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Category: Analysis

  • MIL-OSI Global: Black style and resistance: The Met Gala, dandyism and blackface in Canada

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Cheryl Thompson, Canada Research Chair, Professor in Performance, Toronto Metropolitan University

    In her groundbreaking book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict and Freedom, 1812-1897, Cheryl Thompson, professor of performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, maps the transnational flow of minstrel culture and racial ideologies, revealing how blackface performance — and the racism it reflects — was not strictly an American phenomenon.

    In this interview with The Conversation Canada, Thompson shares some of her ideas on performance, politics and race, including this year’s Met Gala.

    Your book uses the term ‘Blackface Atlantic.’ Can you explain what that means, and how Canada fits into that history?

    Traditionally, when we talk about Atlantic world studies, we’re usually focused on the United States, the Caribbean, maybe parts of Europe. Canada is not often considered to be part of conversation. But blackface performance/minstrelsy was actually one of the first forms of entertainment that travelled across the Atlantic. It started in the U.S., moved to Britain and then landed in Canada. That means many of the same cultural and political issues we associate with the United States — racism, segregation, white supremacy — have been part of Canada’s narrative too, from the beginning.

    Book cover of ‘Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict and Freedom, 1812-1897’
    Wilfrid Laurier University Press

    The book draws on Paul Gilroy’s concept of the “Black Atlantic.” He defined this not just as a geographic space shaped by European colonization and Black servitude and resistance, but as an ideological space, too. Gilroy articulated how Black people disidentified with western ideas of nationhood, citizenship and freedom to forge new ways of imagining their identities and futures.

    Canada and the Blackface Atlantic asks us to stop seeing Canada as a self-contained nation-state. It places Canada within an Atlantic world context where race was traded as a currency in terms of slavery but also on the theatrical stage where it was performed. On stage, “Blackness” became a way for white audiences to make sense of Black people as performing subjects without having to contend with Black people as real political agents.

    Why do you think Canada’s role in the history of blackface performance has been so overlooked?

    I think it’s partly because writing about blackface requires such a multidisciplinary understanding of different disciplines, multiple points of view, historically and geographically disparate people and places. While as an academic, I have sometimes been discouraged from positioning myself in “too many” disciplines, my training across disciplines helped me to see the throughline in the story.

    And that throughline is about race, but also the building of cities and towns, migration and immigration, visual culture and print culture, theatre and performance.

    I also believe it has been overlooked because many white Canadian academics simply do not talk about or examine issues related to race. It’s not something they are comfortable with in the context of Canada, and to research blackface requires that you confront race and white supremacy head-on.

    And because discussions of race in Canada are still taboo in some circles, blackface remains a topic that is largely ignored or minimized.

    I think my work is changing this pattern, and my book will help to open people’s minds to a topic that has long been avoided in Canadian cultural conversations. These conversations have already been happening for decades in the U.S. and the U.K. and elsewhere.

    The Met’s big show and gala this year focuses on Black Style and dandyism as powerful forms of self expression and resistance. How do you think fashion can help challenge racist narratives?

    I love that the Met is thinking about questions of race and style, because Black dandyism is so intertwined with the question of Black freedom. What shows like this do is remind the public of how Black communities have historically used expression as a means to exercise their own agency. In the absence of political agency, Black men, in particular, used style to assert their autonomy. Clothing, hair, etc., were the few sartorial elements that could not be sanctioned or denied to Black people even if other aspects of life were restricted or denied. I think at this moment these conversations are so timely given the renewed restrictions being placed on Black, racialized, LGBTQIA+ people under the Trump administration. The Black dandy says unequivocally that we’re here, and we’re showing up to be seen. It’s a powerful statement that contradicts the deficit model that is often placed onto Black bodies as being in states of lack, and disempowerment.

    What are some of the most surprising or revealing sources you uncovered in your research?

    I was truly surprised about how much of the book required me to understand American history as it intersected with Canadian history.

    For example: the songs that came out of the War of 1812 became some of the first popular songs in America. Communities in Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick were conflicted in their allegiance to the North and South during the American Civil War. There were a lot of Confederate sympathizers in Montréal and New Brunswick. All that really surprised me because that’s not history that we learn about in school.

    I was also surprised by the number of Canadians who became stars on the American minstrel stage. There was Toronto-born Colin “Cool” Burgess (1840–1905) who performed in blackface on stages across Canada, the U.S. and Britain. There was Québec-born Calixa Lavallée (1842–91), who would become best known as the composer of “Chant national” (“O Canada”), a song he wrote after performing across the U.S., and as a blackface minstrel musician for the Union Army during the Civil War. These two figures have been written about before, but authors often excused or tried to minimize their participation in minstrel shows. It’s likely because there are no pictures.

    What I’ve been surprised about most is how so much of this history has been hidden in plain sight. The book reflects my ability to make connections, explain complex narratives across time and space, and to intertwine narratives that have, before now, been kept separate. It was quite a feat!

    Cheryl Thompson receives funding from Social Science Humanities Research Council and the Canada Research Chair Program.

    – ref. Black style and resistance: The Met Gala, dandyism and blackface in Canada – https://theconversation.com/black-style-and-resistance-the-met-gala-dandyism-and-blackface-in-canada-253604

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Willis warns of a ‘tight’ budget to come, but NZ should be going for productivity, not austerity

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Wesselbaum, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Otago

    Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

    Finance Minister Nicola Willis has warned her 2025 “Growth Budget” will be “one of the tightest budgets in a decade”, with plans to reduce spending by billions.

    It’s clear New Zealand is following a global trend towards austerity by focusing on reducing government spending and lowering government debt.

    Complicating the economic picture for the government are Donald Trump’s tariffs and his trade war with China. In early April, financial services company J.P. Morgan Research said there was a 60% probability of the United States experiencing a recession in 2025 — with a 40% chance of a global recession.

    Despite this uncertain economic future, the idea that New Zealand’s debt-to-GDP ratio requires immediate and drastic austerity-like measures is not supported by the evidence.

    The ratio measures the government’s debt compared to its gross domestic product (GDP). Currently, New Zealand’s ratio is about 47%. This is substantially higher than before the pandemic (32% in 2019) and higher than Australia (35%).

    But it is at the lower end compared with other advanced economies. The 2023 debt-to-GDP ratio in the US was 112%, 101% in the United Kingdom, and about 50% in Canada, Ireland and South Korea.

    Rather than tightening the belt to reduce debt and increase fiscal balance, New Zealand needs to focus on boosting productivity, investing in education, building strong and resilient infrastructure and supporting health and wellbeing.

    Lowering debt and creating fiscal space are legitimate goals. But they should be viewed as a means to an end, not an end in itself.

    A necessary medicine

    Austerity is often presented as necessary medicine during an economic crisis. The logic is seemingly straightforward: reduce government spending and debt to not overstimulate the economy, create fiscal resilience for future shocks, support low and stable inflation, and signal fiscal responsibility to international markets.

    Several countries adopted austerity measures in response to high deficits following the global financial crisis.

    Greece implemented deep spending cuts, tax hikes and pension reforms under the terms of a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF). This reduced its deficit but caused a severe economic contraction and social unrest.

    Spain similarly cut public wages, raised taxes and reformed pensions, stabilising its finances but causing persistently high unemployment.

    Italy’s austerity measures involved pension reforms and tax hikes, achieving modest fiscal improvement but sparking political instability.

    The UK focused on reducing public spending and welfare support, significantly lowering its deficit while putting pressure on public services and increasing inequality. Research found UK’s austerity measures led to hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths.

    While in many cases austerity helped restore fiscal balance, it often came with heavy economic and social costs, particularly in terms of unemployment, growth and public welfare.

    In March, people in the United Kingdom took to the streets to protest ongoing austerity measures.
    Mike Kemp/Getty Images

    Productivity is the key

    Research indicates that debt-to-GDP ratios above about 80% tend to be associated with lower growth. But below this threshold, the ratio tends to be associated with increases in growth.

    It is clear that deficits are neither always bad for economic growth, nor that they always lead to inflation, when combined with a credible fiscal strategy to return to surpluses in the future.

    To raise the future wellbeing of all New Zealanders we need to avoid the heavy costs of austerity and rather focus on stimulating economic growth. And this comes with a price tag.

    Using debt to finance investments into capital, which in turn increases our productivity, is key to fostering economic growth. This goes hand-in-hand with targeted industrial policies, reduction in regulation, increases in government efficiency and trade liberalisation

    Importantly, public investment boosts economic growth mainly through two channels: efficiency (how much infrastructure is actually delivered for the money spent) and productivity (how well that infrastructure supports economic activity).

    Research from the IMF suggests an increase in public investment of one percentage point of GDP is associated with an increase in output of about 0.2% in the same year and 1.2% four years later.

    All-of-government focus

    What New Zealand needs is a long-term growth strategy and an all-of-government focus on lifting productivity. This must be grounded in fiscal responsibility – one that boosts government efficiency. But not at the cost of delaying high-impact investments or leaving growth opportunities on the table.

    Maintaining discipline while strategically investing in the drivers of long-term prosperity is essential for securing New Zealand’s economic future.

    The path ahead requires careful navigation, not a rush towards austerity.

    By thoughtfully balancing the need for fiscal prudence with the importance of investing in our productivity, human capital and infrastructure, we can ensure a more resilient and prosperous future for all New Zealanders.

    Dennis Wesselbaum 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. Willis warns of a ‘tight’ budget to come, but NZ should be going for productivity, not austerity – https://theconversation.com/willis-warns-of-a-tight-budget-to-come-but-nz-should-be-going-for-productivity-not-austerity-254689

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Canada’s Conservatives, with an assist from Donald Trump, are down — but they’re far from out

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sam Routley, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Western University

    Canada’s Liberals have, once again, risen from the dead. Their re-election with Mark Carney at the helm is a remarkable development in Canadian federal politics — the party not only managed to reverse the dire predictions of its demise but also, despite voters expressing a desire for change, retained its control of government for a rare fourth consecutive term.

    This is a crushing disappointment for the Conservative Party of Canada. Although they have so far held the Liberals to a minority government — votes are still being counted in some ridings — their continuing role as the lead opposition, albeit a bigger one, pales in comparison to the large majority government they’d been projected to form.

    Leader Pierre Poilievre even lost his own Ottawa-area seat.

    But for all this dejection, Conservatives still had a solid and promising performance. Rather than constituting a total failure, their standing is better regarded as an inability to fully close the deal.

    The Trump factor

    Conservatives won the greatest share of the national vote by any federal centre-right party since 1988, and the popular vote remains close to a virtual tie.

    The narrow margins of many Liberal gains also suggests that a Conservative minority was within the realm of possibility. For all his success, a politically inexperienced Carney so far appears to have failed to win a majority government, and may have inherited yet another fractious and unstable minority that will probably not last long.

    While it’s still too early to get a full grasp of how voters made their decisions, it appears that the nearly 25-point swing in the polls was largely due to United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats against Canada.

    From the moment he came to office for a second term, Trump’s constant threats transformed the election from a fairly routine matter of anti-incumbent backlash to one focused on leadership, national unity and crisis management. Overnight, Canadian sovereignty became the top issue, and the NDP vote collapsed as most voters decided that their choice was really been two leaders.

    Divided electorate

    Carney was able to leverage his background as governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and his short initial tenure as prime minister, to not only depict a steady hand, but to generate a rally-around-the-flag effect.

    Poilievre, in contrast, was unable to continue with the disruptive, anti-establishment tone of much of his previous rhetoric.



    Read more:
    From dog whistles to blaring horns, Poilievre makes his case

    But even while Carney, from the moment campaign started, performed better on the Trump issue than Poilievre, it was far from the only issue that mattered to voters.

    What ultimately drove voters back to the Liberals seems to be confined to largely one aspect of the population — older and more economically established Canadians.

    Many voters still prioritized domestic issues — such as the cost of living crisis, housing affordability and economic stagnation — that had once characterized the campaign. Conservatives seemed to gain support throughout the campaign from young adults, newer Canadians, blue-collar workers and some NDP defectors.

    Rather than providing Carney with a clear mandate, the results suggest Canada continues to grow increasingly divided along the lines of age, class and region. The Liberals have been able to hold onto power with the support of Canadians wanting to defend what they have, but Conservatives are gaining ground among voters who feel increasingly disenchanted with and locked out of the Canadian project they’re now being told to embrace.

    Poilievre’s future

    Poilievre has signalled his intention to stay on as Conservative leader. In the months ahead, he’ll not only need to find a way to return to Parliament via a byelection — he’ll also need to convince his party and caucus he should remain leader.

    While the party doesn’t have an automatic leadership review following elections, there are several mechanisms to challenge Poilievre’s leadership.

    There are certainly several areas where Poilievre and his team can be faulted by Conservative party members. A loss is a loss, and there have been well-publicized reports of internal discord and frustration about his campaign strategy.

    Ultimately, however, a sustained movement to push out Poilievre seems unlikely. For all his drawbacks, Poilievre has not only brought the party its greatest electoral performance in decades, but he’s generated a unique degree of energy and enthusiasm among supporters that no obvious successor seems capable of maintaining.

    The challenge now is about determining what the Conservative party, having received just above 41 per cent of the vote, needs to do in order to gain a few more percentage points.

    Sam Routley 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. Canada’s Conservatives, with an assist from Donald Trump, are down — but they’re far from out – https://theconversation.com/canadas-conservatives-with-an-assist-from-donald-trump-are-down-but-theyre-far-from-out-255396

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Old growth forests in eastern Canada show that the climate started changing almost 100 years ago

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Alexandre Pace, PhD Candidate in Geography, Urban and Environmental Studies, Concordia University

    Natural archives — like tree rings in old-growth forests — can provide information on climate change over time. (A. Pace), CC BY

    The effects of climate change are complex, especially on the water cycle. As we seek to better understand human-driven climate changes, long-term baselines for environmental data are essential.

    However, records of past environmental conditions are too short to give us a robust understanding of how these systems have changed over time. One solution is to look at natural archives.

    There are many natural processes that leave behind records of past environmental conditions, including tree rings.

    Trees form a ring of wood every year, and the width of that ring can have a significant relationship with climate. We can then create a model based on the time period for which there is both recorded climate data and tree-ring widths. That model can be applied to the rings that formed before climate records began to reconstruct past conditions.



    Read more:
    Old forests are critically important for slowing climate change and merit immediate protection from logging

    The challenge is to find forests with both strong climate-growth relationships and trees over a century old — substantially older than the length of climate data. This is especially difficult in southeastern Canada, where the vast majority of forests have been clear-cut.

    Two canoes ready for salmon fishing on the Sainte-Anne River in Gaspésie National park.
    (A. Pace), CC BY

    Sensitive old growth forests

    In the Appalachian Mountains of the Gaspé Peninsula, Québec, we studied a rare old-growth cedar grove tucked into the valley between the base of Mont-Albert and the Sainte-Anne River, known for its Atlantic salmon fisheries.

    The average hiker passing this eastern white cedar grove would probably not guess that some of these relatively small diameter cedars are more than 500 years old, an age that is still relatively young for the oldest species in eastern Canada.

    The strong competition for light in this closed-canopy forest causes trees here to grow very slowly. We found they grow especially slow during years where the winter snow remained on the ground late into the spring. This late snow pack effectively shortens the trees’ growing season and leads to a thinner tree ring that same year.

    We went on to sample hundreds of trees in the valley and on the slopes at sites that had never been logged. We repeatedly found a strong relationship with snow pack and a related relationship with spring river flow. With these two closely related connections, we were able to reconstruct 195 years of climate history in the region.

    Modern climate change records

    Rings measured on a cedar tree that was over 330 years old.
    (A. Pace), CC BY

    Our recent study reconstructed spring and early summer river flow from 1822 for the Sainte-Anne River, a major river in Gaspésie National Park, the second-largest provincial park in southern Québec.

    Analysis of this tree ring/snow pack/river relationship — which was previously undocumented in eastern North America — suggests that the region was affected quite early by modern climate change. A significant shift occurred in 1937, after which individual years of extremely high river flows and high snow packs declined. Newspaper reports of floods in the greater region matched the years of high flow in our reconstruction as far back as the year 1872, further validating the results.

    The reconstruction also reveals that the short river flow records for the Gaspésie mountains under-represent the region’s susceptibility to prolonged periods of drought-like conditions. Local river flow records kept since 1968 show that the region experienced an equal amount of decade-long dry springs and wet springs. However, our reconstruction suggests that during the 1822-1968 period, long bouts of dry spring climate were substantially more frequent and prolonged than wet ones.

    Conservation impacts

    The insights from this reconstruction could have implications for wildlife and hydropower. First, low water levels contribute to the decline of threatened Atlantic salmon populations.

    Second, alpine snow pack serves as a refuge for the threatened woodland caribou populations, which used to be spread across Atlantic Canada and northern New England. Today, the caribou are in sharp decline, with less than 40 remaining south of the St. Lawrence River, all within the Gaspé Peninsula.

    A female caribou with a GPS tracking monitor around her neck.
    (A. Pace), CC BY

    The primary threat to these caribou is the extensive clear-cutting of old-growth forest habitat. Younger forests provide less food for caribou and lead to an increased abundance of moose and deer, along with their predators — mainly coyotes and black bears — which also prey on caribou.

    Changing mountain snow-pack conditions add to their peril as snow pack has important effects on the health of caribou and the ability of their calves to avoid predators.

    Given this, a better understanding of the implications of reduced snow pack on caribou urgently requires further study.

    Lastly, Québec’s billion-dollar hydroelectric industry might also benefit from a better understanding of past moisture in the region, with a dam complex located a few hundred kilometres northeast of our study site.

    Documented histories

    Our study improves our understanding of past moisture patterns across the east coast of North America. It fills a large gap in climate research based on tree rings between New York and northern Québec.

    When comparing the past 200 years of these East Coast reconstructions, important climate connections arise. The comparison suggests that the complex Atlantic climate system can synchronize, leading large portions of the coast to collectively lock into periods of very wet or very dry conditions.

    This is important for water resource managers, who often rely on help from other managers in neighbouring basins, which may not be available given this common synchrony.

    The insights from the tree rings of these forests are another reminder of the value of old growth and the many services they provide. As we try to better understand the context of human-induced environmental change, our search continues for old forests with a story to tell.

    Our ongoing research includes analyzing dead cedars preserved for almost 800 years at the bottom of lakes. The resulting tree ring chronology will extend our work with trees in the region so far, helping us further examine the environmental history of our rapidly changing planet.

    Alexandre Pace receives funding from Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

    Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

    – ref. Old growth forests in eastern Canada show that the climate started changing almost 100 years ago – https://theconversation.com/old-growth-forests-in-eastern-canada-show-that-the-climate-started-changing-almost-100-years-ago-253601

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Where can Black children go in summer? Black families face disparities and need equitable options

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Juliet Bushi, Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Windsor

    For many Black families, summer months can be a relief and a stress. The stress is because of the precariousness of summer programming in Canada.

