Italian police use tear gas and water cannons on protesters near Olympic Village LBC
Broken medals the talk of Winter Olympics rather than broken records DPA
Scientists were wrong for decades about DNA knots Science Daily (Kevin W). From Ignacio via e-mail:
I wouldn’t worry much about this. This is wonkish structural stuff with unknown biological significance if any. I don’t know if DNA passing through nanopores has any real significance to DNA physiology as they try to spin in the article. I was curious if it might include any discussion about natural “nanopores” such as plasmodesmata but it hasn’t. I don’t think this is any fundamental discovery though it might have some significance in nanopore sequencing procedures. Who knows.
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Why covid-19 is “a vascular disease masquerading as a respiratory one” BMJ
Covid is airborne.
Vax and relax failed.
Repeat covid infections cause cumulative harm.
That’s why Olympic coaches and athletes are wearing masks. pic.twitter.com/907rEy4Uf6
— tern (@1goodtern) February 9, 2026
More on the measles and encephalitis.
BECAUSE THAT’S A NORMAL THING TO HAVE TO DISCUSS URGENTLY IN 2026. 🙃 pic.twitter.com/lUKXnGLpPN
— Dr. Annie Andrews (@AnnieAndrewsMD) February 7, 2026
Climate/Environment
US transformers are ageing. Renewable energy could make things worse, China study finds South China Morning Post (guurst)
Breaking News!
Y-axis alert!
For the first time on record, the 3-year running average for the mean rate of atmospheric CO2 growth broke 8.00 ppm per 3 years, reaching a new record high growth rate of 8.06 ppm per 3 years.
And that dip in the early 1990’s was Mt. Pinatubo. pic.twitter.com/WcXp02p1yL
— Prof. Eliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) February 5, 2026
From orcas to water shortages: nature in a changing climate DW
The water wars are coming This finite resource will define the century Unherd
Saving the ozone layer has ‘polluted Earth with forever chemicals’ The Times
China?
China’s future growth rate could drop to 2.5% without market reforms: economist South China Morning Post
China Urges Banks to Curb Exposure to US Treasuries Bloomberg. Being distorted in a lot of alternative media reports. The summary:
China’s Belt and Road meets its security test in Pakistan Asia Times (Kevin W)
Beijing Blatantly Violates International Law in South China Sea Irrawaddy
Why and how is the Western media lying about Jimmy Lai? Reports on China, YouTube. Awfully screechy in its denigration of the Hong Kong protests. Still useful to hear the arguments from the Chinese side. But PlutoniumKun notes by e-mail:
I haven’t been following the story in detail. I’m sceptical that he did receive money from outside HK – he is independently very wealthy and the newspaper seems to have been a genuine personal passion. I doubt he was unaware that it made him a target, but possibly thought his British citizenship protected him. Even if he was arrogant enough to think he was protected, I doubt that he would have been foolish enough to leave himself open to this kind of charge.
He also seems to have made a lot of enemies in business – even by local standards he was particularly aggressive and doesn’t seem to have been too concerned with local gentlemans agreements over market carve-ups.
It would be in line with normal practice for Beijing to specifically target those who thought they were too big to bring down – ‘killing the chicken to scare the monkeys’. Most Chinese think of HKers as being arrogant and full of themselves, so taking down prominent HK figures is not unpopular. In many ways, he is the perfect target for a high profile decapitation.
Japan
Japan’s dangerous game with China LE MONDE diplomatique
Japan election: from stagnation to stagflation CADTM (Michael T)
O Canada
Trump blocks US-Canada bridge, demands half ownership
——
US President Donald Trump said he will block the opening of a bridge linking Michigan and Ontario unless Canada agrees to grant the US at least half ownership of the structure, arguing that Washington has not been “fully… pic.twitter.com/PitszJR0FM
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) February 10, 2026
South of the Border
EXCLUSIVE: Marco Rubio Is Deliberately Blocking Trump From Cuba Talks Drop Site (Chuck L, Kevin W)
Acting President of Venezuela Meets With Representatives of Repsol and Maurel & Prom to Discuss Investments in Oil Sector Orinoco Tribune (Robin K)
European Disunion
Europe’s Triumvirate of Lame Stooges Faces Moment of Truth Simplicius
The sham debate about European nuclear weapons Overton via machine translation (Micael T)
‘EU countries should refrain from joint debt,’ MEP Terras says Euronews
Far right tightens grip on EU migration policy Euractiv
The cunning “rule of law” Overton via machine translation (Micael T)
Greenland, sine ira et studio egyppius (Micael T). Confirms something I have been curious about, that no Greenland deal has been consummated.
More and more people are being evicted – here are the biggest problems: “Have many empty apartments” Hem&Hyra via machine translation (resilc)
Old Blighty
The truth about Morgan McSweeney is worse than you think Council Estate Media
Cabinet ministers back Starmer as Scottish Labour leader calls for PM to quit BBC. What is wrong with these people? Or will it take the backbenchers to bring him down?
Streeting accused of No 10 coup Telegraph
£99,987 and counting: graduates trapped by ballooning student loans Guardian
Israel v. the Resistance
Breaking: A dangerous escalation and another blow to Palestinian presence.
