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  • MIL-OSI Global: Ticks carry decades of history in each troublesome bite

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sean Lawrence, Assistant Professor of History, West Virginia University

    The black-legged tick, or deer tick, _Ixodes scapularis_, can transmit Lyme disease and other health hazards. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

    When you think about ticks, you might picture nightmarish little parasites, stalking you on weekend hikes or afternoons in the park.

    Your fear is well-founded. Tick-borne diseases are the most prevalent vector-borne diseases – those transmitted by living organisms – in the United States. Each tick feeds on multiple animals throughout its life, absorbing viruses and bacteria along the way and passing them on with its next bite. Some of those viruses and bacteria are harmful to humans, causing diseases that can be debilitating and sometimes lethal without treatment, such as Lyme, babesiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

    But contained in every bite of this infuriating, insatiable pest is also a trove of social, environmental and epidemiological history.

    In many cases, human actions long ago are the reason ticks carry these diseases so widely today. And that’s what makes ticks fascinating for environmental historians like me.

    Ticks can be tiny and hard to spot. This is an adult and nymph Ixodes scapularis on an adult’s index finger.
    CDC

    Changing forests fueled tick risks

    During the 18th and 19th centuries, settlers cleared more than half the forested land across the northeastern U.S., cutting down forests for timber and to make way for farms, towns and mining operations. With large-scale land clearing came a sharp decline in wildlife of all kinds. Predators such as bears and wolves were driven out, as were deer.

    As farming moved westward, Northeasterners began to recognize the ecological and economic value of trees, and they returned millions of acres to forest.

    The woods regrew. Plant-eaters such as deer returned, but the apex predators that once kept their populations in check did not.

    As a result, deer populations carrying borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, grew rapidly. And with the deer came deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis). When a tick feeds on an infected deer, it can take up the bacteria. The tick isn’t harmed, but it can pass the bacteria to its next victim. In humans, Lyme disease can cause fever and fatigue, and if left untreated it can affect the nervous system.

    The eastern U.S. became a global hot spot for tick-borne Lyme disease starting around the 1970s. Lyme disease affected over 89,000 Americans in 2023, and possibly many more.

    Californians move into tick territory

    For centuries, changing patterns of human settlements and the politics of land use have shaped the role of ticks and tick-borne illnesses within their environments.

    In short, humans have made it easier for ticks to thrive and spread disease in our midst.

    In California, the Northern Inner Coast and Santa Cruz mountain ranges that converge on San Francisco from the north and south were never clear-cut, and predators such as mountain lions and coyotes still exist there. But competition for housing has pushed human settlement deeper into wildland areas to the north, south and east of the city, reshaping tick ecology there.

    A range map for the western black-legged tick.
    National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

    While western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) tend to swarm in large forest preserves, the Lyme-causing bacterium is actually more prevalent in small, isolated patches of greenery. In these isolated patches, rodents and other tick hosts can thrive, safe from large predators, which need more habitat to move freely. But isolation and lower diversity also means infections are spread more easily within the tick’s host populations.

    People tend to build isolated houses in the hills, rather than large, connected developments. As the Silicon Valley area south of San Francisco sprawls outward, this checkerboard pattern of settlement has fragmented the natural landscape, creating a hard-to-manage public health threat.

    Fewer hosts, more tightly packed, often means more infected hosts, proportionally, and thus more dangerous ticks.

    A tick’s mouth is barbed so it can hold on as it draws blood over hours.
    National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

    Six counties across these ranges, all surrounding and including San Francisco, account for 44% of recorded tick-borne illnesses in California.

    A lesson from Texas cattle ranches

    Domesticated livestock have also shaped the disease threat posed by ticks.

    In 1892, at a meeting of cattle ranchers at the Stock Raiser’s Convention in Austin, Texas, Dr. B.A. Rogers introduced a novel theory that ticks were behind recent devastating plagues of Texas cattle fever. The disease had arrived with cattle imported from the West Indies and Mexico in the 1600s, and it was taking huge tolls on cattle herds. But how the disease spread to new victims had been a mystery.

    A 1905 illustration of Rhipicephalus annulatus, a hard tick that causes cattle fever.
    Nathan Banks, A treatise on the Acarina, or mites. Proceedings of the United States National Museum

    Editors of Daniel’s Texas Medical Journal found the idea of ticks spreading disease laughable and lampooned the hypothesis, publishing a satire of what they described as an “early copy” of a forthcoming report on the subject.

    The tick’s “fluid secretion, it is believed, is the poison which causes the fever … [and the tick] having been known to chew tobacco, as all other Texans do, the secretion is most probably tobacco juice,” they wrote.

    Fortunately for the ranchers, not to mention the cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture sided with Rogers. Its cattle fever tick program, started in 1906, curbed cattle fever outbreaks by limiting where and when cattle should cross tick-dense areas.

    Engorged ticks feed on a calf’s ear.
    Alan R Walker, CC BY-NC-SA

    By 1938, the government had established a quarantine zone that extended 580 miles by 10 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas Brush Country, a region favored by the cattle tick.

    This innovative use of natural space as a public health tool helped to functionally eradicate cattle fever from 14 Southern states by 1943.

    Ticks are products of their environment

    When it comes to tick-borne diseases the world over, location matters.

    Take the hunter tick (Hyalomma spp.) of the Mediterranean and Asia. As a juvenile, or nymph, these ticks feed on small forest animals such as mice, hares and voles, but as an adult they prefer domesticated livestock.

    For centuries, this tick was an occasional nuisance to nomadic shepherds of the Middle East. But in the 1850s, the Ottoman Empire passed laws to force nomadic tribes to become settled farmers instead. Unclaimed lands, especially on the forested edges of the steppe, were offered to settlers, creating ideal conditions for hunter ticks.

    As a result, farmers in what today is Turkey saw spikes in tick-borne diseases, including a virus that causes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a potentially fatal condition.

    Where to check for ticks and how to remove them.

    It’s probably too much to ask for sympathy for any ticks you meet this summer. They are bloodsucking parasites, after all.

    Still, it’s worth remembering that the tick’s malevolence isn’t its own fault. Ticks are products of their environment, and humans have played many roles in turning them into the harmful parasites that seek us out today.

    Sean Lawrence has nothing to disclose.

    – ref. Ticks carry decades of history in each troublesome bite – https://theconversation.com/ticks-carry-decades-of-history-in-each-troublesome-bite-257110

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: AI helps tell snow leopards apart, improving population counts for these majestic mountain predators

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Eve Bohnett, Assistant Scholar, Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, University of Florida

    Snow leopards are hard to find and count, which makes protecting them difficult. zahoor salmi/Moment via Getty Images

    Snow leopards are known as the “ghosts of the mountains” for a reason. Imagine waiting for months in the harsh, rugged mountains of Asia, hoping to catch even a glimpse of one. These elusive big cats move silently across rocky slopes, their pale coats blending so seamlessly with snow and stone that even the most seasoned biologists seldom spot them in the wild.

    Travel writer Peter Matthiessen spent two months in 1973 searching the Tibetan plateau for them and wrote a 300-page book about the effort. He never saw one. Forty years later, Peter’s son Alex retraced his father’s steps – and didn’t see one either.

    Researchers have struggled to come up with a figure for the global population. In 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the snow leopard from endangered to vulnerable, citing estimates of between 2,500 and 10,000 adults in the wild. However, the group also warned that numbers continue to decline in many areas due to habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict. Those who study these animals want to help protect the species and their habitat – if only we can determine exactly where they live and how many there are.

    Traditional tracking methods – searching for footprints, droppings and other signs – have their limits. Instead of waiting for a lucky face-to-face encounter, conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, led by experts including Stéphane Ostrowski and Sorosh Poya Faryabi, began deploying automated camera traps in Afghanistan. These devices snap photos whenever movement is detected, capturing thousands of images over months, all in hopes of obtaining a rare glimpse of a snow leopard.

    But capturing images is only half the battle. The next, even harder task is telling one snow leopard apart from another.

    Are these the same animal or different ones? It’s really hard to tell.
    Eve Bohnett, CC BY-ND

    At first glance, it might sound simple: Each snow leopard has a unique pattern of black rosettes on its coat, like a fingerprint or a face in a crowd. Yet in practice, identifying individuals by these patterns is slow, subjective and prone to error. Photos may be taken at odd angles, under poor lighting, or with parts of the animal obscured – making matches tricky.

    A common mistake happens when photos from different cameras are marked as depicting different animals when they actually show the same individual, inflating population estimates. Worse, camera trap images can get mixed up or misfiled, splitting encounters of one cat across multiple batches and identities.

    I am a data analyst working with Wildlife Conservation Society and other partners at Wild Me. My work and others’ has found that even trained experts can misidentify animals, failing to recognize repeat visitors at locations monitored by motion-sensing cameras and counting the same animal more than once. One study found that the snow leopard population was overestimated by more than 30% because of these human errors.

    To avoid these pitfalls, researchers follow camera sorting guidelines: At least three clear pattern differences or similarities must be confirmed between two images to declare them the same or different cats. Images too blurry, too dark or taken from difficult angles may have to be discarded. Identification efforts range from easy cases with clear, full-body shots to ambiguous ones needing collaboration and debate. Despite these efforts, variability remains, and more experienced observers tend to be more accurate.

    Now people trying to count snow leopards are getting help from artificial intelligence systems, in two ways.

    Spotting the spots

    Modern AI tools are revolutionizing how we process these large photo libraries. First, AI can rapidly sort through thousands of images, flagging those that contain snow leopards and ignoring irrelevant ones such as those that depict blue sheep, gray-and-white mountain terrain, or shadows.

    Unique spots and spot patterns are key to telling snow leopards apart.
    Eve Bohnett, CC BY-NC-ND

    AI can identify individual snow leopards by analyzing their unique rosette patterns, even when poses or lighting vary. Each snow leopard encounter is compared with a catalog of previously identified photos and assigned a known ID if there is a match, or entered as a new individual if not.

    In a recent study, several colleagues and I evaluated two AI algorithms, both separately and in tandem.

    The first algorithm, called HotSpotter, identifies individual snow leopards by comparing key visual features such as coat patterns, highlighting distinctive “hot spots” with a yellow marker.

    The second is a newer method called pose invariant embeddings, which operates similar to facial recognition technology: It recognizes layers of abstract features in the data, identifying the same animal regardless of how it is positioned in the photo or what kind of lighting there may be.

    We trained these systems using a curated dataset of photos of snow leopards from zoos in the U.S., Europe and Tajikistan, and with images from the wild, including in Afghanistan.

    Alone, each model worked about 74% of the time, correctly identifying the cat from a large photo library. But when combined, the two systems together were correct 85% of the time.

    These algorithms were integrated into Wildbook, an open-source, web-based software platform developed by the nonprofit organization Wild Me and now adopted by ConservationX. We deployed the combined system on a free website, Whiskerbook.org, where researchers can upload images, seek matches using the algorithms, and confirm those matches with side-by-side comparisons. This site is among a growing family of AI-powered wildlife platforms that are helping conservation biologists work more efficiently and more effectively at protecting species and their habitats.

    A view from an online wildlife-tracking system suggests a possible match for a snow leopard caught by a remote camera.
    Wildbook/Eve Bohnett, CC BY-ND

    Humans still needed

    These AI systems aren’t error-proof. AI quickly narrows down candidates and flags likely matches, but expert validation ensures accuracy, especially with tricky or ambiguous photos.

    Another study we conducted pitted AI-assisted groups of experts and novices against each other. Each was given a set of three to 10 images of 34 known captive snow leopards and asked to use the Whiskerbook platform to identify them. They were also asked to estimate how many individual animals were in the set of photos.

    The experts accurately matched about 90% of the images and delivered population estimates within about 3% of the true number. In contrast, the novices identified only 73% of the cats and underestimated the total number, sometimes by 25% or more, incorrectly merging two individuals into one.

    Both sets of results were better than when experts or novices did not use any software.

    The takeaway is clear: Human expertise remains important, and combining it with AI support leads to the most accurate results. My colleagues and I hope that by using tools like Whiskerbook and the AI systems embedded in them, researchers will be able to more quickly and more confidently study these elusive animals.

    With AI tools like Whiskerbook illuminating the mysteries of these mountain ghosts, we have another way to safeguard snow leopards – but success depends on continued commitment to protecting their fragile mountain homes.

    Eve Bohnett receives funding from San Diego State Research Foundation and Wildlife Conservation Society. She is affiliated with University of Florida.

