
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) January 15, 2023
Well, I dunno. That’s satisfying, but my personal favorite is confirming that the organs of state security, the Democrat Party, the platforms, and the press have congealed into a single slime mold-like entity (though, to be fair, everything is factionalized, so “platforms” is really a synecdoche for “hegemonic factions within platform management”).
Sorry, Not Sorry! The Intercept. Guccifer.
Zeitgeist Watch
I know this is Cambridge. But.
Girls (K – 5th grade) and their families are invited to learn about local teams and explore new sports. Attend Cambridge Sports Night for Girlx on January 18, from 5:30-7 PM at the War Memorial Field House to learn more- https://t.co/T1tIWfxUdf #CambMA pic.twitter.com/7L1SGM9kkM
— City of Cambridge (@CambMA) January 15, 2023
Since liberals failed to impose Latinx, they have doubled down, attacking a more vulnerable demographic.
They Can’t Cancel Your Soul The American Mind. This is, in some ways, a moving meditation on “silence, exile, cunning,” but nobody who has the clout to get published by reactionary citadel The Claremont Institute has standing to whinge about exile.
MMT
The origins of the ‘household analogy’ Tax Research UK
Realignment and Legitimacy
What the end of the US shale revolution would mean for the world FT. But until that day, it’s win-win, totally:
Spending for the same period in 2021 amounted to €29 billion.
The report notes that imports of Russian pipeline gas in the third quarter decreased by 74% compared to the same period in 2021.
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) January 15, 2023
Democracy and War (II) Joe Costello, Life in the 21st Century
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
