Scientists Just Discovered an RNA That Repairs DNA Damage – And It’s a Game-Changer SciTech Daily (Chuck L)

Alzheimer’s May Develop Differently in Women MedPage. Note that HRT, started early enough, is neuroprotective. In general, HRT gets an unwarranted bad rap. Women who start HRT comparatively early have lower all cause mortality than women who don’t. See here for details.

When I lost my intuition aeon

COVID-19/Pandemics

We’re losing decades of our life to this illness’: long Covid patients on the fear of being forgotten Guardian (Kevin W)

RFK Jr. tells parents to consider MMR vaccine amid outbreak The Hill

Climate/Environment

This ancient bit of ingenuity keeps carbon trapped for thousands of years Grist

Italy to reintroduce nuclear power by 2030 EurActiv

You may read that a new study says the AMOC will not collapse. Not true. The wind-driven currents will remain but the thermohaline currents may collapse in 20~30 years. It doesn’t contradict what other “collapse” studies say & the authors agree.https://t.co/p5d0i9slst

— Dan Miller (@danmiller999) February 27, 2025

Since 1900, we’ve lost 75% of our global food crop varieties—the most rapid extinction of agricultural genetics in human history

Meanwhile, the US lost 93% of vegetable varieties between 1903-1983

This is one the greatest threats to agriculture and is rarely talked about 🧵 pic.twitter.com/jhcIADwZa5

— Sam Knowlton (@samdknowlton) February 28, 2025

China?

Beijing sees red over Marco Rubio’s comments on Taiwan and tariffs South China Morning Post (guurst)

Chinese factories see improved orders as importers rush to beat tariffs Independent

Afghanistan refutes Trump’s claims about Chinese presence in Bagram Airfield Global Times

Koreas

N. Korea warns of boosting nuclear deterrence after US aircraft carrier arrives in South Anadolu Agency

South Korea says nuclear weapons are ‘not off the table’ The Times

India

Modi’s developed nation dream has no basis in reality Asia Times (Kevin W)

European Disunion

European defence stocks soar as arms makers expect orders boom Guardian (Kevin W)

Report Your Family For Wrong Think, Says German Government Initiative Reclaim the Net (Micael T)

Can Germany Revive Its Industry Without Cheap Energy? OilPrice. See Kevin Kirk’s comparative energy costs chart from his inaugural Coffee Break for a quick answer.

Romanian far-right supporters hold protest rally ahead of election re-run France4

Norway rethinks €1.7 trillion sovereign fund to boost support for Ukraine EurActiv (Micael T)

State-owned Lernia is being sold off to German venture capitalists Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)

Old Blighty

Meet the Zoomer Doomers: Britain’s secret right-wing movement Spectator

Israel v. The Resistance

Gaza ceasefire in peril as Israel and Hamas hit impasse BBC

‘No Other Land’: Palestinian-Israeli film’s Oscar win sparks outrage in Israel Middle East Eye (Kevin W)

Israel mulls extending service for reserve troops as renewed war looms YNet

UK government funds pro-genocide University Jewish Chaplaincy Electronic Initifada (Robin K). From late February, still germane.

I heard from my friend yesterday, a Palestinian detainee freed just a few days ago:

The officer was Emirati and was torturing and abusing him every 10 mins and urinating over his face.

He told him, “I am Emirati. How dare you attacked our brothers in Israel?”

— Abubaker Abed (@AbubakerAbedW) March 1, 2025

Israel’s Criminal Starvation of Gaza Daniel Larison

New Not-So-Cold War

From Politico’s morning European newsletter:

BREAKING OVERNIGHT — WHITE HOUSE PAUSES UKRAINE MILITARY AID: President Donald Trump last night suspended all U.S. military aid to Ukraine. The move followed last Friday’s disastrous meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, where Trump and his Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in front of the cameras. “We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution” to the war, a White House official told POLITICO’s Eli Stokols.

Scale of the U.S. U-turn: A U.S. defense official told Bloomberg that all U.S. military equipment not already in Ukraine — including weapons that are currently in transit — won’t be sent to the frontlines. And per Reuters, Trump is simultaneously moving forward with plans to drop economic sanctions on Russia before a peace deal is even struck.

What’s behind the move: Trump made clear in public comments Monday that the minerals deal Zelenskyy had traveled to Washington to sign remains on the table. The carrot and stick approach is about forcing Zelenskyy into a bigger negotiation to end the war with Russia, Eli writes.

Damage control: Just before reports trickled out about the White House’s move to cut aid, Zelenskyy said in a social media video posted that he wanted to “create conditions for proper diplomacy, for the soonest possible end to this war with a decent peace.” He also said Ukraine, Europe and America together “can ensure decades of peace.”

