Let a thousand flowers (room)
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China calls out “coercion” after the United States threatens “very severe” tariffs against Russia’s remaining trade partners. / Barron’s
Walmart is one of the biggest benefactors of China-US trade. / The Wire China
“This Second Cold War is less about containment than it is about connectivity.” The Global South is moving toward “polyalignment” amidst trade wars and green competition. / The Breakdown
Related: How to fortify your town against shocks. / Agglomerations
American taxpayers are about to spend $130,000 to incinerate nearly 500 metric tons of food meant for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. / The Atlantic [$]
The National Park Service is under scrutiny for letting a fire burn on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. / The Associated Press
Hannah Ritchie explains why population growth or decline will have little impact on the climate crisis. / Sustainability by numbers
New policies at the Dept. of Homeland Security slowed FEMA’s responses in Texas by three days. / CNN
The longtime Weather Service employee in charge of escalating dire projections was pushed out by DOGE and not replaced. / The New York Times [$]
Spencer Ackerman: People have spent decades warning that without accountability for the War on Terror’s atrocities, they will recur and intensify. / Forever Wars
Nvidia still can’t sell its most-advanced chips to Chinese customers, but the White House will allow it to sell some. / Reuters
After selling Kotaku, the post-Gawker graveyard G/O Media is down to only one property. / axios
Meta plans to build data centers in Ohio and Louisiana that are nearly the size of Manhattan. / BBC News
See also: “The campaign to make it illegal for ChatGPT to criticize Trump.” / Platformer
France’s Printemps thinks it can resurrect the department store model in New York City. / The Wall Street Journal [$]
A fascinating obituary: The caretaker of New York’s “Earth Room”—a loft filled with dirt—passes away at 70. / The New York Times [$]
Geoff Dyer reviews his lifelong engagement with theory from outside the academy. / New Left Review
Marie le Conte: I love people a lot now, at the age of 33, and it never was a foregone conclusion. / Young Vulgarian
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