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Category: Global

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Alarming statistics

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

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

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

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

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

    New treatment strategies

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    More support for developing countries

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

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

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

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

    Reform the system

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    The war experience

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    An enduring legacy

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

    FOTOKITA/Shutterstock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Actions v thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

    Master1305/Shutterstock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Left-behind places

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    It couldn’t be further from the truth.

    Working poets

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Poets from the past

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

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

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

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

    Unique voices, unique perspectives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

    That’s exactly the situation many workers face today.

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

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

    Meet the ‘regulators of last resort’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    No whistleblower is an island

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Florida’s population boom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Scientists identify key areas to protect

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Getting the public on board

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

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

    Ward called it the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

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

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

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

    Bipartisan support continues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Weight of shame

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Queer Christians of color

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Shifting views

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

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

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

    In interviews, many Christians talked about the power of humility.
    Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images

    For example, the Book of Genesis says that God created male and female; it also says God created day and night, and sea and dry land. But as transgender Bible scholar Austen Hartke writes in his 2018 book “Transforming,” recognizing night and day doesn’t preclude sunsets. The fact that there are seas and dry land doesn’t mean marshes are abominable.

    As Kai tried to share God’s love with other LGBTQ+ people, Kai came to realize that their church’s expectation for all LGBTQ+ people to be celibate “wasn’t just hurting me; it was hurting other people.” Kai decided that “As holy as this feels, it’s not the spirit of the Jesus I fell in love with when I became a Christian.”

    Humility is not the opposite of pride; it is a realistic awareness of your gifts and your limitations. When LGBTQ+ people celebrate pride, they are celebrating the often hard-won knowledge that they are human beings, worthy of love.

    Dawne Moon received funding for this project from the Templeton Religion Trust, the Association for the Sociology of Religion, the Louisville Institute, and Marquette University. In the course of conducting research for the project this draws from, she served from 2015-2017 on the board of the Center for Inclusivity.

    Theresa Tobin received funding from the Templeton Religion Trust and Marquette University.

    – ref. The ‘sacramental shame’ many LGBTQ+ conservative Christians wrestle with – and how they find healing – https://theconversation.com/the-sacramental-shame-many-lgbtq-conservative-christians-wrestle-with-and-how-they-find-healing-248961

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Almost Zion: Remembering a short-lived Jewish state in New York

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adam L. Rovner, Director of the Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver

    Twin bridges spanning the Niagara River lead from Tonawanda to Grand Island, New York — the proposed site of ‘Ararat.’ Kevin Menschel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    At dawn on Sept. 15, 1825, a burst of cannon fire shook the ramshackle buildings of Buffalo, New York. Families raced down the main street to witness a grand ceremony, following a parade of soldiers, clergymen, Freemasons, musicians and Seneca tribesmen, including their venerable chief, Red Jacket. All surged toward St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the frontier town’s only grand edifice.

    Inside, a crowd of Christians, Jews and Native Americans were already packed together to witness the founding of Ararat, a tract of land on nearby Grand Island that was intended to be the first autonomous Jewish city-state in almost 1,800 years.

    Ararat’s 400-pound cornerstone, engraved with a central Jewish tenet of faith from the Bible’s Book of Deuteronomy, rested inside the church. When the swell of the organ died down, former diplomat, political power broker and playwright Mordecai Manuel Noah – the man who had dreamed up Ararat – rose to his feet.

    Today, this marker is one of the few surviving signs of the proposed settlement.
    Adam Rovner

    Described as a “stout … gentleman, with sandy hair, a large Roman nose, and … red whiskers,” Noah had draped himself for the ceremony in fur-trimmed robes borrowed from a theater. He triumphantly announced the reestablishment of “the Government of the Jewish Nation … under the auspices and protection of the constitution and laws of the United States of America.”

    Noah also welcomed Native Americans, whom he – like many Americans at the time – mistakenly believed were “the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel.” In addition, he granted equal “rights and religious privileges” to the “black Jews of India and Africa,” disclosing a rare-for-his-time sensitivity toward Jews of color.

    A portrait of Mordecai Noah by 19th-century painter John Wood Dodge.
    Smithsonian American Art Museum via Wikimedia Commons

    But Noah’s utopian ark sank with barely a trace. Not a single Jew heeded his call to settle Ararat. Noah himself abandoned ship when his calls for a Jewish republic were rebuffed by religious leaders. All that he left behind was the cornerstone.

    As a scholar who scours archives to trace connections between literature and history, I’ve seen how Noah’s efforts to found a Jewish statelet have fascinated students of both American and Zionist history.

    Noah was only the first of many modern thinkers to propose establishing Jewish territories far from the biblical land of Israel. In the 20th century, organizations seeking a humanitarian solution to Jewish persecution considered carving out enclaves the world over, including lands in today’s Kenya, Angola, Madagascar, Tasmania and Suriname.

    ‘City of refuge’

    Noah wielded considerable influence in early 19th-century America through his roles as a political party boss, helming various daily newspapers, and as a popular playwright. But he was also a marginalized outsider at a time when there were fewer than 500 Jews in Manhattan, the young republic’s largest city.

    Noah used his press pulpit to demand equality for Jews, even proposing himself as a presidential candidate. He remained one of few high-profile American Jews throughout his life, urging other citizens to acknowledge that one’s faith and patriotism need never be at odds. Yet antisemitic slurs dogged him throughout his career.

    After witnessing the persecution of Jews in Europe during his diplomatic travels, Noah hoped Ararat would be a territorial solution to religious oppression.

    ‘Noah’s Ark,’ by 19th-century American painter Edward Hicks.
    Philadelphia Museum of Art via Wikimedia Commons

    In some ways, his efforts hearkened back to the origins of America itself. Instead of the Mayflower, Noah invoked the symbolic ark of his biblical namesake – “Ararat” is the biblical name of the mountain where the ark came to a rest after the flood. In the role of the Puritans, he cast European Jewry. And instead of Plymouth Rock, he landed on Grand Island. As the cornerstone of Ararat proclaimed, the settlement was to be a “city of refuge for the Jews” – one that Noah hoped would grow to become a state and be admitted to the American republic.

    In his speeches, Noah imagined that Ararat would allow European Jews to escape persecution while simultaneously fulfilling America’s need for immigration, industry and financial capital. He also believed that his purchase of 2,555 acres of Grand Island would prove a lucrative personal investment: The recently completed Erie Canal, he reasoned, would make Buffalo a major port.

    Failure to launch

    At the time of Noah’s proposal, the Zionist movement – the modern political program for Jewish national self-determination – had not yet coalesced. Most Jews at the time believed that founding a Jewish state in the land of Israel was a pipe dream, or worse. God had expelled their ancestors from the Holy Land in 70 C.E., they believed, so taking matters into their own hands and rebuilding a Jewish state there would be blasphemy.

    Noah hoped to sidestep those theological objections by locating a Jewish polity in the promised land of America, not the biblical promised land. Nonetheless, Jewish leaders dismissed his vision as contrary to God’s will. The chief rabbis of England and France publicly condemned Noah’s plan, and the September 1825 ceremony in Buffalo proved Ararat’s high point.

    Though ridiculed in the press for Ararat’s failure, Noah took a philosophical view:

    I … stand as the pioneer of the great work, leaving others to complete it. … When sneers and mockery shall have had their day … then my motives and objects will have been duly estimated and rewarded.“

    The front page of one of Mordecai Noah’s books, published in 1819.
    Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons

    Birth of Zionism

    Noah quickly resumed his career as a journalist and emerged as a kind of ambassador, penning articles and delivering speeches that linked Jewish and Christian America. To Christians, he explained Jewish practices. To his brethren, he demonstrated the fundamental compatibility between the ideals of Judaism and the United States, assuring them that America “is the country which the Almighty has blessed,” a land in which Jews “may repose in safety and happiness.”

    Yet Noah never abandoned his plans for Jewish self-government and ultimately advocated national repatriation to areas of Palestine, then under Ottoman control. In 1845 he published a short book, “Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews.” A young journalist whom he had befriended, Edgar Allan Poe, praised Noah’s proposal for a Jewish return to the biblical land of Israel as “extraordinary [and] full of novel and cogent thought.”

    Noah did not live to see his dreams fulfilled. After his death in March 1851, nearly 50 years passed before another playwright and journalist resurrected the idea of Jewish political autonomy: Theodor Herzl.

    Herzl’s vision laid the groundwork for the establishment of the state of Israel. Today, he is considered the father of Zionism, with his image paraded on Israeli Independence Day.

    Paradoxically, Noah is remembered today thanks only to the spectacular failure of his American Zion.

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

    – ref. Almost Zion: Remembering a short-lived Jewish state in New York – https://theconversation.com/almost-zion-remembering-a-short-lived-jewish-state-in-new-york-253534

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Spider-Man’s lessons for us all on the responsibility to use our power, great or small, to do good

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By George Tsakiridis, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy and Religion, South Dakota State University

    A large statue of Spider-Man at a mall in Dubai. Giuseppe Cacace AFP via Getty Images

    As a child, I watched reruns of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon on television. I was drawn to the action and colors and, of course, the catchy tune. This was my early introduction to Spider-Man, as it was for many children who grew up in the 1960s-’80s.

    Spidey, as he is affectionately called, was a huge part of popular culture. The Spider-Man story was first released in 1962 as part of another comic book, Marvel’s Amazing Fantasy (192) #15. A year later he became his own title character, branching out into cartoons, merchandising and feature films. In other words, Spider-Man became ubiquitous.

    With the advent of films featuring him in 2002, however, Spider-Man reached an entirely new level of influence, so much so that academic interest in him increased. I edited a 2021 book in which I wrote a chapter about Spider-Man’s creeds – his main sets of beliefs, or one might say his religion: “Theology and Spider-Man.”

    A phrase that has appeared in various forms in Spider-Man lore – “with great power comes great responsibility” – is an example of such a creedal statement. I examine how this one phrase can resonate with readers and viewers to such a degree that it shapes their everyday lives and makes Spider-Man a moral exemplar to many of us.

    More broadly, however, I believe that as a moral exemplar, Spider-Man exemplifies the struggle for virtue that most of us face every day.

    Spider-Man is relatable

    Moral exemplars are figures who transcend the average human experience, achieving extraordinary feats in pursuit of virtue. They serve as models for others to follow. They can be historical figures or people we interact with every day.

    A 2017 study led by educational psychology scholar Hyemin Han states moral exemplars influence others because their stories seem relevant and attainable. The study shows evidence that people are more likely to respond to a peer’s example of good behavior and be motivated by that. This means that role models who feel relatable to our daily lives tend to have the greatest impact.

    I would argue that Marvel superheroes and the films they have inspired are popular because we see ourselves in these stories. These characters are the sort of moral exemplars that can influence our behavior because we identify with them so closely.

    Spider-Man particularly fits this bill. Peter Parker is a teenager who unexpectedly gains superhuman power. In this transformation, he is forced to struggle with moral behavior on a higher level because he now has newfound abilities to do things normal humans cannot. He can use his powers for good or selfish ends, and the effects are much more damaging than for a normal person.

    Spider-Man is popular because many people identify with him closely.
    Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

    Moral exemplars are connected in a fundamental way to virtue ethics – a framework of behavior based in core virtues such as honesty, bravery and kindness. Virtue ethics focuses on building character within versus following a set of rules.

    Moral exemplars are the people who represent virtue ethics in its purest form. They are the most virtuous in their character, displaying what all humans should aspire to when practicing virtue ethics. The virtuous hero is the one we emulate and build our own character around, being a representative of a virtuous life.

    Spidey is a perfect moral exemplar because he is relatable. He is one of us. He has limitations but invites us to work beyond them.

    Morality is Spider-Man’s strength

    In the 2021 film “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Spidey is confronted with the choice of using his power for good or for revenge. As a portal opens to other dimensions, he encounters a number of villains from past films, including the Green Goblin from the 2002 film.

    In contrast to the Green Goblin, Spidey chooses to use his power for good. Green Goblin kills Aunt May because he wants Spidey to embrace the power he has and use it for selfish means. Aunt May serves as a moral foundation for Peter Parker, and with her gone, perhaps the Goblin sees an opportunity for Spidey to embrace power for power’s sake. He tells Spidey, “Morality is your weakness.”

    Spider-Man must struggle with the temptation to kill the Goblin in a fit of revenge – exactly the kind of self-serving thinking that the Green Goblin himself encourages. Green Goblin is the anti-moral exemplar. He embraces power and vice, while Spidey embraces doing good for others. Earlier in the film, the Goblin states, “Gods don’t have to choose; we take.” For the Goblin, there is no real morality. His power entitles him to any action.

    On the contrary, Spider-Man sees his power as a gift to be used – “with great power comes great responsibility.” Spider-Man continually sacrifices the joy in his life – his relationships, his health and his family – in order to fight villains and protect the innocent. This is practicing virtue ethics at a high level, one that reaches the status of a moral exemplar.

    Spidey’s determination to use his power for good arises out of his origin story in the original narrative found in Amazing Fantasy #15. Spider-Man feels a strong sense of guilt and responsibility due to his uncle’s death, which he feels is the result of his inaction. Thus he is committed to using his power for good.

    At first, he uses his abilities to make money wrestling or finding fame on television. In the aftermath of a television appearance, however, he allows a thief to escape because he doesn’t feel morally responsible to stop him. As the thief escapes, Spidey states, “From now on I just look out for number one – that means – me!” Soon after, he finds that same thief has killed his uncle.

    It is out of this origin story that is born his adoption of the phrase “with great power comes great responsibility.” His uncle’s death was necessary for his moral tranformation.

    Spider-Man shows us that moral responsibility does not go away just because one has power. It is in this lesson that Spider-Man exemplifies morality for us. He becomes a moral exemplar.

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

    – ref. Spider-Man’s lessons for us all on the responsibility to use our power, great or small, to do good – https://theconversation.com/spider-mans-lessons-for-us-all-on-the-responsibility-to-use-our-power-great-or-small-to-do-good-248529

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Whooping cough is making a comeback, but the vaccine provides powerful protection

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Annette Regan, Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles

    Infants can get vaccinated against whooping cough starting at 6 weeks of age. Hill Street Studios/Corbis via Getty Images

    Whooping cough, a bacterial infection that can be especially dangerous for babies and young children, is on the rise. Already in 2025 the U.S. has recorded 8,485 cases. That’s compared with 4,266 cases during the same period in 2024.

    Like measles, which is also spreading at unprecedented levels, whooping cough, more formally known as pertussis, can be prevented by a safe
    and effective vaccine. But with anti-vaccine sentiment increasing and cuts to immunization services, vaccination rates for whooping cough over the past two years have declined in children.

    The Conversation asked epidemiologist Annette Regan to explain why pertussis has become so prevalent and how families can protect themselves from the disease.

    What is pertussis and why is it dangerous?

    Pertussis is a vaccine-preventable disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Researchers in France first identified the B. pertussis bacterium in 1906. The first recorded epidemic of pertussis is thought to have occurred in Paris in 1578.

    Infection can cause an acute respiratory illness characterized by severe and spasmodic coughing spells. The classic symptom of pertussis is a “whoop” sound caused by someone trying to breath during a bad cough. Severe complications of pertussis include slowed or stopped breathing, pneumonia and seizures. The disease is most severe in young babies, although severe cases and deaths can also occur in older children and adults.

    Some doctors call pertussis “the 100-day cough” because symptoms can linger for weeks or even months.

    The World Health Organization estimates that 24.1 million pertussis cases and 160,700 deaths occur worldwide in children under 5 each year. Pertussis is highly contagious. Upon exposure, 80% of people who have not been previously exposed to the bacterium or vaccinated against the disease will develop an infection.

    Fortunately, the disease is largely preventable with a safe and effective vaccine, which was first licensed in the U.S. in 1914.

    Whooping cough causes violent fits of coughing that can make it difficult to inhale.

    How do cases last year and this year compare with past years?

    During the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, pertussis cases were lower than usual. This may have been a result of limited social contact due to social distancing, masking, school closures and lockdown measures, which reduced the spread of disease overall.

    In the past two years, however, pertussis cases have surpassed figures from before the pandemic. In 2024, local and state public health agencies reported 35,435 pertussis cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – a rate five times higher than the 7,063 cases reported in 2023 and nearly double the 18,617 cases reported in 2019 prior to the pandemic.

    Between October 2024 and April 2025, at least four people in the U.S. have died of pertussis: two infants, one school-age child and one adult.

    Why are pertussis cases rising?

    Although vaccines have resulted in a dramatic decline in pertussis infections in the U.S., incidence of the disease has been rising since the 1990s, except for a brief dip during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Before the start of routine childhood vaccination for pertussis in 1947, its rates hovered between 100,000 and 200,000 cases per year. With vaccines, rates plunged under 50,000 annually by the late 1950s and under 10,000 per year in the late 1960s. They reached a low of 1,010 cases in 1976.

    Starting in the 1980s and 1990s, however, the U.S. and several other countries have been seeing a steady resurgence of pertussis cases, which have exceeded 10,000 cases in the U.S. every year from 2003 to 2019. They dropped again during the pandemic until last year’s resurgence.

    There is no single explanation for why cases have been rising recently, but several factors probably contribute. First, pertussis naturally occurs in cyclic epidemics, peaking every two to five years. It is possible that the U.S. is headed into one of these peaks after a period of low activity between 2020 and 2022. However, some scientists have noted that the increase in cases is larger than what would be expected during a usual peak.

    A public health worker processes blood samples during a whooping cough outbreak in Ohio in December 2010.
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

    Some scientists have noted that this apparent resurgence correlates with a change in the type of vaccine used in children. Until the 1990s, the pertussis vaccine contained whole, killed B. pertussis bacteria cells. Whole-cell vaccine can stimulate a long-lasting immune response, but it is also more likely to cause fever and other vaccine reactions in children.

    In the 1990s, national vaccine programs began to transition to a vaccine that contains purified components of the bacterial cell but not the whole cell. Some scientists now believe that although this partial-cell vaccine is less likely to cause high fevers in children, it provides protection for a shorter time. Immunity after whole-cell vaccination is thought to last 10-12 years compared with three to five years after the partial-cell vaccine. This means people may become susceptible to infection more quickly after vaccination.

    Vaccination rates are also not as high as they should be and have started falling in children since 2020. In the U.S., the percent of kindergartners who are up to date with recommended pertussis vaccines has declined from 95% during the 2019-20 school year to 92% in the 2023-24 school year. Even fewer adolescents receive a booster dose.

    How can people protect themselves and their families?

    Routine vaccination for children starting in infancy followed by booster doses in adolescents and adults can help keep immunity high.

    Public health experts recommend that children receive five doses of the pertussis vaccine. According to the recommendations, they should receive the first three doses at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, then two additional doses at 15 months and 4 years of age, with the aim of providing protection through early adolescence.

    Infants younger than 6 weeks are not old enough to get a pertussis vaccine but are at the greatest risk of severe illness from pertussis. Vaccination during pregnancy can offer protection from birth due to antibodies that pass from the mother to the developing fetus. Many countries, including the U.S., now recommend that women receive one dose of pertussis vaccine between the 27th and 36th week of every pregnancy to protect their babies.

    To maintain protection against pertussis after childhood, a booster dose of pertussis vaccine is recommended for adolescents at 11 to 12 years of age. The CDC recommends that all adults receive at least one booster dose.

    The pertussis vaccine’s protction wanes over time, so public health experts recommend a booster around age 11 or 12.
    SELF Magazine via flickr, CC BY

    Because immunity declines over time, people who are in contact with infants and other high-risk groups, such as caregivers, parents and grandparents, may benefit from additional booster doses. When feasible, the CDC also recommends a booster dose for adults 65 years and older.

    Vaccine safety studies over the past 80 years have proven the pertussis vaccine to be safe. Around 20% to 40% of vaccinated infants experience local reactions, such as pain, redness and swelling at the vaccination site, and 3% to 5% of vaccinated infants experience a low-grade fever. More severe reactions are much less common and occur in fewer than 1% of vaccinated infants.

    The vaccine is also highly effective: For the first year after receiving all five doses of the pertussis vaccine, 98% of children are protected from pertussis. Five years after the fifth dose, 65% of vaccinated children remain protected.

    Booster vaccination during adolescence protects 74% of teens against pertussis, and booster vaccination during pregnancy protects 91% to 94% of immunized babies against hospitalization due to pertussis.

    Families can talk to their regular health care providers about whether a pertussis vaccine is needed for their child, themselves or other family members.

    Annette Regan receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Global Vaccine Data Network.

    – ref. Whooping cough is making a comeback, but the vaccine provides powerful protection – https://theconversation.com/whooping-cough-is-making-a-comeback-but-the-vaccine-provides-powerful-protection-254647

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Trump promotes a radical, unscientific theory about sex and gender in the name of opposing ‘gender ideology extremism’

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ina Seethaler, Associate Professor and Director of Women’s and Gender Studies, Coastal Carolina University

    Sexual diversity has been documented in every species in the animal kingdom, including among humans. smartboy10/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

    The Trump administration claims to be rooting out “gender ideology extremism” and “restoring biological truth” in the United States.

    In a January 2025 executive order, President Donald Trump decreed that there are only two genders – male and female – and that anyone who believes differently denies “the biological reality of sex.”

    Yet as a gender studies scholar, I know what the science really says about gender and sex.

    Most researchers in my field, as well as those in other disciplines such as sociology and biology, agree that biological sex is vastly more complicated than solely the two variants of male and female. Sexual diversity has been documented among all animals, including humans.

    Trump’s claim otherwise is itself a gender “ideology” – that is, a set of beliefs and values about gender.

    Sex and gender are not the same thing

    Experts in many disciplines have shown how gender is different from sex. Sex refers to bodily attributes such as genitals, hormones and chromosomes; gender is made up of the norms, roles, behaviors and expectations people are supposed to comply with based on the culture and society they live in.

    As such, gender is socially constructed – that is, defined by a community’s beliefs and rituals. In other words, gender does not follow biology. Instead, people have what’s called a “gender identity” – an internal sense of themselves as masculine, feminine or somewhere in-between.

    There are many ways in which gender and sex don’t necessarily line up.

    Among humans, a conservative estimate by the United Nations suggests that up to 1.7% of the world’s population are intersex, meaning their bodies vary from what has been labeled typical combinations of chromosomes, hormones and genitals.

    Intersex rights advocates have long pushed for medical treatment that reflects this fact, rather than common expectations of the human body. Recognition of gender and sex diversity can significantly reduce the stigma and trauma of being an intersex person.

    In the animal kingdom, female spotted hyenas have a penis. Male seahorses get pregnant.

    It took biologists a long time to figure out that some male animals do things that defy socially determined understandings of masculinity. But once they did, groundbreaking insights into the complexity of evolutionary processes have emerged.

    By labeling the concept of gender identity as an “ideology,” the Trump administration has reduced all people – but especially transgender and nonbinary people – to a belief system, ignoring their complex human identities.

    Don’t tell this dad he can’t give birth. A seahorse couple at the New England Acquarium’s 2009 Pregnant Male Seahorse exhibit.
    Matt Stone/MediaNewsGroup/Boston Herald via Getty Images

    What is gender ideology, really?

    Trump’s executive order on gender is itself based on a gender ideology called “biological determinism” – the belief that there are only two genders and that the sex assigned at birth permanently determines one’s role in society.

    This ideology dismisses research and data that document the complexity of human life. This can have serious social consequences.

    Because adherents of biological determinism see sex and gender as one and the same, they generally want to ban puberty blockers, hormone therapy and other gender-affirming health care for trans youth. These are important and sometimes lifesaving treatments; the Trump administration and other adherents of their ideology dismiss them as medical malpractice.

    The executive order also claims that enforcing a rigid male-female divide will keep women and girls safe because bathrooms and domestic violence shelters become dangerous for women when transgender people are allowed to use them.

    Research has consistently debunked this notion. Privacy and safety problems have not increased due to the legal recognition of transgender individuals. There is no evidence that cisgender women – that is, those assigned female at birth – should fear violence committed against them by transgender women.

    Biology is not destiny

    Much of my academic work has focused on how societies rooted in biological determinism tend to be patriarchal. They are designed by men for the benefit of men, and men hold most positions of authority.

    Patriarchal countries, including the U.S., tend to value masculinity over femininity. Political and religious leaders, the media and social norms suggest women are weaker than men, more emotional and better suited for care work. As a result, they portray women as less effective leaders than men.

    Historically, these societies have limited women’s sphere of influence to the household. That, in turn, prevented them from widespread access to, and success in, economic, religious and political leadership positions, just to name a few.

    U.S. feminists in the 1960s and 1970s protested the idea that a person’s body should dictate what they can and cannot do with their life. Back then, patriarchal beliefs restricted women’s participation in sports – they weren’t allowed to run marathons – and jobs, with fields such as practicing law and surgery essentially off-limits.

    Women in the U.S. also lacked full bodily autonomy for much of the 20th century. Access to contraception was limited, and terminating a pregnancy was illegal.

    By the 1980s, women had succeeded in convincing much of U.S. society that they had the same abilities and should enjoy the same rights as men. By the early 2000s, they had made great strides toward attaining equality in education, career choice and reproductive freedom, among others.

    Trans people began making similar progress in the 2010s.

    Moving backward

    As the Trump administration reverts to a simplistic interpretation of sex and gender, public debate on these basic social and political rights is reemerging.

    There is legislation at the state and federal level banning transgender women athletes from participating in sports, bills that would make it a crime to identify as transgender and challenges to women serving in combat roles in the U.S. military.

    Abortion, established as a constitutional right in 1973, had that constitutional protection reversed in 2022. Abortion is now outlawed in 12 states; others severely limit the ability to get the procedure.

    Trump signs the ‘No Men in Women’s Sports’ executive order barring transgender women from women’s sports on Feb. 5, 2025. It was his third order targeting transgender people.
    Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    To enforce Trump’s “gender ideology” executive order, the Department of Veterans Affairs is phasing out gender-affirming health care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention temporarily scrubbed data about women’s health that has been vital in raising public awareness and fueling ongoing research into aspects of women’s health, such as safe forms of contraception.

    The administration’s policies and ideas are ingrained in a gender ideology that predates the feminist movement of the mid-20th century.

    When asked in court during proceedings in lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order, lawyers representing the Trump administration have repeatedly failed to define what exactly the administration is referring to with the term “radical gender ideology.”

    One lawyer, when prompted by a judge, replied that he was “loathe to speculate” what the president means by the phrase.

    In my assessment, the administation’s inability to define “gender ideology” is a meaningful signal. The Trump administration is pursuing, in essence, its own gender ideology masked as anti-gender ideology.

    Ina Seethaler serves on the boards of the Palmetto State Abortion Fund and the Family Justice Center of Horry and Georgetown Counties.

    – ref. How Trump promotes a radical, unscientific theory about sex and gender in the name of opposing ‘gender ideology extremism’ – https://theconversation.com/how-trump-promotes-a-radical-unscientific-theory-about-sex-and-gender-in-the-name-of-opposing-gender-ideology-extremism-250552

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From cats and dogs to penguins and llamas, treating animals with acupuncture has become mainstream in veterinary medicine

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joe Smith, Assistant Professor of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee

    Kevin, a King Charles spaniel, receives acupuncture treatment at a Washington, D.C. animal hospital. Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images

    A perentie lizard in Dallas, an African penguin in Boston and an Oberhasli goat in Chicago are just a few recent examples of animals at zoos and aquariums benefiting recently from acupuncture therapy. As acupuncture has gained wide use in human medicine in the U.S., it also has become increasingly common in veterinary practice, especially for pain management.

    The Conversation U.S. interviewed University of Tennessee Assistant Professor of Veterinary Medicine Joe Smith, a specialist in farm animal medicine and veterinary clinical pharmacology, about this trend. He describes acupuncture’s current uses for treating many species, from household dogs and cats to large animals like horses, cows and llamas:

    Is veterinary acupuncture modeled on the traditional Chinese version?

    There are two schools of thought about veterinary acupuncture. The original form of acupuncture, which has been practiced for thousands of years, follows principles of traditional Chinese medicine. It views the patient through a lens of five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

    Each element is associated with a different type of energy. Practitioners work to maintain balance between those energies, which they believe is essential for a healthy body to function.

    Another approach focuses on anatomical effects on the body. Practitioners place needles to achieve specific effects by stimulating muscles or nerves.

    Both versions of acupuncture can help veterinary patients. They use very small, flexible needles, about two-tenths of a millimeter wide – less than one-hundredth of an inch. The needles are placed at various parts of the body to elicit specific responses from connective tissues, muscles and nerves.

    The needles can be used by themselves, or with low levels of electrical current – a process called electroacupuncture. Both approaches are effective, but research suggests that benefits from electroacupunture last longer.

    Veterinary acupuncturists can treat nearly any animal, from a bear to a porcupine, a dog or a sea turtle.

    What does research show about using acupuncture on animals?

    Acupuncture and electroacupuncture both increase the body’s levels of compounds called endogenous opioids. These are pain-relieving substances that the body produces naturally. They work similarly to pharmaceutical opioids, such as fentanyl and morphine.

    Acupuncture increases these compounds so dramatically that the effect can be reversed with opioid antidotes, such as Narcan.

    Studies in small animal medicine show that using acupuncture can speed up healing from nerve injuries, such as spinal cord damage from herniated disks. This is a condition in which material from the disks in between the vertebra of the spinal cord is damaged, and puts pressure on the spinal cord and other parts of the nervous system.

    Herniated disks can be very painful for animals. A 2023 study found that when dogs with this condition were treated with acupuncture, nearly 80% recovered, compared with 60% of animals whose cases were managed conservatively without acupuncture. Acupuncture can also make other techniques, such as epidural nerve blocks, more effective when both methods are used together.

    Many vets are using acupuncture creatively for other purposes, such as increasing sick animals’ appetites, improving their digestion and accelerating healing from injuries.

    How does your veterinary medicine group use acupuncture?

    Our practice at the University of Tennessee has used acupuncture most extensively to help rehabilitate animals recovering from conditions like radial nerve paralysis and femoral nerve injury. We can use acupuncture to stimulate muscles or to provide pain relief, either by itself or combined with other therapies.

    In our Farm Animal Hospital, we regularly use acupuncture for recumbent or “down” animals. That’s a veterinary term for animals that have been unable to stand for extended periods of time.

    With acupuncture, and occasionally electroacupuncture, we can stimulate muscles and nerves that aren’t functioning normally. This help to prevent atrophy, or wasting and thinning of muscle mass.

    For every day that a large animal is down, its muscles atrophy and fluid builds up around injured limbs or joints. These effects can prolong their recovery, or even make it less likely that they will recover.

    By using acupuncture to stimulate atrophied muscles, veterinarians can start to reverse this process. We have used acupuncture extensively on large animals, including cattle, horses, llamas, alpacas, sheep, goats, pigs and even camels.

    One example is goats that have spinal cord injuries caused by parasite migration – a condition called cerebrospinal nematodiasis, or “meningeal worm.” Worm larvae that normally are parasites of white tail deer infect goats through the animals’ digestive tracts, then migrate to the spinal cord and nervous system. They get lost and die there, causing inflammation that can do significant damage.

    We use acupuncture and electroacupuncture to stimulate the goats’ large and accessory spinal nerves and the muscles in the animals’ legs and backs. This gives the goats more muscle function when the inflammation clears, and we believe it helps reduce their pain.

    We’ve also had good results with acupuncture treatment for llamas and alpacas, which are widely used in Tennessee’s Smokey Mountains to carry tourists’ gear up- and downhill. As large animals like these age, they can develop osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that’s incredibly painful and debilitating for them. Acupuncture and electroacupuncture can help keep them moving.

    Our equine services mainly use acupuncture for rehabilitation, helping horses recover from injuries.

    One advantage of acupuncture and electroacupuncture in large animals is that they don’t have many adverse effects. Drugs can have side effects such as nausea and diarrhea, and may cause potentially serious complications. An acupuncture needle placed by a trained veterinarian has few to no adverse effects when it’s done correctly.

    A crow and an opossum at the Nashville Zoo receive acupuncture treatment for mobility issues.

    Can pet owners be confident if their vet recommends acupuncture?

    If there is a nerve or muscle involved, there is probably a veterinary treatment option using acupuncture or electroacupuncture. New studies regularly add to our understanding of the neurology and biochemistry that underlie these therapies.

    Although we’re still learning, if your vet recommends acupuncture for an aging dog or cat – especially for chronic pain – you can be confident that it’s not a fringe treatment. As long as the person treating your pet is a licensed veterinarian, and is certified by a professional organization like Curacore, Chi University or the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture, acupuncture should make your pet more comfortable and improve its quality of life.

    Joe Smith has attended attended Curacore Inc’s Medical Acupuncture for Veterinarians course.

    – ref. From cats and dogs to penguins and llamas, treating animals with acupuncture has become mainstream in veterinary medicine – https://theconversation.com/from-cats-and-dogs-to-penguins-and-llamas-treating-animals-with-acupuncture-has-become-mainstream-in-veterinary-medicine-226451

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: French Minister Valls warns New Caledonia is ‘on a tightrope’, pleads for ‘innovative’ solutions

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, who is visiting New Caledonia this week for the third time in two months, has once again called on all parties to live up to their responsibilities in order to make a new political agreement possible.

    Failing that, he said a potential civil war was looming.

    “We’ll take our responsibilities, on our part, and we will put on the table a project that touches New Caledonia’s society, economic recovery, including nickel, and the future of the younger generation,” he told a panel of French journalists on Sunday.

    He said that he hoped a revised version on a draft document — resulting from his previous visits in the French Pacific territory and new proposals from the French government — there existed a “difficult path” to possibly reconcile radically opposing views expressed so far from the pro-independence parties in New Caledonia and those who want the territory to remain part of France.

    The target remains an agreement that would accommodate both “the right and aspiration to self-determination” and “the link with France”.

    “If there is no agreement, then economic and political uncertainty can lead to a new disaster, to confrontation and to civil war,” he told reporters.

    “That is why I have appealed several times to all political stakeholders, those for and against independence,” he warned.

    “Everyone must take a step towards each other. An agreement is indispensable.”

    Valls said this week he hoped everyone would “enter a real negotiations phase”.

    He said one of the ways to achieve this will be to find “innovative” solutions and “a new way of looking at the future”.

    This also included relevant amendments to the French Constitution.

    Local parties will not sign any agreement ‘at all costs’
     Local parties are not so enthusiastic.

    In fact, each camp remains on their guard, in an atmosphere of defiance.

    And on both sides, they agree at least on one thing — they will not sign any agreement “at all costs”.

    Just like has been the case since talks between Valls and local parties began earlier this year, the two main opposing camps remain adamant on their respective pre-conditions and sometimes demands.

    The pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), largely dominated by the Union Calédonienne, held a convention at the weekend to decide on whether they would attend this week’s new round of talks with Valls.

    They eventually resolved that they would attend, but have not yet decided to call this “negotiations”, only “discussions”.

    They said another decision would be made this Thursday, May 1, after they had examined Valls’s new proposals and documents which the French minister is expected to circulate as soon as he hosts the first meeting tomorrow.

    FLNKS reaffirms ‘Kanaky Agreement’ demand
    During their weekend convention, the FLNKS reaffirmed their demands for a “Kanaky Agreement” to be signed not later than 24 September 2025, to be followed by a five-year transition period.

    The official line was to “maintain the trajectory” to full sovereignty, including in terms of schedule.

    On the pro-France side, the main pillar of their stance is the fact that three self-determination referendums have been held between 2018 and 2021, even though the third and last consultation was largely boycotted by the pro-independence camp.

    All three referendums resulted in votes rejecting full sovereignty.

    One of their most outspoken leaders, Les Loyalistes party and Southern Province President Sonia Backès, told a public rally last week that they had refused another date for yet another referendum.

    “A new referendum would mean civil war. And we don’t want to fix the date for civil war. So we don’t want to fix the date for a new referendum,” she said.

    However, Backès said they “still want to believe in an agreement”.

    “We’re part of all discussions on seeking solutions in a constructive and creative spirit.”

    Granting more provincial powers
    One of their other proposals was to grant more powers to each of the three provinces of New Caledonia, including on tax collection matters.

    “We don’t want differences along ethnic lines. We want the provinces to have more powers so that each of them is responsible for their respective society models.”

    Under a draft text leaked last week, any new referendum could only be called by at least three-fifths of the Congress and would no longer pose a “binary” question on yes or no to independence, but would consider endorsing a “project” for New Caledonia’s future society.

    Another prominent pro-France leader, MP Nicolas Metzdorf, repeated this weekend he and his supporters “remain mobilised to defend New Caledonia within France”.

    “We will not budge,” Metzdorf said.

    Despite Valls’s warnings, another scenario could be that New Caledonia’s political stakeholders find it more appealing or convenient to agree on no agreement at all, especially as New Caledonia’s crucial provincial elections are in the pipeline and scheduled for no later than November 30.

    Concerns about security
     But during the same interview, Valls repeated that he remained concerned that the situation on the ground remained “serious”.

    “We are walking on a tightrope above embers”.

    He said top of his concerns were New Caledonia’s economic and financial situation, the tense atmosphere, a resurgence in “racism, hatred” as well as a fast-deteriorating public health services situation or the rise in poverty caused by an increasing number of jobless.

    “So yes, all these risks are there, and that is why it is everyone’s responsibility to find an agreement. And I will stay as long as needed and I will put all my energy so that an agreement takes place.

    “Not for me, for them.”

    Valls also recalled that since the riots broke out in May 2024, almost one year ago, French security and law enforcement agencies are still maintaining about 20 squads of French gendarmes (1500 personnel) in the territory.

    This is on top of the normal deployment of 550 gendarmes and 680 police officers.

    Valls said this was necessary because “any time, it could flare up again”.

    Outgoing French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said in an interview recently that in case of a “new May 13” situation, the pre-positioned forces could ensure law enforcement “for three or four days . . . until reinforcements arrive”.

    If fresh violence erupts again, reinforcements could be sent again from mainland France and bring the total number to up to 6000 law enforcement personnel, a number similar to the level deployed in 2024 in the weeks following the riots that killed 14 and caused some 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4.2 billion) in damage.

    Carefully chosen words
     Valls said earlier in April the main pillars of future negotiations were articulated around the themes of:

    • “democracy and the rule of law”;
    • a “decolonisation process”;
    • the right to self-determination;
    • a “fundamental law” that would seal New Caledonia’s future status;
    • the powers of New Caledonia’s three provinces; and a future New Caledonia citizenship with the associated definition of who meets the requirements to vote at local elections.

    Valls has already travelled to Nouméa twice this year — in February and March.

    Since his last visit that ended on April 1, discussions have been maintained in conference mode between local political stakeholders and Valls, and his cabinet, as well as French Prime Minister François Bayrou’s special advisor on New Caledonia, constitutionalist Eric Thiers.

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

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Tarakinikini appointed as Fiji’s ambassador-designate to Israel

    By Anish Chand in Suva

    Filipo Tarakinikini has been appointed as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel.

    This has been stated on two official X, formerly Twitter, handle posts overnight.

    “#Fiji is determined to deepen its relations with #Israel as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel, HE Ambassador @AFTarakinikini prepares to present his credentials on 28 April, 2025,” stated the Fiji at UN twitter account.

    Tarakinikini is also Fiji’s current Ambassador to the United Nations.

    In a separate post, Deputy Director-General Eynat Shlein of Israel’s international development cooperation agency said she was “honoured” to meet Tarakinikini.

    “We discussed the vast cooperation opportunities, promoting & enhancing sustainable development, emphasizing investment in capacity building & human capital,” she said on X.

    Fiji is only the seventh country in the world to open an embassy in Israel.

    Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

    Centre of controversy
    Pacific Media Watch     reports that Lieutenant-Colonel Tarakinikini was at the centre of controversy in Fiji in 2005 when he was declared a “deserter” by the Fiji military.

    However, from 1979 to 2002, he served in the Fiji Military Forces, including eight years in United Nations peacekeeping missions, among them, south Lebanon and the Multinational Force in Sinai, Egypt.

    Beginning in 2003, he was the UN Department for Security and Safety’s (UNDSS) Chief Security Adviser in Jerusalem, as well as in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 2006 to 2008.

    From 2008 to 2018, he served in numerous United Nations integrated assessment missions, programme working groups, restructuring and redeployments and technical assessment missions.

    ‘Weapons of war’
    Yesterday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) began week-long hearings at The Hague into global accusations of Israel using starvation and humanitarian aid as “weapons of war” and failing to meet its obligations to the Palestinian people in Gaza as the occupying power in its genocidal war on the besieged enclave.

    Forty countries are expected to give evidence.

    The ICJ has been tasked by the UN with providing an advisory opinion “on a priority basis and with the utmost urgency”.

    Although the ICJ judges’ opinion is not binding, it provides clarity on legal questions.

    In January 2024, the ICJ ruled that Israel must take “all measures” to prevent a genocide in Gaza.

    Then in June, it said in an advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza was illegal.

    Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted on arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

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

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

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

    “Together we will build a Canada worthy of our values,” he told cheering supporters in his victory speech in Ottawa.

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

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

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



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

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

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

    Poilievre’s messaging

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

    This shift, alongside Carney’s elimination of the carbon tax, left Poilievre on the back foot as his longstanding messaging on Trudeau and his “axe the tax” slogan became largely irrelevant.



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

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

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

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

    Advance voting in a gendered election

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

    The role of young working-class men

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

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

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

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

    Electoral reform needed?

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Liberal Mark Carney’s election win in Canada means for Europe

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Katerina Sviderska, PhD Candidate in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge

    Just months ago, Canada’s Conservatives were leading the polls, surfing the wave of radical right ideas and rhetoric sweeping across the globe. But with the election victory of Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, Canada now stands out as a liberal anchor in a fractured West.

    This election may not only shape Canada’s domestic trajectory, but also carries significant implications for its international partnerships amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.

    As some European countries and the United States head towards isolationism, authoritarianism and turn to the East — even flirting with Russia — Canada’s continued Liberal leadership reinforces its position as a key ally for the European Union. Carney’s centrist and pro-EU attitude provides stability and relief for Europeans.

    From defence to trade and climate, Canada and the EU share deep economic and strategic ties. With a Liberal government, these connections will strengthen, offering both sides what they need the most: a reliable, like-minded partner at a time of transatlantic unpredictability.

    What does Carney’s victory mean specifically for the Canada-EU relationship?

    Trade as a strategic anchor

    Carney’s election offers new momentum for Canada-EU collaboration. His “blue liberalism” brings Canada ideologically closer to Europe’s current leadership — from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist France to the Christian Democratic Union-led coalition in Germany — providing fertile ground for pragmatic co-operation.

    Trade remains the foundation of the Canada-EU relationship, and both sides should aim to build on it. At the heart of this partnership is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has increased EU-Canada trade by 65 per cent since 2017.

    European Council President António Costa has called the deal a success story providing clear proof “trade agreements are clearly better than trade tariffs.”

    As the U.S. speeds toward toward economic nationalism, CETA has become more than a commercial agreement — it’s a strategic anchor in the global liberal order. One of the Liberal government’s early priorities is likely to consolidate and strengthen CETA. In doing so, Canada can position itself as an ambitious partner, ready to seize new opportunities as European countries seek to reduce their reliance on the American market.

    Climate and energy: A balanced agenda

    Climate and energy, too, offer new opportunities for co-operation. Both Canada and the EU are navigating the tensions between pursuing ambitious decarbonization goals and managing economic and inflationary pressures. After scrapping Canada’s carbon tax on his first day in office, Carney has already hinted at a more pragmatic environmental stance.

    While pledging to maintain key climate policies — including the emissions cap on oil and gas — Carney’s government may recalibrate Canada’s approach to energy. This would mirror shifts among some European allies’ climate policies.

    This evolving transatlantic consensus — less about abandoning climate goals, more about making them economically viable — paves the way for closer co-operation based on a common goal: bolstering economic competitiveness while maintaining environmental credibility.

    Both Carney and the EU view the investment in new technologies as the path forward.

    As Europe accelerates its green agenda and implements new sustainability rules, only countries with strong environmental standards qualify as long-term partners. Canada, provided it stays the course on climate policies, is well-positioned to be a key partner in Europe’s green transition.

    Transatlantic defence co-operation

    Beyond trade and energy, defence co-operation between Canada and the EU is expected to surge. A key priority for the new Liberal government is to finally reach NATO’s benchmark of spending two per cent of gross domestic product on defence, a longstanding commitment that has eluded previous administrations.



    Read more:
    What does Donald Trump’s NATO posturing mean for Canada?

    This signal of rearmament reflects not only alignment with NATO expectations but also a broader understanding that liberal democracies must be prepared to defend themselves. Nowhere is this more pressing than in Ukraine, the epicentre of Europe’s geopolitical storm.

    Canada has been among the most reliable supporters of Ukraine since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, aligning itself with Europe’s most committed nations — France, Poland, the Baltics and, increasingly, Germany.

    But as threats evolve, the battlefield also extends beyond Ukraine’s frontlines. Hybrid attacks — cyber, disinformation campaigns and foreign interference in democratic processes — now wash up on all shores. Canada’s National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–26 identifies state-sponsored cyber operations as one of the most serious threats to democratic stability, particularly from Russia and China.



    Read more:
    Foreign interference threats in Canada’s federal election are both old and new

    In strengthening its defence collaboration, Ottawa is hoping to get a seat in the fight against autocracies. The question is no longer whether to engage, but how to lead in this era of layered and compounding threats coming from rivals like Russia and China — and now from the U.S., a historical Canadian ally.

    Under Carney’s leadership, Canada is likely to pursue a pragmatic and globally engaged liberalism definitively aligned with Europe. As Canada and the EU are both looking for reliable allies to weather the storm, this renewed western alliance could solidify around Ottawa and Brussels — anchored in shared democratic values and pragmatic leadership.

    Katerina Sviderska receives funding from Fonds de Recherche du Québec and the Gates Cambridge Foundation.

    Leandre Benoit receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. What Liberal Mark Carney’s election win in Canada means for Europe – https://theconversation.com/what-liberal-mark-carneys-election-win-in-canada-means-for-europe-254775

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

    Poilievre’s messaging

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

    This shift, alongside Carney’s elimination of the carbon tax, left Poilievre on the back foot as his longstanding messaging on Trudeau and his “axe the tax” slogan became largely irrelevant.



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

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

    Election campaign polling and early results indicated steep losses for the NDP, with Leader Jagmeet Singh’s own seat in Burnaby, B.C., under threat. This could be due to voters on the left responding to calls to vote strategically to prevent Conservative victories in various ridings.

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

    Advance voting in a gendered election

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

    The role of young working-class men

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

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

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

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

    Electoral reform needed?

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Liberal Mark Carney’s projected election win in Canada means for Europe

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Katerina Sviderska, PhD Candidate in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge

    Just months ago, Canada’s Conservatives were leading the polls, surfing the wave of radical right ideas and rhetoric sweeping across the globe. But with the projected election victory of Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, Canada now stands out as a liberal anchor in a fractured West.

    This election may not only shape Canada’s domestic trajectory, but also carries significant implications for its international partnerships amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.

    As some European countries and the United States head towards isolationism, authoritarianism and turn to the East — even flirting with Russia — Canada’s continued Liberal leadership reinforces its position as a key ally for the European Union. Carney’s centrist and pro-EU attitude provides stability and relief for Europeans.

    From defence to trade and climate, Canada and the EU share deep economic and strategic ties. With a Liberal government, these connections will strengthen, offering both sides what they need the most: a reliable, like-minded partner at a time of transatlantic unpredictability.

    What does Carney’s victory mean specifically for the Canada-EU relationship?

    Trade as a strategic anchor

    Carney’s election offers new momentum for Canada-EU collaboration. His “blue liberalism” brings Canada ideologically closer to Europe’s current leadership — from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist France to the Christian Democratic Union-led coalition in Germany — providing fertile ground for pragmatic co-operation.

    Trade remains the foundation of the Canada-EU relationship, and both sides should aim to build on it. At the heart of this partnership is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has increased EU-Canada trade by 65 per cent since 2017.

    European Council President António Costa has called the deal a success story providing clear proof “trade agreements are clearly better than trade tariffs.”

    As the U.S. speeds toward toward economic nationalism, CETA has become more than a commercial agreement — it’s a strategic anchor in the global liberal order. One of the Liberal government’s early priorities is likely to consolidate and strengthen CETA. In doing so, Canada can position itself as an ambitious partner, ready to seize new opportunities as European countries seek to reduce their reliance on the American market.

    Climate and energy: A balanced agenda

    Climate and energy, too, offer new opportunities for co-operation. Both Canada and the EU are navigating the tensions between pursuing ambitious decarbonization goals and managing economic and inflationary pressures. After scrapping Canada’s carbon tax on his first day in office, Carney has already hinted at a more pragmatic environmental stance.

    While pledging to maintain key climate policies — including the emissions cap on oil and gas — Carney’s government may recalibrate Canada’s approach to energy. This would mirror shifts among some European allies’ climate policies.

    This evolving transatlantic consensus — less about abandoning climate goals, more about making them economically viable — paves the way for closer co-operation based on a common goal: bolstering economic competitiveness while maintaining environmental credibility.

    Both Carney and the EU view the investment in new technologies as the path forward.

    As Europe accelerates its green agenda and implements new sustainability rules, only countries with strong environmental standards qualify as long-term partners. Canada, provided it stays the course on climate policies, is well-positioned to be a key partner in Europe’s green transition.

    Transatlantic defence co-operation

    Beyond trade and energy, defence co-operation between Canada and the EU is expected to surge. A key priority for the new Liberal government is to finally reach NATO’s benchmark of spending two per cent of gross domestic product on defence, a longstanding commitment that has eluded previous administrations.



    Read more:
    What does Donald Trump’s NATO posturing mean for Canada?

    This signal of rearmament reflects not only alignment with NATO expectations but also a broader understanding that liberal democracies must be prepared to defend themselves. Nowhere is this more pressing than in Ukraine, the epicentre of Europe’s geopolitical storm.

    Canada has been among the most reliable supporters of Ukraine since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, aligning itself with Europe’s most committed nations — France, Poland, the Baltics and, increasingly, Germany.

    But as threats evolve, the battlefield also extends beyond Ukraine’s frontlines. Hybrid attacks — cyber, disinformation campaigns and foreign interference in democratic processes — now wash up on all shores. Canada’s National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–26 identifies state-sponsored cyber operations as one of the most serious threats to democratic stability, particularly from Russia and China.



    Read more:
    Foreign interference threats in Canada’s federal election are both old and new

    In strengthening its defence collaboration, Ottawa is hoping to get a seat in the fight against autocracies. The question is no longer whether to engage, but how to lead in this era of layered and compounding threats coming from rivals like Russia and China — and now from the U.S., a historical Canadian ally.

    Under Carney’s leadership, Canada is likely to pursue a pragmatic and globally engaged liberalism definitively aligned with Europe. As Canada and the EU are both looking for reliable allies to weather the storm, this renewed western alliance could solidify around Ottawa and Brussels — anchored in shared democratic values and pragmatic leadership.

    Katerina Sviderska receives funding from Fonds de Recherche du Québec and the Gates Cambridge Foundation.

    Leandre Benoit receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. What Liberal Mark Carney’s projected election win in Canada means for Europe – https://theconversation.com/what-liberal-mark-carneys-projected-election-win-in-canada-means-for-europe-254775

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Game change Canadian election: Mark Carney projected to have lead Liberals to their fourth consecutive win

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

    Poilievre’s messaging

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

    This shift, alongside Carney’s elimination of the carbon tax, left Poilievre on the back foot as his longstanding messaging on Trudeau and his “axe the tax” slogan became largely irrelevant.



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

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

    Election campaign polling and early results indicated steep losses for the NDP, with Leader Jagmeet Singh’s own seat in Burnaby, B.C., under threat. This could be due to voters on the left responding to calls to vote strategically to prevent Conservative victories in various ridings.

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

    Advance voting in a gendered election

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

    The role of young working-class men

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

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

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

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

    Electoral reform needed?

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Liberal Mark Carney’s Canadian projected election win means for Europe

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Katerina Sviderska, PhD Candidate in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge

    Just months ago, Canada’s Conservatives were leading the polls, surfing the wave of radical right ideas and rhetoric sweeping across the globe. But with the projected election victory of Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, Canada now stands out as a liberal anchor in a fractured West.

    This election may not only shape Canada’s domestic trajectory, but also carries significant implications for its international partnerships amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.

    As some European countries and the United States head towards isolationism, authoritarianism and turn to the East — even flirting with Russia — Canada’s continued Liberal leadership reinforces its position as a key ally for the European Union. Carney’s centrist and pro-EU attitude provides stability and relief for Europeans.

    From defence to trade and climate, Canada and the EU share deep economic and strategic ties. With a Liberal government, these connections will strengthen, offering both sides what they need the most: a reliable, like-minded partner at a time of transatlantic unpredictability.

    What does Carney’s victory mean specifically for the Canada-EU relationship?

    Trade as a strategic anchor

    Carney’s election offers new momentum for Canada-EU collaboration. His “blue liberalism” brings Canada ideologically closer to Europe’s current leadership — from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist France to the Christian Democratic Union-led coalition in Germany — providing fertile ground for pragmatic co-operation.

    Trade remains the foundation of the Canada-EU relationship, and both sides should aim to build on it. At the heart of this partnership is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has increased EU-Canada trade by 65 per cent since 2017.

    European Council President António Costa has called the deal a success story providing clear proof “trade agreements are clearly better than trade tariffs.”

    As the U.S. speeds toward toward economic nationalism, CETA has become more than a commercial agreement — it’s a strategic anchor in the global liberal order. One of the Liberal government’s early priorities is likely to consolidate and strengthen CETA. In doing so, Canada can position itself as an ambitious partner, ready to seize new opportunities as European countries seek to reduce their reliance on the American market.

    Climate and energy: A balanced agenda

    Climate and energy, too, offer new opportunities for co-operation. Both Canada and the EU are navigating the tensions between pursuing ambitious decarbonization goals and managing economic and inflationary pressures. After scrapping Canada’s carbon tax on his first day in office, Carney has already hinted at a more pragmatic environmental stance.

    While pledging to maintain key climate policies — including the emissions cap on oil and gas — Carney’s government may recalibrate Canada’s approach to energy. This would mirror shifts among some European allies’ climate policies.

    This evolving transatlantic consensus — less about abandoning climate goals, more about making them economically viable — paves the way for closer co-operation based on a common goal: bolstering economic competitiveness while maintaining environmental credibility.

    Both Carney and the EU view the investment in new technologies as the path forward.

    As Europe accelerates its green agenda and implements new sustainability rules, only countries with strong environmental standards qualify as long-term partners. Canada, provided it stays the course on climate policies, is well-positioned to be a key partner in Europe’s green transition.

    Transatlantic defence co-operation

    Beyond trade and energy, defence co-operation between Canada and the EU is expected to surge. A key priority for the new Liberal government is to finally reach NATO’s benchmark of spending two per cent of gross domestic product on defence, a longstanding commitment that has eluded previous administrations.



    Read more:
    What does Donald Trump’s NATO posturing mean for Canada?

    This signal of rearmament reflects not only alignment with NATO expectations but also a broader understanding that liberal democracies must be prepared to defend themselves. Nowhere is this more pressing than in Ukraine, the epicentre of Europe’s geopolitical storm.

    Canada has been among the most reliable supporters of Ukraine since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, aligning itself with Europe’s most committed nations — France, Poland, the Baltics and, increasingly, Germany.

    But as threats evolve, the battlefield also extends beyond Ukraine’s frontlines. Hybrid attacks — cyber, disinformation campaigns and foreign interference in democratic processes — now wash up on all shores. Canada’s National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–26 identifies state-sponsored cyber operations as one of the most serious threats to democratic stability, particularly from Russia and China.



    Read more:
    Foreign interference threats in Canada’s federal election are both old and new

    In strengthening its defence collaboration, Ottawa is hoping to get a seat in the fight against autocracies. The question is no longer whether to engage, but how to lead in this era of layered and compounding threats coming from rivals like Russia and China — and now from the U.S., a historical Canadian ally.

    Under Carney’s leadership, Canada is likely to pursue a pragmatic and globally engaged liberalism definitively aligned with Europe. As Canada and the EU are both looking for reliable allies to weather the storm, this renewed western alliance could solidify around Ottawa and Brussels — anchored in shared democratic values and pragmatic leadership.

    Katerina Sviderska receives funding from Fonds de Recherche du Québec and the Gates Cambridge Foundation.

    Leandre Benoit receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. What Liberal Mark Carney’s Canadian projected election win means for Europe – https://theconversation.com/what-liberal-mark-carneys-canadian-projected-election-win-means-for-europe-254775

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Liberal Mark Carney’s Canadian election win means for Europe

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Katerina Sviderska, PhD Candidate in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge

    Just months ago, Canada’s Conservatives were leading the polls, surfing the wave of radical right ideas and rhetoric sweeping across the globe. But with the election victory of Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, Canada now stands out as a liberal anchor in a fractured West.

    This election not only shapes Canada’s domestic trajectory, but also carries significant implications for its international partnerships amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.

    As some European countries and the United States head towards isolationism, authoritarianism and turn to the East — even flirting with Russia — Canada’s continued Liberal leadership reinforces its position as a key ally for the European Union. Carney’s centrist and pro-EU attitude provides stability and relief for Europeans.

    From defence to trade and climate, Canada and the EU share deep economic and strategic ties. With a Liberal government, these connections will strengthen, offering both sides what they need the most: a reliable, like-minded partner at a time of transatlantic unpredictability.

    What does Carney’s victory mean specifically for the Canada-EU relationship?

    Trade as a strategic anchor

    Carney’s election offers new momentum for Canada-EU collaboration. His “blue liberalism” brings Canada ideologically closer to Europe’s current leadership — from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist France to the Christian Democratic Union-led coalition in Germany — providing fertile ground for pragmatic co-operation.

    Trade remains the foundation of the Canada-EU relationship, and both sides should aim to build on it. At the heart of this partnership is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has increased EU-Canada trade by 65 per cent since 2017.

    European Council President António Costa has called the deal a success story providing clear proof “trade agreements are clearly better than trade tariffs.”

    As the U.S. speeds toward toward economic nationalism, CETA has become more than a commercial agreement — it’s a strategic anchor in the global liberal order. One of the Liberal government’s early priorities is likely to consolidate and strengthen CETA. In doing so, Canada can position itself as an ambitious partner, ready to seize new opportunities as European countries seek to reduce their reliance on the American market.

    Climate and energy: A balanced agenda

    Climate and energy, too, offer new opportunities for co-operation. Both Canada and the EU are navigating the tensions between pursuing ambitious decarbonization goals and managing economic and inflationary pressures. After scrapping Canada’s carbon tax on his first day in office, Carney has already hinted at a more pragmatic environmental stance.

    While pledging to maintain key climate policies — including the emissions cap on oil and gas — Carney’s government may recalibrate Canada’s approach to energy. This would mirror shifts among some European allies’ climate policies.

    This evolving transatlantic consensus — less about abandoning climate goals, more about making them economically viable — paves the way for closer co-operation based on a common goal: bolstering economic competitiveness while maintaining environmental credibility.

    Both Carney and the EU view the investment in new technologies as the path forward.

    As Europe accelerates its green agenda and implements new sustainability rules, only countries with strong environmental standards qualify as long-term partners. Canada, provided it stays the course on climate policies, is well-positioned to be a key partner in Europe’s green transition.

    Transatlantic defence co-operation

    Beyond trade and energy, defence co-operation between Canada and the EU is expected to surge. A key priority for the new Liberal government is to finally reach NATO’s benchmark of spending two per cent of gross domestic product on defence, a longstanding commitment that has eluded previous administrations.



    Read more:
    What does Donald Trump’s NATO posturing mean for Canada?

    This signal of rearmament reflects not only alignment with NATO expectations but also a broader understanding that liberal democracies must be prepared to defend themselves. Nowhere is this more pressing than in Ukraine, the epicentre of Europe’s geopolitical storm.

    Canada has been among the most reliable supporters of Ukraine since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, aligning itself with Europe’s most committed nations — France, Poland, the Baltics and, increasingly, Germany.

    But as threats evolve, the battlefield also extends beyond Ukraine’s frontlines. Hybrid attacks — cyber, disinformation campaigns and foreign interference in democratic processes — now wash up on all shores. Canada’s National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–26 identifies state-sponsored cyber operations as one of the most serious threats to democratic stability, particularly from Russia and China.



    Read more:
    Foreign interference threats in Canada’s federal election are both old and new

    In strengthening its defence collaboration, Ottawa is hoping to get a seat in the fight against autocracies. The question is no longer whether to engage, but how to lead in this era of layered and compounding threats coming from rivals like Russia and China — and now from the U.S., a historical Canadian ally.

    Under Carney’s leadership, Canada is likely to pursue a pragmatic and globally engaged liberalism definitively aligned with Europe. As Canada and the EU are both looking for reliable allies to weather the storm, this renewed western alliance could solidify around Ottawa and Brussels — anchored in shared democratic values and pragmatic leadership.

    Katerina Sviderska receives funding from Fonds de Recherche du Québec and the Gates Cambridge Foundation.

    Leandre Benoit receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. What Liberal Mark Carney’s Canadian election win means for Europe – https://theconversation.com/what-liberal-mark-carneys-canadian-election-win-means-for-europe-254775

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

    Poilievre’s messaging

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

    This shift, alongside Carney’s elimination of the carbon tax, left Poilievre on the back foot as his longstanding messaging on Trudeau and his “axe the tax” slogan became largely irrelevant.



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

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

    Election campaign polling and early results indicated steep losses for the NDP, with Leader Jagmeet Singh’s own seat in Burnaby, B.C., under threat. This could be due to voters on the left responding to calls to vote strategically to prevent Conservative victories in various ridings.

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

    Advance voting in a gendered election

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

    The role of young working-class men

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

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

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

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

    Electoral reform needed?

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

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

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

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

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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Canada’s election of Mark Carney’s Liberals means for Europe

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Katerina Sviderska, PhD Candidate in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge

    Just months ago, Canada’s Conservatives were leading the polls, surfing the wave of radical right ideas and rhetoric sweeping across the globe. But with the election victory of Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, Canada now stands out as a liberal anchor in a fractured West.

    This election not only shapes Canada’s domestic trajectory, but also carries significant implications for its international partnerships amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.

    As some European countries and the United States head towards isolationism, authoritarianism and turn to the East — even flirting with Russia — Canada’s continued Liberal leadership reinforces its position as a key ally for the European Union. Carney’s centrist and pro-EU attitude provides stability and relief for Europeans.

    From defence to trade and climate, Canada and the EU share deep economic and strategic ties. With a Liberal government, these connections will strengthen, offering both sides what they need the most: a reliable, like-minded partner at a time of transatlantic unpredictability.

    What does Carney’s victory mean specifically for the Canada-EU relationship?

    Trade as a strategic anchor

    Carney’s election offers new momentum for Canada-EU collaboration. His “blue liberalism” brings Canada ideologically closer to Europe’s current leadership — from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist France to the Christian Democratic Union-led coalition in Germany — providing fertile ground for pragmatic co-operation.

    Trade remains the foundation of the Canada-EU relationship, and both sides should aim to build on it. At the heart of this partnership is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has increased EU-Canada trade by 65 per cent since 2017.

    European Council President António Costa has called the deal a success story providing clear proof “trade agreements are clearly better than trade tariffs.”

    As the U.S. speeds toward toward economic nationalism, CETA has become more than a commercial agreement — it’s a strategic anchor in the global liberal order. One of the Liberal government’s early priorities is likely to consolidate and strengthen CETA. In doing so, Canada can position itself as an ambitious partner, ready to seize new opportunities as European countries seek to reduce their reliance on the American market.

    Climate and energy: A balanced agenda

    Climate and energy, too, offer new opportunities for co-operation. Both Canada and the EU are navigating the tensions between pursuing ambitious decarbonization goals and managing economic and inflationary pressures. After scrapping Canada’s carbon tax on his first day in office, Carney has already hinted at a more pragmatic environmental stance.

    While pledging to maintain key climate policies — including the emissions cap on oil and gas — Carney’s government may recalibrate Canada’s approach to energy. This would mirror shifts among some European allies’ climate policies.

    This evolving transatlantic consensus — less about abandoning climate goals, more about making them economically viable — paves the way for closer co-operation based on a common goal: bolstering economic competitiveness while maintaining environmental credibility.

    Both Carney and the EU view the investment in new technologies as the path forward.

    As Europe accelerates its green agenda and implements new sustainability rules, only countries with strong environmental standards qualify as long-term partners. Canada, provided it stays the course on climate policies, is well-positioned to be a key partner in Europe’s green transition.

    Transatlantic defence co-operation

    Beyond trade and energy, defence co-operation between Canada and the EU is expected to surge. A key priority for the new Liberal government is to finally reach NATO’s benchmark of spending two per cent of gross domestic product on defence, a longstanding commitment that has eluded previous administrations.



    Read more:
    What does Donald Trump’s NATO posturing mean for Canada?

    This signal of rearmament reflects not only alignment with NATO expectations but also a broader understanding that liberal democracies must be prepared to defend themselves. Nowhere is this more pressing than in Ukraine, the epicentre of Europe’s geopolitical storm.

    Canada has been among the most reliable supporters of Ukraine since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, aligning itself with Europe’s most committed nations — France, Poland, the Baltics and, increasingly, Germany.

    But as threats evolve, the battlefield also extends beyond Ukraine’s frontlines. Hybrid attacks — cyber, disinformation campaigns and foreign interference in democratic processes — now wash up on all shores. Canada’s National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–26 identifies state-sponsored cyber operations as one of the most serious threats to democratic stability, particularly from Russia and China.



    Read more:
    Foreign interference threats in Canada’s federal election are both old and new

    In strengthening its defence collaboration, Ottawa is hoping to get a seat in the fight against autocracies. The question is no longer whether to engage, but how to lead in this era of layered and compounding threats coming from rivals like Russia and China — and now from the U.S., a historical Canadian ally.

    Under Carney’s leadership, Canada is likely to pursue a pragmatic and globally engaged liberalism definitively aligned with Europe. As Canada and the EU are both looking for reliable allies to weather the storm, this renewed western alliance could solidify around Ottawa and Brussels — anchored in shared democratic values and pragmatic leadership.

    Katerina Sviderska receives funding from Fonds de Recherche du Québec and the Gates Cambridge Foundation.

    Leandre Benoit receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. What Canada’s election of Mark Carney’s Liberals means for Europe – https://theconversation.com/what-canadas-election-of-mark-carneys-liberals-means-for-europe-254775

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The game change Canadian election: Mark Carney’s Liberals win a fourth consecutive election

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

    Poilievre’s messaging

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

    This shift, alongside Carney’s elimination of the carbon tax, left Poilievre on the back foot as his longstanding messaging on Trudeau and his “axe the tax” slogan became largely irrelevant.



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

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

    Election campaign polling and early results indicated steep losses for the NDP, with Leader Jagmeet Singh’s own seat in Burnaby, B.C., under threat. This could be due to voters on the left responding to calls to vote strategically to prevent Conservative victories in various ridings.

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

    Advance voting in a gendered election

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

    The role of young working-class men

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

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

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

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

    Electoral reform needed?

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

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

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

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

    – ref. The game change Canadian election: Mark Carney’s Liberals win a fourth consecutive election – https://theconversation.com/the-game-change-canadian-election-mark-carneys-liberals-win-a-fourth-consecutive-election-253721

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Canada can learn from China on effectively engaging with Africa

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Isaac Odoom, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Carleton University

    Canada’s recent launch of a new Africa Strategy comes at a moment of profound geopolitical change and growing shifts in global development co-operation.

    As the western-led order and development model faces increasing scrutiny, countries like China are expanding their reach in Africa by linking development co-operation with commercial and strategic interests.

    These approaches resonate with many African governments, while others raise concerns, prompting an important question: How well does Canada’s new strategy respond to these concerns?



    Read more:
    Canada’s Africa strategy is a landmark moment for Canada-Africa relations, but still needs work

    Urgent need to diversify

    Canada’s pivot toward deeper engagement with Africa is timely. With ongoing tariff threats from the United States and a tense relationship with China, the need to diversify economic partnerships has become urgent.

    Africa’s fast-growing population, expanding middle class and continent-wide integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offer real opportunities for commercial engagement.

    While historic, Canada’s new Africa Strategy would benefit from a clearer alignment between Africa’s economic prospects and Canada’s domestic economic challenges, such as labour shortages and trade diversification. Without a stronger economic dimension, Canada risks being perceived as all talk and little commitment.

    That said, Canada’s emphasis on “mutually beneficial partnerships” — echoing China’s language on Africa — is notable, especially as western donors pull back. However, without a coherent development focus, this principle may be viewed as transactional rather than strategic.

    The strategy provides a foundation to build from, but it enters a competitive arena. To build meaningful partnerships in Africa, Canada will need a more focused approach grounded in robust market research, sharper priorities and an informed understanding of Africa’s political and economic realities as well as its geopolitical context.

    As a researcher focused on Africa-China relations, I see important lessons Canada can draw from China’s engagement in Africa.

    Cautious Canada vs. confident China

    Over the past two decades, China has become Africa’s largest trading partner, with trade volumes reaching US$295 billion in 2024.

    Backed by state financing, Chinese firms have built roads, ports, railways, dams and telecom infrastructure across the continent. This presence is no accident: for the past 30 years, every Chinese foreign minister’s first trip abroad has been to Africa.

    Canada’s footprint, by contrast, remains modest. Canada’s merchandise trade with Africa was about $15 billion in 2024. Canada aspires to become a serious economic partner, but its commercial presence in Africa has been limited.

    Notably, while China is often criticized in western media, its image in Africa is more positive. Many African leaders and citizens see China as a pragmatic partner that delivers visible infrastructure and investment.

    China’s positioning as a fellow developing country also contrasts sharply with western models that often carry patronizing overtones. China’s readiness to finance large-scale projects in Africa with limited political strings attached has earned good will, even as concerns rightly persist about transparency, debt and governance.

    Emphasizing Canada’s differences

    Canada should take these dynamics seriously. The narrative of “countering China” in Africa, often promoted by western governments, is ineffective. It overlooks African agency, reduces the continent to a site of great power rivalry and fails to acknowledge that African governments are actively pursuing their choice of partners, instead of a single partner of choice.

    Rather than compete with China, Canada can be different. While Chinese infrastructure projects often align with African priorities, my own work on Chinese engagement in Ghana’s energy projects shows that these projects are often negotiated behind closed doors, with few accountability mechanisms and scant transparency in financing. These gaps create space for Canada to offer a distinct and credible alternative.

    Canada’s approach can be different, but it should be no less strategic. It may not match China in scale, but it can offer commercial partnerships rooted in transparency, accountability and collaboration with partners, including those from China.

    Many African governments and civil society entities are calling for exactly this kind of engagement, particularly as citizens demand greater scrutiny over foreign investment. By focusing on responsible business practices, labour standards, environmental safeguards and good governance, Canada can develop a values-based model of economic engagement.

    Despite this potential, Canada’s new Africa Strategy lacks financial commitment. Canada’s 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy was backed by a $2.3 billion envelope. The Africa Strategy’s success will ultimately depend on its ability to mobilize concrete resources and sustained engagement.

    The strategy rightly points to Africa’s economic potential, but stronger links to Canada’s domestic priorities, such as a workforce strategy, a trade road map and implementation tools, would enhance its impact.

    References to the AfCFTA are promising, but Canadian businesses need clearer guidance and support. Realizing the strategy’s goals will require measurable targets, dedicated programming and sustained investment.

    A different kind of engagement

    Canada’s past engagement in Africa has been rooted in diplomacy, development co-operation and peacekeeping. These remain valuable, but today’s African leaders are also seeking trade, investment and private-sector partnerships.

    To become a trusted economic partner, Canada should engage with purpose by introducing targeted financing tools — such as credit lines or investment guarantees — to help Canadian businesses manage risk and seize opportunities aligned with AfCFTA.



    Read more:
    African countries could unlock billions in local and global trade – what’s working and what’s not

    It should also focus on strategic sectors where it already has strengths, like clean energy, health innovation, fintech, agri-business and infrastructure.

    By investing in robust research and in dialogue with the African diaspora, business leaders and governance institutions, Canada strengthens commercial ties while prioritizing transparency, accountability and collaboration. Co-operation in innovation (for example, joint research on climate-smart agriculture or vaccines) could also yield benefits for both sides.

    In an increasing multipolar environment, Africa is not waiting for Canada. It’s assessing and comparing competing external partners. Canada’s ability to position itself as a viable alternative depends not on replicating China’s scale, but on seeing Africa as a true partner and offering mutual partnerships that appeal to Africans and Canadian alike.

    The new Africa Strategy sets an important tone for renewed engagement, but its success will depend on real investment and implementation, which so far lacks dedicated funding. Filling these gaps should be the next step, regardless of who wins Monday’s election.

    Isaac Odoom 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 Canada can learn from China on effectively engaging with Africa – https://theconversation.com/what-canada-can-learn-from-china-on-effectively-engaging-with-africa-252894

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Juggling dynamite? At 100 days in office, Donald Trump is no Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ronald W. Pruessen, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Toronto

    Watching United States President Donald Trump weave and chainsaw his way through the first 100 days of his second term in office, I’ve been reminded of what Anthony Eden, the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary in the 1930s and later its prime minister, once said about Franklin D. Roosevelt.

    FDR, Eden recalled in his memoirs, was “too like a conjurer, skilfully juggling balls of dynamite, whose nature he failed to understand.”

    The image fits the 47th president much better than the 32nd.

    The dynamite-wielding Trump

    Dynamite has certainly been exploding regularly since Trump took office in January. His actions include:



    Read more:
    How Project 2025 became the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term

    For non-MAGA enthusiasts, it is easy to surmise — similar to Eden’s remarks on FDR — that Trump does not understand the potential damage of the dynamite he is not just juggling, but hurling.

    A case might be made that some lobs align with Trump’s personal penchant for retribution, or that the chainsaw is being wielded to make room in the federal budget for new tax cuts for the one per cent.

    But such calculations disregard deeply rooted American values like respect for the rule of law and the separation of powers.

    Trump’s actions could suggest a lust for mayhem apparently aimed at dismantling a century of efforts to shape a government that serves global security while also meeting the economic, social and health care needs of American citizens, including safety net provisions for senior citizens, children, farmers, veterans and others.

    Threats today, damage tomorrow

    His apparent fondness for dynamite is already having negative consequences, with seemingly little grasp of the likelihood of worse to come: today, he’s upending the lives of civil servants; tomorrow’s disruptions will likely include an attack on the services provided by agencies like the Social Security Administration and disruption of the flow of funds to many poor school districts.

    Today, the U.S. is struggling with a measles outbreak. But the personal beliefs of Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a notorious vaccination and public health skeptic, doesn’t bode well for a fight against a rapidly evolving avian flu threat on the near horizon.

    Today’s stock and bond market volatility creates the possibility of a trade war catastrophe and damage to economic stability as the U.S. appears poised to disregard its longtime status as the world economy’s “safe haven.”

    The current tensions in what were once ironclad partnerships with allies that include Canada, the European Union and Ukraine — along with the whiplash reversal of American-Russian dynamics — are reminiscent of the global disruption in the 1930s that featured the Great Depression and the eruption of the Second World War.

    How FDR coped with explosions around him

    If Eden’s image of FDR as a dangerous juggler of dynamite might also apply to Trump, it fails to capture the essential attributes of the 32nd president’s White House career. Eden’s ego seems to have undercut his appraisal of FDR — compounded by his own failure to understand the historical developments that profoundly weakened the British Empire and brought his own career to an end.

    There’s no question dynamite was exploding in 1933, the start of FDR’s 12 years in the White House. But the Depression and its evolving consequences, not FDR’s personal impulses and misconceptions, created a tinderbox decade.

    One of Roosevelt’s great strengths, in fact, was his ability to recognize the acute dangers emanating from a fearful cortege of flaming fuses. Another was his success in turning insights into meaningful actions.

    Roosevelt knew — far better than his predecessor, Herbert Hoover — that the onset of the Depression would require dramatic actions and fundamental reforms.

    His New Deal expanded the government’s role in stimulating the economy (for example, the Public Works Administration), regulation (the Securities Exchange Commission), social welfare initiatives (the Social Security program) and infrastructure development (for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority).

    The Depression wasn’t fully eradicated — that didn’t happen until after war broke out — but the lives of millions of Americans still improved significantly.

    Of equal importance, FDR’s creative thinking and government transformations created building blocks for further post-war reforms, including Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society efforts three decades later.



    Read more:
    The Great Society: the forgotten reform movement

    Roosevelt also knew that the devastation of the Depression and the unparalleled destruction of the Second World War required a transformation of the global arena. He believed technology — air power especially — had created an integrated world. In his January 1943 State of the Union address, he said:

    “Wars grow in size, in death and destruction, and in the inevitability of engulfing all nations, in inverse ratio to the shrinking size of the world as a result of the conquest of the air.”

    Sharing responsibilities

    FDR believed the world he worked to create would be safer and more prosperous because multilateral organizations would encourage greater emphasis on shared resources and responsibilities. The United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank took shape during FDR’s presidency — as did long-term plans for decolonization and human rights initiatives.

    Roosevelt knew too — better than many of his White House successors — that the U.S. needed to share leadership responsibilities. He believed emphatically in multilateralism, recognizing the limits of American resources and power, and the pragmatism of compromising with the priorities of others, whether they were powerful states or colonial peoples.

    His “Four Policemen” approach to maintaining peace — comprising the U.S., the U.K., the Soviet Union and China — would sometimes create unpalatable situations. He was criticized harshly, for example, for naively opening the door to Soviet domination of eastern Europe via the Yalta agreement. Nonetheless, FDR focused on efforts he believed would avert another destructive cataclysm.

    FDR was an imperfect leader in various ways — in not appreciating, for example, how global leadership could result in arrogance. He did, however, understand the explosive domestic and international developments of the 20th century and sought constructive solutions to grave challenges.

    Trump, on the contrary, is seemingly prioritizing destruction over construction. Propelled by a “move fast and break things” mantra, there’s little evidence that he understands its pain nor the damaging consequences of his impulses.

    Ronald W. Pruessen has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. Juggling dynamite? At 100 days in office, Donald Trump is no Franklin D. Roosevelt – https://theconversation.com/juggling-dynamite-at-100-days-in-office-donald-trump-is-no-franklin-d-roosevelt-254773

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage − following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adam G. Klein, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Pace University

    President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stood before a captivated audience of conservative activists from the U.S. and laid out his vision for American politics.

    The Western media, he declared at a May 2022 special meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee in Budapest, are “the root of the problem.” The key to conservatives reclaiming power in the United States? “Have your own media.”

    Orbán spoke from experience, having systematically reshaped Hungary’s political landscape since 2010, largely by reining in the independent press and replacing it with a loyal media apparatus. His advice, though at odds with democratic values, was warmly embraced by his American admirers, including conservative journalists, podcasters and political leaders.

    Now, three years later, one particular political figure, President Donald Trump, appears to have taken Orbán’s words to heart, mimicking Orbán’s early actions and moving swiftly to dictate the terms of his own coverage.

    A protest by Hungarian civil society against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government on Oct. 23, 2012.
    Photo by Dagmar Gester/ullstein bild via Getty Images

    New terms for the press

    In his first 100 days, Trump asserted new control over the press, starting with those who cover him daily.

    In February 2025, his administration barred The Associated Press from the Oval Office for using “Gulf of Mexico” rather than adopting the president’s newly named “Gulf of America.”

    Soon after, Trump’s team stripped the White House Correspondents’ Association of its authority to decide which outlets are in the presidential press pool, a role journalists have held for over a century.

    Then came a sweeping executive order in mid-March to dismantle government-funded news agencies, including Voice of America, the international broadcasting service. That same day, Trump went to the Department of Justice for a televised address, where he declared some of his negative press coverage was not just unfair but “totally illegal.” The president accused select media outlets of operating in “total coordination” to undermine him.

    “These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative and it has to stop, it has to be illegal,” Trump told the Department of Justice staff, turning familiar grievances into what sounded like a call for action.

    Now, Trump has escalated those demands, calling on the Federal Communications Commission to punish CBS and revoke its license over a “60 Minutes” segment he didn’t like. He declared the network’s coverage “unlawful and illegal.”

    From sidelining reporters to seeking legal retribution, Trump’s actions reflect not a series of isolated moves but a coordinated effort at media overhaul – one aligned with his broader attempt to restructure national institutions.

    As a scholar who studies propaganda models and narrative control, I believe the likely source for this media overhaul playbook is Orbán.

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban waves as he walks onto the stage to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas on Aug. 4, 2022.
    AP Photo/LM Otero

    The Orbán model

    I’ve closely followed how Orbán consolidated control over the Hungarian press as prime minister, allowing him to project the illusion of media consensus and widespread support. His campaign began promptly after returning to power in 2010.

    With the backing of a new parliamentary majority, Orbán enacted a sweeping Media Act in 2011 that granted the state broad oversight powers. That meant a newly formed Media Council, staffed entirely by his ruling party, was given authority to fine news outlets for coverage they deemed “unbalanced or immoral.”

    This was not merely an effort to temper criticism; it was the opening move in a broader strategy to remake Hungarian media.

    The law drew sharp condemnation, most notably from journalists but also from the European Union. When Orbán later addressed the European Parliament, members protested by taping their mouths shut and holding signs that read “censored.”

    To his critics, Orbán claimed that Hungary’s “media regulation system” had “collapsed” and that it was his government’s duty to rebuild it. But for the press, this was no reconstruction.

    As one Hungarian journalist put it, “Orbán saw the media as a battlefield; occupied by enemy troops and crowded with territories for potential expansion.”

    Oligarchs take over media

    The real takeover came through a coordinated wave of media acquisitions.

    Like pieces on a chessboard, Orbán-friendly oligarchs scooped up major newspapers, TV channels and radio stations. His wealthy allies were systematic: They fired editorial teams, replaced critical voices with loyal ones and often triggered mass resignations from journalists unwilling to toe the party line.

    Many once-independent outlets were soon resurrected as pro-Orbán media.

    By 2018, the consolidation was complete.

    In a display of political choreography, nearly 500 privately owned media outlets were donated to a central holding company: KESMA – the Central European Press and Media Foundation. Run by Orbán’s allies, KESMA now dominates Hungary’s media landscape, delivering a uniform stream of pro-Orbán content, promoting what he calls his “illiberal” agenda.

    Orbán’s campaign offered a 21st-century model for media control – one rooted not in overt censorship but in narrative saturation. While some independent media remain, the vast chorus of pro-Orbán media now drowns out their dissent.

    It’s a model that has drawn admiration from right-wing figures around the world.

    American media personalities such as Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson have traveled to Budapest to meet with Orbán and study his playbook, while the Hungarian leader has become a star on the U.S. conservative circuit, speaking at Conservative Political Action Committee gatherings and forging ties with the MAGA movement and Trump.

    After joining him on the campaign trail last summer, Orbán boasted of his “deep involvement” in helping shape Trump’s upcoming agenda.

    Importing the playbook

    Reporter Brian Glenn from Real America’s Voice asks questions flattering to President Trump during an Oval Office press conference on Feb. 28, 2025.

    Looking back at the president’s first 100 days, it’s clear that Orbán’s tactics are now surfacing in Trump’s second term.

    Where Orbán passed a media law to penalize imbalanced reporting, Trump now calls certain coverage illegal, and his administration has begun investigations into at least one media outlet. He has also begun to sideline outlets that defy his agenda, as his press office continues denying access to wire services such as Reuters and Bloomberg.

    Where Orbán’s allies acquired and repurposed unfavorable media, Trump has found powerful media partners of his own, such as Elon Musk. Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter, now X, mirrors the strategy of Orbán’s billionaire allies, allowing the tech mogul to effectively transform the platform into a megaphone for Trump’s agenda.

    Finally, just as Orbán constructed a vast loyalist media network, Trump allies are expanding a parallel MAGA media universe designed to amplify and shield his message.

    That apparatus is now a fixture of the White House. As independent outlets such as AP and Reuters are shuffled out, a new crop of pro-Trump voices are ushered in. Among them: Steve Bannon’s War Room, Real America’s Voice and Lindell TV, founded by MyPillow CEO and Trump advocate Mike Lindell. These networks don’t just cover the administration − they celebrate it.

    Brian Glenn, a reporter with Real America’s Voice, was recently granted the first question in an Oval Office press event. He used it to praise Trump’s accomplishments and poll numbers: “All of your agenda that you ran on, you’re accomplishing that. You’ve got the support of the American people. … If you can comment on the latest Harvard poll, I’d appreciate that.”

    At another briefing, a Lindell TV correspondent asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt if she could share Trump’s fitness plan, remarking that he looked “healthier than ever,” and adding, “I’m sure everyone in this room can agree.”

    Agreement is precisely the point. By recasting the media in his image, Trump is building a press pool that will champion his message. It is Orbán’s illusion of consensus, and this is just the opening act.

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

    – ref. Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage − following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control – https://theconversation.com/trumps-first-100-days-show-him-dictating-the-terms-of-press-coverage-following-hungarian-strongman-viktor-orbans-playbook-for-media-control-254050

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –