Links 7/16/2025 | naked capitalism

Groundbreaking Study Reveals Tortoises Have Feelings, Similar to Ours SciTech Daily (Chuck L)

The Frailties of Reason Commonweal (Anthony L)

Climate/Environment

After Devastating Winter Losses, Another Threat Looms for U.S. Beekeepers New York Times

Study Reconstructs 540 Million Years of Sea Level Change in Unprecedented Detail SciTech Daily (Chuck L)

EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN RUSSIA
Up to 43C in the Rostov Region
Some all time records (there are hundreds)
41.7 Kamensk
41.3 Kostantinovsk
41.2 Bokovskaja
41.0 Prohladnaya
40.8 Kazanskaja
40.4 Tihoreck
40.2 Millerovo
HIGH TMINS:
23.4 Borisoglebsk
22.8 Micurinsk
21.6 Cerepovec pic.twitter.com/2EC6cDLnVw

— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) July 13, 2025

DEADLY HEAT IN EAST ASIA

Today crazy MINIMUMS 28C at 1300m in MONGOLIA
Tropical nights at 2500m

CHINA July records: 41.9C Xingping, 41.0C Zhouzhi
JAPAN Records:36.4 Hirosaki,35.7 Ogata,36.7 Gojome

Next days THOUSANDS of records:
Worst heat wave in history with THIs >50/55C https://t.co/IHxhvdufn1

— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) July 14, 2025

Flash flooding hits NYC and New Jersey declares state of emergency as storms soak Northeast Independent

Gujarat is reeling under an unprecedented monsoon onslaught, with June rainfall figures shattering a 44-year record and triggering widespread flooding across the state Free Press Journal

China?

China’s economy beats expectations in face of Trump’s trade war Guardian (Kevin W). Not dispositive yet. A lot of stockpiling and channel stuffing in Southeast Asia

US-China spy wars intensify under Trump 2.0 as tech competition heats up South China Morning Post

A Microsoft project could expose the Pentagon to Chinese hackers Asia Times (Kevin W)

Taiwan’s military takes preparation for Chinese invasion to civilians’ doorsteps Financial Times

India-Pakistan

China’s insertion into India-Pakistan waters dispute adds a further ripple in South Asia The Conversation

Africa

Ethiopian militias raid Sudan border villages: farmers, activists Agence France-Presse

Sudanese paramilitary RSF accused of killing almost 300 people in village raids Guardian

European Disunion

French PM suggests slashing two public holidays as part of budget cuts Le Monde

French PM proposes scrapping national holidays and freezing spending to cut deficit Guardian (Kevin W)

Poland is facing a financial crisis Warsaw Business Journal

“AIR FRYER RETAILER”: TWO NANTES RESIDENTS SENTENCED FOR POSTING A PLACARD HOSTILE TO THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR DURING A STAGE OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE BMFTV via machine translation (Micael T)

DEBATE: Six out of ten do not want to defend Sweden Expressen via machine translation (Micael T)

Old Blighty

To hoard or not to hoard? UK consumers on the pros and cons of cash Guardian (Kevin W)

How much trouble is Starmer in? Sam Freedman

Reeves pledges to extend purge of City red tape to rest of UK economy Financial Times (Kevin W). Neoliberal hopium

UK Dairy farmers are facing a crisis, spending thousands of pounds feeding their cattle grain that should be saved for the winter BBC

UK a ‘powder keg’ of social tensions a year on from summer riots, report warns Guardian

Left without care: Many Long COVID clinics are closing down in the U.K. Sick Times

Israel v. The Resistance

Key ultra-Orthodox Factions Announce They Will Leave Netanyahu’s Coalition Over Draft Bill Haaretz (resilc)

The tweet is blocked from embedding but you can click through to see the video:

Lawyer of Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, currently imprisoned by Israel, wrote:

Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya is not okay.
My last visit to him was on July 9, 2025.
He has lost over 40 kilograms — more than one-third of his body weight.
At the time of his arrest, he weighed 100 kg — today, he… pic.twitter.com/UElaH9ANi6

— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) July 14, 2025

The suffocation of Sinjil +972 (guurst)

Israeli Minister: ‘Gaza must be in Ruins for Decades,’ as Airstrike Kills Children seeking Water Juan Cole (resilc)

Jordan targeting Gaza solidarity in largest arrest campaign in decades Middle East Eye (resilc)

* * *

Israeli air strikes kill 12 in eastern Lebanon despite ceasefire Aljazeera

* * *

Iran faces stiff sanctions if no deal by end of August, U.S. and allies agree Axios. Since the US has form, expect a new attack before the deadline.

Beyond the ceasefire, the Iran-Israel cyber war still rages on Al Majalla (Chuck L)

The Delusions and Lies of Regime Changers Daniel Larison

Syraqistan

Israel bombs Syrian forces entering Druze city after sectarian clashes BBC

Syrians Abroad Dismiss Talk of Normalization With Israel: ‘We Fear the Consequences, Especially for Palestinians’ Haaretz

New Not-So-Cold War

Trump asked Zelenskiy if Ukraine could hit Moscow, FT reports Straits Times (resilc)

Trump Delivers Next Nothingburger To Ukraine Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

Markets call Trump’s bluff on Russian oil sanctions in increasingly risky game Reuters

The Redheaded Stepsister Goes to the Ball William Schryver (Chuck L). Ukraine and the US (or the UK) are still scheming over the Kerch Bridge????

Russia Goes on the Offensive Against US Investors in an Odessa Port Larry Johnson

Moldova denies claims its soldiers were killed in Ukraine conflict RT (Kevin W)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Cybersecurity failures leave US Social Security data at risk Biometric Update

Imperial Collapse Watch

RECONFIGURING HEGEMONY New Left Review (Alan S)

Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one Responsible Statecraft (resilc)

The Pentagon wants to build drones without Chinese parts. It’s off to a bad start. Kevin Walmsley

The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It Bloomberg

The Yellow BRICS Road American Conservative (resilc)

Trump 2.0

Dimon Defends Fed Independence After Trump Attacks Wall Street Journal

It’s Not Just Epstein. MAGA Is Angry About a Lot of Things Wired. resilc: “You been played bubba”

DOGE

The White House Has a Plan for All That Foreign Food Aid That DOGE Cut: Burn It Gizmodo (Dr. Kevin)

When Expert Advisors Are Sent Packing, Who Picks Up the Slack? SciLight (Dr. Kevin)

Tariffs

Another casualty of the trade wars: now we don’t have transformers Kevin Walmsley

Another Casualty in the Tariff Wars: The Always-in-Season Tomato New York Times. resilc: “Gee, won’t we miss the taste of pinkish drywall.”

Immigration

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE ProPublica (Randy K, Robin K). The good news is that will be likely that it will be very hard to make good matches across the different databases. The bad new is that ICE does not give a rat’s ass about integrity and so will run with bogus connections.

ICE Age No Mercy / No Malice (resilc)

What Were Federal Agents Doing at a Puerto Rican Museum in Chicago? Hypoallergic. resilc: “Itza USA USA possession you morons.”

Illegal border crossings hit decades low under Trump crackdown Axios

Democrat Death Wish

Mamdani Nets Record Fundraising Haul While Adams and Cuomo Strike Out on Matching Funds THE CITY.

BWAHAHA!

Police State Watch

The U.S. Military’s Robot Coyotes Core77 (resilc)

Is Trump’s ‘personal Gestapo’ turning America into a police state? US president’s heavily armed shock troops behind raids on illegal migrants will soon outnumber the FBI Daily Mail (resilc). When you’ve lost the Daily Mail….

Mr. Market is Moody