‘I don’t think I am a hero’: Boy, 13, describes ‘superhuman’ swim to save family BBC
resilc, who has a farm, provides a wee change from our regular programming:
Ultra-processed foods should be treated more like cigarettes than food – study Guardian. Paul R: “‘UPFs are made to encourage addiction and consumption and should be regulated like tobacco, say researchers.’”
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Nipah Virus Has Asia on High Alert Amid New Cases in India NBC. No cases in Thailand but monitoring has been tightened further. Nipha has a fatality rate of >40%
NIH director admits after being grilled by @SenSanders: 1) The best way to stop the measles epidemic is to vaccinate your kids against measles. 2) no single vaccine causes autism. RFK Jr is wrong. pic.twitter.com/B9aKV6dRpD
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 3, 2026
Yep.
It was the winter of 20/21 when two kids here both caught covid and then started having seizures within weeks.
They weren’t the last.
The most recent first seizure I saw in the immediate aftermath of a Covid infection was just two weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/CC6mgc0Ywr— tern (@1goodtern) February 3, 2026
Climate/Environment
Ocean Heat Goes Ballistic CounterCurrents
Meteorologists Warn of an Unusually Early Arctic Breakdown Forming in February Earth
NORTH AFRICA HEAT WAVE
Unseasonal heat from Central to North Africa.
In ALGERIA Tindouf with 30.0C tied its hottest January day in history.Next days will be crazy:
Up to 35C in Algeria and Libya and even some tropical nights.
Records in The Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean pic.twitter.com/Kugm2z1UUb— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) January 31, 2026
Amazon deforestation may rise 30% as major traders exit historic soy pact Mongabay
Some tropical land may heat up nearly twice as much as oceans under climate change, sediment record suggests PhysOrg
China?
Hopeful signs in China’s property market? Not really, say developers Economic Times
China bans security software from the US and Israel Kevin Walmsley
Now that I live in Asia, I take posturing about China’s virtues with a fistful of salt. The fact that the US utterly squandered its enormous advantages including not having been a gracious victor when the USSR collapsed and being so dopey as to think it could dominate China “because democracy” when it pushed for China to be allowed WTO preferred status when it did not qualify, and now has and is now openly predatory on many fronts to try to claw back, clearly makes China much less bad in comparison. But that does not make China a paragon, which is the weird default position of many commentators. One can hope that China is genuine in not intending to use finance as a tool of international economic domination. But don’t fall for thinking that great powers are nice or are not interested in first and foremost promoting their national interests. Chinese businessmen are famously ruthless. See zero dollar factories as one of many examples:
You’ve doubtless read the numerous headlines these past few days on how Xi Jinping called for the Yuan to “become a global reserve currency.”
That’s true, he actually said that. But, as is often the case, Western media are missing the forest for the trees.
This is extracted… pic.twitter.com/lkRelaqlJn
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 3, 2026
Xi Jinping on the Chinese Financial System Karl Sanchez. In a bit of synchronicity. Chuck L, who sent the tweet above, asked if Xi had been reading Hudson. Sanchez pinged Hudson for his take. Hudson pointed out, among other things, that China, and Xi was following that policy, was not taxing land to prevent rentierism and also gave preference to US-trained, as in neoliberalized, economic students.
India
Keep in mind that Modi maintains that key agricultural sectors, particularly dairy (which is already subject to regulations that US producers would not be willing to meet) will be protected. Nevertheless:
>Tariff charged by India on 🇺🇸: 0%
>Tariff charged by the US on 🇮🇳: 18%
Now compare this with other countries.
Narendra Modi has done the worst trade deal in India’s history.
A total surrender to the United States by Modi. pic.twitter.com/WQP3fLiMyJ
— Mohit Chauhan (@mohitlaws) February 4, 2026
The Russian niggle in the India-US trade deal amid the celebrations Economic Times
Why India Will Struggle to Reduce Its Reliance on Russian Oil Wall Street Journal
Steeper Discounts on Russian Oil Test India Response to US Deal Bloomberg
Southeast Asia
Vietnam is making plans for another potential US war on the country, according to an internal document.
