Links 3/21/2026

A smartphone app can help men last longer in bed New Scientist. Dr. Kevin: “Will wonders ever cease?” Bitch: a history aeon Scientists solve 12,800-year-old climate mystery hidden in Greenland ice Science Daily (Kevin W) #COVID-19/Pandemics Measles Is Roaring Back. We Are Not Ready. New York Times (resilc) Baroness Heather Hallett has published her third Covid-19 Inquiry report, which concluded that the UK's healthcare systems "came close to collapse" during the pandemic and were already overstretched when the pandemic hit. @ashishskynews reportshttps://t.co/MEjlEQx65c pic.twitter.com/BTZXOTjssV — Sky News (@SkyNews) March 19, 2026 Climate/Environment Even without El Niño, Global Sea Surface Temperatures are already hitting daily record highs. We're now entering a climate hotter than has existed for hundreds of thousands of years! https://t.co/SHReY6qx3m pic.twitter.com/HyjHxL6KB7 — Leon Simons 🌍 (@LeonSimons8) March 18, 2026 Super El Niño Could Push Global Temperatures Beyond Anything We’ve Recorded Altitude Magazine Global deforestation grows unchecked as the EU weakens key law Noticias Ambientales Refugee camps set to be uninhabitable by 2050 as extreme weather worsens Africa 24 Wildfires in carbon-rich tropical peatlands hit 2000-year high Science Daily More record heat in the Red Sea,Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean MINIMUM 28.8 Gizan Second hottest March night in Saudi Arabia historyMIN 28.9 Mogadisho SOMALIA Second in March for Mogadisho https://t.co/1865xSbBit— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) March 20, 2026 A blaring alarm’ issued for Colorado River as heat wave melts snow early Review Journal US Home Insurance Prices Set to Keep Rising With Severe Weather Insurance Journal China? China finds dangerous cure for record deflation in war oil shock Japan Times Washington signals it wants China kept out of Brazil’s largest port auction South China Morning Post Koreas South Korea mulls state energy merger as geopolitics recast resource security Korea Economic Daily India ‘Waiting for days’: India feels impact of gas supply chain disruption amid Iran conflict Guardian Southeast Asia Cambodia calls on Thailand to adhere to frontier treaties Khemer Times AFrica Africa’s Sahel accounts for nearly half of global terror deaths TRT Africa Chad warns Sudan it will retaliate after drone strike on mourners kills 17 BBC The war in eastern Congo is escalating far from view Economist Antipodes ‘Really significant’: analysts warn top fuel suppliers could cut exports to Australia Guardian South of the Border Venezuela interim president replaces top military commanders in sweeping reforms France 24 Cuban soldiers on streets amid blackouts and protests Latin America Reports Peru gas emergency fuels LNG debate in congress BN Americas European Disunion Von der Leyen rules out purchases of Russian gas even in event of power outages in EU TASS (guurst). Hooray! More for Asia, which needs it bigly. But hard to get here since not by pipeline Government bonds face ‘perfect storm’ as Iran war rattles Europe’s central banks CNBC The oil market is in uncharted waters and signalling alarm for Europe Telegraph Denmark reportedly flew blood bags to Greenland in preparation for a US attack Guardian Old Blighty Blackouts and rationing: The Iran crisis is our wake-up call to just how vulnerable the UK is Guardian One in ten cereal acres effectively lost to extreme weather, analysis finds Farming UK UK to double steel tariffs to 50% to save plants from collapse Guardian Tory ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel BLOCKED the FBI from quizzing Andrew over Epstein The Mirror (Colonel Smithers Israel v. The Resistance Death toll surpasses 1,000 in Lebanon as Israeli bombardment continues Aljazeera Heavy fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah immediately north of the state border at sea between Rosh HaNikra and Naqoura. A nature reserve with white sea chalk caves. This doesn't look good for the IDF at all. If they lose, Palestinian and Shiite paramilitaries and… https://t.co/HD76NskFBC — Ignis Rex (@Ignis_Rex) March 21, 2026 * * * Israel is now on its own The US has ordered the evacuation of the Kuwait airbase and the withdrawal of all naval ships. https://t.co/0UwMQWDtCy — Ignis Rex (@Ignis_Rex) March 20, 2026 The Israeli Strike Near Iran’s Reactor is an Ominous Signal The US and Israel find themselves cornered with dwindling options and growing desperation. This is evident in their attacks on Iran’s electrical grid and their calculated attempt to shift the Overton Window toward the… pic.twitter.com/YYOFzHZX8c — Patricia Marins (@pati_marins64) March 20, 2026 Iran Bushehr nuclear plant missile strike risk raises fears of Gulf-wide water crisis Intellinews Toxic pollution from Iran war will spread and last for decades Los Angeles Times 🤡🌍 Flag Officer Imbecility I have long argued that 95%+ of the flag officers in the United States military are blithering