Kind readers, I hope that those of you have have constructed or encountered Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes will share your experiences here: “‘Look for the Helpers’: Corsi-Rosenthal Box Round-Up.” I’ve been very impressed by the technical quality of your highly informative comments so far, but alas! There are far too few, and I’d like to aggregate your thoughts into a second post. Thank you! –lambert
When bugs swipe left (press release) Washington University in St. Louis
Central banks set to lift interest rates to 15-year highs as investor jitters grow FT
Does money growth help explain the recent inflation surge? Bank of International Settlements. “We are concerned here only with the signalling value of monetary aggregates for inflation, not with the direction of causation.”
Climate
Nobody Is Happy With the Federal Grazing Program Gizmodo
Europe experienced record number of hailstorms in 2022 for the second year in row The Watchers
A fridge too far? Living sustainably in NYC by unplugging AP
#COVID19
Repeated vaccination of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine dampens neutralizing antibodies against Omicron variants in breakthrough infection (letter) Nature. China take note.
China?
Big if true:
I would like very much to know if Covid infection tape-watchers think these numbers correspond to any other country’s, even colorably.
COVID-19 treatment Molnupiravir starts to sell in China Global Times. Well, that should do it.
China’s Global Mega-Projects Are Falling Apart WSJ
Can Chinese pop music’s soft power push ever match K-pop’s success? South China Morning Post. No Betteridge Law violation detected.
On China’s Enemies Within The Scholar’s Stage
Myanmar
Why has the West given billions in military aid to Ukraine, but virtually ignored Myanmar? The Conversation. Because the fascists in Myanmar don’t need any weapons?
The Koreas
South Korea drops indoor anti-COVID mask mandate, infection fears linger Channel News Asia
India
Hindenburg report alleged fraud by its firms, Adani Group says ‘attack on India’ Indian Express. AFAIK, nobody has made the “Oh, the humanity!” joke, so please consider it made.
Our Reply To Adani: Fraud Cannot Be Obfuscated By Nationalism Or A Bloated Response That Ignores Every Key Allegation We Raised Hindenberg Research.
Chartbook #190: The Adani crisis – is Modi’s house of cards at risk? Adam Tooze, Chartbook
LIC doubles down on Adani amid short seller row The Economic Times
The man behind a $50 billion sell-off Mint
Syraqistan
Israel Strikes Iran Amid International Push to Contain Tehran WSJ. Mehdi Hassan: “How is this not…an act of war?”
The struggle brewing inside Israel’s anti-government movement +972
The Magical Mossad Mystery Tour The Tablet
Turkey’s influence in Africa on the rise Andalou Agency. From 2021, still germane. Handy map:
Dear Old Blighty
NHS plan: £1bn boost in hospital beds and ambulance fleet BBC. “Currently one in 10 posts in the NHS is vacant.” So, nothing for the workers?
How London’s property market became an inheritocracy FT
The Paper Trail: the Failure of Building Regulations Inside Housing. More on Grenfell Tower. Not unrelated to the above; see NC here.
New Not-So-Cold Cold War
Russia Tightens Grip Around Bakhmut as Ukraine Awaits Western Tanks WSJ
Western Volunteer in Bakhmut Admits Ukraine is Losing. Is the Western Tank Card a Bluff? Internationalist 360°. Link to potentially important interview (YouTube) with that volunteer, but the distortion used to disguise their voice is torture on my ears, so even if I had the hour, I can’t listen. Readers?
Live news: German economy shrinks as energy and borrowing costs pinch demand FT. Everything’s going according to plan.
Is Europe Deindustrializing? Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate
After tanks, Ukraine seeks warships from Germany Andalou Agency. Musical interlude.
Germany’s Scholz denounces ‘bidding war’ over jets for Ukraine Al Jazeera
The shift in Europe, Tanks and What is Really Important about Them Phillips’s Newsletter. Interesting:
I do think the pressure that was applied by the Nordics, Baltics and Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, etc, really do matter, and going forward their outlooks will play an outsized role in the establishment of Europe’s security priorities. This is because they have a common outlook that will hold them together, and secondly because they are together one of the richest groupings in Europe and they will grown relatively richer in the future. This wealth has lead them to construct some of the most powerful military forces on the continent.
