Paul Farmer, US doctor dedicated to the world’s poor, dies at 62 Reuters

Revealed: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians Guardian. Well, I never! Commentary:

Kotok: What Long Covid Means for Financial Markets Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture

March 2020: How the Fed Averted Economic Disaster WSJ

#COVID19

As US cases drop, Hawaii is lone remaining state sticking with indoor mask mandate. Latest COVID-19 updates USA Today. Every superspreading event I know of….. was indoors, good job America.

Why One-Way Masking Isn’t a Very Good Public Health Solution Slate. Breathing is a social relation. One-way masking reduces the social relation to a power relation, where the least powerful — those medically vulnerable — bear 100% of the burden of protecting themselves. No doubt psychos like Leanna Wen think this is utopian.

Most Americans Say They’ll Keep Masks on Even If Mandates Go Away: Poll Newsweek. Clearly, the anti-mask propaganda must be intensified.

* * *

Tip of the iceberg: erectile dysfunction and COVID-19 International Journal of Impotence Research. From the Abstract: “Current evidence illuminates endothelial dysfunction, direct testicular damage, and the psychological burden of COVID-19 that are of the pathways of ED. Although the proposed underlying mechanisms partly fail to answer the questions by which COVID-19 leads to ED, it is important to monitor men who recovered from COVID-19 regarding the sexual dysfunction sequelae of infection and address the long?term consequences.”

* * *

The vaccine that spreads immunity by passing itself on like a virus: Researchers investigate potential for self-spreading, needle-less inoculations in wake of Covid pandemic Daily Mail. NIH-funded research into transmissible vaccines. What could go wrong?

What Happened to Giorgio Agamben? Slate

China?

China resists taking sides between Russia and Ukraine despite pressure from US South China Morning Post

News Analysis: Despite containing the coronavirus, Beijing Games could never escape other problems LA Times. Every journamalist in America was rooting for China’s Zero Covid poilicy to fail. It didn’t, so we are reduced to this.

Omicron has brought Hong Kong to its knees. How did it go so horribly wrong, and can the city go back to its zero-Covid days? South China Morning Post

Hong Kong finds COVID in samples from packaging of pork, beef imports Reuters

Hong Kong has been monitoring frozen food imports for COVID-19 since mid-2020 and found positive samples on pomfret fish packaging in August 2021 and on cuttlefish packaging in November 2021. Authorities said COVID-19 is predominantly transmitted through droplets…

Sigh.

…. and cannot multiply in food or food packaging, and that it is unlikely that it can be transmitted to humans via food consumption.

I suppose — despite the exemplary cleanliness of our meatpacking operation — an infected loogie could land on packaging, stick, freeze, and thaw on arrival. This seems implausible, and if there’s an epidemological study showing this, nobody has seen it.

Myanmar

World Court Myanmar genocide case clouded by representation dispute Reuters

New EU sanctions target Myanmar military’s lucrative gas firm Al Jazeera

Quad ‘concerned’ over Myanmar, but India opposes sanctions, more focussed on border issues The Print

The Koreas

CJ Logistics’ labor conflict escalates as courier union disrupts shipment operations Yonhap News Agency. Canadian truckers let the cat out of the bag….

India

Glenmark and SaNOtize introduce nasal spray to treat Covid-19 in India The Economic Times but 5-Point Guide To The New Nasal Spray For Covid Cleared By India NDTV

Syraqistan

Scandal deepens as Lebanon’s central bank chief ducks court appearance FT

Is there new evidence of Jewish Temple treasures in the Vatican? Jerusalem Post

Canada

Canada parliament backs Trudeau on emergency powers BBC

CCLA Calls for Revocation of Declaration of Emergency Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Don Martin: An emergency about nothing as tow trucks become the excuse to act CTV News

Ottawa police officers charged in tow truck corruption investigation CBC

UK/EU

Living with Covid plan will restore freedom, says Boris Johnson BBC. There’s that word again. Commentary:

For all those removing mask mandates, I repeat a graphic I’ve been using since March 2020. We keep doing this over and over and over. pic.twitter.com/LjYpukLi0G

— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) February 8, 2022

UK Posts First Budget Surplus Since Pandemic Began Bloomberg. I’m just glad the economy’s doing OK.

Appeal Against Imprisonment for Journalism, Wednesday 23 Craig Murray

Why France Failed in Mali War on the Rocks

New Cold War

Recognition of Donbass and warning to Kiev — Putin’s address to nation Tass. Commentary:

Mind you that no leaks have predicted it will be happening this way

— Ivan Nechepurenko (@INechepurenko) February 21, 2022

No leaks I saw from the US intelligence community, amidst the torrent of bullshit. And I do try to keep track.

Ukraine latest: Russia faces sanctions after Putin orders in troops Deutsche Welle. I’m seeing this “orders in” verbiage all over the place. I suppose we’ll see footage or satellite imagery of actual troop movements at some future point.

Ukraine-Russia: Germany suspends Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline AP

Russia now has the right to build military bases in eastern Ukraine – treaties Reuters

Biden Administration

Washington Must Prepare for War With Both Russia and China Foreign Policy

Atrios is correct:

Your brain is broken my man sorry to be the one to tell you

— Atrios (@Atrios) February 20, 2022

No plan yet for bullet train’s soaring price tag CalMatters. Impressive levels of dysfunction.

Spelling mistakes and clerical errors could keep many stranded in shelters under city housing program Gothamist. Ditto.

Trump Legacy

Trump’s new social media app launches on iOS The Verge. Signup failed for me.

Supply Chain

Firefighters struggle with burning electric vehicles aboard Felicity Ace and Massive claims expected from Felicity Ace blaze Splash 247

Realignment and Legitimacy

The implications of Trudeau’s use of emergency powers extend beyond Canada, so I have filed Taibbi and Greenwald here:

The Neoliberal War on Dissent in the West Glenn Greenwald

When Boring People Turn Dangerous: Canada’s Insane Power Grab (excerpt) Matt Taibbi, TK News. Final sentence: “[I]t’s like waking up to learn the cast of The Office has declared the Fourth Reich. Boring people are dangerous, too.”

How Democratic Is The Covid State? The American Conservative

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Here’s What We Know So Far About Possible Trucker Convoy Protests Coming To DC Soon DCist. Note protests, plural.

Trucker convoys aim to shut DC’s Capital Beltway this week, organizer says FOX Washington, DC. This press-annointed organizer, Bob Bolusseems quite the character.

The Mystery of the Declining US Birth Rate EconoFact

Class Warfare

The past two weeks in US unions, February 5-19, 2022 Jonah Furman, Who Gets The Bird. Always interesting; often encouraging.

The Punishment Bureaucracy: How to Think About “Criminal Justice Reform Yale Law Journal

We’re Not Prepared for Contamination Between Worlds Gizmodo

Walking America: Jacksonville Chris Arnade, Intellectual Int-ing

Antidote du Jour (via):

Bonus antidote:

Truly majestic!

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/links-2-20-2022.html“>here.