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Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI Global: Philly’s Chinatown has a rich tradition of activism – the Sixers arena fight was just one of many to preserve the neighborhood

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Vivian Truong, Assistant Professor of History, Swarthmore College

    Save Chinatown protesters take to the streets on Sept. 7, 2024. Zachary Kreines, CC BY-NC-ND

    Visitors commonly view Philadelphia’s Chinatown as a place to eat Chinese food and appreciate Chinese culture. But for longtime members of the Chinatown community, the neighborhood – home to over over 5,000 residents – is also defined by its tenacity and survival.

    Chinatown’s rich tradition of activism was on full display for the past two and half years, as residents and allies fiercely opposed the Philadelphia 76ers’ plans to build a basketball arena in the Market East neighborhood at the southern edge of Chinatown.

    A city-sponsored community impact study found that the arena could have resulted in the “loss of Chinatown’s core identity and regional significance.” It estimated that half of the neighborhood’s small businesses would have suffered due to increased congestion, potential rent increases and a new demographic less likely to patronize the area’s ethnic businesses.

    While the reason for the Sixers’ sudden decision to scrap the Market East arena plan remains unclear, the announcement in January 2025 came as a relief to Chinatown community members who felt they had averted yet another threat to their neighborhood’s existence.

    I’m a historian whose research focuses on Asian Americans, cities and social movements, and I’ve seen how urban residents take the existence of Chinatowns in major cities across the country – and even globally, from London to Havana, Cuba, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – for granted. Chinatowns continue to exist and thrive thanks to the residents and allies who fight for them.

    The fight over the Sixers arena was only the latest struggle in over 50 years of community organizing in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

    Friendship Gate, erected in the 1980s, serves as a symbolic entrance to Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
    Jumping Rocks/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    A refuge from xenophobia

    Like other American Chinatowns, Philadelphia’s formed during an era of virulent anti-Chinese racism. The neighborhood was established in the 1870s as a refuge for immigrants fleeing the American West, where white railroad workers and miners declared “The Chinese must go!”.

    Among the earliest businesses were a handful of laundries and a restaurant on the 900 block of Race Street, just north of Philadelphia’s main commercial district.

    In the era of anti-Chinese immigration laws from 1875 to 1943, Chinatowns were associated with opium-smoking, gambling and prostitution. Law enforcement targeted and stigmatized the Philadelphia neighborhood as a center of vice and danger. Meanwhile, city and private developers had their eyes on Chinatown as early as the 1920s.

    In 1923, the Bell Telephone Company purchased additional real estate along the corridor for its new high-rise building and parking lot, displacing Chinese residents. In the same decade, the city used eminent domain to demolish blocks of housing to make way for the Broad-Ridge Spur connecting the Eighth Street and Vine Street subway stations. A Philadelphia Evening Bulletin article in 1934 declared Chinatown to be “a thing of the past.”

    As the city began to accommodate more car owners, Race Street was remade as a major thoroughfare to the Delaware Valley Bridge, now called the Ben Franklin Bridge. In 1926, the year the bridge was completed, the Bulletin declared that “The Delaware River Bridge has come and Chinatown must go,” echoing the xenophobic slogans that drove Chinese workers out of western states half a century earlier.

    But Chinatown persisted.

    As restrictions on immigration from China loosened after World War II, more Chinese women immigrated to the U.S. The neighborhood transformed from a bachelor society of aging workers to a growing intergenerational community of families.

    ‘Save Chinatown’ movement forms

    During the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, Philadelphia’s Chinatown youth took inspiration from the Black Power and anti-war movements to fight for their community.

    In 1966, the city proposed the expansion of Vine Street into an expressway that would have demolished large swaths of Chinatown, including the beloved Holy Redeemer church and school. Established for Chinese American Catholics in 1941, Holy Redeemer hosted neighborhood meetings and recreational events as well as religious services. The Vine Street Expressway project was one instance of the national phenomenon of urban renewal, which aimed to clear and redevelop areas designated as blighted.

    The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation nonprofit worked with Yellow Seeds, a group of radical Asian American youth who opposed U.S. racism and imperialism, and other Chinatown community members to fight construction of the expressway.

    These groups comprised the 1970s Save Chinatown movement. They held numerous protests, made frequent media appearances and used the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act to craft their strategy. They demanded an environmental impact statement, which, when issued in 1983, recommended a much smaller expressway than originally designed. Holy Redeemer was saved. The final plans also scrapped two off-ramps that would have cut through the neighborhood. Construction on the expressway was completed in 1991.

    Resisting a prison, baseball stadium and casino

    The Save Chinatown movement continued through the decades as community members successfully fought the construction of a federal prison in 1993, a baseball stadium in 2000 and a casino in 2008 – all proposed for sites in or bordering Chinatown.

    “The future of Chinatown is going to be a huge battle,” activist Debbie Wei stated in a 2002 documentary released after the conclusion of the baseball stadium fight a few years earlier. “We’re going to fight it, and my children are probably going to have to fight it as well.”

    ‘Look Forward and Carry on the Past: Stories from Philadelphia’s Chinatown’ (2002). Debbie Wei’s reflections on the future of Chinatown begin at 25:28.

    Her words were prescient. Her daughter Kaia Chau emerged as a key leader of the campaign against the Sixers arena 20 years later.

    Chau co-founded Students for the Preservation of Chinatown with fellow student leader Taryn Flaherty. The group organized teach-ins, galvanized Philadelphia-area students to join protests, and highlighted arena developers’ ties to local universities, including the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. By focusing on the developers, students made connections between the arena proposal and the gentrification of West Philadelphia, including the demolition of the University City Townhomes, an affordable housing complex whose residents were mostly Black.

    The movement against the Sixers arena became part of a multiracial, citywide fight against displacement. As Rev. Gregory Holston of Black Philly 4 Chinatown, part of the Save Chinatown coalition, put it: “In North Philadelphia, in West Philadelphia, in South Philadelphia, the same process is happening over and over and over again, where people are pushing and displacing people of color out of this city.”

    Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood celebrates the Lunar New Year in 2024, the Year of the Dragon.
    Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images

    Thriving intergenerational community

    Activists have also created new housing, educational and arts institutions to keep Chinatown a family-friendly neighborhood.

    The location where the prison was planned in 1993 is now Hing Wah Yuen, a 51-unit mixed-income affordable housing complex developed by the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation – the same organization that led the fight against the Vine Street Expressway in the 1970s.

    After the plans for the baseball stadium were scrapped in 2000, the grassroots Chinatown-based organization Asian Americans United partnered with the arts and culture organization Philadelphia Folklore Project to found the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures School in 2005.

    The K-8 school, located in the footprint of the proposed stadium, teaches Mandarin and emphasizes art and music classes that reflect students’ cultural background.

    More recently, recognizing the need for more “third places” for youth beyond home and school, student leaders Chau and Flaherty launched the Ginger Arts Center in 2024. The organization provides a recreational space and arts programs for young people in Chinatown.

    The community institutions that have sprung up in the wake of defeated development projects illustrate how Chinatown is not a thing of the past, nor is it solely a food and culture destination to be consumed.

    Rather, Chinatown is a thriving community that has long fought to survive, reinvent itself and determine its own future – one that carries the legacy of previous generations of resistance.

    Read more of our stories about Philadelphia.

    Vivian Truong 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. Philly’s Chinatown has a rich tradition of activism – the Sixers arena fight was just one of many to preserve the neighborhood – https://theconversation.com/phillys-chinatown-has-a-rich-tradition-of-activism-the-sixers-arena-fight-was-just-one-of-many-to-preserve-the-neighborhood-247549

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Firing civil servants and dismantling government departments is how aspiring strongmen consolidate personal power – lessons from around the globe

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Erica Frantz, Associate Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University

    A leader bent on expanding his own power would see the government’s bureaucracy as a key target. Andry Djumantara – iStock/Getty Images Plus

    With the recent confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – two of the most controversial of President Donald Trump’s high-level administration nominees – the president’s attempt to remake government as a home for political loyalists continues.

    Soon after coming to office for a second term, Trump aggressively sought to overhaul Washington and bring the federal government in line with his political agenda. He is spearheading an effort to purge the government’s ranks of people he perceived as his opponents and slash the size of long-standing bureaucratic agencies – in some instances dismantling them entirely.

    At the helm of much of this is businessman Elon Musk, who is not only the world’s richest man but also the largest donor of the 2024 election and the owner of multiple businesses that benefit from lucrative government contracts.

    Musk – and a small cohort of young engineers loyal to him but with little experience in government – descended on Washington, announced their control over multiple government agencies, fired career civil servants, and even strong-armed access to government payment systems at the Treasury Department, where the inspector general had just been sacked.

    This unprecedented sequence of events in the U.S. has left many observers in a daze, struggling to make sense of the dramatic reshaping of the bureaucracy under way.

    Yet, as researchers on authoritarian politics, it is no surprise to us that a leader bent on expanding his own power, such as Trump, would see the bureaucracy as a key target. Here’s why.

    Elon Musk, standing next to President Donald Trump, explains his theory concerning government bureaucracy.

    Dismantle democracy from within

    A well-functioning bureaucracy is an organization of highly qualified civil servants who follow established rules to prevent abuses of power. Bureaucracies, in this way, are an important part of democracy that constrain executive behavior.

    For this reason, aspiring strongmen are especially likely to go after them. Whether by shuffling the personnel of agencies, creating new ones, or limiting their capacity for oversight, a common tactic among power-hungry leaders is establishing control over the government’s bureaucracy. Following a failed coup attempt in 2016, for example, Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdoğan fired or detained as many as 100,000 government workers.

    In the short term, greater executive control over the bureaucracy gives these leaders a valuable tool for rewarding their elite supporters, especially as diminished government oversight increases opportunities for corruption and the dispersion of rewards to such insiders. Erdoğan, for example, by 2017 had worked to fill lower-level bureaucratic positions with loyalists of his party, the AKP, to ensure the party’s influence over corruption investigations.

    In the long term, this hollowing out and reshaping of the bureaucracy is part of a broader plan in which aspiring autocrats usurp control over all institutions that can constrain them, such as the legislature and the courts. As we document in our book, “The Origins of Elected Strongmen,” attacks on the bureaucracy constitute a significant step in a larger process in which elected leaders dismantle democracy from within.

    Take control of bureaucracy

    The seemingly bizarre series of events that have transpired in Washington since Trump came to power are highly consistent with other countries where democracy has been dismantled.

    Take Benin, for example. Its leader, Patrice Talon – one of the wealthiest people in Africa – came to power in democratic elections in 2016.

    Soon after taking control, Talon created new agencies housed in the executive office and defunded existing ones, as a means of skirting bureaucratic constraints to his rule. The central affairs of the state were in the hands of an informal cabinet, initially led by Olivier Boko, a wealthy businessman considered to be Talon’s right-hand man despite not having any official position in government.

    Talon and his inner circle used this control over the state to enrich themselves, turning the country into what one journalist referred to as “a company in the hands of Talon and his very close clique.”

    Consolidating control over the bureaucracy was just one step in a larger process of turning Benin into an autocratic state. Talon eventually amassed greater power and influence over key state institutions, such as the judiciary, and intervened in the electoral process to ensure his continued rule. By 2021, Benin could no longer be considered a democracy.

    Purge civil service

    A similar dynamic occurred in Hungary. After governing relatively conventionally for one term, Prime Minister Viktor Orban was defeated in elections in 2002. He blamed that outcome on unfriendly media and never accepted the results as legitimate.

    Orban returned to office in 2010, bent on retribution.

    Orban ordered mass firings of civil servants and put allies of his party, Fidesz, in crucial roles. He also used the dismantling of bureaucratic constraints to pad the pockets of the elites whose support he needed to maintain power.

    As a Hungarian former politician wrote in 2016, “While the mafia state derails the bureaucratic administration, it organizes, monopolizes the channels of corruption and keeps them in order.”

    Likewise in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez had his cronies draw up a blacklist of civil servants to be purged for signing a petition in support of a referendum to determine whether Chávez should be recalled from office in 2004; government employees who signed were subsequently fired from their jobs.

    More than a decade later, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s current leader, would conduct his own purge of civil servants after they signed a petition to hold another recall referendum. After multiple rounds of government and military purges, Maduro was able to overturn an election he lost and jail his opponents, knowing full well the judges and generals would follow his orders.

    Benin’s leader, Patrice Talon, consolidated control over the bureaucracy as part of a larger process of turning the country into an autocratic state.
    Yanick Folly/AFP via Getty Images

    Foster culture of secrecy and suspicion

    Orban and Chavez, like Talon, were democratically elected but went on to undermine democracy.

    In environments where loyalty to the leader is prioritized over all else, and purges can happen at a moment’s notice, few people are willing to speak up about abuses of power or stand in the way of a power grab.

    Fostering a culture of secrecy and mutual suspicion among government officials is intentional and serves the leader’s interests.

    As a World Bank report highlighted in 1983, in President Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, the bureaucracy had been “privatized by the ruling clique,” creating a climate in which “fear and repression … prevented any serious threat from dissenting groups.”

    When leaders gain full power over the bureaucracy, they use it to reward and punish ordinary citizens as well. This was a tried-and-true tactic under the PRI’s rule in Mexico for much of the 20th century, where citizens who supported the PRI were more likely to receive government benefits.

    In short, when aspiring autocrats come to power, career bureaucrats are a common target, often replaced by unqualified loyalists who would never be hired for the position based on merit. Recent events in the U.S., as unprecedented as they may seem, are precisely what we would expect with the return of Trump, a would-be autocrat, to power.

    Andrea Kendall-Taylor is affiliated with the Center for New American Security.

    Joe Wright has received funding from the Charles Koch Foundation.

    Erica Frantz 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. Firing civil servants and dismantling government departments is how aspiring strongmen consolidate personal power – lessons from around the globe – https://theconversation.com/firing-civil-servants-and-dismantling-government-departments-is-how-aspiring-strongmen-consolidate-personal-power-lessons-from-around-the-globe-249089

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Tatyana Golikova presented the national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs

    February 18, 2025

    Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs

    February 18, 2025

    Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs

    February 18, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    Tatyana Golikova presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs

    Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova and representatives of the federal executive authorities presented the new national project “Personnel” to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs. Tatyana Golikova and Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov spoke about the prerequisites for the formation, main goals and directions of the national project. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and the Social Fund of Russia also took part in the presentation.

    As Tatyana Golikova noted, in his Address to the Federal Assembly in February last year, the President named Russia’s entry into the world’s four largest economies by 2030 as one of the country’s development priorities. And one of the most important tasks associated with this is providing the economy with personnel.

    The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that currently there are 1.5 million vacancies available on the Rabota Rossii portal in the country, a third of which (471 thousand) are blue-collar jobs. At the same time, the unemployment rate at the end of 2024 did not exceed 2.3%. According to preliminary estimates, up to 3.1 million workers need to be additionally attracted to the economy by 2030 compared to 2022 as a basis. “This means that we need to additionally involve about 800 thousand people in the economy by 2030. But that’s not all, because during the same period, based on demographic trends that traditionally occur in the labor market every year, which we did not notice during the period of calm economic development, we will have to replace another 10.1 million people due to retirement. That is, the total estimate of both replacement and involvement in the economy today is 10.9 million people,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.

    In the next five years, about 6.7 million graduates from universities and colleges will enter the labor market, and our task is to provide them with qualified advanced professional training in accordance with the labor market forecast. “On the one hand, this is our golden resource, and on the other hand, we must very clearly understand that the young people entering the labor market meet the needs of the labor market. This is the most difficult task, because in a number of industries and professions there is a discrepancy with the needs of the labor market. We see that the need for qualified labor today makes up 70% of the total need, the rest are specialists in higher education,” noted Tatyana Golikova.

    The established trends served as prerequisites for the development of a new interdepartmental national project “Personnel”.

    “Over 116 billion rubles will be allocated for the implementation of the national project in the next six years, of which over 113 billion rubles will come from the federal budget. We plan that as a result, a new model for managing the country’s personnel supply will be created, which will allow us to increase the rate of reduction of the personnel deficit by 2030 by increasing employment by 3.4%,” said Tatyana Golikova.

    The national project includes four federal projects: “Labour Market Management”, “Education for the Labour Market”, “Active Measures to Promote Employment”, and “The Working Person”.

    The first is aimed at managing the labor market. It is planned to create mechanisms and tools for effective involvement in employment. The average time of employment for citizens who applied to employment centers in search of suitable work will be reduced by 25%. This will be facilitated by the modernization of more than 1.5 thousand employment centers, the creation of new models of their work based on the annual updating of the forecast of the need of economic sectors for specialists for a five-year period, the development of services of the unified digital platform “Work in Russia”.

    The second federal project is aimed at creating a system for training personnel for priority sectors of the economy based on the forecast of demand. Other national projects are also aimed at training personnel, for example, “Youth and Children”, within the framework of which the “Professionality” project is being implemented.

    Within the framework of the national project “Personnel”, it is planned to create 298 career centers based at universities, and a routing of employment for graduates of both secondary and higher education will be introduced.

    The third federal project is aimed at creating an effective system of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel for priority sectors of the economy based on the forecast of demand for them. In parallel, issues related to providing opportunities for citizens experiencing difficulties in finding work will be resolved. Thus, the share of equipped workplaces for which people with disabilities are employed will be increased.

    The fourth federal project is a continuation of the policy of increasing the prestige of blue-collar jobs.

    Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov emphasized that, based on the tasks set by the head of state, the main goal of the national project “Personnel” is to meet the economy’s need for personnel, primarily through our internal reserves. The main reserves of the labor market: increasing labor productivity; increasing the level of youth employment; increasing the employment of citizens with disabilities; involving citizens caring for loved ones in the economy; maintaining employment of workers with family responsibilities.

    One of the most important activities of the national project is the preparation of an annual five-year forecast of personnel needs and its linking with the target figures for admission.

    “The President set the task of calculating how many and what kind of specialists, in which regions we will need in order to ensure national development goals, technological leadership projects. We have formed a forecast of personnel needs for a five-year period. It took into account the forecast of socio-economic development, target economic indicators, projects included in strategic planning documents, demographic trends, and the rate of growth of labor productivity,” said Anton Kotyakov.

    Not only the new demand that arises due to the growth of industries was analyzed, but also the so-called replacement demand related to the annual retirement of workers. In addition, in order to break down the structure of demand in detail by skill levels and specialties, an all-Russian survey of employers was conducted, in which 260 thousand companies with 22 million employees took part. In preparing the forecast, experts processed 3 million unique job titles.

