When did hard rock become so spineless? Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
Why Do Architects Keep Building Things Nobody Likes? Architecture and Tradition (Micael T)
Forgotten particle could answer mystery of why we exist, say physicists PhysOrg (Chuck L)
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Fast-moving Ebola outbreak spreads to another Congo province Independent
Climate/Environment
There’s a Powerful, Hidden Force Behind Migration: Climate Change Mother Jones
Arctic sea ice hits another troubling low in 2026 Science Daily
Scientists knew the Doomsday Glacier was melting. They didn’t realize how ‘aggressively’ CNN
Pakistan records hottest monsoon in 66 years UA.news
EXCEPTIONAL HEAT IN CHINA
Heyuan,Huaiji and Lianzhou in Guangdong broke the record for the latest 35C in local observation history. With the addition of Shangyou in Jiangxi and Jianning in Fujian, five stations have broken the record for the latest 35C day today. https://t.co/MgHXPtl3nI— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) October 19, 2026
El Niño has killed hundreds of children in Sudan New Scientist
Congo Basin deforestation nears Amazon levels Semafor
Water
Severe drought declared in six areas of England as reservoirs run low Guardian
China?
EU tariffs aimed at China hitting Ukraine, steel boss says BBC
Taiwan accuses China of ‘hybrid warfare’, drives away 16 vessels over ‘maritime harassment’ WION
China Condemns Japan’s ‘Negative Moves’ Over Yasukuni Shrine Bloomberg
One of the best article I have read on why Philippines shouldn’t expel the Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan, as the consequences are dire for a small country like the Philippines:
Rigoberto Tiglao argues that expelling the Chinese ambassador would be catastrophic for the Philippines, triggering economic retaliation that Manila cannot absorb, and potentially destabilizing Marcos’ presidency before 2028. He frames senators Tulfo and Hontiveros, along with Defense Secretary Teodoro, as reckless “headline chasers” serving U.S. interests rather than Filipino livelihoods…
Bottom Line
Tiglao’s piece is a blunt warning: expelling the Chinese envoy would be suicidal for the Philippine economy and Marcos’ political survival. He frames nationalist grandstanding as reckless, arguing that true patriotism means safeguarding livelihoods, not provoking a superpower.
https://t.co/WAucWFX0Rx
— Ignis Rex (@Ignis_Rex) October 19, 2026
Southeast Asia
Why the US is holding secret talks with Myanmar’s military ruler? Aljazeera
Africa
Hundreds march to Parliament over El Niño and hunger Cape(town)etc
Kinship and surveillance: The return of Somali piracy Aljazeera
South of the Border
Hypotheses on Contemporary Venezuela Venezuelanalysis (Robin K)
Florida issues arrest warrant for Cuban leader Raul Castro Aljazeera (resilc)
Bolivia’s Energy Crisis Deepens as Natural Gas Reserves Run Dry OilPrice
The Antipodes
Father of suspect in Australian MP attack says politician was long-time family friend BBC
European Disunion
US threatens Europe over Starlink restrictions Financial Times
The REAL Reason Europe Destroyed Itself | Dr. Ulrike Guérot YouTube. Robin K:
A very provocative presentation followed by Q&A on the future of Europe. The title is slightly misleading. Her talk is about the future of Europe, based on her recent book, Why Europe Should Become a Republic. Guérot makes a distiction between democracy and republic. She aims for recreating Europe as a national Republic.
Replacing Europe: Following The World’s Deadliest Migration Route – Full Documentary Muckraker (Chuck L). Readers may find the anti-immigrant framing offensive but that does not invalidate the findings about how African immigrants get to/into Europe.
France imposes partial curfews in several cities, including parts of Paris Guardian
‘France, truly, is on the brink’ and just days away from a make-or-break moment in its debt crisis, analyst warns, as protests turn into riots France24
France Ups Farmer Aid to About €2 Billion After Extreme Weather, Fuel Prices Bloomberg
France’s summer wildfires could cost insurers up to 563 mln euros Arab News
German industry has lost almost 500,000 jobs since 2019 MarketSTEEL via machine translation (Micael T)
45,000 prison places – the state is expanding repression Riktpunkt via machine translation(Micael T)
Old Blighty
UK farmers face crisis as 86% struggle to plan ahead Scottish Farmer
‘I used to think Britain’s preppers were extreme – this changed my mind’ Independent
Israel v. the Neighborhood
EU ‘strongly condemns’ settler attack on delegation in West Bank Le Monde
Israel-Backed Palestinian Militias Terrorize Displaced Families in Gaza Drop Site
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
— Lara Friedman (@LaraFriedmanDC) October 18, 2026
Syria condemns Israeli ‘escalating’ incursions into southern provinces Rudaw
Iran War
‘The world will be amazed:’ Iran’s commanders prepare for further war CNN
Iran fuel crisis deepens amid war and sanctions DW
Syraqistan
Escalation between Pakistan and Afghanistan leads to heavy human toll Le Monde
New Not-So-Cold War
Putin Floats a Summit With Trump and Xi to Discuss Ukraine Deal Wall Street Journal. No archived version yet. Russia knows the Trump team cannot consummate a deal. But this trial balloon, and any talks, will not merely increase distance between the US and EU, but might get the EU to internalize that the US will not help them if they pick a fight with Russia.
