Small-scale magnetism leads to large-scale solar atmosphere Phys.org. From NASA/ESA Solar Orbiter. But I’m really here for the photos:
‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse will slice across Americas on Saturday with millions along path AP
Climate
The global costs of extreme weather that are attributable to climate change Nature
How not to feed a hungry planet Climate & Capitalism
Water
One Of The Biggest Ways We Can Create A Future Free of Contamination The Brockovich Report
#COVID19
Cold virus may set the stage for Long COVID (press release) NIH. “The findings suggest that PASC [obfuscatory jargon for Long Covid] may arise from a phenomenon known as immune imprinting. This refers to how a person’s history of previous infections can affect their immune response to new infections.” Of course, non-pharmaceutical interventions like better ventilation, filtration, and masking work against all viruses. I suppose that’s why we don’t do them.
Do Pandemics Ever End? NEJM
China?
China bans new offshore brokerage accounts in capital control move Reuters
EU to investigate Chinese steel and aluminium sectors, with tariffs looming, in deal with US South China Morning Post
Goldman Sachs sues Malaysia as 1MDB settlement dispute escalates South China Morning Post
Couchfish Day 372: Four Fingers For The Gods CouchFish
India
The mystery of the Adani coal imports that quietly doubled in value FT
What the Government’s Powers to Allot Coal Blocks to Lone Bidders Mean The Wire
Kashmiri Saffron: The Red Gold Underneath The Purple Madras Courier
Syraqistan
Israel’s new unity government pledges to change ‘strategic reality’ in Gaza FT
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken lands in Israel Reuters
‘Israel Is Going to Have to Make Some Tough Calls’: There’s No Clear Way Out of the Hostage Crisis Politico
Grim prospects if Israel launches ground assault on Gaza France24.
Israeli Ground Forces Get Cold Feet? + Ukraine War Updates Simplicius the Thinkers(s). Interesting speculations.
How Hamas uses tunnels in Gaza to target Israel FirstPost. (“Think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for civilians, and another for Hamas.”) Bakhmut: 16.1mi²; Mariupol: 64.09 mi²; Gaza: 140.9 mi².
A Cartography of the Unknowable: Technology, Territory and Subterranean Agencies in Israel’s Management of the Gaza Tunnels Geopolitics. Jargon generator probably overheated during the writing, but still worth a read if you can translate. “The soil’s ability to obfuscate techniques through which data can be gathered, analysed and used to predict future threats profoundly alters the calculus through which the political logic of risk operates in a fundamental way.”
A Dive into IDF’s Vulnerabilities in Light of the Recent Assault RealClearDefense
The Israeli Military Wasn’t Ready for This Andrew Exum, The Atlantic. Exum was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East:
More worrying, and more structural, are the complacency and lack of discipline that not only cost Israel in the opening stages of this new war but will likely continue to do so. I spent almost three years in Lebanon in the mid-2000s and wrote a doctoral dissertation on Hezbollah’s evolution as a fighting force. The few Hezbollah fighters I met in those days struck me, for the most part, as motivated, well trained, and disciplined. Those who fought in the 2006 war with Israel retained a certain amount of wary respect for the U.S. military but held their Israeli adversaries in contempt. They had seen Israeli soldiers in action—and had not been impressed…..
[T]he country’s semiprofessional military relies heavily on conscripts and reservists, which places it at a disadvantage in many respects. Full-time, professional militaries can dedicate themselves to rehearsing collective tasks that high-intensity combat situations often require: reacting to ambushes, conducting raids, incorporating artillery and airpower into maneuvers. Conscript militaries, by contrast, are forever bringing on and training new people. The turnover is often too high to allow units to develop proficiency in the most complicated military tasks…. Israel’s conventional forces, moreover, seem to spend less time rehearsing combined arms operations than they do policing the occupied territories….
Discipline is another issue: In 2006, Hezbollah was able to locate Israeli positions by intercepting Israeli reservists calling home on their mobile phones.
Muslim and Arab sports stars hold summit over Israel-Hamas war as players clash Mirror Sport
They’re Repeating The Word ‘Unprovoked’ Again, This Time In Defense Of Israel Caitlin Johnstone
Forest Against the Trees The Baffler
Beyond Moral Condemnation Boston Review
There is no proof Palestinian fighters ‘beheaded’ babies. The only source is a radical settler Mondoweiss
The Israel-Hamas War Could Upend Global Energy Security Foreign Policy
European Disunion
A Coming Colour Revolution in Slovakia? Al Mayadeen. I don’t buy color revolutions in Asia; I don’t think we’re competent to do more than nibble round the edges. But in Eastern Europe, we have form.
Dear Old Blighty
Covid Inquiry: 6 Shocking Moments You May Have Missed HuffPo
New Not-So-Cold War
U.S. Announces New Military Aid for Ukraine as Obstacles Mount WSJ
ISW analyses surge in Russian attacks near Avdiivka Ukrainska Pravda
Zelenskiy pledged not to attack nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia, says IAEA chief Guardian
Zelenskyy plans to visit Israel Ukrainska Pravda
Massive capital flight from Russia in 2022 left by four main channels BNE Intellinews
Conflict in the Caucasus may not be over Responsible Statecraft
Finland police investigate undersea gas pipeline leak as possible sabotage AP
‘Civilisation State’: Theory and Practice Valdai Discussion Club
Supply Chain
September U.S. Container Import Volumes Increase, Breaking from Traditional Fall Decline Hellenic Shipping News
The Bezzle
Crypto Is Still the Wild West Almost a Year After FTX Collapse WSJ
Caroline Ellison’s Revenge MSN
Digital Watch
Exclusive: Booz Allen aims to bring AI to government offices Axios
Congressional Democrats push Biden to codify AI Bill of Rights in executive order FedScoop
Inside the deadly instant loan app scam that blackmails with nudes BBC
Our Famously Free Press
Social media traffic to top news sites craters Axios
Zeitgeist Watch
‘I never lived a life I didn’t want to live’: Sly Stone on addiction, ageing and changing music for ever Guardian
Don’t Confuse Me With Facts. Aurelien, Trying to Understand the World
Imperial Collapse Watch
Sweeping Aside All Competition: F-35 Continues to Take Europe By Storm With New Clients and Localised Production Military Watch
Black Injustice Tipping Point
Defanged (review) Eric Foner, London Review of Books. Martin Luther King.
Realignment and Legitimacy
Most Americans favor maximum age limits for federal elected officials, Supreme Court justices Pew Research Center
Class Warfare
Workers at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville join UAW strike WDRB
Ancient Honey-and-Vinegar Combo Could Actually Treat Infected Wounds Scientific American
Family Ties Science. The deck: “Giant family trees based on ancient DNA from thousands of people are revealing prehistoric politics and social structure.”
The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs Quanta. Important and, for Quanta, quite readable.
In Defense of Hope Margaret Killjoy, Birds Before the Storm
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