    “As a result of this large-scale and painstaking work, we have received for the first time a detailed forecast in the industry, regional and professional-qualification contexts. The forecast will be calculated annually and taken into account when forming the control figures for admission. Considering that the adaptation of educational processes to the needs of the economy does not happen at once, we understand that a longer forecasting corridor is needed. Therefore, from April 1, an all-Russian survey of employers on the prospective need of the economy for personnel will start for the next forecast. It is planned to calculate it for seven years at once – until 2032,” said Anton Kotyakov.

    In conclusion, Tatyana Golikova and representatives of the federal executive authorities answered questions from deputies regarding the national project “Personnel”.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Flagship North Paddington Community Hub to launch this Spring | Westminster City Council

    Source: City of Westminster

    Westminster Council’s flagship Community Hub will launch in North Paddington in March. The new facility at Ernest Harris House will bring services and support into the heart of the local community.

    Community Hubs are a central part of the council’s commitment to building a Fairer Westminster, by making it easier for residents to access activities and support in their area. They act as a single front door where residents can get advice on housing, finances, employment & benefits, and IT literacy. The council launched two mini-hubs at Victoria Library and Charing Cross Library last year.

    The Exchange at Ernest Harriss House will be Westminster’s first full Community Hub and will provide local residents with access to a wide range of activities, services, and support, tailored to the needs of the community. Operated by the trusted North Paddington Foodbank, an established local charity with a strong track record of supporting the community, The Exchange will collaborate with a range of partners to ensure the hub meets the diverse needs of its users.

    Proposed activities available at this centre include coffee mornings, lunch clubs, health and wellbeing activities for older people, income, housing and employment advice, homework clubs, baking and cooking workshops, recovery group sessions, arts and crafts, community health groups and advice services.

    This initiative represents the culmination of 18 months of collaboration between the council, local residents, and partners. Community members have been instrumental in co-designing the hub, influencing everything from its design and materials to the activities on offer and even the selection of the operator. The co-design process reflects the Council’s commitment to working differently under the Fairer Westminster plan, placing community voices at the heart of decision-making.

    Councillor Cara Sanquest, Cabinet Member for Communities, said:

    “I’m really pleased that Westminster City Council is opening a brand new Community Hub in the heart of North Paddington. This new public space will provide a place for local people in some of our most deprived wards to speak to council staff face to face, and to access support from the foodbank, as well as an exciting programme of cultural and social activities and support.

    I’m proud that this new hub has been co-designed with local residents. We spoke with over 400 residents to find out they would like at the community hub, and I’m excited that we have been able to give local people real decision making power to shape the services and support in their local area.”

    Thomas Delap, Chief Executive, North Paddington Foodbank, said:

    “The opening of The Exchange at Ernest Harriss House is a major step in tackling poverty, reducing health inequalities, and creating a truly welcoming space for everyone in the community. At NPFB, we’re proud to be leading this initiative—offering not just vital support, but opportunities for people to try something new or simply connect with friends over coffee. The hub will be a place where residents can access the help they need, engage in a rich cultural programme, and build lasting relationships—a true celebration of our diverse community.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Multilateralism: What is it, and why does it matter?

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    UN Affairs

    Multilateralism is a term frequently used at the United Nations, but it’s not a concept that is only relevant to the corridors and conference rooms where international diplomacy takes place.

    Beyond the UN, it affects people’s daily lives in many ways. It helps reduce conflicts, grow our economies, and allows us to travel safely around the world. It’s also crucial for tackling big global problems like climate change and unregulated artificial intelligence.

    What does “multilateral” actually mean?  

    Originally, “multilateral” was a geometry term meaning “many-sided.”

    Now, it describes international politics and diplomacy, where many countries with different views and goals work together.

    The United Nations system is the principal multilateral forum where countries come together to solve global problems. They hold conferences, summits, and meetings to address important issues.

    UN Photo/Loey Felipe

    The world comes together to debate issues at the UN General Assembly in New York.

    Cooperation, Compromise, and Coordination  

    In international affairs, countries work together (cooperation), make deals (compromise), and organize their efforts (coordination) to solve problems that one country alone couldn’t handle.

    These three “Cs” help build trust and settle disputes peacefully.

    Making the modern world possible  

    Imagine if every country developed its own system for phone calls, airlines, shipping or mail developed nationally – and did not coordinate with others. Global travel, communication, and trade would be a mess. Thanks to multilateralism, we have international systems that make these things possible.

    The fact that we have global standards for a range of our daily activities from health to postal systems to travel is down to multilateralism, and the creation of a series of multilateral organizations, many of which were established in the 19th Century, and have now become part of the UN System.

    Two multilateral organizations that pre-date the UN are:

    International Telecommunications Union (ITU): Started in 1865 to standardize telegraph networks. Now, it helps with governance for radio frequencies, satellites, and the internet.

    International Labour Organization (ILO): Founded in 1919 to promote workers’ rights, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues.

    © Unsplash/Brunno Tozzo

    Multilateralism enables international coordination across sectors, including communication.

    Making multilateral policies  

    Since 1945, the UN has helped countries work together and create important agreements.

    The central policy-making arm of the Organization is the General Assembly, a unique forum for multilateral discussions of international issues.

    Each of the 193 Member States of the United Nations has an equal vote, no matter the size of their economy, population, or military might: Monaco’s vote carries the same weight as China’s.

    Achievements of the UN  

    Another feature of multilateralism is standard-setting. The General Assembly has this normative role and has created many international laws and treaties on disarmament, human rights, and environmental protection.

    One of its greatest accomplishments is the drafting and adoption of the groundbreaking Universal Declaration of Human Rights which paved the way for a comprehensive body of human rights law.  

    Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, it was proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1948.

    It set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and has inspired the constitutions of many newly independent States and new democracies.

    UN Photo

    Young children read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at a playground. (Archive)

    The Cold War  

    During the Cold War (late 1940s to early 1990s), the UN played a key role in peacekeeping and arms control.

    Despite the threat of nuclear war, a third world war was avoided partly because of the UN providing a platform for discussion and decision-making.

    The UN today  

    Some 80 years later, the United Nations is still the world’s primary multilateral organization, harmonizing and coordinating international action in fields ranging from peacekeeping to economic development to trade.

    Millions of lives have been saved thanks to the humanitarian assistance provided and coordinated by the United Nations, bringing food, health and shelter to conflict and disaster zones.

    The multilateral framework has expanded beyond countries to include representatives of civil society, youth and business, among others.

    © UNRWA

    UN staff support a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza.

    What’s next?

    Member States often struggle to cope effectively with today’s global threats and challenges, from devastating civil wars and cross-border conflicts to growing economic inequality between and within countries, and the existential threats of unregulated artificial intelligence and climate change.

    To make sure that the UN remains fit for purpose as the world’s pre-eminent forum for multilateralism in the decades to come, in 2020 Member States invited the Secretary-General, António Guterres, to develop a vision for stronger global governance, for present and future generations.

    Policy reforms in areas from peacekeeping to the international financial architecture, education and youth engagement in policymaking were encapsulated in Our Common Agenda, which covered recommendations for an upgraded UN which in turn fed into the landmark Pact for the Future, which was adopted by world leaders at the Summit for the Future meeting at the United Nations in New York in September 2024.

    Call to action by the UN chief

    In his first year as Secretary-General, António Guterres said having laws and conventions are not enough.

    He urged: “We need stronger commitment to a rules-based order, with the United Nations at its centre, with the different institutions and treaties that bring the Charter to life.”

    He called for networked multilateralism – with other international and regional organizations – and an inclusive multilateralism that would withstand the tests and threats of today and tomorrow.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: Locus Technologies Scores in Top 3 out of 200+ Software Companies

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Locus Technologies, the sustainability and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) compliance software leader, today announced that its CSRD and ESG reporting software was a top performer in the “Smart Innovators: ESG & Sustainability Reporting and Data Management Software (2025)” report published by Verdantix. The companies featured in the analysis were evaluated for their maturity in 10 key functional categories. Locus CSRD and ESG software was acknowledged for its “market-leading functionality, with differentiated offering” or “strong functionality” in all categories, resulting in the third highest performance overall.

    Of the 200+ software companies originally considered for the report, only 38 met the baseline criteria, including the ability to deliver across E, S and G metrics and to support large enterprises with at least $1 billion in revenue.

    “As a small company doing big things under the radar every day, we are pleased to be acknowledged by Verdantix for our accomplishments in the ESG software space,” said Neno Duplan, founder and CEO of Locus Technologies. “Drawing upon nearly 30 years of smart innovation, Locus has become the only rated company that also leads in the adjacent markets for EHS compliance, water quality and mass balance, radionuclides compliance, clean construction, and refrigerant management – which enables us to deliver a single, integrated platform for all types of environmental data and compliance activities: from sampling to sustainability.”

    This recognition highlights Locus’s critical role in helping organizations navigate an ever-evolving global regulatory landscape. The unified Locus Platform has been adopted by large and diverse organizations like Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Chevron to seamlessly manage, report on, and succeed in their global EHS compliance, ESG, and sustainability initiatives.

    The Verdantix report informs enterprise software purchasing decisions for ESG and evaluates vendors on product maturity in key areas like data collection and verification, double materiality, reporting, and workflows.

    To learn more about Locus CSRD and ESG software and recent implementations in the US and abroad, please visit www.locustec.com.

    About Locus Technologies
    Locus Technologies, the global environmental, social, governance (ESG), sustainability, and EHS compliance software leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to be credible with ESG reporting. From 1997, Locus pioneered enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) for EHS compliance, water management, and ESG credible reporting. Locus apps and software solutions improve business performance by strengthening risk management and EHS for organizations across industries and government agencies. Organizations ranging from medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises, such as Sempra, Corteva, Chevron, DuPont, Chemours, San Jose Water Company, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Port of Seattle, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, have selected Locus. Locus is headquartered in Mountain View, California. For further information regarding Locus and its commitment to excellence in SaaS solutions, please visit https://www.locustec.com or email info@locustec.com.

    Media Contact:
    Brenda Mahedy
    Locus Technologies
    media@locustechnologies.net

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: 3D Systems Transforming Dental Lab Efficiency with Integrated Digital Dentistry Solutions

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Company to showcase market-leading solutions portfolio at LMT Lab Day 2025
    • Will preview NextDent® 300 MultiJet 3D printer designed to rapidly produce multi-material, monolithic dentures
    • Plans include solutions for nightguards and direct-printed aligners in near future, bolstering portfolio to address straightening, protection, repair, replacement of teeth
    • Comprehensive solutions portfolio for dental laboratories and practitioners intended to cement 3D Systems’ leadership in global digital dental industry — a market estimated to exceed $14 billion by 2032

    ROCK HILL, S.C., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) revealed several new innovations it intends to showcase at LMT Lab Day 2025 including the NextDent® Jetted Denture Solution for multi-material monolithic dentures, as well as previews of its solutions for night guards and direct printed aligners. 3D Systems has established itself as a leader in digital dentistry – revolutionizing the industry with the broadest portfolio of integrated solutions that are helping dental laboratories and clinics more efficiently deliver patient-specific devices. The addition of solutions to address applications for dentures, and in the future night guards and direct-printed aligners, further strengthens the Company’s innovative position in the industry.

    Foundational to 3D Systems’ multi-material, monolithic jetted denture solution the Company introduced at LMT Lab Day 2024, 3D Systems is pleased to debut the NextDent® 300 MultiJet 3D printer. This unique printer facilitates rapid production of patient-specific dentures that are fully cured and safe to handle without the need for additional post-curing steps. To complement the NextDent 300, 3D Systems’ materials scientists developed NextDent® Jet Teeth and NextDent® Jet Base — the former uniquely formulated to mimic tooth rigidity and aesthetics, and the latter to absorb impact. When these materials are used as part of 3D Systems’ FDA-cleared complete workflow solution comprising materials, jetted 3D printing technology, software, and services, high-volume dental laboratories can deliver dentures with improved performance and aesthetics, resulting in a superior patient experience. The speed of 3D Systems’ jetting technology combined with monolithic denture printing accelerates total production rates — enabling a full build of 15 arches in as little as nine hours — significantly reducing time to completion resulting in expedited delivery to the prosthodontist and patient. 3D Systems will be taking pre-orders for its NextDent Jetted Denture solution at Lab Day and anticipates general availability early in the third quarter of 2025.

    With the introduction of the NextDent 300 for multi-material printing, 3D Systems is looking to the future with the next application of this technology for night guards. Night guards are a rapidly growing market segment driven by the need to prevent damage to teeth from night grinding, an affliction affecting millions of people around the world. Night guards are also increasingly used by physicians for the treatment of sleep apnea and related disorders. The Company expects night guards to become an important element of its dental technology portfolio in late 2025.

    Finally, with the exceptional legacy 3D Systems has established for itself as a key supplier of 3D printing technology to the clear aligner industry, its technology today enables the manufacture of roughly one million patient-specific clear aligners daily across this rapidly growing market. The Company believes this work provides a strong foundation upon which to launch the next phase of significant expansion in the dental market, which will include novel technology for the direct printing of clear aligner products. 3D Systems anticipates availability of this solution in 2026.

    “3D Systems has been a pioneer in digital dentistry for years, establishing itself as an industry leader,” said Dr. Jeffrey Graves, president & CEO, 3D Systems. “Additive manufacturing is poised for widespread adoption across all dental applications — to straighten, protect, repair and replace teeth — and we’re perfectly positioned to capitalize on this growth. Our decades of experience developing specialized dental materials and 3D printing technology along with our deep applications expertise will allow us to bring a full spectrum of high-volume production solutions to market in the coming years. We’re committed to this expansion and are working closely with key players in every dental product category to accelerate the availability of these advancements.”

    According to Vantage Market Research, the global dental 3D printing market is estimated to be valued at $14.6 billion by 2032. With decades of experience in the dental industry, 3D Systems has been instrumental in catalyzing the adoption of 3D printing to produce patient-specific dental devices. The Company currently boasts the largest portfolio of dental 3D printing materials to address more than 30 applications and empowers dental facilities to manufacture dental appliances with heightened efficiency while minimizing material waste. This translates to accelerated production timelines, resulting in streamlined experiences for more than one million patients served each day.

    3D Systems will showcase its digital dentistry portfolio designed to address a breadth of dental applications for orthodontics, prosthodontics, and implantology such as the production of trays, models, surgical guides, dentures, orthodontic splints, retainers, crowns, and bridges at LMT Lab Day (booth A-43/B-42, East Exhibit Hall), to be held February 20-22, 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago (Illinois). Additionally, the Company will highlight how it has validated the NextDent materials portfolio to perform across a wide selection of the industry’s most trusted 3D printers. Attendees are also invited to participate in 3D Systems’ seminars to be held in the Comiskey Room, West Tower, Bronze Level. For more information, please visit the 3D Systems website.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    Certain statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In many cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “estimates,” “intends,” “anticipates” or “plans” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based upon management’s beliefs, assumptions, and current expectations and may include comments as to the company’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company. The factors described under the headings “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in the company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other factors, could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected or predicted in forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not, and should not be relied upon as a guarantee of future performance or results, nor will they necessarily prove to be accurate indications of the times at which such performance or results will be achieved. The forward-looking statements included are made only as of the date of the statement. 3D Systems undertakes no obligation to update or review any forward-looking statements made by management or on its behalf, whether as a result of future developments, subsequent events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law.

    About 3D Systems
    More than 35 years ago, 3D Systems brought the innovation of 3D printing to the manufacturing industry. Today, as the leading additive manufacturing solutions partner, we bring innovation, performance, and reliability to every interaction – empowering our customers to create products and business models never before possible. Thanks to our unique offering of hardware, software, materials, and services, each application-specific solution is powered by the expertise of our application engineers who collaborate with customers to transform how they deliver their products and services. 3D Systems’ solutions address a variety of advanced applications in healthcare and industrial markets such as medical and dental, aerospace & defense, automotive, and durable goods. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.

    Investor Contact: investor.relations@3dsystems.com 
    Media Contact: press@3dsystems.com

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/09f04e9d-bb94-4270-ad01-0c13663e2c8e

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/15756820-4962-48ac-ab25-5237f33cdbb6

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Scottish Secretary reacts to Labour Market Stats

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Today’s figures show there are 77,000 workers in Scotland on zero-hours contracts, who will benefit from increased job security thanks to UK Government

    The latest Labour Market Statistics for Scotland are published today – see here and here.

    Commenting on the figures, Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray, said:

    Having access to well-paid work is a right that should be afforded to all. That’s why we’re creating jobs and opportunities through our Plan for Change and truly making work pay to help raise living standards right across the UK.

    We are putting more money in people’s pockets – around 200,000 workers in Scotland are expected to benefit from a direct pay rise due to the increases to the national minimum and national living wages from April. Year on year, wages after inflation have grown at the fastest rates in three years since last July – worth an extra £20 a week after inflation.

    Help to find work will be more tailored with our wide-reaching Jobcentre reforms and by encouraging investment, we’re boosting businesses of all sizes to deliver growth.

    Background

    Today’s figures show there are 77,000 workers in Scotland on zero-hours contracts, who will benefit from increased job security when the UK Government implements measures which seek to end exploitative zero hours contracts.

    These measures are:

    1. A right to guaranteed hours, where the number of hours offered reflects the hours worked by the worker during a reference period. This initial reference period will be specified in regulations and is anticipated to be 12 weeks.

    2. New rights to reasonable notice of shifts, with proportionate payment for shifts cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice.

    Today’s figures for January 2025 show that there were 2.46 million payrolled employees in Scotland, a decrease of -0.1 per cent (-2,000) compared with January 2024. This compares with the UK where the number of payrolled employees had an increase of 0.2% over the same period.

    Also in January 2025 the claimant count unemployment rate was 3.8 per cent, compared with 4.6 per cent for the UK as a whole.

    Quarterly figures are also published today and estimates from October to December 2024 indicate that over the quarter, the economic inactivity rate decreased while the employment and unemployment rates increased

    The estimated unemployment rate (16 and over) in Scotland was 3.8 per cent, up 0.5 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 4.4 per cent

    The estimated employment rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work) in Scotland was 74.2 per cent, up 0.9 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s employment rate was below the UK rate of 74.9 per cent

    The estimated economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years who were not working and not seeking or available to work) in Scotland was 22.8 per cent, down 1.2 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s economic inactivity rate was above the UK rate of 21.5 per cent.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: AppTech Payments Corp. Granted Extension for Continued Listing on Nasdaq

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CARLSBAD, Calif., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AppTech Payments Corp. (“AppTech or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: APCX) a pioneering Fintech company powering frictionless commerce, today announced that it received notice from the Nasdaq Hearings Advisor (the “Hearings Panel”) of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) that the Hearings Panel has granted the Company’s request to continue its listing on The Nasdaq Stock Market, subject to the Company meeting certain conditions, including filing on or before March 31, 2025, a public disclosure describing that the shareholders’ equity deficiency has been cured and the Company plans on including the detailed requested information in its 2023 10-K filing anticipated to be filed on or before March 15, 2025. The Company was also given until May 5, 2025, to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s $1 minimum bid price per share requirement. The Panel granted our request to attempt to increase the bid price of our stock organically, based in part on our declaration that we were already in compliance with the Equity Rule.

    AppTech’s CEO, Thomas DeRosa, extended gratitude to the Nasdaq Staff and the Nasdaq Hearings Panel for their continued support in maintaining the Company’s listing. Our team remains fully committed to meeting all Nasdaq Continued Listing Requirements, including the $1 minimum bid requirement, by May 5, 2025. The recent restructuring and efforts to streamline the company’s finances have positioned AppTech stronger than ever before. We are now on the verge of generating significant revenue across multiple verticals and are dedicated to driving growth and enhancing shareholder value.

    Additional information was provided in the Company’s Form 8-K, which was filed earlier today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
    Click the following link to view today’s 8-K: February 14, 2025 – Form 8-K

    About AppTech Payments Corp.

    AppTech Payments Corp. (NASDAQ: APCX) provides digital financial services for financial institutions, corporations, small and midsized enterprises (“SMEs”), and consumers through the Company’s scalable cloud-based platform architecture and infrastructure, coupled with our Specialty Payments development and delivery model. AppTech maintains exclusive licensing and partnership agreements in addition to a full suite of patented technology capabilities. For more information, please visit apptechcorp.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, forecast, intend, may, plan, project, predict, should, will” and similar expressions as they relate to AppTech are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in methods of marketing, delays in manufacturing or distribution, changes in customer order patterns, changes in customer offering mix, and various other factors beyond the Company’s control. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to any of these factors. AppTech is under no obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

    AppTech Payments Corp.
    760-707-5959
    info@apptechcorp.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Understanding of marine ecosystems is alarmingly low – here’s why ocean literacy matters

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Emma McKinley, Senior Research Fellow, Cardiff University

    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

    Understanding the relationship between humans and the ocean is crucial for making informed and effective decisions that will shape the future of our ocean. With this in mind, achieving lasting global progress in ocean protection requires prioritising ocean literacy.

    Right now, there is a disconnect between young peoples’ recognition of the ocean’s vital role in climate change, and the measures required to protect and restore it.

    My work as a marine social scientist focuses on ocean literacy. For me, knowledge is one of the most powerful tools to incite the action needed to save ocean health. The development of ocean literacy, through a range of education and engagement initiatives worldwide that embrace different types of knowledge, must be better prioritised.

    Only then can we equip young people with what they need to protect our ocean and to know who to hold accountable for its health.

    The ocean — stretching past the horizon, beneath the surface, and into the depths — remains largely out of sight, out of mind. But what happens within it affects us. Fostering stronger ocean literacy across society can help us mend this disconnect.

    Ocean literacy is defined as “having an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean”. While not a new concept, ocean literacy has gained increasing popularity in recent years, partly due to its inclusion as a potential mechanism for change within the UN Ocean Decade, launched in January 2021.

    Young people must be central in efforts to restore ocean literacy across society. It is essential for them to understand the challenges facing the ocean, recognise who is responsible for addressing them, and advocate for more action. Enhancing ocean literacy among this generation encourages a greater appreciation of the ocean’s critical role in our daily lives, now and in the future.

    According to a recent global study engaging 3,500 young people from across 35 countries, a large percentage of young people express concern about the ocean’s health.

    The non-peer-reviewed report has been published by Back to Blue,
    an initiative of the thinktank Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation, a grant-making organisation based in Asia.

    It highlights that 53% of young people believe that the ocean can protect us from climate change, yet 61% place a higher priority on protecting forests, tackling air pollution and freshwater scarcity. This shows that young people around the world have low ocean literacy.

    This echoes a growing number of national ocean literacy assessments. In 2022, a study of ocean literacy in Wales found that although 84% of people indicated that protecting the marine environment was important to them, 40% felt that their lifestyle had no impact on the sea at all. This highlights a concerning level of disconnect and lack of ocean literacy that could undermine our ability to tackle urgent challenges, including biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution.

    Swimming, sailing, even just building a sandcastle – the ocean benefits our physical and mental wellbeing. Curious about how a strong coastal connection helps drive marine conservation, scientists are diving in to investigate the power of blue health. This article is part of a series, Vitamin Sea, exploring how the ocean can be enhanced by our interaction with it.

    It’s all about accountability

    This is not a blame game. However, accountability ensures that governments, industries and people take responsibility for their role in ocean health, driving the transparency and action needed for meaningful education and engagement.

    The Back to Blue study found that while half (50%) of young people surveyed were concerned about ocean pollution, very few (17%) wanted increased responsibility from corporations and businesses.

    That study, which I advised on, also reveals that young people have high expectations of governments, conservation charities and local communities. Almost half (46%) said that governments should take stronger action to protect ocean health. Yet, expectations of the private sector – some of the biggest ocean polluters – were very low. Young people are misunderstanding where accountability for ocean pollution and the decline in ocean health lies.

    Green turtles have been listed as endangered since 1982.
    Shane Myers Photography/Shutterstock

    The lack of accountability slows progress and perpetuates a cycle of ocean neglect. But, engaging young people in ocean issues will empower them to demand more action and help develop effective solutions.

    In some places, ocean literacy is more embedded into students’ learning. More than 500 certified European blue schools are part of the Network of European Blue Schools. And the All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network has established ocean literacy projects and blue school ambassadors in schools in 16 countries, from Angola to the US.

    Education can help to engage young people. But only if education systems worldwide integrate ocean literacy from a young age and across all subject areas.

    By prioritising ocean literacy, we can empower young people to become informed stewards of the ocean, ensuring that they are not only aware of its vital role in our daily lives but also actively involved in changing the tide.

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

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Emma McKinley 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. Understanding of marine ecosystems is alarmingly low – here’s why ocean literacy matters – https://theconversation.com/understanding-of-marine-ecosystems-is-alarmingly-low-heres-why-ocean-literacy-matters-248724

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Oscar-nominated screenwriters attempt to craft authentic dialogue, dialects and accents

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Chris C. Palmer, Professor of English, Kennesaw State University

    Editors deployed AI to make the Hungarian dialogue in ‘The Brutalist’ sound more authentic. A24/TNS

    The 2025 slate of Oscar nominees recognizes many writers, directors and actors whose scripts and performances don’t necessarily reflect their own cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

    Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley, both white, co-wrote “Sing Sing,” a story about rehabilitation through art in a maximum security prison where the characters are almost entirely people of color.

    Meg LeFauve has now earned her second nomination for penning a script that gives voice the gamut of emotions surging through a young girl in “Inside Out 2.” She’s in her 50s.

    The director of “Conclave,” Edward Berger, its writer, Peter Straughan, and its lead actor, Ralph Fiennes, are all self-proclaimed lapsed Catholics. Yet they brought to life a political thriller set in the Vatican.

    “The Brutalist” was written entirely in English, but much of the film’s dialogue is in Hungarian, with two leads who are not native Hungarian speakers.

    Most screenwriters endeavor to craft characters outside their own backgrounds and experiences. But concerns about authentic language representation and cultural accuracy persist, and accusations of cultural appropriation and lazy research are commonplace.

    “Emilia Pérez,” for example, has been heavily criticized not only for unrealistic portrayals of gender transition but also for inauthentic depictions of Mexican culture and accents.

    The film’s director, Jacques Audiard, has even claimed his lack of knowledge of Spanish has been an artistic benefit. He says it gives him “a quality of detachment” to emphasize “emotion” rather than “focus too strongly on the accent, the punctuation.”

    His lack of interest in precise depictions of language and culture contrasts sharply with our recent research, which shows ample interest from practicing screenwriters in accurately representing dialects and accents in scripts.

    Wanting to get it right

    We surveyed over 50 current members of the Writers Guild of America, and they broadly told us that sensitivity to linguistic representation has increased since the 2010s.

    Several commented that there’s been more commitment to hiring writers who represent the characters’ voices and backgrounds. There’s also more “freedom to include diverse characters and worlds… but a commensurate emphasis on authenticity and a higher bar for what that means,” as one writer explained.

    “Authenticity” was consistently cited in our survey as a principal consideration when writing dialogue. Other concerns included scripts’ intelligibility, historical accuracy and believability.

    In most cases, screenwriters aspire to write dialogue that sounds authentic. But it’s not easy – and often requires collaboration to get it right. Writers noted how they’ll adjust their dialogue based on production needs, such as budgetary concerns, input from actors and directors, and feedback from dialect coaches and historical consultants.

    For example, spec scripts – or noncommissioned film scripts – are written before any casting or production decisions are made. The dialogue in these scripts will likely change once actors and other creatives are attached to the project.

    Recipes for capturing linguistic nuance

    In our study, we also reviewed screenwriting manuals published as far back as 1946.

    Manuals didn’t begin to raise explicit ethical concerns, such as the use of inaccurate linguistic stereotypes in dialogue, until the 1980s. For example, many older films, such as “Gone with the Wind,” often used phonetic spelling in their scripts, with features such as g-dropping – “quittin’” for “quitting” – to mark only the speech of lower-class or racially marginalized characters, despite the fact that all people, regardless of background, have accents.

    Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins look over a script on the set of the death row drama ‘Dead Man Walking,’ which was set in Louisiana.
    Demmie Todd/Fotos International via Getty Images

    Writing in heavy phonetics is generally discouraged in modern screenwriting.

    There are practical reasons for this. Scripts are read before they’re seen and therefore must first appeal to the not so general audience of executives who buy them. As one writer explained, “My script is targeted towards them.”

    Take “Trainspotting.” Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel about a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh was written with heavy phonetics to capture the characters’ Scottish dialect: “ah wouldnae git tae watch it.” But the screenplay uses lines without phonetics, such as, “I wouldn’t have bothered.”

    In this respect, there’s a notable difference in novels and their respective adaptations. One surveyed writer avoids dialectal markers and will “default to standard American English unless there is a reason not to.”

    That doesn’t mean the actors in “Trainspotting” should speak in an American English accent. Instead, screenwriters might simply indicate the use of language and dialect when describing the scene in a script or, as one surveyed screenwriter explained, “make a note in the parenthetical that ‘Brynn speaks with a heavy West Virginia accent’” to flag the work that “the actor, dialogue coach, and writer will need to do together.”

    This method is employed in “The Brutalist.” The film is partly in Hungarian, but writer and director Brady Corbet and his Norwegian co-writer, Mona Fastvold, wrote the Hungarian dialogue in standard English. They then used parentheticals to indicate any non-English delivery of dialogue. The film’s stars, Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, worked with a dialect coach to hone their accents.

    “Anora,” which tells the story of an exotic dancer in a whirlwind romance, features characters who speak Russian, Armenian and English with varying degrees of fluency. Even though the characters frequently switch between these languages, the entire script is in unbroken English. Code-switching is simply marked with “Russian,” “Armenian” or “English” in the script before a piece of dialogue.

    ‘Anora’ featured characters who switched between Russian, Armenian and English.

    But limiting oneself to standard U.S. English restricts diversity in the written dialogue itself. Some writers may want to use dialect or language to convey character authenticity on the page.

    Our survey respondents described this as “flavor” – the strategic use of dialectal words or phrases to create distinct voices, with limited phonetics. Jesse Eisenberg, in his Oscar-nominated script “A Real Pain,” lightly blends American English with occasional Yiddish words to great effect: “… landed in Galveston for some fakakta reason,” or “crazy” reason.

    AI chimes in

    Attempts at authenticity can become muddied when AI gets involved.

    When making “The Brutalist,” Corbet controversially used AI technology to refine the movie’s Hungarian dialogue.

    Some questioned the film’s authenticity due to the use of AI, arguing that nothing can be authentic if it’s achieved artificially.

    But the film’s creators, including editor and native Hungarian speaker Dávid Jancsó, defended this choice. They argued the technology actually enhanced the language’s authenticity, particularly since Hungarian’s system of vowels and consonants is especially hard for nonnative speakers to capture accurately.

    Whether writers use phonetics or standard language, and whether producers use AI or dialect coaches, questions of ethics and linguistic authenticity will remain. It’s important to research language choices and dialogue, and to consult the diverse speakers portrayed in scripts.

    These are among the many essential checks and balances that are becoming bigger parts of the filmmaking process.

    Mitchell Olson is affiliated with Carter Stanton, Creative Executive at Brookstreet Pictures, which was a co-producer of “The Brutalist.” He’s also an acquaintance of Meg LeFauve. He has no stake in the performance of their work outside of having professional relationships.

    Chris C. Palmer 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. How Oscar-nominated screenwriters attempt to craft authentic dialogue, dialects and accents – https://theconversation.com/how-oscar-nominated-screenwriters-attempt-to-craft-authentic-dialogue-dialects-and-accents-247658

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Deporting millions of immigrants would shock the US economy, increasing housing, food and other prices

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Francisco I. Pedraza, Professor of political scinece, Arizona State University

    Immigrant farmworkers pick strawberries in California in April 2024. Visions of America/Joe Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    One of President Donald Trump’s major promises during the 2024 presidential campaign was to launch mass deportations of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization.

    The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has said that, since January 2025, it is detaining and planning to deport 600 to 1,100 immigrants a day. That marks an increase from the average 282 immigration arrests that happened each day in September 2024 under the Biden administration.

    The current trend would place the Trump administration on track to apprehend 25,000 immigrants in Trump’s first month in office. On an annual basis, this is about 300,000 – far from the “millions and millions” of immigrants Trump promised to deport.

    A lack of funding, immigration officers, immigration detention centers and other resources has reportedly impeded the administration’s deportation work.

    The Trump administration is seeking US$175 billion from Congress to use for the next four years on immigration enforcement, Axios reported on Feb. 11, 2025.

    If Trump does make good on his promise of mass deportations, our research shows that removing millions of immigrants would be costly for everyone in the U.S., including American citizens and businesses.

    Immigrant farmworkers protest in New York City in May 2022.
    Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

    Food costs will increase

    One important factor is that mass deportations would weaken key industries in the U.S. that rely on immigrant workers, including those living in the U.S. illegally.

    Overall, immigrants without legal authorization make up about 5% of the total U.S. workforce.

    But that overall percentage doesn’t reflect these immigrants’ concentrated presence within various industries. Approximately half of U.S. farmworkers are living in the country without legal authorization, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Some of these immigrant farmworkers are skilled supervisors who make decisions about planting and harvesting. Others know how to use and maintain tractors, loaders, diggers, rakers, fertilizer sprayers, irrigation systems, and other machines crucial to farm operations.

    If those workers were to be suddenly removed from the country, Americans would see an increase in food costs, including what they spend on groceries and at restaurants.

    With fewer available workers to pick fruits and vegetables and prepare the food for shipment and distribution, the domestic production of food could decrease, leading to higher costs and more imports.

    National estimates of the restaurant and food preparation workforce, meanwhile, indicate that between 10% and 15% of those workers are immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

    Past state-level immigration enforcement policies offer an idea of what could happen at the national level if Trump were to carry out widespread deportations.

    For example, a 2011 Alabama law called HB-56 directed local police officers to investigate the immigration status of drivers stopped for speeding. It also prohibited landlords from renting properties to immigrants who do not have legal authorization to work or live in the country. That law and its resulting effects prompted some Alabama-based immigrant workers to leave the state following workplace raids.

    Their departure wound up costing the state an estimated $2.3 billion to $10.8 billion loss in Alabama’s annual gross domestic product due to the loss of workers and economic output.

    Other industries that rely on immigrants

    Part of the challenge of mass deportations for industries like construction, nearly a quarter of whose workers are living without legal authorization, is that their workforce is highly skilled and not easily replaced. Immigrant workers are particularly involved in home construction and specialize in such tasks as ceiling and flooring installation as well as roofing and drywall work.

    Fewer available workers would mean slower home construction, which in turn would make housing more expensive, further compounding existing problems of housing supply and affordability.

    Shocks from deportations would also slow commercial and public infrastructure construction. Six construction workers, for example, died in April 2024 in the sudden collapse of the Baltimore Key Bridge in Maryland. All of them were Latino immigrants living in the U.S. without legal documentation.

    Examining the arguments

    Trump administration officials and other politicians have argued that deporting large numbers of immigrants would help the country save money, since fewer people will use federal and state funds by attending public schools or receiving temporary shelter.

    Trump said in November 2024 that there is “no price tag” for large-scale deportations.

    “It’s not a question of price tag,” Trump said. “We have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here,” Trump told NBC News.

    Trump and his supporters also argue that deporting immigrants would mean more jobs for American workers.

    But there is compelling evidence to the contrary.

    First, immigrants are filling labor shortages and doing jobs that many Americans don’t want to do, ones that might be unsafe or poorly paid.

    Even if Americans were willing to do those jobs, there simply aren’t enough Americans in the workforce to fill existing labor vacuums, let alone an enlarged one following deportations.

    Second, for employers, having fewer workers in the country translates into higher wages, which in turn means less capital to adapt and grow. For businesses based on consumer debt – think mortgages, car loans and credit cards – deportations would disrupt the financial sector by removing responsible borrowers who make consistent payments.

    Third, immigrants living without legal documentation in the U.S. pay more than $96 billion in federal, state and local taxes per year and consume fewer public benefits than citizens.

    Immigrants without legal authorization are not eligible for Social Security benefits and can’t enroll in Medicare or many other safety net programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

    A Guatemalan immigrant worker buys pipes for a plumbing job on a house remodel in New Philadelphia, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 2025.
    Rebecca Kiger for The Washington Post via Getty Images

    The bottom line

    In other words, people who are living and working in the U.S. without legal authorization are helping to pay, through taxes, the costs of caring for Americans as they age and begin to draw on the nation’s retirement and health care programs.

    The burden from recent inflation notwithstanding, an economy supported by immigrants living illegally in the U.S. protects Americans.

    The U.S. would be unable to dodge the economic shocks and high costs that mass deportations would bring about.

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

    – ref. Deporting millions of immigrants would shock the US economy, increasing housing, food and other prices – https://theconversation.com/deporting-millions-of-immigrants-would-shock-the-us-economy-increasing-housing-food-and-other-prices-245342

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How California can rebuild safer, more resilient cities after wildfires without pricing out workers

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Nichole Wissman, Assistant Professor of Management, University of San Diego

    After the fires, what comes next for residents? Zoe Meyers/AFP via Getty Images

    The dramatic images of wealthy neighborhoods burning during the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires captured global attention, but the damage was much more widespread. Many working-class families lost their homes, businesses and jobs. In all, more than 16,000 structures – most of them homes – were destroyed, leaving thousands of people displaced.

    The shock of this catastrophic loss has been reverberating across Southern California, driving up demand for rental homes and prices in an already unaffordable and competitive housing market. Many residents now face rebuilding costs that are expected to skyrocket.

    Climate-related disasters like this often have deep roots in policies and practices that overlook growing risks. In the Los Angeles area, those risks are now impossible to ignore.

    As the region starts to recover, communities have an opportunity to rebuild in better ways that can protect neighborhoods against a riskier future – but at the same time don’t price out low-income residents.

    Sisters Emilee and Natalee De Santiago sit on the front porch of what remains of their home after the Eaton Fire in Altadena, Calif., in January 2025.
    Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    Research shows that low-income residents struggle the most during and after a disaster. Disaster assistance also tends to benefit the wealthy, who may have more time and resources to navigate the paperwork and process. This can have long-term effects on inequality in a community. In Los Angeles County, where one-third of even moderate-income households spend at least half their income on housing, many residents may simply be unable to recover.

    My research at the University of San Diego focuses on managing risk in the face of climate change. I see several ways to design solutions that help low- and moderate-income residents recover while building a safer community for the future.

    Better building policies that recognize future risk

    Before a disaster, communities trying to adapt to climate change often prioritize protecting high-risk, high-value property, such as a beachfront or hillside neighborhood with wealthy homes. My own research also shows a trend toward incremental climate adaptations that don’t disturb the status quo too much and, as a result, leave many risks unaddressed.

    Climate risks are often underestimated, in part because of policy limitations and a political reluctance to consider unpopular solutions, such as restricting where people can build. Yet, disasters once considered unimaginable, such as the Los Angeles wildfires, are occurring with increasing frequency.

    An aerial view shows the devastation left by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles in January 2025. Homes in the hills can be at the highest fire risk during dry weather and strong winds.
    AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

    Making communities safer from these risks requires communitywide efforts. And that can mean making difficult decisions.

    Policy changes, such as updating zoning laws to prevent rebuilding in highly vulnerable areas, can avoid costly damage in the future. So can not building in risky areas in the first place.

    California already has some of the strictest wildfire-prevention codes in the country, but the same rules for new homes don’t apply to older homes. Communities can invest in programs to help these property owners retrofit their homes by offering grants or incentives to remove highly flammable landscaping or to “harden” existing homes to make them less vulnerable to burning.

    Research shows that resilience efforts can spur “climate gentrification,” or displacement due to increases in property values. So, focusing on affordability in resilience efforts is important. For long-term affordability and resilience, governments can collaborate with communities to develop strategies such as supporting Community Land Trusts through grants, low-interest loans or land transfers; implementing zoning reforms to enable higher-density, climate-resilient affordable housing; and incentivizing green infrastructure to strengthen community resilience.


    Beverly Hills Fire Department

    In some cases, communities may have to considered managed retreat – moving people out of high-risk areas – but with adequate compensation and support for displaced residents to ensure that they can rebuild their lives elsewhere.

    Making the risks clear through insurance

    Insurance rates can also encourage residents and communities to lower their risks. Yet in many places, insurance policies have instead obscured the risks, leaving homeowners less aware of how vulnerable their property may be.

    For years, insurers underpriced wildfire risk, driven by market competition. California policies also capped the premiums they could charge. As fire damage and rebuilding costs soared in recent years, insurers unwilling to shoulder more of the risk themselves pulled out of the state. That left countless Californians uninsured and hundreds of thousands reliant on the state-run insurance known as the FAIR Plan. The plan imposes caps on payouts and is now struggling to stay solvent, resulting in higher costs that insurers are expected to pass on to consumers.

    Insurance reforms could help reduce the financial burden on vulnerable populations while also lowering overall risk. To achieve this, the reforms could incentivize building more resilient homes in less risky areas.

    As seen with the LA fires, what your neighbor does matters. Reducing fire risk in each home can make entire neighborhoods safer. Insurers can provide a road map for how to reduce those risks, while state and local governments can provide assistance to retrofit homes and help ensure that insurance premiums remain affordable.

    There are also innovative approaches to fund resilience efforts that can include insurers. One example is New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, which requires fossil fuel companies to finance climate adaptation efforts.

    Equipping communities with resilience hubs

    When disasters strike, local groups and neighbors play critical roles in stabilizing neighborhoods. But residents also need more specialized help to find housing and apply for disaster aid.

    Building resilience hubs in communities could help support residents before, during and after disasters.

    The resilience hub in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles provides one model for what these spaces can achieve. It’s anchored in a community arts center with solar power and backup energy storage. Residents can drop in to cool down during heat waves or charge their phones during power outages. It also hosts community classes, including in disaster preparedness.

    Boyle Heights, a largely Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles, has a resilience hub that provides disaster preparedness training, as well as support with food, housing and applying for assistance after disasters strike.
    Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    During and after a disaster, resilience hubs can serve as central organizing points. They can provide crucial information, resources and assistance with completing paperwork to access aid. Having access to skilled help in navigating what can be a complicated, time-consuming process is often critical, particularly for people who aren’t native English speakers.

    Getting assistance is also often critical for displaced renters, who may have little certainty about when or if they will be able to return to their homes. Understanding their legal rights can be confusing, and rising costs as rental housing is rebuilt can price them out of the market.

    Research shows that building a supportive community can provide a crucial social safety net when dealing with disasters and also boost the community’s social and economic well-being.

    Reframing policies for everyone

    The catastrophic LA wildfires were a powerful reminder that governments and communities need to think carefully about the risks they face and the role policies may play as they learn to live with greater fire risk.

    Building a resilient future in a warming world will require bold, innovative and collective strategies that support communities while advancing equitable solutions.

    Nichole Wissman 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. How California can rebuild safer, more resilient cities after wildfires without pricing out workers – https://theconversation.com/how-california-can-rebuild-safer-more-resilient-cities-after-wildfires-without-pricing-out-workers-247680

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Nat King Cole’s often overlooked role in the Civil Rights Movement

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Donna M. Cox, Professor of Music, University of Dayton

    Nat King Cole performs in Copenhagen, Denmark, in April 1960. Ebbe Wrae/JP Jazz Archive/Getty Images

    Six decades after Nat King Cole’s death in 1965, his music is still some of the most played in the world, and his celebrity transcends generational and racial divides. His smooth voice, captivating piano skills and enduring charisma earned him international acclaim.

    One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Cole was not only a groundbreaking musician but also a quiet, yet resolute, advocate for social justice.

    As an African American sacred music scholar, I have been immersed in the inseparable link between music, culture and social change for over 40 years. Examining Cole through the lens of his activism uncovers the nuanced ways in which he challenged the status quo and contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.

    Beneath the polished veneer of his public image lay a deeply personal commitment to confronting racism and advocating for equality that is often overlooked.

    Formative years

    Nathaniel Adams Coles was born on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama, to Perlina Adams Coles and Edward James Coles. Perlina served as the organist at the True Light Baptist Church and later the First Baptist Church of North Chicago, both pastored by Nathaniel’s father. She passed her love for music to her children, teaching them to play the piano and organ. Cole’s formative years were spent in church; gospel songs, hymns and spirituals formed the foundation of his musical education.

    Though Cole is primarily remembered for his jazz and pop hits, the emotive power, communal emphasis and uplifting nature of Black sacred music profoundly shaped his artistry throughout his career, despite his single sacred album, “Every Time I Feel The Spirit,” released in 1959. The influence of gospel music, in particular, can be heard in his soulful phrasing and heartfelt delivery, contributing to his remarkable ability to connect with audiences.

    Growing up in Chicago, he was also exposed to a rich tapestry of musical genres, including blues, classical and jazz. This eclectic upbringing laid the foundation for his versatile musical style and commercial success.

    Group portrait of singer Nat King Cole with his mother, Perlina, his younger brother, Ike, and his father, Edward, circa 1940.
    Nat King Cole photograph collection/New York Public Library

    While Cole’s music was not overtly political, his very presence in the mainstream was a statement. In an era of racial segregation, he was a Black man achieving unprecedented success in a predominantly white music industry. His impeccable diction, tailored suits and sophisticated performances countered the prevailing stereotypes of African Americans as uncouth or subservient.

    By embodying a poised and dignified persona, Cole communicated a powerful message: Black excellence and humanity could not be denied. As race scholar George Lipsitz writes in “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness,” “The cultural field … is a site of struggle where meanings are contested and power relations are negotiated.”

    Cole’s success challenged the structural racism that sought to confine Black artists to the margins and opened doors for future generations. He acknowledged the significance of his presence on national television, recognizing it as a potential turning point for Black representation. While hesitant to explicitly label himself an activist, he contemplated the impact of his success on breaking down barriers, believing that “when you’ve got the respect of white and colored, you can ease a lot of things.”

    Confronting racism

    In response to critics who dismiss Cole’s legacy as apolitical, I argue that they overlook the complexity of his resistance. Several scholars have stated that in a society where overt defiance often resulted in violence or economic ruin, Cole’s ability to navigate the entertainment industry while maintaining his dignity was itself a form of activism.

    Though Cole never referred to himself as an activist, he confronted racism in both overt and quiet ways. Scholars such as cultural theorist Stuart Hall and researcher Laura Pottinger define “quiet activism” as modest, everyday acts of resistance – either implicitly or explicitly political – that challenge dominant ideologies and power structures. These acts often entail processes of production or creativity.

    Despite his commercial success, Cole faced relentless systemic and personal racism. In 1948, he purchased a home in the affluent Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, a move met with hostility; the local homeowners association attempted to expel him, and he endured threats and acts of vandalism.

    Yet Cole refused to be intimidated. His resolve was a courageous act of resistance that highlighted the pervasive inequalities of the time.

    Cole faced blatant discrimination in Las Vegas. He was often denied access to the same hotels and restaurants where he performed, forced to stay in segregated accommodations. One particularly notable incident occurred at the Sands Hotel. in Las Vegas. When the maitre d’ tried to deny service to Cole’s Black bandmates in the dining room, Cole threatened to cancel his performance and leave. This forced the hotel management to back down, setting a precedent for other Black entertainers and patrons.

    Cole quietly sued hotels and negotiated contracts that guaranteed his right to stay in the hotels where he performed, a significant step toward desegregation. He also made it a point to bring his entire entourage, including Black musicians and friends, to these establishments, challenging their “whites only” policies.

    ‘We Are Americans Too’

    Photo of Natalie Cole singing with her father, Nat King Cole, in 1957.
    Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

    Cole’s impact extended beyond the realm of music. In 1956, he became the first African American to host a national network television show, “The Nat King Cole Show.” This was a groundbreaking moment, as it brought a Black man into the living rooms of millions of white Americans every week.

    Though the show faced challenges with sponsorship due to racial prejudice, it marked a significant step toward greater representation and acceptance. As historian Donald Bogle notes in his 2001 book “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks,” “Television … became a new battleground for the image of the black performer.” Cole’s show, despite its short run, was a crucial battle in this war.

    When Cole was attacked onstage by white supremacists during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1956, it underscored the physical danger Black public figures faced and galvanized Cole’s commitment to the Civil Rights Movement.

    It is important to note that Cole’s support for the Civil Rights Movement was often quiet and behind the scenes. He faced criticism from some who felt he should have been more outspoken. However, his actions demonstrate his commitment to the cause of racial equality. Cole, who died in 1965 at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, was a member of his local NAACP branch. He also performed at benefit concerts for the organization, raising money to support their efforts in fighting racial discrimination.

    Shortly after the attack in Birmingham, Cole recorded his only song that is specifically political, “We Are Americans Too.” Recorded in 1956, the song was a powerful statement of belonging and a challenge to racial exclusion. Though it would not come close to reaching commercial success, it did serve as a powerful reminder that African Americans were, in fact, Americans. Over a half-century later, this song still resonates and speaks to the ongoing struggle for full inclusion and recognition for marginalized groups.

    The juxtaposition of the refrain “We are Americans too” against the backdrop of the treatment of Black people during the Civil Rights Movement gives this song emotional weight. The very act of having to assert “We are Americans too” highlights the injustice of the situation.

    It underscores the disconnect between the ideals of American democracy and the reality of racial inequality. In this context, the refrain “We are Americans too” is an act of resistance, a challenge to the prevailing social order. It highlights the hypocrisy of a nation founded on principles of liberty while denying those same liberties to a significant portion of its population. It’s a call for America to finally recognize the full humanity and citizenship of its Black citizens.

    ‘We Are Americans Too.’

    Great art, and great artists, are powerful witnesses of the times in which they live, love, work and play. Their commentary, both artistically and humanly, leaves an important record for generations. This is clearly evident in Nat King Cole.

    Donna M. Cox 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. Nat King Cole’s often overlooked role in the Civil Rights Movement – https://theconversation.com/nat-king-coles-often-overlooked-role-in-the-civil-rights-movement-248527

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Many gluten-free foods are high in calories and sugar, low on fiber and protein, and they cost more − new research

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sachin Rustgi, Associate Professor of Molecular Breeding, Clemson University

    The vast majority of Americans are not sensitive to foods containing gluten. Westend61 via Getty Images

    U.S. consumers often pay more for gluten-free products, yet these items typically provide less protein and more sugar and calories compared with gluten-containing alternatives. That is the key finding of my new study, published in the journal Plant Foods for Human Nutrition.

    This study compared gluten-free products with their gluten-containing counterparts, and the findings suggested that many perceived benefits of gluten-free products – such as weight control and diabetes management – are exaggerated.

    Currently, many gluten-free products lack dietary fiber, protein and essential nutrients. Manufacturers often add supplements to compensate, but the incorporation of dietary fibers during processing can hinder protein digestion.

    In addition, gluten-free products generally contain higher sugar levels compared with other products containing gluten. Long-term adherence to a gluten-free diet has been associated with increased body mass index, or BMI, and nutritional deficiencies.

    Gluten-free products – defined in the U.S. as those that contain less than or equal to 20 parts per million of gluten – largely lack wheat, rye, barley and sometimes oats, all rich sources of arabinoxylan, a crucial nonstarch polysaccharide. Arabinoxylan provides several health benefits, including promoting beneficial gut bacteria, enhancing digestion, regulating blood sugar levels and supporting a balanced gut microbiota.

    Our study also pointed out that it is difficult to find a gluten-free product that excels in all nutritional areas, such as high protein and fiber content with low carbohydrates and sugar.

    On the other hand, gluten-free seeded bread contains significantly more fiber – 38.24 grams per 100 grams – than its gluten-containing counterparts. This is likely due to efforts by manufacturers to address fiber deficiencies by using ingredients such as pseudo-cereals, such as amaranth and quinoa hydrocolloids – meaning water-soluble macromolecules used in gluten-free baked goods made with quinoa flour.

    These improvements, however, vary by manufacturer and region. For example, gluten-free products in Spain tend to have lower fiber content than their gluten-containing counterparts.

    Why it matters

    The term “gluten-free diet” has become a buzzword, much like “organic,” and is now a part of everyday life for many people, often without a full understanding of its actual benefits. While a gluten-free diet is a medical necessity for people who are sensitive to gluten, a condition called celiac disease, or for those with wheat allergies, others adopt a gluten-free diet due to perceived health benefits or because it’s a trend.

    In 2024, the global gluten-free product market was valued at US$7.28 billion and projected to reach $13.81 billion by 2032. The U.S. market share is estimated to be $5.9 billion – a little less than half of the global figure.

    Approximately 25% of the U.S. population consumes gluten-free products. This figure is far higher than the the roughly 6% of people with non-celiac wheat sensitivity, 1% of people with celiac disease and even lower percentages of people with wheat allergies.

    This suggests that many people adopt gluten-free diets for reasons other than medical necessity, which may not offer health or financial benefits.

    Symptoms of celiac disease and gluten intolerance include stomach pain and bloating.

    What’s next

    Investment in research and development is essential to create more nutritionally balanced gluten-free products using locally available ingredients. This will require human feeding trials with different formulations of gluten-free products to ensure that these products meet nutritional needs without adverse effects.

    Collaborations between governments could help secure subsidies, which would reduce production costs and make these products more affordable. Although the initial costs of research and maintaining a gluten-free production line are high, using local ingredients and financial incentives can make these products more cost-competitive compared with their gluten-containing counterparts.

    Public education is also important to keep people informed about the pros and cons associated with a gluten-free diet.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Sachin Rustgi receives funding from the US Department of Agriculture and the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research.

    – ref. Many gluten-free foods are high in calories and sugar, low on fiber and protein, and they cost more − new research – https://theconversation.com/many-gluten-free-foods-are-high-in-calories-and-sugar-low-on-fiber-and-protein-and-they-cost-more-new-research-247165

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Puppetry Exhibition Showcases Photographic Work of UConn Alum, 60 Years of Puppet Arts

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    The lens of Richard Termine’s camera frames the performers before him like the decorative proscenium around a stage, in a view the award-winning photographer says is both wonderful and challenging to capture.

    Termine says he considers himself a partner to the performers, moving in a dance around them, anticipating their next move, as he clicks his way to capturing the moments of life and emotion they convey.

    A Middletown native and double UConn alum, he started studying the dramatic arts as an elementary student who went to the library to learn more after seeing a marionette performance of “Rigoletto,” he says.

    “It just blew me away. It was transformative,” Termine ’75 (SFA), ’78 MFA says of that school assembly. “When I go to the theater … I want to go to worlds and places I haven’t been, and puppetry is No. 1 on the list that does that for me.”

    Jim Henson, left, and Brian Henson taught a three-week International Workshop in Puppetry for Film and Television during the summer of 1987 at the Institut International de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezières, France. Termine went along as Jim Henson’s teaching assistant and also photo documented the event. (Photo courtesy of Richard Termine)

    A one-time puppet designer, puppet builder, and puppet director, Termine lists name-brand shows on his resume including “Sesame Street” and readily talks about knowing the famed duo Jim Henson and Frank Oz. He discovered photography in the late 1970s at the suggestion of a friend.

    Today, he lists the New York Times and Village Voice, along with Time, Newsweek, and People among his credits. Yet, even after decades in the business, Termine says he still marvels at the power of puppets and their performers.

    “I’m standing on their shoulders in terms of my art form, and I’m the interpreter of what’s in front of me,” he says. “What I love about this is I’m transformed when I’m working. … When I’m in the moment, it’s exhilarating.”

    Visitors to the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will have a chance to see just what Termine sees when he puts his eye to the camera. Its latest exhibition, “American Puppet Theater Today: The Photography of Richard Termine,” includes 151 of his images.

    The show, courtesy of The Jim Henson Foundation, was created in 2019 for display in France and since has seen five iterations including at exhibitions in Chicago, New York City, Montreal, and College Park, Maryland. Its Connecticut show in Storrs is on display until May 11.

    From Marionette and Shadow to Rod and Hand

    Foundation President Cheryl Henson, curator of the exhibition and daughter of renowned puppeteer Jim Henson, uses words like “play, magic, imagination, and creativity” when talking about the importance of puppetry and its value in the world today.

    “Puppetry brings out all of these really essential parts of being human,” she says.

    While the Muppet style her father made famous on shows like “Sesame Street” might have the broadest reach of any style – the show featuring Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and Elmo has aired in 124 countries – she says the accessibility of the myriad puppet styles is what gives puppetry “infinite potential.”

    Much of that variety can be seen in “American Puppet Theater,” with Henson describing the show as “a celebration of what puppetry can do.”

    During a recent tour of the exhibition, Termine points out a 2011 photograph of Jim Rose, a marionette fabrication teaching artist, and says it’s among his favorites. The image is simple: a puppeteer fiddling with the cross brace of a marionette, tugging at a string that lifts the puppet’s head in a loving gaze toward its handler.

    Henson notes that thanks to UConn’s John Bell, director of the Ballard, and Emily Wicks, the museum’s operations and collections manager, the exhibition has 15 puppets on display alongside Termine’s photographs.

    She walks toward the first, which greets those entering the exhibition, a direct-manipulation puppet named Disfarmer – a small bald man with glasses – adjusting the back of a Depression-era camera draped in a dark cloth. It’s one of six versions made for a 2009 production about photographer Mike Disfarmer.

    Another puppet, this one with a political message, is poised in the back corner of the Ballard. It’s a toy theater with a black proscenium adorned with four ornate butterflies from the performing company Great Small Works. Next to it, Termine notes, is a 2010 photograph depicting a performing John Bell; his wife, Trudi Cohen; and Jenny Romaine.

    The Blue Fairy from the opera “La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco” swoops through the air in the opposite corner, while a couple of Punch and Judy-style hand puppets get some laughs long after their 2009 adult-only performance of “The Punch and Jimmy Show.”

    While the exhibition features mostly puppets outside the Muppet style, Termine says the show reflects the impact Jim Henson, who died in 1990, and his Foundation have had on the puppetry world.

    Puppet Arts Program: A Diamond Year

    The Jim Henson Foundation, founded by its namesake in 1982, is devoted to cultivating the work of American puppeteers and has provided support for more than 1,300 projects from more than 350 artists in that time.

    “When we look at [this exhibition], these are artists that have been supported by the Foundation, creating their own work, finding their own voices in this rich art form,” Termine, Foundation vice president, says. “It’s right here, and that’s what makes this special.”

    Puppeteer Basil Twist performs with Stickman at a reception in June 2021 at Upper Penthouse, Central Park South, New York City. (Photo courtesy of Richard Termine)

    “One of the things my dad really loved about puppetry is how much the different puppeteers loved watching each other’s work and how they’d get so excited about somebody else’s brilliance,” Henson adds.

    Say a name related to the puppet community and Termine and Henson can explain the loop of how that person is connected to this person and the next. It’s a community, they say, and many in it have UConn ties.

    Termine’s mother once met Carol Thompson ’68 (SFA), ’78 MA, a student of renowned UConn professor Frank Ballard, who introduced Termine to the famed puppeteer in 1970 when he was doing a production of “The Love for Three Oranges” at UConn.

    The friend who nudged Termine in the late 1970s to take up photography was the late Manchester-native-turned-Emmy-nominated puppet designer Jan (Rosenthal) Stefura ’77 (SFA), who built Mokey Fraggle on “Fraggle Rock,” among others.

    Termine’s MFA class included Bart Roccoberton Jr. ’90 MFA, who heads UConn’s Puppet Arts Program, and his teachers included the late Jerry Rojo, the former dramatic arts professor who designed the black box Mobius Theater in the Drama/Music building.

    With deep connections in the puppet world, UConn’s Puppet Arts Program celebrates its 60th anniversary this year with a special section of the exhibition dedicated to that achievement.

    It’s “a leader” in the industry, Termine says, so much so that several years ago, when a couple of UConn women’s basketball players visited the set of “Sesame Street,” most of crew sported their UConn garb to share their school pride.

    The same sense of delight swelled in Termine when he visited the Ballard Museum in Downtown Storrs recently for the exhibition’s opening: “To come back here and to share what I started,” he said, trailing off in thought. “Thanks to the Henson family and to my training here at UConn.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How new Ofsted report cards could be improved – by giving parents what they want to know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Toby Greany, Professor of Education, University of Nottingham

    Media_Photos/Shutterstock

    Change is underway at Ofsted, England’s schools inspectorate. Headline judgments that summed up a whole school in one or two words have been discarded in favour of a proposed report card system that promises to offer a more rounded assessment of school quality.

    According to education secretary Bridget Phillipson, the changes are supposed to make the system less high stakes for schools while giving parents more information. The proposed report cards give a score on a five point scale for a range of areas, including wellbeing and inclusion, among others.

    The evidence that Ofsted’s previous approach was problematic had been stacking up for some years. My four-year study with colleague Rob Higham showed how inspections were driving a culture of compliance and standardisation in schools. They were incentivising leaders to prioritise the interests of the school over the interests of particular groups of, usually more vulnerable, children.

    So far, responses from the teaching profession to the new report card proposals have not been positive. The Association of School and College Leaders’ says they will be “bewildering for teachers and leaders, never mind the parents whose choices these reports are supposedly intended to guide”, and retain the high-stakes aspects of the previous system.

    A poll of more than 3000 school leaders by headteachers’ union the NAHT indicates that nine in ten disagree with the plans.

    My recent research suggests the need for a different approach which prioritises local accountability, in particular to parents. Over the past three years, my colleague Susan Cousin and I have been working on a project evaluating how professionals in different local areas can work together to address placed based challenges in education.

    One of these challenges was how to strengthen professional accountability. The aim was for school staff to take greater collective ownership of what school “quality” looks like and how it could be improved, rather than waiting for Ofsted to tell them.

    In two areas, Sheffield and Milton Keynes, school-led partnerships – membership organisations which support collaboration between schools – decided to develop their own local school “report cards”. These were intended to offer a broad and balanced set of information for parents, governors and others.

    In both areas a core design group was brought together. This involved leaders from a diverse range of local primary and secondary schools and academy trusts who agreed a draft format for the report cards.

    These prototypes were then taken out to consultation with wider schools as well as parents and carers. Based on their feedback, the report cards were adjusted before final versions were agreed. Each area developed different versions for primary, secondary and special schools.

    What parents want

    The most transformative aspect of the process arguably came from the consultations with parents and carers. For example, in the development of the Sheffield report card, it became clear that as well as information on the school from external sources – including Ofsted reports – parents wanted to learn more about what the school was really like. This led to the inclusion of a “get to know this school” section of the report card. The project lead in Sheffield explained to us:

    What came through really clearly … [from parents and carers] was, “I want a feel of the school” … They want the quality assured stuff. But they also want a feel of the place. And that’s why in the second iteration, what we’ve got is a whole section, which is an ability for the school to show itself – photos, videos, talk about particular aspects of education, and what’s unique about their school in relation to curriculum.

    Another feature that parents wanted included was a way of understanding what other parents and students themselves think about each school. In response, both Sheffield and Milton Keynes have included sections that show the “top five positives” according to parents and carers, and “five words from children about this school”.

    Strengthening local accountability

    England’s school system has become increasingly centralised in recent decades. The role and capacity of local authorities has been reduced and national requirements and oversight, including from Ofsted, have increased.

    In the process, school leaders and staff have become disempowered, while parents and local communities have largely lost their ability to influence the quality and direction of local schools. Locally developed school reports offer a way to redress the balance.

    This approach would not remove national accountability. In both Sheffield and Milton Keynes the plan is to incorporate national data, including from Ofsted inspections, into the local reports.

    But encouraging local ownership and strengthening the voice of parents and children in terms of how school quality is assessed and reported, could help schools become more accountable to the people most invested in them, rather than the national government.

    Toby Greany receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Association of Education Committees and the Nuffield Foundation.

    – ref. How new Ofsted report cards could be improved – by giving parents what they want to know – https://theconversation.com/how-new-ofsted-report-cards-could-be-improved-by-giving-parents-what-they-want-to-know-249304

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Roman London’s first basilica found under an office block – here’s what it reveals about the ancient city

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Lacey Wallace, Senior Lecturer in Roman History & Material Culture, University of Lincoln

    Archaeologists from the Museum of London have discovered a well-preserved part of the ancient city of London’s first Roman basilica underneath the basement of an office block. The basilica was constructed for use as a public building in the 70s or early 80s AD.

    In a Roman town, a basilica was a multi-functional civic building. Often paid for by leading local inhabitants, it provided a large indoor space for public gatherings. These ranged from political speeches to judicial proceedings.

    Along with the connected forum – an arrangement of buildings that surrounded an open courtyard space – the building formed the centre of administrative and civic life in the ancient Roman city of Londinium.

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

    Other walls of London’s basilica and forum have been known by archaeologists since the early 1880s. But they were only recognised as remains of the social and civic centre of Londinium in 1923.

    The story until now

    Peter Marsden, the author of The Roman Forum Site in London (1987), compiled disconnected evidence for the different phases of London’s forum basilica complex.

    Referring to the current area of excavations (on Gracechurch Street), he noted that: “More than half of the archaeological deposits still remain, and should be carefully excavated when the opportunity arises, since only then will the history of the site be elucidated.”

    Occasional opportunities have arisen to reveal small parts of the forum basilica. For example, during construction of a shaft to install a lift at 85 Gracechurch Street, some important remains from the first century were found. But the excavated area was too small to contribute greatly to our knowledge.

    In contrast, the recent work is part of a major redevelopment. It has opened targeted excavation areas where walls of the basilica were expected to be found, exposing substantial parts of the building.

    Archaeologists have found one-metre-wide foundations and walls of the interior, some of which probably extend for more than 10 metres in length. The walls are constructed of flint, tile and Kentish ragstone (a type of limestone quarried in Kent), and some stand at four metres high.

    Archaeologists discussing the find.

    What was the basilica for?

    Londinium was constructed on an unoccupied site beginning in about AD47 or 48. It began to gain the trappings of a Roman-style town, including a basilica building, in the lead-up to its destruction in the Boudican Revolt in AD60 or 61.

    The city did not have a monumental forum and basilica complex until later, however, when a major programme of public and private construction was undertaken in the Flavian period (AD69–96).

    London’s Flavian basilica took the plan of a long rectangle (44m x 22.7m) divided into three aisles. There is good evidence from the deeper central aisle (nave) wall foundations that the nave roof was raised to two storeys, to allow for windows to provide internal light.

    Shallow foundations crossing the nave are evidence of a raised dais or platform at the eastern end. The speaker or judge would sit there, elevated above the crowds, increasing both his visibility and status. This platform, or “tribunal”, is the area that has recently been revealed.

    The basilica would have risen above the north side of the buildings that formed the forum courtyard. It would have dominated the high ground of this monumental space at the highly visible crossroads leading straight up from the Roman Thames bridge.

    It would have been the largest building in the area and firmly announced that the people of Londinium were constructing a high-status Roman city.

    Rebuilding following the British queen Boudica’s revolt had been swift. The post-Revolt fort that was built only 100 metres or so down the street had likely been decommissioned and the people were ready to embark on a new phase and a major expansion of the urban centre.

    The designs of late first century forum basilica complexes varied across the provinces. But generally they combined religious, civic, judicial and mercantile space.

    In places like Pompeii, the forum had developed over time. But, when the town was buried by the ash of Vesuvius in AD79 (approximately the same time the forum basilica of London was built), the focus of the elongated monumental space was the Temple of Jupiter, symbol of the Roman state.

    Although a classical temple was constructed to the west of the exterior of Londinium’s Flavian forum, it was clearly separate. No forum in Britannia was dominated by a temple, setting the core of urban space in this province apart from most examples in the rest of the empire.

    The Flavian forum basilica at Londinium is one of the earliest examples to demonstrate this characteristic, along with that at Verulamium (St Albans). There, an inscription links the circa AD79–81 construction to the governor Agricola, who is well known among historians from the celebratory biography written by his son-in-law, Tacitus.

    The Flavian basilica and forum only stood for about 20 or 30 years, however. With increased prosperity in the early second century, they were demolished and replaced by a new structure which was five times larger, leaving the remains of the first basilica underneath the surface of the later courtyard space.

    The Museum of London will now analyse and publish the results of its find, applying modern methods to advance our understanding of the development of the first forum basilica. We can expect refined dating evidence and an improved understanding of the architecture from the post-excavation analyses. An exhibition space to make the remains visible for the public is also planned.

    Lacey Wallace 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. Roman London’s first basilica found under an office block – here’s what it reveals about the ancient city – https://theconversation.com/roman-londons-first-basilica-found-under-an-office-block-heres-what-it-reveals-about-the-ancient-city-249980

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Britain’s unearned wealth has ballooned – a modest capital tax could help avoid austerity and boost the economy

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stewart Lansley, Visiting Fellow, School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol

    Canary Wharf in London. I Wei Huang/Shutterstock

    Inheriting the worst set of public finances for decades, Labour was always going to face an uphill struggle trying to fund improvements to the UK’s public services.

    Inflated debt and recent hikes in the cost of borrowing mean the government is faced with stark choices. For it will be difficult to meet the chancellor’s own tight fiscal rules without further tax rises or cuts in public spending.

    But as the former chief economist at the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, has warned, further spending cuts would be “deeply counterproductive”.

    One solution for avoiding ongoing austerity lies in raising a higher proportion of taxes from assets. For despite the UK enjoying a long personal wealth boom, little of this boom is the result of new wealth creation or higher productivity.

    Much of it is unearned. Some is the product of corporate wealth extraction, where dividend payments and personal fortunes have have been prioritised over the long-term health of a company. Some privatised water firms, for example, have been turned into cash cows for their owners.

    Another large part of British unearned wealth is the product of state-induced asset inflation. Since 1999, house prices in England have risen almost three times faster than incomes.

    This kind of asset inflation is a classic example of “passive accumulation”. Or, as the 19th-century philosopher John Stuart Mill described it, getting rich in your sleep.

    As a result, household wealth currently stands at over six times the UK’s GDP. It was three times in the 1970s.

    Yet while Britain is asset rich, its tax system is heavily based on earnings from work. Taxes on income from dividends, capital gains and inheritance make a tiny contribution to the public purse.

    This is a fundamental flaw of the tax system which does little to dent the growing concentration of wealth owned by the few. Through political inertia, the tax system has failed to catch up with the growing importance of wealth over income.

    Inherit the earth?

    The fallout from the low taxation on wealth is well illustrated by the role of inheritance.

    Levels of wealth passed on after death in the UK have been rising sharply. Over the next three decades, some millennials are expected to inherit a staggering £5.5 trillion, dwarfing all previous transfers of wealth between generations.

    The lion’s share of this transfer will go to the most affluent. The lifetime wealth of those with parents in the richest fifth will see their wealth grow by 29% – compared with 5% for those born to the poorest fifth.

    This will only intensify the reproduction of the wealth divide of the past.

    Extending the tax base is not just about fairness or revenue raising. Asset holdings are often little more than unused resources, while big inter-generational wealth transfers can play a counterproductive role in the economy.

    Over a third of the UK’s wealth is stored in property (with the rest in pensions, savings and possessions). This is mostly only realised when passed on through inheritance , where its benefits accrue to the already privileged. Little of this process contributes to more productive activity, with one of its most malign effects being to fuel higher house prices, because the money is largely reinvested in property.

    The unfairness of inherited wealth has long been recognised. The patron saint of economics, Adam Smith called it “manifestly absurd”.

    Farmers have protested against Labour’s plans for inheritance tax.
    Mark Anthony Ray/Shutterstock

    A modest and phased rise in capital taxation would help to reduce the passive role played by wealth holdings. Even small changes would release funds which could be used to improve social infrastructure from schools to hospitals.

    One approach would be to build on the existing tax system through higher rates and fewer reliefs and loopholes. The second would be to introduce new taxes.

    In her first budget, Rachel Reeves took steps to raise revenue through the first option, from both inheritance and capital gains tax. But these were too modest to alter the overwhelming dominance of tax on earnings.

    A more fundamental shift would be to reform the existing system of council tax with a larger number of tax bands at the top. Still based on 1991 property values, this is perhaps the least defensible tax in Britain. The most effective alternative would be to replace council tax and stamp duty with a single proportionate “property tax”.

    Another option would be for a modest annual 1% tax on wealth over £2 million, which has the potential to raise around £16 billion a year, or double that on wealth over £1 million.

    Such a measure could be sold politically as a “solidarity tax” to help pay for the things the UK needs. And while governments have been wary of the political reaction to higher taxes on wealth, the tide is turning.

    Those supporting higher taxes on wealth include the Conservative-aligned think tank Bright Blue and an influential campaign group called the Patriotic Millionaires. There is also growing public support.

    Continued public spending austerity would drive more years of stagnation. It would also be politically suicidal for this government, as it was for Labour in 1931 and in the 1970s. But harnessing a little more of the country’s immense private wealth would make the tax system more equitable and by providing the resources to boost social investment, ease the path to economic recovery.

    Stewart Lansley 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. Britain’s unearned wealth has ballooned – a modest capital tax could help avoid austerity and boost the economy – https://theconversation.com/britains-unearned-wealth-has-ballooned-a-modest-capital-tax-could-help-avoid-austerity-and-boost-the-economy-247970

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Have your say on plans to reduce Guildford flood-risk

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Public drop-in on Saturday 22 February, 12pm to 5pm at the Electric Theatre, Guildford with an online presentation on Wednesday 26 February, 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

    Environment Agency Guildford flood scheme drop-in event.

    The Environment Agency and its project partners are inviting local people to share their views and feedback on plans to reduce flood-risk in Guildford town centre. 

    Long history of flooding

    Guildford has a long history of flooding from the River Wey, and the Environment Agency continues working in partnership with Guildford Borough Council and Surrey County Council on a long-term sustainable strategy to reduce the high level of flood-risk to the town centre. 

    The partners are now in the appraisal stage of the project, where further detailed assessments, surveys and engagement will be carried out to help develop the preferred option for the scheme. This stage is expected to last until 2026.

    To showcase the scheme’s progress, the Environment Agency is hosting an information afternoon on Saturday 22 February, 12pm to 5pm at the Electric Theatre, Guildford.

    There will also be an online Teams presentation on Wednesday 26 February, 7.30pm to 8.30pm that anyone can register for at https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/thames/guildford-flood-alleviation-scheme/

    Public feedback “invaluable”

    Jon Mansbridge, Guildford flood alleviation scheme project director at the Environment Agency, said:

    We encourage local communities and interested groups to have their say, as their feedback is invaluable in shaping our long-term strategy to manage flood risk to Guildford.

    To hear all views, we will be holding a drop-in event where you can find out more and discuss the scheme with our project team, who will be there to answer questions.

    For those that cannot attend, we will also be hosting an online presentation following the public exhibition. It will be another great opportunity to find out about our progress finding  a sustainable flood-risk management scheme and talk face-to-face with our experts.

    The project partners shared early updated scheme proposals with the public in April 2024. Since then, they have further developed the scheme alignment in consultation with landowners and identified areas that will be lowered to create more space for water and habitat creation.

    The flood defences will be visually integrated into existing and regenerated areas of the river corridor, reducing flood-risk to the town centre. The scheme will also enhance the riverside environment, and build better connections between Guildford town centre and the River Wey.

    Visit https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/thames/guildford-flood-alleviation-scheme/  to find out more and follow @guildfordfs on X, formerly Twitter.

    People can also e-mail guildfordfloodscheme@environment-agency.gov.uk with feedback or questions, and to request to be added to the newsletter mailing list.

    Check flood-risk and sign up for flood warnings by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or visiting gov.uk/flood.

    Well-tested flood-protection plans remain in place for Guildford, and the Environment Agency continues to work closely with other professional partners, including Surrey Fire and Rescue Service and Surrey County Council, to help those at greatest risk.

    The Environment Agency regularly maintains the River Wey to help reduce flooding, including cutting back vegetation and removing blockages.

    There is also a temporary defence management plan for Guildford, covering Mary Road and William Road, which sets out how the Environment Agency can deploy temporary flood barriers in these areas if a flood warning is issued.

    Contact us:

    Journalists only: 0800 141 2743 or communications_se@environment-agency.gov.uk.

    Follow us on X @envagencyse.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New Themed Competition: Innovations in dermal protection against liquid chemicals

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    DASA, MOD and the Home Office are seeking proposals that will address the problem of providing dermal protection against liquid chemical contamination.

    • DASA has launched a new Themed Competition: Innovations in dermal protection against liquid chemicals
    • This competition is funded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Home Office
    • The total possible funding available for this competition is £2.6 million (excluding VAT)
    • Competition closes midday on Tuesday 15th April 2025 (GMT)

    The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to launch a new Themed Competition called ‘Innovations in dermal protection against liquid chemicals’. Run on behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Home Office, this competition is seeking proposals that will address the challenge of developing a solution to the problem of providing dermal protection against liquid chemical contamination. We are interested in treatments, fabric design, novel constructions or any other approach that prevents the penetration of low surface tension liquids.

    Although being run on behalf of the UK government there is significant potential for solutions developed to be exploited internationally. 

    Read the full competition document to learn more.

    Key dates and funding

    This competition has two challenges. The total possible funding available for this competition for both challenges is £2.6 million (excluding VAT) across the total two year duration. We anticipate funding up to 10 proposals for each challenge.

    The deadline to submit a proposal is midday (GMT) on Tuesday 15 April 2025. Submit via the DASA Online Submission Service.

    Do you have a relevant solution? Read the full competition document and submit a proposal.

    Background: why we need innovation in this area

    Traditionally, dermal liquid protection has been provided by an air permeable, two-layer system, comprising an outer fabric – which controls the initial liquid interaction with the surface – and a carbon layer to absorb any vapours which penetrate the outer layer. It is the combination of these two layers which enables the wearer to operate in a CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) environment without incurring the associated physiological burden of an air impermeable garment.

    Changes in legislation (e.g. REACH) over recent years are constraining the methods available to defence and security for providing dermal protection against low surface tension liquids (such as chemical warfare agents (CWAs). Due to these changes we are seeking innovative methods for future dermal protection.

    Scope:

    The scope of this competition is technologies that provide wearable dermal protection against liquid chemical contamination. There are various means by which this could be achieved and we are interested in any scientific and technological approaches that have the potential to deliver dermal protection against low surface tension liquids without the use of chemistries which are currently the subject of restriction proposals (e.g. under REACH, ECHA etc.).

    If this sounds like an area you have experience or expertise in, why not read the full competition document to find out more?

    Supporting events

    Dial in webinar

    Thursday 6 March 2025 – a dial-in session providing further detail on the problem space and a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.

    One-to-one teleconference sessions

    Wednesday 12 March 2025 – a series of 15 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the opportunity to ask specific technical questions to the competition team in a closed forum. Registration details for these sessions will be available the day after the launch webinar which is taking place on 6 March 2025. Please attend the webinar or reach out to your local Innovation Partner if you have more general questions on the DASA application process.

    Submit a proposal

    We’re looking for novel ideas that can help to develop the protective fabrics of the future – if you think you have an innovation to share, why not submit a proposal?

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Crown LNG Signs Gas Sales MOU with India Gas Exchange

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LONDON, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Crown LNG Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: CGBS) (“Crown” or “Crown LNG”), a leading provider of LNG liquefaction and regasification terminal technologies for harsh weather locations, announced today the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the India Gas Exchange Ltd. (“IGX”), India’s first automated national level trading platform. The MOU outlines how Crown and IGX plan to cooperate on liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) sales to pipeline customers downstream from Crown’s planned LNG import terminal in Kakinada, India.

    The signing ceremony on the sidelines of India Energy Week 2025 in New Delhi included Swapan Kataria, CEO of Crown LNG, and Rajesh Kumar Mediratta, Managing Director & CEO of IGX, and was witnessed by The Honorable Member of Parliament from Kakinada Shri Tangella Uday Srinivas, an advocate for building infrastructure to empower millions of households and to improve the development of new industries in Andhra Pradesh, including data centers requiring uninterrupted 24/7 power supply.

    The non-binding MOU provides a framework for LNG cargoes traveling through Crown’s regasification terminal to be listed, marketed, and sold on the IGX. Under the agreement, IGX will drive market awareness through workshops and industry engagement initiatives, encouraging wider participation in gas trading. Crown LNG will collaborate closely with IGX on LNG cargo arrivals and sales, ensuring a stable and efficient supply chain. Together, they aim to unlock new opportunities in India’s energy sector and reinforce the role of natural gas as a key driver of sustainable economic growth. Both organizations will explore further areas of cooperation to accelerate India’s 15% gas-based economy target by 2030, as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “This collaboration will offer Crown a unique position to sell gas to a large base of producers, traders, and offtakers throughout India,” said Swapan Kataria, Crown LNG CEO. “We believe this agreement is the first of several that will address the lack of supply for the eastern coast of the fourth largest LNG importer in the world. Together with IGX and our growing network of trusted local partners, we are excited to strengthen India’s energy security and to help make natural gas more accessible to industries and micro-enterprises across India.”

    The Kakinada terminal has received an approved total import capacity of 7.2 MMTPA. Crown expects to achieve final investment decision for the project in 2026 and to deliver first gas in 2029.

    About Crown LNG Holdings Limited
    Crown LNG is a leading provider of offshore LNG liquefaction and regasification terminal infrastructure solutions for harsh weather locations, which represent a significant addressable market for bottom-fixed, gravity based (“GBS”) liquefaction and floating storage regasification units, as well as associated green and blue hydrogen, ammonia and power projects. Through this approach, Crown aims to provide lower carbon sources of energy securely to under-served markets across the globe. Visit www.crownlng.com/investors for more information.

    Forward-Looking Information and Statements

    Certain statements in this announcement are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “could,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “future,” “outlook,” “potential,” “project” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of other performance metrics and projections of market opportunity. They involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release and on current expectations of Crown’s management and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as and must not be relied on by any investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Crown. Some important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements could include changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political and legal conditions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results and encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results in the Company’s registration statement and other filings with the SEC.

    Crown LNG Contacts

    Investors
    Caldwell Bailey
    ICR, Inc.
    CrownLNGIR@icrinc.com

    Media
    Zach Gorin
    ICR, Inc.
    CrownLNGPR@icrinc.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Infinera Announces Anticipated Closing Date of Acquisition by Nokia and Deadline for Infinera Stockholders to Revoke Election of Merger Consideration

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Infinera Corporation (NASDAQ: INFN) (“Infinera”) today announced that its pending acquisition (the “Transaction”) by Nokia Corporation (“Nokia”) is anticipated to be completed on or about February 28, 2025, which date remains subject to receipt of remaining outstanding regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other remaining customary closing conditions.

    Based on the anticipated February 28, 2025 completion date, Infinera today also announced that the deadline to revoke a previously made election with respect to the form of merger consideration to be received in the Transaction is 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on February 21, 2025 (the “Election Revocation Deadline”). In the event that the anticipated completion date is delayed, Infinera will communicate an updated Election Revocation Deadline.

    Holders of shares of Infinera’s common stock who have made a valid election with respect to the form of merger consideration to be received in the Transaction and who wish to sell or otherwise transfer such shares may revoke their election prior to and in connection with selling or transferring such shares. No revocations will be accepted or effected after the Election Revocation Deadline.

    A holder of shares of Infinera’s common stock that are the subject of an election that has not been properly and timely revoked will no longer be able to sell or transfer such shares following the Election Revocation Deadline, and the holder will be entitled to receive the applicable merger consideration with respect to such shares upon completion of the Transaction.

    Infinera stockholders of record may, at any time prior to the Election Revocation Deadline, revoke a previously made election prior to and in connection with selling or transferring their shares by delivery of a notice of withdrawal (a “Notice of Withdrawal”) to Computershare Trust Company, N.A. (the “Exchange Agent”) at the applicable address set forth below:

      If delivering by U.S. mail: If delivering by courier:  
      Computershare Trust Company, N.A.
    c/o Voluntary Corporate Actions
    P.O. Box 43014
    Providence, RI 02940-3014    		 Computershare Trust Company, N.A.
    c/o Voluntary Corporate Actions
    150 Royall Street, Suite 101
    Canton, MA 02021    		  
           

    A revocation will be valid only if a properly completed and signed Notice of Withdrawal is received by the Exchange Agent by the Election Revocation Deadline.

    Infinera stockholders who hold shares through a bank, broker or other nominee may be subject to an earlier deadline for revoking elections, and should contact their bank, broker or other nominee for assistance revoking an election in connection with selling or transferring such shares.

    If an Infinera stockholder validly revokes a previously made election prior to the Election Revocation Deadline (or any earlier deadline applicable to the stockholder), that stockholder will be deemed to have elected to have those shares converted into the right to receive $6.65 per share in cash, without interest.

    The aggregate merger consideration payable by Nokia is subject to proration as described in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus (the “Proxy Statement/Prospectus”) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Infinera and Nokia in connection with the Transaction. Infinera and Nokia intend only to announce the results of stockholder elections and required proration, if any, in connection with the closing of the Transaction.

    Infinera stockholders of record who wish to request election revocation materials, including a Notice of Withdrawal, should contact Sodali & Co at (800) 662-5200 (for registered holders of Infinera common stock) or (203) 658-9400 (for banks and brokers), or by email at INFN@investor.sodali.com. Infinera stockholders who hold shares through a bank, broker or other nominee should contact their bank, broker or other nominee for assistance revoking an election.

    Infinera stockholders should carefully read the Proxy Statement/Prospectus and all election and election revocation materials provided to them or filed by Infinera or Nokia in connection with the Transaction before revoking an election.

    About Infinera

    Infinera is a global supplier of innovative open optical networking solutions and advanced optical semiconductors that enable carriers, cloud operators, governments, and enterprises to scale network bandwidth, accelerate service innovation, and automate network operations. Infinera solutions deliver industry-leading economics and performance in long-haul, submarine, data center interconnect, and metro transport applications. To learn more about Infinera, visit www.infinera.com, follow us on X and LinkedIn, and subscribe for updates.

    No Offer or Solicitation

    This communication is not a proxy statement or solicitation of a proxy, consent or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the Transaction and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote of approval, and there will not be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities will be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933.

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements contained in this communication may be characterized as forward-looking under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially.

    Statements in this communication that are forward-looking may include statements regarding the anticipated closing of the Transaction and related matters.

    Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, in addition to those identified above, include: (1) the possibility that the conditions to the closing of the Transaction are not satisfied, including the risk that required regulatory approvals to consummate the Transaction are not obtained, on a timely basis or at all; (2) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to a right to terminate the Transaction; (3) possible disruption related to the Transaction to the current plans, operations and business relationships of Nokia and Infinera, including through the loss of customers and employees; (4) the amount of the costs, fees, expenses and other charges incurred by Nokia and Infinera related to the Transaction; (5) the possibility that the stock prices of Nokia or Infinera could fluctuate during the pendency of the Transaction and may decline if the Transaction is not completed; (6) for both Nokia and Infinera, the possible diversion of management’s time and attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; (7) the response of competitors and other market participants to the Transaction; (8) potential litigation relating to the Transaction; (9) uncertainty as to the timing of completion of the Transaction and the ability of each party to consummate the Transaction; and (10) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the periodic reports that Nokia and Infinera file with the SEC. All forward-looking statements in this communication are based on information available to Infinera as of the date of this communication, and, except as required by law, Infinera does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

    Contacts
    Amitabh Passi
    apassi@infinera.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Zayo Achieves Record-breaking 1 Tb/s Transmission on Live North American Network with Infinera’s ICE7 Coherent Optical Solution

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DENVER and SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zayo and Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) announced today the successful completion of a live network trial using Infinera’s ICE7, a seventh-generation embedded optical engine, to deliver 1 Tb/s single 150GHz wavelength transmission over 1,391 kilometers (km) on a major North American route between Sacramento, CA and Salt Lake City. This achievement will enable Zayo to deliver a record-setting 32 terabits of C-Band capacity across this link, with the ability to double bandwidth to 64 terabits with L-Band. Powered by Infinera’s innovative ICE7 optical engine, this trial signals a major industry milestone, demonstrating the power and ability of Infinera’s ICE7 and Zayo’s state-of-the-art network to rapidly and cost-effectively address the increasing capacity demands of AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise needs.

    Zayo operates the largest independent network, spanning 132,000 route miles in North America alone, and one of the largest and most modern 400G networks in North America. The success of the trial demonstrates Zayo’s ability to seamlessly integrate innovative new solutions like Infinera’s ICE7 optical engine into its industry-leading network to deliver the highest capacity, speed, and efficiency to meet the growing demands of its customers.

    Infinera’s ICE7 optical engine features a 5-nm CMOS DSP and leverages the latest generation of advanced high-speed optics to deliver high-baud-rate (140+ Gbaud) and single-wavelength transmission of up to 1.2 Tb/s, highlighting the improved capacity-reach and significantly reduced cost per bit, power consumption, and footprint of coherent optical transport.

    “With the rapid growth in capacity needs due to high-bandwidth applications like AI, Zayo actively seeks innovative solutions to deliver superior performance of our network by increasing capacity, capability, and reach. This successful test highlights how Zayo’s network is, and will continue to be, well positioned to easily meet increasing customer demands,” said Aaron Werley, SVP of Engineering at Zayo. “We are pleased with the performance of Infinera’s ICE7 optical engine. Technology like this that can easily integrate into our existing infrastructure is critical to Zayo’s mission to expand and create capacity across North America in support of our customers’ critical connectivity needs.”

    “The success of this trial marks a major accomplishment for Infinera as it underscores the power of ICE7’s ability to transmit 1 Tb/s high-baud-rate signals across a significant distance, which will be instrumental in driving down network operator costs while meeting the rapidly growing bandwidth demands of their customers,” said Paul Crann, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Optical Systems, at Infinera.

    Infinera Media Contact:
    Anna Vue
    Tel. +1 (916) 595-8157
    avue@infinera.com

    Infinera Investors Contact:
    Amitabh Passi, Head of Investor Relations
    Tel. +1 (669) 295-1489
    apassi@infinera.com

    Zayo Media Contact:
    Bree Wood
    press@zayo.com

    About Zayo
    For more than 17 years, Zayo has empowered some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies to connect what’s next for their business. The Zayo group of companies connects 400 global markets with future-ready networks that span over 18.7 million fiber miles and 146,000 route miles. Zayo’s tailored connectivity solutions and managed services enable carriers, cloud providers, data centers, schools, and enterprises to deliver exceptional experiences, from core to cloud to edge. Discover how Zayo connects what’s next at www.zayo.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

    About Infinera
    Infinera is a global supplier of innovative open optical networking solutions and advanced optical semiconductors that enable carriers, cloud operators, governments, and enterprises to scale network bandwidth, accelerate service innovation, and automate network operations. Infinera solutions deliver industry-leading economics and performance in long-haul, submarine, data center interconnect, and metro transport applications. To learn more about Infinera, visit www.infinera.com, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and subscribe for updates.

    Infinera and the Infinera logo are registered trademarks of Infinera Corporation.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the operational, performance and financial benefits of Infinera’s ICE7 optical engine. These statements are not guarantees of results and should not be considered as an indication of future activity or future performance. Actual results may vary materially from these expectations as a result of various risks and uncertainties. Information about these risks and uncertainties, and other risks and uncertainties that affect Infinera’s business, is contained in the risk factors section and other sections of Infinera’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the Fiscal Quarter ended September 28, 2024 as filed with the SEC on November 5, 2024, as well as any subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC. These reports are available on Infinera’s website at www.infinera.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions, or strategies and can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “should,” “will,” and “would” or similar words. Infinera assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: ManTech Names John Lossing Vice President of Industry Compliance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HERNDON, Va., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ManTech, a leading provider of AI and mission-focused technology solutions, has named John Lossing as Vice President of Industry Compliance, serving as lead liaison with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA).

    “For more than 25 years, John Lossing has demonstrated his outstanding performance in compliance management, government contract accounting, business ethics and regulatory compliance,” said Jay Romyn, ManTech Chief Accounting Officer. “His proven experience with DCAA and DCMA, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Department of Defense FAR Supplement (DFARs) and Business Systems compliance make him ideal for this position with ManTech.”

    Prior to joining ManTech, Lossing served as Vice President – Compliance at Health Net Federal Services, where he managed regulatory compliance and business ethics program activities. He also led regulatory compliance at Northrop Grumman and Mission Essential, and government accounting at General Dynamics.

    Lossing earned his BS degree in Business Administration – Management Information Systems from the University of New Haven, West Haven, CT.

    About ManTech  
    ManTech provides mission-focused technology solutions and services for U.S. Defense, Intelligence and Federal Civilian agencies. In business for more than 56 years, we are a leading provider of AI solutions that power full-spectrum cyber, data collection & analytics, enterprise IT, high-end engineering and software application development solutions that support national and homeland security. Additional information on ManTech can be found at www.mantech.com.

    Media Contact: 
    Jim Crawford 
    ManTech 
    Executive Director, External Communications 
    (M) 703-498-7315 
    James.Crawford2@ManTech.com  

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aeb17f39-a034-4d2c-99b7-e4fe6c7140b7

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Franklin Electric Reports Fourth Quarter 2024 and Full Year 2024 Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Fourth Quarter 2024 Highlights

    • Consolidated net sales of $485.7 million, an increase of 3% to the prior year
    • Energy Systems and Distribution net sales increased 5% and 6%, respectively, while Water Systems net sales were flat
    • Operating income was $43.0 million with operating margin of 8.9%
    • GAAP fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.72

    Full Year 2024 Highlights

    • Consolidated net sales of $2.0 billion, a decrease of 2% to the prior year
    • Distribution net sales increased 2%, while Water Systems and Energy Systems net sales decreased 2% and 8%, respectively
    • Operating income was $243.6 million with operating margin of 12.1%
    • GAAP fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $3.86
    • Cash flows from operating activities were $261.4 million

    FORT WAYNE, Ind., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Franklin Electric Co., Inc. today announced its fourth quarter and full year financial results for fiscal year 2024.

    Fourth quarter 2024 net sales were $485.7 million, compared to fourth quarter 2023 net sales of $473.0 million. Fourth quarter 2024 operating income was $43.0 million, compared to fourth quarter 2023 operating income of $50.8 million. Fourth quarter 2024 EPS was $0.72, versus EPS in the fourth quarter 2023 of $0.82.

    Full year 2024 net sales were $2.0 billion, compared to full year 2023 net sales of $2.1 billion. Full year 2024 operating income was $243.6 million, compared to full year 2023 operating income of $262.4 million. Full year 2024 EPS was $3.86, versus EPS in the full year 2023 of $4.11.

    “The fourth quarter marked a solid finish to a challenging year. Our results were driven by strong performance in our newly renamed Energy Systems segment. While we have worked through the elevated post-COVID backlogs at this time, underlying demand remains healthy, and we continue to execute on productivity initiatives as we align our businesses with the more normalized environment,” commented Joe Ruzynski, Franklin Electric’s CEO.

    “Our resiliency is supported by the breadth of our global portfolio, which has proven to be a strategic asset as we closed out a year shaped by macroeconomic pressures. Order trends have improved, and with the support of a very healthy balance sheet, we are well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities in the year ahead. In 2025, our focus turns to driving revenue growth and margin expansion as we accelerate innovation and growth,” concluded Mr. Ruzynski.

    Segment Summaries

    Water Systems net sales were $279.6 million in the fourth quarter, flat compared to the fourth quarter 2023. Results were driven by higher sales of groundwater products, water treatment products and all other surface products. These sales increases were offset by lower sales of large dewatering pumps, which had a record fourth quarter last year. Water Systems operating income in the fourth quarter 2024 was $35.6 million. Fourth quarter 2023 Water Systems operating income was $44.1 million.

    Distribution net sales were $157.2 million, an increase of $9.2 million or 6 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2023. Sales increases were driven by higher volumes and the incremental impact from a recent acquisition. The Distribution segment operating income in the fourth quarter 2024 was $0.5 million. Fourth quarter 2023 Distribution operating income was $1.0 million.

    Energy Systems net sales were $68.8 million in the fourth quarter 2024, an increase of $3.1 million or 5 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2023. Sales increases were driven by higher volumes and price realization. Energy Systems operating income in the fourth quarter 2024 was a record for any fourth quarter at $24.7 million. Fourth quarter 2023 Energy Systems operating income was $19.4 million. The Company has changed the name of the Fueling Systems segment to Energy Systems to reflect its diverse portfolio and growth strategy, as well as to better reflect the markets and customers served by the segment.

    Cash Flow

    The Company ended 2024 with a cash balance of $220.5 million, an increase of $135.5 million compared to the end of 2023. Net cash flows from operating activities for 2024 were $261.4 million versus $315.7 million in the same period in 2023. Cash flow in 2023 benefitted from actions the Company took to improve working capital including inventory reductions as its supply chain resiliency and lead times improved during the year.

    2024 Guidance

    The Company expects its full year 2025 sales including the impact of its recently announced acquisitions to be in the range of $2.09 billion to $2.15 billion and full year 2025 EPS to be in the range of $4.05 to $4.25.

    Earnings Conference Call

    A conference call to review earnings and other developments in the business will commence at 9:00 am ET. The fourth quarter 2024 earnings call will be available via a live webcast. The webcast will be available in a listen only mode by going to:

    https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/9jnstij5

    For those interested in participating in the question-and-answer portion of the call, please register for the call at the link below.

    https://register.vevent.com/register/BI4b232e4ceea6435ba8f046e92e18e563

    All registrants will receive dial-in information and a PIN allowing them to access the live call. It is recommended that you join 10 minutes prior to the event start (although you may register and dial in at any time during the call).

    A replay of the conference call will be available from Tuesday, February 18, 2025, through 9:00 am ET on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, by visiting the listen-only webcast link above.

    Forward Looking Statements

    “Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained herein, including those relating to market conditions or the Company’s financial results, costs, expenses or expense reductions, profit margins, inventory levels, foreign currency translation rates, liquidity expectations, business goals and sales growth, involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, risks and uncertainties with respect to general economic and currency conditions, various conditions specific to the Company’s business and industry, weather conditions, new housing starts, market demand, competitive factors, changes in distribution channels, supply constraints, effect of price increases,  raw material costs, technology factors, integration of acquisitions, litigation, government and regulatory actions, the Company’s accounting policies, future trends, epidemics and pandemics, and other risks which are detailed in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, included in Item 1A of Part I of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023, Exhibit 99.1 attached thereto and in Item 1A of Part II of the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements made herein are based on information currently available, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

    About Franklin Electric

    Franklin Electric is a global leader in the production and marketing of systems and components for the movement of water and energy. Recognized as a technical leader in its products and services, Franklin Electric serves customers around the world in residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial, municipal, and fueling applications. Franklin Electric is proud to be named in Newsweek’s lists of America’s Most Responsible Companies and Most Trustworthy Companies for 2024 and America’s Climate Leaders 2024 by USA Today.

    Franklin Electric Contact:

    Jeffery L. Taylor
    Franklin Electric Co., Inc.
    InvestorRelations@fele.com

     
    FRANKLIN ELECTRIC CO., INC. AND CONSOLIDATED SUBSIDIARIES
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
    (Unaudited)
                   
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)              
                   
      Fourth Quarter Ended   Fiscal Year End
      December 31,   December 31,   December 31,   December 31,
      2024   2023   2024   2023
                   
    Net sales $ 485,745     $ 472,970     $ 2,021,341     $ 2,065,133  
                   
    Cost of sales   321,505       312,961       1,304,061       1,368,125  
                   
    Gross profit   164,240       160,009       717,280       697,008  
                   
    Selling, general, and administrative expenses   117,846       108,825       470,136       433,476  
                   
    Restructuring expense   3,360       356       3,499       1,091  
                   
    Operating income   43,034       50,828       243,645       262,441  
                   
    Interest expense   (1,339 )     (1,481 )     (6,319 )     (11,790 )
    Other income, net   630       1,831       1,339       3,696  
    Foreign exchange expense, net   (1,590 )     (4,026 )     (6,818 )     (12,124 )
                   
    Income before income taxes   40,735       47,152       231,847       242,223  
                   
    Income tax expense   6,443       8,322       50,238       47,489  
                   
    Net income $ 34,292     $ 38,830     $ 181,609     $ 194,734  
                   
    Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests   (637 )     (281 )     (1,300 )     (1,462 )
                   
    Net income attributable to Franklin Electric Co., Inc. $ 33,655     $ 38,549     $ 180,309     $ 193,272  
                   
    Income per share:              
    Basic $ 0.73     $ 0.83     $ 3.92     $ 4.17  
    Diluted $ 0.72     $ 0.82     $ 3.86     $ 4.11  
                   
    FRANKLIN ELECTRIC CO., INC. AND CONSOLIDATED SUBSIDIARIES
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (Unaudited)
           
    (In thousands)      
           
      December 31,   December 31,
      2024   2023
    ASSETS      
           
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 220,540     $ 84,963  
    Receivables (net)   226,826       222,418  
    Inventories   483,875       508,696  
    Other current assets   32,950       37,718  
    Total current assets   964,191       853,795  
           
    Property, plant, and equipment, net   223,566       229,739  
    Lease right-of-use Assets, net   62,637       57,014  
    Goodwill and other assets   570,212       587,574  
    Total assets $ 1,820,606     $ 1,728,122  
           
           
    LIABILITIES AND EQUITY      
           
    Accounts payable $ 157,046     $ 152,419  
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   139,989       104,949  
    Current lease liability   18,878       17,316  
    Current maturities of long-term debt and short-term borrowings   117,814       12,355  
    Total current liabilities   433,727       287,039  
           
    Long-term debt   11,622       88,056  
    Long-term lease liability   43,304       38,549  
    Income taxes payable non-current   –       4,837  
    Deferred income taxes   10,193       29,461  
    Employee benefit plans   29,808       35,973  
    Other long-term liabilities   22,118       33,914  
     
    Redeemable noncontrolling interest   1,224       1,145  
           
    Total equity   1,268,610       1,209,148  
    Total liabilities and equity $ 1,820,606     $ 1,728,122  
           
    FRANKLIN ELECTRIC CO., INC. AND CONSOLIDATED SUBSIDIARIES
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (Unaudited)
    (In thousands)      
           
      2024   2023
    Cash flows from operating activities:      
    Net income $ 181,609     $ 194,734  
    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash flows from operating activities:      
    Depreciation and amortization   56,073       52,260  
    Non-cash lease expense   21,438       18,852  
    Share-based compensation   12,061       10,133  
    Other   (13,327 )     10,259  
    Changes in assets and liabilities:      
    Receivables   (17,045 )     19,150  
    Inventory   10,889       48,176  
    Accounts payable and accrued expenses   15,285       (23,085 )
    Operating leases   (21,129 )     (18,874 )
    Income taxes-U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act   (3,870 )     (2,902 )
    Other   19,369       7,007  
           
    Net cash flows from operating activities   261,353       315,710  
           
    Cash flows from investing activities:      
    Additions to property, plant, and equipment   (41,682 )     (41,415 )
    Proceeds from sale of property, plant, and equipment   1,182       1,494  
    Acquisitions and investments   (5,201 )     (34,831 )
    Other investing activities   73       463  
           
    Net cash flows from investing activities   (45,628 )     (74,289 )
           
    Cash flows from financing activities:      
    Net change in debt   29,235       (115,529 )
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock   7,204       9,193  
    Purchases of common stock   (61,041 )     (43,332 )
    Dividends paid   (46,876 )     (41,723 )
    Deferred payments for acquisitions   (2,591 )     (802 )
           
    Net cash flows from financing activities   (74,069 )     (192,193 )
           
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash   (6,079 )     (10,055 )
    Net change in cash and cash equivalents   135,577       39,173  
    Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period   84,963       45,790  
    Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 220,540     $ 84,963  
           

    Key Performance Indicators: Net Sales Summary

      Net Sales For the Fourth Quarter
      United
    States    		 Latin Europe,
    Middle    		 Asia Total        
    (in millions) & Canada America East & Africa Pacific Water Energy** Distribution Other/Elims Consolidated
                       
    Q4 2023 $161.2   $46.6   $45.5   $26.3   $279.6   $65.7   $148.0   ($20.3 ) $473.0  
    Q4 2024 $158.5   $44.3   $49.7   $27.1   $279.6   $68.8   $157.2   ($19.9 ) $485.7  
    Change ($2.7 ) ($2.3 ) $4.2   $0.8   $0.0   $3.1   $9.2   $0.4   $12.7  
    % Change   -2 %   -5 %   9 %   3 %   0 %   5 %   6 %     3 %
                       
    Foreign currency translation, net* ($0.4 ) ($5.5 ) ($0.8 ) ($0.8 ) ($7.5 ) $0.0   $0.0     ($7.5 )
    % Change   0 %   -12 %   -2 %   -3 %   -3 %   0 %   0 %     2 %
                       
    Acquisitions $3.1   $0.0   $0.0   $0.0   $3.1   $0.0   $4.0     $7.1  
    % Change   2 %   0 %   0 %   0 %   1 %   0 %   3 %     2 %
                       
    Volume/Price ($5.4 ) $3.2   $5.0   $1.6   $4.4   $3.1   $5.2   $0.4   $13.1  
    % Change   -3 %   7 %   11 %   6 %   2 %   5 %   4 %   -2 %   3 %
                       
      Net Sales For the Full Year
      United
    States    		 Latin Europe,
    Middle    		 Asia Total        
    (in millions) & Canada America East & Africa Pacific Water Energy** Distribution Other/Elims Consolidated
                       
    FY 2023 $744.4   $174.2   $198.3   $86.8   $1,203.7   $296.5   $673.3   ($108.4 ) $2,065.1  
    FY 2024 $708.5   $170.9   $211.4   $93.2   $1,184.0   $273.7   $685.5   ($121.9 ) $2,021.3  
    Change ($35.9 ) ($3.3 ) $13.1   $6.4   ($19.7 ) ($22.8 ) $12.2   ($13.5 ) ($43.8 )
    % Change   -5 %   -2 %   7 %   7 %   -2 %   -8 %   2 %     -2 %
                       
    Foreign currency translation, net* ($0.9 ) ($9.7 ) ($6.3 ) ($2.4 ) ($19.3 ) $0.0   $0.0     ($19.3 )
    % Change   0 %   -6 %   -3 %   -3 %   -2 %   0 %   0 %     -1 %
                       
    Acquisitions $17.6   $0.0   $0.0   $0.0   $17.6   $0.0   $17.1     $34.7  
    % Change   2 %   0 %   0 %   0 %   1 %   0 %   3 %     2 %
                       
    Volume/Price ($52.6 ) $6.4   $19.4   $8.8   ($18.0 ) ($22.8 ) ($4.9 ) ($13.5 ) ($59.2 )
    % Change   -7 %   4 %   10 %   10 %   -1 %   -8 %   -1 %   12 %   -3 %
                       

    *The Company has presented local currency price increases used to offset currency devaluation in the Argentina and Turkey hyperinflationary economies within the foreign currency translation, net row above.
    ** Recognizing the Company’s diverse portfolio and growth strategy, it renamed its Fueling Systems segment to Energy Systems to better reflect the markets and customers served by this business.

    Key Performance Indicators: Operating Income and Margin Summary

    Operating Income and Margins          
    (in millions) For the Fourth Quarter 2024
      Water Energy Distribution Other/Elims Consolidated
    Operating Income / (Loss) $ 35.6   $ 24.7   $ 0.5   $ (17.8 ) $ 43.0  
    % Operating Income To Net Sales   12.7 %   35.9 %   0.3 %     8.9 %
               
    Operating Income and Margins          
    (in millions) For the Fourth Quarter 2023
      Water Energy Distribution Other/Elims Consolidated
    Operating Income / (Loss) $ 44.1   $ 19.4   $ 1.0   $ (13.7 ) $ 50.8  
    % Operating Income To Net Sales   15.8 %   29.5 %   0.7 %     10.7 %
               
    Operating Income and Margins          
    (in millions) For the Full Year of 2024
      Water Energy Distribution Other/Elims Consolidated
    Operating Income / (Loss) $ 197.9   $ 93.6   $ 24.3   $ (72.2 ) $ 243.6  
    % Operating Income To Net Sales   16.7 %   34.2 %   3.5 %     12.1 %
               
    Operating Income and Margins          
    (in millions) For the Full Year of 2023
      Water Energy Distribution Other/Elims Consolidated
    Operating Income / (Loss) $ 196.6   $ 92.7   $ 34.3   $ (61.2 ) $ 262.4  
    % Operating Income To Net Sales   16.3 %   31.3 %   5.1 %     12.7 %
               

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: WFP and Republic of Korea boost resilience and food security for vulnerable families in Kenya

    Source: World Food Programme

    NAIROBI – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of US$5 million from the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to build resilience and improve food security for vulnerable communities in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid regions.

    With below-normal rainfall forecasted for the upcoming March-May rainy season, strengthening early warning systems is critical to help communities and government anticipate and prepare ahead of possible drought or floods.  

    “The Republic of Korea’s commitment to supporting vulnerable families in Kenya is commendable,” said Lauren Landis, WFP’s Country Director in Kenya. “This contribution comes at a time when people in the arid and semi-arid areas face the risk of both droughts and floods, exacerbating food insecurity and increasing humanitarian needs. This project will equip communities with the tools and resources they need to prepare and build sustainable livelihoods.” 

    The contribution will enable WFP to support more than 158,000 people like smallholder farmers, pastoralists, women, and youth, to restore degraded ecosystems, create economic opportunities, and strengthen early warning systems to provide accurate and timely forecasts in in Samburu, Mandera, Tana River, Turkana, and Baringo Counties. 

    “The Republic of Korea recognizes the urgent need to build resilience and food security in Kenya,” said Nam Sangkyoo, the Republic of Korea’s Deputy Ambassador to Kenya. “By partnering with WFP, we are empowering communities to break the cycle of crises and build a future where they can thrive.”

    The Republic of Korea is a longstanding supporter of WFP’s work in Kenya and this contribution comes in addition to past investments like resilience projects supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and rice assistance for refugees from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA).

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    The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

    Follow us on X @wfp_kenya, @wfp_africa, @wfp_media

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ukraine peace talks: Trump is bringing Russia back in from the cold and ticking off items on Putin’s wish list

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By James Rodgers, Reader in International Journalism, City St George’s, University of London

    The meeting now underway in Saudi Arabia between senior delegations from the United States and Russia could be the first step towards an end to the war in Ukraine – and not just an end to the war. The New York Times has reported that the talks may cover issues beyond the battlefield, with the resumption of US-Russia business ties on the table, too.

    Whatever is discussed, Ukraine seems set to lose out.

    The same cannot be said of the long-term occupant of the Kremlin. For 20 years, Vladimir Putin has been working towards what Donald Trump has now given him. Ever since Putin bemoaned the collapse of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century, his foreign policy has been about getting back at least some of the superpower status the Soviet Union enjoyed.

    In one sense, the US president’s overture to Putin to discuss peace in Ukraine has given the Russian president exactly what he wanted: for Washington to treat Moscow with the respect – and perhaps even fear – that the Soviet Union once commanded from the west.

    And in that sense, Trump’s telephone call with the Kremlin represented a huge triumph for Putin. Putin now has a pending invitation back to the top table of world affairs. He has conceded not an inch of occupied Ukrainian territory to get there. Nor has he even undertaken to give back any of what Russian forces have seized since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

    Now his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is talking to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Meanwhile the annexation of Crimea in 2014 – which is when Russia’s war on Ukraine actually began – seems increasingly likely to be overlooked. The suggestion from the US defence secretary, Pete Hesgeth, last week that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was “unrealistic” has made clear Washington’s current view on that.

    So far, so good for Putin, who sees the western alliance that has been ranged against him – albeit with varying degrees of enthusiasm and commitment – for the past three years beginning to crack.

    Under Trump, Washington’s policy on Ukraine is showing signs of significant divergence from that of the EU or UK. Putin no doubt sees his determination not to be cowed by western pressure as starting now to lead to longer-term success.



    Read more:
    Europe left scrambling in face of wavering US security guarantees

    Now the two leaders have agreed to meet – a complete reversal of the three years of increasing isolation during Joe Biden’s presidency. And, as we know, the first time the two leaders met for a summit, in Helsinki in 2018, Putin was widely seen as having outwitted Trump. As Trump’s then senior director for European and Russian Affairs, Fiona Hill, recalled in her memoir: “As Trump responded that he believed Putin over his own intelligence analysts, I wanted to end the whole thing.”

    Putin will hardly feel he enters any future negotiation as an underdog. Just by being there, to discuss the most pressing matter for the future of European security with the US president, Putin has achieved part of his long-term goal. Just as in the days of the Soviet Union, leaders from the Kremlin and the White House will meet to discuss European affairs as the preeminent powers on the continent.

    The views of Europeans themselves, especially Ukrainians, are secondary.

    Back to the top table

    If Putin’s 2005 lament for a lost superpower gave a clue to the course his time at the summit of Russian power would take, then he gave yet more clues on the eve of the full-scale invasion. In December 2021, Putin regretted the collapse of the Soviet Union once again.

    This time he said it had a significance far beyond the century in which it happened, saying: “We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost.”

    Days later, with expectation growing that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine, the foreign ministry in Moscow published a document it called Treaty between The United States of America and the Russian Federation on security guarantees.

    The language chosen is striking today for the references it makes to the Soviet Union, as in article 4: “The United States of America shall undertake to prevent further eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and deny accession to the Alliance to the States of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.”

    The Biden administration dismissed the treaty as the trolling it represented. But Hegseth’s recent remark, “The United States does not believe that Nato membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” fits right in with Putin’s wish list.

    This is about Russia becoming the international heavyweight the Soviet Union once was. It is also about a turn of events that greatly favours Putin.

    For three years, I have been working on a book, The Return of Russia: From Yeltsin to Putin, the Story of a Vengeful Kremlin. My research included interviews with leading policymakers, among them Jens Stoltenberg, who served as secretary general of Nato between 2014 and 2024. When we spoke in September 2023, I took the opportunity to ask him how he saw the coming months in the war in Ukraine. He told me:

    Only the Ukrainians that can decide what is an acceptable solution. But the stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they will be on the negotiating table and therefore our responsibility is to support them … but it’s for Ukrainian to make the hard decisions on the battlefield. And of course at the end at the negotiating table.

    Trump’s démarche towards a deal appears to ignore that logic, and strengthens Putin’s hand before negotiations have even started.

    If it does lead to an end to the war now, there is nothing to say that Putin’s long view of history won’t encourage him to go to war again in a few years. And he’ll be better prepared to capture more territory than he has already in the last three blood-soaked years.

    James Rodgers 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. Ukraine peace talks: Trump is bringing Russia back in from the cold and ticking off items on Putin’s wish list – https://theconversation.com/ukraine-peace-talks-trump-is-bringing-russia-back-in-from-the-cold-and-ticking-off-items-on-putins-wish-list-249982

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How to win an election? Focus on persuasion, not policy

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Robert Danisch, Professor, Department of Communication Arts, University of Waterloo

    Ontario residents will soon elect a new government, and Canadians should expect a federal election this spring.

    Elections matter. They are opportunities for democracies to enact the bedrock principle that leaders are accountable to the citizenry — and for citizens to examine how communication practices inhibit or enhance democratic life.

    For politicians, elections pose a specific, clear communication challenge: How does a politician persuade a voter?

    Persuade voters

    Success in an election requires persuasion. Too often, though, politicians misunderstand the process of persuasion. The most common mistake is to believe that explaining a specific policy proposal will influence voters.

    Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie began her campaign, for example, touting platform doors for Toronto subway stops. This is a sure sign Crombie will fail to persuade a plurality of voters.

    Why? Because Crombie is mistakenly thinking about communication as a process of transmitting information — transmit the right information or policy idea and the public will nod in agreement. That’s not how communication works.

    Science communicators call this the “deficit model” of communication (the public lacks information; once they get it, they change their behaviour).

    Motivate voters; control the narrative

    There’s little evidence that information sharing is persuasive, and popular policy positions routinely fail to persuade voters (a casual look at the last presidential election in the United States demonstrates this). Politicians, of course, want to talk about policy, but policy is how one governs — not how one persuades.

    Politicians need to motivate voters, not inform them. Ancient orators like Demosthenes and Cicero knew this, as did former U.S. president Barack Obama and even authoritarian leaders like Hugo Chavez.

    Explaining policy positions is not how to win an election.

    Crombie’s proposal for platform edge doors reveals a deeper communication problem. A policy like this implies a frame, or a map, through which people are invited to see the world.

    Crombie’s policy proposal suggests that the world is a dangerous place. If we accept that frame, then we are likely to feel fear for our safety and imagine the government as our protector — this is the likely effect of her policy talk.

    This is exactly the frame that conservative politicians often promote. In elections, the party that controls the frame wins.

    The frame implied by any policy matters more than the content of the policy in an election. Another way to understand the power of language is to think of a simple phrase like “tax relief.” For years, left-leaning political parties have advocated for middle class “tax relief.”

    But this frame assumes that taxes are a burdensome infringement (the word “relief” signifies some burden that we need relief from). That is the assumption of right-leaning political parties.

    The more politicians on the left continue to portray taxes this way, the more persuasive the parties on the right become.

    Whose values?

    The important lesson here is that politicians need to have the conversation they want, not the conversation their opponents want. Donald Trump’s most powerful communication skill is forcing the media and his opponents onto his conversational terrain.

    Trump’s oppenent, Kamala Harris, tried to talk values. But her messaging was often too confusing, too complex and too varied to be persuasive, especially compared to Trump’s repetitive drumbeat of value-based accusations.

    Consider the broader frame that government’s job is to help the economy. Some have argued “the economy” is a fiction, a rhetorical construction that suits right-leaning political parties. Whenever the left advocates for a policy that intends to help “the economy” (a higher minimum wage, for example), they recirculate and reaffirm a conservative frame.



    Read more:
    Why Donald Trump’s words work, and what to do about it

    At the core of these frames are often a set of values: freedom is good, government can’t be trusted, the economy matters most. Messaging that focuses on why is much more effective than messaging that focuses on what and how.

    When politicians talk about values more than they provide information, they are more likely to get attention and cause reactions. Values talk — about what’s good or bad, right or wrong — tends to target the more primal, limbic part of our brain, which can cause people to feel motivated to act.

    Crombie, therefore, needs to explicitly articulate her values, why she is running for office, and make sure to implicitly frame any policy suggestion through attention to those values. Right now, she is implying conservative values through liberal policies — that won’t work.

    Stories reinforce the frame

    Values tend to come wrapped in the stories we tell about ourselves and our moment. Marshall Ganz, Harvard sociologist and community organizer, trained Barack Obama’s campaign volunteers in a form of storytelling, based on values, that was intended to motivate people.

    Good stories have villains and heroes, along with challenges or choices. Most importantly, good stories create a feeling of identification — a “we” that navigates a set of challenges or choices.

    Stories that make people feel hope, confidence, solidarity, anger and urgency are particularly adept at motivation. And these stories are also able to reinforce the frame through which we view the world, causing a story to “feel true” for voters even if it contains factual inaccuracies.

    The story that resonates most powerfully creates a sense of identification and makes a specific frame seem true drives electoral outcomes.

    Vision of the future

    The very best stories have a clear vision of the future. Too often politicians fixate on, and lament, problems. All of that problem talk can inhibit motivation. A clear picture of an ideal future shows the citizenry how a story ends.

    These imagined futures can be inspiring in ways that drive action. Painting a compelling tomorrow is a central part of political persuasion.

    These aspects of persuasion have been true for centuries. Our moment, however, adds a complicating element — our social media systems.

    Scholars of rhetoric have long known that repetition is persuasive. Social media amplifies the power of persuasion. This might not improve democratic decision-making, but politicians must still recognize how slogans, memes and sound bites all become the resources for repetition and the grounds in which specific frames or stories begin to dominate conversations.

    Controlling what gets repeated and using figures that are repeatable are necessary contemporary considerations.

    To be clear, if you want to win an election: control the frame, talk about values more than policy, tell a compelling story, paint a bright future, and find ways to repeat, repeat, repeat.

    Robert Danisch 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. How to win an election? Focus on persuasion, not policy – https://theconversation.com/how-to-win-an-election-focus-on-persuasion-not-policy-248733

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Defence Secretary’s speech on Defence Reform

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Transcript of the Defence Secretary’s address on defence reform at the Institute for Government.

    Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here and thank you for hosting us today.

    The Institute for Government, in my book, plays a really important role in Westminster. It helps hold Ministers to account for what we say we’re going to do as part of that bigger mission to securing this country a better government for Britain.

    I must say, when I confirmed this event a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have expected such interest in MOD reform, and I’m really grateful for the level of this attendance and presence, both in the room and online.

    But I guess the pace of the geopolitical change which you were referring to Hannah, and what we’re seeing right now confirms what I would argue is the need for change within defence too.

    As I said on my first day as Secretary of State in the department, when I came through the doors, I’m a Defence Secretary that’s more interested in getting results and global opportunities than headlines, and I guess I’m delivering on that promise, making a speech on defence reform right in the middle of parliamentary recess.

    However, the headlines, the wider headlines, and the decisions that we make right now over the coming weeks will not only define the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine, but the security of our world for a generation to come, and the nature of government means dealing with these challenges.

    In my view, the test of leadership, of political leadership isn’t just about managing the immediate, it’s also about reforming for the future.

    We’re in a new era of threat that demands a new era for defence and in the middle of everything else, last week, the new Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the US and I,  made time to discuss the aims we share on defence reform.

    This government, our new Labour government, was elected on a mandating one word: change.

    We govern on an instruction in one word: deliver.

    And as a new government, we’re delivering for defence.

    Over these first seven months, we stepped up and speeded up support for Ukraine. We’ve increased defence spending this year by nearly £3 billion, and we’ll set the path to spending 2.5% of GDP in the Spring.

    We’ve launched a new Defence Industrial Strategy. We secured a deal to buy back 36,000 military homes to improve conditions for personnel and get better value for the taxpayer.

    We’ve given the men and women of our armed forces the biggest pay increase for more than 20 years. We signed the landmark Trinity House agreement with the Germany.

    We’ve already progressed the Armed Forces Commissioner bill through the House of Commons to give a strong independent voice to improve service life.

    We have in the MOD two major change programmes both launched within the first month of government.

    One, the Strategic Defence Review. Two, our Defence Reform program. Each is essential for the other. The Defence Review will reinforce the imperative for Defence Reform. Defence reform is the foundation for being able to implement the Defence Review and for discharging what is our first duty in government.

    Exactly a year ago, actually, in February, I gave a speech at Policy Exchange on defence reform in which I outlined, and I said then the need to create a strong defence centre capable of leading Britain meeting the increasing threats we face.

    And in a little noticed section of the Labour Party manifesto at the July election, we pledged specific reforms and said strengthening our defences requires stronger leadership, clearer accountability, faster delivery, less waste and better value for money.

    By the end of July, I put in place a new team, new leadership, and weekly meeting meetings with me to drive our defence reform programme.

    And today, I wanted to offer an update on where we’ve got to and where we are going in the months ahead.

    One of the really special things about this job, the special things about this special job are the deeply impressive men and women I meet every day, from the submariners coming home from weeks undersea, to apprentices on Derby’s nuclear reaction production lines, to the NATO HQ team with people in the MOD building that last week pulled together the Ukraine led contact group meeting of 46 nations in the room at one week’s notice.

    Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things within a system that very often doesn’t work in the way that we need it to, for an increasingly dangerous world, work in the way that we need it to, to provide our armed forces with what they need to deter, to fight and to win.

    First, underpinning it all is the absence of clear, consistent accountability, central to the effectiveness of any organisation. Yet I have been in too many meetings when I ask who’s leading this? Who’s responsible for getting this done? And no one is able to give me a single, clear answer.

    Second, while everyone agrees that defence spending needs to increase, it’s not just how much you spend, but it’s how well you spend it. And we’re simply not securing the value for money our armed forces, our economy needs for every defence panel.

    We duplicate even the most central tasks. For example, we have eleven separate finance functions, two and a half thousand people doing the same activity in different places, in different ways. And third defence is mired in process and procedure. We’ve added complexity where simplicity is needed.

    Procurement, we’ve got a situation where we employ eleven checkers for every one decision maker. So, no wonder it takes an average six years for a large programme simply to get onto contract.

    So today, I’m here to declare that investment in defence will be matched by reform.

    First, we’re introducing clear points of accountability at every level within UK defence, starting at the top with four new senior leaders, four leaders who report to me as Defence Secretary and my ministerial team at the central point of accountability to the British people and to the British public.

    The Chief of the Defence Staff, who, for the first time since this role was created, now commands the service chiefs and will be the head of newly established Military Strategic Headquarters, responsible for force design and war planning across our integrated force.

    The Permanent Secretary, our principal accounting officer, who will run a leaner, more agile Department of State with more policy muscle to lead arguments across Whitehall and with allies, we’ll revamp senior roles to elevate those into policymakers with broad portfolios and powerful mandates.

    Third, our new Armaments Director, who will fix procurement and drive growth. I’ll come back to the detail of the National Armaments Director in a moment.

    Fourthly, our Chief of Defence Nuclear, who will continue to lead and deliver the national Nuclear Enterprise within the recently established ring fence and freedoms.

    This new quad will lead a defence which is more concentrated on warfighting, readiness and on deterrence.

    They’ll shift the approach as an organisation, which too often has been obsessed with process, to one focus on outcomes, in which information flows quickly, accountabilities are clear, and results are demanding. This new quad will be up and running from the 31st of March.

    On finance will match our new accountabilities, making hardware that manages money better to secure better value for money, for the taxpayer, better outcomes for the armed forces.

    [Political reference removed]

    Instead of the ten current top line budget holders, there will be four new budget holders, one for each of this new quad. We will introduce three new centrally determined financial budgets, each with ministerial oversight, readiness, operations, investment.

    The new readiness budget will hold the chiefs of the services to account for how they run their day-to-day spending. This will be done by the Chief of Defence Staff through our new Military Strategic Headquarters. The Military Strategic Headquarters will be responsible for the new operations budget, unencumbered by the excess bureaucracy and the lack of clarity that characterises the way the defence is organised now, and ministers will direct those priorities.

    And then finally, our new National Armaments Director will run the single new investment budget, bringing together eight separate procurement budgets across the organisation into one.

    This will help cut waste, reduce duplication, it will help ensure that we are buying better what our front-line forces need. In turn, the Armaments Director will acquire owning capabilities which are affordable within the budgets set by Ministers.

    These budgets, as with the quad, will have Initial Operating Capability from the end next month, 31st March.

    Our new National Armaments Director will fundamentally change how defence works partner with industry, how the defence becomes the engine for driving economic growth.

    So sitting alongside the Permanent Secretary, the Chief of Defence Staff, then executing £20 billion-plus budget to build sustain our national arsenal, because at this time, we must rearm Britain, and I see this as a new FTSE 100 company within the MOD tasked, if you like, with getting the very best capabilities needed into the hands of our frontline forces.

    Delivering on our Defence Industrial Strategy to create more defence jobs, more defence apprenticeships in every region and nation across the UK. Tasked with driving British exports up and wider, tasked with receiving responsibility for the entire end to end acquisition system for the MOD.

    They will save the taxpayer at least £10 billion over the next decade, savings that we would reinvest directly into Britain’s defence. Our interim National Armaments Director will be in post by the end of next month, recruitment for a permanent candidate is already underway.

    In conclusion, the world is changing. Defence is changing. Our reform programme represents the biggest shake up of UK defence for over 50 years.

    Let me say this. This is a government whose commitment to defence is unshakeable. It’s the foundation for our Plan for Change, for the delivery of our government’s missions, we will match sustained investment with serious reform.

    It will mean, growing the economy. It will mean a more muscular defence for a more dangerous world. It will mean, Britain, which is secure, at home, and strong abroad.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –