In today’s interconnected world, events across various regions impact our lives, from momentous geopolitical changes to personal anecdotes from everyday individuals. Here’s a roundup of current insights and reflections from different parts of the globe.
From Chuck L:
“I’m Big Joe. 58. Long-haul trucker.
Been driving 18-wheelers for 34 years. Sleep in my cab. Eat at truck stops. Talk on CB radio to stay awake.
Lonely job. But someone’s gotta move America’s stuff.
Two years ago, I’m driving through Nebraska. 2 a.m. See a car pulled over.… pic.twitter.com/CKUky7STFu— Mr PitBull (@MrPitbull07) December 7, 2025
3I/ATLAS Is Carrying Ingredients for Life, NASA Finds Futurism
WHAT IF OUR ANCESTORS DIDN’T FEEL ANYTHING LIKE WE DO Atlantic. Anthony L: “Another Descartes inspired bit of nonsense.”
Scientists reveal a surprising new timeline for ancient Egypt ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
A Fentanyl Vaccine Is About to Get Its First Major Test Wired (resilc)
Climate/Environment
While the yearly minimum for Arctic sea-ice volume has been relatively stable for the last 15 years, this year saw a new record low for Arctic sea-ice thickness. By a lot.
What’s going to happen in 2026? The Climate 8-ball is skating on thin ice. pic.twitter.com/5O0hmDeeKl
— Prof. Eliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) December 4, 2025
In just 5 days, December 2025 has broken more records than ANY FULL MONTH in history except November 2025.
Next week we will see >160/170 countries and thousands of stations breaking records across all continents, surpassing November 2025.
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) December 6, 2025
Climate crisis blamed for the death of 60,000 penguins off South Africa Independent
Researchers warn of record marine temperatures and extreme warming at 500 meters depth Noticias Ambientales
Rate of Global Heating in the Arab World is Twice the Global Average Juan Cole (resilc)
China?
China’s Trade Surplus Climbs Past $1 Trillion for First Time New York Times
Nvidia Wins Trump’s Approval to Sell H200 AI Chips in China Bloomberg
China’s Economic Crossroads China Economic Indicator
Remaking Globalization for an Era of Trade Wars Jacobin (PlutoniumKun). Important to the trade surplus story.
Beijing orders China’s banks to lend to debt-burdened state-owned entities China Banking News (PlutoniumKun). Relevant as of late November, illustrating what zombification looks like.
Exclusive: Post test finds Hong Kong scaffold net sample igniting despite passing safety standards South China Morning Post
South of the Border
Trump threatens Mexico with a 5% tariff over water dispute Anadolu Agency
Why U.S. Action in Venezuela May Be Imminent Modern War Monitor
U.S. Imperialism in Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to Maduro CounterPunch. resilc: “Guatemala had the worst violence-at-any-moment vibe of any place I ever visited.”
Southeast Asia
Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia escalates along the border as the death toll rises BBC. BBC has elevated its coverage to a live blog.
Families are seeking shelter in storm drains and drainage culverts often carrying mixed wastewater, huddling below concrete as gunfire sounds nearby. This scene makes my blood boil. I’m sure people in Thailand are experiencing the same plight right now. pic.twitter.com/zyKoRrp39g
— Jacob in Cambodia 🇺🇸 🇰🇭 (@jacobincambodia) December 9, 2025
Africa
Fears of renewed clashes as police in Tanzania ban Independence Day protests Africa News
Air strikes threaten to close a crucial crossing between Sudan and Chad Ayin Network
European Disunion
From Politico’s European morning newsletter:
A NEW TRANSATLANTIC CRISIS: Attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration are intensifying against Brussels. The administration has unveiled a strategy to combat “civilizational erasure,” allegedly occurring in Europe, which has been welcomed by the Kremlin… This has led to a furious reaction regarding the EU’s latest fine against the American social media platform X.
Rising tension: U.S. Ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, stated that the $140 million penalty against Elon Musk’s X for breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) was “regulatory overreach targeting American innovation.” This comes as the Commission sends a team to Washington for three days of talks to ease regulatory disputes and steel, facilitating their planned trade deal.
Open wound: “The issue on the table is European sovereignty,” remarked Italian center-left MEP Brando Benifei. “The American discourse hits on an open wound, as the EU remains fragmented and vulnerabilities allow threats on the DSA,” he added, speaking as chair of the Parliament’s delegation for relations with the U.S.
Divided continent: “We are still a contradictory union and lack the political and institutional unity required to confront the current global situation,” Benifei stressed.
EU response: On Saturday, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, adopted an unusually conciliatory tone, declining to condemn American involvement and stating that “we should be more self-confident.” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has yet to publicly respond to the criticisms.
German MPs approve military service plan despite protests from students Irish Examiner
Merz files 5,000 complaints against online critics – Media RT (Kevin W)
Europe’s Eclipse of Intelligence – Immigration Finn Andreen (Micael T). While not endorsing it, this perspective may gain traction as many European economies hover near or in recession.
Finland faces serious economic decline and is placed under EU deficit procedures due to costly Russophobia! International Affairs (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Despite establishment bias, some key legal victories for Palestine in the UK Asa Winstanley
Bank of England searches for ‘cockroaches’ in $11 trillion shadow banking market Telegraph
Israel vs. the Resistance
Gaza Buried Under 68 Million Tons of Rubble: A Look at the Daunting Task Ahead Wall Street Journal. Original article includes video footage. No archived version is available as yet.
Israeli surveillance system targets U.S. and allies at joint base planning Gaza aid and security, sources claim Guardian (resilc)
“You have two days to leave, or we will kill you.”