    – ref. AI helps tell snow leopards apart, improving population counts for these majestic mountain predators – https://theconversation.com/ai-helps-tell-snow-leopards-apart-improving-population-counts-for-these-majestic-mountain-predators-258154

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Germany’s young Jewish and Muslim writers are speaking for themselves – exploring immigrant identity beyond stereotypes

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Agnes Mueller, Carol Kahn Strauss Fellow in Jewish Studies at the American Academy in Berlin, Professor of German and American Literature, University of South Carolina

    A Muslim guest sits next to a Jewish one during an ordination ceremony at the Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin in September 2024. Omer Messinger/Getty Images

    The consequences of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s war in Gaza have reverberated far beyond the zones of conflict.

    In the United States, for example, a growing number of people, including some Jewish groups, assert that political leaders are exploiting concerns about antisemitism for their own political goals, from cracking down on academic freedom to deporting pro-Palestinian activists.

    Debate about the war in Gaza feels fraught in Germany, too, where concerns about rising antisemitism have been used to criticize some Muslim communities. The Holocaust looms over discussions about Israel, with many claiming the country’s sense of historical guilt has made it, until recently, reluctant to criticize Israeli politics.

    In the wake of the country’s reunification in the early 1990s, about 200,000 Jews from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union came to Germany. In more recent years, waves of predominantly Muslim refugees from the Middle East have entered a space that already had a large population of Turkish immigrants and their descendants. However, many Germans oppose these more open immigration policies, with widespread backlash against Muslim migrants.

    In recent decades, some of Germany’s migrants and their children – some Jewish, and some Muslim – have used fiction to explore their identity and these contested issues in new ways, challenging simple narratives. As a scholar of German literature and Jewish studies, I have studied how literature creates new spaces for readers to explore the similarities between their experiences, building solidarity beyond stereotypes.

    ‘The Prodigal Son’

    Many of today’s young Jewish writers were born in the former Soviet Union and arrived in Germany with their parents as part of the “quota refugee” program. Initiated in the early 1990s, this program invited Jewish migrants into a newly unified Germany – intended to show that the country was taking responsibility for the atrocities of the past. The newcomers were flippantly called “Wiedergutmachungsjuden,” “make-good-again Jews,” referring to Germans’ desire to atone.

    One of them was Olga Grjasnowa. Born in 1984, Grjasnowa came from Azerbaijan to Germany at age 11. She has written about Holocaust memory, as in her 2012 novel “All Russians Love Birch Trees,” and said in a 2018 interview that all her books are “Jewish books.”

    Olga Grjasnowa during the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Aug. 22, 2019, in Scotland.
    Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images

    Her 2021 book “Der verlorene Sohn,” “The Prodigal Son,” echoes Holocaust memory, but in a historical novel set in 19th-century Russia.

    The protagonist Jamaluddin – the name derives from the Arabic word for “beauty of the faith” – is born in the Caucasian region of Dagestan, as the son of a powerful Muslim imam. To negotiate a peace deal, the boy is given as a hostage to Russia, where he grows up in the Orthodox Christian court of the czar. Though initially treated as an outsider, Jamaluddin assimilates and becomes a high-ranking officer, a life that ends when he must return to Dagestan. But there, too, he now feels homeless, regarded with suspicion as a stranger.

    “The Prodigal Son” deals with abduction, deportation, exile and constant wandering. Jamaluddin’s fate is shaped by authoritarianism, repression, war and discrimination – themes that are familiar in Holocaust literature, though here they befall a Muslim boy in another time and place.

    Repeatedly, the novel makes mention of Jewish communities and their own suffering under the czar. As Jewish boys are being forced to march from remote villages to Saint Petersburg, Jamaluddin is “furious and ashamed” of his fellow officers. But he also begins to feel self-pity, flooded with memories of his own departure from home.

    This scene depicts a historical reality under Czar Nicholas I, who ruled from 1825-1855: Russian Jewish boys were conscripted, sometimes kidnapped, to serve in the army. For contemporary audiences, the description can also evoke the death marches of Jewish prisoners during the Shoah, the Hebrew term for the Holocaust. Several additional moments in the book connect Jamaluddin’s experiences with images of Jewish flight and expulsion.

    New conversations

    Jamaluddin’s fate as an outsider between cultures can also bring to mind migrants’ experiences and emotions today. In 2022, one-quarter of Germans were either migrants themselves or had a parent who was not born in Germany. The largest minority group are Muslim-born Germans of Turkish descent, who are still routinely discriminated against.

    Antisemitism, meanwhile, is pervasive but less obvious. The Germans’ relationship with Jews was long dominated by silence and guilt – and Jews themselves were mostly invisible until the end of the Cold War, when Jewish migration from the former Soviet states picked up. My 2015 book “The Inability to Love” describes how mainstream German authors, fueled by guilt and shame over the Nazi past, fell into a philosemitic antisemitism: Outward displays of repentance for the Holocaust and public policies that ostensibly embraced Jews clashed with privately held prejudice.

    Many examples of new German literature show contemporary Jewish and Muslim characters with complex identities – protagonists who are not seen as simply Jewish, Muslim or belonging to only one culture, pushing back on reductive stereotypes.

    For example, Kat Kaufmann’s 2015 novel “Superposition” tells the story of the young, popular and charismatic Izy, a Russian Jew who lives in Berlin as a jazz pianist. Her love interest is Timur, an Eastern European man with a typically Muslim name. When Izy thinks of her and Timur’s future son, she imagines him growing up with the luxury to conceal where he is from – to define his identity as he wishes, unlike previous generations.

    Writer Fatma Aydemir speaks at a reading in Cologne, Germany, on March 21, 2022.
    Oliver Berg/picture alliance via Getty Images

    Stories by novelists such as Dmitrij Kapitelman, Lena Gorelik, Marina Frenk and Dana Vowinckel also depict moments of connection between Jews and other Germans, or between Jews and Muslims.

    Turkish and/or Muslim writers such as Fatma Aydemir and Nazlı Koca – who now lives in America, writing in English – tell similar stories of young characters navigating German culture as marginalized individuals. They often depict young women who struggle to reconcile their culture of origin with German social expectations and xenophobia today.

    “I wanted to question the idea that we all have one single identity and that’s it,” Aydemir told the literary site K24 about her novel “Ellbogen,” whose protagonist finds herself fleeing to Turkey, her family’s original home, after a personal crisis. “I think things are way more complex, more fluid than most of us want to believe.”

    This younger generation of German Jewish and Muslim writers is recasting entrenched debates, showing characters whose identities are multidimensional and more open than the burdened past or fraught present politics would suggest. Today’s young writers are creating new, brave spaces for conversation and empathy.

    Agnes Mueller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Germany’s young Jewish and Muslim writers are speaking for themselves – exploring immigrant identity beyond stereotypes – https://theconversation.com/germanys-young-jewish-and-muslim-writers-are-speaking-for-themselves-exploring-immigrant-identity-beyond-stereotypes-252968

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Gay Men’s Health Crisis showed how everyday people stepped up when institutions failed during the height of the AIDS epidemic – providing a model for today

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sean G. Massey, Associate Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    GMHC was the world’s first AIDS service organization.
     Sean Massey, CC BY-ND

    The story of the AIDS movement is one of regular people: students, bartenders, stay-at-home mothers, teachers, retired lawyers, immigrants, Catholic nuns, newly out gay men who had just arrived in New York, and many others. Some had lost friends or lovers. Some felt a moral calling. Some were just trying to balance their sexual karma. Many were angry. Most had no medical background or professional credentials – just a sense of urgency, tenacity and an unwillingness to look away.

    When Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the world’s first AIDS service organization, was founded in 1982, it was regular people trying to meet the needs of all people living with AIDS. Its workforce of volunteers provided HIV prevention education as well as physical, emotional and legal support.

    At the start of the epidemic, AIDS was considered a “gay plague,” and to be openly queer was to risk abandonment, eviction, assault or worse. Families disowned their children. Hospitals turned patients away. Funeral homes refused bodies. And many people with AIDS found themselves alone and in need.

    Public officials didn’t just fail to act – they refused to acknowledge that anything was happening at all. Elected leaders such as President Ronald Reagan and Sen. Jesse Helms stoked the moral panic guiding public policy by declaring people with AIDS “perverted human being(s).”

    In 2025, with the Trump administration cutting federal funding for HIV research and support services and restricting protections and services for LGBTQ+ people, studying how everyday people approached the early AIDS crisis provides a model for surviving through innovation, commitment and community.

    Stories informing the present

    “I think 26,000 people died before (Reagan) even bothered to utter the word ‘AIDS,’” said Tim Sweeney, former executive director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

    This quote is featured in the GMHC Stories Oral History Project, a collection of over 100 interviews with former volunteers, staff and donors from the first 15 years of the organization. Along with our colleague Julia Haager, we and our team at Binghamton University’s Human Sexualities Lab compiled these interviews. Acquired by the Manuscripts and Archives Division of The New York Public Library, the collection is scheduled to open in fall 2025, showcasing how everyday people responded to the AIDS crisis.

    These stories document how a community presented with a set of circumstances threatening their very existence built a self-sustaining organization to advocate for and provide care to each other outside institutional support. They did this while enduring grief, standing up to external threats and navigating internal tensions.

    The GMHC stood up for the community when other institutions would not.
    Sean Massey, CC BY-ND

    Improvisation for survival

    The work was an ongoing challenge. Organizations dedicated to aiding people affected by AIDS such as Gay Men’s Health Crisis were left to fund their own survival – and defend their right to do the work. When North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms moved in 1988 to eliminate federal support for AIDS service programs that mentioned homosexuality, it severely limited AIDS prevention efforts nation wide. However, GMHC had the foresight to fund its more explicit education materials with private donations.

    At the beginning of the epidemic, queer New Yorkers and their allies had to improvise new systems of care in the absence of state and federal support. “People often (ask) me, what was the model you worked off of?” said Sweeney. “And I said, there was no model, there was just a muddle. We just made it up the whole time.”

    What they created almost overnight was staggering. “There were over 1,000 volunteers in the agency,” recalled staff member Tom Weber, who started at GMHC as an office volunteer in 1988. “We would have orientations every single week, and they would flood in.”

    One of the most well-known expressions of that volunteer labor was the buddy program, where lay caregivers provided emotional and practical support to people living with AIDS. “A lot of people were not alone in their death because of the work that we did,” said Barbara Danish, who led the buddy program from 1996 to 2002.

    Community members took it upon themselves to educate each other about AIDS.
    AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler

    Education and prevention were also grounded in queer culture and community. Unlike early depictions of AIDS in the media that reduced patients to “vectors” of transmission, it was defiantly sex-positive. “We came up with shit that no one in the world had ever done,” Sweeney said. “Because finally it was gay men saying … we’re going to talk to each other about how to stay safe, healthy and sexy.”

    When that sense of mission extended to emotional survival, humor and unapologetically queer culture were critical to bearing the weight of the work. “Sometimes you just break down and cry for an hour. But that’s how you survive it – by staying authentic to your emotions,” said Tommy Thomson, former director of client programs. She recalled how staff member “Carolotta,” or Carl, would sometimes put condoms and chocolate in a basket and go from office to office, frequently in drag. He would offer either or both to make people feel better. “He’d make you remember that you weren’t alone, and that we all know how hard it is. That’s part of what held you together.”

    Internal tensions

    Although Gay Men’s Health Crisis remained mission-driven, its internal politics were never simple. As it grew in size and national stature, it confronted the limits of its founding identity.

    Founded by, and initially serving, primarily white gay men, GMHC sometimes struggled to adapt to the emerging realities of the epidemic. While AIDS also affected people of color, women and intravenous drug users from the outset, much of the agency’s early prevention and outreach work was designed with gay men in mind.

    By the late 1980s, the increase in AIDS cases among white gay men had begun to plateau, while rates among Black and Latino people, women and IV drug users continued to rise sharply into the next decade. Women and people of color who were deeply embedded in GMHC’s operations nonetheless had to navigate assumptions about whose needs were prioritized – assumptions that often manifested in how resources were allocated and services were designed. As GMHC expanded its outreach to Black and Latino populations, it struggled to be culturally responsive and build trust in communities that had long been underserved and stigmatized.

    Racial disparities in HIV persist.

    As GMHC grew, it became more and more successful in fundraising and visibility, while smaller organizations sometimes struggled to access resources. This led to growing tensions, particularly in communities of color, where local groups feared that GMHC’s expansion would limit funding and undercut their efforts at community-specific approaches to care and prevention. In addition, efforts to address racism, sexism and cultural insensitivity encountered both support and indifference.