Note from Patricia on Twitter:
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that discussions about a possible summit are underway but stated there is not yet a clear understanding of the meeting or its agenda.
Note that NATO is already picking a fight with Russia:
🇺🇦🇵🇱🇱🇹🇱🇻 Lithuania’s own defense minister has now exposed the route.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas says the drone that came down this morning “preliminarily entered Lithuanian airspace from Poland.” Lithuanian radar tracked it flying north from Polish territory. Its wreckage fell near Juodžionys, between Biržai and Pasvalys in northern Lithuania, and debris hit a civilian car.
Put that on a map and the route is obvious. The drones took off from western Ukraine, flew north through Poland, crossed Lithuania and Latvia, and turned east toward the Leningrad Region only at the very end. That way they skipped Belarus and most of Russia’s air defenses on the way to St. Petersburg.
That also kills Kiev’s “Russian electronic warfare diverted it” excuse. Russian jamming didn’t steer a drone hundreds of kilometers north through Poland.
— 🇷🇺 STANISLAV KRAPIVNIK 🇷🇺 (@STANISKRAPIVNIK) October 18, 2026
Russia pounds Kyiv as Rubio urges Ukraine’s Zelensky to ‘focus’ on ending the war France24
Intensifying drone attacks on ships in Black Sea bring war ever closer to Nato shores Guardian
Ukraine Talks with Turkey, India, Egypt Over Grain Corridor Bloomberg
The head of the army says the UK’s political leaders are about to start a “frank conversation” with the public about the need to prepare for war Sky
Trump 2.0
Trump says he would be open to trilateral meeting with Putin, Xi The Hill
Thanks to Trump’s war, Dems successfully co-opt ‘America First’ Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Economy
Record Shipping Costs Force Oil Producers to Slash Prices OilPrice
The Truth About Refining Capacity In The United States And Why We Don’t Actually Need More YouTube (resilc)
Istanbul airport stockpiles jet fuel over shortage fears Telegraph
‘Inflation will make people poor’: Airlines brace for years of pain Financial Times
The Houthis have global trade in a chokehold Spiked
Global food inflation is expected to intensify as supply shocks pile up Japan Times
America’s grocery bill problem is becoming a midterm problem FirstPost
Rice price Business Insider (resilc)
Mr. Market Is Chewing His Knuckles
AI debt worries spark surge in default insurance trading Financial Times. No archived version. Server seems to be down.
AI
America’s $10tn AI infrastructure boom is starting to fray Financial Times
Business Insider confirms it: Amazon has warehouses of GPUs that can’t be installed, and is buying them so far in advance that a supply chain team said they “didn’t have a clear forecasted path” to installing them.
https://t.co/Jzc1vPekGx https://t.co/gXtCEbhbKH— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) October 20, 2026
AI Fears Return With Data Center Firm Elice’s 33% Debut Flop Bloomberg. Lead story. No archived version.
Who’s paying whom? The circular money machine behind the AI boom (or bubble) Gist
AI writing assistants shrink linguistic diversity and blur personal identity Nature (Micael T)
Anthropic Would Kill 50 Humans To Roll Out The Next AI Model Caitlin Johnstone (Micael T)
The Bezzle
I was a Theranos whistleblower. In ‘You Can See Everything,’ Elizabeth Holmes is still lying STAT
The Staples Gift Card Heist 404 Media
Class Warfare
I Teach at a Business School. It’s Time to Shut Them Down. New York Times (resilc, Colonel Smithers). Today’s must read. I wish I had the bandwidth to post on this article. It’s consistent with what yours truly and Aurelien have been saying about the breakdown of elite competence, but importantly describes a key, perhaps the, reason.
Same Rules, Different Ruins Craig Tindale (Chuck L). Also a must read.
Antidote du jour (via). We have NYC-looking pigeons in Thailand except in a slightly smaller form factor:
A bonus:
How animals react when their people pretend to fall https://t.co/WjQiEA6xge
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 19, 2026
A second bonus:
Happy Caturday https://t.co/ZPOXaiTWBQ
— DownHome (@DownHomeTD) October 3, 2026
And a different sort of bonus:
An exceptionally rare, colossal sub-bass string instrument (standing nearly 3.5 meters tall) that complements the sound of the double bass.
The musical atmosphere is serene yet immensely powerful. As the familiar melody of “Amazing Grace” resonates through the profound, deep frequencies of the Octobass—one of the rarest and most unique string instruments in the world—one can almost sense the primal, vast pulse of nature.
— 🎼🌺Music Love♥️ (@ThoNg676733) October 4, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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