Links 5/16/2026 | naked capitalism

Retired Californian finds fulfilment as Lumphini cat caretaker Bangkok Post

Earth Rotation Residuals as an Early-Warning System for AMOC Decline Craig Tindale

Who are the Japanese? Huge DNA discovery rewrites history Science Daily (Kevin W)

Thai watermeal tipped as ‘green gold’ of future food Nation Thailand

Hantavirus

WHN constructed an animation of the voyage of the M/V Hondius during the Andes hantavirus outbreak, including the ship’s route, known cases, evacuations, and passenger dispersal as reported publicly by WHO, the ship owner, governments, and media sources.

Animation:…

— Yaneer Bar-Yam (@yaneerbaryam) May 15, 2026

Climate/Environment

Colombia has declared its entire Amazon biome a reserve zone for renewable natural resources, effectively banning any new oil exploration, hydrocarbon production, or large-scale mining projects in the region.Colombia has declared its entire Amazon biome a reserve zone for… pic.twitter.com/EzYSgewhvH

— James Tate (@JamesTate121) May 13, 2026

Birds dying along California beaches as marine heat wave intensifies Deseret Sun

China and Norway push to increase krill harvests around Antarctica Mongabay

‘Insect apocalypse’ is already fueling malnutrition in some regions, first-of-its-kind study reveals LiveScience

Climate Change Is Creating a New Kind of Weather Disaster Gizmodo

🚨 Within two weeks the peak of the “Super-duper El Niño” @NOAA mean peak forecast has increased by almost 0.5°C‼️

And more and more model runs are off the chart of the 4°C y-axis!

Who in the world is (getting) ready for this? https://t.co/Cu5uCWJOFV pic.twitter.com/G2oyyQ0pX9

— Leon Simons 🌍 (@LeonSimons8) May 12, 2026

Super El Niño could reshape catastrophe risk pricing, insurers warn ITIJ

Drones now key to fighting malaria as the climate crisis fuels ‘catastrophic’ rise in cases Independent

Some seas may soon be trapped in near-permanent heatwaves, scientists warn Earth.com

Ancient Euphrates River Is Disappearing And People Are Linking It To The Bible NDTV

No trees, no fans: surviving extreme heat in India’s salt pans Japan Times

Arizona, Nevada and California take massive Colorado River water cuts Federal plan Tucson.com

China?

I am at a bit of a loss when reading some of the hot takes on the Trump-Xi summit. There was no sherpa work because Trump does not do that (see the summit with Putin in Alaska). No sherpa work = at best very little concrete will be concluded. Trump blew up the low-odds possibility of China agreeing to buy more soyabeans or Boeings by two sets of sanctions of Chinese companies mere weeks before the get-together. The one thing Trump might have fantasized he could have gotten done was to get Xi on board with some level of support in getting the Strait of Hormuz open. But China no way no how will provide military support. The other path is negotiations, which are impossible due to US maximalist demands, lack of patience, and being both negotiation and agreement incapable.

So this wound up being a wag-the-dog event, a distraction from the war in Iran (and Chas Freeman added the Epstein files). However, another Trump-Xi meeting is set for Washington in September.

As a diplo-connected contact wrote:

One of Trump’s key concessions to China was to be the lifting of restrictions for the supply of Nvidia H100 (second most powerful AI chips) that he’d previously restricted. Jensen Huang went on the trip hoping to sell $billions of these devices once Trump eased the restrictions.

However, China said they weren’t interested as their new Huawei Ascend chips are far more powerful and are fully integrated with Deepseek. Jensen had more bad luck after he went shopping in China and he had to dump all of his purchases into the trash as they weren’t allowed on the plane.

And there was no acknowledgement from the Chinese on the purchase of Boeings (500 expected originally, revised down to 200) or soybeans.

What a shambles

Xi owned Trump in this summit.

President Xi giving Trump rose seeds after him and Melania destroyed the White House rose garden with a giant concrete slab is unbelievably petty and I love it.

