Everything You Need to Know About Periodical Cicadas NC State
Climate
Japan’s Population Declines Again: Seniors 75 and Over Top 20 Million for First Time Nippon. Quite responsible.
Moment of truth looms for European green hydrogen investments S&P Global
Water
Are low-water crops a realistic way to cut back on Colorado water use? 10 southwestern farmers are trying to find out. Colorado Sun
Pandemics
WHO redefines airborne transmission: what does that mean for future pandemics? Nature
The WHO’s claim that COVID wasn’t airborne cost millions of lives. Now, they’re changing the definition of airborne. The Gauntlet
The pandemic cost 7 million lives, but talks to prevent a repeat stall WaPo
Capitalism’s New Age of Plagues, Part 4 Climate and Capitalism
Vaccine breakthrough means no more chasing strains (press release) University of California at Riverside. Big if true. Readers?
China?
Xi’s Armada Is Winning the Battle for Energy in the South China Sea Bloomberg
China trade body vows legal action over ‘unreasonable’ US Section 301 probe into Chinese shipbuilders, maritime firms South China Morning Post
Blinken calls for US, China to manage differences ‘responsibly’ ahead of talks France. China: “Hmm. So you’re saying we’re irresponsible?” This guy….
Myanmar
Myanmar rebel group says it withdraws from key town on Thai border Channel News Asia
Jokowi and Gibran no longer PDI-P members after backing Prabowo: Party official Channel News Asia
Philippine court blocks GMO ‘golden rice’ production over safety fears Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
Israeli council considers issuing international arrest warrant for Netanyahu: Report. The headline is bad. From Israel’s Channel 13: “‘According to the information and indications available to senior officials in Israel, there is a possibility that the International Criminal Court in The Hague will issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Halevi,’ the channel added.”
‘An Israeli-style Wagner Group’: The ultra-Orthodox military unit in Washington’s crosshairs France24
They Knew There Was No Bomb (excerpt) Seymour Hersh. The deck: “Why Israel did not attack Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons facility.”
Sy Offers New Version of Israel’s “Strike” On Iran and an Update From Ukraine Larry Johnson, A Son of the American Revolution
Construction has not begun on US pier for Gaza, but Pentagon says it’s ‘on track’ to open in coming weeks Stars and Stripes
Israeli officials admit failure of campaign to halt funding for UNRWA: Media Anadolu Agency
Germany urges probe into mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals Anadlou Agency
Israel’s defense minister calls for halting pro-Gaza protests at US universities Anadolu Agency. Who’s the sovereign here?
Dear Old Blighty
Brexit Britain wants to be the snooping capital of the West Politico
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine lost Avdiivka because of aid delay – US National Security Advisor Ukrainska Pravda. Deploying the blame cannons….
“This is your problem now”: US leaving Ukraine for Europe to deal with – French expert InfoBrics
U.S. Aid Is a Lifeline for Ukraine’s Struggle to Hold Off Defeat WSJ
SITREP 4/24/24: Comedown After Post-Aid ‘High’ Brings West Back to Reality Simplicius the Thinker(s)
Russians carry out over 60 attacks along entire front line – Ukraine’s General Staff report Ukrainska Pravda
As Russian Troops Broke Through Ukrainian Lines, Panicky Ukrainian Commanders Had No Choice But To Deploy One Of Their Least-Prepared Brigades Forbes
US secretly sent long-range ATACMS weapons to Ukraine Al Jazeera
Ukraine to increase long-range strikes in Russia, says UK defence chief FT
Europe—but Not NATO—Should Send Troops to Ukraine Foreign Affairs
Is the Russian Federation Set to Fall Apart on Its Own? Window on Eurasia. Author is from the Jamestown Foundation, a spook cutout.
Opposition Divided over History Leading to Putin The WIlson Center
Georgia foreign agents bill draws protesters onto the streets BBC. “Sopo Gelava, a disinformation specialist with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Lab, says that pro-Kremlin Facebook pages have been spreading claims that the West is behind the protests and pushing the narrative that the US is ‘planning a coup’ in Georgia ahead of the October parliamentary elections.”
Biden Administration
Biden Praises Aid Package for Ukraine and Israel as a ‘Good Day for World Peace’ NYT
TikTok ban signed into law by President Biden: How we got here, and what comes next TechCrunch
‘Thunder Run’: Behind Lawmakers’ Secretive Push to Pass the TikTok Bill NYT
The Supremes
Testing the Major Questions Doctrine (PDF) Samuel Joyce, Stanford Environmental Law Journal
Digital Watch
Forget the AI doom and hype, let’s make computers useful The Register. That doesn’t appeal to stupid money.
AI could kill off most call centres, says Tata Consultancy Services head FT. The height of our ambitions….
Our Famously Free Press
Right-Wing Critiques Miscast NPR, NYT as Lefty Bastions FAIR
On Short-Short Blogging Random Notes. It’s nice to know there are still blogs out there, even if the platforms are attempting to starve them of readers and revenue while stealing their content. I found this through Kagi’s Small Web RSS feed. I’m not sure about Kagi as a business, but “Small Web” is a righteous endeavor.
Groves of Academe
Columbia University’s ‘Gaza encampment’ becomes centre of US stand-off FT
In Columbia chaos, student journalists stand tall Will Bunch, Philadelphia Enquirer
Speaker Johnson on Columbia visit: So many ‘rage’-filled students don’t ‘know what they’re talking about’ FOX. But Johnson, a callow youth, knows what he’s talking about because the spooks briefed him.
At least 30 protesters arrested at UT Austin: “These protesters belong in jail,” Abbott says CBS. Texas cops:
Anti-Israel agitators continue nationwide disruptions with escalations at USC, Harvard and Columbia FOX
The Final Frontier
NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth NASA
Buried in the Cat’s Paw Nebula lies one of the largest space molecules ever seen Space.com
Supply Chain
More than 4,000 ship engines caught up in Japanese fuel data scandal Splash 24/7
Zeitgeist Watch
The Job of Consent The New Enquiry
What Does The U.S. Navy Need In Its Future Combatants? Naval News
Imperial Collapse Watch
How America’s Military Is Falling Apart indi.ca
Tune into Your Own Brain Waves with Steve Parker’s Suspended Constellations of Salvaged Brass Colossal
Collective intelligence: A unifying concept for integrating biology across scales and substrates Nature. From the Abstract: “We explore the hypothesis that collective intelligence is not only the province of groups of animals, and that an important symmetry exists between the behavioral science of swarms and the competencies of cells and other biological systems at different scales. We then briefly outline the implications of this approach, and the possible impact of tools from the field of diverse intelligence for regenerative medicine and synthetic bioengineering.” How about political economy? Is there a discontinuity?
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