Israel’s Cabinet approved changes to land registration in the West Bank, allowing demolition of Palestinian-owned homes and enabling expanded settlement construction across the occupied territory. pic.twitter.com/Dy1W82pFHp
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) February 8, 2026
Netanyahu BLACKMAILING Trump Over Iran Using Epstein Files- Ex-Israeli Intel Officer Ari Ben-Menashe Afshin Rattansi Going Underground, YouTube (fk). Important. If Trump is so self-destructive as to attack Iran despite his strong preference for short and decisive-looking interventions, IMHO it will be due to the combination of the unwarranted Israeli overconfidence we discussed yesterday and Israel holding and threatening to expose some serious kompromat.
Larry Johnson: Decision Has Been Made to Attack Iran Glenn Diesen, YouTube
Political Islam… Where To? Valdai Club (Micael T)
New Not-So-Cold War
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with TV BRICS international media network, Moscow, February 9, 2026 International Affairs (Micael T)
Russia’s Trust in Trump and the US is Fading Fast Larry Johnson. Discussion of the very pointed Lavrov interviews.
UK troops operating on the ground in Ukraine -Moscow Global GeoPolitics
Ukrainian nationalism Overton via machine translation (Micael T)
Ukraine and Poland are behind the assassination attempt on General Alekseev Vzglyad via machine translation. Michael T: “Maybe it is time to divide Poland again so they learn to not FA unless they really want to FO.”
Imperial Collapse Watch
To Remember in America London Review of Books (guurst). Important.
UK and US sink to new lows in global index of corruption Guardian
What’s Causing America’s Imperial Decline? Un-Diplomatic
America’s Self-Defeating National Defense Strategy Near Eastern Outlook. Micael T: “He assumes that the misleadership and MIC cares about the country and nation USA. They don’t. They care only about the oligarchy and the profits. For this purpose the strategy is possibly a good one.”
Changes and Continuities in the U.S. National Security Strategy by NI Feng China Affairs
Let’s all get a bomb! Julian Macfarlane
In 1874, in Trist v. Child, the Supreme Court refused to enforce a contract for lobbying services, as against public policy. Here is what the Court said, warning of a dark future if payment for lobbying were routine:
If any of the great corporations of the country were to hire…
— Tim Wu (@superwuster) February 8, 2026
Trump 2.0
‘Trump Administration Asserts Ambition To Dominate Energy Sector’ Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
‘Impossible’: Taiwan pushes back against Washington’s 40% chip supply relocation goal CNBC
How Trump is rigging immigration courts against Somali migrants Popular Information
ICE Rampage
The Children of Dilley ProPublica
Epstein
FBI found no evidence of Epstein sex-trafficking network – AP RT (Kevin W)
WATCH: Ro Khanna Reacts After Seeing the ‘Unredacted’ Epstein Files Zeteo
🚨🇺🇸🇮🇱 BREAKING: Kash Patel’s staff threatened Thomas Massie’s staff with criminal investigations if they continued speaking up about Israel and the Epstein files. pic.twitter.com/9gr0WmRfbt
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) February 8, 2026
Why Do the Epstein Files Matter? An Expert on the Elites Explains Why Medhi Hasan
Maxwell pleads the Fifth in House deposition on Epstein files The Hill
FILES: Epstein Death Notice DRAFTED 1 Day Early Breaking Points, YouTube
Democrats Suck
The ‘Defensive Crouch’ Never Dies Daniel Larison
Our No Longer Free Press
‘Devastated and exhausted’: Washington Post looks to life after Will Lewis Financial Times
Jeff Bezos fired more than 300 people and didn’t even arrange for them to get safely home.
Staffers were abandoned in foreign countries and war zones and are having to crowd source to get home.
One of the richest men in the world left them behind. https://t.co/SqD7GckQTG
— Kelly (@broadwaybabyto) February 8, 2026
It Was Just a Halftime Show. The Meltdown Reveals How Dumb We’ve Become. Mediaite (resilc)
New Mexico lawsuit accuses Meta of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation online Associated Press
Economy
Why Inflation May Be About to Come in Hot Wall Street Journal
The Deliberate Deception in Ricardo’s Defence of Comparative Advantage Steve Keen (Micael T)
AI
Reliability of LLMs as medical assistants for the general public: a randomized preregistered study Nature (Kevin W)
🚨 BREAKING: Taiwan enacted its basic law on AI, which includes, among other innovative provisions, detailed AI governance principles and LABOR RIGHTS for humans who lose their jobs due to AI. Other countries should take note:
According to the law’s third article, the research… pic.twitter.com/oIIPhsX37g
— Luiza Jarovsky, PhD (@LuizaJarovsky) February 8, 2026
The Bezzle
Alphabet lines up 100-year sterling bond sale Financial Times. Lead story. Anyone who buys this maturity is a moron unless they plan to sell pretty soon. GE and AIG were both AAA credits as late as 2005.
Diesel – Tesla’s new way of charging stations Aftonbladet via machine translation (guurst)
Class Warfare
When the Oligarchs Don’t Need You Anymore Kathleen Wallace (resilc)
Antidote du jour. Mark T: “African Fish Eagle. Taken near Satara Camp in Kruger National Park.”
And a bonus:
Goat traffic jam.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/kA5bbiqsiX
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 9, 2026
A second bonus:
She started smiling when she saw those strawberries pic.twitter.com/HX68VeRjIT
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) February 9, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
