Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at wider military action in devastated Gaza on Tuesday, even as former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs called for an end to the nearly 22-month war.

[This is an op-ed by Robert A. Rogowsky, professor of trade and diplomacy at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in the U.S. He is a former chief economist and director of operations at the U.S. International Trade Commission.]

Archived

[...]

[The EU-US trade deal] is not technically a deal. It is filled with numerous “commitments” such as “work to address” and “intend to work together,” or “intend to address” and, curiously, “take complementary actions to address.” This is the type of language used in a preliminary phase of a framework agreement, which would be the precursor to a serious trade negotiation.

The White House is claiming that, first, that the EU will invest $600 billion directly in the U.S. during Trump’s term (three times the rate it has invested in the past). This is, if not delusional, at least fantastical.

The second concrete claim by the White House is that “the EU will double down on America as the Energy Superpower by purchasing $750 billion of U.S. energy exports through 2028.”

[...] These numbers simply do not make sense. But then, they need not. They serve their performative purpose well enough. Chalk up a specious victory and move on.

[...]

If the EU reaches the $250 billion a year goal, U.S. [energy] imports would account for 85 percent of its total spending on those energy commodities. While this appears to be a plus for U.S. producers, it would massively disrupt global energy markets (not to mention violate many long-term supply contracts).

But more startling, it would exceed total current U.S. exports. Putting together the value of U.S. exports for all three energy commodities totals $165.8 billion, Russell calculates, “meaning that even if the EU bought the entire volume it would still fall well short of the $250 billion.” [...] So the EU’s commitment to buy [annually] $250 billion worth of American energy is entirely unrealistic and unachievable. “The smart people in the room must know this,” Russell writes, so “why agree to what is obviously a ridiculous number?”

[...]

So, despite substantive criticisms of the EU team, they in fact made a perfectly understandable agreement. Specifically, when only attention matters and the substance of the deal is a mere side story of the performance, one can agree to almost anything. In this case, the more fantastical the better.

[...]

Why didn’t EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promise $900 billion? Trump would be even happier and Europe even less likely to uphold the “agreement.” Smile, suck-up, sign, shrug and move on. The real negotiation is somewhere down the road; perhaps tomorrow afternoon. Well, maybe. Trump’s authority even to make such a deal is still being litigated.

The one unavoidable fact is that America has abandoned the rules-based trading system it carefully built over three-quarters of a century. It is a brave new world of U.S. trade “agreements” based on rapid-fire, plainly meaningless commitments — but what a performance!

[Edit to insert the link.]

I'm assuming not, but I really like to say it. (The character on my PFP says it a lot).

Tesla was caught withholding data, lying about it, and misdirecting authorities in the wrongful death case involving Autopilot that it lost this week.

The automaker was undeniably covering up for Autopilot.

Last week, a jury found Tesla partially liable for a wrongful death involving a crash on Autopilot. We now have access to the trial transcripts, which confirm that Tesla was extremely misleading in its attempt to place all the blame on the driver.

The company went as far as to actively withhold critical evidence that explained Autopilot’s performance around the crash. Within about three minutes of the crash, the Model S uploaded a “collision snapshot”—video, CAN‑bus streams, EDR data, etc.—to Tesla’s servers, the “Mothership”, and received an acknowledgement. The vehicle then deleted its local copy, resulting in Tesla being the only entity having access.

What ensued were years of battle to get Tesla to acknowledge that this collision snapshot exists and is relevant to the case.

The police repeatedly attempted to obtain the data from the collision snapshot, but Tesla led the authorities and the plaintiffs on a lengthy journey of deception and misdirection that spanned years.

Nawrocki’s supporters describe him as the embodiment of traditional, patriotic values. Many of them oppose abortion and LGBTQ+ visibility and say Nawrocki reflects the values they grew up with.

I testified at the New Jersey state capital in Trenton last week against Bill A3558, which would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

“I have had numerous relationships with Israeli journalists and political leaders,” I went on. “I knew, for example, former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin who negotiated the Oslo peace agreement. Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli ultranationalist who opposed the peace accord. Rabin stated bluntly on numerous occasions that the occupation was harmful to Israel. Israeli colleagues frequently criticize Israeli policies in the Israeli press in language that would be defined as antisemitic by this bill.”

“These kinds of statements, and many more I can quote from Israeli colleagues and friends, would see them under this bill criminalized as antisemites,” I added.

Committee chairman Robert Karabinchak, a Democrat, muted my microphone, banged his hammer for me to stop and allowed gaggles of Zionists, who openly harassed and insulted Muslims in the room, to jeer and shout me down.

There I was arguing that this bill would curtail my free speech, at the same time I was being denied free speech. This cognitive dissonance defines the United States and Israel.

The committee chairman also muted Raz Segal, the Israeli historian and genocide scholar and, in an especially callous move, chastised Mehdi Rabee, whose 14-year-old brother Amer was killed by Israeli soldiers in April 2025.

America, like Israel, exists in a parallel reality. It denies the stark and incontrovertible reality of the live-streamed genocide. It slanders anyone, including Israeli holocaust scholars such as Professor Segal, as antisemites.

I know, sadly, where this goes. I witnessed it in the many dictatorships I covered as a foreign correspondent for two decades in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. Those of us who fight for an open society are silenced, attacked as traitors and criminals. We are blacklisted, censored and at times, locked up. If we can escape in time, we are forced into exile. As we are silenced, the sycophants, grifters, Christian fascists, billionaires, Zionists and thugs, elevated to the highest positions in the federal government by the Trump White House, are rewarded with absolute power, luxury and debauchery.

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Police arrested more than 200 supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday as they tried to hold rallies in cities throughout Pakistan to mark the second anniversary of Khan’s arrest, a party spokesman and officials said.

The detainees included Rehana Dar, 73, a politician from Khan’s party known for her fiery speeches against the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. She was seen being thrown into a police truck in the northeastern city of Lahore.

The crackdown on PTI supporters came hours after Pakistan’s election oversight body disqualified opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan and several other PTI lawmakers following their convictions over their alleged role in riots that broke out in May 2023 after Khan’s initial arrest in a corruption case.

Microsoft Copilot has a new experimental feature that can turn flat 2D images into usable 3D objects.

Long post

I’m a nurse working ER. I’m also introverted and like keeping to myself. I also may be on the spectrum (haven’t been diagnosed, but I find social cues and when people are being sincere, joking or lying very difficult to understand. I understand what people say literally. Why would they otherwise speak?)

I also separate my job from my personal life, as my job is not my identity. I don’t care about my coworkers’ life but ask the ones who know more than me about anything job related, to learn, to be a better nurse, to have more opportunities.

Today I had a conversation with 2 managers where I was fired. Not from the hospital due to my union but from the ER. In a nutshell, as they put it: they (whoever they might be) see that I’m motivated and want to learn but they find my way of speaking demanding.

I have absolutely no idea what they mean. They didn’t provide any example. They however provided an example where somebody claims I told a student to put a line. I never did such a thing, but I have the feeling they don’t believe me. The never put anything on writing, or gave me anything to sign. I won’t be signing anything from them.

Then one of the managers started a monologue about he’s been working 30 years there, that communication is important. True, communication here is extremely relevant, but about procedures, patients and who does what, not about why Americans are idiots or how many children you have, not to the point of ignoring alarms, not to the point where I am the only one entering patient’s data in the computer while my coworkers speak about what to cook for dinner. Oftentimes I was the only one noticing how we’re under supplied or that some ECG cables don’t work while the chatty ones did they thing and ignored I was working while they lazy around.

I didn’t get to say all of this because they interrupted. It’s like they believe the talkative ones over me. Why would I want to work for people like that?

After this both sides talked but didn’t listen to what the other side had to say. I felt they weren’t listening to me. Why should I listen to them?

Before I left I told them I’m looking for a unit where I can learn. That’s ALL I need from the workplace to be better. To them this is not good enough.

To me it looks like this: you don’t mingle with us (us being coworkers and management), therefore you are worse than us and deserve to be ignored, but I’m not at a workplace to socialize, but to learn and to earn money. Am I the only person on earth to think like this? Why can’t people keep their opinions to themselves? I leave them alone and only talk about work. If I have nothing to say, I say nothing and learn. I don’t understand why people are so needy for conversation and thin skinned. I didn’t say this out loud because in my past people have bullied me for being me.

I was also accused of not being polite.

I’ll miss working that ER because in the 8 weeks I was there I learned stuff you don’t learn on other units. To me this unit was a good one because I learned new things and people left me alone during downtime to figure out how procedures and machines work, people didn’t complain when I looked the internet for instruction manuals or asked coworkers if we give sodium bicarbonate by metabolic acidosis or alkalosis. I was an motivated coworker, even when people who were supposed to train me sat and did nothing while I was taking samples. I always asked what I didn’t know.

I’ll also miss working with most doctors, because they were always ready to teach me stuff, so I really don’t understand why managers say my way of speaking is demanding.

My managers don’t see or don’t want to see that people treat you better and forgive your mistakes if you give them attention, if you’re likable. I’m not likable. They also don’t see that they say a lot of stupid crap if a coworker prefers to keep to himself. I also find this sad. I feel they think I’m doing this on purpose.

