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Category: Analysis

  • MIL-Evening Report: DeepSeek shatters beliefs about the cost of AI, leaving US tech giants reeling

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael J. Davern, Professor of Accounting & Business Information Systems, The University of Melbourne

    Almost A$1 trillion (US$600 billion) was wiped off the value of artificial intelligence microchip maker Nvidia overnight on Monday, when a little-known Chinese start up, DeepSeek, threatened to upend the US tech market.

    While Nvidia suffered the biggest one-day loss in sharemarket history, other tech giants – Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, who are investing heavily in competing AI tools including ChatGPT and Gemini – were also hit.

    The rout was caused by investors’ shock at the claimed performance of DeepSeek’s new R1 chatbot. The Chinese AI was reported to be more advanced than its competitors and less expensive to develop.

    DeepSeek R1 has soared, becoming the top free downloaded app on Apple’s app store, as US technology and related stock prices fell dramatically.

    Why tech stocks took a deep dive

    The market was surprised by DeepSeek providing what amounts to cheaper technology but comparable performance.

    This has dramatically changed the market’s expectations of computing power, showing more can be done for less. It has also compromised the competitiveness of the US tech companies’ existing AI products and developments.

    Stock prices are driven by market expectations. The claimed performance of DeepSeek R1 prompted a major revision of expectations about what was technologically possible and about how cheaply AI could be developed and operated.

    Investors have rapidly incorporated the news of a low-cost Chinese AI competitor into stock prices, anticipating this new entrant could disrupt the market and erode the competitive advantage of existing leaders.

    Who is DeepSeek and what is R1?

    DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Chinese hedge fund High Flyer, which had been exclusively using AI in trading since 2021.

    DeepSeek develops large language models (LLMs) that can underpin chatbots and other AI-based tools. R1 is the latest iteration of DeepSeek’s chatbot and underlying model. It builds on earlier versions of generative AI models developed by DeepSeek, and considerable amounts of data, but is a surprising leap forward in performance and cost.

    CAPTION TO GO HERE.
    Koshiro K/Shutterstock

    Technology investors believe R1 matches or outperforms competitors, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4.o1 on numerous benchmarks.

    However, there are some key differences:

    1. The model underlying R1 operates in a much less intensive manner. It is much cheaper to develop and run, requiring less data and computing power.

    2. The training of the model was possible despite the US export ban preventing Chinese companies such as DeepSeek from accessing chips from US companies such as Nvidia. The Biden administration had introduced laws restricting the sale of certain computer chips and machinery to China, in a move intended to block its rival from accessing some of the world’s most advanced technology.

    3. The training data and data uploaded to R1 sit on servers in China. Given concerns about data privacy and intellectual property have already been raised about US-based companies, having data under jurisdiction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is arguably even more concerning.

    4. The chatbot program code is free to download, read and modify, unlike ChatGPT. This is however somewhat a false transparency – what matters more is the underlying model, not the Chatbot code.

    5. R1 is known to censor its responses in line with Chinese Communist Party values.

    The future of AI and tech stocks

    It is unknown whether this crash in price of tech stocks is an irrational panic that will reverse, or whether it simply reflects correct pricing. The future costs and benefits of AI are still uncertain.

    This is both a technological and an economic question.

    In technological terms, it is yet to be seen whether R1 really does require less computing power and less data to train and use.

    Economically, there are potential winners and losers. AI users may win with cheaper access to AI, and LLMs in particular, leading to increased adoption and associated productivity gains. Existing producers such as Nvidia may lose out in what was a market with few real competitors.

    More broadly, society may benefit from less computationally intensive, and therefore more energy-efficient, AI. However, the geopolitical risk of a single country capturing the market, together with concerns about data privacy, intellectual property and censorship may outweigh the benefits.

    Michael J. Davern has previously received funding from CPA Australia for industry research into Artificial Intelligence.

    Matt Pinnuck 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. DeepSeek shatters beliefs about the cost of AI, leaving US tech giants reeling – https://theconversation.com/deepseek-shatters-beliefs-about-the-cost-of-ai-leaving-us-tech-giants-reeling-248424

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: DeepSeek: how a small Chinese AI company is shaking up US tech heavyweights

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tongliang Liu, Associate Professor of Machine Learning and Director of the Sydney AI Centre, University of Sydney

    Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek has sent shockwaves through the tech community, with the release of extremely efficient AI models that can compete with cutting-edge products from US companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

    Founded in 2023, DeepSeek has achieved its results with a fraction of the cash and computing power of its competitors.

    DeepSeek’s “reasoning” R1 model, released last week, provoked excitement among researchers, shock among investors, and responses from AI heavyweights. The company followed up on January 28 with a model that can work with images as well as text.

    So what has DeepSeek done, and how did it do it?

    What DeepSeek did

    In December, DeepSeek released its V3 model. This is a very powerful “standard” large language model that performs at a similar level to OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5.

    While these models are prone to errors and sometimes make up their own facts, they can carry out tasks such as answering questions, writing essays and generating computer code. On some tests of problem-solving and mathematical reasoning, they score better than the average human.

    V3 was trained at a reported cost of about US$5.58 million. This is dramatically cheaper than GPT-4, for example, which cost more than US$100 million to develop.

    DeepSeek also claims to have trained V3 using around 2,000 specialised computer chips, specifically H800 GPUs made by NVIDIA. This is again much fewer than other companies, which may have used up to 16,000 of the more powerful H100 chips.

    On January 20, DeepSeek released another model, called R1. This is a so-called “reasoning” model, which tries to work through complex problems step by step. These models seem to be better at many tasks that require context and have multiple interrelated parts, such as reading comprehension and strategic planning.

    The R1 model is a tweaked version of V3, modified with a technique called reinforcement learning. R1 appears to work at a similar level to OpenAI’s o1, released last year.

    DeepSeek also used the same technique to make “reasoning” versions of small open-source models that can run on home computers.

    This release has sparked a huge surge of interest in DeepSeek, driving up the popularity of its V3-powered chatbot app and triggering a massive price crash in tech stocks as investors re-evaluate the AI industry. At the time of writing, chipmaker NVIDIA has lost around US$600 billion in value.

    How DeepSeek did it

    DeepSeek’s breakthroughs have been in achieving greater efficiency: getting good results with fewer resources. In particular, DeepSeek’s developers have pioneered two techniques that may be adopted by AI researchers more broadly.

    The first has to do with a mathematical idea called “sparsity”. AI models have a lot of parameters that determine their responses to inputs (V3 has around 671 billion), but only a small fraction of these parameters is used for any given input.

    However, predicting which parameters will be needed isn’t easy. DeepSeek used a new technique to do this, and then trained only those parameters. As a result, its models needed far less training than a conventional approach.

    The other trick has to do with how V3 stores information in computer memory. DeepSeek has found a clever way to compress the relevant data, so it is easier to store and access quickly.

    What it means

    DeepSeek’s models and techniques have been released under the free MIT License, which means anyone can download and modify them.

    While this may be bad news for some AI companies – whose profits might be eroded by the existence of freely available, powerful models – it is great news for the broader AI research community.

    At present, a lot of AI research requires access to enormous amounts of computing resources. Researchers like myself who are based at universities (or anywhere except large tech companies) have had limited ability to carry out tests and experiments.

    More efficient models and techniques change the situation. Experimentation and development may now be significantly easier for us.

    For consumers, access to AI may also become cheaper. More AI models may be run on users’ own devices, such as laptops or phones, rather than running “in the cloud” for a subscription fee.

    For researchers who already have a lot of resources, more efficiency may have less of an effect. It is unclear whether DeepSeek’s approach will help to make models with better performance overall, or simply models that are more efficient.

    Tongliang Liu 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. DeepSeek: how a small Chinese AI company is shaking up US tech heavyweights – https://theconversation.com/deepseek-how-a-small-chinese-ai-company-is-shaking-up-us-tech-heavyweights-248434

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australia’s drama dilemma: how taxpayers foot the bill for content that ends up locked behind paywalls

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Potter, Professor in Digital Media and Cutural Studies, Queensland University of Technology

    Shutterstock

    Headlines about Screen Australia’s latest annual Drama Report have highlighted one particular figure: a 29% drop in total industry expenditure compared to the year before.

    But a closer look suggests this isn’t the most concerning finding. The report also reveals a significant chunk (42%) of the A$803 million spent on producing Australian TV drama in 2023–24 was funded by taxpayers.

    What’s more – watching half of the Australian TV drama hours broadcast in 2024 required a streaming subscription. Watching all of them required seven different subscriptions.

    With Australians’ funding of this commercial, for-profit sector on the rise, we can’t help but ask: what do Australian viewers get in return?

    Screen production challenged globally

    Screen sectors globally are experiencing significant downturns because of changes in audience behaviour and advertiser spending. Various analyses suggest between 14% and 25% of all viewing is now comprised of videos from YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

    Advertising revenue that once helped fund local drama has followed viewers to social media apps, imperilling Australia’s commercial broadcasters.

    Traditionally, commissions from the three commercial broadcasters have supported Australia’s drama production sector. However, in 2021 the government significantly watered-down their quota obligations. As a result, networks Seven, Nine and Ten commissioned just nine hours of new, non-soap drama in 2024.

    The loss of commercial broadcasters from the production ecosystem has radically changed the sector’s dynamics. Streamers such as Netflix and Stan are now the largest investors in Australian drama, followed by the ABC.

    Government subsidies for the sector have also grown considerably, partly due to rising production costs. Over the ten years leading up to 2023–24, federal spending on local TV drama production more than tripled, increasing by an average of 16.9% each year.

    Yet, during that same period, the hours of TV drama produced fell by an average of 5.7% each year. In other words, we’re spending more on less. And as mentioned above, much of this declining TV drama slate – which is heavily subsidised by government money – is ending up behind streamer paywalls.

    The problem with current policy

    Too much of Australia’s current screen funding is going towards stories that can’t be watched without a paid subscription.

    Also, many of these stories have little to no connection to Australia. For instance NBC Universal’s Young Rock, which was produced in Australia, is about the childhood of American celebrity Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Similarly, Nautilus, which Disney originally commissioned and which was made in Australia, is loosely based on Jules Verne’s maritime adventure novel, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.



    Read more:
    At $300m, Jules Verne-inspired Nautilus is the most expensive Australian-made show. But Disney+ was right to dump it

    Since the 2000s, our screen industry has become far more global than national. Current policy largely funds television projects through tax rebates on production budget. And any scripted production made in Australia (and with a certain minimum budget) is eligible for this funding.

    These rebates, combined with a lack of local content quotas for broadcasters and streamers, mean our current policy risks generously funding titles made by global corporations for international viewers.

    The 2024 Drama Report highlights a need to carefully consider whether Australia’s policy for the sector is delivering for Australians.

    It’s time to update the conditions of support, which were designed back when commercial broadcasters reliably commissioned some 300 hours of Australian drama each year. This is no longer the case.

    Solutions for more Australians stories

    So what needs to change? For a start, policy must offer greater support for dramas that tell compelling Australian stories in all their diversity.

    Such dramas, which deliver significant cultural value to audiences, should receive higher levels of rebates than international stories filmed in Australia. The ABC and the SBS could lead the way in commissioning this content, as per their charter obligations.

    The 2021 changes to Australian content regulations left the ABC as the principal provider of free local drama and children’s programs – but the ABC has limited resources. Rather than supporting international productions, local audiences might be better served if the government increased the ABC’s funding to produce minimum amounts of drama and children’s programs.

    We also have to bring Australian drama out from behind streamer paywalls if they receive any kind of government support. They should be made available to local audiences for free within two years of their release.

    This could be done through free-to-air television services, like ABC iView or SBS On Demand, or on a free platform built specifically for local content.

    Policymakers will need to define production sector sustainability in a 21st century context. Australia has historically had many small production companies. However, the steep decline in local drama being produced suggests only a few companies will remain viable in the long term.

    The scale of disruption facing local broadcasters and production companies needs to be matched by policy that’s fit for purpose, and which returns value to Australian communities.

    Anna Potter receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    Amanda Lotz receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    Marion McCutcheon receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Australia’s drama dilemma: how taxpayers foot the bill for content that ends up locked behind paywalls – https://theconversation.com/australias-drama-dilemma-how-taxpayers-foot-the-bill-for-content-that-ends-up-locked-behind-paywalls-246237

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Here’s what ‘deep listening’ can tell us about the natural world and our place in it

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Monty Nixon, PhD Student in Education, University of Canberra

    Jakub Maculewicz, Shutterstock

    Have you ever taken the time to stop and listen to nature? Deeply, quietly and patiently?

    If not, don’t worry, there’s still time to learn. Deep listening is a skill that can be developed.

    There’s much more to it than simply recognising the call or song of a particular species. To listen deeply to nature is to become aware of behaviours, relationships and patterns of interaction between multiple species, and to learn from what we hear.

    This is what Indigenous people have been doing for many thousands of years, in Australia and overseas.

    Under the supervision and guidance of Indigenous knowledge holders of Karulkiyalu Country, my PhD research, explores ways to embed this Indigenous approach to deep listening in Australia’s education system.

    The project builds on previous work showing positive results for student and teacher wellbeing, as well as an increased understanding of and desire to care for the natural world.

    The Rufous whistler is an Australian virtuoso.
    Andrew Skeoch

    What is deep listening?

    If you’d like to try deep listening, take some time to visit a natural place and find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. Turn off your electronic devices.

    Close your eyes, and extend your sense of hearing into the landscape around you. Try focusing your listening in each direction, then above and even below. How far you can hear?

    At first you will hear the voices of individual creatures, perhaps one then another. After a while, you may begin to notice interactions and patterns of communication between them. Be curious. Does one respond to another? How, and why?

    Hearing all the interconnected activity going on around you in that moment can help you comprehend the living system as a whole.

    Acoustic ecologist Andrew Skeoch recording the sounds of nature in the Australian bush.
    Andrew Skeoch

    What can we learn from nature by listening?

    People often simplify complex relationships down to perceptions of either cooperation or competition.

    But listening to nature affirms that cooperative partnerships play a far greater role than meets the eye. Relationships between species that accommodate each other’s needs are ubiquitous throughout the biosphere.

    For instance, multiple species of birds forage efficiently and safely in mixed flocks, by communicating and alerting each other to information about food and threats. This practice of foraging collectively is so worthwhile it’s encountered the world over.

    Listening to the animated twittering of these flocks – which continually communicates and affirms each bird’s location – reminds us how beneficial cooperation can be. More importantly, cooperation is most advantageous when it embraces diversity.

    Addressing the existential threats facing humanity will require cooperation and collaboration on a massive scale. Many of these threats are interlinked. They tend to resist independent solutions and need to be tackled together.

    So there is an urgent need to embrace and celebrate our differences. Listening to mixed-species flocks reminds us that diversity can be a source of great strength.

    Lessons about competition

    Listening can also tell us about competitive interactions, particularly between members of the same species.

    In the morning twilight of the breeding season, songbirds join the dawn chorus – singing with repertoire and behaviours not heard at other times of day or year. It’s also clear they are listening to each other.

    At dawn, songbirds use formal vocal interactions to negotiate their most essential relationships. These include defining home ranges, establishing and maintaining pair bonds, acknowledging neighbours and affirming community identities.

    In this way, the dawn chorus is a sonic expression of a widespread principle in nature: that while the potential for competition exists, life-threatening aggression is risky, inefficient and costly.

    Many animals have developed specialised behaviours to sort out their relationships and status while minimising the risks of serious harm. For instance “boxing” kangaroos engage in scrapping or sparring rather than injurious fighting.

    While these physical behaviours are found widely throughout the animal world, songbirds have evolved their own trick: they use song to negotiate their interactions. Listening to them singing at dawn reminds us that competitive behaviours and aggression are not advantageous. Negotiation, mutual acknowledgement and respect are more successful ways of living.

    Boxing kangaroos negotiate their status without causing injury.
    victoriam, Shutterstock

    Educational possibilities from listening

    Learning through deep listening was integral to the education system in Australia for thousands of years. It allowed First Nations peoples to understand the ecological community around them and how to live with these groups of species.

    In this education system, Country and Earth-Kin, (such as plants and animals) were both central knowledge holders and teachers. Humans (primarily grandparents) provided support for childrens’ learning from these knowledge holders. In this way children came to know, understand and care for land.

    People and Country flourished through this way of learning. Australia became home to the longest continuing cultures in human history.

    Research is demonstrating how this old teaching and learning method can work in modern schooling. More than 120 educators across the ACT are involved in the Country as Teacher project. Cultivating a practice of deep listening to Earth-Kin and Country helped teachers and students develop an improved sense of wellbeing, as well as knowledge and understanding of the places they live.

    The research argues that teachers first need to cultivate their own practice of listening. Then they can embed this process in their approach to education. By slowing down, developing nuanced awareness, following curiosity, listening empathically to other beings and opening to being affected emotionally, teachers can cultivate their own deeper sense of care, appreciation and understanding. From their personal listening journey, educators can then facilitate these experiences for their students.

    Deep listening to Earth-Kin or Country as Teacher offers an old and new pathway to return to a valuable and important way of being for our schools and society.

    This path offers us the chance to come to appreciate and care for the ecological communities of the Earth. Through listening we can learn the ways in which species across the Earth adapt, survive and thrive, providing guidance for our own cultures as we confront increasing social and environmental uncertainty.

    This article was written in collaboration with acoustic ecologist Andrew Skeoch.

    Monty Nixon receives funding from The ACT Affiliated Schools Network.

    – ref. Here’s what ‘deep listening’ can tell us about the natural world and our place in it – https://theconversation.com/heres-what-deep-listening-can-tell-us-about-the-natural-world-and-our-place-in-it-235868

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: How the AFL and NRL have crept into cricket’s traditional summer timeslot

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania

    Most of Australia has four seasons each year.

    However, when it comes to sport, the Australian calendar has long been dominated by two seasons: cricket and football.

    Traditionally, cricket has been played from October to March when the weather is suitable, and Australian rules football and rugby league from April to September.

    But in recent years, a lack of international cricket in Australia after January – coupled with earlier start dates for the AFL and NRL seasons – has resulted in football receiving more local media coverage and attention from fans during the summer.

    For many Australian cricket fans, the season will be finished once the Big Bash League and women’s Ashes conclude in early February.

    In February and March, the Australian men’s and women’s cricket teams will play matches overseas and the Australian states will play each other in one-day and four-day games.

    However, the reduced media attention and free-to-air TV coverage of cricket in Australia means many sports fans turn their attention to other sports, usually football or rugby league.

    But has this always been the case?



    Read more:
    How is the Big Bash League faring after 14 years of ups and downs – and what’s next?

    Football seasons are getting longer

    Cricket has been played in Australia for more than 200 years. While Australian rules football was initially developed to keep cricketers fit through the winter, football competitions such as the AFL and NRL have now arguably become more dominant across the sporting calendar.

    The 2024 AFL season was the longest in the sport’s history. The 2025 season will be exactly the same length, stretching nearly seven months, from March 6 to September 27.

    The 2025 NRL season will be even longer. It starts in Las Vegas on March 2 and doesn’t finish until the Grand Final on October 5.

    The 2025 AFLW and NRLW seasons will also be the longest ever, finishing as late as November 30.

    Football seasons are starting earlier

    While an AFL Grand Final in late September and an NRL Grand Final leading into NSW’s Labour Day in early October are well established, the start of the season has been slowly creeping forward over the decades.

    Twenty years ago, the AFL season started in late March, 50 years ago it was early April, and 80 years ago it was late April. The first AFL (VFL) season in 1897 started on May 8.

    The start of the NRL season has also moved forward over time. The first NRL (NSWRL) season in 1908 started on April 20.

    While these historical season start dates did not overlap with the cricket season, that is no longer the case.

    This year, the AFL and NRL will have completed three premiership rounds before the Sheffield Shield final ends the Australian domestic cricket season in late March.

    And then there are the AFL and NRL pre-season competitions, with games starting as early as February 7.

    Why are football seasons getting longer?

    Some of the factors that have contributed to extensions of football seasons include:

    • the introduction of more teams that all need to play each other
    • revenue opportunities for broadcasters, venues and clubs, and
    • additional mid-season byes and rest periods.

    AFL and NRL players have cited fatigue because of the long seasons. Consequently, some players’ associations and coaches have advocated for shorter seasons.

    However, playing fewer games would likely mean less money for the AFL and NRL, and for players and clubs.

    Adding more teams to the AFL and NRL and extending the AFLW and NRLW seasons may allow for more flexibility with future season lengths, as football codes can be played any time of year.

    Unless your stadium has an expensive roof, cricket cannot because of the threat of rain.

    What does this mean for cricket?

    While Australians can still play both cricket and football at junior and community levels, this is no longer possible at representative levels because of the overlap between seasons.

    The encroachment of football into traditional cricket months means increased competition for players, often forcing talented young athletes to make a decision about which sport to pursue.

    Greater perceived opportunities to play at the elite level may convince some players to prioritise football.

    For example, the six Australian state cricket teams generally contract 20 to 25 players each season. In comparison, the 17 NRL teams each have 30 contracted players and the 18 AFL clubs can have 44 players in their squads.

    Current AFL players such as Stephen Coniglio, Caleb Serong and Brent Daniels all represented their state in underage cricket before choosing football. Manly lock Nathan Brown and retired star Braith Anasta are NRL examples.

    Luckily for cricket, current players such as Alex Carey (GWS under-18 captain 2010), Mitch Marsh (under-18 WA AFL team 2008) and Will Sutherland (under-18 Victorian Metro AFL team 2017) are examples of young players choosing cricket after successful underage football careers.

    Venue availability and scheduling conflicts

    The extended football seasons pose logistical challenges for venues. Iconic stadiums such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) traditionally host both cricket and football matches and now face increased scheduling pressure with the seasons overlapping.

    For instance, in 2024, the MCG only had a 22-day turnaround between hosting the AFL Grand Final and the Victoria vs NSW Sheffield Shield match.

    Hosting concerts at these venues increases revenue but also adds to scheduling difficulties.

    It all adds up to a difficult juggling act for venues, which will be made even trickier if the football codes creep even further into the traditional cricket season.

    Cricket, too, has a battle on its hands to stay relevant to fans, broadcasters, commercial partners and even participants as the AFL and NRL seasons continue to expand.

    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. How the AFL and NRL have crept into cricket’s traditional summer timeslot – https://theconversation.com/how-the-afl-and-nrl-have-crept-into-crickets-traditional-summer-timeslot-247330

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: David Seymour says Kiwis are too squeamish about privatisation – history shows why they lost the appetite

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

    Getty Images

    State asset sales have been a political dividing line in New Zealand for decades now, and it seems voters are again being asked to decide which side they’re on.

    In his state-of-the-nation speech last week, ACT Party leader David Seymour advised New Zealanders to “get past their squeamishness about privatisation” and ask themselves:

    If we want to be a first world country, then are we making the best use of the government’s half-a-trillion-dollars–plus worth of assets? If something isn’t getting a return, the government should sell it so we can afford to buy something that does.

    No doubt this appealed to ACT’s core constituency. But the available evidence suggests many New Zealanders view the privatisation of state assets with scepticism, not squeamishness.

    The most rigorous available data are from the New Zealand Election Study: just under 50% of those surveyed in 2020 either “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed with the proposition that “privatisation has gone too far”.

    Just over 9% either somewhat or strongly disagreed with that statement. In other words, those who oppose state asset sales comfortably outnumber those who support them.

    It seems reasonable to suggest this reflects the sizeable proportion of New Zealanders who remember the asset sales experience of the 1980s and 1990s under both Labour and National governments.

    Writing in 2000, during the heights of this bipartisan privatisation boom, economic analyst Brian Gaynor argued:

    By selling 100 per cent shareholdings in state assets, the New Zealand Government has allowed a small group of investors, mainly offshore, to make enormous profits. With just a little foresight these profits could have been kept for the benefit of domestic investors and taxpayers.

    At the same time, voters have watched levels of wealth inequality rise, and the transfer of public wealth into private hands. And while asset sales can improve efficiency, they can also reduce access to services for those on limited incomes or experiencing higher unemployment.

    Market failure

    Research has shown a clear majority of New Zealanders would prefer the government provides social services, especially in health and education.

    Just over 80% of New Zealanders trust the public service based on their own experiences. And levels of trust in the public service outstrip those in the private sector. All this suggests there is little appetite for a return to the days of peak privatisation.

    More broadly, some New Zealanders will also question Seymour’s assertion that state assets should provide a return on investment.

    Aside from it not being possible to turn a profit on many of the assets a government needs to serve the needs of its citizens, there are costs associated with putting a market value on certain social goods and services.

    As Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel has argued:

    [W]hen money comes increasingly to govern access to the essentials of the good life – decent health care, access to the best education, political voice and influence in campaigns – when money comes to govern all of those things, inequality matters a great deal.

    Furthermore, there is ample evidence of the ethical and operational shortcomings of applying the profit motive to public institutions such as prisons, hospitals and schools.

    Nor are markets themselves value-free, self-correcting mechanisms. In the material economy, they have a propensity to fail. When they do, the people who suffer most tend to be those least well positioned to defend themselves.

    That is why the state performs certain functions: to make sure those unable to pay for privately provided goods and services are not denied them.

    The nature and extent of what the state should provide is quite properly a matter for debate. But those decisions affect everyone and should be decided in the public domain, not left to the managers and owners of private companies.

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: open to a conversation about priviatisation.
    Getty Images

    Public versus private debt

    Seymour also suggested a return to asset sales was justified by the country’s current levels of public debt. He referred to “the other tribe” who are

    building a majority for mediocrity – who would love nothing more than to go into lockdown again, make some more sourdough, and worry about the billions in debt another day.

    But as the right-leaning Maxim Institute points out,

    the real risk in New Zealand is our very high levels of private debt, which includes household debt like mortgages, student loans, credit card, hire purchases, to buying a car in instalments […] Compared to our relatively low levels of public debt our current household debt stands at 95% of GDP.

    According to the Treasury, current public debt levels are “prudent”, although “an ageing population, climate change and historical trends mean governments have important choices to make”.

    The risk of renewed asset sales and privatisation is that public debt might be reduced but at the expense of private debt increasing.

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has responded by saying he was open to a conversation about selling state assets. While it was “not something on our agenda right now”, he said, he hinted National may campaign on it ahead of next year’s election.

    His other coalition partner, NZ First, has a long-held antipathy to selling local assets to offshore owners. And Luxon may also remember the result of the non-binding citizens-initiated referendum in 2013, when 67.3% opposed the potential sale of the state’s energy companies.

    A niche party such as ACT can safely take policy positions that have little appeal beyond its core supporters. But that’s not a luxury available to its major coalition partner, which started the year behind in the polls.

    On the other hand, National does not want to be outflanked any further by ACT. Asset sales, it seems, are destined to remain a perennial political fault line.

    Richard Shaw 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. David Seymour says Kiwis are too squeamish about privatisation – history shows why they lost the appetite – https://theconversation.com/david-seymour-says-kiwis-are-too-squeamish-about-privatisation-history-shows-why-they-lost-the-appetite-248308

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The Electronic Intifada: Bringing Israeli genocide perpetrators to justice

    This article was written before The Electronic Intifada’s founding editor Ali Abunimah was arrested in Switzerland on Saturday afternoon for “speaking up for Palestine”. He has since been released and deported.

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Ali AbunimahIsrael smuggled one of its soldiers out of Cyprus, apparently fearing his detention on charges related to the genocide in Gaza, according to Dyab Abou Jahjah, the co-founder of The Hind Rajab Foundation.

    Abou Jahjah, a Belgian-Lebanese political activist and writer, told The Electronic Intifada livestream last week that his organisation was stepping up efforts all over the world to bring to justice Israeli soldiers implicated in the slaughter of tens of thousands of men, women and children over the last 15 months.

    You can watch the interview with Abou Jahjah and all of this week’s programme in the video above.


    Gaza Ceasefire Day 5. Video: The Electronic Intifada

    Speaking from Gaza, Electronic Intifada contributor Donya Abu Sitta told us how people there are coping following the ceasefire, especially those returning to devastated homes and finding the remains of loved ones.

    She shared a poem inspired by the hopes and fears of the young children she continued to teach throughout the genocide.

    Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued to attack Palestinians in some parts of Gaza. That was among developments covered in the news brief from associate editor Nora Barrows-Friedman, along with the efforts to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation.

    Israel’s genocidal war has orphaned some 40,000 children in Gaza.

    Contributing editor Jon Elmer covered the latest ceasefire developments and the resistance operations in the period leading up to it.

    We also discussed whether US President Donald Trump will force Israel to uphold the ceasefire and what the latest indications of his approach are.

    And this writer took a critical look at Episcopal Bishop of Washington Mariann Edgar Budde.

    She has been hailed as a hero for urging Donald Trump to respect the rights of marginalised groups, as the new president sat listening to her sermon at Washington’s National Cathedral.

    But over the last 15 months, Budde has parroted Israeli atrocity propaganda justifying genocide, and has repeatedly failed to condemn former President Joe Biden’s key role in the mass slaughter and did not call on him to stop sending weapons to Israel.

    Pursuing war criminals
     In the case of the soldier in Cyprus, The Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint, and after initial hesitation, judicial authorities in the European Union state opened an investigation of the soldier.

    “When that was opened, the Israelis smuggled the soldier out of Cyprus,” Abou Jahjah said, calling the incident the first of its kind.

    “And when I say smuggling, I’m not exaggerating, because we have information that he was even taken by a private jet,” Abou Jahjah added.

    The foundation is named after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was in a car with members of her family, trying to escape the Israeli onslaught in Gaza City, when they were attacked.

    The story of Hind, trapped all alone in a car, surrounded by dead relatives, pleading over the phone for rescue, a conversation that was recorded by the Palestinian Red Crescent, is among the most poignant and brazen crimes committed during Israel’s genocide.

    According to Abou Jahjah, lawyers and activists determined to seek justice for Palestinians identified a gap in the efforts to hold Israel accountable that they could fill: pursuing individual soldiers who have in many cases posted evidence of their own crimes in Gaza on social media.

    The organisation and its growing global network of volunteers and legal professionals has been able to collect evidence on approximately 1000 Israeli soldiers which has been handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    In addition to filing cases against Israeli soldiers traveling abroad, such as the one in Cyprus, and other recent examples in Brazil, Thailand and Italy, a main focus of the foundation is individuals who hold both Israeli and another nationality.

    “Regarding the dual nationals, we are not under any restraint of time,” Abou Jahjah explained. “For example, if you’re Belgian, Belgium has jurisdiction over you.”

    Renouncing their second nationality cannot shield these soldiers, according to Abou Jahjah, because courts will take into account their citizenship at the time the alleged crime was committed.

    Abou Jahjah feels confident that with time, war criminals will be brought to justice. The organisation is also discussing expanding its work to the United States, where it may use civil litigation to hold perpetrators accountable.

    Unsurprisingly, Israel and friendly governments are pushing back against The Hind Rajab Foundation’s work, and Abou Jahjah is now living under police protection.

    “Things are kind of heavy on that level, but this will not disrupt our work,” Abou Jahjah said. “It’s kind of naive of them to think that the work of the foundation depends on a person.”

    “We have legal teams across the planet, very capable people. Our data is spread across the planet,” Abou Jahjah added. “There’s nothing they can do. This is happening.”

    Resistance report
     In his resistance report, Elmer analysed videos of operations that took place before the ceasefire, but which were only released by the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, after it took effect.

    He also previewed Saturday, 25 January, when nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for four Israeli female soldiers.

    Will Trump keep Israel to the ceasefire?
     Pressure from President Trump was key to getting Israel to agree to a ceasefire deal it had rejected for almost a year. But will his administration keep up the pressure to see it through?

    There have been mixed messages, with Trump recently telling reporters he was not sure it would hold, but also intriguingly distancing himself from Israel. “That’s not our war, it’s their war.”

    We took a look at what these comments, as well as a renewed commitment to implementing the deal expressed by Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy, tell us about what to expect.

    As associate editor Asa Winstanley noted, “this ceasefire is not nothing.” It came about because the resistance wore down the Israeli army, and statements from Witkoff hinting that the US may even be open to talking to Hamas deserve close attention.

    ‘Largely silent’
     By her own admission, Bishop Mariann Budde has remained “largely silent” about the genocide in Gaza, except when she was pushing Israeli propaganda or engaging in vague, liberal hand-wringing about “peace” and “love” without ever clearly condemning the perpetrators of mass slaughter and starvation of Palestinians, demanding that the US stop the flow of weapons making it possible, or calling for accountability.

    This type of evasion serves no one.

    You can watch the programme on YouTube, Rumble or Twitter/X, or you can listen to it on your preferred podcast platform.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What’s the difference between a food allergy and an intolerance?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Koplin, Group Leader, Childhood Allergy & Epidemiology, The University of Queensland

    Feel good studio/Shutterstock

    At one time or another, you’ve probably come across someone who is lactose intolerant and might experience some unpleasant gut symptoms if they have dairy. Maybe it’s you – food intolerances are estimated to affect up to 25% of Australians.

    Meanwhile, cow’s milk allergy is one of the most common food allergies in infants and young children, affecting around one in 100 infants.

    But what’s the difference between food allergies and food intolerances? While they might seem alike, there are some fundamental differences between the two.

    What is an allergy?

    Australia has one of the highest rates of food allergies in the world. Food allergies can develop at any age but are more common in children, affecting more than 10% of one-year-olds and 6% of children at age ten.

    A food allergy happens when the body’s immune system mistakenly reacts to certain foods as if they were dangerous. The most common foods that trigger allergies include eggs, peanuts and other nuts, milk, shellfish, fish, soy and wheat.

    Mild to moderate signs of food allergy include a swollen face, lips or eyes; hives or welts on your skin; or vomiting. A severe allergic reaction (called anaphylaxis) can cause trouble breathing, persistent dizziness or collapse.

    What is an intolerance?

    Food intolerances (sometimes called non-allergic reactions) are also reactions to food, but they don’t involve your immune system.

    For example, lactose intolerance is a metabolic condition that happens when the body doesn’t produce enough lactase. This enzyme is needed to break down the lactose (a type of sugar) in dairy products.

    Food intolerances can also include reactions to natural chemicals in foods (such as salicylates, found in some fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices) and problems with artificial preservatives or flavour enhancers.

    Lactose intolerance is caused by a problem with breaking down lactose in milk.
    Pormezz/Shutterstock

    Symptoms of food intolerances can include an upset stomach, headaches and fatigue, among others.

    Food intolerances don’t cause life-threatening reactions (anaphylaxis) so are less dangerous than allergies in the short term, although they can cause problems in the longer term such as malnutrition.

    We don’t know a lot about how common food intolerances are, but they appear to be more commonly reported than allergies. They can develop at any age.

    It can be confusing

    Some foods, such as peanuts and tree nuts, are more often associated with allergy. Other foods or ingredients, such as caffeine, are more often associated with intolerance.

    Meanwhile, certain foods, such as cow’s milk and wheat or gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye and barley), can cause both allergic and non-allergic reactions in different people. But these reactions, even when they’re caused by the same foods, are quite different.

    For example, children with a cow’s milk allergy can react to very small amounts of milk, and serious reactions (such as throat swelling or difficulty breathing) can happen within minutes. Conversely, many people with lactose intolerance can tolerate small amounts of lactose without symptoms.

    There are other differences too. Cow’s milk allergy is more common in children, though many infants will grow out of this allergy during childhood.

    Lactose intolerance is more common in adults, but can also sometimes be temporary. One type of lactose intolerance, secondary lactase deficiency, can be caused by damage to the gut after infection or with medication use (such as antibiotics or cancer treatment). This can go away by itself when the underlying condition resolves or the person stops using the relevant medication.

    Whether an allergy or intolerance is likely to be lifelong depends on the food and the reason that the child or adult is reacting to it.

    Allergies to some foods, such as milk, egg, wheat and soy, often resolve during childhood, whereas allergies to nuts, fish or shellfish, often (but not always) persist into adulthood. We don’t know much about how likely children are to grow out of different types of food intolerances.

    How do you find out what’s wrong?

    If you think you may have a food allergy or intolerance, see a doctor.

    Allergy tests help doctors find out which foods might be causing your allergic reactions (but can’t diagnose food intolerances). There are two common types: skin prick tests and blood tests.

    In a skin prick test, doctors put tiny amounts of allergens (the things that can cause allergies) on your skin and make small pricks to see if your body reacts.

    A blood test checks for allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies in your blood that show if you might be allergic to a particular food.

    Blood tests can help diagnose allergies.
    RossHelen/Shutterstock

    Food intolerances can be tricky to figure out because the symptoms depend on what foods you eat and how much. To diagnose them, doctors look at your health history, and may do some tests (such as a breath test). They may ask you to keep a record of foods you eat and timing of symptoms.

    A temporary elimination diet, where you stop eating certain foods, can also help to work out which foods you might be intolerant to. But this should only be done with the help of a doctor or dietitian, because eliminating particular foods can lead to nutritional deficiencies, especially in children.

    Is there a cure?

    There’s currently no cure for food allergies or intolerances. For allergies in particular, it’s important to strictly avoid allergens. This means reading food labels carefully and being vigilant when eating out.

    However, researchers are studying a treatment called oral immunotherapy, which may help some people with food allergies become less sensitive to certain foods.

    Whether you have a food allergy or intolerance, your doctor or dietitian can help you to make sure you’re eating the right foods.

    Victoria Gibson, a Higher Degree by Research student and Research Officer at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Queensland, and Rani Scott-Farmer, a Senior Research Assistant at the University of Queensland, contributed to this article.

    Jennifer Koplin receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE), which is supported by funding from the Australian government. She was a named investigator on a grant from Sanofi Regeneron for unrelated research and has received a research award from the Stallergenes Greer Foundation.

    Desalegn Markos Shifti is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship funded through the Centre for Food Allergy Research Centre of Research Excellence.

    – ref. What’s the difference between a food allergy and an intolerance? – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-a-food-allergy-and-an-intolerance-243685

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: NZ-Kiribati fallout: Maamau govt minister says ‘impacts to be felt by the people’

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Bulletin editor/presenter

    Kiribati President Taneti Maamau was unable to meet New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters because he had “a pre-planned and significant historical event”, a Cabinet minister in Kiribati says.

    Alexander Teabo, Education Minister in Maamau’s government, told RNZ Pacific that “it is important for the truth to be conveyed accurately” after the “diplomatic tiff” between the two nations was confirmed by Peters as reported.

    Maamau is currently in Fiji for his first state visit to the country.

    Peters said New Zealand could not commit to ongoing monetary aid in Kiribati after three cancelled or postponed visits in recent months.

    A spokesperson from Peters’ office said the Deputy Prime Minister’s visit to Tarawa was set to be the first in over five years and took a “month-long effort”. However, the NZ government was informed a week prior to the meeting that Maamau was no longer available.

    His office announced that, as a result of the “lack of political-level contact”, Aotearoa was reviewing its development programme in Kiribati. It is a move that has been described as “not the best approach” by Victoria University’s professor in comparative politics Dr Jon Fraenkel.

    Minister Teabo said that Peters’ visit to Kiribati was cancelled by the NZ government.

    “It is correct that the President was unavailable in Tarawa due to a pre-planned and significant historical event hosted on his home island,” he said.

    Date set ‘several months prior’
    “This important event’s date was established by the Head of the Catholic Church several months prior.”

    He said Maamau’s presence and support were required on his home island for this event, and it was not possible for him to be elsewhere.

    Teabo pointed out that Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister was happy to meet with Kiribati’s Vice-President in a recent visit.

    “The visit by NZ Foreign Minister was cancelled by NZ itself but now the blame is on the President of Kiribati as the reason for all the cuts and the impacts to be felt by the people.

    “This is unfair to someone who is doing his best for his people who needed him at any particular time.”

    ‘Tried several times’ – Luxon
     The New Zealand aid programme is worth over NZ$100 million, but increasingly, Kiribati has been receiving money from China after ditching its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019.

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the country was keen to meet and work with Kiribati, like other Pacific nations.

    Luxon said he did not know whether the lack of communication was due to Kiribati and China getting closer.

    “The Foreign Minister has tried several times to make sure that as a new government, we can have a conversation with Kiribati and have a relationship there.

    “He’s very keen to meet with them and help them and work with them in a very constructive way but that hasn’t happened.”

    New Zealand’s Minister of Defence Judith Collins agrees with Peters’ decision to review aid to Kiribati.

    Collins said she would talk to Peters about it today.

    “I think we need to be very careful about where our aid goes, how it’s being used and I agree with him. We can’t have a disrespectful relationship.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: PNG media policy ‘new era journalism’ draft law ready, says Masiu

    NBC News in Port Moresby

    Papua New Guinea’s cabinet has officially given the green light to the PNG media policy, which will soon be presented to Parliament for formal enactment.

    Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Timothy Masiu believes this policy will address ongoing concerns about sensationalism, ethical standards, and the portrayal of violence in the media.

    In an interview with NBC News in Port Moresby, Masiu outlined the urgent need for a shift in the nation’s media practices.

    PNG’s Information and Communication Technology Minister Timothy Masiu . . . “It’s time for Papua New Guinea’s media to evolve and reflect the values that truly define us.” Image: NBC News

    “We must be more responsible in how we report and portray the issues that matter most to our country. It’s time for Papua New Guinea’s media to evolve and reflect the values that truly define us,” he said.

    “Sensational headlines, graphic images of violence, and depictions of suffering do nothing to build our national identity. They only hurt our reputation globally.”

    Minister Masiu said the policy aimed to regulate sensitive contents and shift towards “more constructive and informative” coverage.

    According to Masiu, the policy’s long-term goal was to protect the public from harmful content while empowering journalists to play a positive role in nation-building.

    “This policy isn’t about stifling press freedom. It’s about ensuring that media in Papua New Guinea serves the public good by upholding the highest standards of integrity and professionalism,” Masiu said.

    Meanwhile, the policy also acknowledged the media’s significant influence on public opinion and its role in national development.

    Masiu added that once the policy was passed into law, it would become a guiding framework for media institutions across the nation, laying the foundation for a new era of journalism in Papua New Guinea.

    Republished from NBC News.

    Persistent criticism
     Pacific Media Watch reports that the draft media policy law and consultation process have been controversial and faced persistent criticisms from journalists, the PNG Media Council (MCPNG) and Transparency international PNG.

    Version 5 of the policy is here, but it is not clear whether that is the version Masiu says is ready.

    PNG dropped 32 places to 91st out of 180 countries in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index and the Paris-based world press freedom watchdog RSF called on the Marape government to withdraw the draft law in February 2023.

    Civicus references an incident last August when a PNG journalist was barred from a press briefing by the visiting Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto and said this came “amid growing concern about the government’s plan to regulate the press under its so-called media development policy”.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Carrying the spirit and intent of Murray Sinclair’s vision forward in Treaty 7 territory

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Tiffany Dionne Prete, Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, University of Lethbridge

    For nearly three decades, I have immersed myself in archival work to uncover the histories of my People, the Kainai (Blood Tribe) in Treaty 7 territory, in Alberta. What began in childhood as a search for photographs of my ancestors has evolved into a lifelong pursuit of understanding through records and Tribal narratives.

    Unlike my peers who had photo albums of their ancestors, I had none. Cameras were rare in Indigenous communities during the 1800s and early 1900s, leaving few family photographs. Instead, I turned to online archives, hoping to find even a single image. This archival work became a means of reconnecting with my ancestors.

    During my graduate studies at the University of Alberta, this passion for archival research deepened.

    As a research assistant for the Aboriginal Healing through Language and Culture project, I was part of a project that partnered with Roman Catholic Oblate missionaries to view historical records of Indigenous Peoples in the North West, which included my People.

    ‘Indigenous Research: Walking the Path of my Ancestors’ video by Tiffany Prete.

    However, ongoing litigation related to the Residential School Settlement class-action suit limited my access. While I was granted permission to view specific materials, many documents remained restricted, and photocopying was often prohibited. This experience highlighted the persistent barriers Indigenous researchers face when reclaiming their histories and underscored the importance of equitable access to archival records.

    Documenting Survivor testimonies

    Growing up, conversations about residential schools were notably absent in my community. My family and fellow Tribal members rarely spoke of their experiences, and my public education glossed over their existence, perpetuating a widely held belief across Canada that residential schools were benevolent and necessary for Indigenous Peoples’ “advancement.”

    As the child of a residential school Survivor, I grew up with a profound sense of something unspoken yet deeply impactful in our collective history. Silence reflected the profound harm inflicted by the Canadian government and religious organizations operating these schools, leaving scars not just on individuals but across generations. Despite Survivors’ efforts to share their truths, the dominant Canadian narrative continued to portray residential schools as positive contributions to the nation’s development.

    The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was pivotal in challenging this false narrative. By documenting Survivor testimonies and exposing the systemic abuses within these institutions, the TRC dismantled the myth of their benevolence. This was more than a historical reckoning; it was a vital step toward acknowledging the truth of Canada’s colonial history and its lasting impact on Indigenous Peoples.

    TRC Calls: 15 years ago

    Fifteen years ago this June, on the day the 94 Calls to Action were released, Murray Sinclair, former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, stated: “The Survivors need to know before they leave this Earth that people understand what happened and what the schools did to them.”

    Sinclair’s words, coupled with one call in particular, ignited within me a deep commitment to create a program of work that would reclaim and document my Blood People’s history — stories that had long been excluded from Canada’s historical consciousness in favour of a whitewashed, generalized narrative. This commitment responded to Call to Action No. 78 which called upon Canada to commit funding to assist communities to research and produce histories of their own residential school experience and their involvement in truth, healing and reconciliation.

    The work I have been engaged in focuses on using archival records and partnering with Blood Tribe Elders, who are residential school Survivors, to together reinterpret these records. Together, we sought to tell our history through our own lens, using our voices to articulate the policies and experiences of the Stolen Children Era — the era covering over a century and a half where the Canadian government used multiple colonial models of schooling to assimilate Indigenous children.

    ‘The Kinai Stolen Children Era’ talk with Tiffany Prete.

    While conducting research in recent years leading up to an exhibit focusing on experiences of the Stolen Children Era, I noticed some improvements in access to archival materials, but significant barriers remain.

    Processes for accessing restricted documents vary widely, with some archives lacking clear pathways. Policies around documentation also differ — some allow photography under strict guidelines, while others prohibit duplication, limiting researchers to handwritten notes. These challenges, and others, underscore the ongoing need for systemic efforts to ensure Indigenous communities can reclaim their histories and preserve cultural narratives.

    Enduring strength of our people

    Through my archival work, the intentions behind Canada’s residential school system became clear. The education system for Indigenous children sought to create passive, obedient individuals stripped of agency and identity as Indigenous Peoples.

    Yet, within these oppressive records, I have found powerful stories of courage, resistance and resilience.

    These acts, combined with the wisdom of Elders, reflect the enduring strength of our People. Among the greatest examples of collective resistance and resilience is the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

    I deeply admire the Survivors who broke the silence, initiating the class-action lawsuit that led to the TRC. Their bravery, along with the work of TRC leaders, resulted in powerful reports and the transformative Calls to Action. They remind us of the importance of reclaiming our power and affirm that we, as the Indigenous Peoples of this land, are deserving of dignity and justice.

    Sinclair’s clarity, strength, commitment

    Among those I hold in high regard is the late Sinclair, whose leadership during the TRC was defined by clarity, strength and commitment. He spoke candidly about Canada’s colonial policies and charted a clear path forward.

    In 1988, he became the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba. And he held those responsible for the operations of the schools accountable. His firm approach to justice and reconciliation inspires me, as an intergenerational Survivor, to confront challenges rooted in colonization with strength and resolve.

    As we move forward, let us band together with a shared commitment to treat all people with the dignity and respect they deserve as human beings.

    Reconciliation is not a solitary journey but a collective effort — a promise to do better and honour the truths of our shared history.

    Together, we must right the wrongs of the past, confronting injustice with courage and compassion. Let us carry the spirit and intent of Sinclair’s vision forward, ensuring that the path of reconciliation becomes not just a goal, but a way of living that defines us as a nation.

    Tiffany Dionne Prete 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. Carrying the spirit and intent of Murray Sinclair’s vision forward in Treaty 7 territory – https://theconversation.com/carrying-the-spirit-and-intent-of-murray-sinclairs-vision-forward-in-treaty-7-territory-247617

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Fermented clothing? Here’s how the biofilm on kombucha can be turned into green textiles

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rajkishore Nayak, Associate Professor , RMIT University Vietnam

    A SCOBY biofilm atop kombucha l i g h t p o e t/Shutterstock

    If you’ve ever made kombucha, you will be familiar with the term SCOBY – a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It’s impossible to miss – it’s the floating biofilm on top of your delicious drink.

    While a SCOBY looks gross, it is remarkably versatile. If you feed it on sugar and tea or coffee in large vats, it grows rapidly. The reason you need tea or coffee is because caffeine contains nitrogen, which stimulates microorganism growth. Species of bacteria in the SCOBY such as komagataeibacter xylinus have the curious ability to eat sugars and produce bacterial cellulose.

    The reason we and other researchers are focused on this unusual substance is because cellulose is extremely useful. Cotton is largely cellulose, as is flax, which we use to produce linen. Cellulose from bacteria has the advantage of being about ten times stronger than cotton.

    Traditional methods of making the world’s clothes comes at a large environmental cost. If we can scale up production of bacterial cellulose using common materials such as sugar and tea, we might produce a new kind of versatile, sustainable textile. In our new research, we use this cellulose to make wallets and canvases for painting.

    What’s so good about bacterial cellulose?

    Deriving cellulose from bacteria isn’t new. It was first discovered back in 1886. Since then, the main use we’ve found for it has been in food and drink.

    Kombucha – sometimes known as tea-mushroom – is thought to have been invented in China. In the Philippines, people have long fermented pineapple juice or coconut water to produce enough SCOBY to make chewy, gelatinous desserts. But this source of cellulose could be used for much more.

    In recent years, researchers have looked into using food waste to make this cellulose.

    Bacterial cellulose is made by cultivating a SCOBY in sugared tea, just like kombucha. But instead of the drink, what we are after is the SCOBY itself. As the microbes feed on the sugar, they spin out cellulose fibre and form a dense mat able to be harvested and processed.

    Despite not being from plants, the bacterial cellulose is remarkably similar to cellulose from cotton. In some ways, it might be better – it is incredibly pure, highly absorbent and boasts impressive tensile strength. It’s natural, nontoxic, has a low environmental footprint and is biodegradable.

    These traits make it potentially suitable for a range of uses, from clothing through to biomedical use in gauze bandages due to natural antibacterial properties. It can be dyed, sewed and treated to make different textures. It can be used to replace leather in clothing, footwear and accessories.

    Bacterial cellulose can be used to make gauze bandages.
    Kallayanee Naloka/Shutterstock

    But clothing is the main game. Researchers have found ways of growing this cellulose in moulds shaped like pieces of clothing to avoid the 15-20% of material wasted by cutting fabric.

    Bacterial cellulose might offer a way to reduce our reliance on the fibres we use to make clothes, which come with substantial environmental costs regardless of whether they are natural or synthetic.

    Farming cotton requires huge volumes of water and plentiful pesticides and insecticides. To make one kilo of cotton fibre requires between 8,000 and 22,000 litres of fresh water. Synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon are made from oil, a fossil fuel.

    The textile industry is highly polluting, consuming vast amounts of water and energy. As fashion gets ever faster, many of these clothes have a short lifespan before becoming waste. Synthetic fibres shed huge volumes of microplastics at every step of their lifespans.

    The challenge of fermentation

    In recent years, there’s been great interest in precision fermentation – using the rapid growth rate of microbes to produce foods and materials we want, such as milk grown without cows.

    One of the big challenges with these approaches is scale. Bacterial cellulose is a similar form of fermentation. As a result, it faces similar challenges around scalability and efficiency. While the material has promise, the question is whether it can be produced cheaply and at scale.

    To date, we haven’t yet found how to scale bacterial cellulose up to the level needed to meet the demand of large clothing manufacturers. And at present, the fermentation process is water intensive. Fermentation makes the water acidic, meaning it can’t be easily reused.

    This fibre could readily replace cotton, but doesn’t have the same extreme durability and elasticity as some synthetic fibres.

    Which way forward?

    The way we currently make clothes comes at a huge environmental cost. Bacterial cellulose could offer one way to make clothes at vastly lower cost to the planet.

    While there are still questions over whether it’s possible to make it competitive, researchers in several countries – including our research group – are coming at the problem from different angles. If they succeed, we might one day see a future where clothes and shoes come from sugar and tea.

    Rajkishore Nayak works for RMIT University Vietnam. We received Tier II funding from the the office of Research & Innovation at RMIT University Vietnam & CSIRO Australia.

    Donna Cleveland works for RMIT University Vietnam. She received funding from a Tier II grant from the the office of Research & Innovation at RMIT University Vietnam & CSIRO Australia..

    – ref. Fermented clothing? Here’s how the biofilm on kombucha can be turned into green textiles – https://theconversation.com/fermented-clothing-heres-how-the-biofilm-on-kombucha-can-be-turned-into-green-textiles-228904

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Voluntary assisted dying is legal in Australia – but many of us don’t know

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology

    imtmphoto/Shutterstock

    Voluntary assisted dying is lawful in all Australian states. This allows terminally ill adults who are suffering and have decision-making capacity to choose to receive help to die.

    Victoria’s law was the first, coming into effect in 2019. New South Wales was the last state, with its voluntary assisted dying law beginning in late 2023.

    Voluntary assisted dying will be allowed in the Australian Capital Territory in November, and a Northern Territory report has recommended it pass a voluntary assisted dying law too.

    While the vast majority of Australians now live in jurisdictions where voluntary assisted dying is permitted, accessing voluntary assisted dying depends on knowing it’s a legal option. But our new research suggests many Australians don’t know this.

    A study in Queensland

    Voluntary assisted dying became legal in Queensland on January 1, 2023. We conducted an online survey of 1,000 Queensland adults in mid-2024 to find out if the community knew about this new end-of-life choice.

    We set quotas for age, gender and geographical location to ensure the people we surveyed represented the overall Queensland population.

    First, we asked whether people thought voluntary assisted dying was legal in Queensland. Only one-third (33%) correctly identified it was. Of the 67% who didn’t, 41% thought voluntary assisted dying was illegal and 26% said they didn’t know.

    People who did know voluntary assisted dying was legal had generally found out in one of three ways:

    • from the media

    • from professional experience (for example, working in health care)

    • from personal experience (for example, knowing someone who had asked about, requested or accessed voluntary assisted dying).

    We then told our survey participants voluntary assisted dying was legal in Queensland and asked if they would know how to go about accessing it if they wished to. Only one-quarter (26%) answered yes.

    The survey also asked people where they might look for information about voluntary assisted dying. Most people said they would seek this information online, but asking health practitioners, especially doctors, was also important.

    We found two-thirds of people didn’t know voluntary assisted dying was legal.
    Ground Picture/Shutterstock

    Legal and cultural barriers

    Perhaps it’s not surprising so few members of the surveyed public know voluntary assisted dying is a legal choice. It’s still a relatively new law. But there are specific barriers in Australia that can prevent people finding out about it.

    One major barrier is health practitioners are often not able to freely discuss voluntary assisted dying with their patients. The laws in all states control how conversations about voluntary assisted dying can occur.

    For example, in Queensland, only doctors and nurse practitioners can raise voluntary assisted dying and only if they also discuss available treatment and palliative care options and their likely outcomes.

    But the most problematic are Victorian and South Australian laws which prohibit health practitioners from raising the topic with patients altogether. Many people rely on their doctor to tell them about treatment options, so it’s a problem if the onus is on the patient to bring it up first.

    Conscientious objection is another significant barrier. Some doctors are opposed to voluntary assisted dying and even if they practise in a state where they can legally raise it, may choose not to tell their patients about it. This is another reason patients may not know voluntary assisted dying could be a choice for them.

    It’s important to note our study was only done in Queensland, so we can’t be confident the findings represent the wider Australian population. But given these barriers to knowing about voluntary assisted dying, it’s reasonable to anticipate similar trends in other states.

    A national challenge

    Raising community awareness of voluntary assisted dying is a challenge around the country. Voluntary assisted dying oversight boards from five states (Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia) have all discussed this issue in their most recent annual reports.

    In addition, Western Australia recently reviewed its voluntary assisted dying laws, identifying lack of community knowledge as a problem. The review called for a strategy to fix this.

    We see this challenge as one of “voluntary assisted dying literacy”. Greater voluntary assisted dying literacy will enable members of the public to know the options available to them, and how to make the choices they want.

    Raising community awareness about voluntary assisted dying is a challenge nationally.
    Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock

    What can we do about this?

    We need community awareness initiatives to increase knowledge that voluntary assisted dying is legal and ensure people know where to find information about this option. Information about voluntary assisted dying is already available from all state government health departments, but more action is needed to ensure it reaches more people.

    Respondents in our survey suggested using social media campaigns, advertising, and sharing information through Centrelink, health clinics and other trusted community channels.

    We also propose targeted information for particular patient groups who may be eligible for voluntary assisted dying, such as people with cancer or neurodegenerative diseases. This means they will know voluntary assisted dying may be one of the treatment options available to them, and how to navigate the process should they wish to.

    These initiatives would need to be designed sensitively with a focus on providing information to avoid any perception that people could feel induced or directed to access voluntary assisted dying.

    Training for health practitioners is also important. This is particularly needed for GPs and specialists working in end-of-life care. Training will support health practitioners to facilitate informed discussions with patients and families.

    Strong community support was a key argument in legalising voluntary assisted dying in Australia. The public wanted this as an end-of-life choice. But that choice is only a real one if people know it exists.

    Our online resource End of Life Law in Australia has more information about voluntary assisted dying and contact points for accessing it in each state.

    Ben White has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, Commonwealth and state governments, and philanthropic organisations for research and training about the law, policy and practice relating to end-of-life care. In relation to voluntary assisted dying, he (with colleagues) has been engaged by the Victorian, Western Australian and Queensland governments to design and provide the legislatively mandated training for health practitioners involved in voluntary assisted dying in those states. He (with Lindy Willmott) has also developed a model bill for voluntary assisted dying for parliaments to consider. Ben is a recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT190100410: Enhancing End-of-Life Decision-Making: Optimal Regulation of Voluntary Assisted Dying) funded by the Australian government. He is also a Chief Investigator on a current Australian Research Council Linkage Project on voluntary assisted dying (partnering with Voluntary Assisted Dying (Review) Boards and/or Departments of Health in five Australian States. The research this article discusses was funded by Queensland Health.

    Lindy Willmott receives or has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council and Commonwealth and state governments for research and training about the law, policy and practice relating to end-of-life care. She is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Linkage Project on voluntary assisted dying (partnering with Voluntary Assisted Dying (Review) Boards and/or Departments of Health in five Australian States. She (with colleagues) has been engaged by the Victorian, Western Australian and Queensland governments to design and provide the legislatively mandated training for health practitioners involved in voluntary assisted dying in those states. She (with Ben White) has also developed a model bill for voluntary assisted dying for parliaments to consider. Lindy Willmott is also a member of the Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board, but writes this piece in her capacity as an academic researcher. She is a former board member of Palliative Care Australia.

    Rachel Feeney receives funding from the Australian Research Council for research about voluntary assisted dying. Rachel has been employed on multiple research projects as a research fellow at the Australian Centre for Health Law Research. She is also employed on End of Life Law for Clinicians, a training program for clinicians about end of life law, funded by the Commonwealth government. Rachel was previously engaged as a clinical consultant for the Voluntary Assisted Dying Training Education Module for Healthcare Workers in Queensland.

    – ref. Voluntary assisted dying is legal in Australia – but many of us don’t know – https://theconversation.com/voluntary-assisted-dying-is-legal-in-australia-but-many-of-us-dont-know-248114

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 1975 was declared International Women’s Year. 50 years on, the ‘revolution in our heads’ is still being fought

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marian Sawer, Emeritus Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University

    National Archives of Australia

    In December 1972, the same month the Whitlam government was first elected, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 1975 as International Women’s Year (IWY). This set in train a series of world-changing events, in which Australia was to play a significant part.

    The aim of IWY was to end discrimination against women and enable them to participate fully in economic, social and political life. Fifty years later, such participation has become an indicator of development and good governance. But the full promise of International Women’s year has yet to be fulfilled, hampered by pushback and the scourge of gender-based violence.

    ‘The greatest consciousness-raising event in history’

    Dubbed “the greatest consciousness-raising event in history”, the UN’s first World Conference on Women took place in Mexico City in June 1975. Consciousness-raising had been part of the repertoire of women’s liberation. Now it was taken up by government and intergovernmental bodies.

    The Mexico City conference was agenda-setting in many ways. The Australian government delegation, led by Elizabeth Reid, helped introduce the world of multilateral diplomacy to the language of the women’s movement. As Reid said:

    We argued that, whenever the words “racism”, “colonialism” and “neo-colonialism” occurred in documents of the conference, so too should “sexism”, a term that had not to that date appeared in United Nations documents or debates.

    Reid held the position of women’s adviser to the prime minister. In this pioneering role, she had been able to obtain government commitment and funding for Australia’s own national consciousness-raising exercise during IWY.

    A wide range of small grants promoted attitudinal change – “the revolution in our heads” – whether in traditional women’s organisations, churches and unions, or through providing help such as Gestetner machines to the new women’s centres.

    IWY grants explicitly did not include the new women’s services, including refuges, women’s health centres and rape crisis centres. Their funding was now regarded as an ongoing responsibility for government, rather than suitable for one-off grants.

    IWY began in Australia with a televised conversation on New Year’s Day between Reid and Governor-General John Kerr on hopes and aspirations for the year. On International Women’s Day (March 8), Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s speech emphasised the need for attitudinal change:

    Both men and women must be made aware of our habitual patterns of prejudice which we often do not see as such but whose existence manifests itself in our language and our behaviour.

    The Australian postal service celebrated the day by releasing a stamp featuring the IWY symbol, showing the spirit of women breaking free of their traditional bonds. At Reid’s suggestion, IWY materials, including the symbol, were printed in the purple, green and white first adopted by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1908 and now known as the suffragette colours.


    Author supplied

    Policy power

    Inside government, Reid had introduced the idea that all Cabinet submissions needed to be analysed for gender impact. After the Mexico City conference, this idea became part of new international norms of governance.

    Following the adoption at the conference of the World Plan of Action, the idea that governments needed specialised policy machinery to promote gender equality was disseminated around the world.

    Given the amount of ground to be covered, IWY was expanded to a UN Decade for Women (1976–85). By the end of it, 127 countries had established some form of government machinery to advance the status of women. Each of the successive UN world conferences (Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985, Beijing 1995) generated new plans of action and strengthened systems of reporting by governments.

    The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing was a high point. Its “platform for action” provided further impetus for what was now called “gender mainstreaming”. By 2018, every country recognised by the UN except North Korea had established government machinery for this purpose.

    The global diffusion of this policy innovation was unprecedented in its rapidity. At the same time, Australia took the lead in another best-practice innovation. In 1984, the Commonwealth government pioneered what became known as “gender budgeting”. This required departments to disaggregate the ways particular budgetary decisions affected men and women.

    As feminist economists pointed out, when the economic and social division of labour was taken into account, no budgetary decision could be assumed to be gender-neutral. Governments had emphasised special programs for women, a relatively small part of annual budgets, rather than the more substantial impact on women of macro-economic policy.

    Standard-setting bodies such as the OECD helped promote gender budgeting as the best way to ensure such decisions did not inadvertently increase rather than reduce gender gaps.

    By 2022, gender budgeting had been taken up around the world, including in 61% of OECD countries. Now that it had become an international marker of good governance, Australian governments were also reintroducing it after a period of abeyance.

    Momentum builds

    In addition to such policy transfer, new frameworks were being adopted internationally. Following IWY, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted in 1979. CEDAW became known as the international bill of rights for women, and has been ratified by 189 countries. This is more than any other UN Convention except that on the rights of the child.

    All state parties to CEDAW were required to submit periodic reports to the UN on its implementation. Non-government organisations were encouraged to provide shadow reports to inform the questioning of government representatives. This oversight and dialogue relating to gender equality became part of the norm-building work of the UN.

    However, this very success at international and regional levels helped fuel “anti-gender movements” that gathered strength after 1995. No more world conferences on women were held, for fear there would be slippage from the standards achieved in Beijing.

    In Australia, the leveraging of international standards to promote gender equality has been muted in deference to populist politics. It became common to present the business case rather than the social justice case for gender-equality policy, even the cost to the economy of gender-based violence (estimated by KPMG to be $26 billion in 2015–16).

    The battle continues

    Fifty years after IWY, Australia is making up some lost ground in areas such as paid parental leave, work value in the care economy, and recognition of the ways economic policy affects women differently from men.

    However, all of this remains precarious, with issues of gender equality too readily rejected as part of a “woke agenda”.

    The world has become a different place from when the Australian government delegation set out to introduce the UN to the concept of sexism. In Western democracies, women have surged into male domains such as parliaments. Australia now has an almost equal number of women and men in its Cabinet (11 out of 23 members).

    But along with very different expectations has come the resentment too often being mobilised by the kind of populist politics we will likely see more of in this election year.

    Marian Sawer 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. 1975 was declared International Women’s Year. 50 years on, the ‘revolution in our heads’ is still being fought – https://theconversation.com/1975-was-declared-international-womens-year-50-years-on-the-revolution-in-our-heads-is-still-being-fought-241791

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What’s the difference between Hass and Shepard avocados? It’s not just the colour

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yasmine Probst, Professor, School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, University of Wollongong

    Stepanenco Valeria/Unsplash

    Whether with crumbled feta or poached eggs, you’d be challenged to find a cafe in Australia or farther afield that doesn’t have avocado somewhere on the menu.

    This fruit (yep, it’s a fruit from a tree, not a vegetable) is widely associated with brunch culture and other trendy eating habits.

    The Australian avocado industry developed in the 1960s, 30 years after the start of the first large-scale production in California. Orchards producing avocados now span all parts of Australia, except Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

    Avocados are considered a monoculture crop: they’re grown on the same land each year, making them more susceptible to pests and creating a need for increased fertiliser use. The carbon footprint of avos is almost twice as high as that of apples, but much lower than many animal food sources.

    There are now over 50 different avocado types globally, but only a few are grown commercially.

    Not all avos are the same

    You may not notice a difference when you get your avocado toast at a cafe. But at the shops or the market, a striking difference occurs each year in Australia.

    In autumn, the familiar dark purple Hass avocado disappears and is replaced with the lighter green Shepard variety. In Australia, this typically happens between February and May.

    If you don’t know the difference between the two, you may expect Shepard avos to perform the same way as Hass – and be left disappointed. There are some important differences.

    Hass avocados

    Hass avocado skin is very dark when ripe.
    Nungning20/Shutterstock

    Hass avocados are known for their dark, pebbly-looking skin that appears almost black when ripe. They have an ovoid shape with a slight pear-like appearance. The thick skin can be a challenge to peel, often requiring a sharp knife or avocado slicer.

    Hass avocado flavour is rich, creamy and buttery, with nutty undertones. Their texture is ideal for mashing, blending and spreading, creating a creamy texture in dips, guacamole and smoothies.

    Hass avocados ripen – and darken in colour – slowly over several days. They remain firm to the touch when ripe, and will feel squishy when overripe. A slight give when pressed confirms Hass avos are ready to eat.

    Available in Australia from May to January, Hass are the dominant variety of commercially grown avocado worldwide. They were cultivated by horticulturalist Rudolph Hass in California in the 1920s.

    Shepard avocados

    Shepard avocados have smooth, green skin that remains green even when they are fully ripe. They are round to slightly oblong in shape and have a slightly milder and sweeter taste, with less pronounced nutty undertones.

    Shepard avocados ripen more quickly than Hass, but you won’t be able to tell that by the colour. Instead, check for softness – Shepard avocados are very soft when ripe. What might feel overripe when handling a Hass will likely be ideal ripeness if it’s a Shepard. The thin, smooth skin makes them easy to peel by hand or with a gentle squeeze.

    Their buttery soft texture is firm and creamy, and they hold their shape well when cut, making them ideal for slicing, dicing and spreading despite being structurally firm.

    Interestingly, Shepard avocados brown much more slowly than Hass, making them perfect for garnishes. Their milder flavour also makes Shepard avos well suited to sweet dishes, such as chocolate mousse.

    Shepard avos account for approximately 10–15% of Australian avocados and are in season from February to April each year while there is a gap in the Hass season.

    Australia is the only country in the world that grows Shepard avocados commercially. (They are grown in Queensland.)

    Avocados and our health

    As avocados contain 59% fat, people wishing to lose weight were previously advised to avoid or limit eating them.

    We now know that a majority of this fat is oleic acid, a monounsaturated (healthy) fat that helps to reduce cholesterol and improve heart health.

    Additionally, only 1% of an avocado is made up of carbohydrates, making the fruit popular with people following a ketogenic (keto) diet of low carbs and high fat.

    People who consume avos also tend to follow a better pattern of eating in general. They eat more whole grains, fruit and vegetables and fewer discretionary or takeaway foods.

    As an energy-dense food, consuming a whole avocado is about the same as eating 2.5 whole apples. Per 100 grams, avocado actually gives you less energy than an equivalent amount of cooked white rice.

    As avocado dishes are visually appealing and often featured in food photography, they have become a symbol of modern eating habits.

    Yasmine Probst receives funding from Multiple Sclerosis Australia and has previously received funding from various industry groups including the Hass Avocado Board. She is presently affiliated with the National Health and Medical Research Council, Multiple Sclerosis Plus and Multiple Sclerosis Limited.

    Karen Zoszak receives funding from MS Australia.

    – ref. What’s the difference between Hass and Shepard avocados? It’s not just the colour – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-hass-and-shepard-avocados-its-not-just-the-colour-233243

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Staffing shortages risk Ontario’s $10-a-day child care

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Emis Akbari, Adjunct Professor, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at Ontario Institute for the Study of Education (OISE) and Senior Policy Fellow at the Atkinson Centre, University of Toronto

    Ontario’s agreement under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program is set to expire in March 2026, and troubling signs suggest the province is far from meeting its commitments.

    Despite receiving $13.2 billion — almost half of the total $27.2 billion federal investment — Ontario has fallen short on critical benchmarks.

    Unlike most families across Canada, Ontario parents have yet to see significant growth in available spaces or $10-a-day child care.

    This provincial inaction is particularly troubling in a federal election year. While federal maintenance funding is to continue post-2026, without the benefits of the child care plan widely realized and apparent to voters, future governments could easily scale back any gains.

    Our recent study, conducted in collaboration with regional governments tasked with implementing Ontario’s early learning and child-care agreement, shows how staffing shortages have created long wait-lists for care. Children are ageing out of child care before a space becomes available. The unmet demand, regional officials told us, is eroding public confidence in the program as parents become frustrated in their search for affordable care.

    While other provinces have enacted comprehensive compensation reforms — including pensions, benefits and wage increases of up to 50 per cent — to attract and retain qualified educators, Ontario’s support for trained early childhood educators tops out at $24.86 per hour, well below the federal poverty line for a family of four.

    Low wages, staffing shortfalls

    Low wages deter new graduates from entering the child-care field and drive away those already employed. Of the 4,200 early childhood educators that Ontario colleges graduate annually, fewer than 60 per cent enter licensed child care, and only 40 per cent remain after five years.

    Small wonder for the exodus. One in five child-care staff responding to our survey told us they hold a second job to make ends meet. Over 55 per cent of couple families, and 83 per cent of lone parent families, are concerned about their housing.

    The province acknowledges a shortfall of 8,500 educators needed to meet its expansion goal of 86,000 new spaces. Yet the issue runs deeper. Staff shortages mean existing child-care rooms are empty. A single absence can force centre directors to abruptly close rooms, leaving parents scrambling for alternatives.

    The human costs

    The consequences extend beyond empty classrooms. Staff shortages compromise the quality and inclusivity of early childhood programs. Our report found that children with disabilities are often sent home or denied admission altogether due to insufficient staffing.

    This is despite Jordan’s Principle, which the federal government says ensures all First Nations children access the products, services and supports they need, when they need them.

    Ontario’s requirement for qualified staff is among the lowest in Canada, mandating that only half of a centre’s staff hold a college diploma in early education. The use of ministry “approvals,” a stop-gap measure allowing untrained staff to fill roles until qualified educators are found, has become standard practice.

    Our research found entire programs, particularly those in northern regions and those serving francophone and Indigenous families, operating without a single qualified early childhood educator.

    Educator shortages not only exclude children from child care, but degrade the quality of care. While less than one per cent of the province’s almost 28,000 early childhood educators working in licensed child care are reported to authorities, incidents involving the improper handling of children have seen an uptick.

    This may partly reflect the COVID-19 pandemic’s aftermath, but it also may signal staff burnout and the prevalence of untrained workers.

    Equally alarming, 14 per cent of respondents in our study indicated they would be reluctant to recommend their own centre to a family member or friend seeking child care.

    Quality and staffing challenges vary significantly across Ontario’s child-care network of over 5,700 centres. Publicly operated centres and established community providers, where wages and benefits are higher, report fewer staffing shortages or quality problems.

    In contrast, for-profit centres, where wages are significantly lower, experience the highest staff turnover and lowest levels of job dissatisfaction.

    These disparities are particularly concerning given Ontario’s pressure on regional governments to divest their public centres, and its push to lift the cap on the percentage of new for-profit spaces allowed under its agreement with Ottawa.

    A blueprint for change

    Ontario’s challenges are not insurmountable. Other provinces and territories are showing that fair compensation tied to qualifications and responsibilities can help to stabilize the child-care workforce.

    Publicly funded pensions, benefits, and additional incentives for educators in remote, Indigenous and francophone communities have proven effective in attracting and retaining staff.

    Ontario must urgently follow suit. The CWELCC program isn’t just about child care; it’s a highly effective economic strategy. The province’s Financial Accountability Office estimates that the national plan could enable 98,000 more Ontario mothers to join the workforce.

    However, this potential can only be realized if sufficient child-care spaces are created. Without early childhood educators new spaces are wasted infrastructure. This represents squandered economic development, children denied quality early education and families left to struggle financially.

    The time to act is now. Ontario must seize the promise of CWELCC before it becomes another missed opportunity.

    Emis Akbari receives funding from the Atkinson Foundation, the Lawson Foundation, and the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation.

    Kerry McCuaig receives funding from the Atkinson Foundation, the Lawson Foundation and the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation.

    – ref. Staffing shortages risk Ontario’s $10-a-day child care – https://theconversation.com/staffing-shortages-risk-ontarios-10-a-day-child-care-247273

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is the story of hongbao, the red envelopes given out at celebrations like Lunar New Year?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ming Gao, Research Scholar of East Asia Studies, Gender and Women’s History Research Centre, Australian Catholic University

    Remi Chow/Unsplash

    Red envelopes, known as hongbao in Mandarin, are a cherished cultural tradition in China and many other parts of Asia.

    In China, the vibrant red colour symbolises good fortune and joy. Hongbao can be given during many various festive and joyful occasions, and they are a prominent feature of Lunar New Year.

    Receiving a hongbao is something most Chinese people, particularly children, eagerly anticipate every Lunar New Year. It was also one of my fondest childhood memories. But what’s the history behind this tradition?

    A historical tradition

    The origins of hongbao can be traced back to the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) when amulet-like items in the shapes of coins were worn.

    Early practices resembling money giving took place in the Tang dynasty court (618–907 CE), where coins were scattered in springtime as part of celebrations.

    Giving children money during celebrations became an established custom during the Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368). In the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911/12), this tradition evolved further with money being given to children threaded on red string.

    In the Ming and Qing dynasties money was given to children threaded on red string.
    Nataliia K/Shutterstock

    The modern concept of hongbao emerged in early 20th-century China. Elders would give money wrapped in red paper to children during the Lunar New Year as a talisman against evil spirits, known as sui (祟).

    The red envelopes given to children, or in some cases unmarried adults, during Lunar New Year are also called ya sui qian.

    Colloquially, ya sui qian translates to “suppressing age money”, as sui (岁) also means age. Ya sui qian reflects the belief this money could ward off misfortune and slow ageing.

    In traditional contexts, the amount of money inside the envelope carries symbolic meaning.

    Even numbers, except for the number four (considered unlucky due to its phonetic similarity to the word for “death” in Chinese), are regarded as lucky. Six (symbolising smooth progress) and eight (symbolising prosperity) are particularly favoured.

    Beyond monetary value, the act of giving and receiving hongbao represents a gesture of goodwill, reinforcing social bonds and conveying respect and care.

    The digital revolution

    Today, hongbao straddle the worlds of tradition and modernity, adapting to societal changes while preserving their cultural essence.

    Super-apps like WeChat and AliPay have transformed this age-old practice from a physical tradition into a digital, virtual experience.

    Red packet designs available on WeChat.
    Screenshot/Ming Gao

    WeChat popularised the concept of “digital red envelopes” in 2014, incorporating gamified elements such as randomised monetary amounts and group exchanges.

    In 2017, WeChat recorded a staggering 14.2 billion hongbao transactions on the eve of Lunar New Year alone. While the initial excitement around the digital hongbao has waned over time, the practice remains popular. On Lunar New Year’s Eve in 2024, WeChat users recorded approximately 5.08 billion digital hongbao transactions.

    The shift to digital formats aligns with our increasingly cashless society, making it easier for people to participate in the custom, even across great distances. Families separated by migration can partake in this tradition in real time, maintaining connections that might otherwise weaken over long distances.

    My child doesn’t get to see my parents very often, but my mother promised to send a “large” hongbao to her grandchild on the eve of the Lunar New Year this year. Despite the geographical distance spanning the ocean between Australia and China, the tradition of giving hongbao transcends borders, connecting our family members across continents every Lunar New Year.

    Societal significance

    The enduring popularity of hongbao highlights its importance in Chinese culture. It serves not only as a means of giving but also as a way to uphold tradition amid rapid modernisation.

    The act of giving hongbao, whether physical or digital, reinforces intergenerational ties and preserves cultural heritage. Parents and grandparents giving hongbao to children during Lunar New Year continue to embody the traditional values of family and unity.

    The act of giving hongbao reinforces intergenerational ties and preserves cultural heritage.
    SeventyFour/Shutterstock

    But the digitisation of hongbao has sparked debates about its impact on traditional values. Some argue the ease of sending digital hongbao reduces the personal touch and thoughtfulness inherent in the physical exchange.

    Others view it as an evolution that keeps the practice relevant and accessible in a fast-paced world.

    Regional variations

    While hongbao is most closely associated with Chinese culture, similar traditions exist across Asia, each with notable regional variations.

    In Korea, during the Lunar New Year (Seollal), elders give money to young or unmarried adults after receiving their New Year’s bow (sebae). One legend suggests the Korean tradition originates from China. However, unlike the red envelopes used in Chinese culture, the money in Korea can be presented in white envelopes, as whiteness in Korean culture symbolises purity and new beginnings.

    Similar traditions exist across Asia. These red envelopes are hanging in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
    Marie Shark/Shutterstock

    In Singapore, where a diverse population blends Chinese, Malay and Indian traditions, the giving of hongbao (also known as ang bao or ang pow in Hokkien) is a common practice. This tradition has extended beyond the Chinese population, reflecting the cultural influence of Chinese diasporic communities.

    While red envelopes are traditional, envelopes in other colours, such as pink or gold, are also considered acceptable.

    The Future of hongbao

    As technology continues to shape societal norms, the practice of giving hongbao is likely to further evolve.

    The advancement of E-CNY (China’s digital currency), regardless of its ultimate success, could introduce new dimensions to traditional practices, enabling more innovative and secure forms of exchange.

    The enduring appeal of hongbao lies in its core values: the celebration of relationships, the sharing of blessings, and the preservation of cultural heritage.

    As the Lunar New Year of the Snake approaches, it’s wise to have some hongbao ready, whether digital or physical, to avoid being caught off guard by a playful youngster cheerfully exclaiming, “May you be prosperous, now hand over the red envelope!” (“gong xi fa cai, hong bao na lai”). This light-hearted and catchy greeting cleverly combines good wishes with a cheeky request for a hongbao.

    Ming Gao 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 is the story of hongbao, the red envelopes given out at celebrations like Lunar New Year? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-story-of-hongbao-the-red-envelopes-given-out-at-celebrations-like-lunar-new-year-247687

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Changing jobs is a big move but it’s worth considering if your workplace is toxic

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology

    Rauschan_films/Shutterstock

    Returning to work after a summer break can be jarring, especially for the many workers dissatisfied with their jobs. Almost half report high levels of job-related stress.

    Dissatisfaction can be tied to an unhealthy, even toxic workplace where negative behaviour and poor leadership harm employee wellbeing and productivity.

    Key indicators include bullying, harassment, lack of trust, poor communication and high job strain.

    The impact of toxic workplaces

    If you think your workplace is toxic, it is worth considering the impact it is having on your mental health. You might also consider how committed your organisation is to supporting its employees’ mental health.

    Toxicity can develop gradually through subtle patterns of micromanagement, exclusion, or eroding morale. These dynamics create a draining environment that undermines individual wellbeing and business success.

    As well as affecting employees’ mental health, there is growing evidence workplace stress may lead to serious physical health problems, such as cardiovascular disease.

    According to Safe Work Australia, mental health-related workers’ compensation claims have increased by over a third since 2017-2018.

    In 2021-2022, there were 11,700 accepted claims relating to mental health conditions. These cases proved highly costly for employers, with the median compensation paid being A$58,615.

    The International Standards Organisation released a global standard in 2021 to help manage psychological health and safety risks in workplaces.

    A number of countries, including Canada and Australia, have introduced laws and standards making employers responsible for preventing and managing work-related stress.

    To support a safe workplace, some researchers (including one of the authors) have recommended an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to ensure companies respond appropriately to mental health risks.

    What your employer is doing in the following three areas can show how committed they are to protecting mental health.

    1. Preventing, minimising or managing the negatives

    Most work, health and safety legislation and standards in Australia relates to protecting employees from physical hazards, including slips, trips and falls.

    More recently, attention has turned to psychosocial hazards.

    Safe Work Australia and Comcare, as well as state and territory regulators, keep a list of common hazards.

    These include bullying, excessive workloads, low job control, lack of role clarity and exposure to traumatising events, for example, witnessing an accident.

    These lists are not exhaustive and there are some problems unique to specific jobs. For instance, teachers are often isolated from their colleagues, face big administrative loads and sometimes have to deal with abusive students and/or parents.

    Most employers can make necessary improvements including creating fairer workloads, redefining job roles and providing more support to individual employees.

    2. Responding to employee mental health issues

    Despite efforts to minimise the impact of psychosocial hazards, some employees will nonetheless experience mental health issues.

    Employers should not try to treat an employee’s mental health problems. They should support them and direct them to appropriate mental health care.

    Managers can also help by identifying signs of distress, having sensitive conversations with workers about the impact of mental illness and making reasonable changes to their roles.

    Giving employees access to support services through employee assistance programs, which can offer confidential short-term counselling, can also help.

    Making counselling available to employees can help staff mental health and workplace morale.
    kmpzzz/Shutterstock

    Establishing a critical incident investigation procedure for events that have compromised employee mental health can help identify the cause of incidents and shape responses.

    3. Promoting the positive

    As well as managing the negative aspects of work, organisations can create conditions that promote employee mental health and wellbeing.

    One approach for doing this is to provide flexible working arrangements, such as hybrid work, which can offer employees greater choice in work location and scheduling.

    Another approach involves fostering social connectedness and inclusion among employees. This could involve team-building, social events and opportunities for employees to build relationships.

    Leaders can also promote a culture of psychological safety – where employees feel able to bring their authentic selves to work and speak their minds freely. This has been linked to greater employee wellbeing.

    The SMART model suggests employees will be most satisfied in jobs that provide stimulation (for example, solving meaningful problems), mastery (receiving mentoring or constructive feedback), autonomy (creative freedom), social relationships (supportive colleagues) and tolerable demands (lack of psychosocial hazards).

    Should I stay or should I go?

    Making the decision to leave a workplace requires careful consideration.

    In addition to your own wellbeing, you should consider whether your organisation prioritises mental health and how comfortable you would feel initiating a discussion about mental health.

    Remember while changing jobs is a big step, staying in a toxic workplace can have serious long-term consequences for both mental and physical health.

    Consider seeking advice through your employee assistance program or an independent career counsellor.

    Whatever you decide, prioritising your mental health and wellbeing should be central to your decision making.

    Timothy Colin Bednall holds a part-time appointment as Head of Data Science with FlourishDx, a consultancy focused on workplace mental health. He receives funding from the National Mental Health Commission.

    Kathryn Page has previously received research funding from WorkSafe Victoria, SuperFriend, VicHealth, and the NHMRC in the areas of workplace mental health. In addition to her Adjunct Professor role at Swinburne University she works full time as a Leadership Partner with ByMany. ByMany is a leadership consultancy. It does not do psychosocial risk assessments.

    – ref. Changing jobs is a big move but it’s worth considering if your workplace is toxic – https://theconversation.com/changing-jobs-is-a-big-move-but-its-worth-considering-if-your-workplace-is-toxic-246885

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Is it school reluctance or refusal? How to tell the difference and help your child

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Leslie, Lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy with a focus on Educational Psychology, University of Southern Queensland

    It’s back-to-school season around Australia. While many students will be excited to reunite with friends, or have some nerves about the first day, others may feel an overwhelming sense of dread about school.

    This can be confusing and worrying for parents.

    We are researching child and parent perspectives about what is making school too stressful to attend. We have found it is useful to think about school attendance as a spectrum that may look like reluctance at one end and emotional distress at the other.

    Understanding the difference can help you to know which supports to seek for your child.

    School attendance in Australia

    Last week, new national figures showed school attendance continues to be an issue in Australian schools post-COVID.

    In 2024, school attendance rates (the number of days students attend) for Years 1–10 was 88.3%. This is down slightly from 88.6% in 2023. Student attendance levels (the percentage of students who go for more than 90% of the time) was 59.8% in 2024, down from 61.6% in 2023.

    In 2019, national attendance rates were 91.4% and attendance levels were 73.1%.

    While these reports don’t tell us why the figures are dropping, we know school refusal is a common and growing issue. A 2023 Senate inquiry heard how family requests for support to groups such as School Can’t Australia have almost doubled every year since 2014.

    A 2023 Greens-commissioned survey of 1,000 families found 39% said their child had been unable to attend school in the past year because of anxiety or stress.

    What is school reluctance?

    Sometimes children and young people will not want to go to school but it is not school refusal.

    When this is temporary and tied to a specific stressor, such as a test, social conflict, sports lesson or event like a camp or swimming carnival, it can be described as “school reluctance”.

    Signs can include clinginess in younger children or teenagers, as well as complaints of seemingly minor ailments such as a tummy ache, headache or “feeling sick”.

    In these cases, it is important for parents to validate a child’s feelings. Using phrases such as “I can see you’re nervous about starting a new class” can make children feel seen and heard.

    Families should also set up predictable morning routines to help children build self-regulation skills. If you celebrate small wins, such as completing the day, or getting to school on time, you can help boost motivation and confidence.

    These early interventions can help avoid escalation into more significant school-related distress.



    Read more:
    Is your child nervous about going back to school? Try asking them what they are looking forward to

    When it’s more than reluctance

    But at other times, a child’s issues with school are more serious and a child feels overwhelmed by stressors that make attending school feel threatening, unsafe and impossible. This is what is seen as “school refusal”, although some families and researchers are now using the term “school can’t” to reframe the issue and avoid blaming children in these situations.

    Some signs this could be happening to your child include:

    • spending significant portions of the school day in the office or sick bay

    • extreme difficulty in getting ready in the morning, even with basic tasks such as dressing or making breakfast

    • physical symptoms such as nausea or dizziness that worsen on school days, but may also be evident on weekends

    • persistent absences from school, even with encouragement and support

    • extreme emotional reactions – crying, anger or complete withdrawal – when school is mentioned.

    Who can be impacted?

    Reports show school refusal is more common in some groups, for example neurodiverse students, gender-diverse students, and students born with innate variations of sex characteristics (also known as intersex variations / traits).

    School refusal is closely associated with social anxiety, separation anxiety and school anxiety. This anxiety can become overwhelming and trigger a student’s need to avoid the environment that is causing them emotional distress. For these students, not going to school might be a survival mechanism or a way to respond to burnout.

    Whatever the reason, we know this can lead to stress and conflict for families. For students, it can have long-term effects on academic success, social skills and mental health, as well as poorer outcomes after they leave school.

    Supporting your child

    If your child is refusing or can’t go to school, they need your empathy and support. Listen to them and be their advocate. Remember, you know them best. You can also:

    • seek professional help. A psychologist may help uncover and address the root causes of their distress

    • work with the school. Talk to teachers and staff about accommodations such as flexible schedules or sensory breaks, and how else they may offer inclusive, affirming and supportive learning environments

    • think outside the box. This can include prioritising wellbeing over attendance. Consider a break from schooling or alternative forms of education, which may suit your family better

    • seek support from other families. You are not alone – there are many other families who share this experience.

    If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

    Rachel Leslie is affiliated with the Queensland Guidance and Counselling Association of Queensland and the Australian Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools association. She is working with family support and advocacy organisation School Can’t Australia as part of her research.

    Annette Brömdal receives funding from the Medical Research Future Fund; Queensland Mental Health Commission; Queensland Sexual Health Research Fund; the Department of Education, Queensland; and the Australian Association of Gerontology. Annette is affiliated with Lifeline Darling Down and South West QLD Ltd as a volunteer Board Director. She is working with family support and advocacy organisation School Can’t Australia as part of her research.

    Cris Townley is working with family support and advocacy organisation School Can’t Australia as part of their research. They are also a member of the the School Can’t Australia support network, and of the advocacy network Parents for Trans Youth Equity (P-TYE).

    Glenys Oberg is working with family support and advocacy organisation School Can’t Australia as part of her research.

    – ref. Is it school reluctance or refusal? How to tell the difference and help your child – https://theconversation.com/is-it-school-reluctance-or-refusal-how-to-tell-the-difference-and-help-your-child-247805

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Might Xenon gas be useful for treating Alzheimer’s, as a new study suggests?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ritchie Williamson, Director of Research, Associate Professor in Therapeutics, University of Bradford

    An inert and unreactive gas may not seem like an obvious candidate for treating Alzheimer’s disease, yet a new study in mice suggests that xenon might just be the breakthrough we need.

    Xenon is one of the six noble gases. Its name derives from the Greek word for “strange”. In medicine, it has been used as an anaesthetic since the early 1950s and, more recently, to treat brain injuries. It is also being tested in clinical trials for several conditions including depression and panic disorder.

    The new study from Washington University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (the teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School) in the US, has investigated the potential of xenon to treat the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s.

    These changes, which can be found in all brains of people with dementia, include clumps of the proteins amyloid and tau. The connections between neurons, called synapses, are also lost in Alzheimer’s disease and it is these connections between neurons that allow us to think, feel, move and remember.

    A final common feature found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s is inflammation. This is the body’s response to injury or disease and triggers the immune response to heal the damaged tissue.

    Usually, inflammation disappears once the tissue is healed. In Alzheimer’s, the inflammation does not go away and the immune responses triggered can then damage healthy brain cells.

    All of the above changes give rise to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, such as memory loss, confusion and mood swings.

    We don’t know what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but a leading theory suggests that a build up of amyloid triggers the process that then gives rise to the subsequent changes. So targeting amyloid seems like an obvious approach to treating the disease.

    Just over two years ago, we learned of the success of one of these treatments called lecanemab in slowing the rate of decline.



    Read more:
    Experimental Alzheimer’s drug shows promise – but there are many hurdles still to overcome

    The increase in clumps of proteins and the loss of synapses occur over decades, and it remains to be seen if directly targeting a single protein (either amyloid or tau) would be able to halt disease progression or have a measurable effect on all the characteristic harms.

    The brain has several types of cell that work together to support brain function. Neurons are the cells responsible for everything – walking, talking, thinking and breathing. Astrocytes provide energy to the neurons as well as structural support and protective functions.

    Other important cells found in the brain are microglia. They are immune cells that help remove pathogens and dead cells, among other activities. However, if they are overactive, they can cause chronic inflammation in the brain.

    Microglia explained.

    Microglia have different states depending on the environment they find themselves in, from an inactive state through to an active state. The difference in these states can be determined both by their appearance and importantly by the functions they perform. For example, active microglia can help clear the accumulated debris, such as unwanted proteins, cells and infections.

    The scientists in this latest study used mice that have the same brain changes seen in Alzheimer’s to investigate the role of microglia. A specific active state of microglia that was associated with inflammation was identified. The scientists gave the mice xenon gas to inhale, which changed the state of their microglia.

    This altered state allowed the microglia to surround, engulf and destroy amyloid deposits. It also changed the function of these microglia so that they didn’t drive further inflammation.

    The researchers also found a reduction in the number and size of amyloid deposits found. All these changes were associated with the altered microglial state.

    But what of the other changes seen in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s? The study also suggested Xenon inhalation could reduce brain shrinkage (a common feature of Alzheimer’s disease) and lead to an increase in support of the connections between neurons. And in all the mice studied, markers of the excessive inflammatory response were reduced.

    So, overall, the research suggests that inhaling xenon triggers the active microglia to change from an Alzheimer’s disease-type active state to a pre-Alzheimer’s state. This pre-Alzheimer’s disease state promotes the clearance of amyloid deposits and reduces the cell messengers that cause excessive inflammation.

    New hope

    There are no drugs that target microglia in Alzheimer’s and inroads have been made in addressing amyloid accumulation. Current drugs aimed at reducing amyloid in the brain offer a modest reduction in amyloid deposits and rate of decline.

    Amyloid treatment will improve over time, but what of the other changes that occur in the brain, such as the deposits of tau, brain shrinkage and loss of synapses?

    The new research opens up the possibility of targeting a cell type that has the innate potential to affect all of these characteristic harms.

    Clinical trials in healthy volunteers are expected to begin this year. If these findings hold up, xenon could offer a completely new approach to this mind-robbing disease. It would be a treatment that doesn’t directly target amyloid, but rather aims to reset the brain’s immune response to counteract all of the disease’s destructive changes. Stranger things have happened.

    Ritchie Williamson 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. Might Xenon gas be useful for treating Alzheimer’s, as a new study suggests? – https://theconversation.com/might-xenon-gas-be-useful-for-treating-alzheimers-as-a-new-study-suggests-247615

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Atonement by Ian McEwan is a meditation on creativity in later life

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By David Amigoni, Professor of Victorian Literature, Editorial Board Chair, Keele University

    In Ian McEwan’s Atonement (2001), aspiring writer 13-year-old Briony Tallis glimpses a world of opaque “adult emotion”. Holding a pen and blank paper before her, she feels a powerful impulse to write in order to impose order and meaning on adulthood’s slippery uncertainties.

    Earlier on that hot summer’s day in 1935, she had witnessed a perplexing scene of seeming “ugly threat”. Her older sister, Cecilia, undressed in front of their cleaning lady’s son (and fellow Cambridge graduate) Robbie Turner. She then plunged, in her underwear, into an ornamental fountain.

    Briony’s urge to write is triggered when she reads the private note she had been tasked with delivering from Robbie to Cecilia. Within, she is shocked to discover Robbie’s desire for Cecilia, expressed through use of the unutterable “c” word. Later, looking through the door of their darkened library, Briony mistakenly believes she sees Robbie committing a violent assault on her sister.

    This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books, films and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.

    McEwan’s novel presents a privileged English country house setting that descends into a chaos of mistakes, class resentment, educational ambition and sex, expressed both as desire and power. The latter is evident in the rape of Briony’s cousin Lola.

    Convinced that she has seen, and now read, the truth about “evil” Robbie’s “disgusting” obsession with her sister, Briony believes he is the culprit. She is confident that her writing will expose a “maniac’s” guilt. However, her urge to write upon the blank page is stronger than her sense of what precisely to say.

    In fact, what she writes at this crucial moment – “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly” – feels entirely strange. But just as the old lady of the nursery rhyme fatally bites off ever more that she can chew in swallowing a fly, a spider, a bird, a cat, so Briony’s tragically mistaken ideas about Robbie ends in his incrimination and incarceration.

    Robbie is free only when released to fight for the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940. He strives to return to Cecilia via the horrors and heroism of that most resonant of British stories, Dunkirk.

    Life stages, ageing and creativity are important themes in Atonement. It is as an older lady writer herself that Briony atones for the incriminating stories that her juvenile writer self swallowed and multiplied.



    Read more:
    Dunkirk survivors’ terror didn’t end when they were rescued

    Creativity in later life

    Putting age and later life front and centre urges the reader to reassess McEwan’s renowned “twist”. That is, the moment readers discover that key scenes in the novel – meetings between Briony, Cecilia and Robbie following the latter’s evacuation from Dunkirk – never happened.

    As we are told on the penultimate page, the truth is that Robbie died of septicaemia in the dunes of Dunkirk and Cecilia was killed in the direct hit of a bomb on the Balham tube station in 1940.

    At this moment, we realise that what we have been reading is the final draft of the atoning conclusion to a work by now 77-year-old Briony. Like so many late stylists (a writer who, in later life, returns to earlier preoccupations and themes), Briony, an established author with a reputation for “amorality”, revisits her early work on her 77th birthday party. It’s an event that brings her back to the estate of her childhood, now converted into a hotel.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Briony’s later life shapes the closure of the story, but McEwan’s imaginative engagement with ageing affects every aspect of the novel. He presents readers with story-shaped anticipations of mid- and later life, even when the character will not live to see that age.

    Robbie, working-class protégé of Mr Tallis’s educational philanthropy, with a first in English literature from Cambridge, consciously awakens into his unacknowledged love for Cecilia while thinking about his age and future.

    The feelings coincide with his developing aspiration to train in medicine, and his imaginary anticipations of his life course.

    He thought of himself in 1962, at 50, when he would be old, but not quite old enough to be useless, and of the weathered, knowing doctor he would be by then, with the secret stories, the tragedies and successes stacked behind him”

    These will be embodied in books – more writings – “possessed in the thousands”. Briony and Cecilia’s migraine-suffering mother Emily, meanwhile, sees her ageing self grow “stiffer in the limbs and more irrelevant by the day”.

    Through the character of Briony, McEwan contests the ageism and invisibility that can be the fate of older women. McEwan may take her to the brink of a terminal neurological decline in 1999 – she is diagnosed with vascular dementia – but Briony resists the othering that ageism imposes on older people: “we may look truly reptilian, but we’re not a separate tribe”.

    The end of the novel presents readers with a view of active, meaningful later life as a creative time of collaborative, curatorial story telling.

    The older Briony was played by Vanessa Redgrave in the 2007 adaptation of Atonement.

    Readers become aware of the “sources” of the dramatic story of Robbie’s trek across northern France in the company of Corporals Mace and Nettle. Seventy-seven-year-old Briony donates the “dozen long letters from old Mr Nettle” to the archives of the Imperial War Museum, where she has been researching.

    This act of memory preservation returns readers to the meaning of the horrors, carnage and heroism of the Dunkirk evacuation which McEwan presents through that powerful central episode in the novel. The evacuation of more than 300,000 troops from Dunkirk, including a small proportion of volunteer boats, makes Dunkirk a nationally resonant story.

    Briony’s collaborative, later-life storytelling captures the heroism and sacrifice inherent in the perspectives of the wounded evacuee combatants. But so, too, their more sceptical, critical accents.

    They “were bitter about the newspaper celebrations of the miracle evacuation and the heroism of the little boats. ‘A fucking shambles,’ she heard one of them mutter.” Or more precisely, the older lady recalled hearing, and then wrote.

    Beyond the canon

    As part of the Rethinking the Classics series, we’re asking our experts to recommend a book or artwork that tackles similar themes to the canonical work in question, but isn’t (yet) considered a classic itself. Here is David Amigoni’s suggestion:

    Paul Bailey, who died in October 2024, was an excellent but under-acknowledged writer who deserves to be more widely read.

    His writing went against the grain is subtle ways. He was experimenting with ways of writing about later life at the beginning of his career in 1967, with the publication of At the Jerusalem, set in a home for older women. He was then in his early 30s.

    The Prince’s Boy (2014) was written when he was 77 – the same age as McEwan’s fictional Briony Tallis when she completes Atonement. It revisits key themes in Bailey’s earlier work: sexuality (he was a gay man), love, Proust, Romania and Europe.

    David Amigoni received funding from RCUK (now UKRI) for his work on ageing and late-life creativity. He is affiliated with The Conversation UK as Chair of its Editorial Board.

    – ref. Atonement by Ian McEwan is a meditation on creativity in later life – https://theconversation.com/atonement-by-ian-mcewan-is-a-meditation-on-creativity-in-later-life-244801

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Donald Trump’s suggestion of ‘clearing out’ Gaza adds another risk to an already fragile ceasefire

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Karin Aggestam, Professor of Political Science, CMES Director, Lund University

    Donald Trump’s recent statement describing Gaza as a “demolition site” – and his suggestion to “evacuate” Palestinians in Gaza to Egypt and Jordan to “clean out that whole thing” – has sent shockwaves across the region.

    Trump reportedly told journalists travelling with him on Air Force One at the weekend that he had spoken with King Abdullah of Jordan and planned to talk with Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” he said.

    He added that relocating Palestinian civilians to “some of the Arab nations, and build[ing] housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change” could be “done temporarily or could be long term”.

    Israel’s extreme ultra-nationalist parties, both in and outside of the Israeli government, are thrilled by the idea. It’s one they have long advocated.

    But it has been widely criticised across the region as a potential “second Nakba” – referring to the violence and displacement of Palestinians after Israel’s unilateral declaration of statehood in 1948. The proposal has also been outright rejected by Egypt and Jordan. It has also been strongly condemned by the Palestinians.

    It remains unclear to what extent this aligns with US policy and diplomacy, but such rhetoric risks undermining the pivotal regional diplomatic efforts. These efforts, led by Qatar and Egypt in close coordination with Washington, are focused on continuing the negotiations on the ceasefire, monitoring progress, and verifying compliance.

    So it’s far from certain if this is an official US policy position or another example of the US president simply airing his thoughts. But what is clear is that his latest pronouncement will further complicate the ceasefire deal agreed on January 17.

    The deal already faces significant challenges and uncertainties, not least the mutual distrust between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships. History tells us that this lack of trust has developed, in part, because of the numerous times ceasefires have been used for purposes other than pursuing long-term settlement, such as opportunities to regroup, rearm or reposition strategically.

    So the staged nature of the current deal carries considerable risks, as it creates opportunities for “spoilers” on both sides to derail the process. The recent violence of Jewish settlers on the West Bank and Hamas’s active encouragement of confrontation there are other examples of things that could derail the ceasefire.

    The negotiation process is further complicated by dynamics tied to the political survival of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. One party (Jewish Power) has already left his coalition government in protest against the ceasefire. Meanwhile the leader of the Religious Zionist party, Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to do the same if the military operation against Hamas is not resumed.

    Hamas, in turn, has attempted to reassert its control in Gaza. We’ve seen examples of that during the hostage exchange process when Hamas fighters conspicuously present at the handovers. Hamas may have been severely weakened, but it still controls significant parts of Gaza’s bureaucracy and policing and wants the world to know it.

    Challenges ahead

    If any part of the agreement falters there is a substantial risk that each side will blame the other of breaching the terms of the ceasefire. Two of the most contentious issues in the second phase are determining who will govern Gaza and how to implement a full Israeli withdrawal.

    While Israel continues its security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, it vehemently opposes any PA role in Gaza. There is also considerable doubt as to whether Israel will agree to any long-term solution which involves complete withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from Gaza.

    The recent resignation of the IDF’s chief of staff Herzl Halevi, as he took responsibility for the IDF’s failures on October 7, has further destabilised the political and military dynamics in Israel. A lot will depend on his successor.



    Read more:
    Donald Trump’s presidency presents Benjamin Netanyahu with a crisis that could be existential – here’s why

    Transactional diplomacy

    Recent geopolitical shifts have reshaped regional dynamics. This presents challenges and opportunities for any diplomatic initiatives surrounding Israel and Palestine. The weakening of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance”, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon – and the now-collapsed Assad regime in Syria – may provide an opportunity for the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

    This in turn will offer an opportunity to reshape the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape. This potential breakthrough builds on the Abraham accords, which was one of Trump’s foreign policy initiatives. It’s a transactional approach to diplomacy, which prioritises pragmatic and results-oriented negotiations.

    The new US Middle East envoy, former real estate developer Steve Witkoff, has emphasised “courageous diplomacy”, as well as strong leadership and what he called “reciprocal actions” from the parties to the peace deal. Whether the new US administration will revive the 2020 Trump plan for a Palestinian state remains uncertain.

    That plan proposed granting 70% of the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinians while allowing Israel to retain sovereignty over Jerusalem. It also included US approval for Israeli annexation of territories with Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

    For Israel, normalisation with Saudi Arabia would be a major diplomatic victory. Washington is playing a crucial role here, offering incentives such as sale of advanced American weapons systems to Riyadh. But Saudi Arabia has reportedly demanded concrete steps toward establishing a Palestinian state as part of the deal. Trump’s latest gambit, if it becomes official US policy, would make that a non-starter.

    Karin Aggestam has received research funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Australian Reseach Council, Wallenberg Foundation and others.

    – ref. Donald Trump’s suggestion of ‘clearing out’ Gaza adds another risk to an already fragile ceasefire – https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-suggestion-of-clearing-out-gaza-adds-another-risk-to-an-already-fragile-ceasefire-248334

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Davos delegates missed when they discussed green finance for business

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Finance, University of East London

    Addressing the climate crisis was one of the key themes at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Rustam Zagidullin/Shutterstock

    Every year, leaders from politics and business come together with economists, investors and even celebrities at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. One of the five key themes of this year’s event was safeguarding the planet. The forum’s own figures suggest that human-caused climate change has cost the planet US$3.6 trillion (£2.9 trillion) in damage since 2000 alone.

    Many of the sessions at Davos focused on climate change, which was especially pertinent after US president Donald Trump’s decision to abandon for a second time the Paris Agreement – a framework to keep the warming of the planet to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.

    In an online address to Davos delegates, Trump even argued that the oil-producers’ group Opec should reduce the price of oil. This is in stark contrast to the views of many other governments – exemplified by UK energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband’s assertion that net zero is “unstoppable”.

    But one of the less discussed elements of the path to net-zero by the year 2050 (a key target to keep the Paris Agreement on track) is the role of the financial sector.

    As economists, we believe that banks and financial institutions should play a key role in making the green transition happen. Companies that produce goods and services will need to invest in equipment and technology – either to make new greener products or to ensure that they pollute less.

    But this will cost money – likely money that firms do not actually have on their balance sheet or under their mattress. When banks assist in providing funding for this type of investment, it is known as green finance.

    Green finance from banks can take two forms. Either the banks underwrite corporate bonds, which means they sell bonds to investors in exchange for a fee. Or they become involved in the provision of a syndicated loan, which is when they collaborate with other banks to lend money.

    But both options are constrained by the rule that a bank will only provide finance out of self-interest. This means they act only when the profit they earn is proportional to the credit risk they take on. But this was in contrast to the message from Davos that businesses should take the lead, with the aid of finance from banks, in mitigating the risks of climate change.

    With easier access to finance, more firms could invest in innovative ways to go green like this car park with inbuilt solar panels in Leeds.
    Clare Louise Jackson/Shutterstock

    Sources of credit for businesses to make green investments include philanthropists, public finance and the private sector (that is, commercial banks). However, it is arguable that charity and public money are best used in partnership with private banks, to finance projects that are perceived high risk and low return. Banks alone would not support these because of their promotion of self-interest.

    However, philanthropy can be limited and inconsistent in providing funds for green projects. And the public sector has so many demands on its purse that its ability to support is also limited. This is where the private sector plays a key role in mitigating climate change and where partnerships between these three sectors could offer a way forward.

    This pathway was discussed at Davos but the speakers were not clear on what effective partnerships would look like. As academics who have researched the factors that influence green finance provision across multiple European countries, we would suggest a partnership structure between the public sector and the private sector, based on risk-sharing.

    In these cases where banks perceive the risk to be unbearable (and therefore not in their self-interest), governments could partner with banks in offering finance and so share the consequences of a bad project outcome. In other words, they would form a partnership with the bank to share the downside risk.

    A bank may consider an investment to be higher risk where a project has less certain outcomes, or requires funding for a longer period of time. Both of these factors are comparatively common in green financing deals. This could be because a firm is investing in new or untested tech or production methods – for example car manufacturers exploring new electric vehicle battery technologies.

    The struggle for smaller businesses

    This partnership approach could especially benefit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up 99% of Europe’s companies. But these businesses can struggle to access finance from banks due to their lack of capital, which can make banks see them as a high risk. And this of course is challenging for SMEs, which mostly have no other sources of external finance.

    Research shows that medium-sized firms often rely on loans for finance. Our work focuses on how companies in Europe and the UK source green financing. It has highlighted that larger companies, as well as more liquid and more profitable firms, tend to raise finance via bonds (issued by banks and bought by investors) rather than loans (from a bank or other financial institution).

    In fact, our research shows that in some European countries (including Latvia, Malta and Romania), domestic banks have no record whatsoever of providing green finance to companies.

    This means it is much easier for larger businesses to get green finance compared to their smaller peers. And smaller companies tend to obtain relatively lower amounts of green financing, creating a real risk that SMEs may not get what they need in order to play their part in reducing their emissions.

    Without a significant shift in allowing SMEs to get the finance they need to become greener, governments will struggle to get close to their net-zero goals. But, along with financial regulators, governments could lead the way to create partnerships with banks and other financial institutions to overcome the barriers that SMEs face.

    Sharing the risk would ensure banks continue their green lending activities and accelerate progress toward meeting government climate targets.

    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 Davos delegates missed when they discussed green finance for business – https://theconversation.com/what-davos-delegates-missed-when-they-discussed-green-finance-for-business-248208

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Federal threats against local officials who don’t cooperate with immigration orders could be unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against similar plans

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Claire B. Wofford, Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston

    A fundamental tension exists between state and federal power in the United States that has not been resolved. Vladstudioraw via iStock/Getty Images Plus

    President Donald Trump has begun to radically change how the U.S. government handles immigration, from challenging long-held legal concepts about who gets citizenship to using the military to transport migrants back to their countries of origin.

    Trump’s administration is doing more than reshaping the approach of the federal government toward migrants: It has now ordered state and local officials to comply with all federal immigration laws, including any new executive orders. It has warned that if those officials refuse, it may criminally prosecute them.

    The specter of a federal prosecutor putting a city’s mayor or a state’s governor in jail will raise what may be the greatest source of conflict in the U.S. Constitution. That conflict is how much power the federal government can wield over the states, a long-standing and unresolved dispute that will move again to the front and center of American politics and, in all likelihood, into American courtrooms.

    A sign prohibiting the entry of ICE or Homeland Security personnel is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City.
    Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images

    Investigate for potential prosecution

    Besides the avalanche of executive orders remaking the federal government’s policies for the nation’s borders, a new directive from the Department of Justice provoked political backlash. Legal action may very well follow.

    In the Jan. 21, 2024, memo, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, one of Trump’s former private attorneys, directs federal prosecutors to “investigate … for potential prosecution” state and local officials who “resist, obstruct, or otherwise fail to comply” with the new administration’s immigration orders.

    The memo lists multiple federal statutes that such conduct could violate, including one of the laws used to charge Donald Trump related to the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol.

    Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove asserted in a recent memo that the Constitution and other legal authorities ‘require state and local actors to comply with the Executive Branch’s immigration enforcement initiatives.’
    Jeenah Moon-Pool/Getty Images

    Several of Trump’s executive orders, across a range of policy areas, have already provoked lawsuits. One was declared “blatantly uconstitutional” by a federal district court judge just three days after it was signed. Others fall easily within the bounds of presidential power.

    But the Department of Justice memo is different.

    By ordering federal prosecutors to potentially arrest, charge and imprison state and local officials, it strikes at a fundamental tension embedded in the nation’s constitutional structure in a way that Trump’s other orders do not. That tension has never been fully resolved, in either the political or legal arenas.

    Bulwark against tyranny

    Recognizing that division of power was necessary to prevent government tyranny, the nation’s founders split the federal government into three separate branches, the executive, legislative and judicial.

    But in what, to them, was an even more important structural check, they also divided power between federal and state governments.

    The practicalities of this dual sovereignty – where two governments exercise supreme power – have had to play out in practice, with often very messy results. The crux of the problem is that the Constitution explicitly grants power to both federal and state governments – but the founders did not specify what to do if the two sovereigns disagree or how any ensuing struggle should be resolved.

    The failure to precisely define the contours of that partitioning of power has unfortunately generated several of the country’s most violent conflicts, including the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. The current Justice Department memo may reignite similar struggles.

    As Bove correctly noted in his memo, Article 4 of the U.S Constitution contains the supremacy clause, which declares that federal laws “shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

    But Bove failed to mention that the Constitution also contains the 10th Amendment. Its language, that “(a)ll powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people, respectively,” has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to create a sphere of state sovereignty into which the federal government may not easily intrude.

    Known as the “police powers,” states generally retain the ability to determine their own policies related to the health, safety, welfare, property and education of their citizens. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health removed federal protection for abortion rights, for instance, multiple states developed their own approaches. Marijuana legalization, assisted suicide, voting procedures and school curriculum are additional examples of issues where states have set their own policies.

    This is not to say that the federal government is barred from making policies in these areas. Indeed, the great puzzle of federalism – and the great challenge for courts – has been to figure out the boundaries between state and federal power and how two sovereigns can coexist.

    If it sounds confusing, that’s because it is. The country’s best legal minds have long wrestled with how to balance the powers granted by the supremacy clause and the 10th Amendment.

    Push and pull

    In a 1997 opinion, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the Constitution barred the federal government from ‘impress[ing] into its service…the police officers of the 50 States.’
    Alex Wong/Getty Images

    Reflecting this tension, the Supreme Court developed a pair of legal doctrines that sit uneasily alongside each other.

    The first is the doctrine of “preemption,,” in which federal law can supersede state policy in certain circumstances, such as when a congressional statute expressly withdraws certain powers from the states.

    At the same time, the court has limited the reach of the federal government, particularly in its ability to tell states what to do, a doctrine now known as the “anti-commandeering rule.” Were the Trump administration to go after state or local officials, both of these legal principles could come into play.

    The anti-commandeering rule was first articulated in 1992 when the Supreme Court ruled in New York v. United States that the federal government could not force a state to take control of radioactive waste generated within its boundaries.

    The court relied on the doctrine again five years later, in Printz v. United States, when it rejected the federal government’s attempt to require local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks before citizens could purchase handguns.

    In an opinion authored by conservative icon Antonin Scalia and joined by four other Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices, the court held that the Constitution’s framers intended states to have a “residuary and inviolable sovereignty” that barred the federal government from “impress[ing] into its service … the police officers of the 50 States.”

    “This separation of the two spheres is one of the Constitution’s structural protections of liberty,” Scalia wrote. Allowing state law enforcement to be conscripted into service for the federal government would disrupt what James Madison called the “double security” the founders wanted against government tyranny and would allow the “accumulation of excessive power” in the federal government.

    Justice John Paul Stevens dissented, pointing out that the 10th Amendment preserves for states only those powers that are not already given to the federal government.

    What happens at the Supreme Court?

    The anti-commandeering and preemption doctrines were on display again during the first Trump administration, when jurisdictions around the country declared themselves “sanctuary cities” that would protect residents from federal immigration officials.

    Subsequent litigation tested whether the federal government could punish these locales by withholding federal funds. The administration lost most cases. Several courts ruled that despite its extensive power over immigration, the federal government could not financially punish states for failing to comply with federal law.

    One circuit court, in contrast, formulated an “immigration exception” to the anti-commandeering rule and upheld the administration’s financial punishment of uncooperative states.

    The Supreme Court has never directly ruled on how the anti-commandeering rule works in the context of immigration. While the Printz decision would seem to bar the Justice Department from acting on its threats, the court could rule that given the federal government’s nearly exclusive power over immigration, such actions do not run afoul of the anti-commandeering doctrine.

    Whether such a case ever makes it to the Supreme Court is unknown. Recent events, in which a Chicago school’s staff denied entry to people they thought were immigration agents, seem to be heading toward a federal and state confrontation.

    As a court watcher and scholar of judicial politics, I will be paying close attention to see whether the conservative majority on the court, many of whom recently reiterated their support for the anti-commandeering doctrine, will follow Scalia and favor state sovereignty.

    Or will they do an ideological about-face in favor of this chief executive? It would not be the first time the court has taken this latter option.

    In 2023, I donated $25 to ActBlue.

    – ref. Federal threats against local officials who don’t cooperate with immigration orders could be unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against similar plans – https://theconversation.com/federal-threats-against-local-officials-who-dont-cooperate-with-immigration-orders-could-be-unconstitutional-justice-antonin-scalia-ruled-against-similar-plans-248276

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From methylene blue to vitamin E, here’s why health and wellness supplements are no silver bullet for cancer

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

    Garna Zarina/Shutterstock

    Health supplements have become increasingly popular in recent years, with many people turning to them in hopes of improving overall health and reducing risk of diseases like cancer. The allure of these products is understandable – who doesn’t want a simple pill or powder to ward off serious illness?

    As a consultant oncologist and cancer researcher, I’ve researched the effects of health supplements on cancer risk, prevention and treatment. And the relationship between supplements and cancer risk is often misunderstood and far more complex than many people realise.

    Dietary supplements come in a wide variety of forms, including vitamins, minerals, herbs and other substances – and it’s a multi-billion pound industry. Often fuelled by marketing claims and anecdotal evidence from friends, family members and celebrity wellness gurus who swear by certain supplements, many people take them with the belief that they can fill nutritional gaps in their diet or provide additional health benefits.



    Read more:
    King Charles is changing his diet to keep his cancer at bay – here’s what the evidence says

    Potential harm

    However, when it comes to cancer prevention and treatment, the scientific evidence supporting the use of supplements is mixed and often inconclusive.

    Supermodel Elle McPherson claims she refused chemotherapy and treated her breat cancer “holistically”, including taking many wellness supplements.

    The world of supplement research is vast and complex, with studies often producing conflicting results. Some smaller studies have suggested potential benefits of certain supplements in cancer prevention but large scale, randomised clinical trials – considered the gold standard in medical research – have often failed to show significant benefits of supplement use in cancer prevention. In fact, some studies have even shown potential harm from certain supplements.

    For example, the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial tested whether these supplements could reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Contrary to expectations, the study found that vitamin E supplementation could increase the risk of prostate cancer, especially in healthy, young men.

    Similarly, studies on beta carotene supplements showed an increased risk of lung cancer in smokers. These findings highlight the importance of approaching supplement use with caution – more is not always better when it comes to nutrients.

    Healthy scepticism

    Celebrities and social media influencers often recommend health supplements and make baseless claims about their potential to reduce cancer risk.

    For example, thanks to wellness influencers and Mel Gibson – who’s now as famous for his controversial outburts as he is for his acting – the synthetic dye methylene blue has attracted attention on social media for it’s use as a cancer-fighting supplement. While methylene blue does have legitimate medical uses – and has shown some promise in certain areas of cancer research – it’s crucial to approach these claims with a healthy degree of scepticism.

    In cancer research, methylene blue has shown potential as a “photosensitiser” in treatments using laser light – meaning it makes certain cancer cells more vulnerable to treatment. However, it’s important to stress that these are specific medical applications under controlled conditions, not a general cancer prevention strategy that can be applied broadly through supplement use.

    Claims about methylene blue as a cancer-preventing supplement are not supported by robust scientific evidence. In fact, long-term toxicity studies on methylene blue have shown mixed results, with some animal studies suggesting potential risks at high doses.

    This underscores the importance of not misinterpreting preliminary research or specific medical applications as justification for casual supplement use.

    When considering the role of supplements in cancer prevention, it’s essential to adopt a holistic view of health and wellbeing. This approach considers the whole person – body, mind and spirit – rather than focusing on individual components or symptoms.



    Read more:
    Five ways to cut your risk of cancer – by an oncology consultant

    One of the most important elements of this approach is nutrition. Rather than relying on supplements, people should aim to meet their nutritional needs through a varied, balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins.

    This approach not only provides essential nutrients but also offers the benefits of fibre, phytochemicals and other compounds found in whole foods that may work together to promote health.

    Regular physical activity is another crucial component of a holistic approach to cancer prevention. Numerous, large, well-conducted studies have consistently linked regular exercise to lower cancer risk, as well as improved overall health and wellbeing.

    Exercise helps maintain a healthy weight, reduces inflammation and may have direct effects on cancer cell growth and proliferation. Practices such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises can help manage stress and promote overall wellbeing.

    Personal choice – based on robust evidence

    While the evidence for many supplements in cancer prevention is limited, it’s crucial to respect personal choice in health decisions. However, it’s also important that these decisions are based on accurate information and in consultation with healthcare professionals. Good, medically sound evidence and advice is available.

    Medical professionals can help evaluate the potential benefits and risks of supplement use, taking into account factors such as existing health conditions, medications and overall nutritional status.

    It’s also important to be wary of products claiming to be “miracle cures” for cancer or other serious diseases. These claims are often unfounded and can lead vulnerable people to delay seeking proper medical treatment. Instead, focus on evidence-based strategies for cancer prevention and overall health.

    The most effective approach to reducing cancer risk remains a holistic one, focusing on a balanced diet, regular physical activity, stress management and other lifestyle factors including avoiding tobacco and too much alcohol. While supplements may have a role in specific situations, they should not be seen as a substitute for a healthy lifestyle.

    In conclusion, while the idea of taking supplements to reduce cancer risk is appealing, the reality is more complex. Current scientific evidence does not support the use of most supplements for cancer prevention, and in some cases, certain high-dose supplementation may even increase risk.

    However, this doesn’t mean all supplements are harmful or useless. For individuals with specific nutritional deficiencies or health conditions, supplements can play an important role when used under the right supervision.

    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. From methylene blue to vitamin E, here’s why health and wellness supplements are no silver bullet for cancer – https://theconversation.com/from-methylene-blue-to-vitamin-e-heres-why-health-and-wellness-supplements-are-no-silver-bullet-for-cancer-247847

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump voters are not the obstacle to climate action many think they are

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Karl Dudman, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, University of Oxford

    North Carolina is still reeling from Hurricane Helene in autumn 2024. Karl Dudman

    Another day brings another monster tide for residents of Carteret county, North Carolina, whose coastal towns and villages are being swallowed by the rising Atlantic. Nonetheless, its voters returned Donald Trump to the White House, a man who denies the science of climate change and had withdrawn his country from the Paris agreement on climate change (for a second time) before the sun had even set on his first day back in office.

    It is a contradiction that has captured the imaginations of many. In 2017, when Trump first quit the agreement which symbolically pledges countries to limit global heating to well below 2°C, the word “denialism” lit up late-night talk shows and circulated at annual UN summits.

    Denialism evokes a pathological rejection of the reality of climate change. It has come to imply a public that can no longer tell fact from fiction, often to their own detriment. Meanwhile, climate-conscious leaders in a handful of Democratic states have repeated their commitment to scientific facts.

    As an anthropologist, I felt uncomfortable with the way the fabled Trump voter was spoken about while rarely being allowed to speak for themselves. I have participated in climate politics as a researcher, activist and diplomat, and I felt there was little reflection among the treaty’s advocates about their own role in the US departure.

    I started a PhD to understand the non-participants of climate politics. It took me to coastal North Carolina where, like so many other American communities, the effects of climate change sit alongside a seeming indifference to the crisis.

    I wanted to understand how people here related to climate science, and what this thing called denialism actually looked like. I spent a year talking to residents with “Trump Won” flags on their lawns, but I also met scientists, government officials, activists and Democrats.

    Here is one thing I found, and one thing I didn’t.

    Culture trumps ‘facts’

    The science of climate change is incredibly robust, but science alone cannot tell us what makes a solution fair, or who should get a say in its design. The Paris agreement, for example, has a strong moral component that was hard won by developing nations, small island states and international activists.

    It depicts a world in which the blame for climate change and the responsibility for addressing it lie predominantly with rich countries such as the US, and it prescribes financial flows to victim countries to help them adapt. For many precarious Americans who feel neither rich nor villainous, this is a difficult narrative to swallow.

    I saw a similar pattern in my own research. Racial justice, indigenous knowledge, urban inequality and youth are themes that typically frame public engagement with climate action by the federal government and grassroots movements. These aren’t necessarily topics that will always resonate in rural, conservative communities such as Carteret county.

    Opinion surveys and election data in the US show that climate change is an issue on which voters are polarised.

    Fishing has been a major local employer in North Carolina for several generations.
    Karl Dudman

    This helps explain why advocates for climate action tend to speak to the already engaged, by referencing other progressive causes. But advocates are not necessarily more influenced by facts than sceptics. It’s simply easier to sign up to a cause you can see yourself in.

    ‘Denialism’ is a weak concept

    What I didn’t find in North Carolina was what I came looking for: climate denialism. Climate change rarely came up naturally in the conversations I had in Carteret county, but when it did, the responses were inconsistent, ranging from concern to curiosity and from ambivalence and apathy to fatalism and scepticism. What mention there was hardly fit the stereotype of bitter, conspiracy-fuelled rejection of reality.

    In this tight-knit fishing community, people had become wary of outside interventions. Some were ill-disposed to environmental movements after feeling lectured by regulatory scientists or environmental campaigners on how to manage a coastline they knew well.

    Others were fatalist about resisting sea-level rise – generations spent on the Atlantic’s ferocious frontline taught them that you don’t fight storms, you ride them out. Many people saw things were changing but were too strapped for time and money to do much, or else found it intolerable to wake up each day contemplating the death of their community.

    North Carolina’s fishers face several threats to their livelihood.
    Karl Dudman

    Denialism had no explanatory power here. On the contrary, by failing to distinguish between disagreement and lack of agreement, it misrepresented complex social dynamics as a matter of simply believing facts or rejecting them.

    So why does any of this matter? Because, when we identify one group as the sole cause of a problem we give ourselves permission to stop asking what we could be doing differently. After all, climate action’s advocates – from UN officers to individual voters – play a role in shaping what legitimate climate action looks like, and who will want to be part of it.

    To react to the US withdrawal from Paris by repeating that “science is real”, in the vein of world leaders and American lawn signs, is to miss the point. Public dissent is often less a question of if we should fix climate change than of whose vision of a good world we are working towards.

    This is not to shift blame for Trump’s withdrawal. Nor should it excuse people in politics, business and the media who have repeatedly obscured the climate debate in bad faith.

    Carteret’s older residents have seen the decline of local industries and ecosystems.
    Karl Dudman

    But reducing public dissent to a matter of misinformation and gullibility shows a lack of humility and dismisses concerns that may not crystallise into opposition if treated respectfully. Asking more questions of ourselves is something we can all do to make climate politics less toxic.

    As Trump signed his first executive orders, I pressed send on my thesis’s final corrections. How the international community reacts this time remains to be seen, but the last four years have taught me that it may influence whether or not there is a next time.

    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 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Karl Dudman 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. Trump voters are not the obstacle to climate action many think they are – https://theconversation.com/trump-voters-are-not-the-obstacle-to-climate-action-many-think-they-are-248176

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: New York to Paris in 30 mins? How to achieve Elon Musk’s vision of rockets replacing long haul

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Angadh Nanjangud, Lecturer in Aerospace/Spacecraft Engineering, Queen Mary University of London

    Of all the things that Donald Trump’s return as US president could mean, one is that Elon Musk’s plan to use Starship rockets for long-distance flights on Earth could move forward. Dubbed Starship Earth to Earth, this would see passengers transported by rocket between cities. They would briefly leave the planet’s atmosphere during the journey before flying back down to reach their destination.

    Musk claims it will be possible to travel to anywhere on Earth within an hour. His rocket company, SpaceX, has given examples such as New York to Paris in 30 minutes and London to Hong Kong in 34 minutes. In response to a post about it on his X platform, Musk responded: “This is now possible.”

    Unlike previous governments, this Trump administration appears focused on reducing regulatory barriers hindering technological progress in all areas. This could make it easier for Musk to rapidly push towards realising this futuristic travel option. But what hurdles must be overcome first?

    On whether Musk is right about the technical feasibility, the answer is “sort of”. The necessary technology was arguably first proven when Nasa achieved a Mars landing in 2012.

    This was the first to land retropropulsively, meaning touching down softly on a planetary surface with rocket engines (technically called retrorockets). In contrast, previous Mars landings had used parachutes for the entry phase and airbags for the landing phase.

    The 2012 landing opened the door to rockets and boosters becoming reusable, thereby greatly reducing the cost of launch. It was repeated in SpaceX’s historic Falcon 9 rocket landings in 2016, using some of the same Nasa engineers who had worked on the Mars landers. This technological shift has been vital for rockets becoming an economically viable alternative to aircraft.