    Typically for families with school-aged children, summer planning usually starts in February or March, when most registration begins. The logistics around finding quality summer programming can be challenging. If you are a newcomer to Canada with financial limitations, navigating the different buffet of summer camps and affordability can be daunting.

    The stress of finding a safe space for your children while also making sure that you’re not overspending and can also provide food and shelter is a constant struggle for Canadian households, including many Black and racialized parents.

    For many Black and new immigrant families with school-aged children, the summer months pose serious mental, physical and financial challenges due to the lack of support and high costs of summer programs for school-aged children. Navigating these disparities can get complicated.

    Many Black parents are left with taking risks to ensure that they keep their jobs during the summer while juggling to find a culturally relevant program and a safe place for their children to stay during work hours.

    The cost of summer programs varies from province to province. On average, day camps can range from $35 to $500 per week, and overnight camps can range from $300 to $1,000 per week for the same period. For a family with three or more children, the cost of summer programs can total over $12,000 each year and with no tax credit, this can contribute to a negative financial investment.

    The reality is that families need accessible summer programming and education support. Prioritizing funding based on community and student needs and investment in community learning centres and programs is paramount.

    Social and economic disparities

    A lack of quality, accessible and affordable options for Black families is one reason I founded Canahari Multidisciplinary Summer Program in Regina, Sask. Canahari was designed to help address what could otherwise be the growth of social, educational and economic disparities during the summer months.

    A contrast exists between parents capable of enrolling their children in frequent literacy-enhancing activities within high-quality summer programs and those from underprivileged backgrounds.

    The latter have limited access to such high-quality resources. This is evident in their children demonstrating what educators assess as being less prepared for school and less able to engage with it than their more privileged peers.

    Studies have found that a lack of summer learning negatively impacts the educational progress of children from low socioeconomic status. These impacts further widen the achievement gap. For these reasons, implementing a national education policy to mitigate differential summer learning loss is crucial for academic success and personal development.

    Inequality gaps, complicated logistics

    Factors such as transportation, work schedules, summer programming fees, program reputation, culturally responsive summer programming and affordability are major factors contributing to educational inequality gaps. Many studies have shown social and economic status and race or ethnicity contribute to the disparities in academic achievement and summertime learning.

    In the summer, children from low-income households experience declines in reading achievement, while middle- and high-income children improve. These experiences have often been overlooked or ignored, and continue to negatively impact social connectedness, mental well-being and academic success.

    Finding an affordable summer camp is one thing. Doing so while ensuring your children feel included and safe is a top concern for Black parents (and their kids).

    Academic achievement gaps and social issues

    Scholars have examined sources of inequalities in students’ academic skills for decades, with numerous studies focusing on socioeconomic status and race or ethnicity. The complexities of these disparities challenge the meaning and intent of quality education in Canada.

    Historically, education has been a powerful tool for social, political and democratic empowerment and a means for personal growth and societal progress for Black people.

    However, Eurocentric education has been a tool that reproduces inequities and has regulated or disciplined Black students in negative ways that undermine the cultural values of Black students and parents. Not only this, these systems challenge fundamental Africentric knowledge systems and moral frameworks.

    Education scholar George Dei has argued we must disrupt the myth that mainstream education is “colour blind.”

    For Black children, schools are sites for recurring racist and traumatic encounters and summer programs are no exception. New policies are needed that disrupt and are accountable for addressing anti-Black racism and acknowledge the lived experiences and struggles of Black people.

    Nationwide policy on summer programs

    Summer programming needs to be deprivatized in Canada to ensure reimagined, consistent, equitable and accessible educational programs during summer. Summer programs are now sources of revenue, and the commercialization and marketization of summer programs make it challenging for grassroots organizations to compete in the this market.

    Recent educational reforms tend to focus on student experiences in school within the academic school calendar, while neglecting the social implications of affordable, high-quality summer programming.

    Implementing a nationwide initiative (similar to the universal child-care plan) to address these challenges appears unfeasible given current political mandates.



    Read more:
    Forgotten futures? Canada urgently needs a national discussion about young people’s futures

    With many provinces struggling with larger class sizes, underfunding and a lack of support for teachers, perhaps a more critical look at providing year-round educational support for students and teachers is the most logical thing to do.

    Planning and investment needed

    A province-wide summer program network and coalition could build accessible and culturally relevant programs that prioritize early detection of learning challenges and student needs.

    This coalition could also develop a more comprehensive policy and funding mechanism to ensure access, equity, quality and deprivatization of summer programs.

    The $10-a-day plan, introduced by the Liberal government and supported by the NDP through Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreements with provinces and territories, was developed to improve Canada’s long-standing inadequate childcare situation. A similar policy on summer programs should be envisioned.

    Advocating for policies that prioritize universal and comprehensive accessible education year round could help ensure women and low-income families are not penalized for having children. This practice also promotes true gender equity in the workforce.

    Collaboration between the federal, provincial, municipal and local governments and researchers on data collection and evidence-based funding is crucial in implementing a comprehensive program that considers the voices of parents, students and communities.

    I intend to continue to raise awareness on this issue, with attention to how the colonial ideology of educational reform that has avoided summer programming continues reproducing educational inequalities.

    So I ask: with all the complex social and educational inequalities maintained by colonial ideologies and privatized summer programs, where can Black children go in summer?

    Juliet Bushi receives funding from the organization.
    Canada Summer Jobs – Grants to hire youths in summer
    Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan

    I founded Canahari Multidisciplinary Summer Programs, which offers culturally relevant programs.

    – ref. Where can Black children go in summer? Black families face disparities and need equitable options – https://theconversation.com/where-can-black-children-go-in-summer-black-families-face-disparities-and-need-equitable-options-253013

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Children link accents with intelligence from the age of five, says study

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ella Jeffries, Lecturer in linguistics, University of Essex

    Fh Photo/Shutterstock

    From the moment we are born (and even before that, in utero), we tune into the languages around us. This includes the accents they are spoken in.

    Studies have found that infants show a preference for a familiar accent from as young as five months old. Fast forward to adulthood and it is difficult to find anyone who doesn’t have something to say about accents.

    Opinions, criticisms and stereotypes about speakers based on their accent are rife in the UK, and can lead to serious cases of accent discrimination (“accentism”).

    But what happens between infancy and adulthood to get to this point? How are we socialised into such biases – and does this happen at an earlier age than we might have thought?

    Previous research into accent stereotypes in the US – that northern accents tend to mean “smart” and southern mean “nice” – found that children do not show these adult language stereotypes until the age of nine or ten.

    These attitudes were directly expressed in the research study by children responding to the questions “who do you think is nicer?” and “who do you think is smarter?” after hearing audio clips of the different accents. But as these attitudes had been explicitly stated in the questions, there’s a risk the children may have been saying what they thought adults wanted to hear – based on what they thought to be socially acceptable, rather than their honest views.

    Less is known about unconscious bias – the attitudes listeners might not be aware they have, but which affect their actions towards speakers with different accents. My recent research with colleagues aimed to explore how children’s more unconscious, embedded and implicit attitudes might manifest.

    We focused on the language attitudes of five-year-olds in Essex. We carried out a computer-based experiment in which 27 children were first familiarised with two characters through a short narrated video describing their characteristics.

    One was labelled “clever” and could read, write and speak very well. The other was labelled “not clever” and couldn’t read, write or speak well. The narrator of the video had an American-English accent, which did not feature in the experimental part of the study.

    The children then took part in a series of matching tasks. For each task, they heard an audio clip featuring a UK accent. Straight after, a picture of either the “clever” or “not clever” character appeared in the centre of the screen. The children were asked to match this picture with one of two smaller pictures (one of the “clever” and one of the “not clever” character) on the left- and right-hand sides of the screen.

    The experiment measured their reaction time in matching the characters. A quicker response time indicated the association between accent and character was more compatible, and that they hadn’t been surprised by a mismatch between the accent they heard and the central character on the screen.

    The experiment also measured their brain using an electroencephalogram (EEG). This computed the brain’s reaction to the compatibility between the accent and the “clever” or “not clever” character presented centrally on screen.

    Standard English

    Our results found that across the measures, the five-year-olds showed a strong association between a standard southern English accent – also known as received pronunciation or the Queen’s English – and intelligence. This accords with what we know about how children will grow up to associate standard English as the “correct” form in the UK. Our research suggests that by age five, this association is already fairly well entrenched.

    A perhaps more surprising finding from our study was that for one of the brain measures, the children were also found to associate the Essex accent – their home accent – with intelligence. This contrasts with previous research which found negative attitudes towards the Essex accent among young adults in south-east England.

    A familiarity effect may have led the children to view their home accent as intelligent.
    Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

    This finding is interesting because it tells us there is perhaps an ongoing familiarity effect from five months old – children may be more positive towards the accent they find more familiar.

    The final accent that featured in our study was the Yorkshire accent. Our results found that, for one of the brain measures, the children associated the Yorkshire accent with unintelligence.

    This corresponds with the prevalent accent prejudice against northern accents in the UK. Worryingly, this finding again suggests that bias has may have already become embedded in children who are only just starting school.

    The culminating finding of our work relates to the children’s exposure to accent diversity. Children who had been exposed to a broader range of accents at home, with one or more parents from outside Essex, were more positive towards different accents overall. They were less likely to associate any of them with unintelligence.

    Children are not born judging speakers to be uneducated based on the way they speak. It is something they are socialised into believing. Our research suggests that exposure to accent variation may be key in tackling accent discrimination from a young age.

    Ella Jeffries receives funding from the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust

    – ref. Children link accents with intelligence from the age of five, says study – https://theconversation.com/children-link-accents-with-intelligence-from-the-age-of-five-says-study-255175

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What interviews with ordinary Germans living under the Nazis can teach us about our current politics

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Melissa Butcher, Professor Emeritus, Social and Cultural Geography, Royal Holloway University of London

    “Nazi” and “fascist” are words being used a lot these days; thrown about as descriptions of contemporary populist leaders or to mark out disagreement with someone. Comparisons with 1930s Germany don’t always suit the complexity of the moment we live in, but there are resonances. The choices people are having to make in the face of authoritarianism is among them.

    Darkness Over Germany, originally published in 1943, is a collection of conversations with people having to make difficult choices as the Nazi party gradually takes control of their country. The author, Amy Buller, lived and studied in Germany between 1912 and 1914, maintaining personal and professional networks there throughout her life.

    Concerned by what she saw happening in the 1930s, she established an Anglo-German discussion group. She took academics from the UK to Germany to try to understand the country’s slide into dictatorship.

    Democracy in decline? The risk and rise of authoritarianism

    Democracy is under pressure around the world in 2025. But is this part of a larger historical cycle or does it signal a deeper, more fundamental shift? Join us for a free event in central London on May 8 to discuss these important questions. Come for a panel discussion and stay for food, drinks and conversation.

    Get tickets here

    The conversations, with teachers, priests, military officers, tradesmen, civil servants, students and lawyers, point to some of the underlying economic and emotional drivers of authoritarianism. People speak of grievances related to humiliation and poverty. This is coupled with a desire for a leader who will make the pain of these things disappear.

    Hitler promised to make Germany great again, for which some expressed gratitude, including a skilled tradesman who had spent four years in the trenches of the first world war: “I would ask you not to sneer at an honest attempt to meet a terrible situation and I might add that I am profoundly grateful to the Führer for this idea, which has saved my own sons from the destruction of unemployment.”

    As Buller remarked in a lecture in 1942: “When men are drowning they will not be very particular about the type of rope that picks them up”.

    Amy Buller’s Darkness over Germany.
    Wikipedia

    Faced with fascism, ordinary Germans had to make difficult choices, described as “agony” by a teacher in Darkness Over Germany. At times, there is no good choice available. There were those who decided it was impossible to stay and chose exile. Some became less visible, keeping their heads down and letting it blow over, fatalistically choosing to do nothing because they felt there was nothing to be done.

    There was a choice to stay but openly defy the authorities, possibly resulting in detention or worse. But also a choice to stay, pay lip service to the regime, and try to undermine it where possible, to prevent regime-aligned people taking up another place. There was also the option to join the regime.

    All these decisions reflect how an individual may imagine the future, with despair for some but for others, a mercurial hope – that a new order will take away the humiliations of the past and bring economic prosperity. Or that the current moment is just an aberration and that this too will pass.

    As a young German officer noted: “I would put up with almost anything if in my lifetime this feeling of defeat could be removed from the German army. I know much is bad in what the Nazis do, but it will not last. It is the sort of thing that happens in revolutions.”

    These descriptions of personal responses to the rise of fascism in 1930s Germany echo what I heard in my research talking to voters across the US leading up to Donald Trump’s re-election. There is economic and social rupture as a result of globalisation, financial crises, the legacies of racism, secularism and an exponentially expanding digital life.

    Emotional drivers emerge, expressed as grievance, shame and humiliation. There is a sense of “losing our country” to an enemy, while precarity and crises are accessed daily in doom-laden echo chambers.

    People try to imagine a future out of this state of perma-crises, one in which they will feel better. There are compromises and trade-offs that have to be made, at times with the added stress of having to make choices on behalf of others, such as children. These are painful struggles that require, at times, holding disparate ideas simultaneously.

    In Darkness Over Germany, Buller showed it was possible for some to “hate the Nazis and love England” while still fighting for Germany, if doing so restored pride and economic security. Likewise in the US today, it is possible to find Trump abhorrent but still vote for him, as some of my interviewees did.

    The slide into authoritarianism isn’t “madness” or “evil”. It rests on millions of individual choices made every day by ordinary people: it is the banal, as philosopher Hannah Arendt pointed out in her work on violence and totalitarianism. It is also exhausting and sometimes dangerous for those living under the strain of compromise, as Buller’s empathetic conversations show.

    Darkness Over Germany is a reminder why such conversations are necessary. Not to condone or to cooperate with authoritarianism, as some recent ill-advised attempts for rapprochement between politicians, media personalities and Maga have shown in the US, but to understand the difficult choices that have to be made at times in order to provide people with alternatives.

    This article is part of a series on democracy and the risk of totalitarianism. Join us to find out more about this topic at a free event in London on May 8. Meet the author and Conversation editors, with food and drink included. Get tickets here.

    Melissa Butcher has received funding from UKRI and the ERC. She is a member of the Green Party.

    – ref. What interviews with ordinary Germans living under the Nazis can teach us about our current politics – https://theconversation.com/what-interviews-with-ordinary-germans-living-under-the-nazis-can-teach-us-about-our-current-politics-255401

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From diet to drugs: what really works for long-term weight loss

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Reiner Jumpertz-von Schwartzenberg, Professorship for Clinical Metabolism and Obesity Research, University Hospital and Medical Faculty, University of Tübingen

    voronaman/Shutterstock

    More than 2.5 billion adults worldwide are currently overweight or obese, according to estimates from the World Health Organization. This staggering number highlights a growing global health crisis. Obesity isn’t just about weight – it’s a powerful risk factor for a range of serious diseases, including type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, heart attacks, and strokes. As awareness grows, more people are asking a critical question: how can I lose weight and stay healthy in the long run?

    Obesity is a complex condition with many contributing factors. It’s not simply a result of eating too much or exercising too little. For many people, emotional and psychological stress plays a major role. Work-related pressure, financial concerns, family issues, or social anxiety can all lead to emotional eating. Others may develop obesity as a result of depression, which often disrupts both eating patterns and motivation for physical activity.

    In addition, modern lifestyles can make it easier than ever to gain weight. Many of us spend long hours sitting – at desks, in cars, or on the couch – and highly processed, calorie-dense foods are readily available and heavily marketed. This combination of behavioural, psychological, social and environmental factors creates a situation where weight gain becomes increasingly difficult to avoid and even harder to reverse.



    Read more:
    Beyond blame: The role of malfunctioning fat tissue in the disease of obesity

    Because obesity has many causes, it also requires a multifaceted solution. The most effective treatments follow a multimodal approach, where healthcare professionals – psychologists, nutritionists, and physicians – work together to support people on their weight loss journey. This team-based approach not only addresses diet and exercise but also tackles underlying emotional and mental health challenges.

    This strategy is especially effective for people with prediabetes, a condition where blood sugar levels are elevated but not yet in the diabetic range. Research has shown that lifestyle changes guided by a multidisciplinary team can significantly reduce the risk of developing full-blown diabetes

    While losing 5–7% of body weight is a good target for reducing health risks, recent research from our team in Tübingen, Germany, shows that combining weight loss with blood sugar control is even more effective. Data from a different study indicates that focusing on both aspects goes along with fewer complications from diabetes, such as kidney damage and issues affecting small blood vessels.

    Visceral fat

    Why is this combination so powerful? It turns out that people who manage to both lose weight and lower their blood sugar levels tend to reduce visceral fat – the type of fat stored around internal organs in the abdomen.



    Read more:
    Belly fat linked to higher risk of premature death, regardless of your weight

    Visceral fat is particularly dangerous because it triggers inflammation in the body, which in turn can reduce the effectiveness of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar.

    Fortunately, certain lifestyle changes specifically help reduce visceral fat. For instance, regular physical activity – especially aerobic exercise – and diets rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (found in nuts, seeds, fish and plant oils) have been shown to be especially effective. Among various eating plans, the Mediterranean diet, which emphasises whole grains, healthy fats, vegetables and lean proteins, is particularly effective.

    Combining regular exercise with a Mediterranean-style diet is not only good for weight loss but also for long-term cardiovascular and metabolic health. However, maintaining these habits over time remains a challenge for many.

    Research shows that a significant portion of those who lose weight will regain it within a few years. As weight returns, so too do associated health risks like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. This cycle of weight loss and regain can be frustrating and emotionally taxing, leading many to seek other options for more sustainable results.

    Medication and surgery

    In recent years, GLP-1 receptor agonists – a class of medications originally developed to treat diabetes – have shown promise in promoting weight loss. These drugs mimic the hormone GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), which is released by the gut after eating. It helps regulate appetite by promoting feelings of fullness and also encourages the release of insulin, lowering blood sugar.

    However, GLP-1-based medications are increasingly used for cosmetic weight loss, raising ethical and safety concerns. While these drugs can be effective, their long-term impact on people without obesity is still poorly understood. Side effects can include nausea, vomiting and more serious issues, so their use should always be guided by a medical professional.

    One major limitation of GLP-1 medications is that the benefits typically wear off after stopping the medication, resulting in rapid weight regain. So, long-term or even permanent use may be required to maintain health benefits.

    For people with severe obesity, particularly those with serious health complications like type 2 diabetes or heart disease, bariatric surgery can be life-changing. Surgical procedures such as gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy reduce the size of the stomach and, in some cases, alter gut hormone signalling. The result is significant, sustained weight loss and a reduced risk of obesity-related diseases, including a significant reduction in the risk of heart disease and premature death. Bariatric surgery isn’t for everyone, but when appropriate, it remains one of the most effective interventions available.

    Researchers are now developing new medications that combine the effects of multiple gut hormones to enhance weight loss. Some of these drugs may achieve results comparable to bariatric surgery, but most are still being tested in clinical trials.

    Winning combination

    For people beginning their weight loss journey, a combination of physical activity and a healthy diet – such as the Mediterranean diet – is still the best place to start. These changes, if sustained, can lead to long-term improvements in weight, blood sugar and overall health.

    For those with elevated blood sugar, targeting visceral fat through combined lifestyle changes and blood sugar management is especially important. And for people who struggle with obesity and related health conditions, medical therapies and surgical options offer powerful tools to support lasting change.

    Ultimately, the key to lasting weight loss and improved health lies in understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about finding the right combination of support, strategy and science that works for each person.

    Reiner Jumpertz-von Schwartzenberg works for the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Center Munich at the University of Tübignen, Germany . He receives funding from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), the German Diabetes Society, the Helmholtz Association and the CMFI Cluster of Excellence in Tübingen. He is receiving funds from collaborating in clinical studies with Astra Zeneca, Lilly and Boehringer which all go to the University Clinic Tübingen.

    – ref. From diet to drugs: what really works for long-term weight loss – https://theconversation.com/from-diet-to-drugs-what-really-works-for-long-term-weight-loss-254551

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: IBS and SIBO have overlapping symptoms – here’s what you need to know about these different digestive conditions

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Karen Wright, Lecturer in Biomedical and Life Sciences, Lancaster University

    Low-temperature electron micrograph of a cluster of E. coli bacteria, magnified 10,000 times. Each individual bacterium is oblong shaped. Photo byfkfkrErbe, digital colorization by Christopher Pooley, both of USDA, ARS, EMU., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Digestive disorders can affect us all from time to time. Symptoms such as bloating and pain, often accompanied with some change in bowel habits, can be a feature of dietary changes, infection and stress. However, when these symptoms last a long time and no clear cause is found, they can be hard to diagnose and treat.

    Debilitating symptoms, such as fatigue, brain fog, nausea, bloating, gas and flatulence and diarrhoea, can be embarrassing and a struggle to manage. And access to clinical assessment and treatment may not be swift. Googling will probably land you at irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and self-treating may not address the root cause of the symptoms and could even exacerbate the underlying condition.

    This is especially risky with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) because the symptoms are often similar to IBS. SIBO has recently gained more attention through social media and celebrities talking about their experiences with the condition, so what is it and how is it different to IBS?

    The clue is in the name. With SIBO, an excessive number of bacteria colonise the small intestine. In contrast, IBS is a condition with many causes. The body becomes more sensitive to pain in the stomach and intestines. Symptoms include immune system activation, abnormal gut movement, changes in gut microbes and disruptions in the gut-brain axis.

    The gut-brain axis is the communication system between your digestive system and your brain. These two are constantly sending signals to each other through nerves, hormones and even gut bacteria – like a two-way radio line that helps manage things like digestion, mood and stress.

    Both IBS and SIBO may be associated with psychological symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, stress and reduced quality of life.

    Most of your gut bacteria should live in the large intestine (the colon). The small intestine, especially the upper part (the duodenum and jejunum), has much fewer bacteria.

    With SIBO, bacteria that are supposed to stay in the large intestine migrate up into the small intestine – particularly after surgery or if the movement of food through the intestines is slow – or bacteria in the small intestine start growing excessively.

    Coliform bacteria, usually found in the colon where they help ferment carbohydrates, can enter into the small intestine and expand their numbers. The fermentation produces gas, which gets trapped and causes bloating and pain. This can lead to belching and flatulence, along with nausea and diarrhoea.

    Most of the time, stomach acid minimises bacterial entry to the small intestine, but many people suffer from acid reflux or stomach ulcers and use proton pump inhibitors (PPI). These are medicines, such as omeprazole, lansoprazole and pantoprazole, that reduce stomach acid production.

    Prolonged use of PPIs can disrupt the digestive system’s natural defences, impair gut motility and alter the microbiome – all of which increase the risk of developing SIBO.

    Slow movement of food can be the result of disrupted nerve signalling to the muscles – sometimes seen in diabetics. Also, some medicines or narcotic drugs can slow gut motility, too. Both provide opportunities for bacteria to expand in the wrong place.

    Equally, slow movement of food from the small to large intestine, from ageing or surgery, can allow bacteria to enter the wrong place – where they’re still able to expand and ferment food causing gas, bloating and discomfort.

    Symptom overlap

    Can IBS cause SIBO or vice versa? Symptom overlap can lead to misdiagnosis and diagnostic approaches differ. The gold standard for SIBO diagnosis is a rather invasive collection of a small sample from the small intestine. This sample is then cultured to identify the culprit bacteria.

    There are two simpler breath tests, which are controversial in their reliability. IBS diagnosis requires the exclusion of other diseases – such as the inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis – as well an analysis of the symptoms such as frequency of bowel movements and pain recurrence, combined with blood and stool tests.

    Meta-analyses of pooled data indicates 25%-36% of IBS patients have SIBO. SIBO may contribute to IBS symptoms or be a consequence of IBS-related motility issues.

    However, underlying both of these conditions is a dysregulated gut microbiome. This is when the normal balance of microorganisms in your digestive tract – mainly bacteria, but also viruses, fungi and other microbes – gets disrupted in a way that can lead to health problems, including psychological issues.

    The gut and brain are connected through a two-way communication system known as the gut-brain axis, which is influenced by the microbes in the gut. When this microbial balance is disrupted, it can contribute to mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

    Although antibiotics are used for treating SIBO, use is not desirable because it can lead to antibiotic resistance, disruption of the gut microbiome and the condition could recur once the antibiotics are stopped.

    Long-term antibiotic use can also lead to side effects like gastrointestinal issues, yeast infections and damage to the intestinal lining. What’s more, antibiotics don’t address the underlying causes of SIBO, such as motility issues or structural problems in the small intestine.

    Drugs that increase gut motility are useful to prevent SIBO recurrence and are used in IBS where there are motility symptoms. Elemental diets, which reduce available carbohydrates for bacterial fermentation, have been shown to be effective for both IBS and SIBO.

    Modifying the gut microbiome through diet, probiotics, and other approaches may provide new ways to treat and manage these conditions. Therapeutic strategies that restore the balance of gut bacteria could also help restore a healthy gut-brain connection, potentially improving mental health.

    Karen Wright is affiliated with Cannabinoid Research and Development Group UK.

    – ref. IBS and SIBO have overlapping symptoms – here’s what you need to know about these different digestive conditions – https://theconversation.com/ibs-and-sibo-have-overlapping-symptoms-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-these-different-digestive-conditions-254521

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Putin’s three-day ceasefire isn’t a genuine move towards peace, but Ukraine has to play along

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex

    The Russian leader, Vladmir Putin, has announced a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine to commence on May 8, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the second world war. The Kremlin says “all hostilities will be suspended” during this period and has made it clear it expects Ukraine to follow suit.

    Ukraine responded by calling for an immediate month-long ceasefire and questioned Russia’s commitment to lasting peace. In a post on social media, Ukraine’s foreign secretary, Andrii Sybiha, wrote: “If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately … Why wait until May 8th?”

    The ceasefire announcement followed two important developments. On April 18, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, claimed that President Donald Trump was growing impatient and was likely to abandon peace efforts within days if there was no progress.

    Trump then made a rare rebuke of Putin on social media, writing “Vladmir, STOP” after a Russian air attack on Kyiv on April 24 killed 12 people and injured more than 80 others.



    Read more:
    Why is Donald Trump failing to bring peace to Ukraine like he promised?

    A temporary ceasefire allows Putin to do just enough to keep Trump thinking he is committed to a peace deal, hoping this will lead to eventual sanctions relief. But it also has clear benefits for Russia on the battlefield.

    Many aggressors use ceasefires to regroup, rearm and improve their positioning. Analysts have warned that Russia will use the pause to reorganise in order to pursue larger territorial ambitions, particularly in southern and eastern Ukraine.

    According to Ukraine, the broken “Easter truce” helped Russian forces in the Lyman sector of Donetsk Oblast regroup and launch a large-scale infantry assault shortly after its end. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, says the Easter ceasefire was violated by Russia around 3,000 times.

    While Trump appears frustrated by these recent developments, he has remained committed to maintaining a solid relationship with Putin. And in spite of the fact that only 2% of Americans are sympathetic to Russia, Trump has done little to hide his admiration for the Russian leader.

    Bloomberg news examined more than 300 of Trump’s public comments and over 3,000 social media posts since August 2024 and found that Trump has been echoing Russian talking points. The latest evidence of this occurred just days ago.

    When asked by a journalist on April 25 about what concessions Putin has made in the negotiation process, Trump claimed his Russian counterpart was making a “pretty big concession” by not taking over all of Ukraine.

    And while most western leaders condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Trump referred to it initially as “genius” and “savvy”.

    Trump not only respects Putin but sees their relationship as mutually beneficial. Putin has enticed Trump with potential investment opportunities in Russia, such as a Trump Tower project in Russia, and has supported his administration’s desire to take over Greenland.

    Though Putin occasionally flatters Trump, this is mostly to manipulate him. It was easy to see through Putin’s intentions with his commissioning of a laudatory portrait of Trump in the aftermath of his assassination attempt, standing triumphantly with the Statue of Liberty and American flag in the background. But, apparently, Trump was touched by it.

    This flattery seems to be working. Trump has recently announced that he supported Putin’s claims on Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, representing a huge departure from decades of US foreign policy.

    By doing so, Trump is reneging on the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, where the US committed to support Ukraine’s sovereignty. This constitutes a breach of international law and will also make peace in Ukraine harder to achieve.

    The recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea is considered a red line for Ukraine and would be politically unpopular. Zelensky has made it clear that Crimea belongs to Ukraine, and that Russian annexation violates Ukraine’s current constitution. The constitution cannot be changed when the country is at war and under martial law.

    Ukraine’s limited options

    In spite of the unfavourable terms of any looming peace agreement, Zelensky has little choice at this point but to support a ceasefire. Nearly 90% of Ukrainians polled have faced stress due to the war and another poll, published in March, showed that 77% of Ukrainians back a ceasefire.



    Read more:
    Are Ukrainians ready for ceasefire and concessions? Here’s what the polls say

    The other issue is that Zelensky can no longer count on the US. And research from 2023 shows that for parties that have lost international support, moving towards a ceasefire is much more likely.

    With the US making clear that long-term support for Ukraine is not guaranteed, and Trump not approving a single military aid package since taking office, Zelensky has few options but to support a ceasefire agreement.

    Ceasefires are fairly common occurrences in conflict – over 230 ceasefires have taken place since 1990. But they are frequently broken. Russia in particular, has not been the most trustworthy partner in peace. According to Zelensky, Putin has broken 25 peace agreements over the past decade.

    This doesn’t leave one with much confidence that the latest ceasefire is a genuine move towards peace for Putin, or that the ceasefire will lead to anything more substantial.

    With Trump impatient to get a deal done rather than address the root cause of the conflict (Russia’s imperial ambitions), Russia will continue to manipulate the peace process and block future security guarantees for Ukraine.

    Putin is an expert at committing to agreements that he will renege on. By doing so, he can exact more concessions in the process, all the while blaming Ukraine for the breakdown in peace.

    Natasha Lindstaedt 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. Putin’s three-day ceasefire isn’t a genuine move towards peace, but Ukraine has to play along – https://theconversation.com/putins-three-day-ceasefire-isnt-a-genuine-move-towards-peace-but-ukraine-has-to-play-along-255463

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Trump’s first 100 days mean for America’s women

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amy Tatum, Lecturer in Communication and Media, Bournemouth University

    At a rally in November 2024, Donald Trump told the women of America that whether they “like it or not, I’m going to protect them”. And in his first 100 days as president, Trump has taken his role in a direction that leans into the most traditional form of patriarchy – a protector who knows what is best for women despite their demands to the contrary.

    In his leadership of the Republican party and his administration – and, crucially, in the executive orders he has issued – Trump has often tried to suggest women are at the forefront of his agenda. But rather than protecting women’s interests, these orders are setting back their rights at an alarming rate.

    On his first day back in the White House, the government website offering reproductive health information was taken offline. Since then, the Department of Health and Human Services has removed all mention of abortion protection policies and the Department of Justice has dropped the Biden administration’s lawsuit against Idaho, over its near-total abortion ban.


    How is Donald Trump’s presidency shaping up after 100 days? Here’s what the experts think. If you like what you see, sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter.

    The Trump administration has also asked to join the oral arguments currently being heard by the US Supreme Court that seek to prevent Medicaid funding for medical services offered by Planned Parenthood in the state of South Carolina.

    Such changes underline Trump’s stance on reproductive rights and suggest potential support for further legislation or legal battles aimed at limiting women’s access to such services.

    A Gallup poll found that in 2024, 63% of women in the US considered themselves pro-choice. So the Trump administration’s stance not only shows it is not listening to women; it signals that the government wants to restrict women’s agency for making their own reproductive decisions. This reinforces the patriarchal role taken by Trump and his administration.

    Limiting women’s democratic rights

    On March 25, Trump issued an executive order on voting registration. This was followed, a week later, by the House of Representatives vote on what is known as the “Save Act” (the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act). This legislation is aimed at limiting voter fraud – but has largely been seen as a way to restrict people’s ability to register to vote.

    The act, if passed by the Senate, will change the documentation that is required from a driving licence to either a birth certificate or passport. This is likely to have a detrimental effect on many women’s access to registration.

    In the US, 84% of women who marry men change their surname to that of their husband, meaning their name does not match that on their birth certificate. And it is estimated that 146 million US citizens do not hold valid passports – so many women wishing to vote may not have identification that would give them eligibility under this act.

    The draft law does not, at present, set out how married women would be able to circumvent this. The legislation has been criticised by commentators for its lack of protection for women voters, and has been seen as a way to disenfranchise and remove the rights of many women – effectively removing them from public affairs by denying their democratic rights.

    Attacking transgender rights

    Trump’s mission to “protect women” has extended to a concerted attack on gender non-conforming people. In his first day in the Oval Office, Trump signed executive order 14168 entitled: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

    The wording of the title of this executive order focuses on the defence of women through a biological lens. But what it really does is weaken legal protections for trans, intersex and non-binary people by removing recognition of such identities in federal government policy and institutions. It also has the potential to limit these groups’ access to healthcare, leisure spaces, identity documents and education.

    A week later, the president followed this up with an executive order restricting gender care for under-19s, meaning that insurance run by the federal government could not be used to cover treatments or gender transitions.

    The first 100 days of Trump’s second term have suggested an aggressive stance towards eroding the rights of women and gender non-conforming people that has been couched in the idea of “protecting women”. In fact, limiting access to reproductive healthcare, restricting the rights of trans, intersex and non-binary people, and potentially disenfranchising large numbers of women demonstrates a lack of protection and a diminishing of their voices.

    Trump is portraying himself as the ultimate patriarch – one who knows best, and who upholds the power and privilege of men like himself.

    Amy Tatum 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. What Trump’s first 100 days mean for America’s women – https://theconversation.com/what-trumps-first-100-days-mean-for-americas-women-255269

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sinners: how real stories of Irish and Choctaw oppression inform the film

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachel Stuart, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Deviant Identities, Brunel University of London

    Warning: this article contains minor spoilers for Sinners.

    Sinners is a vampire film set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, a time of harsh segregation and racial injustice. The vampire is Irishman Remmick (Jack O’Connell), who is drawn to the blues music played at the Juke Joint, a club set up by identical gangster twins, Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan).

    We first encounter Remmick as he is being chased by a band of indigenous Choctaw vampire hunters, who corner him in the shack of a couple who happen to be part of the Ku Klux Klan. The Choctaw’s claim that Remmick is not who he appears to be falls on deaf ears and the couple soon become Remmick’s first victims.

    Remmick is soon drawn to the Juke Joint, where the music of blues guitarist Sammy “Preacher Boy” Moore (Miles Caton) is said to reach both ancestors and future generations. Keen to feast on the club’s patrons, Remmick tries to draw them outside by singing an Irish ballad from the mid-19th century, The Rocky Road to Dublin.

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    The Rocky Road to Dublin tells the story of an Irish man leaving his hometown of Tuam to travel to Liverpool. Tuam was the location of a Catholic mother and baby home, where the bodies of over 700 babies were found in 2015.

    Remmick uses the song to invite the Black Juke Joint patrons to join him and the others he has turned into vampires, offering them the chance to escape Jim Crow Mississippi.

    If Remmick was truly offering freedom, however, he would have tried to tempt them with a song of liberation, such as Oro Se Do Bheatha ‘Bhaile, which was the rebel song sung by the republican army as they overthrew the oppression of the English during the Easter Rising in 1916.

    Instead, the music he chooses, although catchy, is a story of exchanging one form of suffering (life in Tuam during the height of English oppression) for another – life on the English mainland where the ballad tells of victimisation and violence.

    The trailer for Sinners.

    The Choctaw’s hunting of Remmick is particularly interesting. The real Choctaw sent money to the starving Irish during the English-induced famine of the 1840s, when they were themselves experiencing genocide.

    Given that the Choctaw are historical allies of the Irish, by identifying that Remmick is not who he seems, they highlight that he does not represent the Irish spirit of resistance. Instead, he represents the spirit of oppression and his choice of music underscores this.

    Choice of setting

    Sinners is set in the early 1930s, a decade after the liberation of Ireland and five years after the founding of the Tuam mother and baby home. Perhaps Remmick needed new feeding grounds since Ireland was finally throwing off the oppression of the English. Where better than the deep south of the Jim Crow era to find oppression and those desperate to escape it?

    Remmick claims to be attracted to the music of the oppressed but when hoodoo healer Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) is killed by Stack before she can be turned into a vampire, we see his true intent. Remmick is angered by her death because although it appears it is the music he is drawn to, in reality it is Annie’s strength he desires.

    Annie, who is steeped in Black culture and can see the vampire’s real intentions, symbolises the way many Black women can resist a social system that is both capitalist and racist. This system doesn’t allow them to ignore the dangers it brings.

    It is the strength and energy of Africa embodied in Annie’s traditional beliefs that Remmick truly seeks to possess, and he is distraught when she dies without being turned into a vampire.

    Unlike Preacher Boy’s family, Annie has resisted the colonisation of her spirituality by the Christian church. Preacher Boy’s father encourages him to stop playing the blues because of its ability to call the devil. Through her ancestral practices however, Annie is able to recognise and resist the temptations of escape that Remmick offers.

    Sinners is an interesting work by filmmaker Ryan Coogler that leaves a trail of crumbs for future instalments. The Choctaw vampire hunters are only on screen for two minutes, but they represent an interesting aside that needs to be explored in terms of the oppressed reaching out to each other against colonialism.

    Annie, immersed in her African spirituality, resists oppression by calling on the strength of ancestors. It’s a powerful reminder that when we know where we come from it is hard to sell us a story of redemption that is ultimately another form of oppression.

