The Incredible Intelligence of Crows and Other Corvids Laughing Squid
Astronomers detect the brightest fast radio burst of all time MIT News
Private equity ate my cats’ lunch Common Weal
Eating the Engram Wild Information
Climate/Environment
Heatwave that fuelled deadly wildfires was Spain’s ‘most intense on record’ AFP
Wildfires in California and Oregon grow, prompting evacuations and warnings The Guardian
EXPERTS LINK MUMBAI’S FLOODING TO CLIMATE-DRIVEN CHANGES IN THE ARABIAN SEA Carbon Copy
Concrete boom outpaces flood mitigation efforts, say experts Times of India
Bound by disaster Down to Earth
Pandemics
Accelerated vascular ageing after COVID-19 infection: the CARTESIAN study European Heart Journal
The silent legacy of COVID-19: exploring genomic instability in long-term COVID-19 survivors BMC
Water
Sumer, which gave us ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’, rose as a result of rivers, tides and sediments Down to Earth
Stanford Study Overturns Long-Held Belief About Plants and Rivers SciTech Daily
India
India plans mega dam in Arunachal Pradesh, with eye on China’s hydropower station in Tibet Straits Times
China?
Xie Feng Dangles Bigger U.S. Soybean Purchases – If Relations Improve The East is Read
Did Taiwan “Lose Trump?” The Scholar’s Stage
Is Xi Jinping Funny? Ramble
South of the Border
Trump, Venezuela and China’s Latin America advance Asia Times
President Maduro Hails Militia Enlistment Success as Venezuelans Join Massively Amid US Aggression Orinoco Tribune
BREAKING: Far-right 2019 Bolivia coup leaders Fernando Camacho, Jeanine Añez, and Marco Pumari will be released from prison pic.twitter.com/270B4TSsAu
— Camila (@camilapress) August 22, 2025
Africa
Is the Sudan war really ‘about nothing’? The Continent. A response to Anne Applebaum’s “The War About Nothing” in The Atlantic.
In Zambia, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Chinese Migrants Find Common Ground Sapiens
Syraqistan
Anyone in Gaza City who doesn’t evacuate ‘can die of hunger or surrender,’ Smotrich said to tell IDF chief The Times of Israel
Israeli attacks force 60 desalination plants to shut down in Gaza, as clean water becomes scarce New Arab
Airdropped Aid Is Crushing Starving People in Gaza The Intercept
Hundreds of thousands took part in huge rallies for Palestine in all Australian major cities today, the biggest in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. This one is Brisbane. https://t.co/SRljoIjr8S pic.twitter.com/rqdzRLxw7c
— tim anderson (@timand2037) August 24, 2025
***
Israel hits Yemen’s capital with wave of strikes, killing at least two New Arab
🇮🇷| Iranian Leader speech SUMMARIZED:
• Enemies shifted tactics: Since they failed to weaken Iran militarily, enemies now try to sow internal division.
• Despite political/social differences, the Iranian people remain united in defending the system and country. This unity is… https://t.co/epsANTDIRv pic.twitter.com/u3iZkhUKxL
— Arya – آریا (@AryJeay) August 24, 2025
***
Iraq: avoiding conflict amid regional upheaval International Institute for Strategic Studies. “Washington wants to take advantage of the changing political landscape. Sectarian and ethnic divisions are often exacerbated during electoral campaigns, and Iraq also tends to be vulnerable to foreign influence during the government-formation process…”
Iraqi Resistance warns against US intrusions, urges protection of PMF Al Mayadeen
Netanyahu’s endorsement of ‘Greater Israel’ vision ignites outrage in Iraq Amwaj
European Disunion
Mathew D. Rose: The EU – Fascism is coming home Brave New Europe
Stop attacking our energy security! This is not our war! https://t.co/Hag9soeiHu
— Péter Szijjártó (@FM_Szijjarto) August 24, 2025
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia’s Lavrov outlines terms for Ukraine peace: big power security guarantee and no NATO Reuters
Allegiance to Whom? And Lavrov Speaks . . . Larry Johnson
Russia recognized it cannot install ‘puppet regime’ in Kyiv: US vice president Anadolu Agency
Desperate Euro-Elites Suggest Boots-on-Ground Even “Before Ceasefire” Simplicius
Pentagon Has Quietly Blocked Ukraine’s Long-Range Missile Strikes on Russia WSJ. Yet approves sale of cruise missiles.