    Starship’s Earth to Earth journeys would involve visiting low Earth orbit (LEO), some 110 miles to 1,240 miles above the Earth’s surface. To do this, the rocket would use two stages. The first, known as the super heavy booster, would lift it through the dense lower atmosphere, approximately 5 to 9 miles above the Earth.

    This would break away some 40 miles above the Earth, then begin a controlled descent back to the planet’s surface. SpaceX has matured this technology by leaps and bounds in the past decade, including better heat shields, adjustable lattice fins, improved aerodynamics and state-of-the-art landing algorithms.

    Lattice fins on a Falcon 9 rocket.
    Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

    The second stage – known just as Starship – would contain the passengers and take over the flight to reach LEO after the first stage has detached. There is still work to be done before this is passenger ready, as demonstrated when a second stage blew up during a Starship testflight on January 16.

    There will be no more Starship launches until the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has completed its formal investigation into the cause. On the upside, the incident occurred within predefined hazard areas to ensure public safety.

    Of course, this is the very purpose of a testflight: to learn what could go wrong and iteratively solve it, meaning repeatedly making improvements after each failure. No one can compete with SpaceX’s cost-effective iteration process, for example in its crewed trips to the International Space Station (ISS).

    The malfunction of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in August was a recent reminder here: it left two Nasa astronauts stranded on the ISS, awaiting a return trip on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule in the coming weeks.

    Other considerations

    Other long-term challenges pertain to how passengers access the vehicle. Videos of astronauts boarding the Space Shuttle indicate that entering one’s seat in a vertically parked rocket takes a few people to help buckle you in. Making that workable over the length of a rocket will require clever engineering.

    Building spaceports in different countries also won’t be trivial; we’ve seen considerable pushback against efforts to build a UK spaceport, for instance. The same goes for worldwide regulatory approvals. It’s already standard for rocket companies to need a launch licence per flight, while America’s FAA also requires them to obtain re-entry licences before launch.

    Of course, regulatory hurdles can be overcome for transformational tech (once it’s proven to be safe and reliable). No doubt lawyers will have many things to say about these issues, though I doubt any will be insurmountable. And SpaceX must know a thing or two about dealing with regulations, having launched the world’s largest constellation of satellites into orbit.

    Finally, rockets expel significant quantities of microscopic particles (particulates) into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. This would have seriously detrimental effects if they were flying in anything like the numbers of long-distance airliners.

    Starship’s Raptor engines use methalox, a combination of liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Unlike the kerosene that has traditionally powered rockets, liquid methane prevents the build-up of sooty residue in the engine and is also safer to work with than liquid hydrogen. While Starship still burns vastly more fuel per trip than conventional aircraft, its potential to slash intercontinental travel times could drive critical research into carbon-neutral methane production. This would be integral to making a viable long-haul alternative.

    At present, UK rocket companies Skyrora and Orbex are among those developing alternatives to traditional fuels. Skyrora is developing Ecosene, an aerospace grade kerosene made from unrecyclable plastic waste. Orbex’s Prime rocket will make use of a BioLPG derived from plant and vegetable waste.

    Both tackle different sustainability problems, but are unlikely to meet the performance demanded by larger Starship-class vehicles. Another promising alternative is nuclear-powered engines, but using them close to Earth will likely be fiercely resisted by environmental campaigners.

    In sum, we are in uncharted territory with landing second stages of rockets, but the general trend from 2012 to today indicates that such technical challenges are solvable. Doing so with crews will be even more challenging, but it does align with SpaceX’s mission to make humans multiplanetary. The same technology will be used to land humans safely on Mars, so developing it is probably inevitable.

    Uncrewed Starship launches to Mars are supposed to happen in 2026. Crewed Mars missions will follow, without the same landing-related regulations as would be required on Earth. I suspect crewed Earth-to-Earth transport will only be approved after humans have landed on Mars safely.

    If there’s one team that can’t be bet against turning visions into reality, it’s the SpaceX engineers who have been revolutionising launch vehicles for over ten years.

    Angadh Nanjangud 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. New York to Paris in 30 mins? How to achieve Elon Musk’s vision of rockets replacing long haul – https://theconversation.com/new-york-to-paris-in-30-mins-how-to-achieve-elon-musks-vision-of-rockets-replacing-long-haul-248181

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s vision of a peace deal for Ukraine is limited to a ceasefire – and it’s not even clear if Kyiv or Moscow are going to play ball

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham

    We are now well beyond the 24 hours that Donald Trump had promised it would take him to secure an end to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. But Trump’s first week since his inauguration on January 20, 2025, has nonetheless been a busy one regarding Ukraine.

    In his inauguration address, Trump only made a passing and indirect reference to Ukraine, criticising his predecessor Joe Biden of running “a government that has given unlimited funding to the defence of foreign borders but refuses to defend American borders”.

    Trump’s first more substantive statement on Ukraine was a post on his TruthSocial network, threatening Russia taxes, tariffs and sanctions if his Russian counterpart doesn’t agree to make a deal soon. He reiterated this point on January 23 in comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that he “really would like to be able to meet with President Putin”.


    Donald Trump/Truth Social

    Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, had already backed Trump’s approach during his Senate confirmation hearing on January 16. Like Trump, Bessent specifically emphasised increasing sanctions on Russian oil companies “to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the table”.

    The following day, Putin responded by saying that he and Trump should indeed meet to discuss Ukraine and oil prices. But this was far from a firm commitment to enter into negotiations, and particularly not with Ukraine.

    Putin alluded to an October 2022 decree by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, banning any negotiations with the Kremlin after Russia formally annexed four regions of Ukraine. Zelensky has since clarified that the decree applies to everyone but him, thus signalling that he would not stand in the way of opening direct talks with Russia.

    Yet, Putin is likely to continue playing for time. The most likely first step in a Trump-brokered deal will be a ceasefire freezing the line of contact at the time of agreement. With his forces still advancing on the ground in Ukraine, every day of fighting brings Putin additional territorial gains.

    Nor are there any signs of waning support from Russian allies. Few and far between as they may be, China, Iran and North Korea have been critical in sustaining the Kremlin’s war effort. Moscow now has added a treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran to the one it had sealed with North Korea in June 2024.

    Meanwhile, the Russia-China no-limits partnership of 2022, further deepened in 2023, shows no signs of weakening. And with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko winning a seventh consecutive term on January 26, Putin is unlikely to be too worried about additional US sanctions.

    Zelensky, like Putin, may play for time. Trump’s threat of sanctions against Russia is likely an indication of some level of frustration on the part of the US president that Putin seems less amenable to cutting a deal. Russia may continue to make territorial gains in eastern Ukraine, but it has not achieved any strategic breakthrough.

    War of attrition

    A significant increase in US military assistance to Ukraine since September 2024, as well as commitments from European allies, including the UK, have likely put Kyiv into a position that it can sustain its current defensive efforts through 2025.

    Ukraine may not be in a position to launch a major offensive but could continue to keep costs for Russia high. On the battlefield, these costs are estimated at 102 casualties per square kilometre of Ukrainian territory captured. Beyond the frontlines, Ukraine has also continued its drone campaign against targets inside Russia, especially the country’s oil infrastructure.

    This is not to say that Trump is going to fail in his efforts to end the fighting in Ukraine. But there is a big difference between a ceasefire and a sustainable peace agreement. And while a ceasefire, at some point, may be in both Russia’s and Ukraine’s interest, sustainable peace is much more difficult to achieve.

    Putin’s vision of total victory is as much an obstacle here as western reluctance to provide credible security guarantees for Ukraine.

    The two options most regularly raised: Nato membership for Ukraine or a western-led peacekeeping force that could act as a credible deterrent, both appear unrealistic at this point. It is certainly inconceivable that Europe could muster the 200,000 troops that Zelensky envisaged as a deployment in Ukraine to guarantee any deal with Putin. But a smaller force, led by the UK and France, might be possible.

    Kyiv and Moscow continue to be locked in a war of attrition and neither Putin nor Zelensky have blinked so far. It is not clear yet whether, and in which direction, Trump will tilt the balance and how this will affect either side’s willingness to submit to his deal-making efforts.

    So far, Trump’s moves are not a gamechanger. But this is the first serious attempt in nearly three years of war to forge a path towards an end of the fighting. It remains to be seen whether Trump, and everyone else, has the imagination and stamina to ensure that this path will ultimately lead to a just and secure peace for Ukraine.

    Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

    – ref. Trump’s vision of a peace deal for Ukraine is limited to a ceasefire – and it’s not even clear if Kyiv or Moscow are going to play ball – https://theconversation.com/trumps-vision-of-a-peace-deal-for-ukraine-is-limited-to-a-ceasefire-and-its-not-even-clear-if-kyiv-or-moscow-are-going-to-play-ball-248319

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Suspected Baltic Sea cable sabotage by Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ is ramping up regional defence

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Matthew Powell, Teaching Fellow in Strategic and Air Power Studies, University of Portsmouth

    Numerous incidents of suspected Russian-linked sabotage of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea has seen tensions rise among nearby countries, and an increased Nato presence.

    In the latest incident, on January 26, the Swedish coast guard boarded a ship in the Baltic Sea on suspicion of anchor dragging and suspected sabotage of vital undersea cables providing power and communication across the region. Latvia also sent a warship to the incident to investigate damage to fibre-optic cables. The Bulgarian vessel is now under investigation. The owner of the ship has denied any involvement with sabotage.

    The nations along the Baltic Sea coast have become increasingly worried about suspected sabotage of their undersea infrastructure in recent months by vessels deliberately dragging their using anchors along the seabed and have started to station military vessels at sea every day.

    Critical undersea infrastructure can be easily damaged by anchor dragging. Russia has denied involvement in these incidents.

    But there have also been credible reports that Russia has actively been mapping undersea infrastructure.

    In response to rising concerns about infrastructure security, Nato increased its regional naval presence by launching the Baltic Sentry mission on January 14, which includes maritime patrol vessels.

    What’s the context?

    In recent months there have been several reports of damage being caused to undersea cables by vessels as they pass through the Baltic Sea. Attacks on undersea cables are comparable to traditional espionage and information operations . This is activity conducted at the level below that of warfare, designed to send certain signals to adversarial nations. The purpose could be to send a message that the capability exists to essentially cut off and isolate nations from the outside world.

    These cables are extremely valuable. They are used to transport gas, electricity and internet traffic between nations. And recent incidents have led to a reduction in the capacity of electricity that can be transported, although this has not yet caused widespread power outages. Another concern is that damage to internet cables can hold up the passage of information generated by the financial markets. This is particularly vulnerable due to its time-sensitive nature.


    PorcupenWorks/Shutterstock

    How can cables be protected?

    Protecting the cables is a challenging task. There is little that can physically be done to prevent other vessels crossing seas and oceans due to the concept of freedom of navigation of the high seas. And Russia has a right of passage for its ships, for example, from St Petersburg to the North Sea.

    Investigations into apparent threats can be conducted without actually seizing the vessel or impeding its progress in any way. This can done through the use of GPS tracking data and combining that with other evidence such as eye witness testimony.

    While these cables can get damaged through natural means, the targeting of them could be a way for a nation to operate against its adversaries in a more covert manner and below the threshold of armed conflict.

    The Finnish navy seized a ship suspected of involvement in sabotage.

    Much of the disruption to the traffic on these undersea cables is probably the result of accidental activity. But there have been concerns about greater activity by Russian military vessels in their attempts to map the Baltic sea floor. The most likely reason for the increased Russian sea mapping activity is to gain a greater understanding of the location of these cables. But it could be sending a message that this critical infrastructure is difficult to defend and vulnerable to attack and sabotage.

    Many merchant vessels are registered in overseas territories, and ownership can be hard to track. This gives a degree of plausible deniability over who may have ordered or overseen the operations that might have damaged cables.

    It makes it more challenging for action to be taken, but has given rise to accusations that these ships are acting as Russia’s “shadow fleet”.



    Read more:
    ‘Keep nine litres of water in storage’: how Baltic and Nordic countries are preparing for a crisis or war

    But this increased naval presence in the Baltic could act as a deterrent and provide greater security to the cables. Sweden has now boarded a vessel. But another obstacle here is that the nation where the vessel is registered is under absolutely no obligation to cooperate with any investigation.

    Other factors are also involved. The Baltic states and Finland have memories of the political control imposed upon them by the Soviet government prior to, and, in some cases, after the second world war, and this will be adding to the tension.

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased regional fears about what could happen next. Moscow may be hoping to deter the Baltic nations from continuing to provide the support they are giving to Ukraine by increasing pressure on them along the coast.

    But aggressive activity in the Baltic Sea may well have the opposite effect by ramping up concern about Russia’s power. It might also mean Baltic and Nordic countries are more willing to increase their defence spending and make preparations for possible military action.

    Matthew Powell 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. Suspected Baltic Sea cable sabotage by Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ is ramping up regional defence – https://theconversation.com/suspected-baltic-sea-cable-sabotage-by-russias-shadow-fleet-is-ramping-up-regional-defence-248241

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Rural communities in Québec are embracing ‘mushroom tourism’ to boost local economies

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Amélie Cloutier, Professor of Strategy and Innovation, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

    Mycotourism combines mushroom foraging in natural habitats with culinary traditions and rural culture, offering a unique experience distinct from traditional tourism. (Shutterstock)

    Mycotourism, or mushroom tourism, is becoming increasingly popular as travellers seek out more nature-focused experiences. This unique tourism niche combines guided mushroom foraging with culinary traditions and rural culture to offer travellers an experience distinct from more traditional forms of tourism.

    Mycotourism has significant economic and environmental potential to boost local economies, particularly in rural areas, while also fostering a deeper connection between visitors and nature. When it is practised sustainably, it can also help conserve local ecosystems and cultural traditions by sharing traditional mushroom harvesting methods and ecological knowledge with the public.

    The growing popularity of mycotourism reflects a larger shift toward forest-related and gastronomy tourism. Forest-related tourism includes activities like foraging and product harvesting as travellers seek closer connections to nature, while gastronomy tourism involves travellers seeking out culinary experiences.

    Rural tourism, too, has seen growing interest in recent years. United Nations Tourism designated 2020 as the “Year of Tourism and Rural Development” and mycotourism aligns with this focus, as it is tied closely to rural economies, often involving small, seasonal businesses that face seasonal and visibility challenges.

    In response to this trend, the Québec government has revealed a 2024-2029 strategy to establish the province as a premier culinary destination with a promising future. As mycotourism grows, it aligns with Québec’s broader culinary and tourism goals.

    Mycotourism: A brief overview

    While mushroom foraging has long been practised informally in many parts of the world, it’s now evolving into a formalized tourism industry, led by local experts to ensure safety. Countries such as Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Scotland and South Africa are current pioneers in this market.

    Spain, where mycotourism originated, leads the way with its well-established “micoturismo” industry, especially in the Castilla y León region.

    While mushroom foraging has long been practised informally in many parts of the world, it’s now evolving into a formalized tourism industry.
    (Shutterstock)

    In Canada, Québec has become a hotspot for mycotourism thanks to its rich natural landscapes, including vast forests and diverse ecosystems. The province has seen increased demand from both local and international visitors.

    The Québec regions of Kamouraska and Mauricie, in particular, have emerged as leaders in North American mycotourism. This surge, which was boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic, has positioned these regions as key destinations for mushroom enthusiasts.

    The number of amateur mycology circles and their members has also risen sharply in the province, reflecting a growing interest in wild mushrooms.

    However, despite its growth, mycotourism remains relatively unfamiliar to many Canadians. It signals an untapped opportunity for the tourism industry in the country.

    Overcoming industry challenges

    The mycotourism sector faces several challenges, including fragmented initiatives, which presents challenges in areas like promotion, infrastructure and knowledge sharing.

    There is a need for better co-ordination among mycotourism stakeholders. In Québec, these stakeholders include regional tourism associations, sectoral tourism associations like Terroir et Saveurs du Québec.

    Establishing a unified platform or network for mycotourism stakeholders stakeholders could facilitate the exchange of best practices, improve promotion and support its sustainable growth.

    By closely monitoring new initiatives, researchers, entrepreneurs and tourism professionals can better understand the challenges and opportunities in this field.

    This collaborative approach would identify potential partners for future collaborations, highlight resources and tools and ensure the development of this industry respects all the stakeholders, including Indigenous communities.

    Canada is well-positioned to become a global leader in mycotourism.
    (Shutterstock)

    Our mushroom tourism research

    Our recent research study sheds light on the growth of the mycotourism industry in Québec. Through an in-depth environmental scan, we identified 57 providers across the province, with the majority concentrated in Mauricie and Bas-Saint-Laurent, including the region of Kamouraska.

    We found that most mycotourism businesses in Québec are micro or very small enterprises, which means collaboration and networking are both essential for supporting their growth and sustainability.

    The activities offered by these providers fell into five main categories:

    1. Events and learning: Includes festivals, conferences, training sessions and courses.
    2. Culinary experiences: Features culinary workshops and tasting sessions.
    3. Guided tours and hosting: Encompasses guided tours and group hosting events.
    4. Nature exploration and foraging: Includes guided, self-picking foraging expeditions.
    5. Accommodations with mushroom picking: Lodging experiences that allow guests to participate in mushroom picking during their stay.

    In addition, our study identified four types of enterprises in the sector. These ranged from solo ventures specializing in niche activities, to versatile solo ventures with a diverse range and experiences and services, to slightly larger businesses focusing on targeted services.

    It’s clear that Québec’s mycotourism sector is dynamic, with businesses continually developing new and innovative offerings. The wide range of experiences offered are designed to attract new segments of tourists interested in agritourism, gastronomy or other unique accommodations.

    Unlocking mycotourism potential

    As mycotourism continues to grow, it is crucial for small-scale initiatives in this sector to gain stronger support and recognition from tourism authorities, regional organizations and government agencies.

    Without this support, these businesses may struggle to overcome challenges like limited visibility, fragmented efforts and insufficient resources. If these challenges are not addressed, it could hinder the growth of the sector and its ability to contribute to local economies and rural development.

    With its vast forests, rich biodiversity and developing agritourism and gastronomy sectors, Canada is well-positioned to establish itself as a top destination for mushroom enthusiasts. But to fully realize its full potential, Canada must create an environment that promotes innovation, collaboration and investment in mycotourism.

    Amélie Cloutier receives funding from FRQSC.

    Marc-Antoine Vachon receives funding from Développement Économique Canada pour les régions du Québec et de la Fondation de l’UQAM grâce à un don de Transat A.T..

    Patrick Coulombe 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. Rural communities in Québec are embracing ‘mushroom tourism’ to boost local economies – https://theconversation.com/rural-communities-in-quebec-are-embracing-mushroom-tourism-to-boost-local-economies-246392

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –