Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Centuries-Long History of Russophobia Opens the Doors to Cold War 2.0

How Russophobia has been long in the making and continued to color international relations.

Coffee Break: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Loves To Throw Good Money After Bad

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is upping the ante in the AI business, triggering a bidding war for talent and he’s willing to poach from competitors.

Hurricane Helene Set Up Future Disasters, From Landslides to Flooding – Cascading Hazards Like These Are Now Upending Risk Models

Cascading hazards occur when one natural event alters the landscape in ways that lead to future hazards—and they are increasing.

Link 7/7/2025

Chaos in the Caucasus: Türkiye and Azerbaijan Make Their US-Israel-Backed Move Against Russia and Iran

U.S. officials say involvement of Russia and Iran in their own backyard of the South Caucasus is “unstable and undesirable.”

Trump’s Self-Destructive Fight with the Fed for Low Interest Rates: His “Fiscal Dominance” Game of Chicken

Trump is fighting another war he can’t win: trying to use interest rates to counter the inflation created by his yawning fiscal deficits.

The UK Aims to Entrench Its Influence in Estonia in Order to Lead the Arctic-Baltic Front

The UK’s clever scheme to enlist rabid chihuahua Estonia to harass Russia in the Baltic theater.

Links 7/6/2025

The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: The Night Strangler (1973) Run Time: 1H 30M2

The Night Strangler is a movie about an investigative reporter hot on the trail of an immortal killer in Seattle.

The Gates Foundation’s Global Reach Expands, to Mixed Reviews

The Gates Foundation steps into the void left by the U.S., and brings with it limited accountability, conflicts of interest, and a history of failure in its stated mission.

Links 7/5/2025

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Why UK [and US] Governments Are Never Dependent on Financial Markets

As Mr. Market idelivers a big raspberry in response to Trump’s big beautiful bill, remember it won’t affect the ability to keep spending

Global Carbon Emissions Reach Record High Despite Green Efforts

So much for “green energy will save us” hype. Carbon emssions keep rising.

Coffee Break: Ancient Food Facts, Cancer Therapy, the Conscious Brain, and Biohacking with Biotech…Plus Thomas Jefferson

On this Independence Day in one country in North America a few notes on life outside current politics, scientific and otherwise. Part the First: The Archaeology of Food Is Fascinating.  Having read about Roman eating habits over the years I have wondered about two things, fish sauce and the dormouse.  Now we know which fish […]

How Global Value Chains, Much Hyped by Development Experts, Slowed Growth and Preserved Inequality in Middle Income Countries

Tackling a pro-multinational development canard which looks to have made the so-called middle income trap worse.