    Rachel Stuart 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. Sinners: how real stories of Irish and Choctaw oppression inform the film – https://theconversation.com/sinners-how-real-stories-of-irish-and-choctaw-oppression-inform-the-film-255291

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From headaches to addiction: the risks of overusing nasal decongestant sprays

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dipa Kamdar, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University

    voronaman/Shutterstock

    Nasal decongestant sprays are a popular remedy for relieving nasal congestion caused by colds, allergies and sinus infections. These sprays provide quick relief allowing for easier breathing. However, while they can be effective in the short term, overusing nasal decongestant sprays can lead to serious health issues.

    In April 2025, ITV news reported on people who became dependent on nasal sprays. Many others went on to share similar experiences on social media platforms like TikTok.

    Nasal congestion happens when the lining inside the nose and sinuses becomes irritated, often due to allergens, viruses, or pollutants. In response, immune cells release inflammatory chemicals that cause swelling and increased mucus production. This swelling can block airflow, making it difficult to breathe and often disrupting sleep.

    Most decongestant sprays contain medications like oxymetazoline, xylometazoline, or phenylephrine. These drugs target adrenergic (adrenaline-sensitive) receptors in the blood vessels of the nasal lining, causing the vessels to constrict. As a result, the nasal lining becomes less swollen, opening up the airways and providing almost instant relief.

    This fast-acting benefit is precisely why so many people reach for these sprays. But the convenience can come at a cost.

    Rebound risks

    Withdrawal from nasal decongestant sprays can be a deeply uncomfortable experience for some. Common symptoms include headaches, nasal stuffiness, dryness and even anxiety.

    One of the most concerning side effects of overusing nasal sprays is a condition known as rebound congestion, or rhinitis medicamentosa (RM). This occurs when the nose becomes reliant on the spray to stay open. Over time, the effectiveness of the medication wears off – a phenomenon known as tachyphylaxis. As a result, users may apply the spray more frequently or in higher doses to get the same relief, creating a vicious cycle.

    Some symptoms of rebound congestion, such as constant stuffiness and red, irritated nasal passages, can resemble those seen in cocaine misuse. A US study estimated that up to 9% of patients visiting ear, nose and throat clinics present with RM. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to estimate how many people are affected in the UK, especially since nasal sprays are sold over the counter at pharmacies and supermarkets, often for as little as £3. With long wait times for doctor appointments, many people choose to self-medicate.

    Prolonged use of nasal decongestants can lead to chronic sinusitis: persistent inflammation and infection of the sinuses. The repeated narrowing of blood vessels can also reduce blood flow to nasal tissues, leading to thinning of the lining, chronic dryness, nosebleeds and, in some cases, nasal septal perforation: a hole in the nasal septum.

    Additionally, overuse can damage the turbinates – tiny bone structures inside the nose that help filter, warm and humidify the air you breathe. This can cause them to become swollen or inflamed (turbinate hypertrophy), worsening congestion. Overuse can also impair the function of cilia, tiny hair-like structures responsible for clearing mucus and allergens from the nose.

    Beyond physical symptoms, many users experience psychological dependence. The fear of not being able to breathe without the spray can cause significant anxiety, making it harder to stop using it even when symptoms worsen.

    If you find yourself relying on nasal sprays, it’s important to begin tapering off gradually to minimise withdrawal symptoms. In some cases, doctors may recommend steroid nasal sprays like beclomethasone to reduce inflammation during the withdrawal process. For severe cases, surgical intervention may be necessary. The good news? Many people recover within a week of stopping the spray with the right treatment plan.

    Safer alternatives

    So, what can you use instead? Saline nasal sprays or rinses can help flush out irritants and moisturise the nasal passages without causing rebound congestion. Oral antihistamines and oral decongestants may be more appropriate for allergy-related congestion but can have their own side effects. Antibiotics may be prescribed for sinus infections with severe congestion.

    If you’re using a nasal decongestant spray, it’s important not to exceed three to five days of use – seven days at most, according to experts. Always read the label and follow dosage instructions carefully.

    Nasal decongestant sprays can offer rapid relief, but overusing them can lead to serious consequences, including rebound congestion, tissue damage and psychological dependence. Use them sparingly, and if nasal congestion persists beyond a week, consult a healthcare professional.

    With safer alternatives and medical guidance, you can breathe easier – without the long-term risks.

    Dipa Kamdar 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. From headaches to addiction: the risks of overusing nasal decongestant sprays – https://theconversation.com/from-headaches-to-addiction-the-risks-of-overusing-nasal-decongestant-sprays-254830

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Both novelty and familiarity affect memory – how to make use of this when preparing for exams

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Judith Schomaker, Assistant Professor, Department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University

    gonzagon/Shutterstock

    When getting ready to take exams, it can sometimes feel as though there’s no way all the information you need to remember is going to fit in your brain. But there are ways to create the right conditions to make your studying as efficient as possible.

    My research into the science of memory shows that both novelty – new experiences – and familiarity can affect memory. You can use novelty to prime yourself for learning, and familiarity to organise your memory and retain knowledge.

    To start with, this might mean going for a walk in an unfamiliar part of your neighbourhood or looking at some art for the first time – in person or online – before you even start studying.

    In the lab, colleagues and I have observed that chances are higher that you will remember new information if you just visited an unfamiliar place.

    In a typical experimental set-up, participants came to the lab to familiarise themselves with a virtual environment on a PC or with a virtual reality headset. This consisted of a fantasy island with unexpected elements, such as streetlight-sized candy canes. We invited our research participants to come back on two other occasions. During these sessions, they explored the same – now familiar – virtual environment, and one they hadn’t seen before.

    After each round of virtual exploration, the experiment participants were presented with a series of words to try to commit to memory, which we then tested them on after a completely different “distractor” task that consisted of solving simple maths problems. Interestingly, the participants who had explored a new environment typically remembered more words than those who had explored a familiar one. This suggests that novelty may prepare the brain for learning.

    After you’ve prepared your brain with a foray into the unknown, it’s time to harness familiarity.

    Why the familiar is important

    Learning entirely new information is often very challenging. Students sometimes report reading several pages, but having no recollection of what they read.

    There may be several reasons for this, but a common one is that it is difficult to memorise something if it is very different from anything you have learned before.

    The brain likes to categorise and label information, and our memory is organised in semantic categories. For example, if I mention “swivel chair”, “computer”, and “filing cabinet”, the overarching term “office” may pop to mind.

    Memory associations like these are crucial during memory retrieval, as linked information can work as a memory cue. In memory research we sometimes refer to these interlinked concepts as “memory schema”.

    When you have to learn something new, your brain will try to categorise that novel information. If a link can be made with something you already know, this information can more easily be integrated into an existing memory schema.

    Based on research, we would predict that studying for a test is more effective if you already know something about the topic, as it allows you to put novel information in your existing memory schema, and allows you to retrieve that information more easily at a later point in time.

    For example, imagine eating a yellow kiwi for the first time. Your previous experience with green kiwis will allow you to recognise the fruit. The novel experience of eating this slightly sweeter kiwi is easy to integrate in your existing knowledge of kiwis, including what they look, feel and taste like.

    Making connections

    But studying for exams often means learning abstract concepts. The related memory schemas are underdeveloped for less concrete information, which makes new information hard to remember.

    In a biological psychology course I teach, students have to learn about the transfer of information between brain cells. One of the crucial aspects of this topic is the change in chemistry of the neuron, from when it is at rest to when it is firing, and the potassium and sodium chloride ions involved.

    Exam results showed that students found these processes hard to remember. One year, I decided to introduce a simple visual memory aid: an image of a banana with a container of table salt on top.

    Memory aid to help students remember ions involved in neural transmission.
    Judith Schomaker, CC BY-NC-ND

    Most students know that bananas are rich in potassium, while table salt is sodium chloride. This simple picture shows the situation of a neuron at rest: A lot of potassium on the inside, and a lot of sodium chloride on the outside of the cell. But when the neuron is firing, ion channels open, and due to laws of diffusion, potassium will flow out, and sodium chloride into the cell.

    After I introduced this memory aid, the performance of students on the exam question about this topic increased significantly. In fact, last year it was labelled as “too easy” by our exam monitoring tool, because so many students got it right. The image made integration of novel knowledge into an existing schema easier because it linked new, abstract information to well-known elements – the banana and the table salt.

    When preparing for an exam, then, it can be helpful to think about how the new information you are trying to memorise relates to things you already know, even if this information is not directly relevant for the exam. Knowing that bananas are high in potassium, for instance, is not a learning objective of a biological psychology course.

    And if you go for a walk somewhere new first, even better. Hopefully these tips will help you turn difficult exam material into lasting memories.

    Judith Schomaker receives funding from NWO, LUF and LLinC.

    – ref. Both novelty and familiarity affect memory – how to make use of this when preparing for exams – https://theconversation.com/both-novelty-and-familiarity-affect-memory-how-to-make-use-of-this-when-preparing-for-exams-254722

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Game change Canadian election: Mark Carney leads Liberals to their fourth consecutive win consécutive

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Fiona MacDonald, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Northern British Columbia

    Canada’s 2025 federal election will be remembered as a game-changer. Liberal Leader Mark Carney pulled off a dramatic reversal of political fortunes after convincing voters he was the best candidate to fight annexation threats from United States President Donald Trump.

    “We are over the shock of the American betrayal; we have to take care of each other,” he told cheering supporters in his victory speech in Ottawa.

    “Together we will build a Canada worthy of our values. Canada strong, Canada free, Canada forever, vive le Canada!”

    Canadians gave the Liberals their fourth mandate since 2015, although the race against the Conservatives was much closer than polls predicted.

    Nonetheless, only four months ago, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had a 25-point lead in public opinion polls and a fairly secure path to victory.

    Yet Poilievre’s lead soon vanished due to shifting voter sentiments defined less by the official campaign period and more by the months that preceded it. Justin Trudeau’s early January resignation announcement and Carney’s confirmation that he was officially in the Liberal leadership race dramatically changed the political landscape.



    Read more:
    After stunning comeback, centre-left Liberals likely to win majority of seats at Canadian election

    Within a matter of weeks, Liberal support surged when Carney became party leader and Trump continued to make threats about Canada becoming a 51st American state — and to levy punishing on-again, off-again tariffs against the country.

    The party went from being 20 percentage points behind the Conservatives to overtaking them, putting the party on track to secure its fourth consecutive victory. A shift described by longtime pollster Frank Graves as “unprecedented.”

    Poilievre’s messaging

    The emerging “Canada Strong” and “Elbows Up” narratives, linked to the widespread anti-Trump sentiment, proved a major advantage for the Liberals, who made the most out of this political gift.

    This shift, alongside Carney’s elimination of the carbon tax, left Poilievre on the back foot as his longstanding messaging on Trudeau and his “axe the tax” slogan became largely irrelevant. Poilievre also lost his Ottawa-area seat to a Liberal.



    Read more:
    Who really killed Canada’s carbon tax? Friends and foes alike

    The impact of these shifts in electoral fortunes extended beyond the two main parties. As the election became increasingly a two-party race between the Liberals and Conservatives, the smaller parties struggled for relevance.

    Election campaign polling and early results indicated steep losses for the NDP, with Jagmeet Singh losing his own seat in Burnaby, B.C. and then resigning as party leader. This could be due to voters on the left responding to calls to vote strategically to prevent Conservative victories in various ridings.

    The Bloc Québecois also lost ground, as did the Green Party of Canada and the People’s Party of Canada (PPC). Neither the Greens nor the PPC fielded full slates of candidates or participated in the leaders’ debates and therefore played comparatively limited roles in this election.

    Advance voting in a gendered election

    Another notable feature of this election was the record advance voting turnout, which surged to 7.3 million Canadians, up sharply from 5.8 million in 2021.

    Early voting has now become a central part of party campaign strategy, with campaigns “getting out the vote” at every opportunity, not just on Election Day. This trend raises questions not only about whether overall turnout will rise, but also whether party platforms remain as influential given so many votes were cast before all parties released their platforms.

    While many Canadians take in elections with a focus on party leaders and seat counts, there are other important ways to contemplate election outcomes in terms of inclusion and voice. What does this election tell us about gender and diversity representation in Canada’s Parliament?

    This was a deeply gendered election. The major party leaders are all men, with the exception of Elizabeth May, the Green Party co-leader.

    Preliminary candidate data showed a decrease in the number of women candidates compared to 2021.

    The NDP nominated the highest proportion of women candidates — the majority of its candidates are women — and fielded the most diverse slate of candidates in terms of Indigenous people, Black people, racialized people and LGBTQ+ candidates. But the party’s dramatic losses mean these gains will not translate into more diverse representation in Parliament.

    Furthermore, one of Carney’s first actions as prime minister was to eliminate the sex-balanced cabinet and to reduce the size of the cabinet. He eliminated the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) as well as ministerial portfolios focused on youth, official languages, diversity, inclusion, disability and seniors.

    These decisions reverse previous efforts taken to institutionalize gender and diversity leadership in Canada’s Parliament.

    Party platforms also reflected diverging approaches when it came to women. The Conservative platform only mentioned women four times, and three of those mentions were in the context of opposition to transgender rights.



    Read more:
    Pierre Poilievre’s ‘More Boots, Less Suits’ election strategy held little appeal to women

    The role of young working-class men

    Polling also revealed intersections of generation, gender and class are increasingly relevant. Like the last federal election, young working-class men are increasingly drawn to the Conservatives. This trend appears to be driven less by fiscal conservatism and more by concerns about rapid social change, a trend also observed in the 2024 American presidential election.

    Many of these young men are expressing frustrations over housing affordability and job security, and what they view as the Liberal and NDP’s “woke culture,” which they regard as eroding traditional values that have traditionally benefited men. In contrast, Canadian women of all ages continue to favour parties they view as more progressive — the Liberals and the NDP.

    Theoretical explanations for this include young men feeling left behind by the Liberals, while the Conservatives have seemingly figured out a way to connect with them.

    This may reflect campaign rhetoric about returning to traditional expectations and values around gender roles and men’s rights to well-paying jobs, an affordable home and taking care of their families.

    Electoral reform needed?

    In the aftermath of the election, there are avenues through which current gaps in representation can be addressed. Organizations like the United Nations’ Inter-parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, as well as gender and politics scholarship, propose various reforms to continue to strengthen diversity in Parliament.

    These reforms are understood to be essential for enhancing the legitimacy, responsiveness and effectiveness of Canada’s parliamentary system. Research on gender-and diversity-sensitive parliaments consistently shows that when legislative bodies reflect the diversity of the societies they govern, they are more likely to produce policies that are equitable, inclusive and trusted by the public.

    Overall, this Canadian election was characterized by transformative twists and turns that shed more light on important ongoing questions about representation and the potential need for democratic reform if Canadians want to avoid a two-party system.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Game change Canadian election: Mark Carney leads Liberals to their fourth consecutive win consécutive – https://theconversation.com/game-change-canadian-election-mark-carney-leads-liberals-to-their-fourth-consecutive-win-consecutive-253721

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ghana’s citizens have a right to protest: what does the law say about restricting it?

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Justice Tankebe, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Cambridge

    Ghana’s attorney general and minister of justice dropped charges against members of Democracy Hub, a civil society group, in February 2025, after four months of prosecution. The group had organised a protest in September 2024 against the widespread destruction and contamination of the country’s water bodies by persons and gangs engaged in illegal artisanal mining.

    Media reports alleged police harassment and use of excessive force during the three-day protest. The actions of the police and the courts were the latest in a history of suppression of the exercise of the right to protest. They are based on a military-era law that the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional three decades ago.

    The situation highlights the tension between the right to protest and lawful interference with those rights. As a criminologist and an expert in constitutional law, we argue that the tension can be minimised by considering four factors:

    • location and time

    • rights of others

    • target of protest

    • intentions of protesters.

    Right to protest in Ghana

    Ghana’s 1992 constitution guarantees the right to protest. However, as is standard practice in democracies, the constitution also allows these rights to be restricted on specified public interest grounds. Restrictions must be “reasonably required” in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public health or the running of essential services.

    The challenge democratic societies face is managing the apparent tension between people’s fundamental rights to protest and the need, sometimes, to interfere with those rights in the larger public interest.

    While Ghana’s Supreme Court ruling in 1993 forbids any action that would deny protesters their right to protest, it had grey areas. For example, it did not offer clear guidance on what would make a restriction “reasonably required” and “reasonably justifiable in terms of the spirit of the constitution”.

    Ghana is a former British colony, and its law and legal system continue to be influenced by UK legal principles. So the UK can offer guidance. In 2021, in the case of Director of Public Prosecutions v Ziegler and others, the UK Supreme Court pronounced certain principles and factors that police, prosecutors and judges must consider.

    Location and time

    The UK court reasoned that the right to protest includes the right to choose when and where to hold the protest. The location or path of a protest will determine whether its message is received by the intended target and what impact it will have.

    The Ghanaian police and courts have often violated this principle when a protest is stopped because the location is a so-called “security zone”. The basis for this categorisation is not clearly specified or defined in law. The Ghana constitution specifies that any restriction of the right to protest must be contained in “a law”.

    Rights of others

    Ghanaian law does not allow protesters to obstruct traffic, cause confusion or disorder, or violate the rights and freedoms of other members of the public. But protests almost always do cause some interference with the rights of others.

    That’s not sufficient reason to interfere with the right to protest. According to the UK Supreme Court, the police and courts must establish the extent of the actual violation of citizens’ rights – such as how many people were likely to be inconvenienced.

    Target of protests

    Where there is obstruction, there must be evidence that it was not connected to the reasons for the protest. One accusation against the Democracy Hub protesters was that they blocked the entrance to a health facility. Had they blocked access to, say, an authority responsible for granting licences for artisanal mining, the police would not have been justified in arresting them. The police must also show that no alternative routes were reasonably available to the inconvenienced public.

    Intentions of protesters

    This factor requires the police and courts to consider whether a protest is intended to be peaceful. Cooperating with the police, such as notifying them about the intended protest, signifies a peaceful intent. The UK court notes that where a protest is intended to be peaceful and is, indeed, peaceful, protesters will have the right to resist police arrest.

    A fair hand

    The checklist is not exhaustive, but it puts an important obligation on the police and the courts not to interfere unreasonably with the fundamental rights of citizens. While the right to protest is not absolute, it remains fundamental in a democracy. Therefore, a restriction of the right cannot be absolute either. The restriction must be reasonable and proportionate.

    In short, the restrictions attached to the right to assemble and to protest are designed to do no more than restrict (limit or constrain), within reasonable limits, how, where and when the right may be exercised. They are not meant to destroy or undermine protesters’ ability to exercise that right to achieve their desired goals.

    Current Ghanaian police and judicial practice must change, along the lines of the UK Supreme Court’s ruling, to ensure the right to protest is not treated as less valuable or less important than the restrictions that may be applied to limit it.

    Henry Kwasi Prempeh, who co-authored this article, is a Ghanaian lawyer and educationist, and the current executive director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development.