🇷🇺 A Ukrainian drone was shot down near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, according to plant officials.
The drone exploded on impact, damaging an auxiliary transformer. A fire broke out but was quickly extinguished.
⚠️ Reactor Unit No. 3 was reduced to 50% capacity. No casualties… pic.twitter.com/THnFszKraw
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) August 24, 2025
If President Putin was as terrible as they say, Russia would have launched one of its largest strikes on Kiev while Ukrainians are out today celebrating “independence day”.
But he didn’t. Instead Ukraine has just launched British storm shadow missiles at the Donbass and Crimea. pic.twitter.com/U38reHsAY0
— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) August 24, 2025
Russian state TV, citing a Polish source, claimed Estonia is allegedly preparing a preemptive strike on Russia. Kremlin media are now promoting the idea that Tallinn has shifted to “active deterrence” and is ready to strike first if threatened by Moscow. Russian propaganda used… pic.twitter.com/CEZ3u5tecC
— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) August 23, 2025
The Caucasus
Armenians Demonstrate to Demand Moscow Close Russian Base at Gyumri, But Others Do So Because They Want It to Remain Window on Eurasia
L’affaire Epstein
“Liberation Day”
US companies are ‘staying put’ in China, none plan to move manufacturing to US Kevin Walmsley
Trump 2.0
TRUMP VS. POWELL: THE BIG TAKEAWAYS FROM TRUMP’S ASSAULT ON THE FEDERAL RESERVE Notes on the Crises
The Trump administration’s big Intel investment comes from already awarded grants TechCrunch
Sow The Wind, Reap the Whirlwind Racket News
Empire’s Stakes New Left Review
Healthcare?
Hospitals on the brink Searchlight New Mexico
Immigration
Detained migrant children forced to represent themselves in Tucson court Copper Courier
Amid deportation push, no Michigan businesses charged over hiring undocumented workers Detroit Free Press
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
I gave the police access to my DNA—and maybe some of yours MIT Technology Review
AI
The reified mind Internal Exile
Police State Watch
US legislative committee says it’s investigating antisemitism in leading teacher union Times of Israel
Imperial Collapse Watch
Fiscal dominance and the unexpected rise of emerging markets FT. Commentary:
3/9
The fact that it isn’t suggests that international capital flows do not consist mainly of investment flowing from where it is less needed to where it is more needed, as the proponents of unfettered capital flows claim.— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) August 24, 2025
And:
That pushes up the value of American assets, which in turn attracts foreign capital, financing the trade deficit and maintaining the value of the dollar.
These “global imbalances” are thus made in America, rather than in China. 3/4
— joseph francis (@joefrancis505) August 24, 2025
Accelerationists
Did crypto get unlikely help becoming a campaign kingmaker? Semafor. “Notable overlap with AIPAC.”
What’s Crypto Good For? Corruption, Exploitation, and Billions for Insiders Dollars & Sense
How AI and surveillance capitalism are undermining democracy Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Tech Elites Go FULL EUGEN*CS Breaking Points (Video)
These People Are Weird What We Lost
Supply Chain
Coast Guard Arrests Drunk Containership Captain Six Times Over Legal Limit in Seattle gCaptain
The Bezzle
In Rural Pennsylvania, a Free-Range Chicken Farm and Solar Project Is Not What It Seems Sentient
Zeitgeist Watch
‘Do not come’: 50 mph dust storm, high winds threaten Burning Man crowds SF Gate
Who killed Jean Pormanove? Read Max
Class Warfare
L.A. unions push for ‘New Deal’ ahead of 2028 Olympics Los Angeles Times
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
