Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 02-26-26

Posting links for the third edition of the Pook-Emu Bee.

Links from around the web

Maduro’s Ouster Creates Existential Crisis for Lukashenka (Dmitry Bolkunets for Jamestown Foundation. February 25, 2026.)

…Minsk owed Caracas approximately $1.44 billion under these agreements … For years, Lukashenka systematically refused to repay this sum, characterizing it as “brotherly aid” that required no settlement. Internal documents show that the Belarusian government unilaterally decided to treat this debt as a gift. The new Venezuelan administration, facing external debt exceeding $150 billion and continued pressure from the United States to build up its ability to export oil, is unlikely to be so generous.

“Existential crisis” is probably a little “extreme” in this case, but I concur that it is possible El Presidente Marco may want to see those debts repaid.

A Meta AI security researcher said an OpenClaw agent ran amok on her inbox (Julie Bort for TechCrunch. February 23, 2026.)

I’m not a Meta AI security researcher but I know a fool-proof method for keeping your OpenClaw agent from deleting your emails.

Meet Mamdani’s International Affairs Commissioner, a Defund Police Activist Who Endorsed Free Health Care for Illegal Aliens (Jon Levine for The Washington Free Beacon. February 25, 2026.)

Archila first came to prominence in 2018 when she burst into a Senate elevator to confront then-senator Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) ahead of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote.

Theater kid recruits another member for the drama club. (Don’t look at me. I again voted for the broadcasting club.)

The NBA Needs Reforms, Not Gimmicks (Ethan Strauss. February 18, 2026.)

He is right. But one factor that favors gimmicks in lieu of reforms (besides the obvious preference for less work over more work) is that the NBA sometimes acts as if the best measure of success is generating discussion on social media. Gimmicks are good for social media. Not so much for convincing people to sit down and watch games on TV.

The Browser’s Little White Lies (Jim Nielsen. February 1, 2026.)

I saw this link mere hours after I published my first visual novel, _Little White Lies _(see my essay on making it). Sadly, this short article is not about my visual novel, but it is still worth reading.

The Anime AI Closed Captioning Situation Is Crazy (Isiah Colbert for Aftermath. January 27, 2026.)

I am concerned about Crunchyroll’s new position on subtitling (alas the Crunchyroll consolidation may have stopped working well for me), but what is even crazier is that I still have to watch about half of the shows I want to see for 2025 before I can write my year-end review (let us not speak of 2026).

Clicking the ‘Random Article” button on NLJ

Another Hamilton Avenue Footbridge View (Nicholas A. Ferrell. June 25, 2022.)

The random article button pulled up one of my proverbial “filler” articles. It presupposes you read by first article about walking across the Hamilton Avenue Footbridge (there are two now!). Fortunately, that first article is linked from this short article.