    Justice Tankebe 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. Ghana’s citizens have a right to protest: what does the law say about restricting it? – https://theconversation.com/ghanas-citizens-have-a-right-to-protest-what-does-the-law-say-about-restricting-it-248049

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Cyberattacks: how companies can communicate effectively after being hit

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Paolo Antonetti, Professeur, EDHEC Business School

    In its latest annual publication, insurance group Hiscox surveyed more than 2,000 cybersecurity managers in eight countries including France. Two thirds of the companies in the survey reported having been the victim of a cyberattack between mid-August 2023 and September 2024, a 15% increase over the previous period. In terms of potential financial losses, Statista estimated that cyberattacks cost France up to €122 billion in 2024, compared to €89 in 2023 – a 37% rise.


    A weekly e-mail in English featuring expertise from scholars and researchers. It provides an introduction to the diversity of research coming out of the continent and considers some of the key issues facing European countries. Get the newsletter!

    The main forms of cyberattacks on French businesses, the recommendations for how companies can protect themselves, and the technical and legal responses they can adopt are well documented.

    However, much less is known about appropriate communications and public relations responses to cyberattacks. The issues at stake are critical. When a company is the target of a cyberattack, should it systematically accept responsibility, or can it instead claim to be a victim to protect its reputation? A wrong answer can aggravate the situation and undermine the confidence of customers and investors.

    Positioning as a victim

    Our recent research questions the assumption that accepting causal responsibility should be the norm after a cyberattack: we show that positioning oneself as a victim can be more effective in limiting damage to one’s image – provided claims of victimhood are deployed intelligently.

    There is evidence that firms need a strategy to present themselves effectively as victims of cybercriminals. Some firms, such as T-Mobile and Equifax, have in the past paid compensation to consumers while refusing to accept any responsibility, essentially presenting themselves as victims.

    Similarly, the large French telecommunications operator Free presented itself as a victim when communicating about the large-scale cyberattack that affected its operations last October, which may have had an impact on its image. The UK’s TalkTalk initially framed itself as a victim of a cybercrime but was later criticized for its inadequate security measures.

    Victimhood and sympathy

    Clumsily declaring itself as the sole entity to blame or the sole victim of a cyberattack – which is what interests us here – can be risky and backfire on a company, damaging its credibility rather than protecting its reputation.

    When companies present themselves as victims of cybercrime, they can elicit sympathy from stakeholders. People tend to be more compassionate toward businesses that depict themselves as wronged rather than those that deny responsibility or shift blame. In essence, this strategy frames the organization as a target of external forces beyond its control, rather than as negligent or incompetent. It leverages a fundamental social norm – people’s instinctive tendency to support those they see as victims.

    But claims of victimhood must align with public expectations and the specific context of the breach. They should not be about shirking responsibility, but about acknowledging harm in a way that fosters understanding and trust. The following approaches and choices can help.

    • align with public perception

    The reactions of stakeholders often depend on their understanding of the situation. If the attack is perceived as an external and malicious act, it is crucial for a company to adopt a consistent stance by emphasizing that it itself has been a victim. But if internal negligence is proven, claiming victim status could be counterproductive. The swiftness of a company’s response, the level of transparency and the relative stance taken are all part of a good strategy.

    • express support for stakeholders

    Adopting a position of victimhood does not mean denying all responsibility or minimizing the consequences of an attack. The company must show that it takes the situation seriously by expressing empathy and commitment to affected stakeholders. It must pay particular attention to those affected inside the organization: a claim of victimhood should be part of an apology or a message expressing concern. An effective message must be sincere and oriented toward concrete solutions.

    • consider reputation

    We find that it is easier for companies to claim victimhood persuasively if they are perceived as virtuous. This reputation can be due to a positive track record in terms of corporate social responsibility or because they are a not-for-profit institution (e.g. a library, a university or a hospital). Virtuous victims generate sympathy and empathy, and this is also reflected after a cyberattack.

    • highlight the harmfulness and sophistication of the attack

    The results of our study also show that public acceptance of victim status is more effective when the cyberattack is perceived to be the work of highly competent malicious actors. It is also important for a company to persuade the public that the attack harmed the company, while keeping the main focus of the response on the public.

    • don’t complain

    It is essential to distinguish between legitimate claims of victim status and communication that could be perceived as an attempt to exonerate oneself. An overly plaintive tone could undermine a company’s credibility. The approach should be factual and constructive, focusing on the measures taken to overcome the crisis.

    • test reactions before communicating widely

    Companies’ responses to a cyberattack can vary depending on the context and the public. It is best to assess different approaches before embarking on large-scale communication. This can be done through internal tests, focus groups or targeted surveys. Subtle differences in the situation can cause important shifts in how the public perceives the breach and what the best response might be.

    Our study sheds light on a shift in public expectations about crisis management: in the age of ubiquitous cybercrime, responsibilities are often shared. Poorly managed communication after a cyberattack can lead to a lasting loss of trust and expose a company to increased legal risks. Claiming victim status effectively, with an empathetic and transparent approach, can help mitigate the impact of the crisis and preserve the organization’s reputation.

    This article was written with Ilaria Baghi (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia).

    Paolo Antonetti 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. Cyberattacks: how companies can communicate effectively after being hit – https://theconversation.com/cyberattacks-how-companies-can-communicate-effectively-after-being-hit-255061

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: US-China trade war could hurt Nigerian entrepreneurs: why, and how they should prepare

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tolu Olarewaju, Economist and Lecturer in Management, Keele University

    As China and the United States lock horns in a trade war, slamming tariffs on each other, entrepreneurs in Nigeria are vulnerable to the fallout. In 2024, 27.8% of imports into Nigeria came from China. In the same year, US exports to Nigeria reached US$4.2 billion. Economist and entrepreneurship researcher Tolu Olarewaju unpacks what could happen if Chinese products destined for the American market were diverted to developing economies, including Nigeria.

    What dangers do the tariff tensions pose to Nigeria’s entrepreneurs?

    China is the world’s biggest manufacturing nation, producing far more than its population consumes domestically. It is already running an almost US$1 trillion goods surplus, meaning it exports more goods than it imports.

    China is often producing those goods at below the true cost of production due to domestic subsidies and state financial support, like cheap loans for favoured firms.

    If the goods it currently exports are unable to enter the US because tariffs have made them too expensive, Chinese firms could seek to divert them to other countries. This could be beneficial for some consumers. But it could undercut entrepreneurs who make competing products in these countries and threaten jobs and wages.

    Looking at the past profile of Chinese exports to Nigeria, these are some Nigerian goods that could be replaced by cheaper goods from China:

    Textiles and garments: Nigeria is the largest producer of textiles in west Africa. The Nigerian textile, apparel, and footwear sector contributed 2.97% to Nigeria’s GDP in 2023 and contracted by 1.75% in the first quarter of 2024. Locally made fabrics, garments and leather goods can easily be replaced by Chinese products, especially in the low-cost and mass-market segment. This is because China is one of the sector’s largest producers globally and can export at low cost.

    In 2024, the US was the top destination for China’s textiles exports.

    Furniture and home décor: Nigerian artisans are skilled at producing wooden furniture, home décor items, and other interior products. However, China is a global leader in furniture manufacturing. It offers mass-produced, inexpensive items. The wide variety and affordability could displace Nigerian furniture makers. The furniture market in Nigeria is expected to generate revenue of US$5.11 billion in 2025 and experience an annual growth rate of 2.93% between 2025 and 2029.

    Footwear: The Nigerian footwear market is valued at US$2.57 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow annually by 9.83%. The Nigerian footwear industry produces around 50 million pairs of shoes annually and employs over 500,000 people. China is one of the largest producers of footwear. In the US, 61.9% of all shoes are imported from China. Nigerian shoe manufacturers may find it difficult to compete with the flood of affordable Chinese-made footwear.

    Beauty, cosmetic, and skincare products: The Nigerian soap market is growing. It generated revenue of US$660.5 million in 2024 and is expected to reach US$1.07 billion by 2030. With a population of over 200 million, the demand for soap products is increasing. China is a major supplier of inexpensive, mass-produced beauty products.

    What are the biggest challenges holding back Nigerian entrepreneurs?

    Weak infrastructure: Frequent power outages make it difficult for businesses to operate and distribute their products. This is a significant barrier, especially in the age of digital technologies, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Poor road conditions also make it difficult to transport goods.

    High inflation: Nigeria’s headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis stood at 24.48% in January 2025, and 29.90% in January 2024. High inflation raises the cost of raw materials, fuel, utilities and transport.

    Inflation also means a reduction in the purchasing power of consumers. While inflation should make Nigeria a less attractive market, Chinese goods are typically cheaper than local or western alternatives, even when inflation affects import costs.

    Interest rates for business loans are high in Nigeria. This reduces profit margins and makes it harder to maintain affordable prices for consumers.

    A poor business environment: Nigeria’s unpredictable political and economic landscape, characterised by shifting policies, and inconsistent regulations, makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to plan. They need to be able to forecast expenses, set pricing strategies or invest in long-term projects.

    Corruption also increases the costs of doing business and makes the business environment more uncertain.

    While it might seem logical for the government to protect the domestic business environment with blanket tariffs as suggested by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a more strategic approach is needed, one that focuses on targeted tariffs and investing in sectors with strong growth potential.

    Limited access to finance and high interest rates: Access to finance is a major barrier due to high interest rates and unreasonable collateral requirements for business credit.

    Currency depreciation and exchange rate volatility: The Nigerian naira has depreciated against foreign currencies in recent years. Entrepreneurs who rely on imports for raw materials or equipment have been hit hard by fluctuating exchange rates. Rising import costs can lead to even higher production costs. For businesses looking to export, this volatility can reduce the profitability of foreign sales, discouraging expansion into international markets.

    What should Nigeria’s entrepreneurs do to prepare for any potential fallout from the China-US trade war?

    Identify niche market needs: They should identify a market need that is not being met or that is under-served and cannot easily be met by Chinese goods.

    Focus on customer service: This way, entrepreneurs can build customer loyalty and reputation despite the influx of cheap goods.

    Embrace innovation: Nigerian entrepreneurs should be open to new ideas and technologies that can help them create new products and services, increase efficiency and reduce costs.

    Diversify supply chains: Relying heavily on imports from one country, especially raw materials, machinery, or electronics, can lead to shortages and price hikes if trade tensions escalate. Businesses should identify alternative suppliers, explore local sourcing options, and build stockpiles of essential inputs.

    Explore new export markets: Nigerian entrepreneurs should exploit regional trade agreements like the African Continental Free Trade Area for easier access to African markets.

    Adaptability and value creation: Businesses that focus on value creation are best positioned not just to survive but to thrive amid global shifts. Raw material exporters (for example, cashew and cocoa) may be vulnerable to price shocks. Value-added products offer better margins and greater market protection. Entrepreneurs should consider investing in light manufacturing or local processing, such as turning cocoa into chocolate.

    Tolu Olarewaju 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. US-China trade war could hurt Nigerian entrepreneurs: why, and how they should prepare – https://theconversation.com/us-china-trade-war-could-hurt-nigerian-entrepreneurs-why-and-how-they-should-prepare-254840

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: South Africa’s frogs and reptiles get their own list of names in local languages

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Fortunate Mafeta Phaka, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher of herptile-human interactions, North-West University

    Naming all the creatures and plants in nature is no small task. Fortunate Phaka is a zoologist who has conducted the first comprehensive analysis of naming and classification of frogs and reptiles in nine South African cultures. The list includes 136 frog and 407 reptile species that have been scientifically described. He explains why it’s important to record all the species names that people use in their own languages.

    Why did you study the indigenous names of frogs and reptiles?

    I am interested in the interactions between wildlife and people. These interactions include, for example, how people use wildlife in figures of speech, harvesting of wildlife for consumption, and of course how animals are assigned names.

    If everyone’s names for things are known and shared, the ideas behind the names can also be shared, appreciated and valued.

    Conservation planning is improved by consideration of different wildlife perspectives, which is revealed partly by the names that different people give wildlife.

    Knowing local names can provide assurance that people from different cultural backgrounds are talking about the same species.

    In South Africa, for example, there are 11 official spoken languages and scientists use Latin names for species. Most people aren’t familiar with the scientific names.

    That’s why we extended the list of scientific, Afrikaans and English names of South African frogs and reptiles to include names in the country’s other nine official languages.

    How did you go about it, and what did you find?

    The project started as a pilot study in 2016, carried out in the Zululand area of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, where frog biodiversity is high and Indigenous cultural practices are still part of everyday life. Results of the pilot were published as a book in 2017 and as a scientific publication in 2019.

    Following the success of the pilot study, I collected responses from 287 South African Indigenous language speakers (aged between 25 and 57) using an online questionnaire and in-person interviews while on field trips, and reviewed 18 scientific articles, dissertations and books to study naming practices even further.

    The study shed light on the way people group animals (folk taxonomy) and how that compares with the way scientists group them (scientific taxonomy).

    It became clear that Indigenous language names were often assigned based on unique features of frogs or reptiles, such as the sound they make, how they move or where they are found. Most of these names group several species together based on their similarities. This meant most frog and reptile species did not have Indigenous language names that were unique to them. For example, zoologists have named eight different Reed Frog species from South Africa but these eight species were assigned one Indigenous name that groups them together.

    Male Painted Reed Frog (Umgqagqa opendiwe in IsiZulu) calling.
    Fortunate Phaka, Author provided (no reuse)918 KB (download)

    The organised way of assigning Indigenous names to animals has some similarities to how scientists assign names that are unique to each species. For example, the Grass Frog species are grouped together under the scientific genus Ptychadena, and in IsiZulu the same species are grouped under the name Uvete. These similarities meant we could combine scientific naming practices with Indigenous naming practices to give each species a unique name in multiple languages.

    To ensure the unique Indigenous names remained familiar to speakers of respective languages, we added descriptive terms to the existing general Indigenous names to make them specific, instead of coining an entirely new name. For example in IsiZulu the general name Umgqagqa (used for all Reed Frogs) became Umgqagqa opendiwe (specific name for the Painted Reed Frog). And several other descriptive terms were added to Umgqagqa to distinguish between the eight Reed Frog species of South Africa.

    Why does it matter to record the Indigenous names of species?

    Conservation hasn’t been doing a good job of being inclusive. Knowing Indigenous names and the local perspectives behind those names is a good way to start being aware of the multiple other perspectives. Conservation should ultimately be to everyone’s benefit.

    For a long time wildlife guidebooks have had very few Indigenous language names in them. With increased recording of Indigenous names, any South African would be able to open a wildlife guide and read a name in any of our 11 official spoken languages. Hopefully one day we can have more books like the Bilingual Guide to the Frogs of Zululand (IsiZulu version: Isiqondiso Sasefilidini Esindimimbili Ngamaxoxo AkwelaKwaZulu) that make it possible for you to read about your favourite wildlife in your preferred language.

    Has this been done for other groups of animals or plants?

    Birds and plants are two groups that have received this kind of attention.

    A recent scientific publication has worked on IsiZulu names for all South African birds and another publication studied the morphology of IsiZulu bird names. There has also been work on IsiXhosa insect names, and there has been a SeSotho animal word list published online. Indigenous names for African wildlife have received sporadic attention in the past, but with the recent increases in calls for consideration of Indigenous knowledge there has been increasing focus on understanding these names and using them.

    Do you have some favourite names?

    I have a lot of favourites but there are some names that stand out, like Senana (Sepedi general name for Rain Frogs) and Lebololo (Sepedi name for Puff adder). These names have the same root word or sound throughout most of the Indigenous South African languages and I am curious about how this happened. Rain Frogs are also called Senanatswidi in Sepedi and tswidi is an onomatopoeic reference to the whistling sound that Rain Frogs make.

    Fortunate Mafeta Phaka receives funding from National Research Foundation/South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.

    – ref. South Africa’s frogs and reptiles get their own list of names in local languages – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-frogs-and-reptiles-get-their-own-list-of-names-in-local-languages-254643

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 50 years after the ‘fall’ of Saigon – from triumph to Trump

    30 April 1975. Saigon Fell, Vietnam Rose. The story of Vietnam after the US fled the country is not a fairy tale, it is not a one-dimensional parable of resurrection, of liberation from oppression, of joy for all — but there is a great deal to celebrate.

    After over a century of brutal colonial oppression by the French, the Japanese, and the Americans and their various minions, the people of Vietnam won victory in one of the great liberation struggles of history.

    It became a source of inspiration and of hope for millions of people oppressed by imperial powers in Central & South America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

    Civil war – a war among several
    The civil war in Vietnam, coterminous with the war against the Western powers, pitted communists and anti-communists in a long and pitiless struggle.

    Within that were various strands — North versus South, southern communists and nationalists against pro-Western forces, and so on. As various political economists have pointed out, all wars are in some way class wars too — pitting the elites against ordinary people.

    As has happened repeatedly throughout history, once one or more great power becomes involved in a civil war it is subsumed within that colonial war. The South’s President Ngô Đình Diệm, for example, was assassinated on orders of the Americans.

    By 1969, US aid accounted for 80 percent of South Vietnam’s government budget; they effectively owned the South and literally called the shots.

    Donald Trump declared April 2 “Liberation Day” and imposed some of the heaviest tariffs on Vietnam because they didn’t buy enough U.S. goods! Image: www.solidarity.co.nz

    US punishes its victims
    This month, 50 years after the Vietnamese achieved independence from their colonial overlords, US President Donald Trump declared April 2 “Liberation Day” and imposed some of the heaviest tariffs on Vietnam because they didn’t buy enough US goods!

    As economist Joseph Stiglitz pointed out, they don’t yet have enough aggregate demand for the kind of goods the US produces. That might have something to do with the decades it has taken to rebuild their lives and economy from the Armageddon inflicted on them by the US, Australia, New Zealand and other unindicted war criminals.

    Straight after they fled, the US declared themselves the victims of the Vietnamese and imposed punitive sanctions on liberated Vietnam for decades — punishing their victims.

    Under Gerald Ford (1974–1977), Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), Ronald Reagan (1981–1989), George H.W. Bush (1989–1993) right up to Bill Clinton (1993–2001), the US enforced the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) of 1917.

    The US froze the assets of Vietnam at the very time it was trying to recover from the wholesale devastation of the country.

    Tens of millions of much-needed dollars were captured in US banks, enforced by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The US also took advantage of its muscle to veto IMF and World Bank loans to Vietnam.

    Countries like Australia and New Zealand, to their eternal shame, took part in both the war, the war crimes, and imposing sanctions and other punitive measures subsequently.

    The ‘Boat People’ refugee crisis
     While millions celebrated the victory in 1975, millions of others were fearful. The period of national unification and economic recovery was painful, typically repressive — when one militarised regime replaces another.

    This triggered flight: firstly among urban elites — military officers, government workers, and professionals who were most closely-linked to the US-run regime.

