Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war — both real fog and stage fog — in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.
And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.
–Yves
P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:
Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please don’t do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.
Despite ‘desert tsunami,’ one of the world’s rarest fish are thriving in Death Valley Fort Worth Star-Telegram.\. And the cotton are high.
Trouble at the OECD Inside Story
BlackRock threatened to halt trading at height of UK market tumult FT
The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord Guardian
Climate
6 largest US banks to join Fed’s first-ever climate scenario exercise Banking Dive
World banks financially support the Amazon’s deforestation: Report Al Mayadeen
New EWG analysis: Of $7.4B spent on two of USDA’s biggest conservation programs in recent years, very little went to ‘climate-smart’ agriculture Environmental Working Group
Hurricane Ian again a Category 1 storm over the Atlantic as Central Florida still reels in its wake Orlando Sentinel
Florida Landlord Reminds Tenants Fleeing Flood That Lease Doesn’t Include Rooftop Access The Onion
Water
Lake Erie’s Failed Algae Strategy Hurts Poor Communities the Most Circle of Blue
Beneath This Sea, A Sculpture Garden Is Saving an Ecosystem Reasons to be Cheerful
#COVID19
Can we clean Covid from the air around us? Chemistry World. Yes.
Intranasal & Co: A Very Big Month for Mucosal Covid Vaccines Hilda Bastian, PLOS, “What about WHO authorization and mucosal vaccines? As of the end of September, none appear to be under evaluation there yet.” What a shock!
America is skeptical of the ‘dark horse’ COVID vaccine others abroad can’t get enough of Fortune. They’ve just gotta keep the brand out of the headline, don’t they? But the URL begins:
america-skeptical-novavax….
China?
The U.S. and EU brace for Xi Jinping’s third-term challenge Politico
China’s common prosperity drive for shared wealth to get fresh push as ‘strategic goal’ during party congress South China Morning Post
Countering China, the U.S. Signs a Broad Deal to Aid Pacific Nations NYT
Myanmar
Myanmar junta restricts access to corporate registry database Myanmar Now
Vietnam Becomes Asia’s Economic Leader as China’s Growth Decelerates The Diplomat
Syraqistan
Iran’s Crisis of Legitimacy Foreign Affairs
How a video taken out of context made Hadis Najafi a symbol of repression in Iran The Observers, France 24
Exclusive: Tracking the flow of stolen Syrian oil into Iraq The Cradle
Dear Old Blighty
For Liz Truss, the only way is up (or out) Politico. Commentary:
People seem to be getting the hang of it too https://t.co/VfNLJeBChp
— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) September 30, 2022
Record number of nurses quitting the NHS BBC. I’m sure when Sir Keir Rodney Starmer KCB KC becomes Prime Minister he will put the kibosh on the efforts to wreck the NHS and sell it off for parts to American consulting firms.
How Britain’s Labour Party Became a Criminal Conspiracy Against Its Members Mint Press
European Disunion
Eurozone inflation hits record 10% as energy prices continue to soar FT
New Not-So-Cold War
The Blob has form:
Absolutely inconceivable that the US could have blown up a Russian gas pipeline. Never happened before. https://t.co/Gm1cR9c6ir pic.twitter.com/1eD94CflxW
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) September 29, 2022
Whodunnit? I guess we’ll never know:
Sikorski accidentally deleted the tweet where he bragged about what the Biden Regime did to the pipeline. pic.twitter.com/z3Q2F9TUc5
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) September 29, 2022
Satellites Capture First Images of Nord Stream’s Methane Leaks Bloomberg. Pipeline metallurgy:
Since outer environment of NS pipeline is corrosive seawater, lot of effort was made to protect exterior pipeline surface and not interior
A 3-layer polyethylene external anticorrosion coating was applied
An additional layer of concrete was coated to remain stable on the seabed
— Energy Blogger (@energy_blogger) September 30, 2022
China takes a view:
#ChinaDailyCartoon Who gains most from Nord Stream sabotage? pic.twitter.com/BgdnHCErBz
— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) September 30, 2022
* * * In Washington, Everyone Wins if Ukraine Wins Foreign Policy. Exactly.
How the War in Ukraine Might End The New Yorker. There seems to be no place for propaganda in “war termination theory.”
Russia’s military isn’t ready for an escalation. Ukraine and its partners can exploit that. Atlantic Council
The U.S. and Europe are running out of weapons to send to Ukraine CNBC
Putin Can Afford at Least Two More Years of War The Wilson Center
* * * Leave Crimea Alone The American Conservative
The New York Times on Ukraine: Vietnam Déjà Vu Ray McGovern, Antiwar.com
Why Bolsonaro’s Auto-Coup Will Fail: An Interview With Manuel Gerson BrasilWire
Biden Administration
Biden appoints 1st diplomat dedicated to biodiversity The Week. Ron Klain’s wife.
Justices shield spouses’ work from potential conflict of interest disclosures Politico. Huh.
Six States Sue to Block Biden Student Debt Cancellation Plan WSJ
Space Force anthem ensures aliens will never contact Earth Duffel Blog
Intelligence Community
Statement on the fatal flaws found in a defunct CIA covert communications system CitizenLab and America’s Throwaway Spies Reuters. To be a friend is fatal….
The CIA Just Invested in Woolly Mammoth Resurrection Technology The Intercept
Our Famously Free Press
YouTube Apologizes, Reverses Demonetization Decision Matt Taibbi, TK News. But check out YouTube’s moderation policy on elections, supplied by Taibbi:
Under this policy, any discussion (say, by Hillary Clinton) of Florida 2000, where Jebbie purged the voter rolls in an MR SUBLIMINAL Bud from Legal insists I say “apparent,” here effort to hand the state to his brother who was running for President at the time would be demonetized. Cray cray.
Hill TV Censors Segment On Rashida Tlaib’s Description of Israel as “Apartheid Government,” Bars Reporter The Intercept. Reporter is Katie Halper. More cray cray.
Boeing
FAA says Boeing has not completed work needed for 737 MAX 7 approval Reuters
With 2 MAX models at risk, Congress moves to give Boeing a break Seattle Times
Guillotine Watch
The Forbes 400 2022 Forbes
Class Warfare
‘We Need $5 an Hour’: Amazon Workers ‘Insulted’ by Wage Bump Sourcing Journal
Is Your Supply Chain Susceptible to Forced Labor? Industry Week
A mad, mad world Times Literary Supplement
Antidote du jour (via):
Bonus Antidote:
Flamingos evacuated to the bathroom at Sunken Gardens, St Pete.🦩🦩 #hurricaneian pic.twitter.com/MX9wNGvzds
— Colleen Hamilton (@Colleen_ham1) September 28, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