MEANWHILE, IN BRUSSELS — EU LEADERS PAUSE NEW AID PLAN: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to debut her toolkit for boosting EU defense spending at 9:15 a.m. (more on that below). But the other big item on the agenda for the European Council summit — a huge new infusion of aid for Ukraine — is in doubt.

DON’T look for the EU to step up in a big new way to fill the void left by the U.S. as European leaders gather on Thursday

‘This is a catastrophe’: Ukraine reacts to US military aid pause BBC

EU Commission president unveils €800 billion EU rearmament and Ukraine support plan Ukrainska Prava. Help me. Money cannot magic weapons into existence.

Europeans move towards seizing €200bn of Russian assets Financial Times

8 Demands Trump Has Made Before Zelensky Can Return Babylon Bee

White House wants filmed apology from Zelensky – Fox RT (Kevin W)

Ukraine debacle signals the death of Atlanticism Asia Times. (Kevin W). Keep in mind “signals”. This was baked in with Trump/Vance posture on Ukraine. But in keeping with Trump’s love of dominance, attention, and drama, this break was shocking by having an encapsulating fracas on TV.

This summer I’m joining the Ukrainian military. Steffen Berr, Linkedin. Micael T: “A fascinating combination of Darwin Award candidacy and virtual signaling from a Dutch. Darwin – he will die for sure. Virtue signaling – in three months the fighting may well have stopped.”

Sergey Lavrov: “Over the past 500 years all tragedies in the world originated in Europe or occurred owing to European policies. The colonisation, wars, the Crusaders, the Crimean War, Napoleon, World War I, Hitler… The Americans played no seditious, let alone ‘inflammatory,’ role” International Affairs (Micael T). Lordie, Lavrov looks awfully eager to throw the US a bone. How about Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Overthrowing Mossadegh and Allende? Our support of Israel’s ethnic cleansing and now genocide? Our many other regime change operations…particularly Ukraine?

Trump’s America is No Friend – Russia Must Stay the Course Global Affairs (Micael T)

OSCE shared intel with Ukraine before 2022 – ex-Greek ambassador RT (Chuck L)

Imperial Collapse Watch

An Idiot’s Guide to War Russia Observer (guurst)

U.S. Cattle Inventory Smallest in 73 years Farm Bureau (Micael T)

Trump 2.0

Beijing Hits Back as U.S. Tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico Begin Wall Street Journal Live blog, which is unusual for the Journal. Archived version as of 4:30 AM EST.

Trump Escalates Global Trade War, Sparking Tit-for-Tat Tariffs Bloomberg

On CNBC, Rohit Chopra says we do need to rebalance trade, but asks why Trump is obsessed with Canada and giving loopholes to pharma? Also why hasn’t Trump closed the de mimimis loophole?

Then the anchors attack right-winger Steven Moore. pic.twitter.com/JU5ievAXF9

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) March 3, 2025

Trump Escalates His War on Independent Regulatory Agencies Washington Monthly

‘Trump hasn’t done anything’: Shoppers’ hopes for inflation dashed The Times

US auto industry could be collateral damage in Trump’s trade wars Independent. We’ve covered before but bears repeating.

DOGE

The Trump Administration Said These Aid Programs Saved Lives. It Canceled Them Anyway. ProPublica (Robin K)

Big Consulting Bosses Meet With Trump Officials to Save Contracts Wall Street Journal. This would be funny except their special pleading to be saved from the wrath of DOGE might succeed.

Democrat Death Wish. “Democrats en déshabillé” looks too mild these days.

Playbook: Democrats in despair Politico. Chuck L: “I can only conclude that if the Dems don’t want small donors’ money they don’t want small donors’ votes either.”

New @playbookdc: Last month, a group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials & party leaders gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia, for a retreat where they plotted their party’s comeback.

We got their takeaways. pic.twitter.com/lA1nVshriG

— Adam Wren (@adamwren) March 2, 2025

Democrats want Trump to confront the human toll of layoffs at address to Congress The Hill. And I want a pony. Trump has had, what, 8 years of being vilified? Think this will phase him an iota?

Our No Longer Free Press

The State Department Inflicted a Concussion upon Me Sam Husseini. !!!!

FBI Recruits Journalists and Attorneys as Informants Ken Klippenstein

Mr. Market is Moody

How big is the stock market’s America bubble? Financial Times

Mindless Coping Wisdom of Crowds (Micael T)

Power Cut Ed Zitron. Important. You need to read in a bit to get to how this is pretty clearly AI (lack of) demand driven)

The Bezzle

El Salvador’s wild crypto experiment ends in failure Economist

‘Tangible desperation’: Critics’ withering reviews of Meghan Markle’s Netflix show as they mock ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ that shows her ‘joylessly filling party bags with seeds’ Daily Mail. She is rapidly becoming the Elizabeth Holmes of lifestyle brands.

Class Warfare