    Yet, staff and volunteers continued to push – reshaping messaging, fighting for inclusive programming, and holding conversations about race, gender, power and public health. For staff and volunteers, the agency was a complicated institution that could both empower and marginalize. Its strength, and its struggle, was learning how to expand without losing sight of the legacy and history it was built on.

    A guide for today

    Forty years later, LGBTQ+ people face a new set of crises in a landscape riddled with dangers.

    Trans health care is being banned in multiple states. Book bans and surveillance laws are targeting queer youth. Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is fueling violence and censorship. Funding for HIV prevention and research is disappearing even as new infections persist. Black and brown communities still face disproportionate barriers to health care and housing. Decades of scientific progress and medical discoveries are coming to a halt with funding cuts under the Trump administration.

    Protesters at the Iowa state Capitol in February 2025, demonstrating against a bill that would remove protections based on gender identity from the state civil rights code.
    AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

    And yet many of the same questions and challenges remain: Who gets left behind when public health systems collapse under political pressure or moral panic? Who will do the work when institutions fail? What does it mean to care for one another in the midst of the wreckage? How do people come together across differences?

    The history of GMHC is more than memory – it is a lesson in the possibility of care, creativity and community, especially in the face of fear and uncertainty today. It shows how people can come together – not just to demand policy change, but to directly meet one another’s needs with whatever resources they have. It is a reminder that mutual aid is powerful; that grief can coexist with joy; and that queer resilience has always included laughter, desire and shared vulnerability. In a time of renewed political backlash and public health failures, GMHC’s story is more than history – it’s a guide. Today, the staff and volunteers at GMHC continue their work to confront the epidemic and uplift the lives of all people affected by AIDS.

    “We’d say to them, ‘You’re just ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things,’” Sweeney said. “And we really meant that.”

    Sean G. Massey was a volunteer and staff member at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the organization that is being discussed in this article, from 1988-1998.

    Casey W. Adrian and Eden Lowinger do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Gay Men’s Health Crisis showed how everyday people stepped up when institutions failed during the height of the AIDS epidemic – providing a model for today – https://theconversation.com/gay-mens-health-crisis-showed-how-everyday-people-stepped-up-when-institutions-failed-during-the-height-of-the-aids-epidemic-providing-a-model-for-today-258139

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Testing between intervals: a key to retaining information in long-term memory

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Émilie Gerbier, Maîtresse de Conférence en Psychologie, Université Côte d’Azur

    The proverb “practice makes perfect” highlights the importance of repetition to master a skill. This principle also applies to learning vocabulary and other material. In order to fight our natural tendency to forget information, it is essential to reactivate it in our memory. But, how often?

    Research in cognitive psychology provides answers to this question. However, it is also important to understand underlying principles of long-term learning to apply them in a useful and personalised way.

    The ‘spacing effect’

    There are two key principles for memorising information in the long term.

    First, test yourself to learn and review content. It is much more effective to do this using question-and-answer cards than just to reread the material. After each attempt to recall pieces of information, review the one that could not be retrieved.

    The second principle is to space out reactivations over time. This phenomenon, known as the “spacing effect”, suggests that when reviews of specific content are limited to, for instance, three sessions, it is preferable to space them over relatively longer periods (eg every three days) rather than shorter ones (every day).

    Reviewing material at long intervals requires more effort, because it is more difficult to recall information after three days than one. However, it is precisely this effort that reinforces memories and promotes long-term retention.

    When it comes to learning, we must therefore be wary of effortlessness: easily remembering a lesson today does not indicate how likely we are to remember it in a month, even though this feeling of easiness can cause us to mistakenly believe that review is unnecessary.

    Robert Bjork of the University of California coined the term “desirable difficulty” to describe an optimal level of difficulty between two extremes. The first extreme corresponds to learning that is too easy (and therefore ineffective in the long run), while the other extreme corresponds to learning that is too difficult (and therefore ineffective and discouraging).

    Finding the right pace

    There is a limit to how much time can pass between information retrievals. After a long delay, such as a year, information will have greatly declined in memory and will be difficult, if not impossible, to recall. This situation may generate negative emotions and force us to start learning from scratch, rendering our previous efforts useless.

    The key is to identify the right interval between retrievals, ensuring it is not too long and not too short. The ideal interval varies depending on several factors, such as the type of information that needs to be learned or the history of that learning. Some learning software use algorithms taking these factors into account, to test each piece of information at the “ideal” time.

    There are also paper-and-pencil methods. The simplest method is to follow an “expansive” schedule, which uses increasingly longer intervals between sessions. This technique is used in the “méthode des J” (method of days), which some students may be familiar with. The effectiveness of this method lies in a gradual strengthening of the memory.


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    When you first learn something, retention is fragile, and memorised content needs to be reactivated quickly not to be forgotten. Each retrieval strengthens the memory, allowing the next retrieval opportunity to be delayed. Another consequence is that each retrieval is moderately difficult, which places the learner at a “desirable” level of difficulty.

    Here is an example of an expansive schedule for a given piece of content: Day 1, Day 2, D5, D15, D44, D145, D415, etc. In this schedule, the interval length triples from one session to the next: 24 hours between Day 1 and Day 2, then three days between D2 and D5, and so on.

    Gradually incorporating new knowledge

    There is no scientific consensus on the optimal interval schedule. However, carrying out the first retrieval on the day after the initial moment of learning (thus, on D2) seems beneficial, as a night’s sleep allows the brain to restructure and/or reinforce knowledge learned the previous day. The subsequent intervals can be adjusted according to individual constraints.

    This method is flexible; if necessary, a session can be postponed a few days before or after the scheduled date without affecting long-term effectiveness. It is the principle of regular retrieval that is key here.

    The expansive schedule also has a considerable practical advantage in that it allows new information to be gradually integrated. For instance, new content can be introduced on D3, because no session on the initial content is scheduled for that day. Adding content gradually makes it possible to memorise large amounts of information in a lasting way without spending more time studying it.

    The other method is based on the Leitner box system. In this case, the length of interval before the next retrieval depends on the outcome of the attempt to retrieve information from memory. If the answer was easily retrieved, the next retrieval should happen in a week. If the answer was retrieved with difficulty, then three days need to elapse before the next test. If the answer could not be retrieved, the next test should take place the following day. With experience, you will be able to adjust these intervals and develop your own system.

    In short, effective and lasting learning not only requires that a certain amount of effort be made to retrieve information from memory, but a regular repetition of this process, at appropriate intervals, to thwart the process of forgetting.

    Émilie Gerbier ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

    – ref. Testing between intervals: a key to retaining information in long-term memory – https://theconversation.com/testing-between-intervals-a-key-to-retaining-information-in-long-term-memory-246511

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Miller-Meeks Highlights Local Wins During One Big Beautiful Main Street Tour in Muscatine County

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ (IA-02)

    Muscatine, IA – Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a former small business owner, visited Muscatine County to meet with small business owners and community leaders to hear directly from Iowans about how the One Big Beautiful Bill is delivering for them.

    “Iowa’s Main Streets are the heartbeat of our communities,” said Miller-Meeks. “From the family-owned diner to the corner pharmacy, these businesses aren’t asking for favors. They work hard, serve their neighbors, and do everything right. They deserve a government that fights for them. That’s why I proudly voted for President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. It cuts taxes, eliminates red tape, and gives working families and small businesses the freedom to grow and thrive. I’ll never stop fighting to protect Iowa’s values and way of life.”

    Stops on the tour included:

    1. Wester Drug
    2. Relion Insurance
    3. Carpet One
    4. Bobby’s Asian Restaurant
    5. Sal Vitale’s Italian Restaurant

    Throughout the tour, Miller-Meeks heard directly from business owners about the impact of tax relief, pro-growth reforms, and expanded support for rural communities. The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers the largest tax cut for working families and small businesses in American history, relief that Iowa needs and deserves.

    Miller-Meeks remains committed to defending Iowa values, restoring prosperity, and ensuring the voices of rural America are heard loud and clear in Washington.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ECHR “must evolve” to restore public confidence in rule of law, says Lord Chancellor

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Press release

    ECHR “must evolve” to restore public confidence in rule of law, says Lord Chancellor

    The European Convention of Human Rights “must evolve” to restore public confidence in the rule of law, the Lord Chancellor told European ambassadors in a speech today (Wednesday 18 June).

    Speaking to the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, the Lord Chancellor said that while the UK is resolutely committed to the ECHR, the trust of the public is beginning to erode as the application of rights “feels out of step with common sense.”   

    Making her argument for reform, she said that “the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law – once widely assumed – now face distortion, doubt, even hostility.”   

    Speaking at the meeting, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, said:   

    Across Europe, public confidence in the rule of law is fraying.  

    There is a growing perception – sometimes mistaken, sometimes grounded in reality – that human rights are no longer a shield for the vulnerable, but a tool for criminals to avoid responsibility. That the law too often protects those who break the rules, rather than those who follow them.  

    This tension is not new. The Convention was written to protect individuals from the arbitrary power of the state. But in today’s world, the threats to justice and liberty are more complex. They can come from technology, transnational crime, uncontrolled migration, or legal systems that drift away from public consent.

    This comes as the Government commits to legislation to clarify the law around Article 8, the right to private and family life, which many foreign offenders have exploited in order to avoid deportation. In her speech, the Lord Chancellor said that “if a foreign national commits a serious crime, they should expect to be removed from the country.”  

    While this Government has ramped up removals of foreign national offenders with more than 4,400 removed since the election – up 14% compared to the same period 12 months ago – further action is being taken forward to increase removals even further.

    The Lord Chancellor went on to highlight the changes being made in the UK to tackle immigration – including tightening the application of Article 8 to give courts the clarity they need so our immigration rules are no longer abused. This is particularly important as the Government introduces sentencing reforms to tackle a prison system at breaking point.   

    The Lord Chancellor set out that:  

    In the UK, we are restoring the balance we pledged at the birth of our Convention: liberty with responsibility, individual rights with the public interest. There must be consequences for breaking the rules.  

    Which is why we are clarifying how Convention rights – particularly Article 8 – operate in relation to immigration rules. The right to family life is fundamental. But it has too often been used in ways that frustrate deportation, even where there are serious concerns about credibility, fairness, and risk to the public.  

    We’re bringing clarity back to the distinction between what the law protects and what policy permits. Prisoners claiming a right to socialise – under Article 8 – is not just a legal stretch. It damages the public perception of human rights altogether.

    Legislation brought forward by the Home Office will strengthen the public interest test to make it clear that Parliament needs to be able to control the country’s borders and make decisions over who comes to, and stays in the UK, striking the right balance between individual family rights and the wider public interest.  

    It will clarify Article 8 rules and set out how they should apply in different immigration routes so that fewer cases are treated as “exceptional”.    

    She went on to say that:  

    These are the reforms we are pursuing at home. The question for all of us now is whether the Convention system, as it stands, has the tools to resolve these tensions in a way that keeps the public with us. 

    As I have said, our Convention has evolved before, through new protocols, new rights, and new interpretations. Always to reflect changing times, while staying true to its purpose. 

    However, reform of the ECHR must be “a shared political endeavour among us as member States”, the Lord Chancellor told the Council of Europe.

    The Lord Chancellor concluded by saying:  

    The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the great achievements of post-war politics. It has endured because it has evolved. Now, it must do so again. 

    NOTES TO EDITORS: 

    • The full speech can be found here.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Alexander Novak: The entrepreneurship sector adapts to new challenges as quickly as possible

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    The President and the Government of Russia pay great attention to the development of the SME sector. Over the past few years, its share in GDP has grown by several percent and, according to the latest data, is 21.7%. The key task is to ensure high-quality growth of the sector, an increase in the income of SME workers at a higher rate in relation to GDP growth. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak said this during the plenary session “The Role of SMEs in Achieving New National Goals” of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum – 2025.

    According to him, small and medium-sized businesses have demonstrated better adaptation to new challenges and uncertainty compared to other sectors of the economy.

    “SMEs are better adapted to ensure the formation of new transport and logistics chains, to ensure the supply of goods for export and import, the production of necessary products within the framework of import substitution, within the framework of the goals that are set for infrastructural changes in our economy,” noted Alexander Novak.

    This was largely made possible by the successful implementation of the national project to support entrepreneurship: almost every second Russian is employed in SMEs.

    “One of the indicators of the national project was the growth of the number of entrepreneurs to 25 million people. In fact, according to the results of last year, statistics show that more than 29 million people are already working in this sector. This is about 40% of all those employed in the economy,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

    During his speech, Alexander Novak also outlined the current challenges facing SMEs. Firstly, this is a more active participation in achieving technological leadership and sovereignty, national goals for economic development. Secondly, in the context of historically low unemployment, increased labor productivity will not only resolve the issue of competition, but also increase the efficiency of the economy as a whole. Finally, active integration of digital technologies will allow more efficient solutions to be introduced into production processes.

