UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres: “Military action carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world"

Die abstrakt-generelle Regel der UN-Welt ist: Niemand darf irgendwen einfach bombardieren. Mit Ausnahmen: Verteidigung. R2P. „Es ist okay, wenn es die Richtigen trifft und wir es machen“ ist keine abstrakt-generelle Regel - aber es trägt dazu bei, neue abstrakt-generelle Regeln entstehen zu lassen.

China's Xinhua news agency has just published this editorial cartoon in response to Trump's rejection of climate policies.

It is pretty clear that China views this as a HUGE geopolitical fumble by the US leaving the field clear for China's to win the global race to clean-tech hegemony

Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs. The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Strong Will Suffer What They Must Vaclav's Grocer and American Hubris

"self-proclaimed pragmatists who quote “the strong do what they can” imagine this as a stable equilibrium, a description of how power works forever. But the Athenians who deliver that ultimatum to Melos are not wise statesmen..They’re men drunk on their own power, ready to sail into catastrophe."

Die politisch entscheidende Frage ist: Wie lebt es sich als US-Vasallenstaat? Und wie würde es sich als Oppositionsstaat leben? Was tut mehr weh und wem? Ich bin nicht sicher, ob die Frage schon jemand im politischen Berlin beantwortet hat. Oder auch nur gestellt.

burning fossil fuels ....in another 20 years
www.science.org/content/arti...

Hinter Paris liegt der Albtraum Oder doch eine Anti-Abriss-Party?

Es schleicht sich eine stillschweigende Duldung einer 3-Grad-Welt ein.

„Das Pariser Abkommen ist genau zehn Jahre alt. Eine 1,5-Grad-Welt war der kühne Traum der Pariser Dekade. Er ist geplatzt.

Eine 3-Grad-Welt ist der neue alte Albtraum des Post-Paris-Jahrzehnts.“

Neuer Newsletter:

Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse. Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.

Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:

A map of state hiring rates for August 2025

US hiring rates remain stuck at 3.2%—tied for the lowest readings since the worst of COVID—but vary dramatically from state to state

DOGE-hit DC has the lowest hiring rate at 2.1%, while Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming have some of the highest hiring rates at 4.5% and above

The European Court of Justice has delivered its much awaited judgment on the EU Minimum Wage Directive. The Court upheld the directive’s underlying principles but annulled two provisions. 🧵

Energy retailers to be directed to offer free power three hours a day Saying there is enough solar power for everyone in the daytime, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will direct retailers to provide three hours of free power every day to consumers.

Absolutely amazing: they've got so much solar in Australia that they need more people to use more of it, so the gov't has instructed energy retailers to offer *at least three hours of free power* during the middle of the day.

Meanwhile fossil-addled US struggles with an energy-price crisis ...

Warum die Rede vom "wahren Kern" keinen wahren Kern hat Zum Teufel damit. Sie hat genug Schaden angerichtet.

Die SPD will einen „Stadtbildgipfel“, der Grünen-Chef spricht über „Angsträume“ - die Suche nach dem „wahren Kern“ in Merz‘ Stadtbild-Sazu läuft auf Hochtouren. Hier nochmal Grundsatzkritik an diesem Modus der Auseinandersetzung:

Anti-immigratie-demonstratie Den Haag escaleert, confrontatie met politie De actievoerders steken vuurwerk af en zwaaien met Nederlandse vlaggen maar ook met prinsenvlaggen.

Anti-immigration demonstration in the Netherlands escalates. This is exactly what happens when far-right ideas are tolerated and normalised over an extended period of time. The far right gains confidence and grows, both at the ballot box and in the streets.
nos.nl/artikel/2583...

On one hand, reducing car use reduces urban pollution.
But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable

EU fire data was updated this morning. Here's the total area burnt across the bloc this year so far. A record for this time of year. forest-fire.emergency.copernicus.eu/apps/effis.s...

Zweijähriger in Berliner Krankenhaus gestorben: Mutter und Kind auf Zebrastreifen von 84-Jährigem mit Auto angefahren Eine Mutter überquert mit ihrem Sohn im Kinderwagen auf einem Zebrastreifen in Berlin die Straße, als sie von einem Auto angefahren wird. Beide werden verletzt, das Kind überlebt den Unfall nicht.

Another dead kid in #Berlin, another car driver who killed it but will probably get away with a slap on the wrist.

www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/zweij...