— Jamie Bonkiewicz (@JamieBonkiewicz) May 15, 2026

After Trump’s pledge to ‘open up’ China, low expectations for trade deal Aljazeera

Trump’s Failed Mission to China Larry Johnson

Salesman Trump leaves China with very little in his bag Asia Times (Kevin W)

Good detail, do click through:

Day 2 of the Trump-Xi summit is over. There are no readouts so far, but Trump spoke on Air Force One and the MFA just published Wang Yi’s readout.

Both are revealing.

This was a summit heavy on symbolism and not substance. It was about managing problems, not solving them. And…

— Rush Doshi (@RushDoshi) May 15, 2026

* * *

Taiwan releases statement in response to Trump comments The Hill

The US-China trade war is entering a worrying new phase: a legal arms race South China Morning Post

China’s Growing Quantum Dominance Forces U.S. to Adapt F-35 Software Military Watch

China has decisively won the shipping war Kevin Walmsley

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED IN BEIJING IN THE LAST FEW HOURS — IN ORDER:

→ Trump’s plane lands in Beijing, May 13, 2026→ China’s Vice President meets him on the tarmac — not Xi→ Motorcade forms — Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang riding alongside→ 8:19pm local time —… pic.twitter.com/JvHoFd6LVP

— 🇨🇳 Liu Feng 刘锋 (@LiuInTheShadows) May 13, 2026

India

India raises fuel prices as global energy crisis adds pressure on economy Independent

Church leaders killed in latest ethnic violence in India’s Manipur Aljazeera

Africa

Acute hunger grips nearly 20 million people in war-battered Sudan, says IPC Aljazeera

🇧🇫 Traditions Day in Faso :Today in Burkina Faso, it is a national holiday. It is a day dedicated to celebrating our traditions, cultures, and traditional religions. It is mainly celebrated by those who still follow the country’s traditional religions, but it is also appreciated… pic.twitter.com/wtJano3GFH

— Sahel Revolutionary Soldier (@cecild84) May 15, 2026

European Disunion

Fußball 101: Bier Bundesletter (Micael T)

The EU and China are stumbling into a trade war Economist

China ‘very disappointed’ with Europe’s planned investment restrictions, diplomat says Reuters

Nato to press Europe’s arms makers to boost investment and production Financial Times. Lead story.

Friedrich Merz vows to oppose new EU debt despite Germany’s borrowing spree Financial Times

Greece’s Water Crisis Is Becoming an Economic Crisis Tovima

Old Blighty

I’ll never regret what I did – Palestine Action activist cleared over Elbit raid The Standard

There’s a risk of another Liz Truss moment’: City raises spectre of bond market meltdown again Guardian

Andy Burnham will push to become PM before Labour conference, allies say Guardian (Kevin W). Forgive me for badly uninformed priors. Wes Streeting is an even more fierce Zionists than Starmer, so by default, your humble blogger is of the “anybody but Streeting’ school. Reader comment on Burnham welcome.

UK govt warned fuel crisis may lead to ‘crops rotting in fields’ Agriland

China warns UK over nationalisation of British Steel Financial Times

Why does Guernsey dump raw sewage into the sea? BBC

Surfers to launch nationwide protests over failing water system Independent

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Israel v The Resistance

Featuring this rather than the full video, which the YouTube censors have made age restricted:

In a social experiment conducted by a YouTube channel in Spain, the sound of a child crying was played from underground.

▪️People couldn’t hold back their tears when they realized the crying sound belonged to Palestinian children killed by Israel. pic.twitter.com/NEwEX7xE9O

— GBX (@GBX_Press) May 15, 2026

Just absolutely incredible. I mean, holy shit https://t.co/eqsKzU8aNt

— Victims of Capitalism Memorial Foundation (@karaokecomputer) May 14, 2026

BREAKING: Following the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Netanyahu’s confirmed secret visit to the UAE, it can now be revealed that not only the PM, the Mossad chief and the Shin Bet director visited the Gulf state during the war — but also IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal…

— גיא עזריאל Guy Azriel (@GuyAz) May 15, 2026

Senate fails to curb Trump’s war on Iran even as Republican opposition grows Guardian

Simulations Confirm Iran’s North Korean Attack Submarines Can Sink U.S. Navy Carrier Groups Military Watch

Iran turns to Pakistan land corridor as US naval pressure disrupts Gulf trade Middle East Eye

The Democracy Perception Index 2026 (DPI) asked people in 98 countries whether they agree more with Iran or the U.S. in the conflict between the two countries.

DPI found that 41 countries agree more with Iran, 28 agree more with the criminal Trump regime, and 29 are roughly… pic.twitter.com/ZUQkqevQVi

— Dimitri Lascaris (@dimitrilascaris) May 15, 2026

New Not-So-Cold War

Zelensky Claims Leaked Russian Intel Docs Show Russia Preparing to Take Out “Decision-Making Centers” of Ukraine Simplicius. Hard to take the Zelensky effort to elicit rage seriously. Government buildings in Kiev are legitimate targets. Putin has apparently been resisting great pressure from the General Staff to strike decision-making centers. The more interesting part of this story is Zelensky saying that drone strikes into Europe are also in the works, and Simplicius describing why this is not impossible.

Ritter’s Rant 089: The Karaganov Fallacy Scott Ritter (Micael T)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch:

NHS England confirms: Palantir staff can access patient data The Register (Chuck L)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts – Change Forged in Misery and Blood Jesse’s Café Américain Jesse’s musings are regularly very good and I have been too busy to check in for a while. A section from this piece:

There will be no good and sustainable monetary system easily reached for the same reasons that this generation of leaders can no longer create and put forward fair and workable laws for their own country. They are overcome by ego and greed. They wish for a system riddled with loopholes and personal advantage for them and their friends. So this is what is produced. And until this changes, progress and change will be spattered with misery and blood, as it has so often been in the past.

If there is any key point I wish you to take and hold in your minds and hearts it is that there is no such thing as a perfect, self-regulating monetary system. There could only be such an ideal model if men and women were angels, perfectly rational and reliably virtuous.

Trump 2.0

Trump administration proposes easing toxic wastewater regulations for coal-fired power plants ET Now

Colorado’s Democratic governor commutes ex-election clerk Tina Peters’ sentence after Trump pressure Associated Press

Our No Longer Free Press

Rich Guy Quote Journalism Peter Shamshiri (Paul R)

Honestly what a bunch of assholes @ABC https://t.co/u5rqfgTwXv

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 15, 2026

Economy

The Iran War Could Crash the Global Economy, Here’s How Fair Observer

The World Is Burning Through Its Oil Safety Net Wall Street Journal

Iran, Ukraine wars deliver worst hit in years to oil refining output Reuters

Mr. Market Needs Therapy

Bond Market on Verge of Crash, Long Bond Yield Near 19-Year High Michael Shedlock

Global bonds tumble as flaring inflation spooks investors Reuters

The Energy Crisis Is Becoming a Currency Crisis Bloomberg. A lazy report via being narrowly accurate but substantively misleading in details. The baht is not in currency crisis terrain, FFS. It may wind up there there but it is not in the position of the rupee. The baht is exactly where it was a year ago. On top of that, it rises during high season, November to March, so a lot of the fall since the start of the war is attributable to that. There are still many complaints from local businesses that it is overvalued.

AI

US AI policy is a clumsy mess. Here’s what to do about it Gary Marcus

Mayo Clinic is Using AI to Listen to Emergency Room Visits 404 Media (The Joker)

Brussels runs on summaries and AI is now writing them Euractiv

Do Job Postings Show Early Labor‑Market Effects of AI? Liberty Street Economics

Your CEO is suffering from AI psychosis Jake Handy (The Joker)

The Bezzle

Empathy is good, actually. https://t.co/GNiUW4Hl54

— Stephanie Kelton (@StephanieKelton) May 15, 2026

Class Warfare

These soaring electricity bills are a tax hike, a monthly tithe levied by the Oligarchy on the American peasantry. They get ever richer, while we go broke for the pleasure of helping our oligarchs “beat China” https://t.co/h1nUQIQ1XJ

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) May 15, 2026

You know candidates for Senate have to disclose their personal finances. Platner is not rich. His wife is still paying off student loans. pic.twitter.com/wLTZNIDj9R

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) May 15, 2026

Antidote du jour (Tracie H):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.