    You can blame the Commies for the ensuing refugee crisis but by strangling the Vietnamese economy, refusing to return Vietnamese assets held in the US, imposing an effective blockade on the economy via sanctions, the US deepened the crisis, which saw over two million flee the country between 1975 and the 1980s.

    More than 250,000 desperate people died at sea.

    Đổi Mới: the move to a socialist-market economy
     In 1986, to energise the economy, the government moved away from a command economy and launched the đổi mới reforms which created a hybrid socialist-market economy.

    They had taken a leaf out of the Chinese playbook, which under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping (1978 –1989), had moved towards a market economy through its “Reform and Opening Up” policies.  Vietnam saw the “economic miracle” of its near neighbour and its leaders sought something similar.

    Vietnam’s economy boomed and GDP grew from $18.1 billion in 1984 to $469 billion by 2024, with a per capita GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) of $15,470 (up from about $300 per capita in the 1970s).

    After a sluggish start, literacy rates soared to 96.1 percent by 2023, and life expectancy reached 73.7 years, only a few short of the USA.  GDP growth is around 7 percent, according to the OECD.

    An unequal society
     Persistent inequality suggests the socialist vision has partially faded. A rural-urban divide and a rich-poor divide underlines ongoing injustices around quality of life and access to services but Vietnam’s Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality — puts it only slightly more “unequal” as a society than New Zealand or Germany.

    Corruption is also an issue in the country.

    Press controls and political repression
     As in China, political power resides with the Party. Freedom of expression — highlighted by press repression — is severely limited in Vietnam and nothing to celebrate.

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) rates Vietnam as 174th out of 180 countries for press freedom and regularly excoriates its strongmen as press “predators”.  In its country profile, RSF says of Vietnam: “Independent reporters and bloggers are often jailed, making Vietnam the world’s third largest jailer of journalists”.

    Vietnam is forging its own destiny
     What is well worth celebrating, however, is that Vietnam successfully got the imperial powers off its back and out of its country. It is well-placed to play an increasingly prosperous and positive role in the emerging multipolar world.

    It is part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the ASEAN network, and borders China, giving Vietnam the opportunity to weather any storms coming from the continent of America.

    Vietnam today is united and free and millions of ordinary people have achieved security, health, education and prosperity vastly better than their parents and grandparents’ generations were able to.

    In the end the honour and glory go to the Vietnamese people.

    Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people who reached out to the United States, and sought alliance not conflict. Image: www.solidarity.co.nz

    I’ll give the last word to Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people who reached out to the United States, and sought alliance not conflict. He was rebuffed by the super-power which had a different agenda.

    On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh square:

    “‘All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’

    “This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.

    “… A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eight years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent.

    “For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country — and in fact is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilise all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.”

    And, my god, they did.

    To conclude, a short poem attributed to Ho Chi Minh:

    “After the rain, good weather.

    “In the wink of an eye,

    the universe throws off its muddy clothes.”

    Eugene Doyle is a community organiser and activist in Wellington, New Zealand. He received an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award in 2023 for community service. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam War. This article was first published at his public policy website Solidarity and is republished here with permission.

    Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Stage 0 cancer is often overlooked — but it could be your earliest warning sign

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

    Beyonce and her mother, Tina Knowles in December 2024 DFree/Shutterstock

    At 71, Tina Knowles – the fashion designer, businesswoman, and mother of Beyoncé – made headlines not for her career, but for a deeply personal revelation: her breast cancer diagnosis. In 2023, a routine mammogram uncovered two tumours in her left breast, one benign and the other malignant. Diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, she underwent surgery and is now cancer-free.

    Knowles had initially hesitated to share her story, even considering leaving it out of her upcoming memoir Matriarch. A private person by nature, she ultimately chose to speak out to educate and inspire others – especially women balancing busy lives – about the critical importance of regular screenings.



    Read more:
    Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer – so why is breast screening attendance still a problem?

    Knowles candidly revealed that her cancer might have been caught even earlier, at stage 0, if she hadn’t missed a mammogram during the COVID pandemic. Like many, she delayed rescheduling, and it wasn’t until nearly four years later that she returned for screening.

    Her sister, a breast cancer survivor herself, reminded her that if she had stayed on schedule, doctors might have detected her cancer before it had begun to invade surrounding tissue.

    Thankfully, Knowles’ tumour was small and slow-growing. Still, the experience shook her and reinforced a message she now shares widely: early detection saves lives.

    Knowles’ story opens the door to an important medical conversation: what exactly is stage 0 cancer, and why does it matter?

    Stage 0, often called “carcinoma in situ”, is the earliest form of cancer. The Latin phrase in situ means “in its original place”, and that’s exactly where these abnormal cells remain – they haven’t yet spread to nearby tissue or other parts of the body. In breast cancer, the most common type of stage 0 is ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), where abnormal cells are confined to the milk ducts.

    Because stage 0 cancers rarely cause symptoms or lumps, they’re usually detected through screening – most often, a mammogram. In fact, the breast is where stage 0 is most commonly diagnosed, thanks to the effectiveness of these screening programs.

    But stage 0 cancer is not unique to the breast. Similar early, non-invasive changes can be found in other organs, such as the cervix (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) or the colon (certain types of polyps).

    There’s a growing debate in the medical community about whether stage 0 cancers should be labelled as “cancer” at all. Some experts argue that terms like “precancer” or “non-invasive cancer” might better reflect the low risk posed by these abnormal cells. Others caution that, while not invasive yet, some stage 0 cancers can become dangerous over time, especially if left untreated.

    Research suggests that up to 40% of untreated DCIS cases may eventually develop into invasive breast cancer, although the risk in any given year is relatively low at around 3%. Because we currently lack a reliable way to predict which cases will progress, most doctors recommend treatment such as surgery to remove abnormal cells.

    Treatment for stage 0 cancer is typically less aggressive than for more advanced stages, but it’s still personalised. In breast cancer, options often include:

    • Lumpectomy – surgery to remove only the affected area
    • Mastectomy – removal of the entire breast
    • Radiation therapy – often recommended after lumpectomy to reduce the risk of recurrence
    • Hormone therapy – for cancers that have hormone receptors, medication may be used to lower future risk.

    However, some experts are exploring a different approach: active surveillance. This strategy involves closely monitoring low-grade lesions without immediate treatment. While promising for some patients, it’s still controversial since there’s always a risk the cancer could progress silently.

    The prognosis for stage 0 cancer is overwhelmingly positive. The five-year survival rate for stage 0 breast cancer approaches 99% and most people diagnosed at this stage will never experience a recurrence.

    This remarkable outcome is a testament to the power of early detection and effective treatment. However, the rise in stage 0 diagnoses also raises questions about so-called over-diagnosis and over-treatment and whether this means some people are undergoing unnecessary procedures for abnormalities that might never have caused harm.

    Despite its early stage, a diagnosis of stage 0 cancer can carry a heavy emotional toll. There’s comfort in knowing the cancer was caught early but also anxiety about what might have happened if it hadn’t. Many patients struggle with the uncertainty of whether treatment was necessary or whether watchful waiting would have been safe.

    Knowles, for instance, spoke of disbelief, fear and the emotional rollercoaster that followed her diagnosis. She credits her daughters and friends for getting her through, providing love, laughter and perspective in a frightening time. Her openness underscores how vital it is to have a strong support system and a healthcare team that encourages open dialogue.

    Mammograms and other screening tools like colonoscopies are vital for catching cancers at the earliest, most treatable stages. While the increase in stage 0 diagnoses has fuelled debate about over-treatment, it’s clear that early detection gives people options and a chance at a cure before cancer becomes more aggressive.

    My research team is working to develop more effective methods for distinguishing which early abnormalities truly require treatment and which can be safely monitored. Until those tools are widely available, public health experts continue to stress one clear message: stay up to date with recommended screenings.

    Knowles’ story is more than a celebrity health headline, it’s a powerful reminder that prioritising routine care can change the course of your life. Stage 0 cancer represents a rare window of opportunity: a chance to intervene early, often with excellent outcomes. But it also requires careful decision-making, emotional resilience and support.

    The message is simple and urgent: take care of yourself. Reschedule that appointment. Get screened. It might just save your life.

    Justin Stebbing 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. Stage 0 cancer is often overlooked — but it could be your earliest warning sign – https://theconversation.com/stage-0-cancer-is-often-overlooked-but-it-could-be-your-earliest-warning-sign-255460

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From shrinking bladders to severe stomach pain: survey reveals the painful realities of ketamine addiction

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rebecca Harding, PhD Candidate, Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, UCL

    Ketamine’s rising popularity has created a paradox. While it’s hailed by some doctors as a breakthrough psychiatric treatment, it’s also driving a surge in addiction and harming people’s health. To better understand people’s experience of ketamine and how it might be best used in medical treatment, we surveyed hundreds of people who self-identify as struggling with ketamine addiction.

    Ketamine is gaining recognition as a promising, rapid-acting intervention for mental health conditions for many. Phase three clinical trials are now underway for its use with people with alcohol problems. A ketamine-based nasal spray, Spravato, has also been approved as a standalone therapy for treatment-resistant depression,

    But for others, particularly recreational users in their 20s, ketamine use can lead to more harm than healing.

    Once seen as a fringe party drug, ketamine – also known as “K” – has now entered the mainstream, gaining popularity as a nightlife narcotic and reports of widespread use in Hollywood. But with its rise have come warnings: several high-profile deaths, including actor Matthew Perry and drag artist The Vivienne, have sparked public concern.

    Medical ketamine is a regulated drug used in hospitals and clinics under professional supervision. Illegal ketamine, often used recreationally, is unregulated, may be contaminated and carries higher risks of overdose, addiction and health complications due to unknown purity and unsafe use.

    To better understand the experience of ketamine addiction and to help inform improved treatments, our research team at the University of Exeter and University College London surveyed 274 people with self-identified ketamine addiction from Europe, North America and Australia**. We believe the results offer the most in-depth data of its kind to date.

    While ketamine is chemically distinct from opioids, some users described its emotional and social toll as equally devastating. One participant described it as “the heroin of a generation”.

    This stark characterisation underscores the growing number of people seeking treatment – not only for addiction, but also for physical health complications that can follow heavy, prolonged use.

    Sixty percent of respondents reported bladder problems – a side effect well known among long-term ketamine users, but rarely discussed outside specialist circles. Many also described intense psychological symptoms such as cravings, low mood, anxiety and irritability.

    While these experiences probably reflect heavier users than the average recreational consumer, they highlight the serious harms experienced by those who become dependent.

    Alarming statistics

    Alarmingly, over a third of our respondents had never sought treatment. Among those who had, only 36% were satisfied with the care they received. One person noted: “I think they need to research drugs or options that fight K bladder, K kidneys and K stomach cramps. Ketamine can make your lifespan much shorter.”

    A recurring theme throughout the survey responses was frustration at the lack of awareness – among peers, educators, healthcare providers and even addiction specialists – about ketamine’s risks.

    “No one even understands what ketamine is or what it does,” said one participant. They added: “It shouldn’t be our job to explain the science. It should be taught. People need to be educated. There’s so much less information out there compared to drugs like cocaine.”

    Most participants had first encountered ketamine in recreational settings. Only four participants first encountered it through prescription, primarily in the United States, where at-home ketamine therapy is becoming more common. In contrast, the UK restricts ketamine use to clinical supervision.

    Crucially, the doses reported by participants were far higher than those used in medical settings. Rapid tolerance development and escalating use were common concerns.

    New treatment strategies

    To support those struggling with ketamine addiction, our findings point to the urgent need for new treatment strategies. These include pharmacological options to address physical complications like “K cramps” (severe abdominal pain often described as excruciating) and improved understanding of how ketamine causes bladder and kidney damage.

    Equally vital is improving education – both for the public and for healthcare professionals – about the risks of ketamine use and the realities of addiction. We hope our survey offers a platform for those with experience to be heard and for their voices to shape future research, clinical care and public health messaging.



    Read more:
    Ketamine: what you need to know about the UK’s growing drug problem

    This survey comes at a crucial time in ketamine’s evolving story. In response to rising recreational use and recent fatalities, the UK government is reportedly considering reclassifying ketamine as a Class A drug. However, when ketamine was reclassified from Class C to Class B in 2014, use among 16–24-year-olds increased by 231%, suggesting that harsher penalties do little to curb demand.

    Instead of relying on punitive measures, we must focus on expanding treatment access, reducing stigma and investing in prevention. Our study shows the urgent need for more research into what makes ketamine addictive, how to prevent its physical harms and, most importantly, how to help people recover and reclaim their lives.

    Celia Morgan receives funding from National Institute of Health Research (UK), Medical Research Council (UK), Economic and Social Research Council UK; Medical Research Foundation; Wellcome Trust; Awakn Life Sciences.

    Rebecca Harding 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. From shrinking bladders to severe stomach pain: survey reveals the painful realities of ketamine addiction – https://theconversation.com/from-shrinking-bladders-to-severe-stomach-pain-survey-reveals-the-painful-realities-of-ketamine-addiction-255197

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The world needs climate change leadership – it’s time for China to step up

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yixian Sun, Associate Professor in International Development, University of Bath

    The second Trump administration has announced various anti-climate policies under its “America first” strategy. Leaving the Paris agreement, kicking off a trade war, shutting down USAid and drilling for more oil and gas will not only undermine the US’s international reputation but will undermine the global effort to combat climate change.

    With the US in retreat from climate action and Europe preoccupied by security challenges, new leadership is urgently needed. China may be poised to fill this gap.

    The country is already dominant in most clean technologies, and its top leaders say climate action can help the country fulfil its responsibilities as a major power. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, reiterated this message at a recent closed-door meeting of heads of state, organised by the UN secretary general to discuss the climate crisis.

    After nodding to the Trump-initiated global economic shock, Xi said China “will overcome the headwinds and steadily move forward global climate governance”.

    But to take on this leadership, Beijing must first strengthen China’s domestic policies along with its support for climate action in the global south. The country has made remarkable progress on clean energy and its carbon emissions may peak this year.

    But more than 60% of the electricity generated in the country still comes from coal, and it remains unclear how fast the government plans to phase out fossil fuels. Meanwhile, some provincial governments are still issuing permits to add new coal-fired power plants.

    Coal storage in Ningbo, China.
    Alex Tao Wang / shutterstock

    There are things China can do almost immediately to show its commitment to climate action and rebuild international confidence in the Paris agreement. First, it must set very ambitious pledges to reduce its emissions for the coming decades ahead of this year’s UN climate conference (Cop30) to be held in November in Belém, Brazil.

    China was one of the many countries that missed a February deadline for submitting its targets (only 15 countries were on time). Until now, Beijing’s strategy has been to “wait and see” given the turbulence caused by the new Trump administration.

    What China ends up pledging will have a profound impact on global ambition. An ambitious target might mean reducing its emissions from their peak level by at least 30%. This is still achievable if the country can maintain its current progress in renewables.

    Despite the missed deadline, there are some positive noises coming from Beijing. In a recent high-level meeting organised by the UN secretary general, Xi announced that China’s next set of emission reduction targets, covering the period up to 2035, will cover all economic sectors and all greenhouse gases.

    This will be a major progress compared to China’s previous pledges, which only covered carbon dioxide (China is the world’s biggest emitter of the potent greenhouse gas methane, for instance) and did not integrate national targets into individual sectoral policies.

    More support for developing countries

    China has also been instrumental in bridging gaps between developed and developing countries in recent international talks. This was especially the case during negotiations at Cop29 last year in Baku, Azerbaijan, for a new global climate finance goal.

    Climate finance, in this context, refers to providing developing countries with the resources to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change. China still has developing country status in the UN’s climate change convention and, as such, has no official obligation to provide international climate finance.

    Despite this, it has already provided or helped raise around US$24.5 billion (£18.32 billion) for clean energy, disaster recovery and other climate actions in developing countries. That makes it the world’s fifth-largest climate finance donor according to some estimates.

    But for this investment to have a lasting impact, Beijing needs to be more transparent about where its funding goes and how projects are financed. It should also get local people more involved in designing and implementing the projects it funds.

    Reform the system

    China should also play a major role in reforming the global financial system to make it aligned with the Paris agreement. As a strong supporter of green finance, it can influence upcoming international talks such as the Financing for Development conference in Seville, as well as the UN’s negotiations on international tax cooperation. As co-chair of the G20’s sustainable finance working group, China also has the opportunity to push for more funding to support net zero.

    China is by far the world’s biggest producer of renewables, batteries, electric vehicles and many other clean technologies, and is in a unique position to supply them affordably.

    While it has already exported lots of these products, many developing countries still don’t have the know-how or the basic infrastructure to make the most of them (solar farms are of limited use if you don’t have a battery capable of storing the electricity they generate, for instance). China can address this by partnering with other governments in the global south to share technologies and invest in manufacturing.

    With global climate leadership at risk, China has the chance to step up. As an emerging superpower with advantages in clean technologies and a leadership that recently reaffirmed their commitment to climate action, the country is well positioned. The world is watching to see if China will follow through.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Yixian Sun receives funding from UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (grant number: MR/X035956/1).

    – ref. The world needs climate change leadership – it’s time for China to step up – https://theconversation.com/the-world-needs-climate-change-leadership-its-time-for-china-to-step-up-252698

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: My Cypriot grandfather was one of millions of foreign servicemen who fought for Britain. Now I’m telling their stories

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christiana Gregoriou, Professor in English Language and Stylistics, University of Leeds

    The second world war veteran community is far more ethnically diverse than many people realise, with over 3 million foreign servicemen serving with the British armed forces during the conflict.

    Second world war memoirs are vital records of how these servicemen remembered the war. They offer insights into their relationship to trauma and resilience and their search for meaning in life.

    May 8 2025 is the 80th anniversary of VE Day. As we mark it, it’s important that we celebrate this ethnic diversity and highlight how much this community’s memoirs can teach us about the joy of making sense and finding lessons, however challenging life may be.

    My research into second world war memoirs uses original archival materials including the memoir of my grandfather, Cypriot sergeant Phylactis Aristokleous (British Army). He was a prisoner of war (PoW) and one of the thousands of colonised Cypriots who volunteered to serve in the army’s Cyprus regiment at the time.

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    My colleague George Rodosthenous is currently adapting my grandfather’s memoir into a theatrical monologue. It will form the basis of a lecture-performance which will tour Yorkshire heritage sites in May as part of a week commemorating VE Day. All are welcome to attend.

    Though his story is one of deprivation and difficulty, Aristokleous’ war experience was also one he took huge pride in. He believed his time had been beneficial and felt a strong need to share his story with others.

    Memoirists are narrators of the history they bore witness to. Though their stories appear to be individual and personal, they are in constant dialogue with their readers, and with each other, informed by experience that is rich, historic and detailed.

    The stories in these memoirs are part of a web of experiences shared with and influenced by others. Read collectively, a culturally dominant story emerges of survival and determination.

    The war experience

    My grandfather believed that serving in the allied forces and writing about his experiences in his memoir shaped the rest of his life. He claimed that his war experiences determined his outlook and prepared him for the life he led after service. All the while, he was aware that his time had also split his sense of self into parts – some of which he left “behind”.