Ah. The Intermarium folks. Adjacent to this crowd:
Every year, the soldiers of the Azov Regiment gather on the shortest night of the year to honor their fallen brothers-in-arms
This year, especially after Azovstal they had more men to honor than ever
Through new recruits, the group has grown significantly in size since Azovstal pic.twitter.com/STQDWfSkM2
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 24, 2022
Václav Havel (d. 2011) was a founder of the Visegrad Group. I wonder what he would think….
Some Western Backers of Ukraine Worry That Time Might Be on Russia’s Side WSJ
Erdogan says Turkey may accept Finland in NATO, but block Sweden Al Jazeera
The Russian Predicament Valdai Discussion Club
South of the Border
Peru’s protest ‘deactivators’ run toward tear gas to stop it AP. Learning from Hong Kong.
Venezuela: National Assembly Moves to Regulate NGO Activities Venezuelanalysis
Biden Administration
Exclusive: Supreme Court did not disclose financial relationship with expert brought in to review leak probe CNN. Chertoff. Chertoff is pro-torture. So that’s a plus. And Chertoff was never charged with perjury. The Supreme Court likes its experts clean!
DEA Mexico chief quietly ousted over ties to drug lawyers AP
Supply Chain
Russia ramps up diesel supplies to Turkey, Africa ahead of EU embargo Hellenic Shipping News
Healthcare
Virus exposure and neurodegenerative disease risk across national biobanks Neuron. “Using time series data from FinnGen for discovery and cross-sectional data from the UK Biobank for replication, we identified 45 viral exposures significantly associated with increased risk of neurodegenerative disease and replicated 22 of these associations. The largest effect association was between viral encephalitis exposure and Alzheimer’s disease. Influenza with pneumonia was significantly associated with five of the six neurodegenerative diseases studied. We also replicated the Epstein-Barr/multiple sclerosis association. Some of these exposures were associated with an increased risk of neurodegeneration up to 15 years after infection. As vaccines are currently available for some of the associated viruses, vaccination may be a way to reduce some risk of neurodegenerative disease.” Let’s pick one. Viral encephalitis. So [one moment for search] is it airborne?. W-e-l-l-l-l: “Viral encephalitis may be due to either DNA or RNA viruses, which have various modes of transmission, including bloodborne, airborne, or mosquito-borne.” Vax, therefore, is not the only “way.” But when you’ve got a hammer, a nail is top of mind….
Measles virus ‘cooperates’ with itself to cause fatal encephalitis Medical Xpress
Police State Watch
The Crackdown on Cop City Protesters Is So Brutal Because of the Movement’s Success The Intercept. The deck: “One protester was killed by police, 20 were charged under a ‘domestic terror’ law, and Georgia’s governor gave himself broad ’emergency’ powers.” Georgia’s Governor Kemp is a Republican, so I expect we’ll see Democrat Senators Ossoff and Warnock raising the alarm about a “state of exception.” Kidding!
A feeling that police would not or could not do anything to help Welcome to Hell World. Commentary:
Doucette is worth a follow.
Professionalize the police Noah Smith, Noahpinion. Why did nobody think of this [slaps forehead].
Sports Desk
The Philadelphia Eagles Will Absolutely End You The Defector
Guillotine Watch
I’m a corporate fraud investigator. You wouldn’t believe the hubris of the super-rich Guardian. No, I would, really.
Class Warfare
Learning from neoliberalism: a Machiavellian plea for reverse engineering (PDF) Joanna Kusiak, Across Theory and Practice: Thinking Through Urban Research. From 2018, still germane:
The revolutionary capacities of capitalism in general, as well as its impres- sive ability to undo established orders, have been well known since at least the publication of the Communist Manifesto. However, neither capitalism nor neoliberalism (both of which are, as Berman (1982) and Harvey (2005) note, utopian in spirit) achieve their aims by means of ideological purity. On the contrary, ‘really existing neoliberalism’ is var- iegated (Peck and Theodore 2007) and, it might be added, omnivorous: it operates through co-optation. Trying to counter its power while ad- hering to the strict rules of ideological purity is like fighting an armed street gang while abiding by the principles of a martial art: we may feel more dignified than the opponent, but we also are bound to lose. Can we remain critical and yet become more street-smart?
Interesting question!
The real cost of shadow work FT
Gender and the Great Resignation Phenomenal World. Worth a read.
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
