Archaeologist unveils mysteries of Mexica fascination with crocodiles Mexico News Daily
Investors Are Getting Some Negotiating Power Back. But Not as Much as You Think. Institutional investor. Limited partners in PE.
The stark ‘de-risking’ choice facing economies Mohamed El-Erian, FT
Another Blow to the Return to Offices: Everyone’s Got Allergies WSJ. Allergies.
Climate
Norway’s oil fund sides with climate activists against ExxonMobil and Chevron FT
The Climate War Between the States Heat Map
Science and the legal rights of nature (abstract) Science. “The right to evolve.” Hmm. “Let ‘er rip” embodied that right, no?
Leaked Brownstone Institute Emails Reveal Support for Child Labor, Underage Smoking Walker Bragman, Important Context. Because freedom, no doubt.
#COVID19
Evolutionary characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants adapted to the host Nature. “[E]levated infectivity of Omicron sublineages” in China (a popularization).
Ending Zero-Covid Coming Home To Roost For China Ian Welsh (MT).
China?
Xinhua Commentary: De-risking is just decoupling in disguise Xinhua
China’s Port Power Foreign Affairs
China’s C919: maiden commercial flight will span busiest domestic route on Sunday South China Morning Post
With firm allies like Japan and Australia, the US can afford to take its eye off the Indo-Pacific when it needs to South China Morning Post
Myanmar
Myanmar Junta Turns to Iran for Missiles and Drones The Irrawaddy
Myanmar, China hold border trade fair in Nay Pyi Taw Xinhua
India
Indian PM Modi wraps up Australia visit with new agreements on migration, green hydrogen Channel News Asia
Dear Old Blighty
The Tories have a dirty secret: they don’t want to reduce immigration Telegraph. We’ve got 400-year-old lawns to roll!
Silencing the doubters on British cuisine:
oh hell yea pic.twitter.com/Kn9Lky8ucM
— fucked up foods (@fuckedupfoods) May 24, 2023
New Not-So-Cold War
36 Hours in Bakhmut: One Unit’s Desperate Battle to Hold Back the Russians WSJ
US hopes to snatch victory from jaws of defeat in Ukraine Indian Punchline. Quoting MacGregor: ” [The United States is] not a land power anywhere but in our own Hemisphere. We are primarily an aerospace and maritime power, much like Great Britain. And what does that mean? When things go badly for us, we sail away, we fly away, we go home… That’s what we always do. Eventually, we just leave. And I think, that’s on the agenda now.”
* * * From the Ukraine Defense Contact Group’s monthly meeting:
Ukraine is capable of liberating all territories, but not in near future – General Milley Ukrainska Pravda
F-16s won’t be ‘magic weapon’ to win Ukraine war, top US general warns NY Post. Milley again.
With Ukraine Set to Get Another Weapon from Its Wish List, Democrats Push for More Defense One
* * * Ukraine’s coming counteroffensive has a good chance of succeeding The Atlantic Council
Ukraine’s Coming Counteroffensive? Lower Your Aim CEPA
* * * The rise of Military Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov — NV profile New Voice of Ukraine. We should ask this guy where Zaluzhnyi is; he probably knows!
Ukraine is already looking to a postwar digital future Gillian Tett, FT. The Nazis only had IBM punch cards. So, progress!
NATO’s dirty war in Ukraine: Are Ukraine’s neo-Nazi divisions deploying NATO-supplied chemical weapons The Canadian Patriot (MT). Gateway drugs?
Interpreting The Three Nuclear-Related News Items From Thursday Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter
An Unearthly Spectacle: The untold story of the world’s biggest nuclear bomb Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. From 2021, still germane.
Biden Administration
Why Are These Biden Officials Leaving Their Top Posts? Moon of Alabama (Chuck L).
‘Inching towards a deal’ on the debt ceiling Politico. “It’s time to bring the president off the bench.” Or the gurney.
US Says Will Restrict Visas of Those Seen to Be ‘Undermining’ Bangladesh Elections The Wire. Hmm. How long before this policy is applied to domestic elections?
The Supremes
Supreme Court curtails Clean Water Act SCOTUSblog
Samuel Alito’s Assault on Wetlands Is So Indefensible That He Lost Brett Kavanaugh Slate
‘The Court’s Position Is, No One Can Tell Them What to Do’ FAIR
2024
DeSantis torches Trump over COVID lockdowns: ‘He turned the country over to Fauci’ FOX
Digital Watch
Minnesota governor OKs broad right-to-repair tech law The Register
Why risk management in enterprise I.T. systems starts with reducing complexity Actuaries Digital
B-a-a-a-a-d Banks
Credit Suisse ordered to pay $926mn to former prime minister of Georgia FT
L’Affaire Joffrey Epstein
JPMorgan Chase says Jeffrey Epstein paid tuition for kids of U.S. Virgin Islands governor CNBC. Pass the popcorn.
JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon set to face questioning in Jeffrey Epstein cases FT
Healthcare
Column: This company made billions by surprise-billing helpless ER patients. Then justice arrived LA Times
Part D (05/25/23) (podcast) Death Panel. “[W]hy private Medicare Part D plans are able to deny necessary care to people with rare diseases, and what it says about the US welfare state.” Commentary:
This is why we the public have a right to push back on policies set by @CMSGov. Specifically for covid, you can do this here and ask cms to include covid as part of their hac reduction program. https://t.co/LMLiajf73v pic.twitter.com/2HwiixbyaC
— Andrew W a n g, PhD, MPH, CPH (@AWangMPH) May 26, 2023
Sports Desk
The Subtle Moments That Separate Nikola Jokic The Ringer
Imperial Collapse Watch
Start-Ups Bring Silicon Valley Ethos to a Lumbering Military-Industrial Complex NYT. “Ethos” like what? Fraud? Rental extraction as a way of life?
Guillotine Watch
The Man Who Spends $2 Million a Year to Look 18 Is Swapping Blood With His Father and Son Bloomberg
Class Warfare
Eating Disorder Helpline Fires Staff, Transitions to Chatbot After Unionization Vice. No doubt the funders approved. I suppose the left is so beaten down’ there’s no need for NGOs to co-opt it any more?
Billionaire Funding ‘Abolish the Police’ Activists Invests in Private Security Start-Up Lee Fang. The Pritzker family portfolio could in interesting.
A Model of Influencer Economy NBER. “The assortative matching between sellers and influencers remains under endogenous influence-building, with the maximal differentiation principle recovered in the limit of costless style acquisition.” In English, please.
On the Reign of Cleopatra A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Antidote du jour (via):
By any rational standard, ecological engineers are more important than Supreme Court justices.
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
