Links 1/19/2026 | naked capitalism

The Politics Of Planetary Color Noema

How IVF has led to a record number of single moms in their 40s NPR

The Best States For Raising A Family In 2026 StudyFinds

Collection Agency: Crunching the Numbers with a Calculator Collector Inconspicuous Consumption

Oil’s Problem Isn’t Iran or Russia — It’s Too Much Oil OilPrice

Revolutionary imaging of black hole aims to prove they are not ‘evil vacuum cleaners’ The Guardian

Climate/Environment

Scientists Just Produced the Best Map of Antarctica’s Sub-glacial Landscape, and It’s Good News for Climate Change ZME Science

Chile Declares State of Catastrophe Over Wildfires TeleSUR

Davos

As Trump reshapes global order, World Economic Forum starts in Davos today Firstpost

Insularity threatens Davos dialogue goal Semafor

Pandemics

That collapse in SATs since the pandemic began. All catastrophes reboot societies. The status quo has tried desperately to rush everybody back to their old routines, ignoring public health.

The old status quo still broke. I’m seeing this ‘checking-out’ across all parts of life. pic.twitter.com/MhSfyDC2Aa

— Henry Madison (@RageSheen) January 18, 2026

The School Engine Behind Flu and COVID — and Why Clean Air for Kids Is the Missing Public Health Tool TACT

A plea to those no longer masking M (Is) Living With Long Covid

The Koreas

Cheese-flavored spicy noodles are powering South Korea’s food exports to a record high CNBC

Japan

Takaichi enjoys popularity amid Japan’s rightward turn East Asia Forum

China?

China’s Q4 GDP growth slows to 3-year low, full-year pace meets official target Business Times

The Bridge at the Center of the Pentagon Michael McNair. On Elbridge Colby and his China strategy.

The China Commission’s Report ChinaTalk. An incredible comment from Leland Miller, the co-founder and CEO of China Beige Book, who was appointed to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission by Speaker Mike Johnson:

A potential nightmare scenario is China breaking quantum cryptography, achieving AGI, or making some other enormous breakthrough in AI first. Imagine they cure cancer. A shock would go through the system as we’ve never seen — our approach would have failed…We want someone to cure cancer, but we don’t want China to control the pipeline for that cure.

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What the U.S.-Taiwan deal means for the island’s ‘silicon shield’ CNBC

Taiwan’s Silicon Shield Has Been Sold Out by President Lai

Taiwan’s greatest strategic asset has never been its navy, its air force, or even its alliances. It has been the silicon shield— it’s semiconductor industry, led by TSMC, which binds the world’s economy to Taiwan’s… pic.twitter.com/IuwUug9uQE

— Ignis Rex (@Ignis_Rex) January 19, 2026

Syraqistan

Trump ‘wants nations to pay $1bn to join his Gaza peace board’ The Telegraph

Is Israel The Bankrupt Colony? Frame The Globe News

WOW!

At the Israeli-American Council, Miriam Adelson is asked how she is buying influence over American politicians.

Recognizing that it probably isn’t smart for her to talk openly about this, she hesitates and answers:

“Can you allow me not to answer? … I want to be… pic.twitter.com/gOGXm8xMDR

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) January 18, 2026

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Trump to POLITICO: ‘It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran’ Politico

Any attack against Ayatollah Khamenei ‘full-fledged’ war with Iranian nation: President Press TV

WOW. Strategic advisor to Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mahdi Mohammadi:

“We know that we are facing a regime-change war in which the only way to achieve victory is to make credible the threat that, during the 12-day war, although it was ready, did not get the opportunity to be…

— Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) January 19, 2026

The anti-Iran human rights bazaar Al Mayadeen

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Syrian forces seize major oil, gas fields in eastern Syria Al Mayadeen

Syria reaches ceasefire with SDF, wins ‘significant concessions from Kurds’ The Cradle

Africa

New Scrutiny of Nigeria Strikes as Activist’s Data Unravels Antiwar

European Disunion

‘It’s time, it will be done’: Trump doubles down on Greenland after joint EU statement rejects threats Firstpost

The Psychological Stake in Greenland Simplicius

🇩🇪🇬🇱 Fifteen German soldiers deployed to Greenland abruptly left the island today without explanation, Bild reports.

The outlet captured footage of the German troops departing from Nuuk. According to Bild, the return order was issued early in the morning, with all meetings and… pic.twitter.com/AXebfPyfjo

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) January 18, 2026

Bessent on Greenland: “Peace through strength. Make it part of the US and there will not be a conflict because the US right now, we’re the hottest country in the world, we’re the strongest country in the world. Europeans project weakness. The US projects strength.” pic.twitter.com/NQYuvNpsC3

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 18, 2026

China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among Allies.

If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.

Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity.

We also…

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) January 17, 2026

Will Trump’s Threat to Increase Tariffs on Europe Spark a Financial Crisis? Larry Johnson

High-speed train crash in southern Spain leaves at least 21 dead The Guardian

Old Blighty

Trump administration demands Britain adopt US standards in trade talks Politico

New Not-So-Cold War

Europe already ‘at war’ with Russia, says central banker FT

Military intelligence entraps parliament Events in Ukraine

Ukraine is fighting a war with money Europe doesn’t have Ian Proud

Germany Denies Baltic Sea Entry to Shadow Fleet Tanker ‘Tavian’ in Unprecedented Move gCaptain

THE WHITE HOUSE ARCHIVE — WHAT VLADIMIR PUTIN CONFIDED TO GEORGE W. BUSH, WHAT HE MEANS NOW John Helmer

South of the Border

US air authority warns of ‘military activities’ over Mexico, South America Al Jazeera

Weekend Read: Did this Cyberweapon Open the “Pathway” to Caracas? The After-Action Report

Police State Watch

Trump orders active duty troops to prepare for Minnesota deployment Politico

YIKES: If this is true … and I’m skeptical it is until I see local reporting. But it’s bad.

Alerting the 11th Airborne was UNAMBIGUIOUS indicator for an invasion of Greenland I wrote a year ago.

Minnesota would be a good place to interim stage these forces in the lower 48.… https://t.co/AfLMvQ2urP

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) January 18, 2026

FBI opened probe on Minneapolis shooting; none exists now, Justice Dept. says WaPo

Lawyers allege Dept. of Homeland Security is denying legal counsel to Minnesota detainees ABC News

Minneapolis AFL-CIO Calls for General Strike on Friday as Movement Spreads to Other Cities Payday Report

this is what it has come to for Mexican restaurants in the Twin Cities pic.twitter.com/RhbZ3xDhfQ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 19, 2026

Democrats en déshabillé

Every House Democrat Votes Against Defunding A Cutout Of The CIA. The Dissident

Dems’ divide over Harris surfaces as she looks like a 2028 contender Axios

Imperial Collapse Watch

The Imperial Epithet in the Liberal Imagination Un-Diplomatic

Trump vs. Penguins, or Whatever Happened to America? Marat Khairullin Substack

Where is the world headed? Nuclear war, WW3 or just plain old Global Capitalist resource capture? Vanessa Beeley and Fiorella Isabel

Accelerationists

Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it’s not the 5%) TechCrunch

Guillotine Watch

Billionaires’ wealth hits record in 2025, Oxfam warns of ‘dangerous’ political risks ahead of Davos France24

Democracy’s Edge: Elite Overproduction Simon Pearce

The Bezzle

More than half of all crypto tokens have failed — and most died in 2025 CoinDesk

The Disclosure of Aliens Could Cause a Bitcoin Rush, Former Bank of England Analyst Says Gizmodo

AI

A Man Bought Meta’s AI Glasses, and Ended Up Wandering the Desert in Search of Aliens Futurism

Experiment suggests AI chatbot would save insurance agents a whopping 3 minutes a day The Register

Sequoia to invest in Anthropic, breaking VC taboo on backing rivals: FT TechCrunch

The Real AI Talent War Is for Plumbers and Electricians Wired

Google’s AI Insists That Next Year Is Not 2027 Futurism

The shape of time Aeon

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See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.