    The updated support measures within the current federal project will facilitate business development. Their fine-tuning by the Ministry of Economic Development took into account the life cycle of small and medium-sized businesses.

    “For start-up businesses, these are microloans; it is planned to attract 1.6 trillion rubles by 2030. For mature companies, this is targeted provision of loans, umbrella guarantees of the SME Corporation. For businesses that are ready to enter the public market and attract investment, the state provides support in the form of subsidizing the costs of preparing for an IPO,” noted Alexander Novak, adding that the “traditional” business support infrastructure will also be developed: the digital platform “MSP.RF”, regional centers “My Business”, industrial and technology parks.

    The need for entrepreneurs to keep up with current business development trends and actively implement the practice of working on digital platforms was also confirmed by the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Reshetnikov.

    “The merger of the Growth Platform program and the My Business centers will allow entrepreneurs to be trained in modern trends. The world is changing so quickly that it is important to move forward, not to catch up,” the head of the Ministry of Economic Development emphasized.

    The session was also attended by the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Kingdom of Bahrain Abdullah Adel Abdullah Fakhro, the founder of Wildberries, head of RWB Tatyana Kim, the president of the All-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses “Opora Rossii” Alexander Kalinin, entrepreneurs who shared their experience of doing business.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The first unmanned tram in Russia has been running along the streets of Moscow for a year now.

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    During this time, the tram covered more than 5 thousand km and never violated traffic rules.

    Main test results:

    We integrated a neural network for recognizing objects using lidar data into the software.

    Improved interaction with infrastructure using V2X technology with traffic lights and turnouts.

    We have improved the motion control system for smooth and precise movement.

    We have improved software solutions for controlling turnouts via a secure communication channel.

    We have developed a new system to prevent wheel slippage during rain and snow.

    In 2024, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin launched the first unmanned tram in Russia in urban conditions. Our priority is the comfort and safety of travel. Therefore, specialists are improving existing systems and creating new ones. This autumn, innovative transport will begin regular trips along the route with passengers. Unmanned technologies are the future of urban transport, which will eventually become part of the daily life of Muscovites, added Maxim Liksutov.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The first driverless tram in Russia has been running through the streets of Moscow for one year now!

    Over this time, the tram has covered more than 5,000 kilometers without a single traffic violation.

    Key results of the trials:

    A neural network for object recognition into the software, using data from lidars was integrated.

    An interaction with infrastructure using V2X technology for communication with traffic lights and track switches was improved.

    The motion control system for smoother and more precise operation was refined.

    Software solutions for managing track switches via a secure communication channel were enhanced.

    A new system to prevent wheel slip during rain and snow was developed.

    In 2024, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin launched the first autonomous tram in Russia to operate in real city conditions. Our priority is the comfort and safety of every trip, which is why specialists are constantly improving existing systems and developing new ones. This fall, the innovative tram will begin regular passenger service on its route. Autonomous technologies are the future of urban transport. And soon, they’ll become a part of daily life for Muscovites, — added Maksim Liksutov.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Ben Cline Receives Champion of Limited Government Award

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ben Cline (VA-06)

    Washington, D.C. — Congressman Ben Cline (R-VA) has been recognized as a Champion of Limited Government by the Institute for Legislative Analysis for his strong, consistent voting record in defense of the constitutional principles of limited government. The award is based on an extensive review of thousands of votes, making it the most expansive study performed in the U.S. Congress.

    “One of my top priorities in Congress has been to rein in the size and overreach of the federal government and protect the constitutional freedoms of the people I represent in Virginia’s Sixth District,” said Congressman Cline. “I’m honored to receive this recognition and will keep fighting every day to defend limited government and the principles our nation was founded on.”

    “The Institute for Legislative Analysis is proud to recognize Congressman Ben Cline with our Champion of Limited Government Award, honoring his outstanding voting record—one of the most consistently aligned with the limited government principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution,” said ILA CEO Ryan McGowan. “Congressman Cline also earned an A+ on ILA’s new district-based grading system, a reflection of his deep-rooted commitment to the people of Virginia and the values they sent him to Washington to uphold. We especially thank Congressman Cline for introducing critical amendments that protect our national security and put the safety of the American people first.”

    To view the rankings, click here.

    Congressman Ben Cline represents the Sixth Congressional District of Virginia. He previously was an attorney in private practice and served both as an assistant prosecutor and a Member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Cline and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Botetourt County with their two children.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SEC Announces Departure of David Saltiel

    Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

    The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David Saltiel, who has served as Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will depart the agency effective July 4, 2025. He has served as Acting Director since December 2024, and he also did so for several months in 2021.

    “I want to thank David for his wise counsel since I became Chairman, and he has been a critical member of the Division’s leadership team for nearly a decade,” said Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “Throughout his career at the SEC, David’s steady leadership has clearly demonstrated his commitment to the core mission of the agency, the highest ethical standards, a dedication to rigorous data-driven policymaking, and a strategic mindset. David’s contributions have made our markets stronger. The SEC will lose an outstanding resource; nevertheless, I wish him the very best in his next pursuits.”

    “David’s reputation as a technical expert who cares deeply about investor protection and fair and orderly markets has been well-earned,” said Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. “David has consistently been a source of well-researched, principled, and balanced insights for Commissioners.”

    Mr. Saltiel has made critical contributions to a wide range of policy issues including equity, fixed-income, Treasury, and derivatives market structure topics, key transparency and disclosure initiatives such as the recent amendments to Rule 605, efforts to ensure that investors are protected from market manipulation, fostering competition among trading and listing markets, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence by market participants. In addition, Mr. Saltiel has significantly enhanced the Commission’s ability to monitor the health and operations of markets, improved key data and analysis platforms, and worked tirelessly to more closely integrate empirical analysis into the Commission’s policymaking process. During his tenure, Mr. Saltiel was consistently recognized for his work, including with the Commission’s Excellence in Leadership Award in 2020.

    “David’s departure is a loss for the Commission, but he leaves the Division a legacy of culture and capabilities that will benefit our team for years to come. We are grateful and with him all the best,” said Jamie Selway, the newly appointed Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.

    “I want to thank Chairman Atkins, all the Commissioners, and my colleagues in the Division as well as across the SEC,” said Mr. Saltiel. “The staff in the Division are smart and dedicated people of integrity. It’s been an honor to work with them and learn from them. I will miss the interesting and critical work of the Commission.”

    In addition to his time serving as the Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets in 2025 and 2021, Mr. Saltiel served as a Deputy Director of the Division since November 2021 and Associate Director of the Division’s Office of Analytics and Research since 2016. Mr. Saltiel came to the SEC from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board where he was that organization’s first Chief Economist. Prior to that, Mr. Saltiel has held roles in the public and private sector facilitating growth and innovation in capital markets and energy infrastructure.

    He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and earned his master’s degree in economics from St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SEC Announces Departure of David Saltiel

    Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

    The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David Saltiel, who has served as Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will depart the agency effective July 4, 2025. He has served as Acting Director since December 2024, and he also did so for several months in 2021.

    “I want to thank David for his wise counsel since I became Chairman, and he has been a critical member of the Division’s leadership team for nearly a decade,” said Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “Throughout his career at the SEC, David’s steady leadership has clearly demonstrated his commitment to the core mission of the agency, the highest ethical standards, a dedication to rigorous data-driven policymaking, and a strategic mindset. David’s contributions have made our markets stronger. The SEC will lose an outstanding resource; nevertheless, I wish him the very best in his next pursuits.”

    “David’s reputation as a technical expert who cares deeply about investor protection and fair and orderly markets has been well-earned,” said Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. “David has consistently been a source of well-researched, principled, and balanced insights for Commissioners.”

    Mr. Saltiel has made critical contributions to a wide range of policy issues including equity, fixed-income, Treasury, and derivatives market structure topics, key transparency and disclosure initiatives such as the recent amendments to Rule 605, efforts to ensure that investors are protected from market manipulation, fostering competition among trading and listing markets, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence by market participants. In addition, Mr. Saltiel has significantly enhanced the Commission’s ability to monitor the health and operations of markets, improved key data and analysis platforms, and worked tirelessly to more closely integrate empirical analysis into the Commission’s policymaking process. During his tenure, Mr. Saltiel was consistently recognized for his work, including with the Commission’s Excellence in Leadership Award in 2020.

    “David’s departure is a loss for the Commission, but he leaves the Division a legacy of culture and capabilities that will benefit our team for years to come. We are grateful and with him all the best,” said Jamie Selway, the newly appointed Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.

    “I want to thank Chairman Atkins, all the Commissioners, and my colleagues in the Division as well as across the SEC,” said Mr. Saltiel. “The staff in the Division are smart and dedicated people of integrity. It’s been an honor to work with them and learn from them. I will miss the interesting and critical work of the Commission.”

    In addition to his time serving as the Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets in 2025 and 2021, Mr. Saltiel served as a Deputy Director of the Division since November 2021 and Associate Director of the Division’s Office of Analytics and Research since 2016. Mr. Saltiel came to the SEC from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board where he was that organization’s first Chief Economist. Prior to that, Mr. Saltiel has held roles in the public and private sector facilitating growth and innovation in capital markets and energy infrastructure.

    He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and earned his master’s degree in economics from St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep, Associate Professor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

    When Kyle Verreynne hit the winning runs at the “home of cricket” (Lord’s Cricket Ground in London) on 14 June, South Africa erupted in celebration. The Proteas had just claimed their first major cricket cup in history. And nothing less than the International Cricket Council World Test Championship at that, the premier international competition for five-day (test) cricket that’s played over two years.

    Branded as “chokers” for 26 years for underperforming or spoiling their advantage in crunch situations in major tournaments, the national men’s cricket team has transformed to become world champions.

    I’m a sport scientist with a focus on cricket. Research can help us understand how the Proteas have managed to do this and what core qualities of a winning team they’ve embodied on their way to turning things around.

    What is choking?

    The term “chokers” started being used to describe the Proteas team after the 1999 International Cricket Council Men’s Cricket World Cup semi-finals for games played over one day. The Proteas gave up a commanding position against Australia. This curse tormented them in high-stakes games, particularly world cups, where they often ended second best.

    In sports psychology, choking has been defined as:

    An acute and considerable decrease in skill execution and performance when self-expected standards are normally achievable, which is the result of increased anxiety under perceived pressure performance decline when highly motivated individuals are subjected to pressure.

    Anxiety disrupts a player’s automatic motor response, leading to poor decisions and inaccurate skill execution. This happens at critical moments of the game. And the aftermath of these continued inferior performances can lead to a long-lasting stigma.

    Proteas captain Temba Bavuma emphasised this in his match-winning speech:

    We have gone through the heartache, we have gone through the pain, seeing it with past players.

    Clutch performance

    The opposite to choking is clutch performance. This can be defined as improved or maintained performance under pressure. Some of the contributing characteristics of clutch performances are confidence, complete and deliberate focus, automatic movements, and the absence of negative thoughts.

    I believe the shift towards these clutch characteristics was the difference in the Proteas shrugging off their “choker” curse.

    What made the difference?

    Bavuma, in the post-match interview, recounted how teammate Aiden Markram embodied those clutch qualities, calmly telling Bavuma after every over:

    Lock in and give them nothing.

    In interviews Proteas coach Shukri Conrad stressed how calm the players were. He pointed out Markram and Bavuma for their poise and reliability under pressure, another defining trait of expert performers.

    Conrad emphasised the importance of removing distraction by telling them to “play the conditions” and not the situation. This allows players to focus on the moment and not be overwhelmed by the broader context of the match.

    The calm and composed demeanour of Bavuma and Markram as they prepared to face the barrage of deliveries during their match-defining partnership also relates to a phenomenon scientists refer to as the “quiet eye”.



    Read more:
    What is cricket’s World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final?

    The quiet eye is the period of visual fixation or visual tracking of the body cues of the bowler and the early ball flight trajectory before the execution of a motor task. It’s been associated with superior performance under pressure.

    Bavuma and Markram were able to sustain long periods of quiet eye while processing critical information from the bowlers’ action and early ball path, while remaining focused on task-relevant cues, all the while blocking out anxiety-related distractions.

    Conrad succeeded because he was able to combine cultural wisdom and emotional intelligence to truly transform the psychology and ability of the Proteas team.

    His philosophy of selection, “character first then matching up the skill”, pays tribute to his vision of peaking when it counts – a quality lacking in Proteas teams of the past.