imbeciles, and this interview adds further evidence to my thesis.https://t.co/AHi2h9MIad — Will Schryver (@imetatronink) March 20, 2026 Off-ramp in Iran is disappearing but US remains averse to prolonged conflict Indian Punchline (Kevin W) 💢 NEW: U.S. firing ground-based missiles at Iran from Gulf soil, WSJ reports The U.S. has begun using ground-launched ballistic missiles against Iran – marking the first combat use of its newer, highly accurate long-range Army systems and expanding what had been largely an air… https://t.co/4neNv0CcO3 pic.twitter.com/TrDYNhWv4l — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 19, 2026 Middle East conflict triggers parental strife over access to children Financial Times New Not-So-Cold War Russia Prepares Armed Convoys for Shadow Fleet, Threatens to Break Baltic Blockade United 24 Media Ukraine war briefing: EU president von der Leyen vows to pay loan to Kyiv despite block by Hungary Guardian Moldovans face drinking water cut-off as strike on Ukrainian site causes major oil spill TVPWorld Imperial Collapse Watch Trump 2.0 DHS shutdown stretches to 35 days as Democrats block funding bill The Hill Our No Longer Free Press Judge Rules Pentagon Restrictions on Press Are Unconstitutional New York Times Economy A new global food crisis: farmers can’t get fertilizers out of the Persian Gulf Kevin Walmsley (Kevin W) How the Iran war has sent shocks rippling across the globe Guardian (Kevin W) Airlines draw up contingency plans over jet fuel shortage fears Financial Times World Trade Organization eyes sharp slowdown in global trade amid Mideast war Times of Israel U.S. Lifts Fertilizer Sanctions on Belarus as Iran War Causes Price Surge New York Times AI Heads in the AI Slop Sand 404 Media As military tensions escalate between Ethiopia and Eritrea, AI-generated images and videos are inflaming animosity online Africa Report The Bezzle US moves to soften capital rules: ‘Big banks can declare mission accomplished’ Guardian Class Warfare Almost half of all Americans fear a ‘total economic collapse’ in the next 10 years, new poll shows Independent Antidote du jour (via): See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here. “Russia Prepares Armed Convoys for Shadow Fleet, Threatens to Break Baltic Blockade” Some of the countries along the Baltic are serious about imposing a blockade of Russian shipping. Forgetting the fact that a blockade without a UN mandate is illegal, a blockade by definition is also an act of war. Russia can draw upon its naval forces, its air force and especially its missile forces in this region and attempts to be the Pirates of the Baltic will not be allowed by them. If the Baltic countries attempt this, then the entire Baltic will become a no-sail zone for all the countries there, just like Hormuz. Hopefully those Baltic countries will not choose…poorly. Good one here on Venezuela giving the arrogant US baseball team its comeuppance at the World Baseball Classic – Team USA Lost For The Troops From the article – “And here we see a shining example of the main peril of using sports as a reason to wrap oneself in the flag. When you look down and see that you’ve lost your pants, the flag makes a poor trouser substitute. But hey, it’s the risk you run when you play that game, as Team USA and its main broadcast partner, Fox, learned to their embarrassment during Tuesday’s final of the World Baseball Classic. They assumed the best would happen because they were the United States of Baseball and their opponents were just Venezuela, whose government our government just overthrew for no real reason beyond boredom and the capacity to do so, only to find out that in baseball, if you have a choice between patriotism and a nasty bullpen, the wiser choice is to take the bullpen and skip the anthem.” After yesterday’s draft, my fantasy baseball team is well stocked with Venezuelans. We’ll see if lightning strikes twice. Union Pacific has a pending application with the Surface Transportation Board to acquire Norfolk Southern. The CEO has contributed to the Trump ballroom. Now he’s painting a locomotive to honor Trump: The design for Union Pacific’s locomotive honoring Donald J. Trump. UP How sick is this? I think it needs a 8 foot high portrait of our leader! That sounds like it would be begging to be a rolling graffiti imagination station. People can paint their views for all the world to see. “U.S. Lifts Fertilizer Sanctions on Belarus as Iran War Causes Price Surge” Pretty sure that if Russian fertilizers start slipping through the Belarus border too, that nobody is going to say anything as the need will be so desperate. YVES: I’m no authority but just scrolling through the X posts from “Ignis Rex” and the source he cites called Gerçek Bu in particular, this “evacuation from Kuwait” story looks fake. Respectfully, please explain why you think including them in Links today is legitimate. Surely such a move would be covered way beyond a couple of X accounts? The link is missing.