Category: Politics

MIL-OSI Global: Why Israel — and potentially the U.S. — is sure to encounter the limits of air power in Iran
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University

As the war between Israel and Iran escalates, Israel is increasing its calls on the United States to become involved in the conflict.

Former Israeli officials are appearing on U.S. news outlets, exhorting the American public to support Israel’s actions.

President Donald Trump has signalled a willingness for the U.S. to become involved in the conflict. He’s gone so far, in fact, to suggest in social media posts that he could kill Iran’s supreme leader if he wanted to.

Segment on Trump’s threats against Iran’s leader. (BBC News)

The American military could certainly make an impact in any air campaign against Iran. The problem from a military standpoint, however, is that the U.S., based on its forces’ deployment, will almost certainly seek to keep its involvement limited to its air force to avoid another Iraq-like quagmire.

While doing so could almost certainly disrupt Iran’s nuclear program, it will likely fall short of Israel’s goal of regime change.

In fact, it could reinforce the Iranian government and draw the U.S. into a costly ground war.

Read more:
Why is there so much concern over Iran’s nuclear program? And where could it go from here?

Israel’s need for American support

The initial stated reason for Israel’s bombing campaign — Iran’s nuclear capabilities — appears specious at best.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued several times in the past, without evidence, that Iran is close to achieving a nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence, however, have assessed that Iran is three years away from deploying a nuclear weapon.

Regardless of the veracity of the claims, Israel initiated the offensive and now requires American support.

Israel’s need for U.S. assistance rests on two circumstances:
1. While Israel succeeded in eliminating key figures from the Iranian military in its initial strikes, Iran’s response appears to have exceeded Israel’s expectations with their Arrow missile interceptors nearing depletion.
2. Israel’s air strikes can only achieve so much in disrupting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Most analysts note that Israel’s bombings are only likely to delay the Iranian nuclear program by a few months. This is due to the fact that Israeli missiles are incapable of penetrating the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, which estimates place close to 300 feet underground.
The United States, however, possesses munitions that could damage, or even destroy, the Fordow facility. Most notably, the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (more commonly known as a bunker buster) has a penetration capability of 200 feet.

Multiple strikes by said munition would render Fordow inoperable, if not outright destroyed.

Romanticizing air power

The efficacy of air power has been vastly overrated in the popular media and various air forces of the world. Air power is great at disrupting an opponent, but has significant limitations in influencing the outcome of a war.

Specifically, air power is likely to prove an inadequate tool for one of the supposed Israeli and American objectives in the war: regime change. For air power to be effective at bringing about regime change, it needs to demoralize the Iranian people to the point that they’re willing to oppose their own government.

Early air enthusiasts believed that a population’s demoralization would be an inevitable consequence of aerial bombardment. Italian general Giulio Douhet, a prominent air power theorist, argued that air power was so mighty that it could destroy cities and demoralize an opponent into surrendering.

Douhet was correct on the first point. He was wrong on the second.

Recent history provides evidence. While considerable ink has been spilled to demonstrate the efficacy of air power during the Second World War, close examination of the facts demonstrate that it had a minimal impact. In fact, Allied bombing of German cities in several instances created the opposite effect.

More recent bombing campaigns replicated this failure. The U.S. bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War did not significantly damage North Vietnamese morale or war effort. NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, likewise, rallied support for the unpopular Slobodan Milosevic due to its perceived injustice — and continues to evoke strong emotions to this day.

Iran’s political regime may be unpopular with many Iranians, but Israeli and potentially American bombing may shore up support for the Iranian government.

Nationalism is a potent force, particularly when people are under attack. Israel’s bombing of Iran will rally segments of the population to the government that would otherwise oppose it.

Few positive options

The limitations of air power to fuel significant political change in Iran should give Trump pause about intervening in the conflict.

Some American support, such as providing weapons, is a given due to the close relationship between the U.S. and Israel. But any realization of American and Israeli aspirations of a non-nuclear Iran and a new government will likely require ground forces.

Recent American experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq show such a ground forces operation won’t lead to the swift victory that Trump desires, but could potentially stretch on for decades.

James Horncastle 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. Why Israel — and potentially the U.S. — is sure to encounter the limits of air power in Iran – https://theconversation.com/why-israel-and-potentially-the-u-s-is-sure-to-encounter-the-limits-of-air-power-in-iran-259348
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Global survey finds 8 out of 10 people support taxing oil and gas corporations to pay for climate damages
Source: Oxfam Aotearoa

A majority of people believe governments must tax oil, gas and coal corporations for climate-related loss and damage, and that their government is not doing enough to counter the influence on politics of the super-rich and polluting industries. These are the key findings of a global survey, which reflects broad consensus across political affiliations, income levels and age groups. Today’s study, which was jointly commissioned by Greenpeace International and Oxfam International, was launched at the Bonn UN climate meetings (SB62 16-26 June), where governments are discussing key climate policy priorities, including ways to mobilize at least US $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance for Global South countries by 2035. The poll was conducted across 13 countries, including most G7 countries. The study, run by Dynata, comes with additional research by Oxfam showing that a polluter profits tax on 590 oil, gas and coal companies could raise up to US $400 billion in its first year. This is equivalent to the estimated annual costs of climate damage in the Global South. Loss and damage costs from climate change to the Global South are estimated to reach between $290bn to $580bn annually by 2030.

Key findings of the survey include:

81% of people surveyed support new taxes on the oil, coal and gas industry to pay for damages caused by fossil-fuel driven climate disasters like storms, floods, droughts and wildfires.

86% of people in surveyed countries support channelling revenues from higher taxes on oil and gas corporations towards communities who are most impacted by the climate crisis. Climate change is disproportionately hitting people in Global South countries, who are historically least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.

When asked who should be taxed to pay for helping survivors of fossil-fuel driven climate disasters, 66% of people across countries surveyed think it should be oil and gas companies compared to than 5% who support taxes on working people, 9% on goods people buy, and 20% in favour of business taxes.

68% felt that the fossil fuel industry and the super-rich had a negative influence on politics in their country. 77% say they would be more willing to support a political candidate who prioritises taxing the super-rich and the fossil fuel industry.

Oxfam’s research finds that 585 of the world’s largest and most polluting fossil fuel companies made $583 billion in profits in 2024, a 68% increase since 2019. The annual emissions of 340 of these corporations (for whom data was available) accounted for over half of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans. Their emissions in just one year are enough to cause 2.7 million heat-related deaths over the next century. A polluter profits tax on these companies would ensure that renewable energy is more profitable than fossil fuels, encouraging companies to invest in renewables, as well as avoid more deaths driven by fossil fuelled climate change. This new tax must be accompanied by higher taxes on the super-rich and other polluting companies. Governments should impose such taxes nationally and engage positively at the UN to ensure a fair global tax agreement.

Nick Henry, Climate Justice Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa, said: “This new poll shows that people support Oxfam’s call for our leaders to make polluting corporations pay for the damage they cause to our climate.”

“People understand that storms, floods, drought, wildfires, and other extreme weather events are being fuelled by oil and gas corporations. Instead of leaving communities exposed to deal with these devastating costs alone, governments can unlock huge sums of money to invest in climate solutions through making dirty energy companies pay,” said Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead for Greenpeace’s Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign. “The Polluters Pay Pact unites communities on the frontlines of climate disasters, concerned citizens, first responders like firefighters and humanitarian groups around the world to call on politicians to act now through making polluters, not people, pay for climate damages.”

Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said: “Mega-rich coal, oil and gas companies have known for decades about the damage their polluting products wreak on humanity. Corporations continue to cash in on climate devastation, and their profiteering destroys the lives and livelihoods of millions of women, men and children, predominantly those in the Global South who have done the least to cause the climate crisis. Governments must listen to their people and hold rich polluters responsible for their damages. A new tax on polluting industries could provide immediate and significant support to climate-vulnerable countries and finally incentivise investment in renewables and a just transition.”

Nick Henry continued: “Rather than subsidising new oil and gas drilling, and fast-tracking coal mines, our Government should be holding fossil fuel companies responsible for the costs facing our communities to adapt to climate change.”

NOTES:

The research was conducted by market research company Dynata in May-June, 2025, in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Kenya, Italy, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US. Together, these countries represent close to half the world’s population. Results available here.

Oxfam’s polluter profits tax model is explained in this blog and methodology note attached. The methodology note also explains the basis for the emissions of fossil fuel companies and their impacts on heat-related deaths. These deaths were calculated on the basis of emissions in 2023.
MIL OSI New Zealand News –
June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: 6 things Australia must do if it’s serious about tackling school bullying

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanessa Miller, Lecturer in Education (Classroom Management), Southern Cross University

Wander Women/ Getty Images

Bullying is arguably one of the most serious issues facing Australia’s schools.

About one in four students between Year 4 and Year 9 report being bullied regularly. This can have serious and lasting consequences. Research suggests students who are bullied are at an increased risk of mental health problems and self-harm.

On Friday, submissions close for the federal government’s rapid review into school bullying. Here, we suggest six key areas on which governments, schools and education authorities need to focus to re-imagine Australia’s approach to tackling bullying.

Read more:
With a government review underway, we have to ask why children bully other kids

1. A national approach to bullying

At the moment, there is no clear, consistent definition of bullying in Australian schools. Nor are there consistent policies.

This naturally leads to confusion about current best practice to both prevent bullying and support students who have been bullied.

For example, there are several definitions of cyberbullying between the different states and territories.

2. Consistent data to track bullying

Australia also has no nationally consistent approach to track or measure bullying and cyberbullying.

This means it is impossible to say whether bullying is getting worse or better – or if certain parts of the country are more successfully addressing it.

So we need metrics to better track, analyse, report and respond to bullying incidents across schools, regions, states and territories.

For years, researchers have noted schools themselves also need accurate data to analyse, monitor and evaluate the degree to which an intervention is effective.

3. A whole-school approach

A national strategy should also prioritise whole-school approaches to bullying prevention – this is what research shows to be most effective.

A whole-school approach sees anti-bullying efforts as the responsibility of everyone connected to a school. School leaders, teachers, support staff, students, families and the wider community are all expected to promote safety and inclusion.

Addressing bullying should see strategies implemented across multiple locations, including the classroom, wider school and home environments.

This goes beyond simply dealing with individual bullying incidents as they arise.

Research also suggests schools should focus on proactive, non-punitive strategies and a positive school culture. This includes clear procedures to report bullying, effective education programs, and establishing consistent classroom and school rules.

If bullying occurs, schools can respond with a restorative approach, which focuses on repairing harm done to relationships.

Studies suggest whole-school approaches such as these can reduce bullying behaviours by 20-23% and victimisation by 17-20%.

4. Teach social and emotional skills

As part of the whole-school approach, we also need to make sure schools are teaching social and emotional skills. This includes how to identify and manage emotions as well as communicating and cooperating with others.

While it is part of the Australian Curriculum, research shows social and emotional skills are not always taught using evidence-based, formal approaches.

A large body of research demonstrates that schools which teach social and emotional learning across all aspects of school engagement, report higher academic achievement, lower rates of bullying, improved student wellbeing, and stronger connections between students and adults.

In part, this is because these approaches empower students to take ownership of their behaviour.

Read more:
Schools today also teach social and emotional skills. Why is this important? And what’s involved?

5. Training for teachers

Teachers play a pivotal role in making sure all students feel safe and supported at school, helping children and young people to understand and manage their emotions.

A 2014 study found teachers who had participated in anti-bullying training were able to provide this support more effectively.

Teachers specifically need training that helps them provide safe, inclusive spaces for students from marginalised groups, including students with disability and young people who face homophobic or transphobic bullying.

School staff should receive consistent, culturally responsive training, so they are equipped with the most current and effective ways to support all students.

6. Give students an active role

We should also look at ways to give students a greater role in shaping anti-bullying policies.

Research shows when students are included in decisions that affect them, it increases their engagement with learning and motivation at school.

Along with helping to make policies, students can also be involved in peer-mentoring programs and leading campaigns to raise awareness about respectful relationships. This can create a sense of shared ownership for anti-bullying interventions.

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

– ref. 6 things Australia must do if it’s serious about tackling school bullying – https://theconversation.com/6-things-australia-must-do-if-its-serious-about-tackling-school-bullying-258924

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: A new special tribunal will investigate Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Will it be effective?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria, Lecturer in Criminal Law and International Law, Curtin University

Earlier this year, the European Union, the Council of Europe, Ukraine and an international coalition of states agreed to establish a new special tribunal.

The tribunal will eventually be tasked with holding Russia accountable for the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It’s expected to start operating in 2026.

Human rights organisations, international lawyers and some (mostly European) states have long been calling for the establishment of such a tribunal. Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian human rights lawyer, called the establishment of the tribunal:

an important breakthrough for the international justice community and especially for the millions of Ukrainians who have been harmed by the Russian aggression.

However, important questions remain about if it could truly hold senior Russian officials accountable.

So, how will this new special tribunal work, and will it be effective – or necessary?

How does the special tribunal fill the gaps left by the ICC and ICJ?

This tribunal is separate to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The ICC can prosecute individuals charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Russian war on Ukraine. So far, it has issued arrest warrants against four Russian senior officials, including President Vladimir Putin.

Because Russia is not a member state to the court, the court can’t exercise legal authority over what’s known in international law as a crime of aggression (when leaders of a state launch or plan a war). For the ICC to be able to exercise this jurisdiction, the aggressor state also must be a member state of the court.

The ICJ is a different court altogether. It primarily deals with and adjudicates disputes between states, not limited to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. It can’t hold individuals accountable, and can only exercise jurisdiction over a dispute if both states to a dispute agree.

While the ICC seeks to establish individual criminal responsibility, the ICJ may establish state responsibility for a violation of international law.

Currently, there are also two cases between Ukraine and Russia before the ICJ.

Neither deals with the question of the legality of Russia’s use of force in its invasion in February 2022. Both Ukraine and Russia would need to consent to bring this issue before the court.

So, is a new tribunal necessary?

Yes, because the crime of aggression currently can’t be addressed by any other international court or tribunal.

Given the limitations of what the ICJ and ICC can do, a dedicated tribunal seems the obvious solution to hold those responsible for the illegal use of force against Ukraine accountable.

And it’s not uncommon for specialised tribunals with limited jurisdiction over a specific situation to be created.

Other historical examples include the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Given the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, the new special tribunal would complement the court’s existing investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Who is running the new tribunal and how will it work?

The exact content and specifics of this new tribunal will remain unknown until the draft statute of the tribunal is published. That’s a document that outlines details including the tribunal’s jurisdiction, the applicable definition of aggression and how the tribunal will function.

At this stage, the Council of Europe has confirmed the tribunal will work within its legal framework and principles. It will be funded by an international coalition of supportive states.

A management committee of members and associate members of the tribunal will be responsible for the election of the tribunal’s judges and prosecutors. The management committee is made up of the Council of Europe’s council of ministers and Ukraine.

Diplomatic discussions are still ongoing at this point, but the legal process for establishing the special tribunal can begin now.

Will this special tribunal be more effective?

Political, legal and practical challenges for the special tribunal remain. It’s unclear if the most senior Russian state officials can and will be able to be brought to trial for the crime of aggression.

Nothing, so far, suggests the statute of the tribunal will contain an exception to state immunity enjoyed by heads of state, heads of governments and foreign ministers while in power.

That means these office holders can only be prosecuted if they are no longer in power or the Russian government expressly waives their immunity.

It’s also unclear whether states will be willing to arrest those sought by the special tribunal.

The ICC has long faced this challenge trying to get states to act on its arrest warrants.

Hungary, for instance, did not arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited in April, despite an ICC arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

For the special tribunal to be effective, according to Oleksandra Matviichuk, it:

must not become a remote and hollow entity that does not engage with the Ukrainian victims.

Overall, much remains unclear. Will this new special tribunal be able to hold the likes of Putin accountable for the crime of aggression? Or will it become another empty promise?

Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria 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. A new special tribunal will investigate Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Will it be effective? – https://theconversation.com/a-new-special-tribunal-will-investigate-russias-aggression-against-ukraine-will-it-be-effective-257823

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Keith Rankin Analysis – America’s imperial ‘gift’: ‘Crusader Democracy’ versus ‘Christian Nationalism’

Analysis by Keith Rankin.

Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

The United States has always fancied itself as the founder of modern democracy (aka ‘Democracy’). And, although that country has been self-absorbed for most of its history, it has always sensed that Democracy was its greatest export.

‘America’ became involved in Africa and the ‘Middle East’ very early in its history. There was the American–Algerian War (1785–1795); and the Barbary Wars (1801-1805,1815), featuring the heroic re-seizure and scuttling by fire of the USS Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor in 1804. Then there was the reverse colonisation (aka ‘liberation’, ‘democratization’) of a small corner of Africa from 1822, leading to Liberia’s independence in 1862.

In the 1846, there was the small matter of the United States’ invasion of Mexico, resulting in the 1848 annexation of half of Mexico’s territory. ‘America’ brought Democracy to California, through annexation. And, in 1898, the United States appropriated Spain’s remaining worldwide empire, including the Philippines. And some other territories, including Hawaii. Upon his inauguration as the 47th President, Donald Trump explicitly invoked the memory of President William McKinley, America’s most notorious annexor of foreign territory.

And in 1889: “Three American warships then entered the Apia harbor and prepared to engage the three German warships found there. Before any shots were fired, a typhoon wrecked both the American and German ships.” After ten years of military/political stalemate – known as the Second Samoan Civil War – the Samoan ‘assets’ were split between the United States, the German Second Reich, and the United Kingdom. (The UK traded its share with Germany. Britain gave up all claims to Samoa and in return accepted the termination of German rights in Tonga, certain areas in the Solomon Islands, and Zanzibar.)

America’s imperial ‘burden’ in the last 125 years

Rudyard Kipling’s poem The White Man’s Burden was written in 1899; “a poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) that exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country”.

America’s empire today is partly formal, though mostly informal, with various grades of informality. Indeed, the recent acknowledgement by the European Union that it has free-ridden on the United States for its defence indicates that the United States has had a significant degree of imperial control over Europe; hegemony manifesting as control over foreign policy.

The name ‘America’ itself is an imperial grab. America is the name for two continents, yet even the Canadians call the United States ‘America’, and its citizens ‘Americans’. American exceptionalism represents the weaponisation of democracy. Democracy is packaged as ‘Democracy’, a secular faith like ‘Communism’ or ‘Economic Liberalism’; a faith which must be proselytised, spread across the world as some kind of holy or secular crusade.

The remaining territories on the ‘autocratic’ ‘Dark Side’ – ie territories not subject to United States’ ‘protection’ – are mainly in continental Asia: especially West Asia (much of which is imperialistically called the ‘Middle East’, which extends to North Africa), North Asia, and East Asia. Though there is also very much a contest for South Asia; a contest, which if successful for the White Man’s force, will bring secular Hindi along with secular Judaism fully into the imperial fold of secular Christianity. (We note that the labels Hindu and Jew have long been name-tags which confuse and conflate religion with ethnicity. So it may soon be with Christianity; with top-tier Christians behaving very much as top-tier Jews behave today, as supremacist gift-givers and bomb-throwers.)

We should note that Catholic Christianity is now uneasy about this crusader culture, having been the main perpetrator of such culture nearly a millennium ago. And Orthodox Christianity is even more uneasy. In its North Asian (ie Russian) form, Orthodox Christianity – like Islam, and Chinese atheist capitalism – is a target of the present Christian Soldiers, not a collaborator. (The decline of the Christian East came with the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Ostensibly a western invasion force going to re-recover the ‘Holy Land’, instead that Crusade turned on Orthodox Christian Constantinople. The result was a weak Latin empire in the east; easy prey for the Ottoman forces which in 1453 created a Muslim empire in West Asia and Southeast Europe; an empire that lasted until 1918.)

The modern American-led crusading mentality represents a schism of Protestant Evangelism (which dates back in particular to the Calvinist side of the sixteenth century Reformation) and Secular Liberalism. Protestant Evangelism (increasingly known today as Christian Nationalism) is the imperial currency of today’s Republican Party, whereas Secular Liberalism is the imperial currency of today’s Democratic Party (although secular Neoliberalism is presently teaming up with the Evangelists). What both have in common is a will to impose themselves upon the rest of the world. And to produce and export lots of big guns, military hardware; making money, and making American jobs.

There are some strange bedfellows. As these two American socio-cultural Gods – Republican and Democrat; protagonist and antagonist, and vice versa – have battled out their Americanisms on a world stage, we have seen a significant posse of very rich devout Economic Liberals taking the side of the Christian Nationalists. So do a number of working-class and other disempowered former ballot-box ‘Leftists’, who wish to cast an anti-establishment vote but don’t know which way to turn. This dabbling with new right-radicalism (not unlike leftist dabbling in New Zealand in 1984 with the recently late Bob Jones’ New Zealand Party) follows the slow but comprehensive gutting of the Left-project that was so buoyant in the 1960s and 1970s.

The name Christian Nationalism is a misnomer; a better name is Christian Extranationalism. Rather than being an internationalist movement – internationalism is a liberal concept – this is a movement to perpetuate and extend the global domination of American culture, through imperial merchant capitalism. The United States was born out of British merchant capitalism (and New York out of Dutch merchant capitalism); its values and institutions reflect those of eighteenth-century western Europe. Just as the British exacted tribute from their American colonies; imperial America seeks to extract tribute through the ‘negotiation’ of asymmetric ‘deals’. Are we today witnessing an American Napoleon?

Money, Lies and God: by Katherine Stewart (2025)

Katherine Stewart this year has written about the new eclectic rightwing coalition in the United States that is coalescing under the name of Christian Nationalism. Though I’ve only read the introduction so far, the book has a real strength, in particular in identifying five components of this new new-right coalition: funders, thinkers, sergeants, infantry, power-players.

Of particular interest to me is the “out-sourced” relationship between the funders and the thinkers. While Stewart emphasises the ‘thinkers’ in the well-funded (and mostly conservative) ‘Think Tanks’, the real issue is that of ‘selective truth’, in the Darwinian sense of ‘selection’. Our ‘intellectual’ careerists compete to publish ‘truths’, and the truths which prevail will be the truths purchased by the ‘funders’, given that the funders have most of the funds.

This kind of relationship with truth is somewhat like a ‘court-of-law’, where commonly two ‘truths’ are subject to a contest in which one will be declared ‘the winner’. Not uncommonly, both rival ‘truths’ are at least partially false, and there may be other (possibly truer) truths that are not even ‘on the table’. Evidence represents a part of the court process, but by no means the whole of that process. The truth-relationship between the funders and thinkers is a corrupt form of the ‘law court’ model; the more corrupt the more wealth the conservative funders control. Academic careers – indeed scientists’ careers – are built on perpetuating narratives acceptable to their patrons.

While Money, Lies and God represents a prescient and useful analysis, ultimately it is part of the problem. It represents one side of the great American divide calling out the other side. The process of belligerent finger-pointing – between, in American language, ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ – is the bigger problem. Why bother talking about the world when you can talk about half of America instead? Indeed, too many American intellectuals talk and write about the United States as if America is the World; a kind of mental imperialism. (Another critique of American ‘Christian Nationalism’ can be found in a recent Upfront episode on Al Jazeera: The growing influence of Christian Nationalism and Christian Zionism in the United States.)

The problem of American imperialism belongs to both sides of the Divide; indeed, it is the Secular Liberalism of what has been exposed as the tone-deaf establishment – the Blinkens, Bidens and Nods – who represented the moral hypocrisy of America’s imperial democratic gift. (The sheer stupidity of the Biden re-election campaign is documented in Original Sin, 2025, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.) That is, the belief that America created modern Democracy, and that those parts of the world – especially the ‘western’ world – have special rights accruing to them because they have been awarded the ‘tick of Democracy’. These countries – and only these countries – have the “right to defend themselves”, the right to make war (as ‘defence through attack’), and the “right to possess nuclear weapons”.

Contemporary American imperialism is mainly a ‘West on East’ phenomenon; Asia is the target. Ukraine and Anatolia (Türkiye) are border territories between Europe and Asia. Palestine, perhaps too, given its location on the Mediterranean Sea; though the Mediterranean littoral, from Istanbul to Morocco, is better understood as West Asia, not Europe. Iran is unambiguously a part of Asia. What we are seeing at present is nothing less than a Euro-American invasion of Asia. Imperialism. Nuclear imperialism; geopolitical imperialism; cultural imperialism. The gift that keeps on taking.

Note on the boundary between Europe and Asia

We should note that the core geopolitical boundary between Europe and Asia was set by Charlemagne in around the year 800; representing the border between the predominancies of Catholic Christianity and Orthodox Christianity (harking back to the Western and Eastern Roman Empires). There are other important historic geopolitical boundaries in Eurasia, of course, such as the eastern and southern borders of Orthodox Christianity; and the eastern and northern borders of Islam-dominated territories. Indeed there is perpetual tension on the Pakistan-India border.

The principal medieval-era departure from that Charlemagne-set geopolitical boundary was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which peaked in territory in the fifteenth century. The first significant modern-era fudge of that geopolitical boundary was the West’s acquisition of Greece over the long 19th century (essentially 1820s to 1920s). The Great World War started in 1914 very much as an East-West border conflict in the Balkans of southeast Europe. After a week or two of fudging, the anglosphere took the Eastern side; siding with Russia over Austria and Germany.

Post World War Two, the next main geopolitical border fudges were the ‘settlements’ which placed a number of mainly Catholic East European countries into Russia’s orb; and which placed Türkiye (then Turkey) into NATO. The current twenty first century fudge is one of European expansion, placing a number of predominantly Orthodox territories – most notably Ukraine – firmly into the European political realm.

This longstanding geopolitical boundary contrasts with the widely-accepted geographic boundary; the latter – based more on physical geography and ethnicity than on faith-culture – passes along the Ural and Caucasus mountain chains, and through the lower Volga River, the Black Sea and the Bosporus/Dardanelle channels. Geopolitically, Russia, Belarus and Türkiye should be understood today to be Asian countries; indeed, the lower Dnieper River and line of the military trenches in Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk constitute the current geopolitical boundary between West and East; between Europe and Asia. And the lines within Eretz Israel – separating Israel from Palestine – also represent geopolitical borders; and American geopolitical encroachment on Asia.

*******

Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Gaza – Deliberate shortages of food, medicine and fuel by Israeli authorities are suffocating Gaza

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF)

Gaza, 20 June 2025— Palestinians are perpetually on the verge of losing access to essential medical care and clean water due to deliberate actions by Israeli authorities. This policy restricts the entry of medical supplies and fuel to the bare minimum and at their whim. While this strategy creates the illusion of aid flowing into the Strip, it effectively prevents the humanitarian response from reaching even the minimum required for a population entirely reliant on assistance. The Israeli authorities must end their collective punishment of the people in Gaza and immediately allow the consistent entry of sufficient medical supplies and fuel.

Over the past week we have seen large influxes of wounded patients, many of whom have suffered traumatic injuries. At Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) field hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, the number of patients with gunshot wounds increased by 190 per cent compared to the week before. Clinics, such as Khan Younis clinic and Deir Al-Balah clinic, saw their highest weekly intake to date. Following three months of total blockade and despite Israel’s claims to have opened supply corridors, MSF’s supplies are running critically low due to continuing restrictions imposed on entering goods.

“We are missing everything, medical consumables like gauze, medications and food for our patients. This also includes therapeutic food for people with malnutrition, especially children,” says Katja Storck, nursing activity manager in Khan Younis.

Along with crucial medical supplies, the dangerously low level of fuel is a big concern for people in Gaza as it powers the desalination plants where much of the clean water comes from. Palestinians across the Strip have already seen their access to water drop significantly. Without fuel, millions of people will be trapped with no safe drinking water. Equally, fuel powers the entire healthcare system: medical equipment, air conditioning, elevators, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and cold-chain storage for medicines and vaccines. Even ambulances will be grounded, preventing the transport of critically ill and wounded people.

“Newborns in neonatal intensive care units are often too small to breathe on their own — they need ventilators and oxygen to survive. But recently lack of fuel has caused electricity at Al-Helou Maternity hospital in northern Gaza to cut out several times, shutting off ventilators and oxygen and putting babies’ lives at immediate risk,” says Amy Low, medical team leader in Gaza City.

Yesterday, the UN managed to retrieve 280,000 litres of fuel from the stocks which are stuck in a no-go area in Rafah, after the Israeli authorities denied 12 previous requests. As fuel stocks got so low, the teams at Al-Helou, where MSF teams work in the maternity ward, had to temporarily shut down elevators in the hospital to ration stocks.

“The charade of only allowing medical and fuel supplies at the very last minute ahead of a looming disaster is nothing but a band aid on a gushing wound. The weaponisation of aid must end,” says Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. “No militarised scheme developed by a warring party, like the one we are witnessing with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, can replace the work of independent humanitarian agencies.”

MSF teams are witnessing patterns consistent with genocide in Gaza. Mass killings, the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, and severe restrictions on fuel supplies and the delivery of aid are deliberate actions. Israel is systematically dismantling the conditions necessary for Palestinian life.

MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation. MSF has been working in Haiti for over 30 years, offering general healthcare, trauma care, burn wound care, maternity care, and care for survivors of sexual violence. MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. In 2022, more than 120 project staff from Australia and New Zealand worked with MSF on assignment overseas. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: £750,000 to break down barriers and get more young people into aviation jobs
Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

Press release

£750,000 to break down barriers and get more young people into aviation jobs

Organisations have until 12 September 2025 to apply for the latest Reach for the Sky Challenge fund.
new funding will break down barriers and help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into aviation careers

this brings the Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund to over £3 million: helping to secure the pilots, engineers and aviation professionals of the future

this funding will further turbocharge the £20 billion air transport and aerospace sector, supporting its 240,000 UK jobs and delivering growth through our Plan for Change

The next generation of pilots and engineers will benefit from new £750,000 funding to inspire them, support them into jobs and break down barriers to the sector.

Organisations can, from today (20 June 2025), apply for the latest Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund to help deliver aviation outreach programmes targeting disadvantaged young people, including those from ethnic minorities, who may not have considered a career in the sector before.

Now on its fourth round, Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund has already delivered £2.5 million to 40 organisations and has reached over 100,000 young people across the country.

Funding can be used to deliver a range of programmes from career events, mentorship schemes, interactive demonstrations and educational initiatives with schools and universities.

This builds on the government’s promise to secure the long-term success of aviation by growing the workforce of the future. It will also break down the barriers which prevent people from joining the industry, including limited access to education, financial constraints and lack of exposure to career options.

To launch the funding, Aviation Minister Mike Kane visited a careers workshop being held by current funding recipients, The King’s Trust, in a Liverpool youth centre. Young adults, ranging from 16 to 30, met aviation specialists, learning about the job opportunities locally in the industry and how to apply. They also took part in employability workshops focused on developing the practical skills needed for work.

Aviation Minister, Mike Kane, said:

This is exactly what this government is all about – breaking down barriers to opportunity so that everyone, no matter their background, has a decent shot at getting a good career and building a good life.

This funding will enable organisations like The King’s Trust to reach out to disadvantaged kids and support them into careers in aviation.

It also delivers on our promise to help the sector grow, by delivering the pilots, engineers and technicians of the future, boosting jobs and growth across the country as part of the Plan for Change.

Such DfT-funded schemes have already supported over 100,000 young adults across the country to consider joining the industry.

Aspiring aerospace engineer James, 24, from Bath, has struggled to find work since finishing school. Challenges with his mental health impacted his studies and confidence, and he left without the qualifications he wanted.

After completing a King’s Trust ‘Get Ready with Aviation’ programme last November, he successfully applied to study science, engineering and maths at Bristol University and starts in September.

James said:

Before the programme, I felt lost and uncertain about my future. I’d always been interested in space, but didn’t know where to start or what my options were. It felt out of reach. The programme helped me realise that working in the industry is possible and inspired me to apply for university and pursue my dream.

Applications for the fund are now open until 12 September 2025 and applications will be reviewed by a joint panel of  DfT and UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) , which administers the fund on DfT’s behalf.

Sophie Jones, STEM Sponsor at the CAA, said:

As the aviation regulator, we are dedicated to inspiring the next generation who will take the sector forward.

The Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund helps reach people making the first step.

By reaching and empowering diverse communities and creating a lasting impact, we are inspiring young people across the UK to explore exciting careers in aviation.

Julia Beaumont, Chief Technology and Programmes Officer at The King’s Trust, said:

During the past 2 years, this funding has been vital in raising awareness of the job opportunities available for young people in the aviation industry, alongside equipping them with the confidence and skills to pursue these roles.

With a rapidly changing jobs market, supporting this generation to overcome the barriers they face in accessing these opportunities is crucial, not only benefiting them, but also their local communities and economy.

Jeni Trice, CEO and Chief Coding Adventurer at Get with the Program, said:

We’re already so pleased by the fantastic impact of our 2024 Reach for the Sky grant, which is helping us inspire 18,000 children aged 5 to 8 to become the aerospace tech innovators of the future.

We know that higher aspirations, skills development, and social mobility opportunities are all vital for the UK’s future economic success and through this grant funding, we’ve been able to deliver initiatives, such as our ‘Moon Landing Coding Adventure’, which exposes children to exciting STEM careers in aerospace.

Mariya Tarabanovska, Founder of Flight Crowd and DfT Aviation Ambassador, said:

Thanks to this funding, Flight Crowd has connected the next generation of talent with the fast-evolving Future Flight sector — delivering outreach, mentoring, 1:1 career support and industry insights that have empowered over 400 students to shape the skies of tomorrow.

As a 2-time recipient and DfT Aviation Ambassador, I know how vital it is to invest in our future workforce. This is an unmissable opportunity for organisations to create real, lasting impact.

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Published 20 June 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Many elite athletes live below the poverty line. Tax-deductible donations won’t solve the problem

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University

Australia’s Jaclyn Narracott competes in the women’s skeleton at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images

As the end of the 2024-25 financial year nears, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), in partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF), has launched a new joint fundraising initiative allowing Australians to make tax-deductible donations directly to Australia’s Olympians and Paralympians.