The Vietnamese government fears intervention and/or a US-backed “color revolution” (ie, regime-change operation) to try to overthrow the communist party.
Vietnam’s Ministry… pic.twitter.com/pcXn0OdlI8
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 3, 2026
China Briefing: Myanmar Scam Bosses Executed, and a $500-Bn Trade Boost in Works for Post-Coup Regime Irrawaddy
Africa
UAE’s imperial pivot hits African wall: Riyadh pulls the rug The Cradle
The US Might Make The Sahelian Alliance An Offer That It Can’t Refuse Andrew Korybko
South of the Border
Mexico’s president pledges to send aid to Cuba despite US efforts to cut oil access Guardian
🚨BREAKING NEWS
Russia forgives $30 billion of Cuba’s debt.🇷🇺🇨🇺
▪️ Foreign Minister Lavrov announced that Russia will provide financial and political support to Cuba in the face of the economic crisis deepened by the US blocking energy deliveries.
▪️ Moscow continues to view… pic.twitter.com/yE79PYVlZb
— Aleksey Berezutski 🇷🇺🎖 (@aleksbrz11) February 3, 2026
What’s happening in Panama with the “China-owned” ports (which actually aren’t China-owned) is absolutely extraordinary: after the U.S. failed to have BlackRock buy the ports, they’re effectively outright stealing them with the help of Panama’s Supreme Court.
I’m not… pic.twitter.com/K6uwaGfRq8
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 4, 2026
European Disunion
🇺🇸🇷🇴🇪🇺 The US government directly attacked the EU for essentially faking elections in Romania!
This is pretty crazy, If you think a bit about it. The US says Europe stages elections so their candidate wins and is NOT a democratic. pic.twitter.com/5Xj2ClBqeK
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) February 3, 2026
Notice how you don’t hear anything about Greenland any more all of a sudden? Not even from Trump.
As I discussed previously, Denmark’s largest pension fund started selling US treasuries after Trump claimed he held all the cards. In response, Trump threatened all of Europe that…
— BonkDaCarnivore (@BonkDaCarnivore) February 2, 2026
Old Blighty
Mandelson to quit House of Lords as PM says he ‘let country down’ over alleged leaks to Epstein BBC
Starmer to release Mandelson files Telegraph. No archived version yet.
Sarah Ferguson emails to Epstein show increasing desperation BBC (Kevin W)
More people despair over ‘broken Britain’ than during financial crisis Telegraph
British factories hit by Trump’s tariffs mayhem cut exports to US The Times
Palestine Action Group plans march against Isaac Herzog’s visit despite protest restrictions Guardian
Israel v. The Resistance
The Truth About Gaza’s Death Toll – Part 2: A Gross Undercount Feroze Sidhwa
War postponed Julian Macfarlane
US surprised by Iran’s attempted capture of oil tanker; drone flies near warship Janta Ka Reporter, YouTube
‼️🤔 Iran Standoff Escalation
This is my off-the-cuff theory for what has happened in the past two days:
First of all, CENTCOM threatened Iran about the drone observation of Carrier Strike Group 3. Never mind that the US ships are in international waters and the drone is flying…
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) February 3, 2026
Will Trump Accept Iran’s Terms? Larry Johnson. The US is not agreement capable. Trump tore up the JCPOA. Israel will also never give up on its Iran destruction plans and still has enormous sway in the Beltway. The purpose of any deal would be to lull Iran into a state of complacency to facilitate yet another attack.
Important. Click through for detail:
🚨🇮🇷 US IN PANIC: Iran’s Hormuz-2 missile targets ships by their own emissions
This missile changes the logic of naval survival. It’s built to hunt fleets that rely on radar, datalinks, and electronic dominance and to turn those advantages into liabilities.
Hormuz-2 is a… pic.twitter.com/ANXYnY7sdt
— NewRulesGeopolitics (@NewRulesGeo) February 3, 2026
U.S. Sanctions on Iran Failed—So Why Do They Continue? American Conservative. resilc: “Because sadistic Israel wants them.”
New Not-So-Cold War
Europe Today: Russia strikes Kyiv as peace talks continue in Abu Dhabi Euronews
Ukraine – ‘Security Guarantee’ Details – Why The Energy Ceasefire Ended Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Russia ready to respond to any US weapons deployment in Greenland: Ryabkov Aljazeera
How Europe cobbled together a Russian government-in-exile Anti-Spiegel via machine translation (Micael T)
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Predatory Hegemon Stephen Walt, Foreign Affairs
Fifty Years Ago, the Supreme Court Said Money Is Speech Jacobin (Chuck L)
UN risks ‘imminent financial collapse’, secretary general warns BBC
Trump 2.0
Trump Team to Hold Daily Meetings on Getting Revenge New Republic (resilc)
Trump is FURIOUS Over MORE MASS RESIGNATIONS Talking Feds with Henry Litman, YouTube
Rebirth of the madman theory? Unpredictability isn’t what it was when it comes to foreign policy The Conversation (Kevin W)
US homebuilders working on plan to develop as many as 1 million ‘Trump Homes,’ Bloomberg News reports Reuters (Kevin W)
L’affaire Epstein
Clintons agree to testify on Epstein as vote looms to hold them in contempt of Congress BBC
Epstein and Ukraine: a match made in hell RT (Kevin W)
Epstein Occupied A Structural Position, So Who Has Replaced Him? Ian Welsh (Micael T)
ICE Rampage
Whoever this guy is in Minnesota, I want to buy him a beer!!
“Put away your weapons you douchebag, nobody is threatening you.”
pic.twitter.com/AUzGdyoUYX https://t.co/WuoFNC00VF
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) February 3, 2026
Reverse Palantir: Inside The Online War to Identify ICE Agents (Exclusive) Migrant Insider. Important.
How to Film ICE Wired (resilc)
US judge dissolves DHS shooting evidence order, Noem pledges body cameras Reuters (Paul R)
Montreal Canadiens Under Self-Imposed Lockdown Before Minneapolis Game New Republic (resilc)
Democrats Suck. I am retiring “Democrats en déshabillé as far too charitable
Democrats shrug off demands to continue shutdown, block ICE funds Axois
GOP Clown Car
Dan Crenshaw’s Second Amendment Clip Backfires After Disastrous Town Hall Egberto
Our No Longer Free Press
Why don’t her fellow White House correspondents stand up for her? Why do reporters as a group tolerate these Trump attacks on their own members, especially female members? What happened to solidarity? https://t.co/dDcG1nNVuM
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 4, 2026
Mr. Market is Edgy
Asian software stocks plunge after U.S. peers decline on fears over AI-led disruption CNBC
I privately advised last September that central bank gold buying was relatively stable, that the surge in demand for gold now driving gold price higher was due to sustained wage growth in China, India, West Asia and East Asia – all gold preferring cultures.
Once home ownership… https://t.co/vTRjseTgAZ pic.twitter.com/KSWDIRW6DN
— Kathleen Tyson (@Kathleen_Tyson_) February 3, 2026
AI
The Math on AI Agents Doesn’t Add Up Wired (resilc)
SpaceX bails out xAI in mega-deal — here’s what it means for Tesla electrek (Paul R)
AI Giants’ Bond Surge Sparks Market Stability Fears Chosun
I Visited the ‘Pornhub’ for AI — And It’s More Terrifying Than Funny Safoura Jolfaei (Micael T)
The Bezzle
The Crypto-Hoarding Strategy Is Unraveling Wall Street Journal. We warned about this when Saylor first got wobbly….
Animal Spirits Joe Costello
Tether retreats from $20bn funding ambitions after investor pushback Financial Times. No archived version yet.
Class Warfare
Meditations On A Delivery Robot Steering To Avoid A Homeless Man On The Sidewalk Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour (via):
A bonus (Li):
A second bonus:
Baby lambs climbing gently onto their mom for comfort and warmth
— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 4, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