How the Right Shaped the Debate Over the Sydney Sweeney Ads

Es gab gar keine „woke Empörung“ über die Sidney-Sweeney-Werbung, hat die @nytimes recherchiert – es gab nur eine Empörungskampagne rechter Accounts über eine angebliche woke Empörung, die aber gar nicht wirklich existierte. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/b...

How many people are buying Chinese EVs in your country?

Here are Chinese EVs "going out". BYD the new Global Fordism @benbraun.bsky.social

China’s investment into the “new three”—EVs, batteries, & solar—is expected to crush oil demand by 5 million barrels a day by 2030
www.ft.com/content/f867...

Grow the Economy? Not With These Immigration Restrictions The new budget law counts on better economic growth to help increase revenue, but a shrinking workforce will make that difficult.

The White House's agenda of sharply lower immigration and mass deportations is a risk to economic growth. The recent budget bill, which includes over $150 billion in immigration enforcement, bolsters those efforts. My new @opinion.bloomberg.com piece. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

a multi-panel line chart titled "Low adoption of air conditioning means Europe’s death rates climb far more steeply than America’s during periods of intense heat". The chart compares the relative increase in mortality risk at different outdoor temperatures between paired European and American cities. The general finding is that European cities (shown in red) experience a much steeper rise in death rates during high temperatures compared to American cities (shown in blue). Each mini-chart within the graphic compares a European city to a U.S. city with a similar climate profile (based on the number of days exceeding 28°C/82°F annually). The y-axis in each panel represents relative mortality risk (%), ranging from 0% to 150%. The x-axis represents temperature in degrees Celsius (with corresponding Fahrenheit values labeled in the first and last rows), ranging approximately from 0°C to 35°C. Here are some examples of each city pairing, displayed in a 3x4 grid: Athens vs Atlanta GA Athens (red) shows a sharp rise in mortality above 30°C Atlanta (blue) shows a slight rise Barcelona vs Los Angeles CA Barcelona (red) rises steeply above 30°C Los Angeles (blue) shows little change Frankfurt vs Boston MA Frankfurt (red) sharply increases above 25°C Boston (blue) stays mostly flat Lisbon vs San Jose CA Lisbon (red) increases above 25°C San Jose (blue) shows no steep rise London vs Portland OR London (red) has a strong upward curve above 25°C Portland (blue) remains steady etc. Red and blue shaded areas around the lines indicate uncertainty or confidence intervals. The red lines (Europe) almost always curve upwards more steeply than the blue lines (U.S.), especially past the 25–30°C mark. Sources: Adapted from Chen et al., 2004 Created by FT graphic designer John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) Notes that city pairings are based on similarity in days exceeding 28°C/82°F annually.

This figure from the article illustrates that the low adoption of air conditioning in European cities results in much higher heat-related mortality during extreme heatwaves compared to American cities, where air conditioning is more widespread.

Climate risks: no longer the tragedy of the horizon The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the European Union countries which have adopted the euro. Our main task is to maintain price stability in the euro area and so preserve the purch...

Influx of Chinese EVs along the lines of Japanese/Korean cars in the 80s: negligible overall GDP impact, acc to IMF calculations.

Climate change, natural disaster scenario, until 2030: -4.7% of GDP in the euro area.

Just to put that into perspective. www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/d...

"it is China that now leads the latest global technology revolution in electrification and renewable energy"

"Clean energy sectors accounted for a record 10 per cent of the country’s GDP and drove a quarter of its growth last year"

www.ft.com/content/f867...

Verfassungsschutz stuft gesamte AfD als »gesichert rechtsextremistisch« ein Monatelang arbeitete das Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz an einer Neubewertung der AfD. Nun steht fest: Die Behörde hält die gesamte Partei für rechtsextrem.

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Not a single international cargo ship at the Port of Seattle. The port is dead. The last ship from China will dock at a West coast port on the 29th, and the last Chinese ship will dock on the East coast around May 10th. After that, there will be no more shipments arriving from China. We’re screwed.

now imagine the Canadian Presidency of the EU in 2034. Personally, I am looking forward to the conference on the future of in work in Calgary.

I can't stress enough that this is decades of mutual exchange and market integration throughout North America unilaterally reversed in one fell swoop. The economic damage is large, but even if the tariffs don't last long the damage to trust is enormous and difficult to repair

NEW: updated long-run gap in voting between young men and women in Germany:

Gender divide continues to widen, but contrary to what is often assumed, young men continue to vote roughly in line with the overall population, while young women have swung sharply left.

www.ft.com/content/29fd...

Marriage Markets, Labor Markets, and Inequality

Marriage Markets, Labor Markets, and Inequality:

economics.yale.edu/news/250124/...