    When Conrad was first appointed as Proteas coach, he made two big decisions. He selected Bavuma as captain and he recalled a struggling test batter, Markram. Conrad explained:

    Obviously Temba, a quiet leader, leads from the back, but certainly from the front with the bat … Aiden Markram was always going to be my opening bat. He always delivers on the big stage.

    The vision of Conrad to appoint Bavuma captain has resulted in a record 10 successive test wins. In the winning match Bavuma led from the front and held firm. He was up to the task with the bat, and despite suffering a hamstring injury during the game, was able to join forces with Markram in the fourth innings to set up a match-winning third wicket partnership of 143 runs.

    Three of the most experienced players for South Africa in test matches, Bavuma, Markram and Kagiso Rabada, stood out as true champions in this final. Markram scored a match-winning 136 runs in the fourth innings, while Rabada laid the foundation for victory by taking a decisive nine wickets.



    Read more:
    T20 World Cup: South Africa reached its first final ever – but staying at the top will take a rethink of junior cricket

    For the first time in 26 years, the senior Proteas players all stepped up when it mattered most to secure a world championship. Conrad bore testimony to this in the post-match interview:

    When our two senior pros in Aiden and Temba put that big stand together, I felt that is obviously where the game was won for us.

    The Proteas’ victory on 14 June 2025 lifted a 26-year choker curse. With the visionary leadership of Conrad and the composed stewardship of Bavuma, the Proteas revealed that mental clarity, cultural cohesion, and emotional intelligence were key to their success. The “chokers” tag is buried beneath the turf of the “home of cricket”.

    Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-cricket-team-just-made-history-how-the-chokers-became-world-champions-259167

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep, Associate Professor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

    When Kyle Verreynne hit the winning runs at the “home of cricket” (Lord’s Cricket Ground in London) on 14 June, South Africa erupted in celebration. The Proteas had just claimed their first major cricket cup in history. And nothing less than the International Cricket Council World Test Championship at that, the premier international competition for five-day (test) cricket that’s played over two years.

    Branded as “chokers” for 26 years for underperforming or spoiling their advantage in crunch situations in major tournaments, the national men’s cricket team has transformed to become world champions.

    I’m a sport scientist with a focus on cricket. Research can help us understand how the Proteas have managed to do this and what core qualities of a winning team they’ve embodied on their way to turning things around.

    What is choking?

    The term “chokers” started being used to describe the Proteas team after the 1999 International Cricket Council Men’s Cricket World Cup semi-finals for games played over one day. The Proteas gave up a commanding position against Australia. This curse tormented them in high-stakes games, particularly world cups, where they often ended second best.

    In sports psychology, choking has been defined as:

    An acute and considerable decrease in skill execution and performance when self-expected standards are normally achievable, which is the result of increased anxiety under perceived pressure performance decline when highly motivated individuals are subjected to pressure.

    Anxiety disrupts a player’s automatic motor response, leading to poor decisions and inaccurate skill execution. This happens at critical moments of the game. And the aftermath of these continued inferior performances can lead to a long-lasting stigma.

    Proteas captain Temba Bavuma emphasised this in his match-winning speech:

    We have gone through the heartache, we have gone through the pain, seeing it with past players.

    Clutch performance

    The opposite to choking is clutch performance. This can be defined as improved or maintained performance under pressure. Some of the contributing characteristics of clutch performances are confidence, complete and deliberate focus, automatic movements, and the absence of negative thoughts.

    I believe the shift towards these clutch characteristics was the difference in the Proteas shrugging off their “choker” curse.

    What made the difference?

    Bavuma, in the post-match interview, recounted how teammate Aiden Markram embodied those clutch qualities, calmly telling Bavuma after every over:

    Lock in and give them nothing.

    In interviews Proteas coach Shukri Conrad stressed how calm the players were. He pointed out Markram and Bavuma for their poise and reliability under pressure, another defining trait of expert performers.

    Conrad emphasised the importance of removing distraction by telling them to “play the conditions” and not the situation. This allows players to focus on the moment and not be overwhelmed by the broader context of the match.

    The calm and composed demeanour of Bavuma and Markram as they prepared to face the barrage of deliveries during their match-defining partnership also relates to a phenomenon scientists refer to as the “quiet eye”.



    Read more:
    What is cricket’s World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final?

    The quiet eye is the period of visual fixation or visual tracking of the body cues of the bowler and the early ball flight trajectory before the execution of a motor task. It’s been associated with superior performance under pressure.

    Bavuma and Markram were able to sustain long periods of quiet eye while processing critical information from the bowlers’ action and early ball path, while remaining focused on task-relevant cues, all the while blocking out anxiety-related distractions.

    Conrad succeeded because he was able to combine cultural wisdom and emotional intelligence to truly transform the psychology and ability of the Proteas team.

    His philosophy of selection, “character first then matching up the skill”, pays tribute to his vision of peaking when it counts – a quality lacking in Proteas teams of the past.

    When Conrad was first appointed as Proteas coach, he made two big decisions. He selected Bavuma as captain and he recalled a struggling test batter, Markram. Conrad explained:

    Obviously Temba, a quiet leader, leads from the back, but certainly from the front with the bat … Aiden Markram was always going to be my opening bat. He always delivers on the big stage.

    The vision of Conrad to appoint Bavuma captain has resulted in a record 10 successive test wins. In the winning match Bavuma led from the front and held firm. He was up to the task with the bat, and despite suffering a hamstring injury during the game, was able to join forces with Markram in the fourth innings to set up a match-winning third wicket partnership of 143 runs.

    Three of the most experienced players for South Africa in test matches, Bavuma, Markram and Kagiso Rabada, stood out as true champions in this final. Markram scored a match-winning 136 runs in the fourth innings, while Rabada laid the foundation for victory by taking a decisive nine wickets.



    Read more:
    T20 World Cup: South Africa reached its first final ever – but staying at the top will take a rethink of junior cricket

    For the first time in 26 years, the senior Proteas players all stepped up when it mattered most to secure a world championship. Conrad bore testimony to this in the post-match interview:

    When our two senior pros in Aiden and Temba put that big stand together, I felt that is obviously where the game was won for us.

    The Proteas’ victory on 14 June 2025 lifted a 26-year choker curse. With the visionary leadership of Conrad and the composed stewardship of Bavuma, the Proteas revealed that mental clarity, cultural cohesion, and emotional intelligence were key to their success. The “chokers” tag is buried beneath the turf of the “home of cricket”.

    Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-cricket-team-just-made-history-how-the-chokers-became-world-champions-259167

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: G20 countries could produce enough renewable energy for the whole world – what needs to happen

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Sven Teske, Prof. Dr. | Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

    The world’s most developed economies have also burnt the most oil and coal (fossil fuels) over the years, causing the most climate change damage. Preventing further climate change means a global fossil fuel phase-out must happen by 2050. Climate change mitigation scientists Sven Teske and Saori Miyake analysed the potential for renewable energy in each of the G20 countries. They concluded that the G20 is in a position to generate enough renewable energy to supply the world. For African countries to benefit, they must adopt long term renewable energy plans and policies and secure finance from G20 countries to set up renewable energy systems.

    Why is the G20 so important in efforts to limit global warming?

    The G20 group accounts for 67% of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, and 75% of global trade. The member states are the G7 (the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada), plus Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Russia, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

    We wanted to find out how G20 member states could limit global warming. Our study examined the solar and wind potential for each of G20 member countries (the available land and solar and wind conditions). We then compared this with projected electricity demands for 2050. This is, to our knowledge, the first research of its kind.



    Read more:
    G20 is too elite. There’s a way to fix that though – economists

    We found that the potential for renewable energy in G20 countries is very high – enough to supply the projected 2050 electricity demand for the whole world. They have 33.6 million km² of land on which solar energy projects could be set up, or 31.1 million km² of land on which wind energy projects could be set up.

    This potential varies by geography. Not all G20 countries have the same conditions for generating solar and wind energy, but collectively, the G20 countries have enough renewable energy potential to supply the world’s energy needs.

    But for the G20 countries to limit global warming, they also need to stop emitting greenhouse gases. Recent figures show that the G20 countries were responsible for generating 87% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.

    On the other hand, African Union countries (apart from South Africa, which is a high greenhouse gas emitter), were responsible for only 1.2% of the global total historical emissions until 2020.

    The G20 countries with the highest renewable energy potential (especially Australia and Canada) are major exporters of the fossil fuels that cause global warming. Along with every other country in the world, the G20 nations will need to end their human-caused carbon emissions by 2050 to prevent further climate change.

    Where does Africa fit into the picture?

    African countries cannot set up new electricity plants based on burning fossil fuels, like coal. If they do that, the world will never end human-caused greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The continent must generate electricity for the 600 million Africans who do not currently have it but will need to move straight past fossil fuels and into renewable energy.

    For this, Africa will need finance. The African Union hosts the G20 summit later this year. This meeting begins just after the world’s annual climate change conference (now in its 30th year and known as COP30). These two summits will give Africa the chance to lobby for renewable energy funding from wealthier nations.

    Africa already has the conditions needed to move straight into renewable energy. The continent could be generating an amount of solar and wind power that far exceeds its projected demand for electricity between now and 2050.

    We are launching an additional analysis of the solar and wind potential of the entire African continent in Bonn, Germany on 19 June 2025 at a United Nations conference. This shows that only 3% of Africa’s solar and wind potential needs to be converted to real projects to supply Africa’s future electricity demand.



    Read more:
    Africa’s power pools: what the G20 can do to help countries share electricity

    This means that Africa has great untapped potential to supply the required energy for its transition to a middle-income continent – one of the African Union’s goals in Agenda 2063, its 50 year plan.

    But to secure enough finance for the continent to build renewable energy systems, African countries need long-term energy policies. These are currently lacking.

    So what needs to be done?

    The countries who signed up to the 2015 international climate change treaty (the Paris Agreement) have committed to replacing polluting forms of energy such as coal, fuelwood and oil with renewable energy.

    South Africa, through its G20 presidency, must encourage G20 nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and support renewable energy investment in Africa.



    Read more:
    Fossil fuels are still subsidised: G20 could push for the funds to be shifted to cleaner energy

    Because financing the global energy transition is already high on the priority list of most countries, South Africa should push for change on three fronts: finance, sound regulations and manufacturing capacity for renewable technologies. These are the among the main obstacles for renewables, particularly in Africa.

    Finance: Financing the energy transition is among the highest priorities for COP30. Therefore, the COP30 meeting will be an opportunity for the African Union to negotiate finance for its renewable energy infrastructure needs.

    For this, fair and just carbon budgets are vital. A carbon budget sets out how much carbon dioxide can still be emitted in order for the global temperature not to rise more than 2°C higher than it was before the 1760 industrial revolution.

    A global carbon budget (the amount of emissions the whole world is allowed) has been calculated, but it needs to be divided up fairly so that countries that have polluted most are compelled to limit this.

    To divide the global carbon budget fairly, energy pathways need to be developed urgently that consider:

    • future developments of population and economic growth

    • current energy supply systems

    • transition times for decarbonisation

    • local renewable energy resources.

    The G20 platform should be used to lobby for fair and just carbon budgets.



    Read more:
    Wealthy nations owe climate debt to Africa – funds that could help cities grow

    Sound regulations that support the setting up of new factories: Governments must put policies in place to support African solar and wind companies. These are needed to win the trust of investors to invest in a future multi-billion dollar industry. Long-term, transparent regulations are needed too.

    These regulations should:

    • say exactly how building permits for solar and wind power plants will be granted

    • prioritise linking renewable energy plants to national electricity grids

    • release standard technical specifications for stand-alone grids to make sure they’re all of the same quality.

    Taking steps now to speed up big renewable energy industries could mean that African countries end up with more energy than they need. This can be exported and increase financial income for countries.

    Sven Teske receives funding from the European Climate Foundation and Power Shift Africa (PSA).

    Saori Miyake receives funding from European Climate Foundation and Power Shift Africa.

    – ref. G20 countries could produce enough renewable energy for the whole world – what needs to happen – https://theconversation.com/g20-countries-could-produce-enough-renewable-energy-for-the-whole-world-what-needs-to-happen-258463

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Southeast Asian nations look to hedge their way out of troubled waters in the South China Sea

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By John Rennie Short, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    A Philippine coast guard vessel patrols near Pagasa, part of the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea. Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images

    The South China Sea has long been a bubbling geopolitical hot spot. Recently, a series of moves by the various nations claiming a stake in the waters has stirred up yet more trouble.

    Malaysia has of late reaffirmed its commitment to oil and gas exploration in waters claimed by China while quietly building up its military on the islands off Borneo.

    Meanwhile, Chinese coast guard vessels have deployed water cannons against Filipino fishing boats. And the accidental grounding of a Chinese boat in shallow waters around the Philippines’ Thitu Island on June 8, 2025, was enough to put Filipino forces on alert.

    Vietnam, too, has been active in the disputed waters. A Beijing-based think tank on June 7 flagged that Vietnamese engineers had been busy reclaiming land and installing military-related ports and airstrips around the Spratly Islands.

    What the three Southeast Asian nations of Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia have in common is that they, along with others in the region, are trying to navigate a more assertive China at a time when the U.S. policy intentions under the second Trump Administration are fluid and hard to read. And in lieu of a coordinated response from the regional body Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, each member nation has been busy charting its course in these choppy waters.

    US-China relations all at sea

    Why is China trying to assert control in the South China Sea? In a 2023 speech, President Xi Jinping noted that “Western countries led by the United States have implemented all round containment, encirclement and suppression of China.”

    This fear has been long held in Beijing and was reinforced by a U.S. Indo-Pacific policy announced in 2011 of rebalancing military forces away from Europe and toward Asia to confront China.

    In response, China has in recent years embarked on an ambitious policy of attempting to outmuscle U.S. naval power in the South China Sea.

    China is now the world’s leading builder of naval vessels and is estimated to have 440 battleships by 2030, compared with the United States’ 300.

    And it comes at a time when U.S. naval power is spread around the world. China’s, meanwhile, is concentrated around the South China Sea where, since 2013, Chinese vessels have pumped sand onto reefs, turning them into islands and then weaponizing them.

    Satellite imagery shows the Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea, part of the Spratly Islands group, being built by Chinese dredges.
    Maxar via Getty Images

    Then there is the activity of China’s maritime militia of approximately 300 nominally fishing boats equipped with water cannons and reinforced hulls for ramming. This so-called gray zone fleet is increasingly active in confronting Southeast Asia nations at sea.

    The U.S. response to China’s militarization in the sea has been through so-called “freedom of navigation” exercises that often deploy carrier groups in a show of force. But these episodic displays are more performative than effective, doing little to deter China’s claims.

    The U.S. has also strengthened military alliances with Australia, India, Japan and the Philippines, and has increased coast guard cooperation with the Philippines and Japan.

    A fleet from the U.S. Navy patrolling the Pacific Ocean.
    Sean M. Castellano US Navy via Getty Images

    The sea is a valuable resource

    Yet the battle over control of the South China Seas is more than just geopolitical posturing between the two superpowers.

    For adjoining countries, the sea is a valuable biological resource with rich fishing grounds that provide a staple of fish protein for close to 2 billion people. There are estimates of 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil.

    The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, guarantees a nation an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles from around its coastline.

    China is a signatory of the UNCLOS. Yet it views ownership of the South China Sea through the lens of its nine-dash line, a reference to the boundary line that Beijing has invoked since 1948. While the claim has no legal or historical basis, the delineation makes major incursions into waters around Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Brunei and Indonesia as well.

    Despite China’s expansive claim to the South China Sea being dismissed in 2016 by the international Permanent Court of Arbitration, Beijing continues to assert its claim.

    Hedging positions

    As I explore in my recent book “Hedging and Conflict in the South China Sea,” part of the problem Southeast Asian nations face is that they have failed to forge a unified position.

    ASEAN, the regional bloc representing 10 nations in Southeast Asia, has long been governed by the principle that major decisions need unanimous agreement. China is a major trading partner to ASEAN nations, so any regional country aligning too close to the U.S. comes with the real risk of economic consequences. And two ASEAN members, Cambodia and Laos, are especially close to China, making it difficult to generate a unified ASEAN policy that confronts China’s maritime claim.

    Instead, ASEAN has promoted a regional code of conduct that effectively legitimizes China’s maritime claims, fails to mention the 2016 ruling and ignores the issue of conflicting claims.

    Further complicating a united front against China is the competing claims among ASEAN nations themselves to disputed islands in the South China Sea.

    In lieu of a coordinated response, Southeast Asian nations have instead turned to hedging — that is, maintaining good relationships with both China and the U.S. without fully committing to one or other.

    A balancing act for Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines

    Malaysia’s approach sees its government partition off the South China Sea dispute from its overall bilateral ties with China while continuing to promote an ASEAN code of conduct.

    Until recently, Malaysia’s oil and gas activities were well within Malaysia’s EEZ and not far enough out to fall into China’s nine-dash claim.

    But as these close-to-shore fields become exhausted, subsequent exploration will need to extend outward and into China’s nine-dash claim, putting Malaysia’s dealings with China under pressure.

    China’s nine-dash line claims a significant amount of Vietnam’s EEZ, and the contested maritime area is a source of friction between the two countries; China’s maritime militia regularly harasses Vietnamese fishermen and disrupts drilling operations in Vietnam’s EEZ .

    But Vietnam has to tread carefully. China plays a significant role in the Vietnamese economy as a major destination of exports and an important provider of foreign investment. China also has the ability to dam the Mekong River upstream of Vietnam — something that would disrupt agricultural production.

    As a result, Vietnam’s hedging involves a careful calibration to avoid angering China. However, part of Vietnam’s heavy hedging involves the promotion of the South China Sea dispute as a core issue for domestic public opinion, which limits the Vietnamese government’s ability to offer concessions to China.

    A Philippine coast guard ship and fishing boats are seen in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, on May 26, 2025.
    Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty ImagesDaniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images

    China’s nine-dash claim also includes a wide swath of the Philippines’ EEZ.

    The Philippines has zigzagged in its dealings with China. The presidencies of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–2010) and Rodrigo Duterte (2016-2022) pursued a pro-China tack that downplayed Filipino claims in the South China Sea. Presidents Benigno Aquino (2010-2016) and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (2022-present), in contrast, have given U.S. forces greater access to its maritime bases and mobilized national and international opinion in favor of its claims.

    Since coming to power, Marcos has also pursued even closer naval ties with the U.S.. But this has come at a cost: China now views the Philippines as a U.S. ally. As such, Beijing sees little to be gained by pulling back from its assertive activity in and around its waters.

    The future

    In the shadow of two major powers battling for power in the South China Sea, Southeast Asian nations are making the best of their position along a geopolitical fracture line by advancing their claims and interests while not overly antagonizing a more assertive China or losing the support of the U.S.

    This may work to tamp down tensions in the South China Sea. But it is a fluid approach not without risk, and it could yet prove to be another source of instability in a geopolitically contested and dangerous region.

    John Rennie Short received funding from Fulbright Foundation

    – ref. Southeast Asian nations look to hedge their way out of troubled waters in the South China Sea – https://theconversation.com/southeast-asian-nations-look-to-hedge-their-way-out-of-troubled-waters-in-the-south-china-sea-257092

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University; and Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fellow, Victoria University

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone beyond his initial aim of destroying Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons. He has called on the Iranian people to rise up against their dictatorial Islamic regime and ostensibly transform Iran along the lines of Israeli interests.

    United States President Donald Trump is now weighing possible military action in support of Netanyahu’s goal and asked for Iran’s total surrender.

    If the US does get involved, it wouldn’t be the first time it’s tried to instigate regime change by military means in the Middle East. The US invaded Iraq in 2003 and backed a NATO operation in Libya in 2011, toppling the regimes of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, respectively.

    In both cases, the interventions backfired, causing long-term instability in both countries and in the broader region.

    Could the same thing happen in Iran if the regime is overthrown?

    As I describe in my book, Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic, Iran is a pluralist society with a complex history of rival groups trying to assert their authority. A democratic transition would be difficult to achieve.

    The overthrow of the shah

    The Iranian Islamic regime assumed power in the wake of the pro-democracy popular uprising of 1978–79, which toppled Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s pro-Western monarchy.

    Until this moment, Iran had a long history of monarchical rule dating back 2,500 years. Mohammad Reza, the last shah, was the head of the Pahlavi dynasty, which came to power in 1925.

    In 1953, the shah was forced into exile under the radical nationalist and reformist impulse of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. He was shortly returned to his throne through a CIA-orchestrated coup.

    Despite all his nationalist, pro-Western, modernising efforts, the shah could not shake off the indignity of having been re-throned with the help of a foreign power.

    The revolution against him 25 years later was spearheaded by pro-democracy elements. But it was made up of many groups, including liberalists, communists and Islamists, with no uniting leader.

    The Shia clerical group (ruhaniyat), led by the Shah’s religious and political opponent, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, proved to be best organised and capable of providing leadership to the revolution. Khomeini had been in exile from the early 1960s (at first in Iraq and later in France), yet he and his followers held considerable sway over the population, especially in traditional rural areas.

    When US President Jimmy Carter’s administration found it could no longer support the shah, he left the country and went into exile in January 1979. This enabled Khomeini to return to Iran to a tumultuous welcome.

    Birth of the Islamic Republic

    In the wake of the uprising, Khomeini and his supporters, including the current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, abolished the monarchy and transformed Iran to a cleric-dominated Islamic Republic, with anti-US and anti-Israel postures. He ruled the country according to his unique vision of Islam.

    Khomeini denounced the US as a “Great Satan” and Israel as an illegal usurper of the Palestinian lands – Jerusalem, in particular. He also declared a foreign policy of “neither east, nor west” but pro-Islamic, and called for the spread of the Iranian revolution in the region.

    Khomeini not only changed Iran, but also challenged the US as the dominant force in shaping the regional order. And the US lost one of the most important pillars of its influence in the oil-rich and strategically important Persian Gulf region.

    Fear of hostile American or Israeli (or combined) actions against the Islamic Republic became the focus of Iran’s domestic and foreign policy behaviour.

    A new supreme leader takes power

    Khomeini died in 1989. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ruled Iran largely in the same jihadi (combative) and ijtihadi (pragmatic) ways, steering the country through many domestic and foreign policy challenges.

    Khamenei fortified the regime with an emphasis on self-sufficiency, a stronger defence capability and a tilt towards the east – Russia and China – to counter the US and its allies. He has stood firm in opposition to the US and its allies – Israel, in particular. And he has shown flexibility when necessary to ensure the survival and continuity of the regime.

    Khamenei wields enormous constitutional power and spiritual authority.

    He has presided over the building of many rule-enforcing instruments of state power, including the expansion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its paramilitary wing, the Basij, revolutionary committees, and Shia religious networks.

    The Shia concept of martyrdom and loyalty to Iran as a continuous sovereign country for centuries goes to the heart of his actions, as well as his followers.

    Khamenei and his rule enforcers, along with an elected president and National Assembly, are fully cognisant that if the regime goes down, they will face the same fate. As such, they cannot be expected to hoist the white flag and surrender to Israel and the US easily.

    However, in the event of the regime falling under the weight of a combined internal uprising and external pressure, it raises the question: what is the alternative?

    The return of the shah?

    Many Iranians are discontented with the regime, but there is no organised opposition under a nationally unifying leader.

    The son of the former shah, the crown prince Reza Pahlavi, has been gaining some popularity. He has been speaking out on X in the last few days, telling his fellow Iranians:

    The end of the Islamic Republic is the end of its 46-year war against the Iranian nation. The regime’s apparatus of repression is falling apart. All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put an end to this nightmare once and for all.

    Since the deposition of his father, he has lived in exile in the US. As such, he has been tainted by his close association with Washington and Jerusalem, especially Netanyahu.

    If he were to return to power – likely through the assistance of the US – he would face the same problem of political legitimacy as his father did.

    What does the future hold?

    Iran has never had a long tradition of democracy. It experienced brief instances of liberalism in the first half of the 20th century, but every attempt at making it durable resulted in disarray and a return to authoritarian rule.

    Also, the country has rarely been free of outside interventionism, given its vast hydrocarbon riches and strategic location. It’s also been prone to internal fragmentation, given its ethnic and religious mix.

    The Shia Persians make up more than half of the population, but the country has a number of Sunni ethnic minorities, such as Kurds, Azaris, Balochis and Arabs. They have all had separatist tendencies.

    Iran has historically been held together by centralisation rather than diffusion of power.

    Should the Islamic regime disintegrate in one form or another, it would be an mistake to expect a smooth transfer of power or transition to democratisation within a unified national framework.

    At the same time, the Iranian people are highly cultured and creative, with a very rich and proud history of achievements and civilisation.

    They are perfectly capable of charting their own destiny as long as there aren’t self-seeking foreign hands in the process – something they have rarely experienced.

    Amin Saikal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain – https://theconversation.com/irans-long-history-of-revolution-defiance-and-outside-interference-and-why-its-future-is-so-uncertain-259270

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University; and Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fellow, Victoria University

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone beyond his initial aim of destroying Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons. He has called on the Iranian people to rise up against their dictatorial Islamic regime and ostensibly transform Iran along the lines of Israeli interests.

    United States President Donald Trump is now weighing possible military action in support of Netanyahu’s goal and asked for Iran’s total surrender.

    If the US does get involved, it wouldn’t be the first time it’s tried to instigate regime change by military means in the Middle East. The US invaded Iraq in 2003 and backed a NATO operation in Libya in 2011, toppling the regimes of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, respectively.

    In both cases, the interventions backfired, causing long-term instability in both countries and in the broader region.

    Could the same thing happen in Iran if the regime is overthrown?

    As I describe in my book, Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic, Iran is a pluralist society with a complex history of rival groups trying to assert their authority. A democratic transition would be difficult to achieve.

    The overthrow of the shah

    The Iranian Islamic regime assumed power in the wake of the pro-democracy popular uprising of 1978–79, which toppled Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s pro-Western monarchy.

    Until this moment, Iran had a long history of monarchical rule dating back 2,500 years. Mohammad Reza, the last shah, was the head of the Pahlavi dynasty, which came to power in 1925.

    In 1953, the shah was forced into exile under the radical nationalist and reformist impulse of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. He was shortly returned to his throne through a CIA-orchestrated coup.

    Despite all his nationalist, pro-Western, modernising efforts, the shah could not shake off the indignity of having been re-throned with the help of a foreign power.

    The revolution against him 25 years later was spearheaded by pro-democracy elements. But it was made up of many groups, including liberalists, communists and Islamists, with no uniting leader.

    The Shia clerical group (ruhaniyat), led by the Shah’s religious and political opponent, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, proved to be best organised and capable of providing leadership to the revolution. Khomeini had been in exile from the early 1960s (at first in Iraq and later in France), yet he and his followers held considerable sway over the population, especially in traditional rural areas.

    When US President Jimmy Carter’s administration found it could no longer support the shah, he left the country and went into exile in January 1979. This enabled Khomeini to return to Iran to a tumultuous welcome.

    Birth of the Islamic Republic

    In the wake of the uprising, Khomeini and his supporters, including the current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, abolished the monarchy and transformed Iran to a cleric-dominated Islamic Republic, with anti-US and anti-Israel postures. He ruled the country according to his unique vision of Islam.

    Khomeini denounced the US as a “Great Satan” and Israel as an illegal usurper of the Palestinian lands – Jerusalem, in particular. He also declared a foreign policy of “neither east, nor west” but pro-Islamic, and called for the spread of the Iranian revolution in the region.

    Khomeini not only changed Iran, but also challenged the US as the dominant force in shaping the regional order. And the US lost one of the most important pillars of its influence in the oil-rich and strategically important Persian Gulf region.

    Fear of hostile American or Israeli (or combined) actions against the Islamic Republic became the focus of Iran’s domestic and foreign policy behaviour.

    A new supreme leader takes power

    Khomeini died in 1989. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ruled Iran largely in the same jihadi (combative) and ijtihadi (pragmatic) ways, steering the country through many domestic and foreign policy challenges.

    Khamenei fortified the regime with an emphasis on self-sufficiency, a stronger defence capability and a tilt towards the east – Russia and China – to counter the US and its allies. He has stood firm in opposition to the US and its allies – Israel, in particular. And he has shown flexibility when necessary to ensure the survival and continuity of the regime.

    Khamenei wields enormous constitutional power and spiritual authority.

    He has presided over the building of many rule-enforcing instruments of state power, including the expansion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its paramilitary wing, the Basij, revolutionary committees, and Shia religious networks.

    The Shia concept of martyrdom and loyalty to Iran as a continuous sovereign country for centuries goes to the heart of his actions, as well as his followers.

    Khamenei and his rule enforcers, along with an elected president and National Assembly, are fully cognisant that if the regime goes down, they will face the same fate. As such, they cannot be expected to hoist the white flag and surrender to Israel and the US easily.

    However, in the event of the regime falling under the weight of a combined internal uprising and external pressure, it raises the question: what is the alternative?

    The return of the shah?

    Many Iranians are discontented with the regime, but there is no organised opposition under a nationally unifying leader.

    The son of the former shah, the crown prince Reza Pahlavi, has been gaining some popularity. He has been speaking out on X in the last few days, telling his fellow Iranians:

    The end of the Islamic Republic is the end of its 46-year war against the Iranian nation. The regime’s apparatus of repression is falling apart. All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put an end to this nightmare once and for all.

    Since the deposition of his father, he has lived in exile in the US. As such, he has been tainted by his close association with Washington and Jerusalem, especially Netanyahu.

    If he were to return to power – likely through the assistance of the US – he would face the same problem of political legitimacy as his father did.

    What does the future hold?

    Iran has never had a long tradition of democracy. It experienced brief instances of liberalism in the first half of the 20th century, but every attempt at making it durable resulted in disarray and a return to authoritarian rule.

    Also, the country has rarely been free of outside interventionism, given its vast hydrocarbon riches and strategic location. It’s also been prone to internal fragmentation, given its ethnic and religious mix.

    The Shia Persians make up more than half of the population, but the country has a number of Sunni ethnic minorities, such as Kurds, Azaris, Balochis and Arabs. They have all had separatist tendencies.

    Iran has historically been held together by centralisation rather than diffusion of power.

    Should the Islamic regime disintegrate in one form or another, it would be an mistake to expect a smooth transfer of power or transition to democratisation within a unified national framework.

    At the same time, the Iranian people are highly cultured and creative, with a very rich and proud history of achievements and civilisation.

    They are perfectly capable of charting their own destiny as long as there aren’t self-seeking foreign hands in the process – something they have rarely experienced.

    Amin Saikal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain – https://theconversation.com/irans-long-history-of-revolution-defiance-and-outside-interference-and-why-its-future-is-so-uncertain-259270

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: China unveils measures to build Shanghai into international financial center

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, June 18 — China’s Shanghai will basically evolve into an international financial center that matches the country’s overall strength and global influence over the next five to ten years, according to a recent official guideline.

    The eastern metropolis is expected to see remarkable improvements in the adaptability, competitiveness and inclusiveness of its modern financial system, and its functions as a financial opening-up hub will be significantly strengthened, according to the guideline on support measures for accelerating the building of Shanghai into an international financial center issued by the Central Financial Commission.

    To achieve the goals, the guideline emphasizes the importance of developing Shanghai’s financial market, calling on the sci-tech innovation board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange to play a more important and inclusive role in promoting hard technology. The guideline also stresses supporting the Shanghai Futures Exchange in its evolution into a world-class exchange.

    Shanghai will work to attract a diverse range of legal entities and branches from both domestic and international major financial institutions, as well as licensed specialized institutions. The city will foster and draw in robust, regulated financial holding companies and encourage the establishment of international financial organizations, according to the guideline.

    While building a globally leading financial infrastructure system, the city will strengthen the development of the cross-border RMB payment and settlement systems. It will steadily expand institutional opening up in the financial sector and fully align itself with international trade and economic standards.

    Additionally, Shanghai will advance the development of green finance standards in line with international practices, and participate in international cooperation on green finance. The city will also strive to ensure financial security amid its opening-up efforts by utilizing technologies such as blockchain, big data and artificial intelligence, according to the guideline.

    To implement the guideline, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the Shanghai municipal government have issued an action plan, which introduced a series of measures aimed at enhancing the competitiveness and influence of Shanghai as an international financial center. These measures encompass areas such as improving financial services, expanding institutional opening up, and strengthening financial regulations.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China activates emergency response to flooding in 5 provinces

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, June 18 — China’s State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Wednesday launched a Level-IV emergency response to flooding in Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing and Guizhou, as these regions brace for a new round of torrential rainfall.

    Three work teams have been dispatched to key areas to assist with flood prevention and relief efforts, according to the headquarters.

    China’s National Meteorological Center on Wednesday renewed a yellow alert for rainstorms, as heavy downpours are expected to lash parts of the country.

    From 8:00 p.m. Wednesday to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, heavy rains and storms are expected to lash parts of Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Tianjin and Liaoning. Some regions may see rainfall of 100 to 180 millimeters.

    Local authorities have been urged to step up inspections and implement risk mitigation measures in key areas, including zones vulnerable to mountain floods, regions prone to geological disasters, and low-lying urban and rural areas susceptible to waterlogging. They have also been asked to issue timely warnings and carry out evacuations if necessary.

    China has a four-tier emergency response system for flood control, with Level I being the most severe.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: Corpsman Up: Hospital Corps Marks 127 Years of Unwavering Commitment and Courage

    Source: United States Navy

    FALLS CHURCH, Va. – Today, the 127th birthday of the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps was celebrated with honor and pride at the Defense Health Headquarters. The ceremony brought together Navy Medicine leadership and corpsmen to reflect on the enduring legacy of the Hospital Corps and their continuing impact across the fleet and around the world.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: Navy and Marine Corps announce 250th celebration in Philadelphia

    Source: United States Navy

    NORFOLK, VA (Navy Region Mid-Atlantic) – On Wednesday media is invited to attend the announcement of the Navy and Marine Corps 250th (NMC250) birthday celebration in Philadelphia, PA during a planning event 9 – 10 a.m., at the Philadelphia Marriott Old City, One Dock St. Senior Navy officials will make opening remarks, along with city leadership from Philadelphia and Camden. City and community officials will be in attendance.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: The Sciences Po Summer School has officially begun!

    Source: Universities – Science Po in English

    The Sciences Po Summer School opened its doors for its 14th edition on our Paris campus! This summer, Sciences Po is welcoming over 900 students from around the world, with a session in June and a second session in July.

    The University Programme

       Credits: Annie for the Summer School

    The University Programme began on 2 June with a sunny orientation day. Just over 150 students have joined for the June session. Participants will study an intensive course for 4 weeks, in either social sciences or French as a foreign language. Courses in social sciences are offered by faculty members of Sciences Po, researchers and experts in their respective fields. The topics range from global challenges on inequality, through the course Tackling Inequality and Social Risks: A Global Perspective, diplomacy, with the course Diplomacy in Times of Global Crises: Theory & Practice, digital challenges on politicisation, with the course Internet & Politics, and major international challenges, through the course World Politics.

    42 nationalities are represented in the June cohort, and 35 students are supported by programmes with partner universities, namely the organisation Pour le Brésil, the Mastercard Foundation, and the Professional Certificate for Young Refugees. 

    A Custom Programme

       Credits: Annie for the Summer School

    On 10 June, we welcomed 200 students from ESADE Business and Law School for our annual custom programme. These students, with an average age of 19, will spend 2 weeks on our Paris campus studying public international law and European law, with members of Sciences Po’s faculty and a team of young researchers specialized in these areas. 

    Like each programme held at the Summer School, before embarking on a programme of intensive study, the students were able to enjoy a river cruise on the Seine, under a bright blue and sunny sky!

    Pre-College Programmes

    Finally, the Pre-College Programmes kicked off on 16 June with an online programme centred on the risks and regulations of artificial intelligence and new technologies. This innovative programme has welcomed 14 high school students from 11 countries, with an average age of 16, to explore global questions and the regulatory challenges related to new technologies as well as the corresponding law and policy development processes, both from a practical and theoretical perspective.

    The theoretical teachings within the framework of these programmes are supplemented by simulation sessions which allow students to develop their analytical comprehension of the issues, while also gaining practical negotiation skills.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Griffin Park showcases skills to ONR guests

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Griffin Park showcases skills to ONR guests

    The new Chair of the nuclear industry regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), enjoyed a visit to Griffin Park last week.

    Superintendent Keith McCarthy, Paul Dicks, Dr Nicola Crauford and Chief Superintendent Shree Owen at Griffin Park.

    Dr Nicola Crauford, who was appointed as Chair on 1 March 2025, was introduced to the training division and, along with colleagues Gary Cook, Paul Dicks and Martin Burgess, treated to a demonstration of CNC’s capabilities in the live fire tactical training area. 

    Chief Superintendent Sheree Owen, head of training, said: “We were delighted to be approached by ONR to host Nicki and her colleagues and to make the most of an opportunity to showcase our skills and facilities. Building relationships and increasing stakeholder understanding of how we work is always time well spent. 

    “I would like to thank all those involved in making the visit so successful, especially the NFIs and the officers from Sellafield OPU who facilitated the capability demonstration.” 

    Dr Nicola Crauford, the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s Chair, said: “I’d like to thank the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) for this fascinating and informative visit. It provided a very useful understanding of the important role the CNC provides in keeping the nuclear sector safe.” 

