Will the bond market rein in Donald Trump? FT
Why Asian central banks are starting to decouple from the Fed South China Morning Post
Climate
Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023 Nature
Massive methane leaks detected in Antarctica, posing potential risks for global warming El Pais
Earth’s Oceans Were Green a Billion Years Ago. They Could Soon Be Green Again Popular Mechanics
20 years on, biodiversity struggles to take root in restored wetlands across Denmark Phys.org
Scientists Untangle Interactions Between Earth’s Early Life Forms, Environment Over 500M Years (press release) Syracuse University
Texas courts blocking jury trials for 30,000 victims of 2021 winter storm Dallas Morning News
Eastern KY activists bought land where feds wanted to build a prison Louisville Public Media
Paradise lost: How phosphate mining devastated island Nauru Interesting Engineering
Water
Fog harvesting could provide water for arid cities BBC
Syndemics
USDA Adds A New Species (Black Rats) to Their Mammalian Wildlife With HPAI H5 List Avian Flu Diary
The Koreas
Yoon appears in 2 different South Korean courts while defending his martial law decree AP
Why Japan Succeeds Despite Stagnation Tomas Pueyo, Uncharted Territories
China?
Jack Ma Is Back, but Beijing Is in Control Foreign Policy
India
Former Staffers Say India’s Biggest IT Firm Was Gaming the US Visa System Bloomberg
YouTuber’s ‘dirty’ comments spark massive row in India BBC
Syraqistan
Arab States Called Upon to Shape Gaza’s ‘Day After’ – to Their Dismay Haaretz
The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters The Intercept
What anti-Palestinian legislation to look out for in the new Congress Mondoweiss
As Israel uses US-made AI models in war, concerns arise about tech’s role in who lives and who dies AP
European Disunion
It’s Time for Europe to Do the Unthinkable Foreign Policy. Commentary:
This is an absolute must-read by Singaporean diplomat @mahbubani_k who proposes a path forward for Europe: https://t.co/H3gaIQwpU9
First of all, he argues that “Brussels has slavishly followed Washington for too long” and that European leaders have become so pathetic that “they…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 19, 2025
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia reports advances in Kursk region, Ukraine’s Kharkiv region Anadolu Agency
As the Ukraine war reaches its 3-year mark, Russia seems to have time on its side as talks start AP
The Mood on the Front Line, Three Years On Foreign Policy
Rift Grows into Chasm as Trump Lays Final Nail in Zelensky’s Casket Simplicius, Simplicius the Thinker
Trump says ‘it’s time for elections in Ukraine’ amid ongoing row with Zelenskyy Anadolu Agency
Trump warns Zelenskyy to quickly negotiate war’s end with Russia or risk not having a nation to lead AP
Trump tells BBC that Russia has ‘the cards’ in peace negotiations BBC
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following talks with US administration officials, Riyadh, February 18, 2025 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Kremlin unwilling to hold fair negotiations and end war – ISW Ukrainska Pravda
Gonzalo Lira Tarik Cyril Amar, The Ninth Wave
President Trump’s Masterclass: Blundering A Ukraine Peace Deal The National InterestS
It is not Trump that betrayed Ukraine Al Jazeera
Putin rates US talks ‘highly’, says Russia ready to negotiate over Ukraine Al Jazeera
Trump Administration
Commerce Secretary Lutnick: Trump’s goal is to abolish the IRS Axios
IRS to begin laying off 6,000 employees Thursday: Report Anadolu Agency
Federal court declines to reinstate Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship Anadolu Agency
Hegseth could soon fire or remove generals and senior officers, US officials say ABC
Why annexing Canada would destroy the United States The Conversation
DOGE
New Social Security chief contradicts claims that millions of dead people are getting payouts AP
Records show how DOGE planned Trump’s DEI purge — and who gets fired next WaPo
Digital Watch
Datacenter energy demand in bitbarn ‘capital of the world’ Virginia nearly doubled in second half of 2024 The Register
A big AI build has ‘stalled’ and won’t happen this year as funds and GPUs prove elusive The Register
Building a chipmaking fab in the US costs twice as much, takes twice as long as in Taiwan Tom’s Hardware
‘Can’t turn it off’: Google faces backlash over Gmail AI Information Age
Business school professors trained an AI to judge workers’ personalities based on their face Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic
The Bezzle
Memecoin Craze Is ‘Unquestionably Over’ as Crypto Heads Towards Maturation, Nic Carter Says CoinDesk
The Final Frontier
SASA looking for ways to destroy asteroid that could strike Earth, kill city FOX
Defense executives demand clarity on space agencies’ missions Space News
Scientists Think Visitors From Another Star System May Have Infiltrated Our Galactic Neighborhood Popular Mechanics
Supply Chain
Series of tanker explosions around the Med add to European shipping security concerns Splash 247
Hardware
Microsoft claims quantum-computing breakthrough — but some physicists are sceptical Nature
Zeitgeist Watch
Stealth tracksuit shields you from infrared cameras and electromagnetic signals FOX
Cultural taboos arise from a basic feature of the human mind Psyche
Antidote du jour (Bernard DUPONT):
Bonus antidote (AM):
AM writes: “Last time I was in Rhode Island, a little bunny huddled outside our dining room window all day. He finally left after it got dark. Survival instinct perhaps, keeping out of the snow. He left behind a melted spot. Darn cute.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