Zionist settlers issue death threats to a Palestinian family and foreign peace activists in a coordinated attack near Ramallah.
At dawn today, armed Israeli settlers launched a violent assault in the… pic.twitter.com/BsmrX6fdvn
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 7, 2025
Over 80,000 Israeli soldiers have received treatment for psychological disorders since the Gaza war TRT World (Kevin W)
‘Voters will decide’: Netanyahu rules out retirement in exchange for pardon The Cradle (Kevin W)
US states ‘benevolent monarchies’ best serve the interests of the Middle East Middle East Eye (Kevin W)
Syraqistan
A year after Assad’s fall, a fragmented Syria struggles to break the cycle of violence Guardian
Syrian city of Homs remains mired in sectarian violence France 24 (resilc)
New Not-So-Cold War
Kiev to deploy conscripts directly to frontline units RT (Kevin W)
Russia’s hybrid warfare tests Europe’s resilience Financial Times. “Russia poses as significant a threat to civilian life in Europe as Islamist terrorism.”
Bannon, Mearsheimer: Trump’s Ukraine Plan Won’t Resolve the Conflict American Conservative (resilc)
The Moral Urgency of Compromise in Ukraine George Beebe, Compact
European leaders express solidarity with Ukraine in Downing Street talks Guardian (Kevin W)
Poland: Transitioning from a potential Eurasian bridge to NATO’s defensive bastion Near Eastern Outlook (Micael T)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Teachable Moment: Will the digital control grid eventually fail, or is it already established? Libre Solutions Network
Google to start sharing your text messages with your employer Forbes (Micael T)
Imperial Collapse Watch
BRICS Will Not Deliver Anti-imperialism Greg Godels. Significant perspective.
The U.S. has effectively outsourced its most critical missile defense capability to Japan. After decades of failed programs and significant financial waste, Washington now relies on Tokyo to supply the only interceptors capable of countering Chinese and Russian hypersonic threats.… pic.twitter.com/LgmLWATA5h
— Patricia Marins (@pati_marins64) December 9, 2025
Trump 2.0
Congress to withhold Pentagon travel funds until it reviews boat strike footage Politico (Kevin W)
Congress prepares to pass NDAA granting Trump a $1 trillion military budget Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
American soldiers have long confronted unlawful orders; they deserve our support to resist Kansas Reflector (Robin K)
Supreme Court appears poised to significantly expand presidential powers NPR (Kevin W)
Tariffs
Did the U.S. side gain anything from the concession to extend the 2025 soybean purchase commitment to February 2026? This should benefit the Chinese side as prices are expected to drop during the Brazilian harvest, disadvantaging U.S. soybean farmers… https://t.co/v4hdfwGLEu
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) December 8, 2025
Trump to Reveal $12 Billion in Long-Awaited Farm Aid Program Bloomberg
Tariffs on Medical Goods: Geographic Pass-through and Aggregate Costs to the U.S. Healthcare System NBER
Immigration
A three-year-old child compelled to represent herself in Tucson immigration court Copper Courier (resilc)
Abortion
Concerns over privacy persist in reproductive healthcare despite the dismissal of HIPAA lawsuits Kansas Reflector (Robin K)
Mamdani
Open Letter to Zohran Mamdani – Political Moderate Ralph Nader. “Your self-description as a democratic socialist is questionable.”
Our No Longer Free Press
Censorship by Stealth: The West’s Algorithmic Gatekeepers Near Eastern Outlook (Micael T)
Economy
PMI data reflect the global economy’s growing reliance on rising financial services activity S&P Global
BREAKING: 717 large U.S. companies have declared bankruptcy year-to-date, the most in 15 years. This surpasses full-year totals from every year since 2010 and represents a 93% increase since 2022.
In November alone, 62 large firms filed for… pic.twitter.com/3an555p1uN
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) December 7, 2025
Prepare for a significant slowdown in global trade in 2026 Think.ing
Mr. Market is Moody
Inflated asset prices demonstrate that markets aren’t infallible South China Morning Post
AI
Important:
Researchers conducted psychotherapy sessions with ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini over four weeks. The outcomes were… unsettling.
These AI models didn’t merely role-play as clients; they articulated genuine trauma. Coherent and stable trauma narratives emerged.Here’s what was… pic.twitter.com/8YfTy3Eg7R
— Carlos E. Perez (@IntuitMachine) December 7, 2025
Your Brain on ChatGPT: The Accumulation of Cognitive Debt When Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Tasks (Micael T). Read the underlying paper
The idea that “Scale Is All You Need” is no longer valid Gary Marcus
Data Centers Are Useless Without Energy: The Critical Component Requiring Long-term Planning Karl Sanchez
The Bezzle
It’s Time to Rescue Silicon Valley From Itself Wired. resilc: “Ironically, greed knows no bounds until it leads to collapse.”
Old Teslas Are Starting to Fall Apart Futurism (Kevin W)
Class Warfare
The Earliest Recorded Labor Strike in History Ada Palmer (Paul R)
A Dangerous New Housing Trend: Why Home Equity Agreements Could Spell Disaster for Millions Yahoo! (Kevin W)
Escalating Gas Prices Worsen the Affordability Crisis for Americans Financial Times
Ailing in a Hospital Town: As Phoebe Memorial Expanded, Albany, Georgia’s Health Deteriorated ProPublica (Robin K)
Unite and Untie Healthcare Kathleen Wallace (resilc)
Antidote du jour (via):
For more insights, check out yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
And here’s a bonus for you:
A bull elephant gives a small calf a hefty kick. Female elephants quickly support and shield the young one pic.twitter.com/lPlVvoJMKq
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) December 7, 2025