    The ONR is the UK’s independent nuclear regulator for safety and security. It regulates nuclear safety, nuclear security and conventional health and safety at the 36 licensed nuclear sites in Great Britain. This includes ensuring the adequacy of security arrangements for dealing with special nuclear material and special nuclear information within the civil nuclear industry as well as the safety and security of the transport of civil nuclear and radioactive materials.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK Armed Forces recognise Poland’s Second World War contribution at ceremony in Warsaw

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Press release

    UK Armed Forces recognise Poland’s Second World War contribution at ceremony in Warsaw

    UK Defence Minister Lord Coaker, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz pay tribute to the extraordinary courage displayed by Polish paratroopers during one of the most famous allied operations of the Second World War.

    Lord Coaker with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Copyright reserved to the Polish Ministry of Defence.

    • UK honours Polish courage during Second World War in first-of-its-kind commemoration in Poland
    • Historic event reinforces UK and Poland relationship and Britain’s commitment to European security
    • New security deal between the two countries to be signed later this year The United Kingdom has recognised the contribution of Polish personnel as part of the allied war effort during the Second World War at a moving ceremony in Poland.

    Lord Coaker, pictured left, with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, pictured right. Copyright reserved to the Polish Ministry of Defence.

    Today, during an historic ceremony at Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, UK Defence Minister Lord Coaker, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz paid tribute to the extraordinary courage displayed by Polish paratroopers during one of the most famous allied operations of the Second World War.

    The event is the first formal standalone commemoration to mark the heroism of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, during Operation Market Garden in 1944 – the allied operation which aimed to hasten the end of the Second World War by opening up new routes for advancing troops into Germany.

    The event symbolised the enduring bond between British and Polish forces forged during the darkest days of the Second World War. During the ceremony Lord Coaker and Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz inspected troops and received a salute, before giving speeches focussed on the shared values and sacrifices that have bound the two nations together.

    Copyright reserved to the Polish Ministry of Defence.

    Speaking from Wilanów Palace, Defence Minister Lord Coaker said:

    At a time when Britain and Poland’s Armed Forces are once again working together to protect Europe’s security and deter those who threaten peace, the generation of heroes from both countries who fought side-by-side during the Second World War remain an enduring source of pride and inspiration.

    Today, we acknowledge the extraordinary contribution of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade which Major General Sosabowski created and led into battle.

    During the events of 1944, Allied forces aimed to seize a series of crucial bridges in the Netherlands through a combination of airborne attack and ground advances, often regarded as one the of most daring and ambitious operations of the entire war.

    Major General Ollie Kingsbury, Colonel Commandant of The Parachute Regiment, presented a banner to Brigadier General Michał Strzelecki, Commander 6th Polish Airborne Brigade – the proud descendants of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade – signifying the enduring and historic bond between our armed forces. Members of The Parachute Regiment, British Army and the Polish 6th Airborne Brigade also formed a guard of honour during the ceremony.

    Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said:

    General Stanisław Sosabowski and his soldiers, fighting side-by-side with British paratroopers, laid the foundation for today’s cooperation, also military, as well as for strong ties between our nations. On my own behalf and on behalf of the soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces, I thank you for honouring our heroes. It constitutes an important gesture, which demonstrates our unity and shared values that have connected us for over 80 years.

    Temporary Military Assistant to the Minister of State in the House of Lords, pictured left, with the UK’s Defence Attaché to Poland Chris Brown, pictured right. Copyright reserved to the Polish Ministry of Defence.

    The event comes at a time of unprecedented cooperation between the UK and Poland on defence and security matters. Announced by the Prime Minister in January, the two nations are set to sign a new security and defence treaty later this year, building on strong bilateral ties which have seen over 20 British operational deployments to Poland since February 2022.

    Both countries remain steadfast allies in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression and are working together to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.

    Lord Coaker’s visit also follows the publication of the UK’s Strategic Defence Review, which underscores Britain’s commitment to European security.

    The review sets out the UK’s vision to move to warfighting readiness, create a more lethal integrated military force, and strengthen UK leadership in NATO. Additionally, it will put service personnel at the heart of our defence plans by renewing the nation’s contract with those who serve and having a whole of society approach to our national resilience.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Marat Khusnullin: Preparations for construction of Mariupol bypass have begun in the DPR

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Construction of a bypass road around the city of Mariupol.

    In order to form a single backbone network of Russian highways and develop the federal highway R-280 “Novorossiya” in the Donetsk People’s Republic, it is planned to build a bypass road around the city of Mariupol. At present, a contract has been signed and specialists have begun preparatory work, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin reported.

    “The federal highway R-280 “Novorossiya” is one of the important directions of the south of the country. It is part of the Azov Transport Ring. Last year, the highway began to be expanded in stages. And from the border of the Rostov region to Mariupol – this is 37 km – it became a completely four-lane. Now they are expanding new sections with a length of about 70 km – from Mariupol to the border with the Zaporozhye region and further to Berdyansk. Preparatory work has also begun as part of the construction of a bypass road around Mariupol with a length of more than 30 km. It will not only increase the throughput capacity threefold – up to 40 thousand cars per day, but also significantly reduce travel time. In addition, the quality of life of local residents will improve due to a decrease in noise and pollution levels,” said Marat Khusnullin.

    The Deputy Prime Minister added that the Mariupol bypass project envisages the construction of 6 multi-level interchanges, 14 overpasses and three bridges. For traffic safety, oncoming traffic flows will be separated by a barrier fence, and outdoor electric lighting is planned along the entire route. The construction of the facility is planned to be completed by the end of 2028.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Russian-South African negotiations.

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    The meeting took place as part of the working visit of the Vice President of the Republic of South Africa Paul Mashatile to the Russian Federation.

    M. Mishustin: Good afternoon, dear Mr. Mashatile! Dear friends!

    Welcome to the Government House of the Russian Federation. I know that this is your first visit to the Russian Federation as Vice President of South Africa, although you have been to Russia several times before. And I would like to welcome you personally and your delegation to Moscow, to the Russian Federation.

    We highly value the trusting and meaningful dialogue with the Republic of South Africa. Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and South African President Mr. Ramaphosa are in constant contact – both bilaterally and at international venues. And, of course, first and foremost in the BRICS association.

    We attach great importance to expanding cooperation with the Republic of South Africa. It is based on the principles of a comprehensive strategic partnership, mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests.

    Through governments, we ensure the implementation of agreements between the leaders of Russia and South Africa on expanding cooperation. We are talking (we have already briefly exchanged opinions) about industry, energy, agriculture, the digital economy and, of course, humanitarian cooperation.

    We propose to work out new cooperation projects in a mixed intergovernmental committee. On the Russian side, it is headed by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov.

    In addition to Moscow, I know that you plan to visit St. Petersburg and take part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. It is very important that the forum will host a special session on the development of business and investment cooperation between Russia and South Africa. I am confident that this will contribute to the restoration of business contacts, the emergence of new ideas and initiatives that will strengthen our cooperation.

    A few words about the humanitarian sphere. We are interested in cooperation here too, of course. First of all, in the area of personnel training. South African citizens study at leading Russian universities. They choose sought-after professions of engineers, doctors, and IT specialists. We are happy about this. We consider it very important to hold joint events in the field of culture and art on a regular basis. Last year, the Days of Russian Spiritual Culture were held in South Africa for the first time. And this year we will hold a Festival of Russian Culture.

    Dear Mr. Mashatile, I am ready to discuss with you the most important issues of cooperation between Russia and South Africa.

    To be continued…

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Technological repatriation scenarios discussed at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Denis Manturov took part in the panel session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum “Scenarios of Technological Repatriation: the Role and Place of Foreign Companies in the Russian Market.”

    In 2022, a number of foreign companies from unfriendly countries unilaterally terminated cooperation with Russian partners, demonstrating their unreliability as business counterparties. At the same time, as Denis Manturov noted, many of them made investments before their departure and left the enterprises in an intermediate stage of localization.

    “Not all foreign investors have made so-called smart investments by investing in the creation of R

    In particular, this affected the packaging segment. The largest manufacturer left the Russian market, which caused interruptions in the supply of thick cardboard and special paints. As Denis Manturov emphasized, the industry managed to ensure import substitution of these products, meeting all consumer demands and simultaneously allowing a number of companies from other industries to gain new competencies.

    “Today we can say that our management is able to cope with the most difficult challenges and tasks in terms of import substitution. Therefore, in the future, of course, we must be guided by at least several principles of doing business with foreign investors. At the same time, we are definitely not refusing foreign investments. But, as I have already said, it is necessary for these investments to be smart. So that these are investments not just in the creation of capacities, but first of all in the creation of new technological competencies in those areas that still require additional development and investments,” Denis Manturov emphasized.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SCST visits Shanghai (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, visited Shanghai today (June 18). In the morning, she went to the Shanghai Museum on People’s Square and was given a guided tour of a well-received exhibition, “On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt”. During her visit, Miss Law met with Deputy Director of the Shanghai Museum Mr Huang He. She thanked the Shanghai Museum for its support of Hong Kong over the years, while Mr Huang shared experiences in developing and designing creative products. Miss Law said Hong Kong could learn a lot from the Shanghai Museum in developing cultural and creative industries. Miss Law expressed hope that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) and the Shanghai Museum will strengthen their cultural co-operation in the future, contributing cultural content to the country’s modernisation and promoting cultural prosperity.
     
         After that, Miss Law called on the Director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, Mr Xu Bin, and had a working lunch together, during which she shared with him Hong Kong’s progress and achievements in promoting sports development. Mr Xu said there is huge room for developing culture, sports and tourism, while sports exchanges serve as a bridge between the two places and can also boost economic and social developments. Miss Law said that Hong Kong, China athletes achieved excellent results in international competitions in recent years, which helps lift citizens’ interests in sports and support for athletes. Miss Law added that Hong Kong is preparing at full steam for the 15th National Games and the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games to be cohosted with Guangdong and Macao this November and December. Through today’s exchange, Miss Law said she hopes to learn from Shanghai’s experiences in hosting same events and further improve the preparatory work.
     
         In the afternoon, Miss Law visited the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China and met with the Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Memorial, Mr Xue Feng. The Memorial is the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 1921, in which the founding of the CPC was announced, bearing great significance. Noting that the HKSARG is setting up a museum to introduce the country’s developments and achievements and preparing exhibitions related to the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Miss Law said the visit was arranged intentionally to seek guidance, with an aim to make better preparations for the relevant projects in the future.
     
         In the evening, Miss Law attended the opening ceremony and dinner of WestK Shanghai Week 2025. Speaking at the event, she said that Hong Kong and Shanghai are connected by blood and share common traits, as they are both exemplars of the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures and dazzling Pearls of the Orient. The two places actively deepen international exchanges and co-operations in areas of economy, culture and globalisation, serving as pioneers in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
     
         Miss Law also said, “The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) is an important cultural infrastructure investment of the HKSARG. After many years of development, the WKCD has transformed from a blueprint into reality today and become one of the largest cultural hubs in the world, featuring performing arts venues with our country’s staunch support. The Hong Kong Palace Museum, which opened in 2022, and the M+ museum, which commenced operation in 2021, have become world-class museums blending traditional and contemporary arts and cultures.”
     
         “The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) kick-started WestK Shanghai Week today. It is the first time a series of exhibitions and performing arts programmes and cultural exchange activities have been brought outside Hong Kong. It is not only an important milestone of the HKSARG driving top-notch arts, cultural and creative programmes to go global, but also showcases Hong Kong’s diverse arts achievements and further attracts local and overseas visitors to experience Hong Kong’s vibrancy and appeal firsthand,” Miss Law added.
     
         Supporting organisations of WestK Shanghai Week 2025 include the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the HKSARG, and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Shanghai of the HKSARG.
     
         This morning, Miss Law visited the “WestK x MANNER” limited-edition art collaboration themed store, jointly rolled out by the WKCDA and Shanghai’s beloved coffee brand MANNER COFFEE. The store invited Hong Kong’s renowned illustrator Don Mak to craft exclusive designs inspired by the Victoria Harbour skyline, WKCD panoramas and iconic Hong Kong urban motifs, demonstrating the creative charm of integrating culture, creative industry and tourism.
     
         Upon arrival yesterday (June 17), Miss Law had a working lunch with representatives of the management of Shanghai Shendi Group to exchange information on the latest tourism situation in Shanghai and Hong Kong. She also visited the Shanghai Disney Resort to learn about its operation and development. Miss Law said that the Shanghai Disney Resort and the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort are iconic attractions in the two places, which play vital roles in driving regional tourism and economic development.
     
         Miss Law will depart from Shanghai for Hong Kong tonight.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –