Israel's New Offensive & A New Mosquito Virus

Hi readers, Happy Thursday! We’re almost there. Today we’ll be covering Israel’s new offensive, a wild request from Russia, the U.S.-Mexico border wall, sanctioning a court, the stock market’s tech slump, a National Guard crash, and a new mosquito virus outbreak.

Here’s some good news: China’s fossil fuel usage dropped this summer, even as power demand increased with the summer weather. That signals that the country’s renewable energy industry is producing more than enough electricity to power air conditioners across the country – even as Beijing builds more AI data centers and EV charging stations. 

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” – George S. Patton

Revving Up The Chariots

Wednesday was a big day in Israel. According to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Eddie Defrin, the country’s military began “preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City” yesterday, and the IDF also announced that it would be calling up 60,000 reservists to help occupy what used to be the most populous city in Palestine.

The action kicked off yesterday after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the IDF’s plan to invade the city, named “Gideon's Chariots II.” The callups went into effect immediately, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told the press that the Israeli leader “has directed that the timetables ... be shortened.” That’s likely a response to nationwide protests which saw hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting the war in Gaza, accusing Netanyahu of drawing out the conflict in order to remain in power for longer. As a reminder, the Israeli Prime Minister was trying to wriggle his way out of a corruption trial by dismantling the country’s judicial system just before the October 7 attacks in 2023.

“It’s pretty obvious that it will just create another mass displacement of people who have been displaced repeatedly since this phase of the conflict started,” one U.N. spokesman told reporters after the offensive was announced. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 62,122 people – half of those women and children – though a recent independent survey estimates that at least 80,000 Gazans have died in the conflict.

Letting The Fox Guarantee The Henhouse’s Security

Russia took another steaming hot dump on Ukraine peace negotiations yesterday, insisting that the Russian military should be involved in any postwar security guarantees for Ukraine. We’re sure some Ukrainian diplomats literally spit up their water after they read the news, as Russia is the only reason that Ukraine would need security guarantees in the first place.

“Seriously discussing issues of ensuring security without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere,” Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov told reporters yesterday. “We cannot agree that now it is proposed that security issues, collective security, be resolved without the Russian Federation,” he said. “This will not work.”

After Trump’s meeting with Putin last Friday ended with the U.S. president telling Ukraine it would need to cede territory to Russia to bring the conflict to an end, European leaders have been working with Kyiv to establish a framework for post-war security guarantees. The allies need to figure out if European troops will be based in Ukraine, in what situations they might be allowed to engage with Russian forces, and whether any support from the U.S. will be available. This all seems like wishful thinking, though, until Russia and Ukraine come closer together at the negotiating table – Moscow is still calling for Kyiv to give up the Donbas region in order to end the war, though that idea is still extremely unpopular in Ukraine.

Google Yourself. What You Find Might Be Disturbing.

Making The Big Evil Wall Even More Evil

• The Trump administration has figured out a way to make the U.S.-Mexico border wall even more unpleasant. According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the entire border wall – a patchwork of walls and fences which change based on the topography – will be painted black. The goal of the new paint job is to make it hotter during the day, which will theoretically make it harder to climb. The stable genius behind the idea is apparently Donald Trump himself: “[He] understands that in the hot temperatures down here, when something is painted black it gets even warmer and it will make it even harder for people to climb,” Noem said on Tuesday.

• According to White House data, crossings and detentions of undocumented immigrants have dropped significantly during the Trump administration due to the president’s extreme approach to immigration. June and July saw just 6,000 and 4,600 crossings respectively, a 92% decrease from 2024, and earlier in August Noem announced that 1.6 million undocumented immigrants had been pushed out of the U.S. due to Trump’s deportation crusade.

The Country Doth Sanction Too Much, Methinks

• The White House has somehow managed to make itself look even worse in its spat with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Yesterday, the U.S. announced sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors who work for the court. The move is widely understood to be a response to the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli leaders for their alleged war crimes in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions, claiming that the ICC is “a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare” against the U.S. and Israel. He went on to add that the “United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC’s politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach. I urge countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to resist the claims of this bankrupt institution.” This is actually the second round of U.S. sanctions against the court – three months ago, the White House sanctioned four ICC judges for their involvement in the Netanyahu arrest warrant. 

Additional World News

• Why Does Xi Keep Purging Loyalists? Look to Stalin and Mao for the Answer. (NYT, $)

• North Korea has secret military base that may pose threat to east Asia and US, new report says (Guardian)

• How Much Damage Did U.S. Strikes Do to Iran’s Fordo Nuclear Site? (NYT, $)

• Major Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine kills 1, injures 15 (AP)

• A fierce war of words keeps Thailand and Cambodia on edge (BBC)

• Lese majeste: Lawyers, an American academic and a former prime minister – the list of people ensnared by Thailand’s royal defamation laws keeps growing (CNN)

Never Say “AI Bubble”

• The U.S. stock market has been slip-sliding for the better part of a week now. Yesterday’s shrinkage marked the fourth day of decline for the S&P 500 and the second in a row for the Nasdaq – both indexes shrunk thanks to losses in the tech sector. Many investors are concerned about a possible AI bubble, and are selling off some of their riskier tech stocks to get into other industries.

• Meanwhile, some of AI’s biggest hypemen aren’t helping the vibes. When asked if “investors as a whole are overexcited about AI,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman answered “yes,” even going as far as mentioning The Word That Must Never Be Uttered By A Tech CEO: bubble. “When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth,” he told the Verge. “If you look at most of the bubbles in history, like the tech bubble, there was a real thing. Tech was really important. The internet was a really big deal. People got overexcited.” 

• Another AI pusher came forth with a similar sentiment this week as well. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt co-authored a New York Times opinion piece on Tuesday, writing that the tech sector “needs to stop obsessing over superhuman AI.” Across the industry, experts are increasingly worried about current AI tech – which relies on large language model algorithms – hitting a wall where increased investment yields ever-smaller gains. 

Guarding The Nation But Not Its Drivers

• The National Guard’s takeover of Washington D.C. is not going well. Yesterday, a National Guard Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle (MATV) t-boned a civilian car in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, injuring the victim and sending them to the hospital. The MATV, which is covered in enough armor plates to withstand a landmine blast, can weigh up to 16 tons – the National Guard vehicle was traveling in a convoy before it crashed into the civilian SUV. 

• “The five-vehicle convoy and a D.C. Metropolitan Police cruiser stopped and rendered aid to the civilian, who was transported via EMS,” said a National Guard representative. One local neighborhood commissioner criticized the Guard for bringing in “oversized militarized ‘police’ forces,” adding, “Our kids are getting back to school. Get these tanks out of our streets!” It’s not clear why the Guard needs such a massive armored vehicle when they’ve just been tasked with helping temporarily detain people for the police to arrest.Additional USA News

Additional USA News

• Want your company’s merger approved? Pay a MAGA influencer. (Vox)

• Hurricane Erin's high waves thrash coast of North Carolina (BBC)

• Frank Caprio, US judge who found fame online for his compassion, dies aged 88 (Guardian)

• Texas House approves redrawn maps sought by Trump ahead of 2026 elections (AP)

• Ousted Fire Chief in L.A. Claims Mayor Bass Retaliated Against Her in Legal Filing (NYT, $)

• Judge Halts Texas Law Mandating the Ten Commandments in School (NYT, $)

Chikungunya Is Coming For Ya

• If you’re the type of person who avoids hiking because you’re scared of getting a tick bite, you might want to skip this story (and also invest in some mosquito repellent). A mosquito-borne virus named chikungunya has spread like wildfire this year, infecting more than 240,000 so far. Most of those cases were tracked in Latin America and China, and the disease’s spread mirrors a similar chikungunya outbreak which infected over 500,000 between 2005 and 2007.

• Chikungunya is an RNA virus spread by two different types of mosquitos, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which are mainly present in warmer humid climates. While other mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever and Zika don’t cause symptoms in most infected people, chikungunya symptoms appear in the majority of those who contract the disease – these symptoms include fever, debilitating joint pain, and rashes. In up to 40% of cases, that joint pain can become a chronic issue that lasts for months. 

• “You have people who were working, with no disabilities, and from one day to the next, they cannot even type on a phone, they can’t hold a pen, a woman cannot even hold a knife to be able to cook for her family,” said Dr. Diana Rojas Alvarez, the head of chikungunya research at the W.H.O. The disease is treatable by vaccine, but the problem is that the jab costs $270 per dose (prohibitively expensive for most affected countries to purchase). Oh, and if you think you’re safe from the mosquitoes that spread the disease, think again – research shows that both species’ territories are expanding steadily thanks to global warming. 

Additional Reads

• Monkeys falling from trees and baking barnacles: how heat is driving animals to extinction (Guardian)

• Microsoft boss troubled by rise in reports of 'AI psychosis' (BBC)

• IRL Brain Rot and the Lure of the Labubu (New Yorker)

• Sony is raising PS5 prices, starting tomorrow (Verge)

• AI Isn’t Coming for Hollywood. It's Already Arrived (Wired)

• Why Covid Cases Are Up This Summer (NYT, $)

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