The ASF is an “Item 1” Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) and is the only organisation in Australia that allows a donor to claim a tax deduction for philanthropic donations to sport.

This is because sport is not currently eligible for either DGR or charitable status under Australian law.

But is this new joint fundraising initiative a gold medal idea for our athletes, or one that falls short of a podium finish?

Aussies tax payers and Olympic dreams

The new initiative, named the “Aspiring Australian Olympian Funding program”, means individual donations of A$2 or more made through the ASF are tax-deductible.

Australians can direct funds to a specific athlete, coach or official selected to participate in representative, elite or high performance sport in the Olympic/Paralympic program (summer and winter).

Depending on the donor’s marginal tax rate, the effective cost of a donation may be reduced up to 62% for the highest earners (over $250,000).

For instance, a $1,000 donation could yield a tax refund of up to $470, bringing the net cost down to just $530.

Companies paying the full company tax rate that donate $1,000 would reduce their tax by $300 (30%).

Ahead of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, more than 30 Australian athletes (from disciplines such as alpine skiing, bobsleigh and figure skating) have signed up to use the platform.

However, many Australian athletes are struggling financially, so more financial support is needed.

The brutal reality for many athletes

The ASF’s 2023 “Running on Empty” report found many of Australia’s elite athletes were under significant financial pressure: 46% of those over the age of 18 were earning less than $23,000 per year. This places them below the poverty line at $489 a week.

The report also found 67% of elite athletes said their financial struggles affected their parents and support networks. Also, 42% of elite athletes aged 18-34 reported they were suffering poor mental health as a result of their financial predicament.

The report also found the costs of training, equipment, travel and accommodation continued to rise, resulting in many questioning the sustainability of elite sport funding models both here and abroad.

Pros and cons

The new funding program’s use of tax incentives as a funding carrot is good in principle, but there are potential unintended consequences.

This includes athletes being pitted against one another: there is a danger the athletes best skilled in marketing and public relations will receive more funding.

The current economic climate doesn’t bode well for the program. Many Australians are facing cost-of-living pressures, which means a lot of people may not be able to donate even if they want to.

Also, what happens if an athlete who benefits from the program is injured or found to be a drug cheat, and can’t compete? Can a donor request a refund?

Finally, taxpayers who have the most capacity to donate are likely high income earners, some of whom may donate to sport entities already. Now, their donations will be subsidised by the tax system.

Some alternative ideas

In the United Kingdom, National Lottery revenue plays a significant role in funding Olympic and Paralympic sports. Administered by UK Sport (the UK’s equivalent of the ASC) funds from the lottery are directed to high performance sports programs and athletes.

This approach could be replicated in Australia.

Another idea is to redirect a portion of government taxes collected from sports betting, which could be lucrative given Australia’s love of sports gambling.

Read more:
Gambling in Australia: how bad is the problem, who gets harmed most and where may we be heading?

The federal government could offer a further incentive by matching peoples’ donations dollar for dollar.

As we direct funds to athletes, we need also think about the potential tax impact for them. Will the funds they receive be considered income and be taxed? The government could consider making the payment to the athlete tax free.

If we are going to succeed on the world stage, especially as the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games approach, we need to financially support our athletes so they can focus on representing their country.

Michelle O’Shea receives funding from the Olympic Studies Centre.

Connie Vitale receives funding from the federal government as part of the National Tax Clinic Program. She is affiliated with the Institute of Public Accountants and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Robert B Whait receives funding from the federal government as part of the National Tax Clinic Program, Financial Literacy Australia (now Ecstra Foundation), ANZ Bank, and the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC). He is affiliated with the Tax Institute of Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

– ref. Many elite athletes live below the poverty line. Tax-deductible donations won’t solve the problem – https://theconversation.com/many-elite-athletes-live-below-the-poverty-line-tax-deductible-donations-wont-solve-the-problem-258914

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: News 06/19/2025 VIDEO: Blackburn Blasts Democrats’ Efforts to Obstruct ICE with Former Acting ICE Director on ‘Unmuted with Marsha’

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released a new episode of ‘Unmuted with Marsha’ blasting the Democrats’ efforts to obstruct the lawful operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that keep Americans safe by removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities.

Senator Blackburn spoke with Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey about the alarming increase in threats against ICE agents, how her REMOVE Act would expedite deportations of criminal illegal aliens, and how her Protecting Law Enforcement from Doxxing Act would protect law enforcement officers from being targeted by criminal gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.

Click here to watch this episode of ‘Unmuted with Marsha.’

“People do not want Tren de Aragua, MS-13, violent gangs in their neighborhoods and communities. They not only want them out; they want them out fast. They just don’t want them there. But I have found it so interesting that these mayors – whether it is Nashville, L.A., Boston, Chicago – that they are fighting against ICE, and in Nashville, we even do the doxxing of our Homeland Security investigators and our ICE agents. The law is you cannot be here illegally. There is a proper way to come – a legal way – and you cannot commit crimes when you are here in our country. That is a violation of the law,” said Senator Blackburn.

RELATED

MIL OSI USA News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Nuclear scientists  have long been targets in covert ops – Israel has brought that policy out of the shadows

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jenna Jordan, Associate Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

Portraits of Iranian military generals and nuclear scientists killed in Israel’s June 13, 2025, attack are displayed on a sign as a plume of heavy smoke and fire rise from an oil refinery in southern Tehran Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

At least 14 nuclear scientists are believed to be among those killed in Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, launched on June 13, 2025, ostensibly to destroy or degrade Iran’s nuclear program and military capabilities.

Deliberately targeting scientists in this way aims to disrupt Iran’s knowledge base and continuity in nuclear expertise. Among those assassinated were Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a theoretical physicist and head of Iran’s Islamic Azad University, and Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, a nuclear engineer who led Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

Collectively, these experts in physics and engineering were potential successors to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, widely regarded as the architect of the Iranian nuclear program, who was assassinated in a November 2020 attack many blame on Israel.

As two political scientists writing a book about state targeting of scientists as a counterproliferation tool, we understand well that nuclear scientists have been targeted since the nuclear age began. We have gathered data on nearly 100 instances of what we call “scientist targeting” from 1944 through 2025.

The most recent assassination campaign against Iranian scientists is different from many of the earlier episodes in a few key ways. Israel’s recent attack targeted multiple nuclear experts and took place simultaneously with military force to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, air defenses and energy infrastructure. Also, unlike previous covert operations, Israel immediately claimed responsibility for the assassinations.

But our research indicates that targeting scientists may not be effective for counterproliferation. While removing individual expertise may delay nuclear acquisition, targeting alone is unlikely to destroy a program outright and could even increase a country’s desire for nuclear weapons. Further, targeting scientists may trigger blowback given concerns regarding legality and morality.

A policy with a long history

Targeting nuclear scientists began during World War II when Allied and Soviet forces raced to capture Nazi scientists, degrade Adolf Hitler’s ability to build a nuclear bomb and use their expertise to advance the U.S. and Soviet nuclear programs.

In our data set, we classified “targeting” as cases in which scientists were captured, threatened, injured or killed as nations tried to prevent adversaries from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Over time, at least four countries have targeted scientists working on nine national nuclear programs.

The United States and Israel have allegedly carried out the most attacks on nuclear scientists. But the United Kingdom and Soviet Union have also been behind such attacks.

Meanwhile, scientists working for the Egyptian, Iranian and Iraqi nuclear programs have been the most frequent targets since 1950. Since 2007 and prior to the current Israeli operation, 10 scientists involved in the Iranian nuclear program were killed in attacks. Other countries’ nationals have also been targeted: In 1980, Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, allegedly bombed Italian engineer Mario Fiorelli’s home and his firm, SNIA Techint, as a warning to Europeans involved in the Iraqi nuclear project.

Given this history, the fact that Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear program is not itself surprising. Indeed, it has been a strategic goal of successive Israeli prime ministers to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and experts had been warning of the increased likelihood of an Israeli military operation since mid-2024, due to regional dynamics and Iranian nuclear development.

The wrecked cars in which four of Iran’s nuclear scientists were assassinated in recent years are displayed on the grounds of a museum in Tehran in 2014.
Scott Peterson/Getty Images

By then, the balance of power in the Middle East had changed dramatically. Israel systematically degraded the leadership and infrastructure of Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah. It later destroyed Iranian air defenses around Tehran and near key nuclear installations. The subsequent fall of Syria’s Assad regime cost Tehran another long-standing ally. Together, these developments have significantly weakened Iran, leaving it vulnerable to external attack and stripped of its once-feared proxy network, which had been expected to retaliate on its behalf in the event of hostilities.

With its proxy “axis of resistance” defanged and conventional military capacity degraded, Iranian leadership may have thought that expanding its enrichment capability was its best bet going forward.

And in the months leading up to Israel’s recent attack, Iran expanded its nuclear production capacity, moving beyond 60% uranium enrichment, a technical step just short of weapons-grade material. During Donald Trump’s first term, the president withdrew the U.S. from a multilateral nonproliferation agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. After being reelected, Trump appeared to change tack by pursuing new diplomacy with Iran, but those talks have so far failed to deliver an agreement – and may be put on hold for the foreseeable future amid the war.

Most recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors declared Iran in non-compliance with its nuclear-nonproliferation obligations. In response, Iran announced it was further expanding its enrichment capacity by adding advanced centrifuge technology and a third enrichment site.

Even if the international community anticipated the broader attack on Iran, characteristics of the targeting itself are surprising. Historically, states have covertly targeted individual scientists. But the recent multiple-scientist attack occurred openly, with Israel taking responsibility, publicly indicating the attacks’ purpose. Further, while it is not new for a country to use multiple counter-proliferation tools against an adversary over time, that Israel is using both preventive military force against infrastructure and targeting scientists at once is atypical.

Additionally, such attacks against scientists are historically lower tech and low cost, with death or injury stemming from gunmen, car bombs or accidents. In fact, Abbasi – who was killed in the most recent attacks – survived a 2010 car bombing in Tehran. There are outliers, however, including the Fakhrizadeh assassination, which featured a remotely operated machine gun smuggled into Iranian territory.

Israel’s logic in going after scientists

Why target nuclear scientists?

In foreign policy, there are numerous tools available if one state aims to prevent another state from acquiring nuclear weapons. Alongside targeting scientists, there are sanctions, diplomacy, cyberattacks and military force.

Targeting scientists may remove critical scientific expertise and impose costs that increase the difficulty of building nuclear weapons. Proponents argue that targeting these experts may undermine a state’s efforts, deter it from continuing nuclear developments and signal to others the perils of supporting nuclear proliferation.

Countries that target scientists therefore believe that doing so is an effective way to degrade an adversary’s nuclear program. Indeed, the Israel Defense Forces described the most recent attacks as “a significant blow to the regime’s ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction.”

Posters featuring images of Iranian nuclear scientists are displayed in Tehran, Iran, on June 14, 2025.
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images

Despite Israel’s focus on scientists as sources of critical knowledge, there may be thousands more working inside Iran, calling into question the efficacy of targeting them. Further, there are legal, ethical and moral concerns over targeting scientists.

Moreover, it is a risky option that may fail to disrupt an enemy nuclear program while sparking public outrage and calls for retaliation. This is especially the case if scientists, often regarded as civilians, are elevated as martyrs.

Targeting campaigns may, as a result, reinforce domestic support for a government, which could then redouble efforts toward nuclear development.

Regardless of whether targeting scientists is an effective counter-proliferation tool, it has been around since the start of the nuclear age – and will likely persist as part of the foreign policy toolkit for states aiming to prevent proliferation. In the case of the current Israeli conflict with Iran and its targeting of nuclear scientists, we expect the tactic to continue for the duration of the war and beyond.

Rachel Whitlark is a nonresident senior fellow in the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Jenna Jordan 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. Nuclear scientists  have long been targets in covert ops – Israel has brought that policy out of the shadows – https://theconversation.com/nuclear-scientists-have-long-been-targets-in-covert-ops-israel-has-brought-that-policy-out-of-the-shadows-259263

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: WHO – Global Leaders Unite to Accelerate Cervical Cancer Elimination Efforts

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

New commitments at Bali Forum drive momentum to save hundreds of thousands of girls and women from cancer

BALI, Indonesia, 19 June 2025 – Governments, donors, multilateral institutions, the private sector, and partners today announced significant policy, programmatic, and financial commitments to eliminate one of the most preventable cancers.

At the 2nd Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum, hosted in Bali, Indonesia, on 17-19 June, leaders announced a wave of new investments and policy pledges to expand access to HPV vaccination, screening, and treatment – bringing the world closer to making cervical cancer the first cancer to ever be eliminated.

The Forum is attended by more than 300 participants, among them are high-level delegates, such as Ministers of Health from Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu, as well as Vice Ministers from Costa Rica, Paraguay, and South Africa, demonstrating strong political commitment from countries across regions.

The Global Strategy for the elimination of cervical cancer sets clear targets for 2030: 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by age 15; 70% of women screened with a high-performance test by age 35 and again at 45; and 90% of women identified with cervical disease receiving appropriate treatment. Progress across all three pillars is essential to achieve and sustain elimination.

“In 2018, WHO issued a global call for action to eliminate cervical cancer on the world to act, and the commitments made here in Indonesia show that call is being answered,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “But we must go further and faster. Every girl who remains unvaccinated and every woman who lacks access to screening or treatment is a reminder that equity must be at the heart of our elimination strategy. Together, we can consign cervical cancer to the history books.”

Despite being preventable, cervical cancer still claims the life of a woman every two minutes – 94% of them in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Less than five per cent of women in many LMICs receive cervical cancer screening due to health system limitations, cost barriers and logistical challenges.

Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) – the leading cause of cervical cancer – can prevent the vast majority of cases, averting 17.4 deaths for every 1000 girls vaccinated. Combined with screening and treatment—including for precancerous lesions and invasive cancer— it provides a path to elimination. However, as of 2024 only 46 per cent of low-income countries have introduced HPV vaccination nationally, compared to 98 per cent of high-income nations.

The Bali forum builds on momentum from Cartagena, Colombia, where nearly US$ 600 million was committed last year to scale up efforts. 194 countries have adopted WHO’s global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer and 75 countries globally

have adopted the single-dose HPV vaccine, which expands access to the vaccine to even more girls and saves costs. Vaccination coverage is also improving: in Africa, first dose coverage rose from 28% in 2022 to 40% in 2023 – making it the region with the second-highest rate globally and empowering millions of girls to protect their health and realize their potential. There is increased vaccine supply thanks to market shaping efforts by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and updated recommendations are helping to make cervical cancer screening and treatment more affordable.

The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia continues to accelerate the national HPV vaccination program to reduce mortality rates from cervical cancer. Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin emphasized the urgency of this initiative, as cervical cancer remains one of the leading causes of death among women in Indonesia.

To address this issue, the Ministry of Health is not only expanding free HPV vaccination coverage for school-age girls but also strengthening early detection programs for cervical cancer through DNA HPV test and co-testing with IVA (Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid) at health-care facilities. Additionally, the ministry is collaborating with various stakeholders, including local governments and community organizations, to enhance public education and awareness about the importance of early prevention.

“We cannot rely solely on treatment. Prevention is far more important. Therefore, in addition to HPV vaccination, we strongly encourage regular screening so that cancer can be detected at an early stage before it progresses,” said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

Early detection significantly increases the chances of recovery and reduces treatment cost. For this reason, combining screening and vaccination is essential for effectively preventing and tackling cervical cancer.

Alongside gains in vaccination, countries are also reporting progress in expanding access to cervical cancer screening and treatment, aligned with WHO recommendations. Innovations such as self-sampling are improving reach and feasibility, especially in low-resource settings. Many countries are scaling up national screening programmes and investing in treatment services to ensure that women who test positive receive timely and appropriate care.

This growing global push, driven by renewed commitments from governments and partners at the Forum shows that it is possible to reverse the tide and prevent annual deaths from rising to over 410 000 by 2030, as currently estimated.

To sustain and accelerate this momentum, donors committed to a future free from cervical cancer are strongly urged to fully fund Gavi, which aims to vaccinate an additional 120 million girls between 2026-2030, saving 1.5 million lives.

“At its heart, this movement is about justice. It’s about ensuring that every girl and every woman, regardless of where she lives or what she earns, has access to basic, lifesaving care,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “As we build these services, we are not just preventing cancer, we are strengthening the bond between women and the health system. We are breaking down barriers. We are dismantling stigma. We are advancing the broader agenda for women’s health. Let us act now—so that every woman, everywhere, can live a healthy, dignified life.”

Continued support is also essential for the coordinated efforts of governments, and global partners across the full elimination strategy to help bring us closer to a world where no girl or woman dies from a disease that there is the power to eliminate. Further, the forum calls countries to set ambitious national targets, align with global commitments, and strengthen collective action toward a cervical cancer-free world by 2030 through the Bali Declaration to Reaffirm Commitment to Cervical Cancer Elimination.

Notes:

Country commitments made at the forum include:

Government of Indonesia

Indonesia stands unwavering in its mission to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030, ensuring that every woman, regardless of socioeconomic status, can live free from its threat. With an ambitious national 90-75-90 target, Indonesia is scaling up its efforts and setting a precedent for bold, decisive action.

Recognizing that elimination requires sustained commitment, Indonesia is mobilizing all sectors through evidence-based programming, strong local leadership, and dynamic multi-stakeholder collaboration. We are prioritizing substantial investments in the health system and fortifying the key pillars of progress—governance, financial sustainability, and social outreach—to drive real change.

With the National Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan 2023–2030 launch, Indonesia has solidified a comprehensive partnership ecosystem spanning ministries, local governments, civil society, communities, and international development partners. Significant strides have been made across the three elimination pillars: vaccination, screening, and treatment. To accelerate our impact, Indonesia is advancing the following commitments:

1. HPV Vaccination – Reaching Every Girl, Every Woman

By the end of 2025, Indonesia will transition to a single-dose HPV vaccination schedule, deploying both school-based and community-based platforms to ensure 90% coverage of HPV vaccination among girls and women in all target groups by 2030.

2. Cervical Cancer Screening – Scaling Up and Innovating

Indonesia is dramatically expanding its screening efforts to reach 75% of women aged 30–69 by 2030, using high-performance HPV DNA testing—a globally recognized best practice. Nationwide pilots are already underway, with full-scale adoption targeted by the end of 2025.

3. Treatment and Care – Strengthening Access and Innovation

Indonesia is fortifying its health system by closing diagnostic and treatment services gaps. Key advancements include accelerated procurement of essential diagnostic tools and treatment equipment and expanded access to chemotherapy, immunohistochemistry testing, and cryotherapy across all regions. Additionally, we are upskilling our healthcare workforce to ensure expertise in the latest treatment techniques.

As we move forward, Indonesia is embedding cervical cancer elimination within its broader National Cancer Control Plan 2025–2034, driving continuous monitoring, research, and evidence-based policy refinement to guarantee universal access to preventive and curative services.

Indonesia is fully committed to accelerating progress, ensuring that every woman across the country has access to the services needed for cervical cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment. At this pivotal global forum, Indonesia with the participants of the forum urge countries to set ambitious national targets, align with global commitments, and strengthen collective action toward a cervical cancer-free world by 2030 through the adoption of Bali Declaration to Reaffirm Commitment to Cervical Cancer Elimination.

Other Government commitments

Government of Pakistan

The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination reaffirms Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to cervical cancer elimination, aligning with the WHO’s 2030 targets. With over 5,000 new cases and 3,000 deaths annually, cervical cancer is a public health challenge in Pakistan. We are prioritizing a comprehensive strategy focusing on HPV vaccination for adolescent girls starting in 2025, alongside strengthening screening programs and ensuring timely treatment access.

Our goal is to achieve a future where no woman in Pakistan loses her life to this preventable disease.

Government of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea has committed to eliminate cervical cancer from the country. Integrated cervical cancer screening and treatment has been scaled up and the country plans to introduce HPV vaccine nationally in 2026.

Government of Samoa

Samoa has made major strides:

Over 80% HPV vaccination coverage among girls aged 10–18, supported by ADB and UNICEF.
Our first Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy was developed in 2023 with UNFPA support.
The National Cancer Policy and Action Plan (2024–2029) was approved by our government last December and was funded with Australian assistance.

Our approach integrates screening into primary care, uses mobile outreach, and embeds community engagement through the Fa’asamoa and “Healthy Islands” principles.

We recognise the challenges—limited resources and workforce—but we remain committed to combining prevention, screening, and partnerships to achieve our goals.

This program is about equity, hope, and action. Every woman in Samoa deserves access to life-saving care. As a Pacific nation and proud Commonwealth member, we are determined to lead by example.

Together, we will eliminate cervical cancer and save lives.
Thank you for the assistance from our Development Partners and the Global Community.

Co-host commitments

Gates Foundation

The Gates Foundation is committed to protecting the next generation of women from cervical cancer by increasing equitable, sustainable access to HPV vaccines in low- and middle-income countries and we are proud to support Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and countries in the ongoing work to accelerate the introduction and scale-up of HPV vaccines.

We continue in our commitment that supports research on new prophylactic HPV vaccines, further studies investigating the durability of protection of single-dose vaccination, and tools to help countries better understand how vaccines might be used beyond current target populations. And we remain dedicated to our partnerships with governments, non-governmental organizations, multilateral organizations, and the private sector. Working together, we can eliminate cervical cancer.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi reaffirms its commitment to the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative by supporting lower- and middle-income countries to introduce, finance and scale up coverage of HPV vaccines to drive equitable and sustainable access.

In partnership with countries and Alliance partners, Gavi is on track to reach its ambitious goal of protecting 86 million girls with the lifesaving HPV vaccine by the end of 2025. To date, we have supported 45 countries to introduce the HPV vaccine to their routine systems. This effort is expected to prevent more than 1.4 million future deaths from cervical cancer and represents a major step forward in advancing health equity.

In Gavi’s next strategic period 2026–2030, Gavi aims to intensify its efforts by reaching over 120 million additional girls with the HPV vaccine- an initiative that could save 1.5 million more lives. Achieving this goal will depend on a fully funded Gavi for the next strategic period. Gavi’s investment in HPV vaccination programmes provides a strong foundation for elimination initiatives across the pillars of WHO’s Global Strategy for Cervical Cancer Elimination.

Investing in the health of women and girls is essential to unlocking their full potential and building a healthier, more equitable future for all.

UNICEF

At the 2024 Forum, UNICEF announced an investment of USD 10 million towards the HPV vaccine programme (the HPV Plus initiative). Through the HPV Plus initiative and other investments and partnerships, UNICEF supported the vaccination of over 20 million girls across the 21 HPV Plus implementing countries. Importantly, UNICEF forged strong multi-sectoral engagements and partnerships, working directly with over 250,000 stakeholders in the 21 countries to ensure access for key integrated adolescent health services including nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDs, menstrual hygiene management, and related services to over 490,000 girls – in addition to receiving the HPV vaccine.

In UNICEF’s next strategic plan for 2026-2029 we commit to supporting vaccination of 100 million girls with the HPV vaccine. UNICEF will continue to leverage its programmatic and multi-sectoral footprint to advance effective initiatives including integrated HPV vaccination and adolescent health services and strengthening effective delivery platforms including school-based vaccination. We will also continue to generate and share evidence to help build stronger immunization and health programmes that advance the wellbeing of adolescent girls.

UNICEF will also leverage its Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) program alongside its cervical cancer diagnostic toolkit to shape markets and to create linkages for the screening and treatment pillars of the cervical cancer elimination strategy. Through key programmatic touchpoints, we will raise awareness among country stakeholders and partners about effective screening and treatment options, while providing technical support where feasible.

Unitaid

Unitaid has been a leading investor in the secondary prevention of cervical cancer for over six years and ever since the WHO launched the call to action in 2018. This long-standing engagement reflects Unitaid’s dedication to closing the prevention gap for millions of women worldwide who are not eligible for or able to access the HPV vaccination.

Building on this foundation, Unitaid will invest an additional US$50 million over the next two years to accelerate access to screening and pre-cancer treatment, resulting in a cumulative commitment now reaching US$130 million. This includes an immediate US$18 million investment to directly support 18 countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean in establishing and scaling national programs. These efforts will prioritize the rapid uptake of HPV testing and pre-cancer treatment devices, decentralized screening models to reach underserved populations, and the integration of services into health systems in ways that are both sustainable and cost-effective.

In addition to country-level support, Unitaid will strengthen regional mechanisms that benefit a broader set of countries. This includes expanding supply options to improve access to affordable commodities and fostering South-South learning structures that promote local innovation and experience sharing. Through these efforts, Unitaid aims to help countries accelerate progress toward their national cervical cancer elimination goals and contribute meaningfully to the global 90-70-90 targets.

Civil Society Organisations

African Cervical Health Alliance (ACHA)

As a network of grassroots civil society organisations, activists and allies committed to advancing the health and wellbeing of African women, thus safeguarding the fabric of our communities, and nations, the African Cervical Health Alliance (ACHA) remains committed to using our knowledge of the community, our collective voices, experiences, and skills as cervical cancer survivors, caregivers and allies, in our advocacy with and for our women and girls, in the achievement of the WHO 90/70/90 targets by 2030.

ACHA will continue scaling up the use of our evidence based, customisable IEC materials to reach at least 150,000 adolescent girls, women, parents, and community leaders across underserved communities with culturally appropriate and age-specific messages about HPV, the importance of HPV vaccination for all eligible girls, routine cervical cancer screening and access to treatment.

We will also continue to advocate for increased HPV vaccine uptake by integrating cervical health messages into at least 100 advocacy and community engagement activities annually with key populations, including but not limited to school health programs, youth forums, and faith-based initiatives.

We are also committed to supporting government-led efforts in our respective member countries, through technical input, stakeholder engagement, and community mobilization to adopt WHO’s recommendation for single-dose HPV vaccine schedule for our girls, and to expand access to high performance screening tests for all women, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

We stand firm in our commitment to building the advocacy capacity of grassroots champions and cancer survivors, by training at least 200 advocates by June 2026 to lead awareness campaigns, reduce stigma, and foster demand for cervical cancer prevention services.

Our commitments remain resolute, in accelerating the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem across Africa, with a focus on underserved populations, and advocating for the integration of preventive services at all levels of implementation. We therefore pledge to use our unified voice, networks, and tools to catalyse political will, drive accountability, and ensure no woman or girl is left behind in the journey to a cervical cancer free Africa.

Association for Mothers and Newborns (AMAN)

The Association for Mothers and Newborns (AMAN) reaffirms its commitment to cervical cancer elimination, in alignment with the WHO’s 90-70-90 targets and as a national health priority of Pakistan.

As a community-rooted professional organization, AMAN recognizes that demand generation, social mobilisation, and evidence-based advocacy are essential pillars to increase the uptake of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening services, particularly in underserved and marginalized communities. AMAN also provides professional training in Screening methods (Cytology, VIA), and treatment with Colposcopy, LLETZ and Surgical management.

Through its GAVI-funded advocacy project in Sindh province (2025–26), AMAN is addressing vaccine hesitancy, countering misconceptions, and mobilizing families, community leaders, teachers, and caregivers to support HPV vaccination for adolescent girls. The initiative aims to reach over 400,000 adolescent girls, parents, and teachers via community awareness sessions, health camps, and digital outreach. It has also successfully engaged local influencers, health workers, and peer educators as advocates for cervical cancer prevention and health equity.

AMAN pledges to collaborate with public health authorities, civil society, and global partners to amplify local voices, remove barriers, and accelerate Pakistan’s progress toward the global goal of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem. Together, with a multipronged approach, we can end cervical cancer.

Cancer Awareness, Prevention and Early Detection Trust (CAPED)

As a founding member of the Cervical Cancer Elimination Consortium – India (CCEC-I), CAPED commits to being the community engagement partner and extending outreach through its 48 partner organizations and their extended networks to support the rollout of HPV vaccination and a national cervical cancer screening program.

By June 2026, we will coordinate efforts to:
• Develop a national preparedness map and readiness report using real-time grassroots data, reflecting local realities on awareness, access, and health system readiness.
• Collect and document human interest stories from communities to highlight both challenges and successes in cancer prevention efforts.
• Create and disseminate contextually relevant communication materials that resonate with diverse audiences and address stigma, misinformation, and fear.

These efforts will help ground national strategies in lived experiences and ensure that civil society plays a central role in advancing equitable, people-centred cervical cancer elimination in India.

Girls and Women Health Initiative (GWHI)

GWHI commits to double its impacts in advocacy for HPV vaccination, cervical cancer screening and treatment, along with disseminating the findings from the first ever situation analysis commissioned by the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination, Pakistan and WHO.

GWHI has also created the Pakistan Alliance for Cervical Cancer Elimination (PACCE), a platform to bring together all partners, governmental and non-governmental, working in Pakistan for cervical cancer elimination, to amplify efforts and impact.

Union for International Cancer Control

The Union for International Cancer Control is committed to working alongside its 1,150 members across 172 countries and territories to address inequities and drive global action towards the elimination of cervical cancer. With a strong reputation in global advocacy, a rich history of delivering initiatives to support national action, and flagship convening platforms that facilitate peer-to-peer exchange and foster collaboration, UICC continues to champion efforts that improve access to care, sustain progress, and lessen the impact of cervical cancer on individuals, their families and communities.

As part of its new three-year business plan, UICC will further strengthen its engagement—including through its role in the ‘Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer’, ongoing support for cervical cancer programmes in Francophone Africa, and initiatives that amplify the voices of those with lived experience, including as part of its current three-year World Cancer Day campaign – United by Unique. A core focus of this work will be to mobilise and equip civil society to advocate for the elimination of cervical cancer—ensuring communities are heard, policies are strengthened, and accountability is upheld.

UICC is rooted in its belief that everyone experiencing cancer should have access to quality treatment and care, and no one should die from a preventable cancer. To achieve this, UICC will leverage its established learning and knowledge-sharing opportunities, its broad multi-sectoral network, and continued advocacy to further progress and ensure that health systems are equipped to improve cancer control, and eliminate cervical cancer.

Private sector

Becton Dickinson

Becton Dickinson HPV Access Pricing Initiative: Becton Dickinson (BD) proudly commits to a Global Access Price for our advanced HPV Screening Solution, featuring integrated Extended Genotyping and a self-collection option to expand equitable access to life-saving diagnostics globally. This all-inclusive “Price per Patient Result” will be available to governments and non-governmental organizations advancing public sector programs in 73 Low and Low-Middle Income Countries. Through multi-stakeholder collaboration, we aim to expand access, improve patient management, and help public sector programs implement high-quality, sustainable, and scalable screening programs for effective cervical cancer prevention.

The Ministry of Health Indonesia and Becton Dickinson (BD) are partnering to expand cervical cancer screening in West Java, aiming to reach 300,000 women in three years. Building on a successful pilot in Papua, the initiative supports Indonesia’s National Action Plan, improving patient management and long-term cost-effectiveness through HPV DNA testing, self-collection, and extended genotyping.

Roche

Roche commits to expand affordable pricing for its cobas® HPV DNA test to 17 additional countries, bringing the total to 106 countries, with the potential to positively impact more than 600 million women worldwide. The decision reflects Roche’s unwavering dedication to continuous innovation and advancing equitable access to cervical cancer screening, a critical step in supporting countries as they work towards their elimination goals. Roche’s commitment ext

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Grigorenko: Russia has entered an active phase of implementing artificial intelligence

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

The speed of implementation of artificial intelligence, interaction between business and government, timeliness of regulation, as well as international cooperation were discussed at the plenary session on AI at SPIEF-2025 with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko.

As Dmitry Grigorenko stated, Russia has entered an active phase of implementing artificial intelligence. AI-based solutions increase the efficiency of government agencies and improve the quality of services provided, opening up additional opportunities, including in public administration and the social sphere, from medicine to the budget process. Thus, the compulsory medical insurance program already includes diagnostic services using AI, and an intelligent agent is being integrated into the Electronic Budget system in test mode to speed up the budget process.

When asked what the government is doing to speed up the implementation of AI, the Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff spoke about the work on developing the necessary infrastructure within the framework of the national project “Data Economy”, training specialized personnel, as well as replicating the best practices of the regions on a national scale. At the same time, he emphasized that for success, the government and business need to combine efforts in these areas, without dividing areas of responsibility.

“We approach the issue of implementing AI technology systematically. For example, all digital development programs for regions and federal agencies have a mandatory clause – to implement an AI-based solution. All programs are very specific, with units of measurement of efficiency. At the same time, everyone determines for themselves the required number of such services – for their tasks. AI is a tool. With its help, we solve a very specific problem each time. Plus, we select existing best practices and replicate them taking into account the experience already acquired,” commented Dmitry Grigorenko.

As Chairman of the Board of PJSC Sberbank German Gref noted, the role of the state is critically important: from investments to education and total enlightenment of “where we are going”. At the same time, German Gref noted that unique conditions have already been created in Russia that allow the development of technology. Including due to the existing local experimental legal regimes.

“Right now, in my opinion, there is a consensus. There is moral regulation – the code of ethics of artificial intelligence, to which all the largest developers in Russia have joined. Among the signatories are over 900 companies, including foreign ones. There is technical regulation. And there is incentive regulation, for example, an experimental regime for the implementation of artificial intelligence has been created in Moscow. We cannot rush with regulation, so as not to negatively influence developers,” said German Gref.

According to the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly Vladislav Davankov, sooner or later any industry faces issues of protecting the rights of citizens and equal access to the results of technological development.

“In difficult situations, people turn to the state for protection. That is why regulation is necessary. But it must be smart and created as a public agreement, in dialogue with business. We must develop these rules together,” commented Vladislav Davankov.

The Minister of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus Kirill Zalessky and the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zhaslan Madiyev also took part in the discussion.

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 –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Alexander Novak: Russian fuel and energy complex has become more competitive and technologically advanced

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak spoke at the panel session “The World Fuel and Energy Market in Search of a Balance between the Interests of Producers and Consumers” at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The session was also attended by OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghaith, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of International Economic Relations under the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Chairman of the Serbian People’s Party Nenad Popovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary Peter Szijjarto, and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev.

Alexander Novak outlined the vector of Russia’s current strategy in the current conditions of the global energy market and spoke about the key steps being taken to ensure the sustainable development of the country’s oil and gas sector.

“The oil and gas industry is key to the Russian economy. It is a driver for investment, the economy, new inventions, and the implementation of modern research and development work. Over the past 20 years, our oil and gas industry has made a huge leap. Firstly, oil production has increased from 300 to over 500 million tons per year (80%). We have new production regions – we have begun to extract raw materials in Eastern Siberia, on the shelf. We have developed and learned to apply TRIZ technologies. This is important, since the lion’s share of future reserves are reserves that are located at greater depths, with more difficult-to-extract layers,” said Alexander Novak.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that the issue of technological development is key today.

“Despite numerous sanctions from unfriendly countries and the desire to stop the development of the Russian economy, including through the fuel and energy complex, we see that our industry has not only maintained its production indicators, but has also survived and become an order of magnitude more efficient. It has become more competitive and technologically advanced. The sanctions have forced us to ensure import substitution, and our own developments have appeared instead of technologies that were previously purchased abroad. Our industry has been loaded, and an impetus has been given to the development of the Russian economy as a whole,” said Alexander Novak.

He recalled that the key tasks for the development of the fuel and energy complex set by President Vladimir Putin include ensuring domestic energy security, increasing the share of high-value-added products through the development of oil and gas refining and petrochemicals, international cooperation, and the development of infrastructure for the supply of energy resources to domestic and foreign markets.

OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghaith noted that global demand for oil is growing.

“We see that the world’s population is growing, and by 2050, there will be 2 billion new people on the planet, and the global economy will double compared to current parameters. By 2030, half a billion people will live in new cities that will be the size of 100 St. Petersburgs. And this means heating, air conditioning, and overall growth in energy consumption. In addition, new consumers are mining and data centers. By 2050, we predict a 24 percent increase in energy consumption compared to the current level, which requires additional investment in the sector. They need to be stimulated,” said OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Gais. OPEC does not see peak demand for oil even by 2050.

Turkey is already seeing both gas consumption and the share of renewable energy sources grow. And the country’s main goal is to ensure the security and availability of energy supplies. “We are diversifying our portfolio by investing in renewable energy sources. By 2035, we want to quadruple the capacity of solar and wind energy components. We have ambitious plans for nuclear energy – to increase its production to at least 20 GW by 2050. To do this, we need four reactors, and we are working with Rosatom. There is also a focus on small-scale generation and a desire to build another 5 GW station,” said Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar about plans for energy development in the country.

According to him, Turkey has also begun developing offshore fields, which already supply energy to 4 million households in the country. By 2028, this number is planned to increase fourfold. Turkey is searching for oil and gas in developing countries, and is also investing in its own infrastructure and preparing to create large-scale capacities for gas export to Europe.

“Hungary will continue energy cooperation with the Russian Federation, because it is very important for us to keep prices low for all our citizens, for our families. Without Russian energy resources, this is impossible for us,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, commenting on the European Commission’s plan to have EU countries abandon Russian energy resources by 2027. In his opinion, Brussels and Kyiv have set the goal of cutting off Europe from the supplier of cheap and affordable oil and gas, which Russia has been for Hungary for many years. At the same time, the European Commission does not offer any alternative in the form of other equally reliable and inexpensive sources of energy resources.

The participants in the discussion agreed that in the context of growing energy consumption in the world, it is necessary to diversify its sources and international cooperation for the development and reliable supply of both traditional and alternative types of energy resources. This is especially important in a period of geopolitical instability and the aggravation of local conflicts in a number of regions of the world.

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 –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Alexander Novak: We are witnessing a global transformation in economic development

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak took part in the opening session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, the President of the New Development Bank of BRICS Dilma Rousseff, the President and Secretary General of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Lazar Comanescu, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Chi Dung also shared their vision of the development of the global economy and the prospects for international cooperation.

Alexander Novak noted that the main vector of development of the global economy in the next decade will be concentrated in countries where the birth rate is growing today and which are gaining new positions in global markets.

“The modern world has entered an era of fundamental changes. We are witnessing a global transformation in terms of economic development. Large countries of Southeast Asia such as China and India have become global participants in the world market in recent decades, the main drivers of demand and supply of goods to global world markets. Countries of South Asia and Africa are increasingly asserting themselves. They have a high birth rate and a still low level of urbanization. And this is the potential that will change the landscape of the global economy in the next decade. Growth will no longer be concentrated in the countries of Europe and North America, which are gradually losing their positions in the global economy, but in the BRICS countries and states that want to join the association,” said Alexander Novak. He added that since the 2000s, the share of the BRICS countries in the world economy was 22%, and today it has increased to 36%, which means growth of more than 50%. At the same time, the share of the G7 countries has decreased from 45% to 30% over the same period.

Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud spoke about the main mechanism for achieving balance in the global oil market. “The OPEC deal has proven itself to be an effective tool. OPEC has managed to achieve tremendous success in ensuring market stability and has become, in fact, the central regulator of oil markets,” Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud noted.

He also emphasized that the governments of Saudi Arabia and Russia are working to create favorable conditions for those wishing to invest in the economies of Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation on the basis of various formats, including joint ventures. The Saudi Arabian authorities understand the situation and are willing to find ways to overcome existing restrictions.

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 –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: 1,500 jobs created at UK nuclear weapons headquarters as sector boasts above average wages
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

1,500 jobs created at UK nuclear weapons headquarters as sector boasts above average wages

Thousands of high-skilled jobs and hundreds of apprenticeships have been created to help keep the United Kingdom protected around the clock, with newly published figures highlighting the economic benefits of the defence nuclear industry.
New figures reveal that 1,500 skilled roles have been created in the last year at the UK’s nuclear weapons technology centre AWE.

Government study shows that people working in defence nuclear industry receive 20% above average UK salary.

Defence Secretary visits top secret site as £15 billion investment in sovereign UK nuclear warhead supports the Plan for Change with nearly 10,000 jobs across the UK.

It comes as the government’s delivers a landmark £15 billion investment in this parliament into the renewal of the UK’s sovereign nuclear warhead – confirmed through the recent Strategic Defence Review – to keep the British people safe while supporting almost 10,000 UK jobs.

The figures from government analysis published today also show that average salaries in the defence nuclear industry reach £45,500 – 20% higher than the UK average.

Over the last year, 1,500 new skilled staff, and double the number of apprentices and graduates, have joined AWE in Aldermaston, Berkshire – the UK’s nuclear weapons technology centre – all vital to the success of the nuclear deterrent by playing a critical role in the development and maintenance of the nuclear warhead stockpile.

It comes as John Healey was the first Defence Secretary to visit AWE since 2018, and he hailed the economic growth impact for the local area, as AWE celebrates its 75th anniversary.

The AWE workforce of 9,500 staff, including 3,000 engineers and 1,500 scientists, demonstrates the defence nuclear sector as an engine for economic growth, backing the government’s Plan for Change. This milestone year reflects AWE’s crucial contribution to the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent – keeping a nuclear-armed submarine at sea continuously – ensuring the security of the nation and our NATO allies around the clock.

Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said:

The nuclear weapons technology delivered at AWE keeps us all safe every minute of the day. The skilled men and women working here play a fundamental role in deterring global conflict and that cannot be underestimated.

However, our nuclear deterrent doesn’t just protect us, it also powers prosperity. From the design and development of the warhead in Aldermaston, to shipbuilding in Barrow and maintenance in Plymouth, to deployment for operations from Clyde, defence is an engine for growth. The Defence Nuclear Enterprise delivers on the Plan for Change by backing thousands of jobs across the country.

Through the Strategic Defence Review we are unshakeable in our commitment to maintaining our nuclear deterrent – it is the ultimate guarantor of our national security and the security of our NATO allies.

AWE is part of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) – the partnership of organisations that operate, maintain, renew and sustain the UK’s nuclear deterrent as part of a national endeavour which supports more than 48,000 jobs across the country – set to rise to 65,000 in the next decade.

Through the Nuclear Skills Task Force Skills Plan, nearly 4,000 early career starters are projected to have entered the wider nuclear sector over the last year, with the total number of graduate and apprenticeship roles in the sector aiming to double over the next 10 years.

During his visit, the Defence Secretary met with staff, scientists and apprentices to acknowledge the establishment’s legacy, celebrate current achievements, and highlight the importance of investing in future talent. AWE welcomed nearly 500 graduates, apprentices and placement students in 2024/25 – double the previous year – many of them from local communities.

The defence nuclear industry wage premium also brings prosperity to some of the most economically disadvantaged communities in the UK, with over half of those employed in the defence nuclear industry living in areas targeted for economic regeneration.

The visit comes after the SDR and Spending Review provided the commitment and funding for the UK to produce a new submarine every 18 months in future years. It follows the commitment to grow the UK’s attack submarine fleet to up to 12 under the AUKUS partnership.

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Published 19 June 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Game changer for the nation
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Game changer for the nation

£900 million investment in major sporting events and grassroots sport.
Major sporting events and grassroots sport across the UK to benefit from over £900 million in funding, as part of government’s Plan for Change

More than £500 million to support delivery of world class major sporting events hosted in the UK, including UEFA EURO 2028, Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes Grand Départs 2027

At least £400 million to be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities across the country

Villages, towns and cities across the UK are set to benefit from a transformational investment of more than £900 million in sport, which will support a pipeline of major international events and deliver new grassroots facilities that can drive economic growth and inspire people of all ages to get active.

The funding commitment, which was outlined in the Spending Review last week, has now been set out by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

It will see more than £500 million committed to supporting the delivery of a host of world class sporting events being held in the UK over the coming years, including:

The men’s and women’s Tour de France Grand Départs in 2027

Men’s UEFA EURO 2028 – alongside Ireland

The European Athletics Championships 2026 in Birmingham

These events are expected to deliver significant economic benefits, with EURO 2028 alone projected to generate up to £2.4 billion in socio-economic value across the UK.

Work is also continuing with the Home Nation football associations (FA)s and devolved administrations to develop the bid for the UK to host the Women’s FIFA World Cup in 2035.

In tandem at least £400 million will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities that promote health, wellbeing and community cohesion. Work to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups, such as women and girls, people with disabilities, and ethnic minority communities will continue.

Already, government funding has helped local clubs from Ayrshire to Anglesey, Strangford to Somerset, build new pitches and changing rooms, install floodlights, solar panels and goalposts; supporting a range of sports including football and rugby.

Together, this strategic investment in sport will help to deliver on the government’s mission to kickstart economic growth by creating jobs, driving regional prosperity and encouraging visitors to the UK. It is also designed to reduce barriers to opportunity, bring communities together through shared national moments and showcase the best of the UK to the world.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, said:

Sport tells our national story in a way few other things can – uniting communities, inspiring millions, and showcasing our nation on the global stage.

This major backing for world-class events will drive economic growth across the country, delivering on our Plan for Change. Coupled with strong investment into grassroots sport, we’re creating a complete pathway to allow the next generation of sporting heroes to train and take part in sport in communities across the UK.

This investment is central to the government’s commitment to delivering major sporting events with pride and impact and stands alongside ongoing work with partners in the sport sector and across the UK. The pipeline of major events already secured includes this Summer’s Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026, the ICC T20 Cricket women’s and men’s World Cups (in 2026 and 2030 respectively), the Invictus Games 2027 in Birmingham, and many other elite continental and world championships.

Debbie Hewitt MBE, Chair of the UK and Ireland 2028 Board, said:

We welcome today’s announcement of significant investment in sport from the UK government, which marks a major boost to the successful delivery of UEFA EURO 2028. This commitment will not only help us stage a world-class tournament but also ensure that communities across the UK feel long-lasting benefits – from enhanced grassroots facilities to stronger local economies.

UEFA EURO 2028 is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and with this investment, we are better placed than ever to deliver an event with pride, purpose and impact.

Nick Webborn, Chair of UK Sport, said:

We welcome the government’s ongoing commitment to hosting the Tour De France, Tour De France Femmes and Euro 2028. These events have huge potential to drive economic growth, bring people together and inspire the next generation in communities across the UK.

We believe that live sport is a fundamental part of this country’s social fabric. We are really excited to be working with the government and support their commitment to secure the pipeline of big events beyond 2028 to ensure we can continue to reach, inspire and unite people in every corner of the country.

Chair of Sport England, Chris Boardman said:

The government’s continued investment into grassroots sport facilities is welcome news; the nation’s pitches, pools and leisure centres play a pivotal role in keeping people moving.

With every £1 invested in community sport and physical activity generating £4.20 in value for our economy, supporting grassroots facilities isn’t just good for public health — it’s a smart investment in the nation’s social and economic wellbeing.

Notes to Editors

On grassroots funding, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.

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Published 19 June 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Secures Preliminary Injunction in Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Immigration Enforcement Conditions on Grant Funding

Source: US State of California

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement on a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island to grant a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Transportation’s imposition of unlawful immigration enforcement conditions on unrelated grant funding. In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that imposing this new set of conditions across a range of grant programs is arbitrary and capricious, exceeds the Trump Administration’s legal authority, and violates the Spending Clause.

“President Trump is threatening to withhold critical transportation funds unless states agree to carry out his inhumane and illogical immigration agenda for him. He is treating these funds – funds that go toward improving our roads and keeping our planes in the air – as a bargaining chip,” said Attorney General Bonta. “It’s immoral – and more importantly, illegal. I’m glad to see the District Court agrees, blocking the President’s latest attempt to circumvent the Constitution and coerce state and local governments into doing his bidding while we continue to make our case in court.”

BACKGROUND

Last month, Attorney General Bonta led a coalition of 20 states, alongside the attorneys general of Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maryland, in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s effort to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grants. California receives billions in grant funding from DOT each year to support and maintain the roads, highways, railways, airways, and bridges that connect our communities and carry our residents to their workplaces and their homes. This includes funding to maintain and build highways. It also includes funding for transit systems in urban and rural communities across the state — including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries. Neither the purpose of these grants, nor their grant criteria, are in any way connected to immigration enforcement.

A copy of the court’s decision is available here.

# # #

MIL OSI USA News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Registration open for training grant that supports in-demand jobs
Source: Government of Canada regional news

People hoping to build better careers will continue to have access to a popular grant program, as registration for StrongerBC future skills grant funded programming opens for the fall semester.

People living in British Columbia can continue to access grants for eligible short-term training programs at public post-secondary institutions, giving them more opportunities to gain new skills for in-demand jobs. The grant covers up to $3,500 and is open to B.C. residents over age 19.

“British Columbia is the engine of Canada’s new economy, but it’s the strength of our workforce that drives the machine,” said Anne Kang, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. “The StrongerBC future skills grant removes barriers so more people can get the skills they need to start or advance their careers. By helping more people get into the workforce, we’re closing the skills gap and building a more robust economy.”

Since its launch in fall 2023, more than 10,000 people have benefited from the grant, which plays a pivotal role in preparing people for current and emerging job markets.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity that the future skills grant has given me to complete a risk management professional certificate from Simon Fraser University,” said Erica Commons, recent grant recipient and current student. “This training is already benefiting me in my current role as an enterprise risk manager, and the certificate satisfies the education requirements for the Canadian Risk Management designation, which is highly valued by employers. Obtaining this designation will help advance my career.”

More than 300 programs are eligible for the grant at 24 public post-secondary institutions throughout B.C. The eligible programs address the province’s labour market needs and government priorities, including training opportunities in high-demand sectors, such as health care, construction and mining.

“The StrongerBC future skills grant made it possible for me to enrol in Simon Fraser University’s climate action certificate, training I needed to retool my communications career for the climate future we all face,” said Michelle Gaudet, recent grant recipient and program graduate. “This grant allowed me to gain essential skills without taking on debt. Accessible education funding like this is key to helping people pursue meaningful learning opportunities.”

Course offerings from participating post-secondary institutions will be released daily throughout the months of June and July. Those interested should check Education Planner BC or the post-secondary institution they plan to attend frequently for updates and program additions.

Learning opportunities include in-person, online or hybrid delivery, making it easier for people throughout B.C. to find training that fits. Types of training that are supported include:
- health-care training, such as medical terminology, emergency medical responder and dental office administration;
- trades and firefighting training, such as construction, automotive (electric vehicle) repair services, and wildfire fighting;
- professional, scientific and technical training, such as cybersecurity training and digital marketing; and
- other certificates and micro-credentials across many industries, including education, mining and marine transportation, finance and more.
The StrongerBC: Future Ready Action Plan is a cross-government plan to make education and training more accessible, affordable and relevant to help prepare the people of B.C. for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

Learn More:

To explore and register for eligible programs as they are rolled out over June and July, visit Education Planner BC: https://www.educationplannerbc.ca/future-skills-grant (can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com)

For general information about the future skills grant, visit: https://www.workbc.ca/find-loans-and-grants/students-and-adult-learners/strongerbc-future-skills-grant

To learn more about the StrongerBC: Future Ready Action Plan, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/jobs-and-training/

A backgrounder follows.

MIL OSI Canada News –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI from the NYPost: FBI Emails Obtained by Grassley ‘Expose Biden DOJ’s Obsession with Piling on Trump Charges’

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley

Miranda Devine: FBI emails revealed to The Post expose Biden DOJ’s obsession with piling on Trump charges
June 18, 2025
New York Post

Internal FBI emails reveal that rogue agents and prosecutors in the Biden DOJ were looking for ways to pile on new criminal charges against Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — this time over his involvement with the J6 prisoner choir, based on a single partisan news article.

The 2023 emails obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and revealed exclusively to The Post are an example of the nitpicking malice of anti-Trump lawfare that tainted special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, during Joe Biden’s presidency.

“Can we do some work to nail down Trump’s role in this,” writes prosecutor JP Cooney to DOJ colleagues on March 8, 2023, in an email with the subject line “J6 Prisoner Choir/DJT” and an attached Forbes.com article titled “Trump Collaborates On Song With Jan. 6 Defendants.”

Cooney was a deputy special counsel who worked on both the Robert Mueller and Smith get-Trump special counsel investigations.

‘Agent Zero’

“According to this Forbes article, Trump recorded the Pledge of Allegiance at MAL [Mar a Lago] and Kash Patel [now FBI director] and Ed Henry [a former Fox News host] were also involved,” Cooney wrote in the email chain.

“The profits are routed to an LLC run by Henry, and proceeds are intended for families of incarcerated J6 defendants — but there is apparently a vetting process that excludes families of defendants who assaulted police officers.

“I asked Ahmed [likely prosecutor Ahmed Baset, who was fired earlier this month] to preserve this last night. I’ll talk to Maria/Erin and Julia about doing some follow up here to nail down Trump’s role.”

Cooney also instructed colleagues to look at starting “some process on Ed Henry’s LLC,” presumably a legal process such as a subpoena, search warrant or other court-authorized actions to gather evidence.

His email was forwarded to eight agents and DOJ staff, including notorious anti-Trump FBI Special Agent Walter Giardina, who responded two days later to say he was investigating the claims in the Forbes article about Trump and the J6 prisoner choir: “Esther and I are working on this today. We’re going to put together our findings at 2 and get something to you shortly after that.”

Giardina was “Agent Zero” in a lot of overzealous FBI actions involving Trump and his allies, including the investigation of Trump White House adviser Dr. Peter Navarro on contempt of Congress charges for refusing to appear before the House committee investigating the J6 riot.

It was Giardina’s FBI team that arrested Navarro as he was about to board a plane at Reagan National Airport in 2022, put him in leg irons and threw him in jail instead of simply issuing a summons for him to come to court, as the federal judge overseeing the case later said while criticizing the heavy-handedness.

Giardina was also significantly involved in Operation Crossfire Hurricane (the debunked Russia collusion investigation against Trump), Mueller’s investigation and cases involving Trump allies Dan Scavino and Roger Stone, as well as the Hillary Clinton emails case.

According to Grassley, Giardina was an “initial recipient of the Steele Dossier” and falsely claimed that the bogus Clinton campaign smear sheet against Trump was corroborated as “true.”

Giardina also “electronically wiped the laptop he was assigned while working for Special Counsel Mueller outside of established protocol for record preservation, raising the possibility that he destroyed government records.”

Whistleblown away

Whistleblowers have told Grassley that Giardina “openly stated his desire to investigate Trump, even if it meant false predication,” because of his hostility to the past and future president.

Grassley believes this email chain is another “clear example” of how the federal law enforcement apparatus was weaponized to try to “get Trump” at all costs.

“Instead of focusing on DOJ and FBI’s core law enforcement responsibilities,” Grassley told The Post, “partisan prosecutors and agents were surfing the web to find any shred of information they could use to spin another baseless case against Trump. Their actions are a disservice to Americans, who pay their salaries and depend on DOJ and FBI to keep them safe…”

Read the rest HERE.

-30-

MIL OSI USA News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: New Affordable Housing Units Open for Seniors in Saskatoon Through Federal and Provincial Funding
Source: Government of Canada regional news

Released on June 19, 2025

Solving Canada’s housing crisis requires immediate action to address the urgent needs of Canadians. To provide seniors with increased access to affordable and sustainable housing, the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan announced today a $990,000 joint investment. The official opening of the Columbian Manor Expansion Phase V, developed by KC Charities, marks a significant step in providing safe, supportive homes for low-income seniors.

This project is adding 134 housing units for seniors in Saskatoon, including the development of 30 one-bedroom units, 20 fully accessible units and 10 barrier-free units for low-income seniors with limited mobility.

The developer, KC Charities, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing and supportive services for seniors in Saskatoon.

Funding provided for this project is as follows:
- $990,000 in cost-matched funding from the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan through the National Housing Strategy (NHS) -Saskatchewan Priorities Initiative (SPI).
- $ 340,000 from the City of Saskatoon.
- $1,750,000 from KC Charities.
Quotes:

“Everyone deserves a home to call their own,” Secretary of State (Rural Development) and Member of Parliament for Desneth Missinippi Churchill RiverBuckley Belanger said. ” Thanks to our partnership with Saskatchewan through the National Housing Strategy, your federal government is helping to make that a reality for more seniors in Saskatoon. Safe, affordable, and accessible senior housing is a key part of our housing plan, making sure no one is left behind.”

“When we work together with community partners, we can support developments that make a real difference in the lives of Saskatchewan people,” Social Services Minister and Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Housing Corporation (SHC) Terry Jenson said. “The Columbian Manor project provides dignity, comfort and connection to seniors who have given so much to our communities.”

“The City of Saskatoon is proud to support the expansion of Columbian Manor, which reflects our ongoing commitment to building a more inclusive and caring community,” Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block said. “This partnership with KC Charities and other orders of government helps ensure that seniors in Saskatoon have access to safe, affordable housing and the support they need to thrive.”

“A place to call home, where comfort meets affordability, and every senior is valued, respected, and cared for,” KC Charities Inc Executive Director of Operations Norma Denis said.

Quick facts:

The NHS is a 10 plus year, $115 plus billion plan to give more Canadians a place to call home. Progress on programs and initiatives are updated quarterly on the Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC) website. The Housing and Infrastructure Project Map shows affordable housing projects that have been developed.

As of March 2025, the federal government has committed $65.84 billion to support the creation of over 166,000 units and the repair of over 322,000 units. These measures prioritize those in greatest need, including seniors, Indigenous Peoples, people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and women and children fleeing violence.

NHS is built on strong partnerships between the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, and continuous engagement with others, including municipalities, Indigenous governments and organizations, and the social and private housing sectors. This includes consultations with Canadians from all walks of life and people with lived experience of housing need.

All NHS investments delivered by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments will respect the key principles of NHS that support partnerships, people and communities.

In 2019, the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan entered into an agreement through the NHS. TheCanada-Saskatchewan Bilateral Agreement will invest $585 million over 10 years, which is cost matched between the federal and provincial governments.

The Rental Development Program (RDP) provides one-time capital funding in the form of a forgivable loan to assist in the development of affordable rental housing units for households with low incomes. The RDP is funded by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Saskatchewan Housing Corporation (SHC).

KC Charities is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing and supportive services for seniors in Saskatoon. Since 2007, it has worked with government and community partners to develop over 150 affordable housing units, helping seniors live independently in a caring and inclusive environment.

Associated Links:

Visit Canada.ca/housing for the most requested Government of Canada housing information.

CMHC plays a critical role as a national facilitator to promote stability and sustainability in Canada’s housing finance system. Our mortgage insurance products support access to homeownership and the creation and maintenance of rental supply. We also actively support the Government of Canada in delivering on its commitment to make housing more affordable. Our research and data help inform housing policy. By facilitating cooperation between all levels of government, private and non-profit sectors, we contribute to advancing housing affordability, equity, and climate compatibility. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Progress on programs and initiatives are updated quarterly on the Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC) website. The Housing and Infrastructure Project Map shows affordable housing projects that have been developed.

In November 2019, the Government of Saskatchewan released Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan: the Next Decade of Growth 2020-2030, which sets out the government’s vision for a province of 1.4 million people by 2030. The plan identifies principles, goals and actions to ensure Saskatchewan is capturing the opportunities and meeting the challenges of a growing province. To learn more, visit: www.saskatchewan.ca.

-30-

For more information, contact:

Media Relations
Social Services
Regina
Phone: 306-787-3610
Email: MediaMSS@gov.sk.ca

Sofia Ouslis
Office of the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure
Email: Sofia.Ouslis@infc.gc.ca

Mark Rogstad
Media Relations Manager,
Saskatoon
Email: mark.rogstad@saskatoon.ca

Media Relations
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Email: media@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

MIL OSI Canada News –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: 25 new places to eat in 2025
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
- Many new cafes, restaurants and bars have opened recently in Canberra.
- This story includes a list of new eateries to try in Canberra.
New year, new restaurants.

Whether you are after a new brunch spot or your next date night location, there is something new for everyone.

You can find Canberra’s first dedicated acai spot just outside of Westfield Woden.

Build your own acai bowl by choosing from a list of delicious toppings. They also have loaded waffles, shakes, and chocolate covered strawberries.

A new Mediterranean restaurant and wine bar is now open in Weston Creek.

Menu highlights include the carbonara arancini, lamb shoulder ragu, and pistachio crème brûlée.

This new Italian-inspired bar is the newest addition to Verity Lane.

Enjoy an Aperol Spritz with antipasti or your pasta of choice.

This new café is serving up Japanese-inspired desserts after dark.

Menu items include Shibuya Toast, bingsu, and matcha cheesecake.

Get your late-night sweet treat until 10:30pm, Thursday to Saturday nights.

You no longer need to visit Sydney to grab ButterBoy cookies. You can now buy these mouth-watering cookies at Red Brick.

Flavours include snickerdoodle, banoffee and Nutella. They also have gluten free options.

This new family-run café has a large menu full of authentic Turkish dishes.

Enjoy breakfast dishes such as meneme, or the kebabs and gozleme. Sweet tooths can enjoy desserts like baklava, while sipping on Turkish coffee and tea.

The owners of Champi in Kingston have opened a new venue in Phillip.

Champi Express is serving up southeast Asian breakfast and lunch dishes.

Clover dining blends classic Italian dishes with Japanese flavours and cooking techniques.

The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some of their innovative dishes include the oyster mushroom sandwich, wagyu sirloin with sesame seeds and burnt garlic, and miso black cod.

This new Italian wine bar is serving up cured meats and cheeses, craft beer and great wine.

You can also book in for a wine tasting or grab a take-away charcuterie box.

This new café is serving up delicious breakfast and lunch, Monday to Friday.

Start your day with classic brunch options like a bacon and egg burger and eggs benedict or try something new like kimchi fried ramen with bacon and egg.

Verity Lane’s newest addition specialises in authentic Japanese and Korean katsu dishes.

Choose from classic options such as chicken, pork, and fish katsu, as well as vegetarian alternatives.

This new London-inspired modern café offers breakfast and lunch options, as well as an exclusive range of European luxury sweets, and ‘London Blend’ coffee.

This new restaurant on City Walk is serving up delicious Chinese dishes.

They do great lunch specials and happy hour.

You can now find authentic Vietnamese on Marcus Clarke Street in the City.

Try traditional Vietnamese dishes such as pho, chicken rice, banh mi and cơm tấm, in a cosy and elegant setting.

This new Malaysian restaurant is now open at Capital Food Market.

It’s open Wednesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner.

Check out The Peacemaker Saloon for a taste of America’s wild west.

Indulge in hearty southwestern food such as smoked brisket and pork ribs, wings and mac ‘n cheese. There’s also an extensive cocktail and whiskey list.

This new southside spot is serving up coffee, protein shakes, smoothies, breakfast items, burgers and wraps.

A second location has opened for Pronto, with the first over in Queanbeyan.

This authentic Italian restaurant is the perfect spot to gather and share food with family and friends, with their large party menu.

Their Neapolitan pizza is a must-try, made from a 300-year-old recipe, as well as any of their regional Italian pastas.

Shaw Estate has a new restaurant in Murrumbateman.

The estate’s new dining space has a neutral and modern interior and a Mediterranean-inspired menu. Enjoy Italian dishes made with local and seasonal ingredients.

After building some buzz in 2024 with pop-ups at local venues such as Terra, Sunny now has their own food truck and will be popping up at events across Canberra.

Keep an eye on their socials to find out where you can grab one of their delicious smash burgers and hand-cut fries.

Located at the former site of Bellucci’s, this new pub is bringing a fun new energy to southside.

Whether you want to watch sport, catch up with friends or have a great pub feed, this spot has something for all Canberrans.

This new pub on southside opened in late April.

Enjoy tap beer, cocktails or mocktails with traditional pub food including schnitzels, burgers wings and more.

They do happy hour every day and have great lunch specials.

Located on the former site of Lonsdale Street Roasters, this multi-level venue is bringing good vibes to Braddon.

Uptown has a bakery and bar downstairs, and a bistro upstairs.

They offer European- based cuisine with a modern Australian twist, freshly baked sweet treats, coffee, cocktails and a great selection of wines.

You can find this Korean and Asian-inspired café on Lonsdale Street.

Menu items include crab scrambled egg, Korean fried chicken burger and smashed avocado with yuzu.

Located in the Eat Street precinct in Dickson, Zaiqah is serving up traditional Pakistani food.

Coming soon

This beloved Canberra burger joint is coming to Belco!

Keep an eye out on their channels for the opening date.

Masala Kitchen is a modern Indian cuisine restaurant opening soon in Braddon.

The chef behind Pizza Artigiana and food truck Hem & Co, Chef Hem, is opening a new venue on Marcus Clarke Street that will serve Roman-style pizza slices.

Read more like this:
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MIL OSI News –
June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Is there any hope for a fairer carve-up of the GST between the states?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saul Eslake, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, University of Tasmania

When the Western Australian state government handed down its state budget on Thursday, it showed a balance sheet solidly in the black with a A$2.5 billion surplus. But, as it has for seven years, the state has received an outsized boost to its coffers from the federal government.

In 2018, the Morrison government – with the full support of the then Labor opposition – handed WA a special deal for the distribution of income from the goods and service tax (GST).

Under the deal, WA gets a much greater share of the centrally collected GST revenue than it would have been entitled to under the methods previously used by the Commonwealth Grants Commission.

So what can be done to ensure a return to a fairer distribution of the GST revenue?

How the GST carve-up is supposed to work

The 2018 deal upended a principle known as “horizontal fiscal equalisation”. This principle seeks to ensure each state and territory has the fiscal capacity to provide its residents with a broadly similar range and quality of public services, while levying a similar level of state taxes. This applies to states with different populations and needs.

That principle is the main reason why the quality of health care, schooling and policing in your community depends much less on which state you happen to live in, compared with other countries with a federal system. Just think of the United States.

But that principle was jettisoned in the pursuit, by both major parties, of seats from WA in the House of Representatives, which in effect determined the outcome of the 2016, 2019 and 2022 elections.

WA gets a much greater share of GST revenue than under methods once used by the Commonwealth Grants Commission.

Holding onto the mineral wealth

During the mining boom starting in 2000, WA became rich. While it previously received extra grants from other states, it was now having to share income from mining royalties with other states.

But the 2018 amendment changed how the GST revenue is distributed. Instead of equalising all states to have the fiscal strength of the strongest state (such as WA during the boom), funds were now equalised to the stronger of New South Wales or Victoria. States are also guaranteed a minimum per capita share of revenue.

The only state that benefits from these changes is Australia’s richest state: WA. Since 2018-19 it has received A$24.2 billion more than it would have done had the 2018 changes not been made.

Combined with the $58.3 billion it has collected in mineral royalties over the past seven years, that has enabled WA to rack up cash surpluses totalling more than $18 billion. Every other state and territory recorded cash deficits over that time.

Over the next four years, WA will receive $26.3 billion more from the carve-up of GST revenues than it would otherwise have done.

No one worse off?

To cajole the other states and territories into accepting this “deal”, the Morrison government agreed to “top up” the revenue from the GST to ensure none would be any worse off than if the long-standing system had remained in place.

It estimated this “No Worse Off guarantee” (or NoWO as it is now called) would cost the federal budget $8 billion over the nine years to 2026-27, when NoWO would expire.

To avoid expected pushback from the other states, the Albanese government agreed in 2023 to extend NoWO by another three years. It is now expected it will have cost the federal budget almost $60 billion by its scheduled expiry in 2029-30.

This is the biggest blow-out in the cost of any single policy decision, with the exception of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This $52 billion blowout from the GST carve-up represents a massive drain on the federal budget, at a time when it is forecast to be in deficit for the next ten years, to appease the greed of Australia’s richest, and luckiest, state.

A government that truly believed in equity, and was committed to prudent and responsible budget outcomes, would scrap this appalling piece of public policy. And an Opposition that was sincere in its claims to stand for fiscal responsibility would support any move by the government to do so.

The system is not working as intended

The 2018 legislation requires the Productivity Commission to report, by the end of 2026, on whether the new system is working “efficiently, effectively and as intended”. Since it clearly wasn’t intended for the changes to cost anywhere near as much as they have done, the answer to that question must surely be a resounding “no”.

But rather than giving it such a narrow remit, the Treasurer could, and should, task the Productivity Commission with devising a way of achieving the long-standing objective of “horizontal fiscal equalisation” in a simpler, more transparent and more predictable way.

This should be possible by reference to fewer than a dozen readily available economic, demographic and social indicators. These could replace the “black box” processes currently used by the Commonwealth Grants Commission to allocate GST. WA has been able to exploit this lack of transparency in pursuit of its claims on an unjustified share of GST revenue.

Steven Kennedy, in his new role as head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, is reportedly open to considering controversial tax changes, including the GST carve-up. Hopefully he will be making this suggestion to the Prime Minister.

An inquiry by the Productivity Commission along these lines would enable the government to step away from the 2018 changes in the 2027-28 budget. That would, in turn, represent a substantial contribution towards the task of budget repair. And it would reinstate a principle that has helped make Australia a fairer, and better, country than it would otherwise have been.

Saul Eslake 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. Is there any hope for a fairer carve-up of the GST between the states? – https://theconversation.com/is-there-any-hope-for-a-fairer-carve-up-of-the-gst-between-the-states-258913

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Is there any hope for a fairer carve-up of the GST between the states?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saul Eslake, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, University of Tasmania

When the Western Australian state government handed down its state budget on Thursday, it showed a balance sheet solidly in the black with a A$2.5 billion surplus. But, as it has for seven years, the state has received an outsized boost to its coffers from the federal government.

In 2018, the Morrison government – with the full support of the then Labor opposition – handed WA a special deal for the distribution of income from the goods and service tax (GST).

Under the deal, WA gets a much greater share of the centrally collected GST revenue than it would have been entitled to under the methods previously used by the Commonwealth Grants Commission.

So what can be done to ensure a return to a fairer distribution of the GST revenue?

How the GST carve-up is supposed to work

The 2018 deal upended a principle known as “horizontal fiscal equalisation”. This principle seeks to ensure each state and territory has the fiscal capacity to provide its residents with a broadly similar range and quality of public services, while levying a similar level of state taxes. This applies to states with different populations and needs.

That principle is the main reason why the quality of health care, schooling and policing in your community depends much less on which state you happen to live in, compared with other countries with a federal system. Just think of the United States.

But that principle was jettisoned in the pursuit, by both major parties, of seats from WA in the House of Representatives, which in effect determined the outcome of the 2016, 2019 and 2022 elections.

WA gets a much greater share of GST revenue than under methods once used by the Commonwealth Grants Commission.

Holding onto the mineral wealth

During the mining boom starting in 2000, WA became rich. While it previously received extra grants from other states, it was now having to share income from mining royalties with other states.

But the 2018 amendment changed how the GST revenue is distributed. Instead of equalising all states to have the fiscal strength of the strongest state (such as WA during the boom), funds were now equalised to the stronger of New South Wales or Victoria. States are also guaranteed a minimum per capita share of revenue.

The only state that benefits from these changes is Australia’s richest state: WA. Since 2018-19 it has received A$24.2 billion more than it would have done had the 2018 changes not been made.

Combined with the $58.3 billion it has collected in mineral royalties over the past seven years, that has enabled WA to rack up cash surpluses totalling more than $18 billion. Every other state and territory recorded cash deficits over that time.

Over the next four years, WA will receive $26.3 billion more from the carve-up of GST revenues than it would otherwise have done.

No one worse off?

To cajole the other states and territories into accepting this “deal”, the Morrison government agreed to “top up” the revenue from the GST to ensure none would be any worse off than if the long-standing system had remained in place.

It estimated this “No Worse Off guarantee” (or NoWO as it is now called) would cost the federal budget $8 billion over the nine years to 2026-27, when NoWO would expire.

To avoid expected pushback from the other states, the Albanese government agreed in 2023 to extend NoWO by another three years. It is now expected it will have cost the federal budget almost $60 billion by its scheduled expiry in 2029-30.

This is the biggest blow-out in the cost of any single policy decision, with the exception of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This $52 billion blowout from the GST carve-up represents a massive drain on the federal budget, at a time when it is forecast to be in deficit for the next ten years, to appease the greed of Australia’s richest, and luckiest, state.

A government that truly believed in equity, and was committed to prudent and responsible budget outcomes, would scrap this appalling piece of public policy. And an Opposition that was sincere in its claims to stand for fiscal responsibility would support any move by the government to do so.

The system is not working as intended

The 2018 legislation requires the Productivity Commission to report, by the end of 2026, on whether the new system is working “efficiently, effectively and as intended”. Since it clearly wasn’t intended for the changes to cost anywhere near as much as they have done, the answer to that question must surely be a resounding “no”.

But rather than giving it such a narrow remit, the Treasurer could, and should, task the Productivity Commission with devising a way of achieving the long-standing objective of “horizontal fiscal equalisation” in a simpler, more transparent and more predictable way.

This should be possible by reference to fewer than a dozen readily available economic, demographic and social indicators. These could replace the “black box” processes currently used by the Commonwealth Grants Commission to allocate GST. WA has been able to exploit this lack of transparency in pursuit of its claims on an unjustified share of GST revenue.

Steven Kennedy, in his new role as head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, is reportedly open to considering controversial tax changes, including the GST carve-up. Hopefully he will be making this suggestion to the Prime Minister.

An inquiry by the Productivity Commission along these lines would enable the government to step away from the 2018 changes in the 2027-28 budget. That would, in turn, represent a substantial contribution towards the task of budget repair. And it would reinstate a principle that has helped make Australia a fairer, and better, country than it would otherwise have been.

Saul Eslake 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. Is there any hope for a fairer carve-up of the GST between the states? – https://theconversation.com/is-there-any-hope-for-a-fairer-carve-up-of-the-gst-between-the-states-258913

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Despite decades of cost cutting, governments spend more than ever. How can we make sense of this?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Lovering, Lecturer in International Relations, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Getty Images

Recent controversies over New Zealand’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunch program have revolved around the apparent shortcomings of the food and its delivery. Stories of inedible meals, scalding packaging and general waste have dominated headlines.

But the story is also a window into the wider debate about the politics of “fiscal responsibility” and austerity politics.

As part of the mission to “cut waste” in government spending, ACT leader and Associate Education Minister David Seymour replaced the school-based scheme with a centralised program run by a catering corporation. The result was said to have delivered “saving for taxpayers” of $130 million – in line with the government’s overall drive for efficiency and cost cutting.

While Finance Minister Nicola Willis dislikes the term “austerity”, her May budget cut the government’s operating allowance in half, to $1.3 billion. This came on top of budget cuts last year of around $4 billion.

Similar policy doctrines have been subscribed to by governments of all political persuasions for decades. As economic growth (and the tax revenue it brings) has been harder for OECD countries to achieve over the past 50 years, governments have looked to make savings.

What is strange, though, is that despite decades of austerity policies reducing welfare and outsourcing public services to the most competitive corporate bidder, state spending has kept increasing.

New Zealand’s public expense as a percentage of GDP increased from 25.9% in 1972 to 35.9% in 2022. And this wasn’t unusual. The OECD as a whole saw an increase from 18.9% in 1972 to 29.9% in 2022.

How can we make sense of so-called austerity when, despite decades of cost cutting, governments spend more than ever?

Austerity and managerialism

In a recent paper, I argued that the politics of austerity is not only about how much governments spend. It is also about who gets to decide how public money is used.

Austerity sounds like it is about spending less, finding efficiencies or living within your means. But ever rising budgets mean it is about more than that.

In particular, austerity is shaped by a centralising system that locks in corporate and bureaucratic control over public expenditure, while locking out people and communities affected by spending decisions. In other words, austerity is about democracy as much as economics.

We typically turn to the ideology of neoliberalism – “Rogernomics” being the New Zealand variant – to explain the history of this. The familiar story is of a revolutionary clique taking over a bloated postwar state, reorienting it towards the global market, and making it run more like a business.

Depending on your political persuasion, the contradiction of austerity’s growing cost reflects either the short-sightedness of market utopianism or the stubbornness of the public sector to reform.

But while the 1980s neoliberal revolution was important, the roots of austerity’s managerial dimension go back further. And it was shaped less by a concern that spending was too high, and more by a desire to centralise control over a growing budget.

Godfather of ‘rational’ budgeting: US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at a Vietnam War briefing in 1964.
Getty Images

Many of the managerial techniques that have arrived in the public sector over the austerity years – such as results-based pay, corporate contracting, performance management or evaluation culture – have their origins in a budgetary revolution that took place in the 1960s at the US Department of Defense.

In the early 1960s, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was frustrated with being nominally in charge of budgeting but having to mediate between the seemingly arbitrary demands of military leaders for more tanks, submarines or missiles.

In response, he called on the RAND Corporation, a US think tank and consultancy, to remake the Defense Department’s budgetary process to give the secretary greater capacity to plan.

The outcome was called the Planning Programming Budgeting System. Its goal was to create a “rational” budget where policy objectives were clearly specified in quantified terms, the possible means to achieve them were fully costed, and performance indicators measuring progress were able to be reviewed.

This approach might have made sense for strategic military purposes. But what happens when you apply the same logic to planning public spending in healthcare, education, housing – or school lunches? The past 50 years have largely been a process of finding out.

What began as a set of techniques to help McNamara get control of military spending gradually diffused into social policy. These ideas travelled from the US and came to be known as the “New Public Management” framework that transformed state sectors all over the world.

What are budgets for?

Dramatic moments of spending cuts – such as the 1991 “Mother of all Budgets” in New Zealand or Elon Musk’s recent DOGE crusade in the US – stand out as major exercises in austerity. And fiscal responsibility is a firmly held conviction within mainstream political thinking.

Nevertheless, government spending has become a major component of OECD economies. If we are to make sense of austerity in this world of permanent mass expenditure, we need a broader idea of what public spending is about.

Budgets are classically thought to do three things. For economists, they are a tool of macroeconomic stabilisation: if growth goes down, “automatic stabilisers” inject public money into the economy to pick it back up.

For social reformers, the budget is a means of progressively redistributing resources through tax and welfare systems. For accountants, the budget is a means of cost accountability: it holds a record of public spending and signals a society’s future commitments.

But budgeting as described here also fulfils a fourth function – managerial planning. Decades of reform have made a significant portion of the state budget a managerial instrument for the pursuit of policy objectives.

From this perspective, underlying common austerity rhetoric about eliminating waste, or achieving value for money, is a deeper political struggle over who decides how that public money is used.

To return to New Zealand’s school lunch program, any savings achieved should not distract from the more significant democratic question of who should plan school lunches – and public spending more broadly.

Should it be the chief executives of corporatised public organisations and outsourced conglomerates managing to KPIs on nutritional values and price per meal, serving the directives of government ministers? Or should it be those cooking, serving and eating the lunches?

Ian Lovering is affiliated with the Tertiary Education Union Te Hautū Kahurangi o Aotearoa.

– ref. Despite decades of cost cutting, governments spend more than ever. How can we make sense of this? – https://theconversation.com/despite-decades-of-cost-cutting-governments-spend-more-than-ever-how-can-we-make-sense-of-this-258902

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Despite decades of cost cutting, governments spend more than ever. How can we make sense of this?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Lovering, Lecturer in International Relations, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Getty Images

Recent controversies over New Zealand’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunch program have revolved around the apparent shortcomings of the food and its delivery. Stories of inedible meals, scalding packaging and general waste have dominated headlines.

But the story is also a window into the wider debate about the politics of “fiscal responsibility” and austerity politics.

As part of the mission to “cut waste” in government spending, ACT leader and Associate Education Minister David Seymour replaced the school-based scheme with a centralised program run by a catering corporation. The result was said to have delivered “saving for taxpayers” of $130 million – in line with the government’s overall drive for efficiency and cost cutting.

While Finance Minister Nicola Willis dislikes the term “austerity”, her May budget cut the government’s operating allowance in half, to $1.3 billion. This came on top of budget cuts last year of around $4 billion.

Similar policy doctrines have been subscribed to by governments of all political persuasions for decades. As economic growth (and the tax revenue it brings) has been harder for OECD countries to achieve over the past 50 years, governments have looked to make savings.

What is strange, though, is that despite decades of austerity policies reducing welfare and outsourcing public services to the most competitive corporate bidder, state spending has kept increasing.

New Zealand’s public expense as a percentage of GDP increased from 25.9% in 1972 to 35.9% in 2022. And this wasn’t unusual. The OECD as a whole saw an increase from 18.9% in 1972 to 29.9% in 2022.

How can we make sense of so-called austerity when, despite decades of cost cutting, governments spend more than ever?

Austerity and managerialism

In a recent paper, I argued that the politics of austerity is not only about how much governments spend. It is also about who gets to decide how public money is used.

Austerity sounds like it is about spending less, finding efficiencies or living within your means. But ever rising budgets mean it is about more than that.

In particular, austerity is shaped by a centralising system that locks in corporate and bureaucratic control over public expenditure, while locking out people and communities affected by spending decisions. In other words, austerity is about democracy as much as economics.

We typically turn to the ideology of neoliberalism – “Rogernomics” being the New Zealand variant – to explain the history of this. The familiar story is of a revolutionary clique taking over a bloated postwar state, reorienting it towards the global market, and making it run more like a business.

Depending on your political persuasion, the contradiction of austerity’s growing cost reflects either the short-sightedness of market utopianism or the stubbornness of the public sector to reform.

But while the 1980s neoliberal revolution was important, the roots of austerity’s managerial dimension go back further. And it was shaped less by a concern that spending was too high, and more by a desire to centralise control over a growing budget.

Godfather of ‘rational’ budgeting: US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at a Vietnam War briefing in 1964.
Getty Images

Many of the managerial techniques that have arrived in the public sector over the austerity years – such as results-based pay, corporate contracting, performance management or evaluation culture – have their origins in a budgetary revolution that took place in the 1960s at the US Department of Defense.

In the early 1960s, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was frustrated with being nominally in charge of budgeting but having to mediate between the seemingly arbitrary demands of military leaders for more tanks, submarines or missiles.

In response, he called on the RAND Corporation, a US think tank and consultancy, to remake the Defense Department’s budgetary process to give the secretary greater capacity to plan.

The outcome was called the Planning Programming Budgeting System. Its goal was to create a “rational” budget where policy objectives were clearly specified in quantified terms, the possible means to achieve them were fully costed, and performance indicators measuring progress were able to be reviewed.

This approach might have made sense for strategic military purposes. But what happens when you apply the same logic to planning public spending in healthcare, education, housing – or school lunches? The past 50 years have largely been a process of finding out.

What began as a set of techniques to help McNamara get control of military spending gradually diffused into social policy. These ideas travelled from the US and came to be known as the “New Public Management” framework that transformed state sectors all over the world.

What are budgets for?

Dramatic moments of spending cuts – such as the 1991 “Mother of all Budgets” in New Zealand or Elon Musk’s recent DOGE crusade in the US – stand out as major exercises in austerity. And fiscal responsibility is a firmly held conviction within mainstream political thinking.

Nevertheless, government spending has become a major component of OECD economies. If we are to make sense of austerity in this world of permanent mass expenditure, we need a broader idea of what public spending is about.

Budgets are classically thought to do three things. For economists, they are a tool of macroeconomic stabilisation: if growth goes down, “automatic stabilisers” inject public money into the economy to pick it back up.

For social reformers, the budget is a means of progressively redistributing resources through tax and welfare systems. For accountants, the budget is a means of cost accountability: it holds a record of public spending and signals a society’s future commitments.

But budgeting as described here also fulfils a fourth function – managerial planning. Decades of reform have made a significant portion of the state budget a managerial instrument for the pursuit of policy objectives.

From this perspective, underlying common austerity rhetoric about eliminating waste, or achieving value for money, is a deeper political struggle over who decides how that public money is used.

To return to New Zealand’s school lunch program, any savings achieved should not distract from the more significant democratic question of who should plan school lunches – and public spending more broadly.

Should it be the chief executives of corporatised public organisations and outsourced conglomerates managing to KPIs on nutritional values and price per meal, serving the directives of government ministers? Or should it be those cooking, serving and eating the lunches?

Ian Lovering is affiliated with the Tertiary Education Union Te Hautū Kahurangi o Aotearoa.

– ref. Despite decades of cost cutting, governments spend more than ever. How can we make sense of this? – https://theconversation.com/despite-decades-of-cost-cutting-governments-spend-more-than-ever-how-can-we-make-sense-of-this-258902

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Bribe or community benefit? Sweeteners smoothing the way for renewables projects need to be done right
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University

Louise Beaumont/Getty

When a renewable energy developer announces a new project, there’s one big question mark – how will nearby communities react?

Community pushback has scuttled many renewables projects. Sometimes, communities are angry landowners hosting infrastructure will be paid, but neighbours and those further afield may not.

As a result, renewable projects often involve schemes where the developer gives funding or resources to local community initiatives.

Australia has dozens of these schemes, with many more to come as the clean energy transition accelerates. The Clean Energy Council estimates developers contribute about A$1,050 to communities for every megawatt of wind and about $850 for solar.

The problem is, research shows poorly designed schemes can look a lot like bribery. Developers dish out money to gain community acceptance. Our new research points to a clear solution: design these schemes carefully.

How do these schemes work?

Renewable developers usually structure community-benefit schemes in one of three ways:
- community funds, where a developer offers a one-time or ongoing payment for local infrastructure such as roads, services or community projects
- in-kind benefits, such as investment in local sports fields or tourism initiatives
- local ownership models, such as offering community members preferential access to shares in the company or a community co-ownership model of the project.
In Australia, a number of community schemes are already established or planned.

More are on their way. The Queensland government has introduced laws which require wind and solar farm developers enter into community benefit agreements.

Worldwide, offshore wind farms have for many years involved community benefit sharing. Australia is very likely to follow suit as this industry emerges.

Developers will sometimes set up more targeted neighbour payment schemes where funding is given to nearby landowners.

What are they for?

There are three reasons why benefit sharing can be a good idea overall. They are:

1. Impact on locals: solar farms take up large areas of land, while wind farms on land or sea draw the eye and can compete with other uses of the space. Community benefit schemes can help counterbalance these impacts.

2. Benefits are centralised: solar, wind and battery developments generate significant economic value. But this is largely captured by the developer. Benefit schemes can make residents feel the deal is fairer.

3. Acceptance: change of any kind is often hard. Offering incentives to towns and communities can make the change easier.

Payments to communities hosting renewable projects can look like bribes if not done carefully.
myphotobank.com.au/Shutterstock

Straying into bribery?

The definition of a bribe is a benefit which influences or intends to influence a person to violate their role-based obligations. Offering money to a police officer to avoid losing your licence would count as a bribe.

Community benefit sharing isn’t a bribe in a strict legal sense. But the payments can resemble bribes if they influence community members to accept the new development. Improving community acceptance is often a central goal of such schemes.

The accusation is common. In the United Kingdom, researchers observe these schemes are regularly seen:

as an attempt by local developers to ‘bribe’ local communities to ‘buy’ support for their wind farm development.

Community members may decry a scheme as a “paltry bribe” or “shut up candy”. Some insist their “principles are not for sale”.

Developers recognise this too. As one says:

you don’t just turn up in a community and say, don’t worry, we’ll buy you a new rugby pitch […] because it really does look like you’re trying to buy them off.

But do local communities have obligations which accepting a renewables project might violate?

As part of a democracy, residents have civic obligations to make public-spirited decisions, evaluating policies and developments based not on self-interest but in a principled way.

This is why it’s illegal to pay someone to vote for a particular candidate in an election, for instance.

Offering money for community initiatives isn’t intrinsically wrong. As a community objector to a wind farm proposal put it:

Of course it is a relevant planning consideration if a wind power company is offering to pour significant sums of money into a community for the life of a wind farm […] Why should that not be recognised as a good thing?

But any economic boon to a town must be considered alongside other important concerns, rather than wiping them away.

If these schemes operate by influencing citizens to ignore their civic duties, that’s intrinsically wrong. Worse still, it risks a backlash from offended community members.

In the worst cases, benefit sharing operates as a pay-off, where uneasy communities are given money to reduce their resistance.

Offshore wind farm developers overseas often set up community benefit schemes.
Tupungato/Shutterstock

Achieving fairness, avoiding bribery

The solutions are straightfoward: design these schemes strategically so they are fair and avoid eroding civic obligations. Here are four aims:

1. Minimise self-interest. Schemes should avoid large up-front payments and focus on in-kind benefits.

2. Respect the community. Employ and contract local staff, keep the community informed and respond transparently to complaints.

3. Encourage community involvement. Big renewable projects should stack up on energy, environmental, economic and community grounds. Robust and genuine community consultation should be used when designing any benefit scheme.

4. Ensure integrity. Development and implementation of any scheme should be genuine, transparent and accountable.

Getting it right

As climate change intensifies, Australia’s clean energy transition has a clear moral urgency. But this cannot be done by steamrolling local residents or buying them off with cash for community projects.

When community benefit schemes are sensibly designed with local input, it will boost both climate action and civic legitimacy.

Hugh Breakey receives funding from the Blue Economy CRC. This research was funded through the project ‘Pre-conditions for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy in Australia’ by the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre.

Charles Sampford receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Professional Services Council and the Blue Economy CRC.

Larelle Bossi 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. Bribe or community benefit? Sweeteners smoothing the way for renewables projects need to be done right – https://theconversation.com/bribe-or-community-benefit-sweeteners-smoothing-the-way-for-renewables-projects-need-to-be-done-right-258903
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
June 20, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Bribe or community benefit? Sweeteners smoothing the way for renewables projects need to be done right
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University

Louise Beaumont/Getty

When a renewable energy developer announces a new project, there’s one big question mark – how will nearby communities react?

Community pushback has scuttled many renewables projects. Sometimes, communities are angry landowners hosting infrastructure will be paid, but neighbours and those further afield may not.

As a result, renewable projects often involve schemes where the developer gives funding or resources to local community initiatives.

Australia has dozens of these schemes, with many more to come as the clean energy transition accelerates. The Clean Energy Council estimates developers contribute about A$1,050 to communities for every megawatt of wind and about $850 for solar.

The problem is, research shows poorly designed schemes can look a lot like bribery. Developers dish out money to gain community acceptance. Our new research points to a clear solution: design these schemes carefully.

How do these schemes work?

Renewable developers usually structure community-benefit schemes in one of three ways:
- community funds, where a developer offers a one-time or ongoing payment for local infrastructure such as roads, services or community projects
- in-kind benefits, such as investment in local sports fields or tourism initiatives
- local ownership models, such as offering community members preferential access to shares in the company or a community co-ownership model of the project.
In Australia, a number of community schemes are already established or planned.

More are on their way. The Queensland government has introduced laws which require wind and solar farm developers enter into community benefit agreements.

Worldwide, offshore wind farms have for many years involved community benefit sharing. Australia is very likely to follow suit as this industry emerges.

Developers will sometimes set up more targeted neighbour payment schemes where funding is given to nearby landowners.

What are they for?

There are three reasons why benefit sharing can be a good idea overall. They are:

1. Impact on locals: solar farms take up large areas of land, while wind farms on land or sea draw the eye and can compete with other uses of the space. Community benefit schemes can help counterbalance these impacts.

2. Benefits are centralised: solar, wind and battery developments generate significant economic value. But this is largely captured by the developer. Benefit schemes can make residents feel the deal is fairer.

3. Acceptance: change of any kind is often hard. Offering incentives to towns and communities can make the change easier.

Payments to communities hosting renewable projects can look like bribes if not done carefully.
myphotobank.com.au/Shutterstock

Straying into bribery?

The definition of a bribe is a benefit which influences or intends to influence a person to violate their role-based obligations. Offering money to a police officer to avoid losing your licence would count as a bribe.

Community benefit sharing isn’t a bribe in a strict legal sense. But the payments can resemble bribes if they influence community members to accept the new development. Improving community acceptance is often a central goal of such schemes.

The accusation is common. In the United Kingdom, researchers observe these schemes are regularly seen:

as an attempt by local developers to ‘bribe’ local communities to ‘buy’ support for their wind farm development.

Community members may decry a scheme as a “paltry bribe” or “shut up candy”. Some insist their “principles are not for sale”.

Developers recognise this too. As one says:

you don’t just turn up in a community and say, don’t worry, we’ll buy you a new rugby pitch […] because it really does look like you’re trying to buy them off.

But do local communities have obligations which accepting a renewables project might violate?

As part of a democracy, residents have civic obligations to make public-spirited decisions, evaluating policies and developments based not on self-interest but in a principled way.

This is why it’s illegal to pay someone to vote for a particular candidate in an election, for instance.

Offering money for community initiatives isn’t intrinsically wrong. As a community objector to a wind farm proposal put it:

Of course it is a relevant planning consideration if a wind power company is offering to pour significant sums of money into a community for the life of a wind farm […] Why should that not be recognised as a good thing?

But any economic boon to a town must be considered alongside other important concerns, rather than wiping them away.

If these schemes operate by influencing citizens to ignore their civic duties, that’s intrinsically wrong. Worse still, it risks a backlash from offended community members.

In the worst cases, benefit sharing operates as a pay-off, where uneasy communities are given money to reduce their resistance.

Offshore wind farm developers overseas often set up community benefit schemes.
Tupungato/Shutterstock

Achieving fairness, avoiding bribery

The solutions are straightfoward: design these schemes strategically so they are fair and avoid eroding civic obligations. Here are four aims:

1. Minimise self-interest. Schemes should avoid large up-front payments and focus on in-kind benefits.

2. Respect the community. Employ and contract local staff, keep the community informed and respond transparently to complaints.

3. Encourage community involvement. Big renewable projects should stack up on energy, environmental, economic and community grounds. Robust and genuine community consultation should be used when designing any benefit scheme.

4. Ensure integrity. Development and implementation of any scheme should be genuine, transparent and accountable.

Getting it right

As climate change intensifies, Australia’s clean energy transition has a clear moral urgency. But this cannot be done by steamrolling local residents or buying them off with cash for community projects.

When community benefit schemes are sensibly designed with local input, it will boost both climate action and civic legitimacy.

Hugh Breakey receives funding from the Blue Economy CRC. This research was funded through the project ‘Pre-conditions for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy in Australia’ by the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre.

Charles Sampford receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Professional Services Council and the Blue Economy CRC.

Larelle Bossi 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. Bribe or community benefit? Sweeteners smoothing the way for renewables projects need to be done right – https://theconversation.com/bribe-or-community-benefit-sweeteners-smoothing-the-way-for-renewables-projects-need-to-be-done-right-258903
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Tribunal Issues Determination of Reasonable Indication of Injury—Certain Carbon or Alloy Steel Wire from Various Countries

Source: Government of Canada News (2)

Ottawa, Ontario, June 19, 2025—The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today determined that there is a reasonable indication that the dumping of certain carbon or alloy steel wire from China, Chinese Taipei, India, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Türkiye and Vietnam has caused injury to the domestic industry.

The Tribunal’s inquiry was conducted pursuant to the Special Import Measures Act as a result of the initiation of a dumping investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The CBSA will continue its investigation and, by July 21, 2025, will issue a preliminary determination.

The Tribunal is an independent quasi-judicial body that reports to Parliament through the Minister of Finance. It hears cases on dumped and subsidized imports, safeguard complaints, complaints about federal government procurement and appeals of customs and excise tax rulings. When requested by the federal government, the Tribunal also provides advice on other economic, trade and tariff matters.

MIL OSI Canada News –

June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: First-of-its-kind in Canada, First Nations healing centre breaks ground
Source: Government of Canada regional news

People in northeastern British Columbia are one step closer to a new centre that will offer a holistic, culturally safe approach to addictions treatment and recovery, supporting more people on their healing journey.

“This groundbreaking marks a meaningful step forward in building a more inclusive and culturally safe health-care system,” said Josie Osborne, Minister of Health. “The North Wind Wellness Centre will provide vital, comprehensive support for people on their healing journey, closer to home and community. It’s a powerful example of how we can work together to build services that are rooted in community and focused on wellness.”

Located in Pouce Coupe at 5213 Hospital Rd., the new North Wind Wellness Centre (NWWC) will have 55 spaces and will integrate First Nations healing practices with clinical care to support people at all stages of recovery. The NWWC will provide five detox beds, 10 addiction treatment beds, 40 self-contained supportive housing units and the Junction, a recovery-based community centre at the heart of the complex that will serve as a resource hub for those in treatment.

“At the North Wind Wellness Centre, people near and around Pouce Coupe will be able to get the care and housing they need locally, in the community they know,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs. “The centre offers stable, safe homes and continued support after treatment, helping people build a foundation for a healthier life. At the same time, cutting-edge care and services will honour and deepen connections to family, First Nations culture and community.”

The NWWC will deliver a full continuum of addictions recovery services in one place, combining detox, early recovery housing, treatment and supportive housing through the Addictions Recovery Community Housing (ARCH) model. This model combines Indigenous healing traditions with western medicine practices, including co-ordinated access, live-in treatment supports and post-recovery supports.

“With the generous support of our funders, the NWWC is proud to establish Canada’s first health and wellness centre, pioneering an innovative approach that unites the full continuum of care under one roof with the ARCH model,” said Isaac Hernandez, executive director, North Wind Wellness Centre. “This integrated model combines withdrawal management, addiction treatment, and assisted recovery housing, providing comprehensive support for individuals on their healing journey. The Northeast Junction, a peer-led central hub, connects all components, fostering a strong sense of community and holistic support.”

Designed with input from local First Nations and featuring culturally significant design elements, the new 3,200-square-metre (35,000-square-foot) centre will provide trauma-informed, culturally safe care to people 19 and older.

“Too many people in rural and Indigenous communities face barriers to accessing appropriate addiction care,” said Amna Shah, parliamentary secretary for mental health and addictions. “By building a centre that blends traditional Indigenous wellness with clinical supports, we are helping people heal in a place that feels like home, close to culture, community and care.”

This project is a partnership between the Province, the First Nations Health Authority, Northern Health, BC Housing, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the North Wind Wellness Centre Society. The project also received support from the Treaty 8 Tribal Association, the Peace River Regional District and the Village of Pouce Coupe.

Enhancing supports for people living with mental-health and addiction challenges is an integral part of government’s work to build a full continuum of mental-health and substance-use care that works for everyone.

Quotes:

Rob Turnbull, president and chief executive officer, Streetohome –

“This project reflects nearly a decade of cross-sector collaboration, vision and heart. It began with a commitment to do better – for individuals, for communities, and for future generations. With the collective support of funders including BC Housing, CMHC, FNHA, Northern Health and Streetohome, we’re not just building a facility, we’re creating a lifeline rooted in respect, culture and long-term recovery.”

Marlene Roy, executive director, Treaty 8 Tribal Association –

“Treaty 8 Tribal Association has proudly supported NWWC, recognizing that having this facility is a crucial and vital step forward in addressing the needs of our communities. As we continue to navigate this toxic drug crisis together, this facility will represent a shared commitment to resilience, support and healing. Situated in Pouce Coupe, the centre will stand on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Treaty 8 First Nations, fostering healing and support for those in need.”

Danielle Veach, mayor of Pouce Coupe –

“The new North Wind Wellness Centre brings hope to our region. Many families have suffered unendurable losses due to the toxic drug epidemic in our communities. This facility offers a second chance to those struggling with addiction, and reassurance to families that help is close to home.”

Leonard Hiebert, board chair, Peace River Regional District –

“The Peace River Regional District is pleased to support the NWWC’s new Health and Wellness Centre. This facility will bring a unique approach to addiction recovery services to our region, helping those who have previously had to travel far for this essential support. It will serve people throughout the province as well. We’re excited to see this project move forward – it’s going to make a real difference for people who need help.”

Katie Hughes, vice-president, public health response, First Nations Health Authority –

“Today’s groundbreaking ceremony for the North Wind Wellness Centre marks the latest milestone in bringing culturally safe treatment and healing closer to home for First Nations people in B.C. This ground-breaking reaffirms the First Nations Health Authority’s commitment as tripartite partners along with the First Nations Health Council, the Province and the Government of Canada, to meet the urgent need to support healing and wellness services for First Nations people and families across the province.”

Colleen Nyce, Northern Health board chair –

“The North Wind Wellness Centre fills a critical need in the region and will allow people to get the care they need in a facility rooted in healing, culture and community. Northern Health is proud to be a partner in this journey, supporting a model of care that is both innovative and deeply respectful of Indigenous traditions.”

Quick Fact:
- NWWC was established in 1996 to serve Indigenous communities in Treaty 8 Territory.
- The new centre represents a significant advancement in addiction recovery in Canada, by integrating the entire continuum of care under one roof and combining Western medical practices with Traditional Indigenous healing.
Learn More:

To learn more about NWWC, visit: https://northwindwellnesscentre.ca/about-us/about-the-centre/

MIL OSI Canada News –
June 20, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: PM meeting with Prime Minister of Bahrain: 19 June 2025
Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

Press release

PM meeting with Prime Minister of Bahrain: 19 June 2025

The Prime Minister welcomed His Royal Highness Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain to Downing Street today.
The Prime Minister welcomed His Royal Highness Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain to Downing Street today.

The leaders reflected on the strength of the UK-Bahrain relationship, and welcomed the UK becoming a full member of the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement (C-SIPA) today. The agreement will deepen trilateral cooperation with Bahrain and the United States on regional security at a critical time, both agreed.

The Prime Minister also welcomed the signing of the Strategic Investment and Collaboration Partnership, building on the two-way investment partnership between the countries, and how this will unlock new investment, growth and jobs into the UK, delivering on the Plan for Change.

The leaders also underscored the importance of the new Defence Cooperation Accord between the two countries, deepening joint military training and building on the two nations’ strong naval ties.

Highlighting the strength of the 200-year relationship between both nations, the leaders looked forward to further cooperation, including trade negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Turning to the situation in the Middle East, the leaders called for de-escalation and both agreed on the need for enduring and closer relationships across the region to support stability.

The Prime Minister and Crown Prince looked forward to speaking again soon.

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Published 19 June 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
June 20, 2025