    Even though this positivity might well be more of a feature of his character rather than the war experience itself, it is nevertheless telling. Aristokleous selected many individual incidents to write about, and my analysis of his memoir focuses on them. He acknowledged that only some of them were incidents he had witnessed firsthand; the rest were stories that others had shared with him.

    The authenticity of the stories he shared tended to be driven by his belief that collectively, and in the war specifically, groups of people from the same nations behaved in the same sort of way.

    In one instance, for example, he accepted the authenticity of a story about Australians being courageous only on the basis of him witnessing a random Australian being courageous at a different point in time entirely. The story concerned two Australians who – after killing a German guard – shot each other so they would not be arrested. He believed this story because of an incident he witnessed himself – an Australian PoW who avenged the killing of an innocent British PoW by killing the German guard responsible, only to then be killed himself.

    Even though my grandfather’s stories were compellingly told and retold over the course of several decades, writing them down helped him organise and conceptualise them into a narrative life-story. In so doing, he added unlikely connections between incidents across his life and PoW journey. He made sense of incidents that happened at one point in place and time by linking them to another place and time entirely.

    In one chapter, for example, he talked about winning bread in a raffle, a moment he linked back to having previously asked God for forgiveness for having given a hungry British sergeant dry biscuits that were not his to give away. He deemed his winning a response to prayer.

    He also drew on analogies for the prisoner experience found in the natural world, which speaks to his dehumanisation during that time. There’s the story of a prisoner’s pet-crow, Jack, for example, who hid cheese the PoWs gave him in the snow for when he needed it. From this, he suggested that the PoWs needed to do the same themselves. These connections helped him to construct sense and rationale around what he went through, and even find closure and catharsis.

    Analysis of his many anecdotes also reveals a tendency to dissociate, by using “we” instead of “I”, for instance. He also distanced himself from what was happening by using direct quotes from others in mostly foreign languages. This lends his stories an air of authenticity.

    The memoir also uses proverbs specific to his Greek Cypriot culture. This enabled him to find another purpose to his stories – to turn them into life lessons for others, particularly his own children and grandchildren.

    An enduring legacy

    Most of the second world war veteran community is no longer with us. But their experience in the form of memoirs is, and so is the enduring legacy they left behind.

    The most cynical of us may argue that life is chaotic, futile and devoid of meaning, but what these memoirs, and my grandfather, may teach us is that we can craft ourselves a narrative to help make sense of it.

    Perhaps most importantly, this multicultural veteran community serves as a powerful reminder that, despite the global conflict they endured, it was through diverse nations uniting across ethnic lines, that they were able to defend their freedom, lives and livelihoods from those who sought to destroy them.

    Christiana Gregoriou 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. My Cypriot grandfather was one of millions of foreign servicemen who fought for Britain. Now I’m telling their stories – https://theconversation.com/my-cypriot-grandfather-was-one-of-millions-of-foreign-servicemen-who-fought-for-britain-now-im-telling-their-stories-252697

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What magic reveals about the brain – and how magicians sometimes fool themselves

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Radoslaw Wincza, Lecturer in Behavioural Sciences, University of Central Lancashire

    FOTOKITA/Shutterstock

    Magicians have long been masters of mind games, turning our brain’s quirks and blind spots into moments of pure astonishment. But magic isn’t just for show – it’s become a powerful tool in the cognitive science of unlocking the mind’s hidden limitations.

    The science of magic has grown into a serious field of study, showing us how unreliable our intuitions and self-perceptions can be. However, a new study shows that magicians may be wrong about why their tricks work.

    From psychology and artificial intelligence to education and mental health, magic is inspiring fresh approaches to some of today’s biggest challenges. Today, scientists and magicians are teaming up, bringing sleight-of-hand into the lab to reveal surprising truths about how we think, see and behave.

    For example, misdirection is a key conjuring principle used to manipulate what we see, and scientific research on misdirection shows just how easily our attention can be hijacked. Other techniques such as “forcing,” involve subtle ways to steer our decisions without us even noticing. These illusions expose the gap between what we think we’re aware of and what’s actually happening in our minds.

    Magicians are masters of mind control – using techniques like misdirection to guide your attention to one thing while something else slips by unnoticed. Take English illusionist Derren Brown. He claims that, with the right mix of gestures and phrases, he can get you to think of a card he’s already predicted. Sounds wild, right?

    According to research, it actually works. Well, kind of. Not 100% of the time, but around 20%. That might not sound like much, but consider this: the chance of randomly naming a specific card from a deck is less than 2%, and even lower if we account for biases (like people often picking the Ace of Spades). So, bumping that chance up tenfold is pretty impressive.

    What does this tell us? That our decisions – what we choose, what we notice – are heavily influenced by what’s going on around us, even if we have no clue it’s happening.

    And this doesn’t just apply to magic. For example, as you are doing your weekly shop, you might think you pick your favourite brand of toilet paper because it’s the best. But research shows that people often choose whatever is placed at eye level, or in the centre of a shelf. Supermarkets know this. That’s why the most profitable products get prime shelf space – to gently (but powerfully) sway your choices.

    We love to believe we’re rational thinkers. But the truth is, we’re often guided by invisible hands – and not just the magician’s.

    Magicians were tapping into the secrets of the human mind long before scientists caught up. For decades, they’ve been using intuition to craft tricks that play perfectly on our mental blind spots. But even seasoned professionals can be fooled by their own assumptions.

    Here’s a standout example: in the magic world, it’s commonly believed that if a spectator names a card out loud (like “Queen of Hearts”), that choice is freer and less influenced by a magician than if the spectator had physically picked a card from the deck the magician is holding. Sounds reasonable, right? Except – it’s the opposite.

    Actions v thoughts

    In our recent study, we interviewed nearly 140 people after taking part in a magic trick where they either named or physically picked a card. On average, people felt more in control when they physically selected a card, and less influenced by the magician – despite what the magic community might expect.

    These findings reveal something fascinating: our sense of control is split. We feel more ownership over our actions – what we do – than over our thoughts. In other words, we trust our hands more than our heads.

    The human brain isn’t as rational as we think.
    Everett Collection/Shutterstock

    But it doesn’t stop there. Another long-held belief among magicians is that a trick feels more impossible and impressive – and creates a stronger emotional punch – when it happens in the spectator’s hands.

    Think about it: if a card magically swaps places with another while you’re holding them that should blow your mind more than if the same trick happens, say, under a box on the table.

    Surprisingly, that’s not what the research shows. In our study, participants were shown two versions of the same trick – in one version, a freely selected card changed in the hands of the participant, while in the other version, the card changed underneath a box.

    We found that people’s reactions to this kind of trick didn’t significantly change based on where it happened. Whether the cards swapped places in their hands or under a box, their sense of amazement was the same. The only difference? When it happened in their own hands, they felt more confused – but not more astonished.

    Why? We think it’s because the trick itself, just like many others out there, is already packed with emotional punch. No matter where the magic takes place, the effect is still jaw-dropping. So, it turns out, the “where” doesn’t matter as much as magicians had thought. It’s the “what” – the impossibility of the effect – that really leaves people stunned.

    So, why are some magicians wrong about this stuff? Honestly, we don’t have a definitive answer yet. But what we do know is this: even with years of experience, our perceptions can still lead us astray. That’s why it’s so important to test our assumptions – not just trust our gut. Magic gives us a powerful reminder of this by turning our mental shortcuts into moments of surprise.

    And this lesson goes way beyond card tricks. In everyday life, we carry beliefs and assumptions – about people, situations, even ourselves – that might feel true but are built on shaky ground. Sometimes, it’s just a harmless mistake. Other times, it can lead to stereotyping, misunderstandings, or missed opportunities.

    So next time you catch yourself making a snap judgement, pause and ask: How sure am I, really? A little curiosity could save you from an awkward moment – or even help you connect with someone you might’ve otherwise dismissed.

    Because if there’s one thing magic teaches us, it’s this: the mind is full of surprises – and we’re all a little easier to fool than we’d like to admit.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. What magic reveals about the brain – and how magicians sometimes fool themselves – https://theconversation.com/what-magic-reveals-about-the-brain-and-how-magicians-sometimes-fool-themselves-255236

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Co-working spaces aren’t just about convenience – they bring a whole range of benefits for employees and communities

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mariachiara Barzotto, Senior Lecturer in Management Strategy and Organisation, University of Bath

    Master1305/Shutterstock

    When you think of co-working spaces – where workers from different industries come together to share a convenient workplace – you might picture a group of young freelancers hunched over laptops. But today’s co-working spaces have evolved into something more powerful – particularly in a world still reshuffling office work practices in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

    As workplaces adapt to new ways of operating, from hybrid to “digital nomadism”, co-working spaces can do more than simply offer flexibility. They can support workers’ wellbeing and work–life balance by enhancing a sense of community, building trust and new friendships, and encouraging continuous learning.

    Research I undertook with colleagues shows these spaces may also play a role in addressing societal challenges. They can provide support for workers with family or caring responsibilities and enhance digital connectivity in under-served areas by offering faster, stable internet access. They can also encourage knowledge-sharing around new technology – while reducing the need for long commutes, which brings environmental benefits.

    Other research shows that co-working staff tend to report higher levels of job satisfaction and wellbeing, particularly compared with those working at home. There are various reasons for this.

    The ability to choose how and where to work, to exchange knowledge with others on-site, and to avoid long commutes all contribute to better mental health, happiness and wellbeing.

    Productivity can also be boosted by, for example, the social support and interactions encouraged by open architecture and flexible workstations, as well as by a workplace that is much closer to home.

    Some co-working spaces have gone a step further, integrating childcare, wellness programmes and even care for older dependants. One example is COWORCare, a European initiative linking co-working spaces with family support such as kindergartens and elderly-care services. This helps parents (especially mothers) participate more fully in the labour market.

    Workers often need to update their skills to stay competitive. While informal learning happens in traditional offices too, co-working spaces can offer advantages by connecting professionals, entrepreneurs and freelancers across industries. This encourages knowledge-sharing between sectors.

    Many also host training sessions, workshops and networking events, making it easier to develop skills than when working from home or in more homogeneous office settings.

    Some of these spaces also create opportunities, both formal and informal, for young people to learn from more skilled and experienced workers. They can also help youngsters who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) into the workforce.

    This all matters because the shift to greener and more digital economies – known as the “twin transition” – is creating both opportunities and risks. Many workers, especially in rural and older populations, could be left behind without access to training or digital infrastructure. Co-working spaces specifically for older people are ideally placed to address this.

    Such spaces can act as “infrastructures of care” by helping workers feel like part of a community. Perhaps one of the most underrated benefits of co-working is how it can combat loneliness and boost morale for staff who might otherwise be working from home or face a long commute to their employer’s office.

    Remote working can be lonely – and people in the early stages of their career can miss out on chances to learn from more experienced workers.
    fizkes/Shutterstock

    During the pandemic, many people realised how much they missed casual chats and social interaction. Co-working can bring that back – even for remote workers. In fact, co-working spaces can create the kind of “light-touch” community that encourages inclusion without being overwhelming.

    Left-behind places

    Co-working isn’t just for buzzing city centres. Some of the most exciting developments are happening in small towns and rural areas.

    Governments across Europe are supporting this shift. Ireland’s Connected Hubs scheme has built a national network of remote-working hubs, aiming to revitalise rural communities and reduce the urban-rural divide.

    These hubs can provide better internet than workers may have at home, and keep talented young people in the region. They can also spark local entrepreneurship, especially when paired with funding and mentoring. For example, the Youth Re-Working Rural project across Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, Latvia and Slovenia supports youth and creative industries through co-working and digital training.

    But these spaces aren’t a silver bullet. Our research also shows they are most effective when public investment simultaneously targets specific areas.

    This could be extending high-speed broadband to rural areas, improving transport connections and providing vocational and digital skills training. Policies that support back-to-work programmes – for example, mentoring for unemployed people, parents returning after career breaks, or those who have lost jobs reintegrating into the labour market – are crucial, alongside access to affordable housing.

    Co-working spaces can be part of the solution to making work better – not just more convenient and efficient, but more human. They can improve wellbeing, encourage new skills, and bring life back into places that have been left behind after traditional local industries declined.

    Rethinking the future of work in the face of multiple transitions – digital, green and demographic – means also thinking about the kind of spaces that make learning, connection and wellbeing possible.

    Mariachiara Barzotto 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. Co-working spaces aren’t just about convenience – they bring a whole range of benefits for employees and communities – https://theconversation.com/co-working-spaces-arent-just-about-convenience-they-bring-a-whole-range-of-benefits-for-employees-and-communities-255281

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: RFK Jr. said many autistic people will never write a poem − even though there’s a rich history of neurodivergent poets and writers

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Bradley J. Irish, Associate Professor of English, Arizona State University

    Scholars today believe Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was probably on the autism spectrum. Bettmann/Getty Images

    U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently declared autism a national “epidemic,” calling it a “preventable disease” that is growing at an “alarming rate.”

    He went on to cast autism as an “individual tragedy” that “destroys families,” while stating that many autistic people will “never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date.”

    The remarks drew widespread criticism from researchers, advocacy groups and autistic people. They objected to these scientifically unsound characterizations of autism, along with the broad strokes with which Kennedy described autistic people, who exist on a vast spectrum.

    As an autistic English professor who studies literature and neurodiversity, I was especially unnerved by Kennedy’s contention that many autistic people will never write poetry.

    It couldn’t be further from the truth.

    Working poets

    There’s a remarkable corpus of poetry written by autistic people, who have also written novels, plays and virtually any kind of literature imaginable. The Autism Books by Autistic Authors Project catalogs 133 collections of poetry authored by autistic individuals, which represents only a fraction of the work created by autistic poets throughout history.

    One of the most well-known contemporary autistic poets is David Miedzianik, who in 1986 also wrote one of the earliest autistic memoirs. He’s published his poetry in the books “I Hope Some Lass Will Want Me After Reading All This,” “Taking the Load Off My Mind: Autobiographical and Other Poems” and “Now All I’ve Got Left is Myself: Autobiographical Poems, 1993-1996.”

    Adam Wolfond is another celebrated autistic poet. Wolfond, who is nonspeaking, has released several books of poetry, including “In Way of Music Water Answers Toward Questions Other Than What Is Autism” in 2019, “The Wanting Way” in 2022 and “Open Book in Ways of Water” the following year. And Traci Neal is an autistic poet, advocate and spoken-word artist whose work has been featured in Newsweek and NPR’s Poetry Moment.

    Autistic poets write about many topics. But their work is particularly poignant when discussing how they fit into a world that often labels them broken, incomplete or something less than human.

    In writer and poet Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay’s 2010 poem “Misfit,” the speaker of the poem notes that other people often ostracize him for his differences. But he doesn’t care: 

      My hands, as usual, were flapping
  The birds knew I was Autistic;
  They found no wrong with anything.

    Poets from the past

    Beyond living writers, readers and researchers have also explored the possibility that poets from the past may have had autistic characteristics, even before autism came to be formally theorized by clinicians in the mid-20th century.

    Of course, it’s important to exercise caution when categorizing people from the past, since they lived in worlds without those terms. At the same time, there have always been people whose minds and bodies worked in ways we’d now describe as autistic. So most literary scholars believe it is perfectly reasonable to discuss it as a possibility, as long as these historical figures aren’t given a formal, authoritative “diagnosis.”

    In 2010, for example, literary scholar Julie Brown suggested that renowned American poet Emily Dickinson had characteristics – such as sensory issues, social quirkiness and a savant’s command of language – that align with those of some individuals on the autism spectrum. More recent readers have agreed.

    In fact, many historical poets, novelists and playwrights have been tentatively associated with autism or other kinds of neurodivergence, such as William Wordsworth, Lewis Carroll, Hans Christian Andersen, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf.

    Unique voices, unique perspectives

    Of course, there are countless autistic people who write poetry who aren’t famous and haven’t published books. Neurodivergent poet and educator Chris Martin, who works with autistic people around the world, helps his students discover how to express themselves in poems.

    He describes this work in “May Tomorrow Be Awake: On Poetry, Autism, and Our Neurodiverse Future,” a book that’s part memoir of Martin’s own journey and part poetry anthology of his students’ poetry.

    Autistic poet and educator Chris Martin and autistic poet Adam Wolfond, who is nonspeaking, participate in a reading in 2023.

    Martin describes the “remarkable reciprocity poetry shares with autism or autistic minds or autistic ways of moving through the world.”

    “Time and again,” he adds, “I have watched my students … grasp the hand of poetry and begin dancing like they’ve been doing it their whole lives.”

    In fact, he argues that “poetry’s patterned structure uniquely serves neurodivergent thinking.” Because many autistic people seek patterns with a “combination of knack and urgency,” reading and writing poetry, which is anchored in patterns of words, images, sounds and forms, is particularly well suited for their way of thinking.

    In a recent interview with the magazine Mother Jones, autistic poet, educator and attorney Elizabeth R. McClellan said, “I know so many poets with various kinds of neurodivergence and that adds to the way that we see the world in our unique way, and that adds to our unique voice as poets.”

    In other words, autistic people are able to expand the possibilities of poetry itself.

    Bradley J. Irish 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. RFK Jr. said many autistic people will never write a poem − even though there’s a rich history of neurodivergent poets and writers – https://theconversation.com/rfk-jr-said-many-autistic-people-will-never-write-a-poem-even-though-theres-a-rich-history-of-neurodivergent-poets-and-writers-255367

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: No whistleblower is an island – why networks of allies are key to exposing corruption

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kate Kenny, Professor of Business and Society, University of Galway

    Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen speaks at a conference in 2022. Kimberly White/Getty Images for SumOfUs

    Whistleblowers – people who expose wrongdoing within their organizations – play a crucial role in holding governments and corporations accountable. But speaking up can come at a cost. People who report misconduct often face retaliation, job loss or legal threats, making whistleblowing risky and challenging. And when legal protections for whistleblowers are weakened, the risks only grow.

    That’s exactly the situation many workers face today.

    In the U.S., a Trump administration executive order threatens to effectively strip thousands of federal workers’ rights to whistleblower protection. The executive order is part of a larger effort to reclassify civil servants as “at-will” workers who can be sacked at any time for any reason. While federal workers have enjoyed protection against whistleblower reprisal for decades, those safeguards are now under threat. And this comes as private-sector whistleblowers have increasingly faced reprisal, too.

    Yet while the risks are real, whistleblowing isn’t impossible. Indeed, after researching whistleblowing for over 10 years, I’ve observed that insiders who successfully sound the alarm often do so with help − by partnering with allies who can amplify their message and help shield them from retaliation.

    Meet the ‘regulators of last resort’

    My new book, “Regulators of Last Resort: Whistleblowers, the Limits of the Law and the Power of Partnerships,” tells the stories of whistleblowers from Facebook, Amazon, Theranos, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers and Ireland’s public electricity service. In each case, the worker suffered reprisal and was aggressively silenced. In each case, they persisted, and allies emerged to help.