If you’re an extrovert and have read so far: I don’t think you understand how taxing is to care about things that are simply, irrelevant. It’s like my managers expect me to make theatrics and give attention to everyone I work with. I already did this on a previous job and it was ridiculous: fake smiling to a secretary and asking her stupid stuff for 5 minutes straight, smiling like a clown because otherwise she would feel offended. Why is that my job? Sometimes I work with 8 coworkers. Am I supposed to be a sucker with all of them? I find that childish.

I feel they presented an ultimatum: either give us and coworkers attention or be fired. I didn’t bulge because they didn’t listen.

And I still don’t know if this is a good outcome, because I’m not going to change what I am to conform to some extroverted standards of what a good coworkers is supposed to be, because I can’t and I don’t understand them (extroverts).

I don’t know if this puts me on the spectrum and I find it unfair being treated so differently because I like to keep to myself and learn during downtime.

I’ve always have such issues working for other employers. It’s clear this is who I am and trying to change me it’s like expecting a gay to like women.

But if this means I’m alone in the universe, that I’m always the loner people always talk shit about and marginalize, how am I supposed to live my life and work life then?

ETA: I inquired the union about protections for people on the spectrum and I’m waiting for an answer but even if I get a diagnosis I don’t want to expose myself to more bullying by disclosing it to my employer: the hospital I work at is full of gossips.

So what do I do?

• Trump’s threats over Russian oil could set back decades of India-U.S. diplomatic progress
  

  • Indian opposition and public urge Modi to resist what they see as Trump’s bullying

  -Analysts say ties are at their lowest since U.S. sanctions after India’s 1998 nuclear tests

  -India expected to step up interactions with Russia and China, say analysts, with some efforts already underway

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's tirade against India over trade and Russian oil purchases threatens to undo two decades of diplomatic progress, analysts and officials say, and could derail other areas of cooperation as domestic political pressures drive both sides to harden their stances.

India's opposition parties and the general public have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stand up to what they call bullying by Trump, who on Wednesday signed an executive order subjecting Indian imports to an additional 25% in duties on top of an existing 25% tariff, due to its big purchases of Russian oil.

While India has emerged in recent years as a key partner for Washington in its strategic rivalry with China, its large U.S. trade surplus and close relations with Russia - which Trump is seeking to pressure into agreeing to a peace agreement with Ukraine - have made it a prime target in the Republican president's global tariff offensive.

Trump's taunt that India could buy oil from arch enemy Pakistan has also not gone down well in New Delhi, said two Indian government sources. India has also rejected repeated claims by Trump that he used trade as a lever to end a recent military conflict between India and Pakistan.

• Netanyahu plans to discuss Gaza strategy with ministers Thursday
  

  • Defense Minister Katz supports military chief's right to voice opinions
  • Hamas videos of emaciated hostages spark global outrage
  • Military chief warns troops could be trapped in Gaza

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Israel's military chief has pushed back against Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to seize areas of Gaza it doesn't already control, three Israeli officials said, as the prime minister faces increasing pressure over the war both at home and abroad.

During a tense, three-hour meeting on Tuesday, Eyal Zamir, the military chief of staff, warned the prime minister that taking the rest of Gaza could trap the military in the territory, which it withdrew from two decades ago, and could lead to harm to the hostages being held there, the sources briefed on the meeting said.

The Israeli military says it already controls 75% of Gaza after nearly two years of war, which began when militant group Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities in October 2023. It has repeatedly opposed imposing military rule, annexing the territory, and rebuilding Jewish settlements there - policies advocated by some government members.

Netanyahu is under intense international pressure to reach a ceasefire in the coastal enclave, which has been reduced to rubble Most of the population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times and aid groups say residents are on the verge of famine

The U.N. has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza "deeply alarming" if true.

The military, which accuses Hamas of operating amongst civilians, has at times avoided areas where intelligence suggested hostages were held and former captives have said their captors threatened to kill them if Israeli forces approached.

Netanyahu told Zamir that so far the military had failed to bring about the release of the hostages, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Most of those freed so far came about as a result of diplomatic negotiations.

Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X Wednesday that the military chief has both the right and the duty to voice his opinion, but said that the military would carry out the government’s decisions until all war objectives are achieved.

The prime minister's office confirmed the meeting with Zamir on Tuesday but declined to comment further and the military did not respond to a request for comment.

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest for former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election — a case that has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administration.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3891369

Migration has rocketed worldwide, driven by warfare, climate change, rapid population growth in lower-income countries and the relative ease of travel ... But as well as greater supply, there has been rising demand. The birth rate in all rich countries ... has fallen well below the replacement rate at which population levels are stable ... As a result, more and more countries are becoming dependent on migrant labour to sustain shrinking and ageing workforces.

Archived link

Germany will need annual net migration of close to 300,000 until 2040 to sustain its labour force. In the US, immigrants account for about one in five healthcare workers and the sector faced acute staff shortages even before the second Trump administration. In Britain, the care sector emerged from lockdown with record vacancies – and a commensurate need for migrant workers.

[...]

Those who ... see mass migration as an existential threat to national identity, struggle to explain how their countries will manage declining populations without bringing in more working-age adults. One popular idea on the radical right – that the need could be negated through schemes to boost native fertility – runs up against the failure of any country to do so, including those like Hungary, which has put significant resources into trying. Policies such as improved childcare, cash payments to parents and better access to housing can make a small difference at the margins but cannot overcome more fundamental changes in gender roles, or the cultural impact of the internet, which means young people spend much less time socialising in person.

Some anti-immigration activists will admit they prefer the idea of gradual economic decay to solving the population problem through migration, but no government can realistically let standards of living go into permanent decline. Voters may worry about immigration, but that doesn’t mean they won’t blame the government if they can’t pay their bills and there is no one to look after their ageing parents.

[...]

There have been some attempts to tighten up routes for legal migration at the margins: in the UK, most international students are no longer allowed to bring dependents, and the salary required to be given a visa has gone up (though not for NHS workers). But net migration is still expected to be about 200,000-300,000 for the foreseeable future – well above historic levels.

Even countries with radical right governments are attempting the same strategy. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni has pushed EU colleagues to go further on reducing irregular migration, while quietly pushing through two increases in the number of visas available for non-EU workers (alongside already high levels of migration from eastern Europe). [In the UK], the new Reform administration in Kent recently wrote to the home secretary complaining that new rules preventing care homes from hiring from abroad would “leave providers on a cliff edge”. In opposition, it is easy to use immigrants as a punching bag but, when governing, the trade-offs become more apparent.

[...]

It is going to become increasingly difficult to maintain the levels of economic migration required to sustain labour markets facing demographic decline. To date, demand to come to rich countries has been so strong that it has been possible for governments to allow in the necessary numbers but then treat them badly to play to domestic audiences.

[...]

Demand for migrants is going to keep growing, owing to falling birthrates worldwide, while supply shrinks for the same reason. To date, emigration hasn’t been a big political issue in most countries, with high numbers leaving because birth rates have been so high. But falling birth rates across middle-income countries, as well as rich ones, are changing the dynamic. Global births peaked in 2016. Currently, only 94 countries are above replacement rate, and that’s projected to fall to 49 by 2050. India has seen more emigration than any other country over the past few decades, but its birth rate fell below replacement in 2019 and continues to drop.

[...]

We’re starting to see how this could play out in the healthcare sector, where global demand for migrants is insatiable. The UK and US have been reliant on international recruitment for a while: last year, 40% of nurses recruited into the NHS were non-EU citizens. Now other countries, such as Germany, that have traditionally relied on home-grown staff, are also becoming more reliant on international recruitment. The effect has been to put huge pressure on healthcare systems in middle-income countries and attempts to stem the flow.

Earlier this year, Nigeria announced new rules that require newly trained nurses to work in the country for two years before being eligible to work abroad. Given Nigeria is the third-largest provider of international nurses to the NHS, this may well have a knock-on effect on the ability of hospital trusts here to recruit. Ghana and South Africa have introduced similar rules, as have some Indian states (India is the largest provider of NHS nurses).

[...]

This is a pattern that will become more prevalent across a wider range of skilled professions, as middle-income countries seek to keep more of their graduates and drops in birth rates become more widespread.

[...]

How rich states manage this tension will be a key political dynamic over the coming decades. Combining tacit support for economic migration with rhetorical hostility will not be sustainable – both because that hostility will mean losing out in the global competition for workers, but also because voters who object to migration can see right through it, undermining trust further.

[...]

@nostupidquestions Can I block Tiktok purely by DNS?
It doesn't seem to work in NextDNS even if it says in the logs they're being blocked.

Japan has beat a German company to win a contract for 11 frigates in what will be its biggest-ever postwar foreign defense contract.

Australia will upgrade its navy with 11 frigates from Japan, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday.

"This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever been struck between Japan and Australia," Marles said.

The 10 billion Australian dollar ($6.5 billion or €5.6 billion) deal saw Mitsubishi Heavy Industries awarded the tender to supply Mogami-class warships, beating out Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.