    For Facebook employee Frances Haugen, finding an ally meant teaming up with Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, a specialist in tech who had been writing about Facebook’s misdeeds for some time. When Haugen decided to go public about the social media platform’s knowing exploitation of teenagers and its awareness of the violence incited by poorly regulated non-English versions of its site, Horwitz was pivotal in orchestrating when and how the newspaper articles would appear, helping maximize their impact and granting Haugen control over how her story was told.

    This partnership was no accident; Haugen chose the reporter and tech expert carefully. “I auditioned Jeff for a while,” she later told a reporter. “One of the reasons I went with him is that he was less sensationalistic than other choices I could have made.”

    Indeed, many whistleblowers disclose with the wrong journalist, leaving themselves open to attack.

    At Theranos – a multibillion-dollar biotech company that turned out to be a fraud – a lawyer “friend of a friend” gave whistleblower Erika Cheung critical advice about disclosing to a regulator. This was a lifeline for the recent graduate, who feared for her career and safety after being threatened by bosses and lawyers and warned to stay silent and obey her nondisclosure agreement. Meanwhile, Cheung had no money for formal legal representation. It was that call to the lawyer that made all the difference, Cheung told me. “He said, ‘You can whistleblow.’”

    Her contact explained that if she disclosed to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, she could avail of whistleblower protection and break her NDA. She would have to do it right and focus on the details: to highlight Theranos’ “regulatory noncompliance” and demonstrate the firm was violating the rules for proficiency testing. But all it would require of Cheung was a simple email to the right organization.

    Finally, my research also detailed the many colleagues at Amazon who supported whistleblowing manager Chris Smalls in disclosing risks to life and health during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. When Smalls was fired for speaking out and subject to racist language in internal memos about the incident that were later leaked, his close colleague Derrick Palmer described his response. “I was appalled,” Palmer said. “I just knew that they wanted to – pretty much – silence the whole effort. Anyone speaking out. That was how they were going to treat them, moving forward. Including myself.”

    Labor leader Chris Smalls speaks during a conference in Chicago, Ill., in 2022.
    Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

    This strengthened Palmer’s determination to help Smalls. Meanwhile, the leaked memo prompted letters of support and emails “from people from all over the country – Amazon workers, non-Amazon workers, that just want to help advocate as well,” as Smalls put it. In the days and weeks after, workers held demonstrations at Amazon facilities all across the U.S., with banners declaring solidarity with the New York warehouse whistleblowers.

    No whistleblower is an island

    These allies often go overlooked when the media focuses on whistleblowers. But their support is critical, particularly in an era when protections for workers who speak up are coming under increasing threat worldwide.

    Organizing whistleblowing allies involves strategy, and some nonprofit and civil society groups have become experts in this domain. Leading the way is the U.S. Government Accountability Project and its “information matchmaking” approach. The idea is simple: Whistleblowers need a whole team of other people – from experts to members of the public – on their side. And this takes planning.

    For years, lawyer-activists like those at the Government Accountability Project have been treating whistleblower protection and support efforts as holistic campaigns that entail a media operation and networking effort, as well as a legal defense.

    Take the example of Dawn Wooten, a former nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center – a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor – who encountered and disclosed medical misconduct and critical failures. Dana Gold at the Government Accountability Project supported her whistleblowing with other activists, enlisted civil society groups and politicians in the cause, helped land newspaper articles in The Guardian and The New York Times, and even arranged a New Yorker podcast in which Wooten told her story.

    The information went viral, and multiple investigations ensued. Within a year, the Department of Homeland Security directed ICE to formally end its contract with the Irwin County Detention Center, citing the revelations made public by Wooten and some of the detained women.

    None of this is straightforward. In most whistleblowing disputes, the organization holds the balance of power. It has the files, the witnesses and the money to pay good lawyers. I’ve found that whistleblower allies must work with whatever limited resources they can marshal to give themselves an advantage. This means engaging influential people who might help, including pro bono lawyers, specialists who can give evidence, concerned regulators and beat journalists. In short, what is necessary is experts across all domains who are interested in the story and willing to help. And it’s the collective effort that matters.

    Even with this support, however, whistleblowers don’t have it easy. In many high-profile cases where a disclosure is made public and a whistleblower is clearly vindicated and recognized as a courageous truth-teller, they can suffer afterward. Potential employers can balk at the prospect of hiring a whistleblower, even a celebrated one. And vindictive organizations can and do continue retaliating, even years after a story has dropped off the front pages.

    Whistleblower allies and their strategies don’t offer a magic bullet. But they can help tip the balance of power, bringing public opinion to bear on an employer bent on reprisal or a government intent on coddling the powerful.

    Kate Kenny 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. No whistleblower is an island – why networks of allies are key to exposing corruption – https://theconversation.com/no-whistleblower-is-an-island-why-networks-of-allies-are-key-to-exposing-corruption-250721

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Florida panthers and black bears need a literal path for survival – here’s how the Florida Wildlife Corridor provides it in one of the fastest-growing US states

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Thomas Hoctor, Research Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida

    Florida panthers are a federally endangered species. Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

    Imagine a Florida panther slinking its way 400 miles (645 kilometers) from the Big Cypress Swamp, in the southwest part of the state, to Okefenokee Swamp, on Florida’s northern border with Georgia, without ever being spotted by a human.

    No one has yet documented a panther making this journey. But evidence suggests it happens.

    Florida panthers were once distributed throughout most of the southeast U.S., but now their number is tiny – maybe 200 or so – and their known breeding range has greatly shrunk, now concentrated in southwest Florida.

    They do show up in north Florida and Georgia on occasion when young males travel north looking to escape social pressure from adult males. Biologists have found their tracks not far south of Okefenokee. One panther made it almost to Atlanta before it was shot by a hunter.

    Large mammals such as the Florida panther and black bear literally need room to roam in order to hunt, breed and thrive. Such journeys across the state of Florida are possible thanks to the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a statewide system of interconnected wildlife habitat that turns 15 this year.

    The Florida Wildlife Corridor built on conservation efforts that date back to the 1980s and 1990s, when researchers from the University of Florida, including the two of us and our mentor Larry Harris, created maps of existing and proposed conservation areas that interlinked across the state.

    A family of Florida black bears scratches on a log in the dry season.
    Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

    Today, the Florida Wildlife Corridor spans 18 million acres – about half of the state.

    Ten million of these acres are protected from development. They are either local, state, regional or federal public conservation lands or they are private conservation easements. These easements restrict the landowners’ uses of the land to activities compatible with wildlife conservation, such as ranching, timber production and other sustainable activities.

    The other 8 million acres are the focus of state-funded land protection efforts to close the unprotected gaps. For now, these lands could be converted to intensive residential, commercial or industrial development.

    The corridor is an ambitious conservation project. It provides sufficient habitat to sustain healthy wildlife populations while also protecting Florida’s key ecosystem services, including water quality and flood storage. Ecosystem services refers to the benefits that ecosystems provide humans.

    The corridor is also a unique example of how conservationists can combine science with public education and outreach to protect important natural habitats – even in regions like Florida that face burgeoning population growth.

    Florida’s population boom

    Until the early 20th century, Florida was the most remote and undeveloped state on the East Coast.

    After World War II and the introduction of affordable home air conditioning, Florida transformed from a sleepy winter holiday destination to the third-most-populated state in the nation.

    Currently, about 300,000 new residents move to Florida each year.

    With this population growth came a rapid loss of natural habitat and rural landscapes. Using federal land use data, we calculate that approximately 60,000 acres of Florida habitat are lost each year.

    Florida’s development was initially concentrated along the coasts, especially in areas with extensive beaches. With the opening of tourist attractions such as Disney World near Orlando in 1971, central Florida also became a hub of rapid growth.

    It became clear to concerned Floridians that virtually all land not protected by permanent conservation designations could eventually be lost to urban and suburban sprawl.

    Responding to these concerns, Florida became a leader in land protection, which has generally been popular and bipartisan in the Sunshine State.

    Since the 1970s, Florida has protected millions of acres of conservation lands through programs including the Florida Preservation 2000 Act of 1990, the Florida Forever acquisition program that replaced it in 2001, and the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, also created in 2001.

    The authors estimate that approximately 60,000 acres of Florida habitat are lost each year to development.
    Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

    Scientists identify key areas to protect

    Wildlife biologists since the 1930s have observed how birds and mammals use wooded fencerows, hedgerows, streamsides and other natural corridors to travel through agricultural regions in the U.S. and Canada.

    When corridors are protected, they allow animals to travel safely across landscapes and they can save animals from extinction. They also provide people with ecosystem services such as clean water and flood protection.

    Since 1995, the Florida Ecological Greenways Network, or FEGN, has identified a statewide system of large, intact natural areas and connecting green spaces. It is now part of the state-legislated Florida Greenways and Trails System, a statewide network of recreational trails and ecological corridors.

    As conservation scientists who are deeply involved with the FEGN, we were able to make use of the state’s early investment in geographic information systems. GIS produces digital maps and other high-quality data on the locations of wildlife habitat and other conservation priorities.

    The Florida Wildlife Corridor covers nearly 18 million acres of Florida. A little over half of the acres, pictured in dark green, are conserved lands while the rest, pictured in light green, are considered opportunity areas for future conservation.
    University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning

    We continue to work with state agencies and other partners to continually update the FEGN as land use changes and as better data and tools become available to identify conservation priority areas.

    Getting the public on board

    While the FEGN proved fundamental for supporting state conservation programs, it was not widely known by Floridians or visitors to the state.

    In 2010, conservation photographer Carlton Ward and colleagues proposed a simple, unified map and a public campaign to promote protection of the top-priority lands in the Florida Ecological Greenways Network.

    Ward called it the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

    He organized a team of photographers, videographers and scientists who trekked across large swaths of the corridor to document Florida’s natural ecosystems and native species that were threatened by development.

    The expeditioners highlighted species like the Florida panther, Florida black bear and Florida grasshopper sparrow. They raised awareness about the corridor’s connection to water conservation, lands managed by ranchers and foresters, and recreational opportunities. And they produced documentary films, media and social media coverage, and public talks and events to educate the public on the importance of protecting the corridor.

    Photographer Carlton Ward Jr. paddles to set up cameras at a site in the Fakahatchee Strand in southwest Florida.
    Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

    Bipartisan support continues

    In June 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act into law. The legislation, which had unanimous support from the state Legislature, officially recognized the corridor’s critical role in Florida’s economy, cultural and natural heritage, and protection of imperiled species and ecosystems.

    The law also reenergized legislative support and funding to acquire land directly for conservation and to establish conservation easements on private lands.

    Ranchers with the Seminole Tribe of Florida steer cattle through wooden sorting pens at the Big Cypress Reservation in southern Florida.
    Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

    The 2025-2026 Florida budget, which is still under negotiation, earmarks US$300 million to $450 million for land protection programs.

    And on April 23, 2025, the Florida Senate passed a resolution to proclaim April 22 as Florida Wildlife Corridor Day. The resolution affirmed the corridor’s importance as “a unique natural resource” that is essential for “preserving the green infrastructure that is the foundation of this state’s economy and quality of life.”

    There is a lot of land protection work left to be done in a race against a burgeoning human population. But Florida has proved ready to implement science-based strategies and work with willing landowners to protect a statewide wildlife corridor as a key element of Florida’s future.

    The Florida Wildlife Corridor is also a potential model for other states and regions that want to protect viable wildlife populations and ecosystem services.

    Uplands and wetlands east of Fort Myers, in the core of Florida panther territory, are part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
    Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

    Thomas Hoctor receives funding from state government related to working on the science and planning associated with the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

    Reed Frederick Noss 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. Florida panthers and black bears need a literal path for survival – here’s how the Florida Wildlife Corridor provides it in one of the fastest-growing US states – https://theconversation.com/florida-panthers-and-black-bears-need-a-literal-path-for-survival-heres-how-the-florida-wildlife-corridor-provides-it-in-one-of-the-fastest-growing-us-states-251790

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The ‘sacramental shame’ many LGBTQ+ conservative Christians wrestle with – and how they find healing

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Dawne Moon, Professor of Social and Cultural Sciences, Marquette University

    Not all LGBTQ+ Christians belong to congregations that support that aspect of their identity. D-Keine/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Kai found Jesus as a teenager. A person of white and Hawaiian descent, Kai now goes by gender-neutral pronouns and identifies as “māhū,” the traditional Hawaiian term for someone in-between masculine and feminine. But when they first became Christian, the high-schooler identified as gay – and was committed to celibacy.

    Kai – a pseudonym to protect their privacy – embraced their church’s “welcoming but not affirming” teachings about LGBTQ+ people, agreeing that same-sex intimacy was incompatible with being Christian. It felt good to be sacrificing for the Lord, Kai recalls. But they eventually realized they were harming themself.

    “I found myself unconsciously shutting down connection,” Kai told us. “Inside, I was crumbling in every moment because I was so fervently policing myself.”

    Kai believed – and their church taught – that God’s own love is a gift, freely given. Nevertheless, they still felt that to be worthy of that love, Kai had to “surrender” their orientation and need for emotional connection, even with friends.

    “It took me a long time to be able to look back on that and say, ‘Those were days when I hated myself,’” Kai said. “I hated myself for the sake of demonstrating how much I loved God.”

    Kai began to reflect on what it meant to be Christian and concluded that Jesus didn’t have a problem with same-sex marriage, or gender beyond clear ideas of “male” and “female.” Christian “friends” quietly cut Kai out of their lives.

    As a sociologist and a philosopher, we’ve worked together to understand the experiences of LGBTQ+ conservative Christians. Kai’s story illustrates a dynamic that in our 2025 book, “Choosing Love,” we call “sacramental shame.”

    In Christianity, the word “sacrament” often refers to a particular rite, like baptism, that provides a tangible sign of God’s presence. Many of the LGBTQ+ Christians we spoke with felt that conservative congregations expected them to demonstrate shame for their identity to prove they hadn’t turned their backs on God – that God was still present in their lives.

    Weight of shame

    Some Protestant denominations fully affirm LGBTQ+ identities, same-sex marriage and gender transition, and other churches are split.

    Two women at a church in Suffolk, England, on Dec. 17, 2023, after blessings for same-sex couples were approved for Church of England services.
    Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images

    But when we learned that LGBTQ+ people and their allies were advocating for change in conservative churches, we wanted to hear their stories.

    In interviews and fieldwork, LGBTQ+ evangelicals told us that their churches often treated being cisgender and straight as though it were more important than the Ten Commandments. In some congregations, being LGBTQ+ is treated as an especially grave sin. But since people can’t change their sexual orientation or gender identity at will, treating these things as sins creates an experience of endless shame.

    In the “sacramental shame” dynamic, churches require LGBTQ+ people to feel and display shame as the sign that they have not rejected God. Their churches, families and friends more or less require them to act as though their very capacity to love others, and to recognize the truth about themselves, is a danger to the people they love.

    As one person recalled, “there were a lot of [friends] that I cut off. And I thought I was endangering them. I thought that I was going to poison them.”

    Feeling unworthy of the love of God and other people can make people feel like their lives are not worth living. We heard about countless struggles with addiction, depression and suicide attempts – and sometimes even physical symptoms, like unexplained asthma attacks or autoimmune disorders that developed as LGBTQ+ people wrestled with the stress of trying fervently to be worthy of love.

    Queer Christians of color

    Sacramental shame isn’t easy for anyone, but often it can be more complicated for Black or Indigenous Christians and other Christians of color. In part, that’s because centuries-old racist tropes often depict minority groups in a sexualized way, as “promiscuous” or “exotic.” Not wanting to affirm those stereotypes can make it harder for LGBTQ+ Christians of color to navigate life.

    Kai, like many Christians, was drawn to the faith’s message of love and justice for the oppressed. Religion can offer support and strength for dealing with the realities of racism. But that can sometimes turn into a pressure to disprove racism by behaving as “respectably” as possible.

    LGBTQ+ Christians who are people of color sometimes feel added pressure.
    bojanstory/E+ via Getty Images

    A Black, bisexual pastor we’ll call Imani grew up in a church that quietly supported LGBTG+ people, but she never knew it. As a young person, Imani worried that her own sexuality might cause trouble for her mother, who had already been through a lot:

    I was scared of embarrassing my mother. … All I could think about was the swirling doom that would be, if people found out. … I never even thought for a second that it was an option.

    Some white respondents, too, feared that coming out would embarrass their parents. But for Imani, silence about her sexuality seemed necessary to protect the Black community’s respectability, as well as her family’s belonging in the church.

    We also met Darren: a Black, gay man who was urged to try to fight being gay. His pastor’s ideas about how to “fix” Darren involved having him live in an out-of-state church building for four years, sleeping on the altar and fasting two days a week.

    It ended when Darren heard Christ telling him to stop hiding from life. So he went home, and his pastor told the church not to talk to him.

    Shifting views

    Some conservative Christians, including allies who aren’t LGBTQ+, are starting to change the conversation – and their own views.

    In 2024, New Testament scholar Richard Hays and his son Christopher Hays drew ire from some fellow evangelicals by publishing a book arguing that God’s mercy creates room in the church for LGBTQ+ people. Before them, evangelical leaders such as Tony Campolo, David Gushee and James Brownson had also changed their minds.

    Leaders or laypeople who have rethought the issue often pointed out to us that Jesus said all of the Ten Commandments come down to loving God and your neighbor. Some said their views began to shift when they remembered to exercise humility, realizing that they might not know everything about gender, sexuality and God’s plan.

    In interviews, many Christians talked about the power of humility.
    Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images

    For example, the Book of Genesis says that God created male and female; it also says God created day and night, and sea and dry land. But as transgender Bible scholar Austen Hartke writes in his 2018 book “Transforming,” recognizing night and day doesn’t preclude sunsets. The fact that there are seas and dry land doesn’t mean marshes are abominable.

    As Kai tried to share God’s love with other LGBTQ+ people, Kai came to realize that their church’s expectation for all LGBTQ+ people to be celibate “wasn’t just hurting me; it was hurting other people.” Kai decided that “As holy as this feels, it’s not the spirit of the Jesus I fell in love with when I became a Christian.”

    Humility is not the opposite of pride; it is a realistic awareness of your gifts and your limitations. When LGBTQ+ people celebrate pride, they are celebrating the often hard-won knowledge that they are human beings, worthy of love.

    Dawne Moon received funding for this project from the Templeton Religion Trust, the Association for the Sociology of Religion, the Louisville Institute, and Marquette University. In the course of conducting research for the project this draws from, she served from 2015-2017 on the board of the Center for Inclusivity.

    Theresa Tobin received funding from the Templeton Religion Trust and Marquette University.

    – ref. The ‘sacramental shame’ many LGBTQ+ conservative Christians wrestle with – and how they find healing – https://theconversation.com/the-sacramental-shame-many-lgbtq-conservative-christians-wrestle-with-and-how-they-find-healing-248961

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –