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  • MIL-OSI Global: Selenium is an essential nutrient named after the Greek goddess of the Moon − crucial to health, it may help prevent and treat cancer

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Aliasger K. Salem, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Iowa

    Selenium is found in trace amounts in living organisms, soil and plants. Nazarii Neshcherenskyi/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Selenium is a nutrient that plays a crucial role in human health, contributing to the thyroid and immune function, DNA repair, and cardiovascular and cognitive health.

    It acts as an antioxidant – substances that protect cells from unstable molecules that can damage DNA, proteins and cell membranes. It can even protect against cancer.

    Selenium is a vital trace element found in living organisms, soil and plants, and your body needs only a small amount of it to function. The recommended dietary allowance for selenium in adults is 55 micrograms per day, with an upper limit of 400 micrograms. In comparison, adults need between 900 to 10,000 micrograms daily of copper, another trace element, and between 8,000 to 40,000 micrograms of the trace element zinc.

    An excess or deficiency of selenium can have significant health consequences. In my work as a pharmaceutical science researcher, my colleagues and I study the potential use of selenium to boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy for cancer treatment.

    A dose of selenium

    Selenium was first discovered in 1817 by chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius while analyzing an impurity in a batch of sulfuric acid produced in a factory in Sweden. Berzelius initially thought the material was the element tellurium, but he eventually realized that it was actually an unknown substance at the time. He named the mineral after Selene, the Greek goddess of the Moon, because of its similarity to tellurium, which had been named after the Roman goddess of the Earth.

    Selenium exists in both organic and inorganic forms. Organic compounds contain carbon atoms and are typically derived from living organisms, while inorganic compounds do not have carbon atoms and generally originate from nonliving sources. Your cells chemically convert between these forms to carry out various physiological functions.

    Selenium deficiency is a significant health issue, particularly in regions with selenium-poor soils, such as parts of China, Africa and Europe. Low selenium levels are associated with Keshan disease, a fatal heart condition, and Kashin-Beck disease, which affects joints and bones. Deficiency also weakens immune function, increasing susceptibility to infections.

    Brazil nuts contain particularly high levels of selenium.
    R.Tsubin/Moment via Getty Images

    Consuming too much selenium is also an issue. Oversupplementation or excess environmental exposure can lead to selenosis, a condition with symptoms such as brittle hair and nails, digestive issues, skin rashes and neurological symptoms such as irritability and fatigue. In severe cases, selenium toxicity can result in organ failure and death.

    Selenium has a narrow therapeutic window, which is the dosage range that provides safe and effective treatment with minimal harmful side effects. For example, selenium can either increase or decrease your body’s immune function, depending on the dose. Adequate levels of selenium strengthen your immune cells’ ability to fight infections and tumors, while excessive selenium intake can suppress immune responses by damaging immune tissues.

    Selenium and cancer prevention

    Selenium may have the potential to treat and prevent cancer.

    Scientists have long studied selenium’s role in cancer prevention. Initially suspected to be a carcinogen, later studies found it had protective effects against liver damage. In the 1960s. researchers proposed that selenium could be used to prevent cancer, a concept that gained further traction in the 1990s.

    However, large-scale clinical trials have produced mixed results. The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial was a study of over 35,500 men that ran from 2001 to 2004. They found that taking selenium daily did not reduce prostate cancer risk and may even increase the risk of prostate cancer in men with already high selenium levels.

    Findings from a study conducted from 1983 to 1996, the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial, suggested selenium may protect against prostate and other cancers. But researchers also observed a heightened incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer among participants.

    These conflicting results may be due to the different forms of selenium each study tested, as well as differences in baseline selenium levels among participants. Other studies have found that selenium-contaminated water in a municipality of Italy has been linked to an increased risk of melanoma.

    The antioxidant effects of selenium vary depending on its dose.
    Razaghi et al./EJC, CC BY-SA

    Selenium and cancer treatment

    Selenium may also have the potential to stop cancer from spreading.

    My research focuses on the potential of using selenium to supplement chemotherapy for cancer treatment. Selenium compounds such as methylseleninic acid, or MSA, and seleno-L-methionine, or SLM, show promise in targeting proteins that drive tumor progression and treatment resistance. Studies from my team and I have found that MSA can modulate key biochemical pathways related to kidney cancer by reducing levels of proteins that influence tumor growth and immune evasion. We also observed that SLM may slow kidney tumor growth in mice without toxic side effects.

    More significantly, in a Phase 1 clinical trial, we found that combining SLM with the chemotherapy drug axitinib was effective in treating metastatic kidney cancer in patients, with minimal side effects. Of the 27 patients we treated, over half saw their tumors shrink in size, with a median overall survival of nearly 20 months. These findings suggest that selenium may have a synergistic effect on chemotherapy by making it more effective.

    Further investigation into how selenium may help overcome treatment resistance and what doses are optimal will clarify its potential as a viable addition to cancer treatment.

    Striking the right balance

    Whether as an immune booster or potential treatment for disease, the significance of selenium in human health is undeniable.

    Eating selenium-rich foods – such as Brazil nuts, seafood, whole grains and eggs – can help sustain optimal nutrient levels. In regions with selenium-deficient soils, supplementation with medical supervision may be necessary.

    The fine line between benefit and harm underscores the importance of balanced intake and personalized approaches to selenium supplementation. As research continues, I believe selenium’s multifaceted role in health will become more clear.

    Aliasger K. Salem receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. He serves on the Executive Board of the American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists.

    – ref. Selenium is an essential nutrient named after the Greek goddess of the Moon − crucial to health, it may help prevent and treat cancer – https://theconversation.com/selenium-is-an-essential-nutrient-named-after-the-greek-goddess-of-the-moon-crucial-to-health-it-may-help-prevent-and-treat-cancer-248548

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Generative AI is most useful for the things we care about the least

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By John P. Nelson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ethics and Societal Implications of Artificial Intelligence, Georgia Institute of Technology

    The creative process involves choices that lead artists to places they couldn’t have imagined. Eoneren/E+ via Getty Images

    Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney can produce text, images and videos far more quickly than any one person can accomplish by hand.

    But as someone who studies the societal impacts of AI, I’ve noticed an interesting trade-off: The technology can certainly save time, but it does so precisely to the extent that the user is willing to surrender control over the final product.

    For this reason, generative AI is probably most useful for things we care about the least.

    Ceding creative control

    Let’s use the example of AI image generators. You probably have a rough idea of how they work. Just type what you want – “a panda surfing,” “a piece of toast that is also a car” – and the generative tool draws it.

    But this glosses over the countless possible iterations of the desired image.

    Will the image appear as a watercolor painting or a pencil sketch? How lifelike will the panda be? How big is the wave? Is the toast-car parked or moving? Is there anyone inside of it?

    When the images are generated, these questions have been answered – but not by the user. Rather, the generative AI tool has “decided.”

    Of course, the user can be more specific: Imitate the style of Monet. Make the wave twice the height of the panda. Maybe the panda should look worried, since it isn’t used to surfing.

    You can also pop open an image editor and modify the output yourself, down to the individual pixel. But, of course, drafting detailed instructions and revising the image take time, effort and skill. Generative AI promises to lighten the load. But as every manager knows, exercising control is work.

    The devil is in the details

    In all art and expression, power lies in the details.

    In great paintings, not every brushstroke is planned – but each is carefully considered and accepted. And its overall effect on the viewer depends on all those considered brushstrokes together.

    Filmmakers shoot take after take of the same scene, each subtly or radically different. Only a small fraction of that footage makes it into the final cut – the fraction that the editors feel does the job best. Great artists use their judgment to ensure every detail helps to achieve the effect they want.

    Of course, there’s nothing new about putting someone else in charge of the details. People are used to delegating authority – even about matters of expression – to marketers, speechwriters, social media managers and the like.

    Generative AI makes a new sort of contractor available. It’s always on call, and in certain ways it is very technically competent.

    But compared with skilled humans, it has a limited ability to understand what you want. Moreover, it lacks intention, contemplation and the comprehensive mastery of detail that yield great expressive achievements – or even the comprehensive idiosyncrasy that spawns very unique ones.

    Ask ChatGPT for a film script, plus casting and shooting instructions. It will give you neither Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece “The Godfather” nor Tommy Wiseau’s bizarre “The Room.”

    You could, perhaps, approach a masterpiece, or a true oddity. But to do so, you’d have to exercise more and more time, more and more effort, and more and more control.

    An era of ‘cheap speech’

    What generative AI makes possible, above all, is low-effort, low-control expression.

    In the time I took to write and revise this article, I could have used ChatGPT to generate 200 grammatically correct, well-structured articles, and then I could have posted them online without even reading them. I wouldn’t have had to carefully parse each word and decide whether it really helped me make my point. I wouldn’t have even had to decide whether I agreed with any of the AI-generated write-ups.

    This is not a merely hypothetical example. Low-quality, AI-generated e-books of ambiguous provenance are already making their way into online vendors’ catalogs – and into the libraries those vendors serve.

    Similarly, using image generators, I could now flood the internet with superficially appealing images, dedicating only a fraction of a second to decide whether any of them express what I want them to express or achieve what I want them to achieve.

    But in doing so, I would not just be skipping over drudgery. Writing, drawing and painting are not just labor but processes of considering, reviewing and deciding exactly what I want to put out into the world. By skipping over those processes, I surrender that decision-making process to the AI tool.

    Some scholars argue that the internet has produced an era of “cheap speech.” People no longer have to invest a lot of resources – nor even face the judgment of their neighbors – to broadcast whatever they want to the world.

    With generative AI, expression is even cheaper. You don’t even have to make things yourself to put them out into the world. For the first time in human history, the ability to produce writing, art and expression has been decoupled from the necessity of actually paying attention to what you’re making or saying.

    Generative AI allows you to blow through the thousands of little decisions that go into a work of art.
    C.J. Burton/The Image Bank via Getty Images

    When intention and effort matter

    I suspect that great art, journalism and scholarship will still demand great attention and effort. Some of that effort may even include custom-developing AI tools tailored to an individual artist’s concerns.

    But unless people become much better at curation, great work will be increasingly difficult to locate amid the flood of low-effort content, which is also known as “AI slop.”

    It’s appropriate that generative AI becomes more useful the sloppier its users are willing to be – that is, the less they care about the details.

    I could end with some dire prognosis – that working artists and writers will be replaced with mediocre automation, that online discourse will get even stupider, that people will isolate themselves in personalized cocoons of AI-generated media.

    All these things are possible. But it’s probably more useful to offer a suggestion to you, the reader.

    When you need an image or a piece of writing, take a moment to decide: How important are the details? Would the process of making this yourself, or working with a collaborator or contractor, be useful? Would it yield a better output, or give me the chance to learn, or begin or strengthen a relationship, or help you reflect on something important to you?

    In short, is it worth putting in real care and effort? The answer will not always be yes. But it often will.

    Art, writing, films – these are not just products, but acts. They are things humans make, through a process of thousands of little decisions that encompass what we stand for and what we want to say.

    So when it comes to art, expression and argument, if you want it done right, it’s probably still best to do it yourself.

    John P. Nelson 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. Generative AI is most useful for the things we care about the least – https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-is-most-useful-for-the-things-we-care-about-the-least-249329

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: If US attempts World Bank retreat, the China-led AIIB could be poised to step in – and provide a model of global cooperation

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Tamar Gutner, Associate Professor, American University

    Donald Trump is no fan of international organizations. Just hours after taking office on Jan 20, 2025, the U.S. president announced his intention to withdraw from the World Health Organization and the Paris agreement on climate change.

    Could the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank be next?

    Certainly, supporters of the twin institutions – that have formed the backbone of global economic order for 80 years – are concerned. A Trump-ordered review of Washington’s support of all international organizations has led to fears of the U.S. reducing funding or pulling it altogether.

    But any shrinking of U.S. leadership in international financial institutions would, I believe, run counter to the administration’s ostensible geopolitical goals, creating a vacuum for China to step into and take on a bigger global role. In particular, weakening the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, or MDBs, that have a large U.S. presence could present an opportunity for a little-known, relatively new Chinese-led international organization: the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank – which, since its inception, has supported the very multilateralism the U.S. is attacking.

    AIIB’s paradoxical role

    The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was created by China nine years ago as a way to invest in infrastructure and other related sectors in Asia, while promoting “regional cooperation and partnership in addressing development challenges by working in close collaboration with other multilateral and bilateral development institutions.”

    Since then, it has served as an example of an international body willing to deeply cooperate with other major multilateral organizations and follow international rules and norms of development banking.

    This may run counter to the image of Beijing’s global efforts portrayed by China hawks, of which there are many in the Trump administration, who often present a vision of a China intent on undermining the Western-led liberal international order.

    But as a number of scholars and other China experts have suggested, Beijing’s strategies in global economic governance are often nuanced, with actions that both support and undermine the liberal global order.

    As I explore in my new book, it is clear that today the AIIB is a paradox: an institution connected to the rules and norms of the liberal international order, but one created by an illiberal government.

    Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei speaks during the signing ceremony of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Oct. 24, 2014, in Beijing.
    Takaki Yajima-Pool/Getty Images

    The AIIB is deeply tied to the rules-based order as displayed through its many cooperative connections with other major multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank and the Japan-led Asian Development Bank.

    As such, the AIIB may present a Chinese counterpoint in a landscape where U.S. leadership is receding.

    The cooperative design of the AIIB

    For decades, multilateral development banks have served the important task of lending billions of dollars a year to support economic and social development.

    They can be vital sources of funding for poverty reduction, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development, with a newer emphasis on climate change. These international lenders have also been remarkably durable in today’s climate of fragmentation and crisis, with member nations actively considering ways of further strengthening them.

    At the same time, MDBs perennially face criticism from civil society organizations who highlight areas of weak performance and are concerned about potential downsides of the major MDBs’ greater emphasis on working more closely with the private sector. MDB expert Chris Humphrey has also noted that major “MDBs were built around a set of geopolitical and economic power relationships that are coming apart before our eyes.”

    When Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 proposed creating the AIIB to lend for infrastructure development in Asia, there was a lot of suspicion among major nations about China’s intentions.

    The Obama administration responded to the move by urging other countries not to join. Its concern was that China would use lending to gain further influence in the region, but without adhering to strong environmental and social standards.

    Nonetheless, all the other major nonborrowing nations, with the exception of Japan, joined the new bank. Today, the AIIB is the second-largest multilateral development bank in terms of member countries, behind only the World Bank. It currently has 110 member nations, which translates to over 80% of the global population. With US$100 billion in capital, it is one of the medium-sized multilateral lenders.

    From the get-go, the AIIB was designed to be cooperative. Jin Liqun, who became the bank’s first president, is a longtime multilateralist with a long career at China’s finance ministry and past positions on the boards of the World Bank and the Global Environmental Facility, as well as a vice presidency of the Asian Development Bank.

    The international group of experts that helped design the AIIB also included former executive directors and staff from the IMF and other development banks, as well as two Americans with long careers at the World Bank who played leading roles in designing the bank’s articles of agreement and its environmental and social framework.

    How the AIIB took its cue from others

    The bank fits into the landscape of other multilateral development banks in a variety of ways. The AIIB’s charter is directly modeled on the Asian Development Bank’s foundation, and built into the AIIB’s charter is the bank’s mission of promoting “regional cooperation and partnership in addressing development challenges.”

    The AIIB shares similar norms and policies with other major multilateral development banks, including its environmental and social standards.

    Alongside borrowing foundational principles, the AIIB also works in close conjunction with its peers. The World Bank initially ran the AIIB’s treasury operations. The AIIB has also co-financed a high percentage of its projects with other multilateral development banks, particularly in its first years.

    In a recent sign of cooperation, in 2023, a deal between the AIIB and World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) saw the AIIB issue up to $1 billion in guarantees against IBRD sovereign-backed loans. This increased the IBRD’s ability to lend more money, while diversifying the AIIB’s loan portfolio.

    As of Feb. 6, 2025, the AIIB has 306 approved projects totaling $59 billion. Energy and transportation are its two largest sectors of lending. Recently approved projects include loans to support wind power plants in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and a solar plant in India. India, which has a bumpy relationship with China, is one of the bank’s largest borrowers, along with Turkey and Indonesia.

    Cooperating and competing with China

    From its birth until recently, the multilateral AIIB has repeatedly distinguished itself from China’s bilateral initiatives. Chief among those is China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an umbrella term for infrastructure lending by Chinese institutions that has been criticized for lacking transparency and accountability.

    Indeed, some Belt and Road Initiative-linked projects have faced concerns about corruption, costs and the opacity of the loan agreements.

    In the past several years, the AIIB has made more mention of synergy with Belt and Road lenders, and the bank now hosts the secretariat of a facility, the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance, that offers grants and support to developing countries seeking to finance infrastructure in countries where Belt and Road lending takes place. This may blur the line between the AIIB and lending under the Belt and Road umbrella, but it does not appear to weaken the bank’s standards.

    Concerns about the level of Chinese government influence at the AIIB are not new. Canada froze its ties with the bank in June 2023, pending a review of allegations by a Canadian staff member, who dramatically quit after accusing the bank of being dominated by members of China’s Communist Party.

    No other member nations expressed such concern, and Canada has not yet published any review. A group of AIIB executive directors oversaw an internal review that found no evidence to support the allegations.

    As the new U.S. administration formulates its policies toward China, it would do well to take into account the variation in China’s strategies in global economic governance, as a recognition of areas of cooperation, competition and conflict requires more nuanced responses. In many areas, the U.S. will both cooperate and compete with China.

    Paradoxically, any moves by the Trump administration to pull back from multilateral organizations may leave the AIIB, whether or not it is an anomaly, in a position to offer a better model of cooperation than leading multilateral development banks with a powerful U.S. role.

    Tamar Gutner 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. If US attempts World Bank retreat, the China-led AIIB could be poised to step in – and provide a model of global cooperation – https://theconversation.com/if-us-attempts-world-bank-retreat-the-china-led-aiib-could-be-poised-to-step-in-and-provide-a-model-of-global-cooperation-244595

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A hazy legal landscape means people can get high on hemp products, even where pot is prohibited

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Katharine Neill Harris, Fellow in Drug Policy, Rice University

    Delta-8 supplements on a shelf at a Texas store. Sergio Flores/Washington Post via Getty Images

    In Texas, where I live, marijuana has long been illegal. Yet on a busy street in my Houston neighborhood, at least five stores within a half-mile of each other sell cannabis products that promise a strong high.

    Texas isn’t alone. Due to a mix of recent legal changes and an uncertain policy landscape, residents in roughly half of American states have easy access to impairing hemp products that bear a strong resemblance to marijuana and are far less regulated.

    As hemp sales soar – reaching nearly US$3 billion in 2023 – a number of states are tightening their restrictions, while experts are analyzing the public health implications. That’s why I analyzed hemp policies in all 50 states with some of my colleagues at Rice University’s Baker Institute, where I’m a drug policy fellow.

    Marijuana and hemp: Same plant, different policies

    Marijuana and hemp are both varieties of cannabis sativa, a plant with many uses that produces thousands of compounds. Among them is the popular intoxicant delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or delta-9 THC.

    Hemp is widely valued as an industrial crop, and for most of American history, farmers freely cultivated it. But by the mid-20th century, lawmakers had grown increasingly opposed to marijuana and were concerned by hemp’s similarity to its impairment-causing cousin.

    In an effort to permit hemp cultivation while prohibiting production of a psychoactive plant, the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 defined hemp as all parts of the cannabis plant with less than 0.3 percent concentration of delta-9 THC by dry weight. Cannabis that exceeded this threshold was considered marijuana.

    The 1970 Controlled Substances Act ushered in the modern era of prohibition of marijuana and other drugs. Hemp remained technically legal, but because of its similarity to marijuana, it was listed as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and other substances deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no medical value.

    Because of hemp’s Schedule I status, the Drug Enforcement Administration tightly regulated its production. But hemp farmers have long argued that these regulations were excessive – and in 2018, Congress agreed. That year, lawmakers passed a farm bill that removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and legalized the manufacture and sale of hemp and its derivatives.

    The ABC News affiliate in San Diego reports on the 2018 farm bill from a local perspective.

    Crucially, the 2018 bill still defines hemp as all parts of the plant and its derivatives that have less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC. But it left a loophole: While delta-9 is the most well-known form of THC, it’s not the only one. Other forms of THC, known as THC isomers, have similar effects. These isomers, like delta-8 and delta-10 THC, can be derived from the hemp plant, and like delta-9 THC, they can cause impairment. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized all of them.

    In 2023, sales of hemp-derived cannabinoids reached US$2.8 billion. Market growth has been accompanied by a rise in adverse health events. Chemists have expressed alarm at how some hemp products are made, and analyses of commercially available products have found them to contain heavy metals, residual solvents and pesticides.

    Given the lax regulatory environment, many public officials now question the lack of guardrails on this burgeoning hemp industry. As a result, officials and governments across the country are now enacting or considering policy changes.

    Some states are imposing age and advertising restrictions

    In 2023, 11.4% of 12th graders said they had used hemp-derived delta-8 THC in the past year. Easy access to any substance can encourage use, and THC can have negative impacts on the adolescent brain.

    While federal law prohibits the sale of tobacco and alcohol to individuals under 21, there is no similar national requirement for hemp. But at least 27 states that permit the sale of hemp-derived products now have minimum age requirements, and several others have pending legislation.

    Lessons from the tobacco market also demonstrate that advertising restrictions can reduce the use of legal but potentially harmful products. Most efforts to curtail hemp advertising focus on youth. Sixteen states restrict the use of packaging and marketing materials that may appeal to minors. Meanwhile, federal regulations also limit youth-targeted marketing.

    There are fewer restrictions on advertising to adults. The Food and Drug Administration does prohibit using unverified health claims to sell hemp products, but this standard gives the industry plenty of leeway. Hemp ads often tout their purported physical benefits, like reducing pain or improving sleep, or portray them as mood-boosters that can make one feel euphoric and aroused, with few downsides.

    Other states are establishing potency limits

    The use of products high in THC has been linked to greater risk of cannabis dependence and adverse mental health outcomes. Concerns about product potency have led all states with recreational marijuana markets to limit the amount of delta-9 THC in edible products. This threshold is typically around 10 milligrams, a dose that’s strong enough to affect most people.

    Hemp is a different story. To satisfy federal requirements, hemp just has to have less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by weight. This limit sounds low, but the weight-based metric does not account for heavier products, like food and drinks.

    For example, a 50-gram candy bar – roughly the size of a Snickers bar – with 150 milligrams of hemp-derived delta-9 THC is legal in the 34 states that don’t have milligram caps on hemp products. This is a dose 15 times higher than what any recreational marijuana market allows. Meanwhile, states that only restrict hemp’s delta-9 content also leave the door open to products with high amounts of other forms of THC.

    At least 13 states have responded to potency concerns by adding milligram caps on the total THC permitted in a single serving of a hemp product. Some of these limits are so low – 1 milligram or less in Connecticut, New York, Montana and Rhode Island – that one serving is unlikely to cause impairment.

    Enforcement is a wild card

    Only regulations that are enforced are effective, and states differ in the level of energy they devote to industry oversight.

    In Virginia, the Office of Hemp Enforcement has issued over $12 million in fines to noncompliant hemp retailers since its creation in 2023. On the other end of the spectrum, Massachusetts considers hemp-derived THC products illegal, but it has not provided local jurisdictions with funding for enforcement, resulting in continued availability of prohibited products.

    Some states with legal hemp markets have added additional sales taxes to help fund enforcement. In Nebraska, Missouri and Connecticut, attorneys general have sued hemp retailers for selling illegal items, marketing to minors and engaging in deceptive trade practices.

    As the hemp industry expands, so will concerns about how to protect public health. The demand for THC, and the market to supply it, continues to grow. If lawmakers want to develop industrywide safety standards or deal with the challenges of online marketplaces that sell hemp products to minors, it will take action from Washington. In the meantime, many states and policymakers are exploring an expansive middle ground between unfettered access and blanket bans.

    Katharine Neill Harris 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. A hazy legal landscape means people can get high on hemp products, even where pot is prohibited – https://theconversation.com/a-hazy-legal-landscape-means-people-can-get-high-on-hemp-products-even-where-pot-is-prohibited-247168

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The ‘lab-leak origin’ of Covid-19. Fact or fiction?

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Florence Débarre, Directrice de recherche CNRS, chercheuse en biologie évolutive, Sorbonne Université

    In a January 24 interview with the far-right-wing outlet Breitbart News, newly appointed CIA director John Ratcliffe stated that assessing intelligence on a potential Wuhan lab leak was a top priority. The following day, The New York Times reported that the agency had shifted from an undecided stance to favoring a possible Chinese lab leak, albeit with a “low confidence” rating–the lowest on a three-tier scale (low, medium, high)–indicating the evidence remains inconclusive.

    The CIA has thus joined the ranks of the FBI and the Department of Energy (DOE), which has scientific jurisdiction, in supporting the possibility of a laboratory-related incident.

    Findings from a 2023 reportshow that, among the U.S. agencies that have investigated the pandemic’s origins, one remains undecided, while four others, along with the National Intelligence Council, support the natural origin hypothesis.

    What does ‘laboratory origin’ really mean?

    According to The New York Times, the CIA’s revised assessment is based not on new evidence, but on a reinterpretation of existing data. However, the reasoning behind its reassessment, along with the supporting data, has not been made public, making it impossible to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the agency’s conclusions.

    Adding to the complexity, “laboratory origin” is an umbrella term encompassing multiple, sometimes contradictory, scenarios. Confirming CNN’s 2023 report on the Department of Energy’s revised stance, The New York Times notes that while the DOE identifies the Wuhan Center for Disease Control (WCDC) as the outbreak’s likely source, the FBI attributes it to a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). As of now, the CIA has not disclosed which scenario it deems most plausible.

    Though WCDC is not an actual research laboratory, some of its employees were participating in wildlife sampling campaigns at the time of the outbreak. In late 2019, WCDC moved to a location close to the Huanan Market. A theory implicating the WCDC confirms evidence that the earliest detected cases are epidemiologically and geographically linked to the market, suggesting the virus emerged naturally.

    In contrast, the WIV is a research institute operating across two campuses–one located 12 kilometers from the market and the other, which houses the P4 laboratory, 27 kilometers away. Scenarios implicating the WIV generally posit that “gain-of-function” coronavirus experiments–intended to enhance a virus’s transmissibility or virulence–were conducted under unsafe biosecurity conditions. The WIV is a biosafety level 2 facility, two levels below the high-security P4 standard.

    The interactive map above highlights Wuhan laboratories–the two WIV campuses in purple and the WCDC in yellow–and the Wuhan Huanan market in red. Click the symbol in the top left corner to view the legend. Since the WCDC is located near the market, please zoom in to see it.

    The Covid-19 virus originated from a single source. If it did escape from a Chinese laboratory, it could not have simultaneously leaked from two separate labs conducting different types of research.

    The lab leak scenario, supported by mutually incompatible hypotheses, doesn’t hold up–even before considering theories that the virus was engineered in a U.S. lab and then sent to Wuhan.

    Beyond determining the virus’s origin, it is equally important to identify the exact nature of the virus–further complicating the lab-accident hypothesis. Was it a natural occurring virus contracted during a sampling campaign? A laboratory-cultivated virus transferred to cells or animals? Or even a directly genetically modified virus?

    Again, SARS-CoV-2 cannot be both a natural virus and the result of lab experiments. Arguments built on conflicting premises do little to strengthen the case for a research-related incident.

    No evidence of a laboratory-related incident

    The lab-incident hypothesis would carry much more weight if definitive proof emerged that, by late December 2019, a Wuhan laboratory possessed a progenitor of SARS-CoV-2–meaning a virus identical or nearly identical to SARS-CoV-2.

    In the case of the 2007 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in southern England, for example, virus sequencing quickly led investigators to nearby high-security laboratories conducting research on a similar virus. The inquiry ultimately traced the outbreak to faulty effluent pipes at the facilities.

    To date, no virus has been identified that could be used in a laboratory as a direct progenitor of SARS-CoV-2. If the virus did emerge from a research-related incident, two possibilities remain: it was either an uncharacterized natural virus, unknown even to researchers, or it was a previously characterized virus that had not been disclosed–either because it was recently identified or part of a classified program–and is still being kept under wraps by scientists in Wuhan.

    Especially if SARS-CoV-2 were the result of genetic engineering. A lab-modified virus would mean its genetic sequence was known before the pandemic and accessible to researchers. However, by 2021, the U.S. intelligence community had determined that researchers at the WIV had no prior knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 before the outbreak. While absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, concrete data has yet to emerge supporting the hypothesis of laboratory modification.

    Theories about a potential lab outbreak have also fueled speculation about external involvement, both within China and abroad. A U.S. Senate committee report put forward an all-Chinese scenario, citing the suspicious 2020 death of a Beijing-based researcher working on a new vaccine.

    Other theories center on the NGO EcoHealth Alliance, which collaborated with WIV to collect and study natural coronavirus strains before its funding was abruptly cut off at Donald Trump’s request in Spring 2020. The organization’s president has since been banned from federal funding for five years, facing criticism over oversight issues, including delayed reporting of an experiment on a chimeric coronavirus and failure to provide WIV’s laboratory notebooks.

    Among the most high-profile figures implicated in U.S.-based complicity theories is Anthony Fauci, the former White House Covid advisor and head of the agency that funded the EcoHealth Alliance/WIV collaboration. But allegations against Fauci go far beyond simply approving research grants. One narrative claims he deliberately suppressed discussions about the pandemic’s point of origin, pressuring researchers to alter their conclusions in exchange for funding. No evidence has surfaced to support this claim.

    Anticipating potential retribution from his successor and the Republican Party, Former President Joe Biden preemptively granted Fauci a presidential pardon. However, newly elected President Donald Trump has since revoked Fauci’s personal security detail, and Republican Senator Rand Paul has vowed to continue efforts to prosecute him.

    The natural-origin theory faces hurdles as well

    Since these competing lab leak theories have emerged from a lack of conclusive evidence anything is possible. However, available data suggest the virus may have originated naturally from animals sold at the Huanan Market.

    Multiple sources, including research from Chinese institutions, support this hypothesis: two early SARS-CoV-2 strains were detected at the market, with the earliest cases reported in homes within the vicinity, even for patients without direct epidemiological links to it, and findings from the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CCDC) indicate that raccoon dogs and masked palm civets–species implicated in earlier SARS outbreaks–were present in the market’s southwest corner, where traces of SARS-CoV-2 were frequently detected.

    However, by the time the China CDC team arrived at the Huanan Market–just hours after its closure for sample collection–raccoon dogs and civets were no longer present. As a result, no direct traces of infection were detected, and the definitive evidence some are hoping for may never be uncovered.

    But even if such proof were to emerge, it’s unlikely to settle the debate. Additional confirmation would be needed to show that the contamination originated in the animals rather than being a secondary infection transmitted by humans. Moreover, skeptics could argue that the animals themselves came from a laboratory. In other words, the controversy is far from over.

    For now, with the new Trump administration focused on finding a culprit, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic will remain in the spotlight. Senator Rand Paul, now chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), has made the issue his favorite hobbyhorse.

    While declassifying additional information from the U.S. intelligence community could help clarify competing conclusions, there are concerns that the administration’s efforts may unfairly target researchers, potentially resulting in more innocent victims.

    Florence Débarre received funding in 2022 from the MODCOV19 platform of the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences and their Interactions (Insmi, CNRS) to model the initial dynamics of an epidemic.

    – ref. The ‘lab-leak origin’ of Covid-19. Fact or fiction? – https://theconversation.com/the-lab-leak-origin-of-covid-19-fact-or-fiction-250462

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Remembering Roberta Flack, a spellbinding virtuoso of musical interpretation

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Leigh Carriage, Senior Lecturer in Music, Southern Cross University

    The multi-Grammy award winner Roberta Flack has passed away at 88.

    Her approach and sound were a unique combination of soul, folk, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop and musicianship, and arranging skills so broad she had had a lasting impact on future artists.

    Her sustained career laid a foundation for pop and neo-soul artists Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Solange, J Dilla, Flying Lotus, and D’Angelo.

    Over her career, Flack performed some original songs, but she is better known for her myriad of covers and performances of songs written for her. No matter who wrote the songs, she made all of them her own. She was a master of musical interpretation.

    An early life of music

    Flack was born in North Carolina in 1937. Both of her parents played piano; her mother was the church organist.

    Her early interest in gospel tunes was encouraged and supported with her participation in a local Baptist church in Arlington, Virginia, and many relatives who sang.

    Her formal classical musical training continued at Howard University. After a brief period teaching at a junior high school, Flack started landing regular bookings at Mr. Henry’s, a Washington DC bar where Flack performed a range of traditional spirituals, jazz, blues and folk repertoire.

    In 1968, she signed with Atlantic Records.

    Her brilliant debut

    Her debut album, First Take, was recorded over just ten hours in 1969 at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York. First take indeed! Genius!

    Considering Flack’s background, religious inspiration and being surrounded by the social movements of the 1960s, it is not surprising that her first album features songs that address race and religion. The album creates a fusion of music with themes of spiritually and compelling political issues.

    Flack blended genres effortlessly. One of the highlights of the album is Flack’s interpretation of the folk song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Written in 1957 by British political singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for the vocalist Peggy Seeger, Flack’s interpretation is notably delivered with a deliberately slower tempo, and with legato phrasing – smooth, and connected.

    The lesser-known second track, the Venezuelan/Mexican song Angelitos Negros, offers a soulful statement of black rights.

    Flack’s powerful vocal delivery evokes a haunting sense of loss and refined passion. This, combined with her choice of musical arrangement with repeating lyrics, forms a commanding protest song.

    Always forging her own path

    Labels often described her work as “adult contemporary” or “easy-listening”.

    This barely addresses the diversity within her catalogue, which features Broadway ballads like The Impossible Dream, her definitive interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye, Bee Gees and Beatles songs, and folk classics.

    Blending genres like jazz, latin, rock and folk with nuanced elements of classical into her own arrangements and song interpretations, to the listener Flack’s interpretation becomes authorship.

    In this way, Flack played a role in defining pop music’s processes.

    Flack is best known for her majestic indelible early hits songs like Killing Me Softly with His Song, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You.

    The 1973 live recording of Killing Me Softly With His Song, written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, is breathtaking.

    Flack opens without an introduction: straight in, delicately infusing the lyrics with a vast array of tonal shades. The smooth phrases are delivered with a beautifully aligned dynamic, like the most carefully crafted expression.

    In 1996 Killing Me Softly with His Song, was reinvented by the Fugees with lead vocalist Lauryn Hill.

    Where Is the Love, a duet with Donny Hathaway, brings together their two legendary voices perfectly. Here were two highly skilled pianists with incredible musicality with voices that blended perfectly together.

    I have always enjoyed Flack’s version of Compared to What. Flack’s emotive delivery; the warmth of her tone; the panache; the edgeless smooth phrasing pulls you near in complete comfort.

    For Flack the lyric meaning – telling the story with clarity and honesty – was paramount. Her expression is refined with understated inventiveness. There is such power in her performances. She is spellbinding, reaching a deep soulful place that is both classically and contemporarily informed.

    While Flack wrote some songs, such as You Know What It’s Like, she was not predominantly a songwriter. Instead, she was a virtuosic interpreter of music. Whether penned by Flack or not, each song’s interpretation sounds authored by her. That is the sense you are getting when you listen to her music: it doesn’t matter who it’s written by, her interpretation makes you believe it is by her.

    Leigh Carriage 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. Remembering Roberta Flack, a spellbinding virtuoso of musical interpretation – https://theconversation.com/remembering-roberta-flack-a-spellbinding-virtuoso-of-musical-interpretation-250763

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The gold price has surged to record highs. What’s behind the move?

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Dirk Baur, Professor of Finance, The University of Western Australia

    The gold price has surged to a new all-time high above US$2,900 (A$4,544) an ounce this month.

    It has risen by 12% since the start of the year and clearly outperformed US and Australian stock markets. The US stock index S&P500 is up 4% and the ASX 200 has gained just 2% in that time.

    That follows an extraordinary run in 2024, when the precious metal surged 27%, the biggest rise in 14 years.

    The drivers behind this surge include heightened uncertainty and fear of inflation that has been stoked by US President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs, together with increased demand from central banks.

    What explains gold’s recent rally?

    There are many factors at play.

    The supply of gold through gold mine production and recycling is relatively constant over time. But the demand is more variable, and consists of four major components: jewellery, technology, investment and central banks.

    In 2024, jewellery accounted for about 50% of total demand, technology or industrial demand was 5%, investment demand was 25% and central bank demand was 20%.

    Investment demand refers to investors who buy gold as an asset. Central banks generally buy gold to diversify their reserve holdings.

    As all four demand components vary over time (some more than others), gold price movements are sometimes driven by jewellery demand, sometimes by investor demand, and sometimes – as has happened recently – by central bank demand.

    What adds to the difficulty is that both the gold supply and gold demand are global. The supply comes from gold mines across the globe, from emerging countries in Africa and industrial countries such as Australia and Canada.

    The same is true for demand. While China and India dominate jewellery demand, the demand comes from many countries, as does investment demand. Central bank demand stems from large and small central banks around the world.

    Why is there demand for gold?

    One key reason for the popularity of gold is that it is considered to be a store of value. This means gold rises with inflation and maintains its value in the long run.

    In other words, an ounce of gold buys the same basket of goods (or more) today than 20 years ago. This is not the case for money (or fiat currency) such as the US or Australian dollars.

    Due to inflation, the value of money is not constant but depreciates over time. Because gold holds its value, it is also called an inflation hedge.

    While the store of value property holds in the long run, there is another important property that is more short-lived and particularly relevant during crisis periods.

    Gold is seen as a safe haven in troubled times

    The safe haven property of gold means gold prices increase when investors seek shelter in response to a shock or crisis. For example, investors bought gold in reaction to the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, the start of the global financial crisis in 2008, and the outbreak of COVID in 2020.

    The safe haven effect of gold is generally short-lived, often resulting in falling gold prices after about 15 days.

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the subsequent sanctions on Russia – especially the freeze of Russia’s foreign government bond holdings abroad – has highlighted the risk to governments of losing access to foreign currency holdings.

    It appears some governments or central banks reacted to this with increased gold purchases. This led to a record high of 1,082 tonnes of central bank gold purchases in 2022.

    2023 saw the second-highest annual purchase in history at 1,051 tonnes, followed by 1,041 tonnes in 2024.

    The potential reaction of central banks to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is akin to investors seeking a safe haven, but is a rather new phenomenon for central banks.

    There is an additional, secondary, effect of such central bank purchases and rebalancing from US dollars to gold.

    Selling US dollars for gold implies a weakening US dollar, which increases the price of gold. (If the US dollar weakens, you need more US dollars to buy gold.) The inverse relationship between gold prices and currencies also makes gold a currency hedge. That means gold can protect investors from potential losses due to fluctuating exchange rates. This effect is particularly strong for rather volatile currencies such as the Australian dollar.

    In contrast to the shock caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the more recent increase in gold prices is harder to associate with a single shock.

    Broader economic worries

    The election of Trump has not only increased the risk of higher inflation due to tariffs and a trade war, it has also increased geopolitical risk as the US government reassesses its alliances with other countries.

    The relative unpredictability of Trump compared with his predecessors and with politicians more generally may have increased uncertainty and gold prices.
    The recent gold price trend highlights that “gold loves bad news”.

    Gold prices may anticipate geopolitical shocks or higher inflation. Gold prices rose well before inflation increased after the pandemic and started to fall when inflation had peaked in 2022.

    It is not clear exactly why gold has risen to all-time highs in 2025, but it’s possibly not good news for the world economy.

    Dirk Baur 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. The gold price has surged to record highs. What’s behind the move? – https://theconversation.com/the-gold-price-has-surged-to-record-highs-whats-behind-the-move-250391

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Moving beyond Black history month towards inclusive histories in Québec secondary schools

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By R. Nanre Nafziger, Assistant Professor, African/Black Studies in Education, McGill University

    As Montréal celebrates its 34th Black History Month, it is time to fully integrate Black history into Québec education.

    As an all-out war on diversity and inclusion rages below Canada’s southern border, an opportunity is opened for Québec to live up to its vision of a truly inclusive and multicultural society.

    Integral to this is mainstreaming the histories of Black, Indigenous and other racialized and equity-deserving communities. This can be done through history studies and also through citizenship and cultural education.

    It is important to go beyond Black History Month in order to embrace the importance of Black history for Black students and all students — ignored for too long in history textbooks and teaching.

    To this urgent issue we bring our combined research and educational expertise. Nanre Nafziger, the first author of this story, has researched how Black/African peoples can reclaim their histories and cultures, and Sabrina Jafralie, who has a PhD in teacher education, has researched Québec curricula and also brings experience as a Québec-born-and-raised teacher at a Montréal high school.

    Essential to combat anti-Black racism

    Teaching Black history is essential to fighting against anti-Black racism reinforced through negative depictions of African and Black histories.

    History education is important for raising critical and actively involved citizens and increasing acceptance and understanding. Educators speak of developing a “historical consciousness” — which includes learning to examine causes and consequences, and to revisit and interpret sources. This is a critical building block for fighting racism and negative depictions of racialized groups.

    History education is important for raising actively involved citizens and increasing understanding. Students at Dawson College in Montréal in 2021.
    THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

    Québec curriculum development, like most North American curricula, has historically leaned towards a Eurocentric narrative.

    Black/African history education is largely absent in Québec’s history curricula, reinforcing the erasure of the contributions of Black people to the development of Québec but also to world history. For example, history and citizenship secondary education (Cycle 1) refers to Black/Afro-Canadian history only in naming enslavement and oppression.

    This creates a narrow and damaging history that fails to recognize the diverse range of achievements by Black people. It neglects the rich cultural heritage of Afro-Canadians and reinforces systemic inequities in how knowledge is produced and disseminated.

    Sabrina writes: I was fortunate that my Afro Nova Scotian mother taught me our history across Canada. However, it was not present in my education until I created it in high school.

    Historical fight for Black history

    Researchers have raised concerns that Québec’s “interculturalism” — a longstanding province-specific take on how to address and integrate cultural differences — fails to take into account the complexities of identities and omits important histories.

    Such an approach further compounds anti-Black racism in schools.

    Black students, parents and educators have called for Black history to be taught in Québec schools year-round and activists have called for the creation of a more inclusive curriculum.

    Despite systemic omissions, Black and African communities in Québec have a rich tradition of upholding and preserving their histories through the meticulous work of community archivists and memory keepers.

    This includes the creation of Black libraries, books, articles and curriculum materials, oral storytelling and walking tours. Black community organizations offer cultural and community programming that focuses on diverse cultures and histories of Black people. Renowned historian, educator and long-time advocate for Black history Dorothy Williams, created a curriculum toolkit called the ABCs of Black History in French and English for teachers and educators to use in schools.

    Recommended revisions

    In its brief to the education minister, the Advisory Board on English Education recommended rewrites to “the K-11 history curriculum to broaden its perspective beyond Québec based content and Eurocentricity,” and allowing latitude for schools to incorporate history curriculum relevant to students’ backgrounds.

    While it is helpful when school boards mark Black History Month and share resources for teachers, the integration of Black history requires a holistic and comprehensive curricular focus.

    Québec may learn from other provinces. Nova Scotia has a curriculum on African Canadian history and Ontario plans to roll out a Black history curriculum in schools in September 2025. Educators in British Columbia created a Black Studies 12 course which helps promote racial equity in education.

    Culture and citizenship curriculum

    The new Culture and Civics Curriculum (CCQ), a mandatory subject in primary and secondary schools, offers opportunities to address systemic racism with a focus on citizenship, culture and identity. Yet, there is no assurance students will gain competencies to address racism, or teachers will be well-equipped to lead such learning, given the curricular approach. For example:

    • The elementary program of the CCQ prepares students to understand “cultural realities” and contains a module on Indigenous perspectives. However, the approach is rooted in Euro-centered sociology.

    • Secondary 5 (students aged 16-17) names the compulsory concept of social inequalities (along with sexism and other inequalities related to gender and sexuality; racism and colonialism; socio-economic inequalities; environmental inequalities). However, the teacher decides how to teach these grouped concepts and what emphasis to give these areas.

    This means there is a possibility that the CCQ curriculum could address anti-Black racism, but there are too many variables to guarantee it. By contrast, sexuality education and civic education are deemed mandatory and special topics.

    Black history now

    Including Black history in the curriculum will have a profound, direct impact on students by strengthening their identity, citizenship, and “sense of pride and belonging to Québec society.”

    Healthy learning can take place when students and people see their place in history and curriculum, as this creates a sense of belonging. The current curriculum creates exclusion and allows educators to hide in their bias if they desire.

    Diverse curricula create space and acknowledge hidden histories and foster a shared humanity and a vision for a shared, socially just, future.

    Québec’s complicated history of colonialism, systemic racism and ongoing repression associated with secularism is not one to be shied away from.

    Rather, integrating Black history can serve as a portal for inspiring and encouraging critical discourses on histories of communities that are under-represented in dominant stories of Québec.

    At a moment when exclusion, vitriol against difference and increasing intolerance dominates social discourse and interactions, Québec can choose another path. Only through critically assessing our past can we look forward to any form of a unified future: nous nous souvenons, we must all remember and be remembered.

    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. Moving beyond Black history month towards inclusive histories in Québec secondary schools – https://theconversation.com/moving-beyond-black-history-month-towards-inclusive-histories-in-quebec-secondary-schools-248832

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: U.S. cuts to HIV/AIDS funding will be detrimental for vulnerable groups in Kenya

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Toby Le, PhD Candidate in Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba

    On his first day in office, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to freeze foreign aid funding. This was followed by a stop-work order for dozens of life-saving humanitarian programs.

    One of the programs affected by this announcement is the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This program has invested more than US$100 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response since it was founded in 2003. This makes the U.S. the largest funder of HIV/AIDS programs worldwide.

    Although a 90-day waiver has since been issued which temporarily allows life-saving HIV drugs to continue being delivered, the impact of this executive order is already being felt across the globe — including in Africa, where PEPFAR funding has been integral in controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

    If PEPFAR funding ends when the waiver expires — or resumes but doesn’t allow funding for services to all key populations — this will have severe impacts on those in the continent living with HIV or at high-risk of infection.

    HIV/ AIDS research

    For 45 years, the University of Manitoba has been part of an important initiative in Nairobi, Kenya — partnering with the Sex Worker Outreach Program (SWOP and local agency Partners for Health and Development in Africa (PHDA) to develop effective strategies against HIV that can be employed in the region and communities worldwide. The approach, developed in 1985 by Elizabeth Ngugi, a public health nurse, and Francis Plummer, a University of Manitoba researcher, has empowered the community to share knowledge and to advocate for their rights. It has been vital in reducing HIV prevalence.

    This partnership between the University of Manitoba and SWOP has been funded by PEPFAR since 2003. It receives an average of US$1.5 million annually to deliver reproductive health, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infection and HIV services to key populations. Currently, this funding allows the program to operate nine clinics in Kenya, which annually provide services to over 40,000 female sex workers, 12,000 men who have sex with men and 1,400 transgender people.

    The program offers safe spaces and tailors services to address the specific needs of each group and reduces health-care barriers. Our research team assessed gaps and refined approaches so that this partnership could serve the most vulnerable — transforming engagement with key groups.

    Groundbreaking research findings have also emerged because of this partnership. University of Manitoba research conducted with the SWOP community was among the first to show that STIs increase the risk of HIV infection, that breastfeeding heightens the risk of transmitting HIV to babies, that male circumcision helps prevent HIV and that some people exposed to HIV have a natural immunity to the virus.

    These findings have informed global prevention strategies and highlight the partnership’s significant impact.

    Critical funding

    If PEPFAR funding does indeed end in April once the temporary waiver expires, it would have a serious impact on the HIV/AIDS programs being delivered not only in Kenya but around the globe.

    SWOP clinics have been instrumental in curbing HIV infections among sex workers. HIV prevalence among female sex workers accessing SWOP clinics declined from 44 per cent in 2008 to 12 per cent in 2017. This 67 per cent reduction can be attributed to an increase in HIV testing, community education and STI treatment. The program also highlighted the prevalence of HPV anal lesions in men who have sex with men and the importance of early detection. The cessation of PEPFAR funding will jeopardize STI and HIV services.

    After much advocating, the SWOP clinics servicing female sex workers were able to resume some of their activities last week (Feb. 12, 2025). However, the waiver specified that PEPFAR-funded HIV care and treatment services could only be offered to certain groups. This meant we were unable to resume HIV prevention services for all key groups.

    Without a strong contingency plan, the abrupt end to PEPFAR funding will have devastating consequences. It would mean an immediate end to SWOP activities. This would mean no more HIV testing, preventive treatment and anti-retroviral therapy — which would increase the risk of transmission, leading to an increase in cases and even a greater number of deaths in people living with HIV.

    Key groups accessing SWOP are among the most marginalized in Kenya. Without access to dedicated clinics, the majority will avoid seeking care due to fear of stigma, discrimination and harassment in clinics designed for the general public.

    SWOP partners with local agencies to provide empowerment, legal support and counselling. Closing these clinics could leave the communities they serve more vulnerable to violence, exploitation and human rights abuse.

    On the research front, funding cuts would mean ongoing projects would be halted and new ones couldn’t be started. Three already-funded University of Manitoba studies are planned to start this year. These aim to further investigate the impact of HIV on women living in the region and understand how women’s health can be improved not only in Kenya but worldwide.

    But without SWOP’s infrastructure (such as their clinics and outreach team) we won’t be able to start these new studies. Furthermore, the implementation of research-based programs that aim to prevent HPV-related cancers would be stopped.

    Cuts to HIV/AIDS funding could threaten the 40 years of work that has gone into ending the AIDS epidemic — potentially putting the lives of millions of people at risk.

    The PEPFAR program has saved over 25 million lives since its beginning in 2003. Ending the PEPFAR program would have serious impacts on services for key populations and the LGBTQ+ communities. If the funding does end after the waiver expires in April, it will be necessary for Canada’s provincial and federal governments to step in and become leaders in global health and the fight against HIV.

    Toby Le receives funding from CIHR and Research Manitoba.

    Julie Lajoie receives funding from Grand Challenge Canada, Canadian Institute of Health Research, CANFAR and MMSF (Manitoba Medical Service Fundation).

    Keith Fowke receives funding from CIHR and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    – ref. U.S. cuts to HIV/AIDS funding will be detrimental for vulnerable groups in Kenya – https://theconversation.com/u-s-cuts-to-hiv-aids-funding-will-be-detrimental-for-vulnerable-groups-in-kenya-250001

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Francis − a pope who has cared deeply for the poor and opened up the Catholic Church

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

    Pope Francis during the Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Square on April 2, 2023, in Vatican City. Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

    Pope Francis, who remains in critical condition and hospitalized as he battles pneumonia in both lungs, was elected pope on March 13, 2013, after the surprise resignation of Benedict XVI.

    Prior to becoming pope, he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, and was the first person from the Americas to be elected to the papacy. He was also the first pope to choose Francis as his name, thus honoring St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century mystic whose love for nature and the poor have inspired Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

    Pope Francis chose not to wear the elaborate clothing, like red shoes or silk vestments, associated with other popes. As a scholar of global Catholicism, however, I would argue that the changes Francis brought to the papacy were more than skin deep. He opened the church to the outside world in ways none of his predecessors had done before.

    Care for the marginalized

    Pope Francis reached out personally to the poor. For example, he turned a Vatican plaza into a refuge for the homeless, whom he called “nobles of the street.”

    The Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio, ordained for the Jesuits in 1969 at the Theological Faculty of San Miguel.
    Jesuit General Curia via Getty Images

    He washed the feet of migrants and prisoners during the traditional foot-washing ceremony on the Thursday before Easter. In an unprecedented act for a pope, he also washed the feet of non-Christians.

    He encouraged a more welcoming attitude toward gay and lesbian Catholics and invited transgender people to meet with him at the Vatican.

    On other contentious issues, Francis reaffirmed official Catholic positions. He labeled homosexual behavior a “sin,” although he also stated that it should not be considered a crime. Francis criticized gender theory for “blurring” differences between men and women.

    While he maintained the church’s position that all priests should be male, he made far-reaching changes that opened various leadership roles to women. Francis was the first pope to appoint a woman to head an administrative office at the Vatican. Also for the first time, women were included in the 70-member body that selects bishops and the 15-member council that oversees Vatican finances. Shortly before his death, he appointed an Italian nun, Sister Raffaella Petrini, as President of the Vatican City.

    Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on April 18, 2022.
    Stefano Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

    Not shy of controversy

    Some of Francis’ positions led to opposition in some Catholic circles.

    One such issue was related to Francis’ embrace of religious diversity. Delivering an address at the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan in 2022, he said that members of the world’s different religions were “children of the same heaven.”

    While in Morocco, he spoke out against conversion as a mission, saying to the Catholic community that they should live “in brotherhood with other faiths.” To some of his critics, however, such statements undermined the unique truth of Christianity.

    During his tenure, the pope called for “synodality,” a more democratic approach to decision making. For example, synod meetings in November 2023 included laypeople and women as voting members. But the synod was resisted by some bishops who feared it would lessen the importance of priests as teachers and leaders.

    In a significant move that will influence the choosing of his successor, Pope Francis appointed more cardinals from the Global South. But not all Catholic leaders in the Global South followed his lead on doctrine. For example, African bishops publicly criticized Pope Francis’ December 2023 ruling that allowed blessings of individuals in same sex couples.

    His most controversial move was limiting the celebration of the Mass in the older form that uses Latin. This reversed a decision made by Benedict XVI that allowed the Latin Mass to be more widely practiced.

    Traditionalists argued that the Latin Mass was an important – and beautiful – part of the Catholic tradition. But Francis believed that it had divided Catholics into separate groups who worshiped differently.

    This concern for Catholic unity also led him to discipline two American critics of his reforms, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and Cardinal Raymond Burke. Most significantly, Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Vatican ambassador, or nuncio, to the United States was excommunicated during Francis’ tenure for promoting “schism.”

    In the last days of his pontificate, Pope Francis also criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to deport migrants. In a letter to US Bishops, he recalled that Jesus, Mary and Joseph had been emigrants and refugees in Egypt. Pope Francis also argued that migrants who enter a country illegally should not be treated as criminals because they are in need and have dignity as human beings.

    Writings on ‘the common good’

    In his official papal letters, called encyclicals, Francis echoed his public actions by emphasizing the “common good,” or the rights and responsibilities necessary for human flourishing.

    Pope Francis washes the foot of a man during the foot-washing ritual at a refugee center outside of Rome on March 24, 2016.
    L’Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP

    His first encyclical in 2013, Lumen Fidei, or “The Light of Faith,” sets out to show how faith can unite people everywhere.

    In his next encyclical, Laudato Si’, or “Praise Be to You,” Francis addressed the environmental crisis, including pollution and climate change. He also called attention to unequal distribution of wealth and called for an “integral ecology” that respects both human beings and the environment.

    His third encyclical in 2020, Fratelli Tutti, or “Brothers All,” criticized a “throwaway culture” that discards human beings, especially the poor, the unborn and the elderly. In a significant act for the head of the Catholic Church, Francis concluded by speaking of non-Catholics who have inspired him: Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu and Mahatma Gandhi.

    In his last encyclical, Dilexit Nos, or “He Loved Us,” he reflected on God’s Love through meditating on the symbol of the Sacred Heart that depicts flames of love coming from Jesus’ wounded heart that was pierced during the crucifixion.

    Francis also proclaimed a special “year of mercy” in 2015-16. The pope consistently argued for a culture of mercy that reflects the love of Jesus Christ, calling him “the face of God’s mercy.”

    A historic papacy

    Francis’ papacy has been historic. He embraced the marginalized in ways that no pope had done before. He not only deepened the Catholic Church’s commitment to the poor in its religious life but also expanded who is included in its decision making.

    The pope did have his critics who thought he went too far, too fast. And whether his reforms take root depends on his successor. Among many things, Francis will be remembered for how his pontificate represented a shift in power in the Catholic Church away from Western Europe to the Global South, where the majority of Catholics now live.

    Mathew Schmalz is Roman Catholic and a political independent.

    – ref. Francis − a pope who has cared deeply for the poor and opened up the Catholic Church – https://theconversation.com/francis-a-pope-who-has-cared-deeply-for-the-poor-and-opened-up-the-catholic-church-164362

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Canada’s productivity strategy needs to centre workers

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ako Ufodike, Associate Professor, Administrative Studies, York University, Canada

    As Canada moves into 2025, its productivity still lags, despite efforts by the federal government to address the issue in the 2024 federal budget.

    Canada’s productivity has declined in nine of the last 10 quarters. Between 2015 and 2023, Canadian productivity fell by an average of 0.8 per cent per year. This means that, for every hour worked by Canadian employees, their output decreased by about eight per cent over that entire period.

    Labour productivity measures how much an economy produces per hour of work. Increasing productivity means finding ways to help people create more value in the time they spend working. However, how productivity is measured — and who benefits from productivity stimulation initiatives — varies.



    Read more:
    Canada’s lagging productivity affects us all — and will take years to remedy

    From an employer’s perspective, the main factor influencing productivity is the number of hours worked. For employees, the best proxy is wages received per hour worked — two related variables with differing implications.

    To date, Canada’s strategy to improve productivity has been very traditional, in that its primary aim has been to provide incentives for improved business performance.

    Global productivity issues

    Canada’s productivity stagnation struggles are not unique. A December 2024 OECD working paper highlighted a widespread slowdown across the OECD nations.

    From 1995 to 2023, ouputs from labour and capital inputs — know as multifactor productivity — declined sharply in both small and large advanced OECD countries.

    In Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, productivity has nearly stalled. Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Mexico experienced prolonged periods of negative growth.

    The OECD paper also found a link between productivity decline and stagnating human capital development. Since 2003, young citizens of OECD countries have underperformed on standardized tests in science, math and reading.

    At the same time, many skilled immigrants to these countries are selected from the sciences and must score exceptionally high on language proficiency exams such as the International English Language Testing System.

    This raises questions about how countries assess and utilize human capital, and whether traditional productivity measures fully capture workforce potential.

    Innovation in productivity approaches

    Innovation improves productivity, yet Canada’s 2024 budget fails to embrace this principle. The 2024 budget prescribed five main strategies to address Canada’s productivity issues:

    • incentives for entrepreneurs;
    • fiscal incentives for productivity-enhancing assets;
    • regulatory sandboxes to reduce bureaucratic red tape;
    • enhanced federal research support;
    • a $200-million investment in the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative.

    However, the initiatives largely continue to follow the traditional approach which focuses on incentivizing businesses to increase output, rather than focusing on workers — the factor most relevant to productivity.

    One of the budget’s major assumptions, which has so far failed to materialize, was that productivity would grow by 1.8 per cent between 2024 and 2028, despite a 1.8 per cent decline over the previous three years and a 0.8 per cent decline over the preceding decade.

    Another overlooked factor is that declining wages also decrease productivity. Instead of focusing solely on business incentives, a more effective labour-agency approach would also incentivize those who own the denominator in the productivity formula — workers.

    Addressing immigrant underemployment

    Immigrants are the primary drivers of population growth in most OECD countries, yet many end up in precarious employment or underemployed, despite being exceptionally qualified.

    Even when immigrants are employed at the appropriate level, many are underpaid in comparison to non-immigrant workers or their predecessors in the same roles. This wage suppression is at odds with efforts to improve productivity.



    Read more:
    I’ve worked in precarious jobs for more than 10 years – here’s what unions should do to support migrant workers

    This issue is particularly evident in Canada, where conversations about productivity are being shaped by immigration trends. In 2023, Canada welcomed one million new immigrants without a corresponding increase in economic output. From July 2023 to July 2024, immigrant underemployment rose by 3.1 to 12.6 per cent.

    Labour market integration varies across regions. In Alberta, for example, 80 per cent of new jobs between 2018 and 2022 were filled by immigrants, yet, productivity did not rise.

    Some critics have blamed immigrants for Canada’s productivity struggles, but this narrative risks fostering anti-immigrant sentiment. While population growth may contribute to declining per capita productivity, in reality, many highly qualified immigrants end up underemployed or unemployed through no fault of their own.

    A 2024 Statistics Canada report highlighted this missed economic opportunity, stating: “recent immigrants were more likely than people born in Canada to be employed in professional occupations and lower-skilled and labourer occupations.”

    Despite this, the 2024 budget doesn’t address harmful “unproductive immigrant” narratives.

    Driving productivity growth

    Canada’s current approach to productivity is incomplete. While business incentives play a role, productivity growth cannot be achieved without investing in workers — particularly immigrants, who represent a growing share of the workforce.

    Canada and other OECD nations are missing an opportunity by failing to fully utilize immigrant talent. Rather than blaming immigrants for productivity declines, countries should recognize immigrants as valuable contributors. Proper credential recognition and expanding workforce integration programs could allow immigrants to contribute at their full economic potential.



    Read more:
    Canadian immigrants are overqualified and underemployed — reforms must address this

    A truly innovative productivity strategy would fund reskilling, upskilling and mentorship programs for immigrants and youth. It would also support equity initiatives to ensure immigrants aren’t exploited or paid less than their counterparts.

    Improving career mobility is also essential. Helping immigrants transition into high-output sectors, such as technology or engineering, through retraining programs and targeted incentives could strengthen productivity.

    Addressing wage inequity is also crucial. Ensuring immigrants receive fair wages aligned with their qualifications will improve worker motivation and productivity, consistent with the arguments of efficient wage theory.

    If these issues remain unaddressed, Canada risks continued productivity stagnation by overlooking a key opportunity to harness the potential of its immigrant workforce.

    Ako Ufodike receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

    – ref. Canada’s productivity strategy needs to centre workers – https://theconversation.com/canadas-productivity-strategy-needs-to-centre-workers-249669

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: We need meaningful, not less, EDI and climate action in turbulent times

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sarah E. Sharma, Assistant Professor, School of Political Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

    Today, both climate action and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are increasingly under attack. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the United States, where the Trump administration is leading a concerted effort to obstruct climate action and penalize EDI.

    A federal judge recently granted an injunction blocking U.S. government officials from terminating or changing federal contracts they consider equity-related.

    The injunction comes just over a month after President Donald Trump signed executive orders that end federal government support for programs promoting EDI. The judge found the executive orders could likely violate the U.S. Constitution and free-speech rights.

    In Canada, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has blamed carbon pricing for driving up prices, despite research showing that it has a minimal impact on inflation. Meanwhile, provincial governments in Alberta and Saskatchewan are pursuing punitive anti-transgender agendas and some universities are moving away from EDI, claiming it promotes exclusion.

    Until recently, governments, universities and corporations faced criticism for their lack of meaningful commitments on EDI and the climate. Many responded with ambitious pledges but insufficient action. This led to greenwashing and diversity-washing, symbolic commitments that mask inaction.

    Hypocrisies in climate and EDI policies have become easy targets for right-wing populists. As a result, EDI and climate action are being scapegoated for broader systemic failures. For instance, the most deadly American plane crash in two decades has been baselessly linked to EDI, rather than clear evidence of systemic failures.

    There are good reasons to challenge greenwashing and diversity-washing. Yet, denigrating climate and DEI actions wholesale avoids tackling the roots of complex problems and can have dangerous outcomes.

    Why we need meaningful EDI in climate action

    Climate policies that ignore social justice deepen exclusion, weaken public buy-in and provoke backlash. A just energy transition requires policies that resonate with marginalized communities and with those who feel threatened by change. Without this, opposition will only grow.

    We recently published a journal article, co-authored with researchers Neelakshi Joshi and Georgia Savvidou, outlining how greenwashing, diversity-washing and the backlash against EDI all undermine effective climate action. We argue that we cannot address environmental challenges without confronting class, gender and racial inequities.

    EDI is rooted in historical social movements that fought against exclusion. Established rights — like maternity leave, anti-discrimination in the workplace and marriage equality — are all products of these movements.

    Over the past decade, movements like #MeToo, Black Lives Matter and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have advanced our understanding of systemic discrimination. EDI efforts have aimed to make institutions more representative and reduce inequalities in workplaces and society.

    EDI in climate action has also gained traction, particularly through the push for a “just transition.” This movement seeks to restructure energy systems fairly and inclusively, ensuring no one is left behind.

    Energy systems are deeply inequitable. Who profits, who has access and who shapes energy policy is highly uneven. Meaningful EDI that redistributes these benefits is essential. This includes the need to support workers in fossil fuel industries and the most vulnerable to climate impacts.

    Ironically, political leaders who oppose EDI on merit grounds appoint key figures with no expertise. They ignore that diversity expands merit, not lowers it — EDI removes barriers, not standards.

    Meaningful EDI in energy transitions

    In our journal article we outline how public and private leaders make bold promises without transformative action, leading to greenwashing and diversity-washing.

    Insufficient and superficial efforts can hinder systemic change. In the energy sector, simply prioritizing boardroom and workforce diversity does not necessarily guarantee fairer working conditions or tangible benefits for local communities.

    We must move beyond empty greenwashing and diversity-washing rhetoric towards actions that target the needs of diverse populations where they live and work.

    For example, community-led clean energy projects enable citizens to actively participate in energy transitions. Indigenous-led renewable energy ownership facilitates Indigenous sovereignty. Community organizations like Empower Me address the energy poverty faced by newcomers, immigrants, single mothers, seniors and others.

    These examples demonstrate that more diverse perspectives are needed not to pursue EDI for its own sake, but to transform energy systems in real ways for more people.

    When diverse experiences are not taken into account, our energy and climate decisions are prone to blind-spots and groupthink. This locks us further into existing practices, rather than opening up innovative and transformative paths.

    We must reconnect with reality and not hide in fantasies that reject natural and social science alike. When EDI is obstructed, we cannot make effective progress on the climate crisis. We lose opportunities to discuss the injustices that are baked into energy systems — discussions that can lead to tailored and targeted policies relevant to the everyone’s needs.

    This means heating, cooling and transport options that work for people of all backgrounds, income and ability levels, and initiatives that suit rural and remote communities as well as urban residents.

    In turbulent times, the world needs more meaningful EDI, not less.

    Sarah E. Sharma receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Department of National Defence’s Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program.

    Amy Janzwood receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Julie MacArthur receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Runa Das receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. We need meaningful, not less, EDI and climate action in turbulent times – https://theconversation.com/we-need-meaningful-not-less-edi-and-climate-action-in-turbulent-times-249683

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: ‘Your life becomes a nightmare’: how scam operations exploit those trapped inside – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 2

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

    A few weeks after Ben Yeo travelled to Cambodia for what he thought was a job in a casino, he found himself locked up in a padded room. “It’s a combination between a prison and a madhouse,” he remembers. He was being punished for refusing to conduct online scams.

    “They tried all kinds of coercive manoeuvres, using a fire extinguisher to try to hit me, to scare me, using a plastic bag over my head to suffocate me … Whatever you see in the movies that actually happened.”

    Scam Factories is a podcast series from The Conversation Weekly taking you inside Southeast Asia’s brutal fraud compounds. It accompanies a series of multimedia articles on The Conversation.

    In the second episode, Inside the Operation, we explore the history of how scam compounds emerged in Southeast Asia and who is behind them. We hear about the violent treatment people receive inside through the testimonies of two survivors, Ben, and another man we’re calling George to protect his real identity.

    The Conversation collaborated for this series with three researchers: Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Ling Li, a PhD candidate at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and Mark Bo, an independent researcher.

    They’ve spent the past few years researching the expansion of scam compounds in the region for a forthcoming book. They’ve interviewed nearly 100 survivors of the compounds, analysed maps and financial documents related to the scam industry and tracked scammers online to find out how these compounds work.

    Read an article by Ivan Franceschini and Ling Li which accompanies this episode about the rise of the scamming industry.

    The Conversation contacted AsiaHR international for comment. We did not receive a response. We contacted all the other companies mentioned in this multimedia series for comment, except Jinshui who we could not contact. We did not receive a response from them either.

    This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware, with assistance from Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Sound design by Michelle Macklem and editing help from Ashlynee McGhee and Justin Bergman.

    Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.

    Mark Bo, an independent researcher who works with Ivan Franeschini and Ling Li, is also interviewed in this podcast series. Ivan, Ling, Mark, and others have co-founded EOS Collective, a non-profit organisation dedicated to investigating the criminal networks behind the online scam industry and supporting survivors.

    – ref. ‘Your life becomes a nightmare’: how scam operations exploit those trapped inside – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 2 – https://theconversation.com/your-life-becomes-a-nightmare-how-scam-operations-exploit-those-trapped-inside-scam-factories-podcast-ep-2-250464

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A Palestinian-Israeli film is an Oscars favorite − so why is it so hard to see?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Drew Paul, Associate Professor of Arabic, University of Tennessee

    Directors Basel Adra, left, and Yuval Abraham on stage at the 62nd New York Film Festival on Sept. 29, 2024. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

    For many low-budget, independent films, an Oscar nomination is a golden ticket.

    The publicity can translate into theatrical releases or rereleases, along with more on-demand rentals and sales.

    However, for “No Other Land,” a Palestinian-Israeli film nominated for best documentary at the 2025 Academy Awards, this exposure is unlikely to translate into commercial success in the U.S. That’s because the film has been unable to find a company to distribute it in America.

    “No Other Land” chronicles the efforts of Palestinian townspeople to combat an Israeli plan to demolish their villages in the West Bank and use the area as a military training ground. It was directed by four Palestinian and Israeli activists and journalists: Basel Adra, who is a resident of the area facing demolition, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor. While the filmmakers have organized screenings in a number of U.S. cities, the lack of a national distributor makes a broader release unlikely.

    Film distributors are a crucial but often unseen link in the chain that allows a film to reach cinemas and people’s living rooms. In recent years it has become more common for controversial award-winning films to run into issues finding a distributor. Palestinian films have encountered additional barriers.

    As a scholar of Arabic who has written about Palestinian cinema, I’m disheartened by the difficulties “No Other Land” has faced. But I’m not surprised.

    The role of film distributors

    Distributors are often invisible to moviegoers. But without one, it can be difficult for a film to find an audience.

    Distributors typically acquire rights to a film for a specific country or set of countries. They then market films to movie theaters, cinema chains and streaming platforms. As compensation, distributors receive a percentage of the revenue generated by theatrical and home releases.

    The film “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat,” another finalist for best documentary, shows how this process typically works. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024 and was acquired for distribution just a few months later by Kino Lorber, a major U.S.-based distributor of independent films.

    The inability to find a distributor is not itself noteworthy. No film is entitled to distribution, and most films by newer or unknown directors face long odds.

    However, it is unusual for a film like “No Other Land,” which has garnered critical acclaim and has been recognized at various film festivals and award shows. Some have pegged it as a favorite to win best documentary at the Academy Awards. And “No Other Land” has been able to find distributors in Europe, where it’s easily accessible on multiple streaming platforms.

    So why can’t “No Other Land” find a distributor in the U.S.?

    There are a couple of factors at play.

    Shying away from controversy

    In recent years, film critics have noticed a trend: Documentaries on controversial topics have faced distribution difficulties. These include a film about a campaign by Amazon workers to unionize and a documentary about Adam Kinzinger, one of the few Republican congresspeople to vote to impeach Donald Trump in 2021.

    The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of course, has long stirred controversy. But the release of “No Other Land” comes at a time when the issue is particularly salient. The Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israeli bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip have become a polarizing issue in U.S. domestic politics, reflected in the campus protests and crackdowns in 2024. The filmmakers’ critical comments about the Israeli occupation of Palestine have also garnered backlash in Germany.

    Locals attend a screening of ‘No Other Land’ in the village of A-Tuwani in the West Bank on March 14, 2024.
    Yahel Gazit/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

    Yet the fact that this conflict has been in the news since October 2023 should also heighten audience interest in a film such as “No Other Land” – and, therefore, lead to increased sales, the metric that distributors care about the most.

    Indeed, an earlier film that also documents Palestinian protests against Israeli land expropriation, “5 Broken Cameras,” was a finalist for best documentary at the 2013 Academy Awards. It was able to find a U.S. distributor. However, it had the support of a major European Union documentary development program called Greenhouse. The support of an organization like Greenhouse, which had ties to numerous production and distribution companies in Europe and the U.S., can facilitate the process of finding a distributor.

    By contrast, “No Other Land,” although it has a Norwegian co-producer and received some funding from organizations in Europe and the U.S., was made primarily by a grassroots filmmaking collective.

    Stages for protest

    While distribution challenges may be recent, controversies surrounding Palestinian films are nothing new.

    Many of them stem from the fact that the system of film festivals, awards and distribution is primarily based on a movie’s nation of origin. Since there is no sovereign Palestinian state – and many countries and organizations have not recognized the state of Palestine – the question of how to categorize Palestinian films has been hard to resolve.

    In 2002, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected the first ever Palestinian film submitted to the best foreign language film category – Elia Suleiman’s “Divine Intervention” – because Palestine was not recognized as a country by the United Nations. The rules were changed for the following year’s awards ceremony.

    In 2021, the cast of the film “Let It Be Morning,” which had an Israeli director but primarily Palestinian actors, boycotted the Cannes Film Festival in protest of the film’s categorization as an Israeli film rather than a Palestinian one.

    Film festivals and other cultural venues have also become places to make statements about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and engage in protest. For example, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, the right-wing Israeli culture minister wore a controversial – and meme-worthy – dress that featured the Jerusalem skyline in support of Israeli claims of sovereignty over the holy city, despite the unresolved status of Jerusalem under international law.

    Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev wears a dress featuring the old city of Jerusalem during the Cannes Film Festival in 2017.
    Antonin Thuillier/AFP via Getty Images

    At the 2024 Academy Awards, a number of attendees, including Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo and Mahershala Ali, wore red pins in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, and pro-Palestine protesters delayed the start of the ceremonies.

    So even though a film like “No Other Land” addresses a topic of clear interest to many people in the U.S., it faces an uphill battle to finding a distributor.

    I wonder whether a win at the Oscars would even be enough.

    This article has been updated to clarify that the film was a collaborative effort between Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers.

    Drew Paul 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. A Palestinian-Israeli film is an Oscars favorite − so why is it so hard to see? – https://theconversation.com/a-palestinian-israeli-film-is-an-oscars-favorite-so-why-is-it-so-hard-to-see-249233

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Fossil footprints reveal what may be the oldest known handcarts – new research

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Matthew Robert Bennett, Professor of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Bournemouth University

    If you’re a parent you’ve probably tried, at some point, to navigate the supermarket with a trolley, and at least one child in tow. But our new study suggests there was an ancient equivalent, dating to 22,000 years ago. This handcart, without wheels, was used before wheeled vehicles were invented around 5,000 years ago in the Middle East.

    Recently our research team discovered some remarkable fossil traces which might give a hint. These traces were found alongside some of the oldest known human footprints in the Americas at a place called White Sands in New Mexico.

    In the last few years, several footprint discoveries at this site have begun to rewrite early American history – pushing back the arrival of the first people to enter this land by 8,000 years.

    There is some controversy around the age (23,000 years old) of these footprints, with some researchers unhappy with our dating methods. But they provide a remarkable picture of past life on the margins of a large wetland at the end of the last ice age.

    The footprints tell stories, written in mud, of how people lived, hunted and survived in this land. Footprints connect people to the past in a way that a stone tool or archaeological artefact never can. Traditional archaeology is based on the discovery of stone tools. Most people today have never made a stone tool but almost all of us will have left a footprint at some time, even if it is only on the floor of the bathroom.

    Today, modern shopping trolleys can be found rusting in canals, rivers or abandoned in shrubbery. But ancient versions would have probably been of wood and simply rotted away. We know that transport technology must have existed.

    Everyone has stuff to transport, but we have no record of it until written histories. At White Sands, we found drag-marks made by the ends of wooden poles while excavating for fossil footprints. Sometimes these appear as just one trace, while at other times they occur as two parallel, equidistant traces.

    A pole or poles used in this fashion is called a travois. These drag-marks are preserved in dried mud that was buried by sediment and revealed by a combination of erosion and excavation. The drag-marks extend for dozens of metres before disappearing beneath overlying sediment. They clip barefoot human tracks along their length, suggesting the user dragged the travois over their own footprints as they went along.

    To help interpret these features, we conducted a series of tests on mud flats both in Dorset, UK, and on the coast of Maine, US. We used different combinations of poles to recreate simple, hand-pulled travois.

    In our experiments the pole-ends dragged along the mud truncate footprints in the same way as the fossil example in New Mexico. These features in the fossil examples were also always associated with lot of other human footprints travelling in a similar direction, many of which, judging by their size, were made by children.

    We believe the footprints and drag-marks tell a story of the movement of resources at the edge of this former wetland. Adults pulled the simple, probably improvised travois, while a group of children tagged along to the side and behind.

    The research team has benefited from the insight of the Indigenous peoples we work with at White Sands, and they interpret the marks in this way as well. We cannot discount that some of the marks may be made by dragging firewood, but this does not fit all the cases we found.

    Travois are known from historical documents and accounts of Indigenous peoples and their traditions. They were more commonly associated with dogs or horses, but they were pulled by humans in our tests.

    As such they represent early examples of the handcart or wheelbarrow, but without the wheel. The earliest record of a wheeled vehicle dates from Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), in 2,500BC. We think the travois were probably improvised from tent poles, firewood and spears when the need arose.

    Maybe they were created to help move camp, or more likely, transport meat from a hunting-site. In the latter context the analogy with the shopping trolley comes to the fore, as does the pained expression of the adults faces as they quest for resources with a gaggle of children in tow.

    Matthew Robert Bennett receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council.

    Sally Christine Reynolds 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. Fossil footprints reveal what may be the oldest known handcarts – new research – https://theconversation.com/fossil-footprints-reveal-what-may-be-the-oldest-known-handcarts-new-research-250438

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sanctions rarely achieve their goals – here’s why they failed in Russia and Myanmar

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sergey Sosnovskikh, Lecturer in International Business, Manchester Metropolitan University

    Sanctions are, according to research, effective less than 10% of the time if success is defined as the complete compliance of a sanctioned regime with the imposed external pressure. Taking a more lenient view, which includes partial concessions or negotiated settlements, the success rate rises to 35% at most.

    The idea that sanctions can completely restrict trade to sanctioned countries is largely flawed. Iranian residents, for example, can still access many western products despite sanctions through intermediaries in countries like Turkey and the Gulf states.

    To better understand why sanctions fail, consider the cases of Russia and Myanmar. The sanctions imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have undoubtedly caused some economic disruption, including inflation, labour shortages and a devaluation of the Russian rouble. But they have had a limited impact overall.

    In April 2024, the International Monetary Fund predicted that Russia’s economy would grow faster than all of the world’s advanced economies that year, including the US.

    Many countries have not participated in the west’s sanctions regime, which has created enforcement gaps. These gaps have largely enabled Russia to maintain access to sanctioned goods and continue its economic activities.

    In January 2023, a US thinktank called Silverado reported that some former Soviet states had increased their “transshipment” of goods produced by multinational firms that no longer export to Russia directly.

    Transshipment is a process where cargo is unloaded from one vessel and reloaded into another while in transit. Armenia and Uzbekistan, as well as China and Turkey, are the countries commonly used as “transshipment points” to Russia.

    Indeed, research of our own into how sanctioned goods continue to reach Russia reveals that companies often reroute their supply chains through politically allied intermediary nations. These rerouted imports can, however, drive up product prices for ordinary citizens.

    Stacks of containers at a port in St Petersburg, Russia.
    Andrey Mihaylov / Shutterstock

    Russia has also reduced its dependency on imports by increasing production in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. In August 2023, for example, India and Russia signed the biggest ever grain deal between the two countries.

    And the Russian government implemented fiscal and monetary measures, including currency controls and subsidies, to stabilise the economy and support key industries.

    Russia’s large, diverse economy and abundant natural resources make it more resilient to sanctions compared to some smaller and less diversified nations. Much of the world is reliant on Russian gas and, since the imposition of western sanctions, countries like China and India have increased the amount they buy.

    Even the EU is still spending billions of US dollars on Russian gas. In the first 15 days of 2025, after an agreement allowing Russia to pump gas to the EU via pipelines running across Ukraine ended, the EU’s 27 countries imported Russian gas at a record rate.

    Sanctioning Myanmar’s military

    Targeted western sanctions have tried to undermine the financial interests of Myanmar’s military junta, which has been battling armed opposition to its rule since a coup in 2021. But these sanctions have only been partially effective, too.

    China, India, Japan and neighbouring south-east Asian countries continue to engage in business with Myanmar. In Myanmar’s lucrative gas export sector, the vacuum left by departing western companies has been swiftly filled by Asian partners. This has ensured the junta’s income streams remain largely intact.

    Brands that have ostensibly exited the market due to sanctions or activist pressure also remain accessible through the country’s porous border trade. And there have been cases where a significant delay between a company’s declared exit and its actual departure inadvertently allowed operations to continue as usual for some time.

    In 2024, we conducted a study with our colleague Anna Grosman, an expert on innovation and entrepreneurship at Loughborough University, on multinational firms operating in Myanmar. Our findings highlight the dilemma foreign businesses face in sanctioned countries over whether to stay or leave.

    This decision is shaped by formal pressure, such as home and host government restrictions. For instance, a multinational firm’s home government may penalise companies that continue to operate in a sanctioned country, while the host government may impose policies or financial barriers to prevent or delay their exit.

    However, informal pressure from activists, diaspora groups and international advocacy organisations also plays a role. Staying can help businesses avoid financial losses and the complexities of exit, but it also exposes them to reputational damage and ethical dilemmas.

    Western sanctions on Myanmar’s military regime have been ineffective, too.
    R. Bociaga / Shutterstock

    Some of the junta’s financial channels, such as revenue from the jade mining industry, are out of reach for sanctions. In 2021, the US treasury department sanctioned Myanmar’s state-owned gemstone company, Myanmar Gem Enterprise, describing it as “a key economic resource” for the military.

    However, sanctions on Myanmar Gem Enterprise have not been completely effective. Myanmar’s gemstone mining industry is mostly an informal sector, with data on mining income and distribution underreported and opaque. Continued revenue from this sector will almost certainly have further cushioned the impact of western sanctions.

    The sanctions have only partially stopped the flow of income to the junta. But they have contributed to the hardships facing ordinary citizens. Myanmar’s currency has cratered, while imported goods including pharmaceuticals and fuel are in short supply. Power outages are now common and there are soaring levels of unemployment.

    Some western governments have now imposed sanctions on state-owned banks in Myanmar in an attempt to stop revenue from reaching the junta. This move will only worsen the situation facing Myanmar’s people.

    Sanctions drive nations towards building domestic industries to replace imported goods and strengthening alliances with supportive countries. Far from achieving their intended political objectives, sanctions can exacerbate an already volatile geopolitical landscape, while driving up prices for ordinary people.

    But at the same time, governments and businesses have a duty to exit a country when they are no long able to adhere to their own human rights commitments.

    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. Sanctions rarely achieve their goals – here’s why they failed in Russia and Myanmar – https://theconversation.com/sanctions-rarely-achieve-their-goals-heres-why-they-failed-in-russia-and-myanmar-244975

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Wales wants to punish lying politicians – how would it work?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stephen Clear, Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Public Procurement, Bangor University

    shutterstock Minerva Studio/Shutterstock

    Elected politicians and candidates in Wales who deliberately lie could face serious consequences, including being removed from office, under proposals aimed at restoring trust in politics.

    The Senedd’s (Welsh parliament) standards of conduct committee has recommended legally defining political deception, and strengthening existing rules to explicitly ban misleading statements. Proposed potential penalties range from a formal retraction to suspension or, in extreme cases, recall by voters.

    But the committee stopped short of recommending that deliberate deception be made a criminal offence. The idea that politicians who lie could be investigated by the police and courts had previously been mooted. The option of a civil offence with a lower burden of proof being introduced was also rejected.

    The committee has been working on the proposals as a way of restoring faith in politics, and trust in politicians, in the lead up to the next Senedd elections in 2026. While the report sets out options for change, the Welsh government has already promised to introduce a legal ban (in some form) before the next election.

    These efforts see Wales become the first UK nation to attempt to tackle the problem of dwindling trust in politics by modern day legislative force.

    Those championing the changes refer to how the deliberate rise in campaigns of misinformation, by those of all political persuasions, have in some instances led to electoral victories overseas.

    The need to act is also reflected in the public’s perception. Surveys have consistently found that trust in politicians to tell the truth has declined. A survey in 2023 placed politicians as the least trusted profession in the UK. Just 9% of the public said they trusted elected officials to tell the truth.

    More recently, findings from the British social attitudes report in 2024 revealed that the public is as critical now of how the UK is governed as it has ever been. A record high of 45% of respondents said they now “almost never” trust governments of any party to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own political party.

    Restoring trust

    The Senedd committee had considered three different options for restoring trust.

    First, to create a criminal offence of deception. Second, to use an existing investigative body such as the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, and to bring in a civil sanction such as a fine. And third, to strengthen the code of conduct for Senedd members with enhanced sanctions. In other words, it would be dealt with through the Senedd’s own disciplinary procedures.

    To a certain degree there are some mechanisms already in place for dealing with deception in Welsh politics. For example, politicians are already expected to adhere to the seven principles of public life, which include honesty and integrity.

    Generally speaking, opposition Senedd members will hold the Welsh government to account by questioning and scrutinising their work. It is also possible to stage votes of no confidence as an accountability mechanism.

    Although as seen in the case of former first minister Vaughan Gething, it is questionable as to the extent to which they can be enforced. Gething initially refused to step down after losing such a vote.

    The electorate also has an important role to play in holding politicians to account. Ultimately an untrustworthy politician should, in theory at least, be unlikely to win any election. But Senedd elections only take place every five years.

    The standards of conduct committee already has the power to review complaints referred to it. It also has responsibility for reviewing the code of conduct for members of the Senedd, guidance on the code and complaints procedures, and rules for lobbying.

    Part of the perceived problem with this is that the committee is made up of Senedd members and are, therefore, responsible for setting the rules for themselves. Or alternatively, as Plaid Cymru MS Adam Price (who has campaigned on this issue for many years) put it, it’s like marking your own homework. The committee’s report offers a potential of recommending appointing lay members to sit alongside them.

    Proposals to legislate against politicians who lie in Wales were first raised by the Plaid Cymru MS, Adam Price.
    ComposedPix/Shutterstock

    Some may be concerned about the practical complexities of disqualifying candidates and Senedd members, and where that may, in turn, leave democracy and democratic processes. If sanctions were to be introduced, questions could also be raised about the potential for vexatious complaints to discredit electoral candidates.



    Read more:
    Wales could become world’s first country to criminalise politicians who lie

    In respect of making “deception” a criminal offence, concerns may have been raised about the constitutional principle of separation of powers, and whether it should truly be for unelected judges to take decisions about the democratically elected arm of the state. Or whether that could lead to the politicisation of the judiciary.

    While, research had found that more than two-thirds of Welsh voters supported a law criminalising political lying, judicial adjudication for serving Senedd members has been ruled out. The report also details concerns from the legal professions that existing resource pressures on the courts would have lead to long disputes, rather than the swift resolutions.

    But in reality, we are talking about strengthening safeguards for maintaining standards in public offices. In particular addressing deliberate mistruths by politicians to secure deceitful advantages during an election.

    In that sense, the new legislation is essentially bringing the political profession in line with others such as lawyers, doctors, journalistic and financial institutions, by having clearer repercussions when they lie and fail to maintain professional standards.

    Given the need for something to change in order to restore trust, and the extensive powers that politicians have to affect the lives of citizens, it is clear why Wales is trying a different approach towards restoring trust.

    Stephen Clear 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. Wales wants to punish lying politicians – how would it work? – https://theconversation.com/wales-wants-to-punish-lying-politicians-how-would-it-work-248728

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Donald Trump wants to bring back plastic straws, but the world is going in another direction

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Randa Lindsey Kachef, Research affiliate, King’s College London

    David Pereiras / shutterstock

    Donald Trump recently surprised the world again by signing an action to end what he describes as the “forced use” of paper straws. Although there is some merit in the argument the White House presents that paper straws simply aren’t fit for purpose, what the paper straw revolution represents is the power of individual change in enacting progressive policy.

    Much like recent EU legislation which required all plastic bottles to have caps attached by a tether, the removal of items that tend to be easily littered is a way to help people be more environmentally cautious without any extra effort. Unfortunately, the paper straw appears to have failed in this endeavour.

    We should not stop this trajectory because of one fail, however. Even if paper straws are not a viable option, we mustn’t let their fate undermine all initiatives to reduce the impacts of single use plastics.

    The story behind the move away from plastic straws began in 2015, when a disturbing video of a turtle having a plastic straw removed from its nose went viral. Unfortunately this appears to be a common occurrence, with a video of a turtle with a plastic fork in its nose posted only a few months later. This shows plastic straws themselves are not the issue and that there is a wider problem that everyone should be aware of: plastic which ends up in the ocean is often mistaken for food and eaten by wildlife.

    Paper problems

    Admittedly, anyone who has used a paper straw will agree that they are not a viable alternative to plastic. The obvious complaint is that they get soggy too quickly. But there are several unseen components that show the switch to paper may not be as great as we once thought.

    Paper, but plastic-coated?
    Sia Footage / shutterstock

    To begin with, in an effort to keep them water-resistant, paper straws themselves are coated in plastic. This means they cannot be recycled. As they are an organic material, they release greenhouse gas when they decompose in landfill – they can however safely be incinerated, something that is not widely recommended for their plastic counterparts.

    As the demand for paper straws skyrocketed, this created a deficit in production, leading to the development of new manufacturing facilities, construction that in itself has a significant environmental impact. Meanwhile, the heavier weight of paper straws can lead to an increase in freighting fuel consumption and associated emissions.

    Flimsy plastics are more likely to be littered

    Anything, however, is better than plastic. A somewhat misleading statistic that plastic straws account for a mere 0.025% of ocean plastics has been circulating in the argument to bring them back. Although this is true by volume, it is not a correct representation of the sheer number of individual straws recorded in the environment which is suspected to be as many as 8.3 billion, about one per person on earth.

    The fact straws are so small and lightweight is a big part of the problem, since smaller and more easily fragmented items are far harder to collect. As litter, they punch above their weight.

    A child’s plastic beach toy may weigh as much as a few hundred plastic straws, but if littered the straws would do more harm to the environment and wildlife, and would look worse. As straws are made of polypropylene, a flimsier more brittle type of plastic, it doesn’t take much effort for them to break apart into bite sized pieces. Because of this, straws turn into microplastics much quicker than the toy, which has a higher chance of eventually being picked up.

    To this day, straws continue to to be on the top ten types of plastics found on beaches, and we have yet to see any videos of larger pollutants like those beach toys being pulled from the nose of any animal.

    Although we could argue indefinitely as to which straw materials are worse (reuseable metal or glass straws require water and a cleaning agent, another potential contaminant) the overarching sentiment is the most alarming component of Trump’s announcement.

    Paper straw pressue came from below

    The move towards paper straws was a refreshing direction in environmental preservation, in that it was initiated locally and by producers, not through legislation. In the summer of 2018 Seattle became the first US city to enforce a ban on plastic utensils, straws and cocktail sticks. Soon thereafter, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Alaska Airlines and many others announced they would stop the sale of plastic straws.

    Later that year, the UK government and European Union began consultations for national bans which came into effect in 2020 and 2021 respectively. In 2019 Canada followed suit with a ban coming into law in 2022.

    It was not until July of 2024 that the then US president, Joe Biden announced his plan to phase out single-use plastics (although the fact sheet and official press release has now been removed from the White House website). This was several years after the global movement got underway – accompanied by the first complaints from Trump on the topic in 2019.

    It is important to note that both the EU and UK bans on plastic straws included stirrers and cotton bud sticks. However their removal from the market caused little to no controversy, mostly because there are adequate alternatives.

    Litter producers can drive change

    What the movement towards paper straws represents is the power of producers to drive change, in a bottom-up approach. A similarly encouraging scenario can be seen in attitudes towards polystyrene.

    Back in 2019 Dunkin’ Donuts announced it would stop using foam cups in certain US markets, and delivered a full removal of the cups in the US by early 2020, while in January 2025 California introduced a state wide polystyrene ban. Meanwhile, negotiations on a global plastics agreement remain indecisive.

    In the wake of a pattern of stalemate and regressive policy, it is on the consumers and producers to take action. We must continue to support producers who invest in innovation to address these issues in a way that makes our lives easier and cleaner.

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

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

    Randa Lindsey Kachef 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. Donald Trump wants to bring back plastic straws, but the world is going in another direction – https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-wants-to-bring-back-plastic-straws-but-the-world-is-going-in-another-direction-250449

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Charles Dickens would have made Great Expectations a videogame if he were writing today

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Lynda Clark, Lecturer in Creative Writing (Interdisciplinary Futures), University of Edinburgh

    Despite dying over 100 years before the release of Pong, the novelist Charles Dickens has connections to a number of videogames. He appears as a character in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (2015); is the subject of a mobile app walking-tour, Charles Dickens London: The Writer’s Journey (2022); and his works are brought to virtual life in the forthcoming The Mysteries of Gad’s Hill Place.

    There’s also plenty in Dickens’ work to suggest that were he alive today, he may be writing his own videogames as well as appearing in them.

    Great Expectations (1861) in particular demonstrates Dickens’ ludic credentials. A sense of progression is common in the Bildungsroman or “progress” novel, but Pip seems to embody ideas of “levelling-up” more reminiscent of a playable character accumulating XP (experience points) than a typical protagonist.

    Pip (Philip Pirrip) is a young blacksmith’s apprentice whose life is dramatically changed when he inherits a great fortune. Pip’s guardian, Mr Jaggers, who is also the lawyer in charge of the inheritance, describes Pip’s “expectations” (inheritance) as if it is an attainable in-game currency.

    He makes it clear, just as a videogame NPC (non-playable character) might, how the story’s currency should be spent – on items befitting a gentleman, just as a videogame character might spend on costumes and items for their inventory. As Jaggers puts it, the inheritance is “a sum of money amply sufficient for your suitable education and maintenance”

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

    On his path to becoming a gentleman, Pip must develop himself in various areas such as intellect and eloquence, and acquire new clothes, which, it is implied, will confer new “powers”. They should not, Mr Jaggers stresses, be “working clothes”.

    This spiritual, physical and sartorial growth is not unlike that found in many roleplaying games such as Metaphor: Refantazio (2024), where the protagonist must develop “royal virtues” through building relationships with followers. This is reminiscent of the way Pip must build his relationship with the wealthy, eccentric Miss Havisham to further his place in society. Like Pip, the protagonist of Metaphor: Refantazio also gains access to progressively advantageous clothing and accessories as the story advances.

    Dickens appears as a character in the game Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.

    As literary theorist Peter Brooks has observed, even Pip’s name is representative of growth – a seed full of potential, the kind of on-the-nose naming scheme that would make auteur videogame designer Hideo Kojima proud. Many of Kojima’s characters in the Metal Gear franchise are named in the same way, such as Fragile, the director of a delivery company that has the motto “handled with love”.

    And before we even get into the story itself, the contents page in later collected editions arranges protagonist Pip’s journey into “stages” – a term more commonly found in videogames.

    Expectations and endings

    Perhaps the strongest argument for Great Expectations as evidence of Dickens’ potential as a videogame writer are its multiple endings. The published ending alludes to future romance. After a chance meeting four years after the primary events of the novel, Pip takes fellow orphan Estella’s hand and sees “no shadow of another parting from her”.

    However the alternate version, often presented as an appendix, has a quite different outlook. Again Pip runs into Estella, and they share fond words, but this time there is no sign of a romantic union. Instead, it’s suggested that the suffering Estella has endured through a cruel marriage has given her a deeper understanding of Pip’s life – “a heart to understand what [his] used to be”.

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

    This downbeat tone is more akin to the so-called “bad” ending (or fail state) of choice-based videogames. These are endings which occur when the player has not sufficiently developed their character, or made poor conversational choices during their play.

    Even the published ending is not necessarily so positive if the reader has been paying attention to all of Pip’s “side-quests”. Both he and Estella are childhood wards of Miss Havisham, and in adulthood, a man named Magwitch plays father-figure to Pip and is Estella’s actual father.

    Therefore, it is only possible to accept their union as romantic if putting aside facts which, to contemporary readers at least, may well have verged on incest. This means there are two possible endings even within the single published ending – one where he commits near-incest and one where he doesn’t, depending on your interpretation.

    It could also be argued that the ending of each “stage” is its own potential end, thereby increasing the number of possible endings further still. For instance, literary theorist Caroline Levine has suggested another alternative ending in Pip’s imagined possible future with his childhood friend and confidante, Biddy.

    This kind of premature ending is frequently found in narrative videogames. A memorable example is Far Cry 4 (2014), where it’s possible to get the credits rolling some 15 minutes into a game which typically lasts as long as 60 hours.

    Had Dickens been writing today, I have no doubt he would have seen great narrative potential in videogames, just as modern videogame creators find inspiration in his novels.

    Beyond the canon

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

    The novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (2004) remains underappreciated, despite already having been adapted into a manga (2014) and a film (2014’s Edge of Tomorrow).

    Like Pip, young soldier Keiji Kiriya is required to undergo intellectual, physical and emotional growth in order to progress. He undertakes this process of “levelling up” in an even more ludic manner, dying and “respawning” (resurrecting) with knowledge of his previous lives. Each death suggests a potential end, and his relationship with fellow time-looped soldier Rita Vrataski is open to similar interpretations of bittersweet love, doomed romance or platonic respect – depending on reader preference.

    Lynda Clark undertook part of this research during an AHRC-funded PhD.

    – ref. Why Charles Dickens would have made Great Expectations a videogame if he were writing today – https://theconversation.com/why-charles-dickens-would-have-made-great-expectations-a-videogame-if-he-were-writing-today-249199

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Kim Jong-un is launching a crackdown on North Korea’s drinking culture

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By David Hall, PhD Candidate in Korean Studies, University of Central Lancashire

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently chaired a meeting of the Korean Worker’s Party Secretariat, the body responsible for prescribing correct behaviour and ensuring it’s adhered to by party members. The party’s official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported that this meeting was convened to address various shortcomings in discipline (tangnaegyuryurŭl ranp’ok) – including binge drinking by some party officials.

    The meeting was concerned with two violations of party discipline in particular. Party officials in Onchon County (about 60km west of the capital, Pyongyang) were accused of making inadequate preparations for their local party meeting, which – as a result – was held in a “grossly formalistic (hyŏngshikchŏkŭro) way”.

    In North Korea’s early political history, accusations of being formalistic related to overly celebrating foreign governments and their methods of socialism. But used in relation to the officials in Onchon County, it meant going through the motions, and not displaying enough genuine enthusiasm and engagement with the political process.

    This lack of ideological zeal was reportedly further displayed when 40 of the officials went on a “drinking spree” – an act considered directly opposed to the party’s line on maintaining discipline. In the English-language version of the Rodong Sinmun news article, these officials were branded as a “corrupt group”. But in the Korean-language version, they were more colourfully condemned as a “rotten group” (ssŏgŏppajin muri) and an “arrogant rabble” (pangjahan ohapchijol).

    In response, Kim stated that the behaviour of the party officials was a “political and moral” crime which undermined the foundations of the Korean Worker’s Party. Consequently, the Onchon County party committee was dissolved and the 40 officials involved in the drunken revelry were earmarked for punishment. While it was not mentioned what punishment the officials would receive, it’s likely at the very least they will be subject to ideological re-education.

    Accusations of drunkenness and alcoholism as a means of criticising and purging party officials is nothing new in North Korea. In December 1955, Pak Il-u (then the minister of post and telecommunications) was accused of leading a depraved lifestyle and being an alcoholic. This was done to besmirch his reputation, justify his expulsion from the Korean Worker’s Party, and imprison him.

    It isn’t illegal to drink in North Korea. Alcohol has a strong cultural presence: it is used on formal occasions to celebrate weddings, relieve sadness during funerals, and commemorate the birthdays of leaders.

    In recent years, the country has even promoted its alcoholic products on postage stamps. In 2022, the government issued a stamp depicting three variations of Taedonggang Beer, produced at a state-owned domestic brewery since 2002. The beer is named after the Taedong river, which runs through Pyongyang.

    The following year, a stamp depicting Pyongyang Soju was issued. This rice and corn-based liquor has been produced at a state-owned factory since 2009. With an alcohol content of 25%, North Korea’s soju has a higher alcohol content than South Korea’s best-selling version, Jinro Chamisul Original (20.1% ABV).

    In June 2015, Kim designated Pyongyang Soju as the national liquor – underlining that alcohol holds an important place both in North Korea’s cultural heritage and contemporary society.

    That’s not to say North Koreans are heavy drinkers compared with their compatriots in the south, who – according to pre-COVID statistics – drink about twice as much. In North Korea, a litre of alcohol costs about the same as a kilo of corn (a proxy for a day’s food), which may explain this.

    Political and moral vice

    But excessive drinking is regarded, as Kim stated, as a political and moral vice. Alcohol and other drug taking, such as methamphetamine use, is bound up with mental health as a sign of degeneracy.

    Given that mental health care in North Korea is virtually non-existent (mental health conditions are correlated with ideological problems), drinking, smoking and other drug use often become coping mechanisms for people living there. But these have all become regarded as anti-state activities.

    In recent years, North Korea has cracked down more strictly on what is seen as the “ideological and cultural poisoning” of society. For example, it has been reported that people have been sentenced to lengthy prison sentences or execution for consuming and/or distributing foreign media, using foreign slang terms, or wearing foreign clothes and hairstyles.

    Divorcing couples and those caught selling hot dogs have reportedly been the most recent examples of people’s anti-state behaviour receiving labour camp sentences. Divorce represents dissent to the socialist idea of collectivism, prioritising group needs (family) over individual desires.

    Therefore, the attack on excessive alcohol consumption – and it being publicly reported on – can be seen as another development in the trend of North Korea clamping down on individualistic behaviour, because it does not conform to the ideals of how people in this socialist society should behave.

    David Hall 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. Kim Jong-un is launching a crackdown on North Korea’s drinking culture – https://theconversation.com/kim-jong-un-is-launching-a-crackdown-on-north-koreas-drinking-culture-249514

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How virtual reality could help revive endangered language and culture

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Fabrizio Galeazzi, Associate Professor in Heritage and Creative Technologies, Anglia Ruskin University

    Every two weeks, a language is at risk of disappearing. According to the UN, at least 50% of the 7,000 different languages spoken around the world today could either disappear or become seriously endangered by the end of this century, leading to a significant loss of cultural diversity.

    “A language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition and a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is,” as linguist Noam Chomsky once said.

    To help stem the tide, a collaboration between myself and colleagues at the StoryLab research institute at Anglia Ruskin University and creative industry partner NowHere Media is exploring the use of virtual reality (VR) technology and immersive storytelling to try to revitalise endangered indigenous cultures and languages.

    The results of our research interviews with participants suggest immersive stories, when created with communities, can be a powerful way of fostering group identity and promoting the long-term legacy and custodianship of cultural heritage.

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

    Created by NowHere Media before the start of our project, Kusunda VR is an immersive interactive film that encourages viewers to learn key words of the Kusunda language, which is under threat of disappearing in Nepal. The film documents the nomadic way of life of the Kusunda people. It features their language, in the form of interviews with its last remaining speakers.

    NowHere Media worked closely with shaman Lil Bahadur, just one of 150 Kusunda speakers left in the world, and his granddaughter Hima to capture the nomadic Kusunda world and language. They used volumetric filming and photogrammetry – techniques that create a three-dimensional space and allow for a highly realistic and immersive environment – to be played using virtual reality technology. Voice-based interactions help viewers learn some words in the Kusunda language.

    Lil almost lost his mother tongue when he gave up his hunter-gatherer lifestyle to live in the city at the age of 18. But researchers discovered that his teenage granddaughter was passionate about keeping her grandfather’s language – and culture – alive.

    “If the Kusunda language disappears then the existence of the Kusunda people in Nepal will also fade away,” Hima told us. “We’ll lose our identity. That’s why I want to save our language.”

    Hima began learning the language from community elder Gyani Maiya Sen-Kusunda, one of the last speakers of the language, an ambassador for its preservation and a teacher to the emerging generation. She was the original protagonist of Kusunda VR but died at the age of 83 in 2020 during the production of the film.

    Immersive technology

    StoryLab received a grant from the British Academy to evaluate the potential of immersive technology in bringing endangered languages back to life. Our research study, Reviving Kusunda, compared the interactive Kusunda VR experience alongside a short film created during the project. We wanted to to offer an insight into the role of immersive technologies in creating emotional understanding of the subject in comparison to regular film.

    Audio-visual 2D formats such as film have played an important role over the last century in documenting and archiving cultural heritage such as oral traditions, language and traditional art forms. However, we are keen to know how new technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, compare with existing audio-visual formats.

    Participants in our research – both members of the Kusunda community in Nepal and the public in the UK – identified many benefits to using multiple formats. However, they expressed a clear preference for VR. They highlighted the importance of interactivity and immersion in engaging viewers in the subject matter. With the VR experience, viewers are part of the story – a key aspect that helps revive stories and memories from the past.

    Participants considered VR especially effective in attracting their interest, creating a connection with the subject, and inspiring audiences to engage further with endangered languages and heritage.

    When viewing the VR experience, participants said they felt like a character in the film, and were immersed within the action which made them feel a strong emotional connection. They also noted how crucial it was to “feel” like the Kusunda people. This opens a range of possibilities for the use of VR for the revitalisation of endangered heritage and languages.

    The Reviving Kusunda project highlights how older speakers can educate younger generations about a language in a highly engaging way. We believe there are huge possibilities to use immersive 3D storytelling to revitalise other endangered languages.

    After the success of the Reviving Kusunda project, StoryLab now leads a €3 million Horizon Europe project called Revive. This looks specifically at two endangered European languages – Griko, spoken in parts of southern Italy, and Cornish, a language spoken in Cornwall in the southwest of England.

    This initiative brings together an international consortium of academic and industry partners to explore the integrated use of immersive technologies, data visualisation, archival research and co-creation to protect Europe’s heritage and linguistic capital.

    The aim is for immersive, interactive experiences to be hosted in museums and visitor centres to raise awareness of a region’s culture, as well as adapted to help with more formal language learning in schools and colleges for future generations.

    Participants of the Reviving Kusunda project universally acknowledged the unique way that VR can truly bring aspects of heritage to life, effectively “making intangible [heritage], tangible”.

    In the words of one participant from the Kusunda community: “When I watched the VR today, I felt I was watching the stories grandmother used to tell me. They were in front of my eyes as if they were real.”

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

    – ref. How virtual reality could help revive endangered language and culture – https://theconversation.com/how-virtual-reality-could-help-revive-endangered-language-and-culture-247856

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why justice for Ukraine must be at the forefront of peace negotiations

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Oleksa Drachewych, Assistant Professor in History, Western University

    On Feb. 18, representatives from Russia and the United States met in Saudi Arabia to determine if peace in Ukraine is possible. Ukrainian representatives were not invited.

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media that the meeting was a step in developing an “enduring peace” between Russia and Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in a media interview that the meeting was “very positive” and confirmed the true meaning of the talks was to start normalising relations between Russia and the U.S.

    Although U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed “the Russians want to see the war end,” Russian officials remain committed to their war aims. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov announced before the meetings that Russia would not return Ukrainian territory. After, he stated that should a peace deal be brokered, any peacekeeping forces could not come from NATO nations. The latter statement stunted growing European efforts to develop a security guarantee for Ukraine should a ceasefire be reached.

    Keith Kellogg, U.S. envoy for Kyiv and Moscow, said after his Feb. 20 meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the U.S. is aligned with the nation — and that any end to the war with Russia should ensure there is no “next war”. Yet White House officials do not seem to have Ukraine’s best interest in mind in negotiating a potential resolution to the war.

    For instance, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on Feb. 12 that the U.S. government doesn’t believe NATO membership for Ukraine “is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.” He added that Ukraine would need to accept territorial concessions to Russia.

    Trump has also increasingly parroted Russian narratives — such as claiming that Ukraine started the war. He has also delegitimized Zelenskyy by claiming he is a “dictator” who refuses to hold elections — despite the nation’s constitution stating elections cannot legally be held under martial law.

    Trump also continues to demand 50 per cent of Ukraine’s natural resources to repay the United States for previous military and financial support. This has led to a deterioration in Ukrainian-U.S. relations at a time where Russian-U.S. relations appear to be improving.



    Read more:
    Ukraine’s natural resources are at centre stage in the ongoing war, and will likely remain there

    European leaders have responded with frustration. Zelenskyy has made his position clear that any negotiation must include Ukraine at the table. Ukraine would not accept an imposed peace.

    Any attempt at negotiating a lasting peace between the two nations must include accountability for Russian crimes.

    The realities of Russia’s invasion

    American overtures for peace have often referred to “stopping the millions of deaths” in Russia’s war in Ukraine. While on the surface this goal is admirable, it oversimplifies the realities of what the last three years of war have done to Ukraine. Namely, Russian forces have committed extensive war crimes and atrocity in Ukraine.

    Russian forces barrage Ukraine with drone strikes and terror bombing — including targeting civilians. Even as negotiations were happening in Saudi Arabia, Russian drones struck Odesa, injuring four civilians. This was the latest in a long line of such attacks. International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants are out for Russian military leaders on just this issue.

    The Ukrainian government has confirmed over 19,500 Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russian forces. But in July 2023, Russian officials claimed they had over 700,000 Ukrainian children in Russian territory.

    Investigative reporting confirms the Russian government is assimilating these children — forcing them to stop speaking Ukrainian and raising them with a Russian identity. These actions have also led to ICC arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner who oversees the program. Russia’s actions violate the UN Genocide Convention.

    Widespread sexual assault by Russian forces has been documented against Ukrainian men and women. Torture chambers have also been found in liberated cities. Russian forces committed mass murder in multiple Ukrainian cities — underscored by the discovery of mass graves in Bucha, Izium and Lyman.

    Mariupol, once a city of over 400,000 has been reduced to a population of 120,000 as of 2023. This showcases the devastation caused by Russian forces. Russia has also started seizing buildings to give to Russian settlers to further Russify the city.

    The realities under Russian occupation are only partially known. The Russian government has demanded Ukrainians living under occupation forfeit their Ukrainian identification documents and obtain Russian passports. In schools, Russia has fully implemented its nationalistic curriculum, which includes “anti-Ukrainian propaganda” aimed at assimilating Ukrainian children.

    Against international law, forcible Russification of the Ukrainian people has become a common feature of Russian occupation during this war.

    Ukraine’s fight for justice

    Ukraine continues to fight against Russian occupation. While it’s honourable to want to stop the deaths caused by fighting, the Russian regime’s actions in Ukrainian territory must be remembered too.

    This is why justice is just as important as resolution. While it’s unlikely Russian officials will find themselves before the ICC, there must be some form of accountability for Russian crimes against Ukraine if peace is negotiated. While present frontlines may dictate where Ukraine may be forced to cede territory or freeze conflict, the realities of Russian aggression cannot be ignored.

    Here, history offers a guide for what shouldn’t be done this time when brokering a peace deal.



    Read more:
    How Russia’s fixation on the Second World War helps explain its Ukraine invasion

    During the Second World War, Soviet forces committed extensive war crimes and atrocities. Yet the Soviet Union never faced a reckoning for those acts. Russian officials remember this. As a result, Putin feels empowered to commit similar atrocities in Ukraine — believing Russia, just as the Soviet Union, won’t face any consequences.

    For any possibility of lasting peace, accountability and justice for Russian war crimes must be at the forefront of negotiations. Otherwise, Russia will have learned it can act with impunity — threatening the likelihood of enduring peace for Ukraine.

    Oleksa Drachewych 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 justice for Ukraine must be at the forefront of peace negotiations – https://theconversation.com/why-justice-for-ukraine-must-be-at-the-forefront-of-peace-negotiations-250208

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: German election: the results explained as Friedrich Merz comes out swinging for Europe

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ed Turner, Reader in Politics, Co-Director, Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University

    Friedrich Merz, the presumptive chancellor of Germany, has confirmed he will seek a coalition with the social democratic SPD after the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) won the February 23 election, topping the poll with 28.5%. Although the SPD has gone from winning the last election to a record low result of 16.4% of the vote, it remains the only credible coalition partner for presumptive chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz.

    Among Merz’s first acts was a bold statement that his first priority is “to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA”.

    Things might have looked different for Merz. Had a small party, (the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW) won just 0.03% less of the vote, Merz would have needed to find a third coalition partner. That would have most likely meant trying to work with the Greens. This would have been a much more difficult circle to square for the centre right and an option that would have come with a far greater risk of early government collapse, if a deal could even have been reached in the first place.

    The far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) had a record result, coming second with a 20.8% share of the vote. Mainstream parties including the CDU/CSU have ruled out any sort of deal with the far right, which the AfD will now be viewing as an opportunity. A further period of CDU/CSU-SPD government at a time of economic challenges will leave the party feeling it has a good opportunity to capitalise on discontent and grow further.

    The 2025 election saw a record low vote share for the CDU/CSU and SPD. It’s notable that none of the leaders of the one-time Volksparteien (“people’s parties” – with a cross-class, cross-society appeal) were popular. Merz fared best among them but on a scale of -5 to +5 for popularity, he achieved an average of precisely 0.

    Worse still was the situation of the centre-right FDP, which crashed out of the parliament on a grand scale, getting just 4.3%, down 7.1 points. Its leader, Christian Lindner, who had brought about the downfall of the previous “traffic light” coalition between his own party, the SPD and the Greens, announced his retirement from politics. The Greens, with a respectable result (11.6%, down 3.1 points), will prepare for a spell in opposition.

    The election shows a country disunited, a long way from being at ease with itself. Observers are immediately struck by the difference between eastern and western Germany. In the east, the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came first in all five states (excluding Berlin, which is a mix of east and west). In the west, with some exceptions, the CDU/CSU was dominant.



    Read more:
    These maps of support for Germany’s far-right AfD lay bare the depth of the urban-rural divide

    It has been evident for some time that concerns about migration as well as a feeling of being treated as second class citizens is driving up support for the far right in the east. Now, opposition to military support for Ukraine and general pessimism are also playing into the trend.

    Age proved another very significant divide. Among those aged 18 to 24, the Left party got 25%, ahead of the AfD (21%). The CDU/CSU took just 13% and the SPD 12% . Among the over 60s, the picture is reversed. The CDU/CSU took 37% and the SPD 23%, while the AfD took 15% and the Left just 5%.

    The Left’s success, at least among the young, was the one big surprise of the election. After a torrid period which saw the departure of leading figure Sahra Wagenknecht and her followers to form a separate party, the Left looked unlikely to meet the 5% vote share threshold needed to enter parliament until very recently. An internal split over Israel and Gaza was also causing difficulties.

    However, the Left profited from the polarisation caused by Friedrich Merz’s decision to press ahead with a vote on hardline policies towards asylum seekers, including more border checks and turning away irregular migrants without processing an asylum claim. A savvy social media campaign spearheaded by the party’s youthful joint parliamentary leader Heidi Reichinnek also helped.

    Meanwhile, the BSW took just 4.97% of the national vote and will therefore not have any seats in parliament. It is however worth noting that the BSW’s popularity was also extremely uneven across the country and another example of geographical division. While it tanked nationally, its anti-migration, “anti-woke” and pro-welfare policies, mixed with its criticism of support for Ukraine, was a more popular offering in the east with results around the 10% mark, double the national average.

    What now for Europe?

    The SPD has claimed it will not enter government at any price. It has hinted it will put any coalition proposals to a vote among party members as a way of trying to exercise leverage over Merz. But, in truth, the party has nowhere else to go. There is no alternative to a CDU/CSU-SPD coalition apart from early elections or a fundamental rethink of the former’s approach to the AfD. Neither is an attractive prospect.

    All parties are also acutely aware of the tremendous pressure from other European countries for Germany to get its act together in the context of US president Trump’s assertiveness and the need to support Ukraine. But there are huge challenges to address on the domestic front. Merz has pledged tax cuts and higher defence expenditure, but there is no clarity at all how these will be paid for. Drastic reductions in welfare and other social expenditure would likely be a “no go” area for the SPD. An option might be to loosen Germany’s “debt brake” – constitutional restrictions on government borrowing. This is something Merz has been reluctant to do, but he has hinted he might consider it in the aftermath of the vote. This fundamental reform would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers of parliament, and if extra funds were only for defence, it is possible the Left and the AfD would combine to defeat it.

    So Germany’s election gives us a paradox: in some ways the outcome is rather familiar, with an old-school Christian democrat leading a coalition with the SPD, another party with a long track record in government – and indeed with some prospect of German leadership in Europe. But it is also a deeply uncertain result. Germany is a country facing huge challenges: sluggish growth, war in Europe and a US president questioning key tenets of the post-war transatlantic relationship. It’s not clear how to put together a governing coalition that can agree on how to face these challenges, and which can satisfy a starkly divided electorate. Turbulent times, in the country and across the continent, may well be ahead.

    Ed Turner receives funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

    – ref. German election: the results explained as Friedrich Merz comes out swinging for Europe – https://theconversation.com/german-election-the-results-explained-as-friedrich-merz-comes-out-swinging-for-europe-250690

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty? Study in rural Kenya shows why it doesn’t always work

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Ralph Hamann, Professor, University of Cape Town

    International development agencies and non-governmental organisations often seek to advance community development by fostering entrepreneurship. The premise is that poor people can enhance their household incomes by establishing small businesses or by adding value to natural resources.

    Such programmes commonly include training and the provision of loans to enable micro-entrepreneurs to get started. But these interventions aren’t straightforward and often fail to achieve their objectives.

    Prior research has pointed to the fundamental economic challenges of entrepreneurship in the context of poverty. Cultural and institutional factors also play a role. Researchers have argued, for instance, that cultural norms of collectivism shape how entrepreneurs define themselves. They are likely to prioritise their roles as mentors or community safety net. This constrains their ability to innovate and grow their businesses.

    We wanted to explore an entrepreneurship-focused intervention in more detail. Specifically, why do some people seem more inclined than others to adopt these new behaviours?

    In a recent paper we set out our findings based on a study we conducted with 25 participants in northern Kenya. We built on our combined interests in entrepreneurship in resource-constrained environments, identity theory, and community development. We found that programme participants responded to the intervention in very different ways, and that religion helped explain these differences.

    Our findings have implications for interventions promoting entrepreneurship as a means to reduce poverty. First, such interventions can create profound identity tensions for participants and so their proponents need to take into account local cultures much more than is commonly the case. Second, entrepreneurship-focused interventions can change participants’ behaviours in ways that potentially disadvantage the poorest community members, leading to greater inequality at the community level.

    On the ground

    The development intervention we examined was aimed at fostering entrepreneurship in extremely poor pastoralist communities. The programme built on a small government cash transfer and put recipients into savings groups of up to 30 people. Participants were encouraged to start small businesses in these group discussions. They also received training in life skills and basic financial and business skills, such as the concept of profit and how to buy and sell goods.

    We found that over the five-year period of our study, an increasing number of pastoralists began engaging in businesses involving the sale of livestock, beadwork, sugar, tea leaves, washing powder and other necessities. But we discovered that these new business-oriented behaviours created profound tensions for the participants, and participants responded in different ways.

    The source of these tensions was in how individuals defined themselves within the local culture.

    The collectivist culture in these communities involved norms such as nkanyit (loosely translated, respect), which meant that people should share their belongings with others. But the training and the credit repayment requirements associated with the intervention made this problematic.

    To make profits and repay loans, the programme participants had to deny other community members’ requests for handouts or loans. This contravened local norms and expectations. It also created the fear that community members might curse the entrepreneur or her or his family.

    One participant explained:

    Business is different from what we were doing; business is not to give credits and also not to just give things to people… but people can curse you {if you say no}.

    Yet participants responded to these tensions in different ways. Some (about one-third of our research participants) gave in to the existing expectations and the need to avoid curses. As a result, they gave handouts to community members and often this led to their business languishing or collapsing. One participant noted:

    When I have food {business goods} in the house, I can’t tell people that I don’t have anything, and they know that I do. I just give some to avoid {curses}.“

    Others, however, continued with the new business activities despite the threat of curses. We discovered that a key factor explaining this was religion.

    Christians believed that their faith would protect them from curses. For some this occurred from the beginning. Others, fearful of curses early on, came to believe that curses would not apply in the context of the businesses that they wanted to keep running.

    For instance, one participant argued:

    Don’t give to people because of the fear of curses, just say no and pray for protection from the curses because God is great.

    Implications

    We highlight the importance of people’s social identities – specifically religious identities – in explaining why some participants are more likely to adopt capitalist behaviours (such as borrowing money to invest in business, or charging consumers interest on loans) than others.

    Organisations delivering entrepreneurship interventions and education in contexts of extreme poverty need to be aware of what identities they are encouraging participants to construct, either directly or indirectly through training and mentorship, and even through the questions that they ask participants.

    They need to be careful about creating tensions between existing cultural norms and the new concepts and behaviours they are introducing.

    More broadly, there may also be unintended negative consequences at the community level. Among the research participants in our study that adopted the entrepreneur role, this was linked to a diminished willingness to support poor community members. So, even if participants in the programme benefit through higher incomes, their entrepreneurial behaviours reduce traditional habits of giving to the needy. This could increase hardships for the very poor and create greater inequalities.

    This article is co-authored by Jody Delichte, and it is based on her PhD research at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Jody currently works as an international development and culture consultant. We are grateful to Jeremy Upane for his translation support in the field.

    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. Entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty? Study in rural Kenya shows why it doesn’t always work – https://theconversation.com/entrepreneurship-as-a-way-out-of-poverty-study-in-rural-kenya-shows-why-it-doesnt-always-work-246700

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Francisca Mutapi, Professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity. and co-Director of the Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh

    There’s been a global trend in the reduction of aid to Africa since 2018. Donors are shifting their funding priorities in response to domestic and international agendas. Germany, France and Norway, for instance, have all reduced their aid to Africa in the past five years. And, in 2020, the UK government reduced its Overseas Development Aid from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%.

    Many health services across the African continent rely heavily on overseas aid to provide essential care. International funding supports everything from vaccines and HIV treatment to maternal health programmes.

    Cuts to aid, particularly unilateral ones, can have widespread implications. For instance, about 72 million people missed out on treatment for neglected tropical diseases between 2021 and 2022 due to UK aid cuts.

    The freeze of US aid to Africa in January 2025 is the latest in this trend. It’s already having significant and wide-ranging impacts across the African continent. For example, vaccination campaigns for polio eradication and HIV/Aids treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) have been stopped. This puts millions of lives at risk. In South Africa alone, the cut of Pepfar’s US$400 million a year to HIV programmes risks patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths.

    President Donald Trump’s actions have highlighted Africa’s reliance on foreign aid for health funding. I’m a global health expert who sits on various funding and advisory boards, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK government and boards of global resource mobilisation organisations. I am well aware of the competing funding priorities for international funders and have long advocated for local, sustainable health funding mechanisms.

    Long-term strategies to reduce aid dependency are critical. Breaking away from this current funding status requires concerted efforts building on proven best practice.



    Read more:
    How nonprofits abroad can fill gaps when the US government cuts off foreign aid

    Country-leadership and ownership

    African countries currently face the unique challenge of simultaneously dealing with high rates of communicable diseases, such as malaria and HIV/Aids, and rising levels of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

    But Africa’s health systems are not sufficiently resourced. They’re not able to provide appropriate, accessible and affordable healthcare to address these challenges.

    African governments spend less than 10% of their GDP on health, amounting to capital expenditure of US$4.5 billion. This falls short of the estimated US$26 billion annual investment needed to meet evolving health needs.

    Aid goes towards filling this funding gap. For example, in 2021, half of sub-Saharan African countries relied on external financing, such as grants and loans, for more than one-third of their health expenditures.

    Foreign aid has helped. But it clearly leaves African countries vulnerable to the political mood swings among funders.

    It also leads to loss of self-determination in terms of health priorities as, ultimately, the funder determines the health priorities. This is one reason why many programmes in Africa focus on a single disease, such as HIV. This leads to poorly integrated health services. For instance health workers or services are channelled into managing a single disease.

    New, underutilised financing options

    The current trajectory of reduced aid to Africa is likely to continue. Global aid is being directed to other challenges, such as conflict and illegal immigration.

    The continent cannot continue on the same path while hoping for different outcomes. Africa needs to grow a range of immediately available domestic financing options. Many of these are underutilised and include:

    1.) Diversifying domestic resource mobilisation. This should include commodity taxation to fund health. For instance, tobacco taxes which are currently underutilised in Africa.

    Zimbabwe offers a successful example. It has bridged donor resource gaps through its 3% Aids levy (started in 1999). Imposed on both individual and corporate incomes, it funds domestic HIV/Aids prevention, care and treatment programmes.

    Nigeria’s another country that’s taken initiative, prioritising domestic budget allocation to health. It recently absorbed the 28,000 healthworkers formerly paid by USAid. This demonstrates that domestic health financing in Africa is possible.

    2.) More private-public partnerships. Formed between local and international philanthropies or institutions, these can bridge financing gaps.

    One successful example is the 2015 health service provision partnership between the Kenyan government and GE Healthcare. GE Healthcare provides radiography equipment and services which the government pays for over time. This allows the government to budget and plan healthcare expenditure over several years.

    3.) Promotion of regional integration to boost local production. This will reduce the need for aid-funded imported medical products.

    For instance, the African Union’s harmonised Africa Medicines Authority registration facility creates a single continental market for medicines. This supports local producers and exporters, by allowing them to operate on a larger scale. It also makes production and distribution more cost-effective. Finally, it reduces the reliance on imported medicines, strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical industry.

    4.) Leverage development finance institutions. These are specialised financial organisations – such as the Africa Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. They can provide capital and expertise to projects deemed too risky for traditional investors. This includes support for health financing for infrastructure development, private sector development for small and medium-sized enterprises and the regional integration.

    One transformative initiative is the AfricInvest investment platform. With support from development finance institutions in the US and Europe, AfricInvest has raised over US$100 million for health investment in Africa. It has funded at least 45 dialysis facilities in Africa, delivering over 130,000 dialysis sessions annually, primarily to remote and underserved communities all at affordable costs.

    A combination of these approaches at national, regional and continental level will accelerate Africa’s withdrawal from aid dependency.

    Francisca Mutapi receives funding from the Aspen Global Innovation Programme, Scottish Funding Council funding to the University of Edinburgh, Academy of Medical Sciences, British Academy and the Royal Society. Francisca Mutapi is the Deputy Director of the Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA) Partnership and Deputy Board Chair of Uniting to Combat NTDS. She sits on the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and WHO Africa Regional Director’s Scientific Advisory Groups.

    – ref. Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this – https://theconversation.com/africa-relies-too-heavily-on-foreign-aid-for-health-4-ways-to-fix-this-249886

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The anatomy of fight-ending blows and chokes in combat sports

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University

    The human body has evolved to shield its vital organs, from the brain’s hard skull and meninges to the ribs and sternum protecting the heart and lungs. Even abdominal structures are safeguarded by muscular layers. In contact sports, understanding these vulnerabilities can give competitors the edge, allowing them to take down an opponent with a knockout or submission.

    Head and neck

    In many sports, a blow to the head is a quick route to a knockout (KO). Strikes to the side of the head can lead to KOs — and sadly, sometimes death. These blows can rupture vital blood vessels around the brain, triggering rapid bleeding that causes instant symptoms or slowly compresses the brain, leading to a coma and eventual death.

    Blows to the chin are usually much more effective for an instant KO. They can generate significant force by rotational acceleration through the brain tissue. They may also result in “diffuse axonal injury”, where the force generated causes long nerves in the brain to stretch or tear.

    The neck is often exploited in mixed martial arts (MMA) and jiu-jitsu. The rear-naked choke is one of the more effective, taking 8.9 seconds to render an opponent unconscious. This choke cuts off blood flow to the brain through the two main carotid arteries, which each deliver up to 590ml of blood to the brain per minute.

    It takes just nine seconds to render someone unconscious with a rear naked choke.
    Marco Crupi/Shutterstock

    Unconsciousness from the heart stopping beating can occur in as little as eight seconds. Arteries running through the neck to the brain are also susceptible to direct trauma in combat sports, potentially leading to paralysis or even death.

    Nerves and bones

    The legs are a key target in combat sports, such as muay thai and MMA. Low kicks to the outside of the thigh and buttock area target the sciatic nerve – the largest nerve in the body. The sciatic nerve supplies muscles on the back of your leg and bottom of your foot.

    Although this nerve is rarely permanently injured in most sports, repeated trauma can cause numbness, weakness or paralysis of the muscles it supplies.

    Another target is a branch of the sciatic nerve called the common peroneal nerve. It sits underneath a bony bulge on the outside of your leg just below the knee. Repeated targeting of this nerve can result in the inability to stand because the foot drops and the person can’t sense its position or inability to move the affected foot.

    Because of the direction of kicks to this area, almost 60% of muay thai fighters report contracture (shortening) of their calf (gastrocnemius) muscle, in response to repeated trauma.

    Armbars and ankle locks are also rapid ways to bring things to an end. Armbars involve trapping the arm in such a way that the elbow is in the hyper-extended position, trying to force it beyond straight. On the back of the joint is a large bony bulge called the olecranon, which prevents over-extension.

    If an opponent doesn’t “tap out”, the joint cavity and tissues of the elbow sprain or tear or the radius or ulna break.

    Ankle locks are often described as one of the most painful locks. This is because, when done properly, it hyper-extends the ankle joint and compresses the achilles tendon, which is the largest and thickest tendon in the body and has many sensory receptors for pressure.

    This is further exacerbated because many of the nerves passing through the ankle have little or no protection from muscle or connective tissues and there are 11 ligaments that support the ankle, all now having excessive forces stretch through them.

    Abdomen

    Attacking the abdomen is common in combat sports as it’s an easier target to hit than the head. There are two blows to this area that can end a fight. Blows to the liver and to the spleen.

    The liver sits on the right, protected by the ribs. But hitting the body over or just below this area can send shock waves into the liver that result in instant crippling pain because of the large number of critical nerves that sit behind it. These nerves are responsible for important functions including monitoring organ status and blood vessel diameter.

    Some of these punches can result in death from internal bleeding. The liver receives a huge volume of blood: 25% of the heart’s output. Any significant injury can tear the liver, causing fatal blood loss.

    The left side can have similar consequences, tucked behind the lower ribs at the back on this side is the spleen, a soft and blood-filled organ which is often silently or subtly torn by blunt-force trauma, such as car accidents, contact sports or broken ribs.

    It often gives no or vague symptoms and can bleed slowly after the initial injury occurrence, resulting in collapse or death a few hours after the event.

    The heart

    Commotio cordis is a rare cause of sudden death, occurring most commonly in young male athletes who are struck in the chest. It occurs in the absence of visible heart damage.

    This trauma causes a fatal interruption to the electrical activity of the regular heartbeat. The reason that all chest blows don’t result in this outcome is because it is believed to have to happen at a specific part of the electrical conduction through the heart – called the T-wave, which usually accounts for about 1% of the heartbeat cycle time. The T-wave increases with exercise, which is why commotio cordis is usually seen in exercising young athletes.

    For commotio cordis to occur, the impact must generate roughly 50 joules of energy, which is roughly equivalent to a baseball travelling at about 40mph.

    The illegal stuff

    Most of the above blows are allowed in most combat sports. However, some things that occur during fights aren’t. Punching the back of the head – so-called rabbit punches are banned because they can snap the cervical vertebrae at the top of the neck and potentially the spinal cord, which can have significant lifelong injuries, or even death.

    Likewise, groin strikes are banned too, they can prevent people from having children and are incredibly painful because of the vast number of highly sensitive nerves that supply that area in men and women.

    While reading this may make you wince, it also brings a newfound respect for those athletes who train and repeatedly put themselves through a gruelling regime in these true contact sports.

    Adam Taylor 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. The anatomy of fight-ending blows and chokes in combat sports – https://theconversation.com/the-anatomy-of-fight-ending-blows-and-chokes-in-combat-sports-248382

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The quest to extend human life is both fascinating and fraught with moral peril

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Richard Gunderman, Chancellor’s Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

    Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson has made it his life’s mission to delay aging and death. Netflix

    “Who wants to live forever?” Freddie Mercury mournfully asks in Queen’s 1986 song of the same name.

    The answer: Quite a few people – so much so that life extension has long been a cottage industry.

    As a physician and scholar in the medical humanities, I’ve found the quest to expand the human lifespan both fascinating and fraught with moral peril.

    During the 1970s and 80s, for example, The Merv Griffin Show featured one guest 32 times – life extension expert Durk Pearson, who generated more fan mail than any guest except Elizabeth Taylor. In 1982, he and his partner, Sandy Shaw, published the book “Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach,” which became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and sold over 2 million copies. One specific recommendation involved taking choline and vitamin B5 in order to reduce cognitive decline, combat high blood pressure and reduce the buildup of toxic metabolic byproducts.

    Last year, Pearson died at 82, and Shaw died in 2022 at 79.

    The 1982 book by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, ‘Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach,’ has sold millions of copies.
    Amazon

    No one can say for sure whether these life extension experts died sooner or later than they would have had they eschewed many of these supplements and instead simply exercised and ate a balanced diet. But I can say that they did not live much longer than many similarly well-off people in their cohort.

    Still, their dream of staying forever young is alive and well.

    Consider tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson’s “Project Blueprint,” a life-extension effort that inspired the 2025 Netflix documentary “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever.” His program has included building a home laboratory, taking more than 100 pills each day and undergoing blood plasma transfusions, at least one of which came from his son.

    And Johnson is not alone. Among the big names investing big bucks to prolong their lives are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison. One approach involves taking senolytics – drugs that target cells that may drive the aging process, though more research is needed to determine their safety and efficacy. Another is human growth hormone, which has long been touted as an anti-aging mechanism in ad campaigns that feature remarkably fit older people. (“How does this 69-year-old doctor have the body of a 30-year-old?” reads one web ad).

    These billionaires may reason that, because of their wealth, they have more to live for than ordinary folks. They may also share more prosaic motivations, such as a fear of growing old and dying.

    But underlying such desires is an equally important ethical – and, for some, spiritual – reality.

    Quality versus quantity

    Is it a good thing, morally speaking, to wish to live forever? Might there be aspects of aging and even death that are both good for the world and good for individuals?

    Cicero’s “On Aging” offers some insights. In fact, the ancient Roman statesman and philosopher noted that writing about it helped him to find peace with the vexations of growing old.

    In the text, Cicero outlines and responds to four common complaints about aging: It takes us away from managing our affairs, impairs bodily vigor, deprives us of sensual gratifications and brings us to the verge of death.

    To the charge that aging takes us away from managing our affairs, Cicero asks us to imagine a ship. Only the young climb the masts, run to and fro on the gangways, and bail the hold. But it is among the older and more experienced members of the crew that we find the captain who commands the ship. Rome’s supreme council was called the Senate, from the Latin for “elder,” and it is to those rich in years that we look most often for wisdom.

    Cicero was keen to distinguish between quantity and quality of life.
    Crisfotolux/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    As to whether aging impairs bodily vigor, Cicero claimed that strength and speed are less related to age than discipline. Many older people who take care of themselves are in better shape than the young, and he gives examples of people who maintained their vigor well into their later years. He argued that those who remain physically fit do a great deal to sustain their mental powers, a notion supported by modern science.

    Cicero reminds readers that these same pleasures of eating and drinking often lead people astray. Instead, people, as they age, can better appreciate the pleasures of mind and character. A great dinner becomes characterized less by what’s on the plate or the attractiveness of a dining partner than the quality of conversation and fellowship.

    While death remains an inevitable consequence of aging, Cicero distinguishes between quality and quantity of life. He writes that it is better to live well than to live long, and for those who are living well, death appears as natural as birth. Those who want to live forever have forgotten their place in the cosmos, which does not revolve around any single person or even species.

    Those of a more spiritual bent might find themselves drawn to the Scottish poet George MacDonald, who wrote: “Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husk.”

    Embracing the circle of life

    What if the dreams of the life extension gurus were realized? Would the world be a better place?

    Would the extra good that a longer-lived Einstein could have accomplished be balanced or even exceeded by the harm of a Stalin who remained healthy and vigorous for decades beyond his death?

    At some point, preserving indefinitely the lives of those now living would mean less room for those who do not yet exist.

    Pearson and Shaw appeared on many other television programs in the 1970s and 1980s. During one such segment on “The Mike Douglas Show,” Pearson declared: “By the time you are 60, your immune function is perhaps one-fifth what it was when you were younger. Yet you can achieve a remarkable restoration simply by taking nutrients that you can get at a pharmacy or health food store.”

    For Pearson, life extension was a biomedical challenge, an effort more centered on engineering the self rather than the world.

    Despite making a living as life extension gurus, Durk Pearson, right, and Sandy Shaw didn’t live much longer than most Americans.

    Yet I would argue that the real challenge in human life is not to live longer, but to help others; adding extra years should be seen not as the goal but a byproduct of the pursuit of goodness.

    In the words of Susan B. Anthony: “The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball – the further I am rolled, the more I gain.”

    Richard Gunderman 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. The quest to extend human life is both fascinating and fraught with moral peril – https://theconversation.com/the-quest-to-extend-human-life-is-both-fascinating-and-fraught-with-moral-peril-249430

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Rising house prices don’t just make it harder to become a homeowner – they also widen the racial wealth gap

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joe LaBriola, Research Assistant Professor, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan

    Homeownership – long a cornerstone of the “the American dream” – is increasingly out of reach for the average American. Over the past four decades, U.S. house prices have risen by 75% in real terms, pushing the costs of homeownership for the typical first-time homebuyer to a record high. At the same time, these rising prices have significantly boosted the wealth of existing homeowners.

    As a sociologist who studies inequality in America through the lens of housing, I’ve spent the past few years looking into how rising house prices have affected the wealth gap between white and Black households, which has widened significantly over the past four decades. White families had about US$90,000 more wealth – in 2021 dollars – than their Black counterparts in 1984, an alarmingly wide gap. But by 2021, the gap had widened to almost $160,000.

    My recent peer-reviewed research, published in the journal Social Problems, found that the rise in house prices between 1984 and 2021 accounted for most of this widening gap. Using data from the University of Michigan’s Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which tracks a nationally representative group of American families over time, I explored how homeowners’ wealth trajectories would have differed if they hadn’t benefited from rising house prices.

    I found that housing market appreciation widened the median wealth gap between white and Black households by nearly $50,000 between 1984 and 2021. Given that home prices have continued to rise since 2021, it’s fair to assume that this gap has widened further over the past few years.

    Why a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats

    I also investigated why rising house prices widened the wealth gap by so much. The most important cause is the long-standing disparity in homeownership rates. White households had a homeownership rate of 74% at the end of 2021, compared with only 43% for Black households. As a result, they were much more likely to have benefited from rising home values, which directly increased their home equity.

    White homeowners also tend to own more expensive homes than Black homeowners. While this is a less important factor, it means that they saw greater absolute gains in home equity than Black homeowners from the same percentage rise in the housing market.

    However, I also found an interesting exception: Black homeowners benefited more from neighborhood-level housing market trends. One possible explanation is that the gentrification of Black neighborhoods in recent decades led to outsize housing market appreciation in these neighborhoods – which disproportionately boosted the home equity of existing Black homeowners.

    The impact of history – and ideas for the future

    I became interested in housing and wealth inequality when I attended graduate school in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the least affordable housing markets in the world. Many homeowners who had bought their homes in the 1970s for tens of thousands of dollars were now sitting on millions of dollars in home equity. Meanwhile, buying a home in this area seemed out of reach for all but the highest-earning families, effectively locking renters out of the wealth-building effects of rising house prices.

    My curiosity about rising house prices led me to explore how they shape wealth inequality – not just between homeowners and renters, but also between racial groups. The more I read, the more I learned about the many legal, political and social barriers that have kept Black families from becoming homeowners.

    These include exclusionary zoning policies and racial covenants that locked Black families out of many neighborhoods, reduced access to mortgage lending in historically Black neighborhoods, and persistent hiring and workplace discrimination that have kept Black families from accumulating wealth.

    Addressing these inequities will require thoughtful policy solutions. As a sociologist studying these issues, I have some recommendations on contemporary policies that can increase access to homeownership for less affluent households. Given racial disparities in wealth, these policies would also help to reduce racial gaps in homeownership:

    • Reform local housing regulations: By easing restrictions on housing development, cities can help alleviate the housing shortage that’s helping to drive up home prices. Austin, Texas, is an example of a city that has successfully curbed rising home prices by dramatically increasing its housing construction. Lower house prices would then allow a greater range of families to own homes.

    • Implement land value taxes: Traditional property taxes can discourage residential development because landowners pay higher taxes after they develop their land. In contrast, land value taxes are only assessed on the value of the land, which encourages landowners to put their land to the most productive use. Over time, land value taxes would lead to greater residential development in areas that need it most, which would then reduce upward pressures on house prices.

    • Subsidize homeownership: While using federal funds to subsidize homeownership would come with the risk of inflating prices, this could help more low-income households enter and maintain homeownership and thereby benefit from future housing market appreciation.

    Future directions for research

    I am currently extending this work in several directions. In collaboration with Ohio State University sociologist Chinyere Agbai and Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics Student Associate Nils Neumann, I am examining how the home mortgage interest deduction has affected the wealth gap between white and Black households over time. Introduced in 1913, this deduction is one of the largest tax breaks available to American households, but Black households are much less likely than white households to benefit from it, in part due to lower rates of homeownership.

    Our preliminary findings suggest the home mortgage interest deduction has substantially widened the wealth gap between white and Black households over the past several decades.

    I’m also investigating the role of parental wealth in helping children buy homes in increasingly unaffordable housing markets. My findings suggest that young homebuyers in expensive areas come from much wealthier backgrounds and receive more financial assistance when buying their homes than first-time homebuyers in other neighborhoods. I also found that family help makes young adults substantially more likely to become first-time homeowners.

    If Americans want to work toward creating a more equitable society, understanding the connections between housing, wealth and racial inequality is an important place to start.

    In conducting this research, Joe LaBriola received support from the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics at the University of Michigan, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the UC Berkeley Opportunity Lab, the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, and the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies.

    – ref. Rising house prices don’t just make it harder to become a homeowner – they also widen the racial wealth gap – https://theconversation.com/rising-house-prices-dont-just-make-it-harder-to-become-a-homeowner-they-also-widen-the-racial-wealth-gap-250020

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Can animals have mental disabilities?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Rachel Blaser, Professor of Neuroscience, Cognition and Behavior, University of San Diego

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

    Are there any animals with mental disabilities? – Adria G.

    Max was a fun-loving Labrador retriever who enjoyed going for car rides and greeting clients at his owner’s office. But around age 16, Max suddenly started having accidents in the house and stopped sleeping well at night. He became irritable and seemed not to understand the words and commands he had long known.

    Max was showing symptoms of a disorder called cognitive dysfunction syndrome, which can affect cats and dogs as they age. In dogs, it looks very similar to Alzheimer’s disease, which causes memory loss and dementia in humans, usually as they grow older.

    I study how humans and other animals learn, and my research involves working with many different species, from bees to pigeons and crawfish. Part of my work involves paying attention to conditions that can affect mental health in animals.

    Sometimes genetic or developmental changes affect how the brain is built, which can lead to mental disabilities or learning differences. In other cases, animals may be exposed to scary or stressful situations that can cause mental health problems. Here are some examples:

    Many dogs become stressed during thunderstorms. Creating a comfortable, enclosed “safe” space without windows inside your house can help.

    Understanding animal genes

    Down syndrome is a common genetic condition that can slow down learning and thinking in humans. People born with Down syndrome may have a harder time learning new things, remembering information and making complicated decisions.

    Down syndrome is caused by changes to a chromosome – the strands in our cells that store our genes. Normally, people have 23 pairs of chromosomes; when someone is born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, it produces the effects of Down syndrome.

    Most animals can’t have Down syndrome, because their genes are organized into chromosomes differently than human genes. However, our closest relatives, including chimpanzees and orangutans, do have a similar organization of genes. Conditions very much like Down syndrome have been observed in these species.

    One example, Kanako, was a female chimpanzee born in a research facility in Japan. She had vision and heart problems caused by an extra chromosome. Scientists don’t know whether Kanako had trouble with learning, because her vision problems made that difficult to test. However, Kanako enjoyed socializing with other chimpanzees and lived a long life in a wildlife sanctuary.

    Wild chimpanzees are probably also sometimes born with genetic conditions like Down syndrome, but the effects make it difficult to survive in the wild, just like being born with a heart or a foot that doesn’t develop normally. Kanako was able to live a healthy life thanks to the help of her human caretakers and good veterinary care.

    Science historian Laurel Braitman explains how she worked to understand her dog’s mental health disorders, and how studying these problems in animals can offer insights for treating similar problems in humans.

    Coping with trauma and stress

    Animals that are born healthy can also develop mental health problems in response to conditions around them.

    For example, just as soldiers may develop post-traumatic stress disorder after experiencing a life-threatening situation, working military and police dogs can develop a similar condition. Dogs with canine PTSD may cling to their owners, startle at everyday noises, or frequently act panicky or fearful.

    Veterinarians can prescribe anti-anxiety medication to help these dogs stay calm during scary events, like fireworks or thunderstorms. Owners also can use behavioral treatments to reward the dogs for staying calm and relaxed around things that seem frightening.

    Most traumatic events, like earthquakes or car accidents, can’t be predicted in advance. However, in some cases, such as capturing and restraining a wild animal to relocate it, workers use tranquilizers or sedatives to make the animal sleepy, or cover its eyes and ears to reduce fear and prevent long-lasting problems.

    Another common cause of mental health problems in animals is daily stress. Animals held in captivity at zoos, farms or research labs may experience stress from sources such as traffic noises, uncomfortable temperatures or not being able to engage in certain natural behaviors.

    Animals have many signature behaviors: Penguins swim, meerkats dig, baboons socialize and chickens take dust baths. When animals can’t do important behaviors, they may experience stress and mental problems.

    To keep this from happening, zookeepers and animal caretakers provide environmental enrichment – objects, structures and activities that stimulate the animals’ minds and help keep them from getting bored.

    An African penguin at the Maryland Zoo snatches at a knotted fire hose. Giving penguins novel objects to explore is one way to enriching their lives in captivity.
    Pacific Southwest Forest Service, USDA, CC BY

    Supporting your pet

    Sometimes it’s easy to see when animals are stressed or anxious. They may pace back and forth, spend their days in hiding or be unusually aggressive. Getting sick frequently or losing weight can also be a sign of poor mental health. Certain hormones, called corticosteroids, can be measured from a poop sample to provide clues about whether an animal is under too much stress.

    Even pets in loving homes can experience mental health problems. Some dogs struggle with separation anxiety – extreme fear of being left alone by their owner. Lack of mental or physical activity can also produce anxiety symptoms.

    Whether it means taking your dog to the dog park to run and socialize, or building puzzles that hide treats for your parakeet to find, keeping animals busy is good for them. In more serious cases, veterinarians can prescribe medication or behavioral treatments to help your pet feel better.

    Humans can use science to understand the many conditions that affect mental health in animals and find treatments to help them. We also can show compassion and care for others – whether human or animal – who experience mental problems.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

    Rachel Blaser 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. Can animals have mental disabilities? – https://theconversation.com/can-animals-have-mental-disabilities-247082

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Roman society integrated people who altered their bodies and defied gender norms

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Tom Sapsford, Assistant professor of Classical Studies, Boston College

    A relief showing a gallus making sacrifices to the goddess Cybele and Attis. Sailko via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

    A few weeks into his second term, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders restricting the rights of trans workers in the federal government. The first was a renewal of the ban on transgender people joining the U.S. military – initially signed in 2017 and later repealed by President Joe Biden in 2021. The second was a more sweeping memo that recognizes only two sexes in federal records and policies.

    In the ancient Roman world, which I study, biological sex and gender expression did not always line up as neatly as the president is demanding to see in today’s government.

    In antiquity, there were masculine women, feminine men and people who altered their bodies to match their gender expression more closely. In particular, two figures – the cinaedus and the gallus – provide examples of men whose effeminate behavior and modified anatomies were striking yet still integrated into Roman society.

    The cinaedus and the commander in chief

    In ancient Rome, some men who did not fit neatly within gender categories were called “cinaedi.” They were usually adult males singled out for their extreme effeminacy and nonnormative sexual desires.

    The cinaedus was already a recognizable figure in ancient Greece and was first mentioned in the fourth century B.C. by Plato. He says little more than that a cinaedus’ life was terrible, base and miserable. Later Roman authors provide more detail.

    Martial, a Roman poet writing in the first century A.D., for instance, describes a cinaedus’ dysfunctional penis as like a “soggy leather strap” in one epigram. In the same century, the Roman novelist Petronius has a cinaedus suggest that both he and his fellows have had their genitals removed.

    In a fable by Phaedrus, also written in the first century A.D., a barbarian is threatening the troops of the military leader, Pompey the Great. All are afraid to challenge this fierce opponent until a “cinaedus” volunteers to fight.

    The cinaedus is described as a soldier of great size but with a cracked voice and mincing walk. After pleading permission in a stereotypically lisping manner from Pompey the Great, his commander in chief, the cinaedus steps into battle. He quickly severs the barbarian’s head and, with army agog, is summarily rewarded by Pompey.

    In Phaedrus’ fable, the cinaedus is untrustworthy. He is described as having stolen valuables from Pompey early on in the tale and then later swears on oath that he hasn’t.

    Yet the moral of Phaedrus’ fable of the soldier-cinaedus is that such deceptive appearances and actions might actually be strategically successful in military matters. The cinaedus has an edge over Pompey’s other soldiers precisely due to his disarming effeminacy. In the tale, this doesn’t at all diminish his skills as a lethal fighter. Rather, the cinaedus’ effeminacy combined with his martial valor ultimately lead to the barbarian’s defeat.

    Trans priests and the safety of the Roman state

    The galli, another group that lived in the heart of the city of Rome, also blurred gender roles. They were males who had castrated their genitalia in dedication to the Great Mother goddess Cybele, who was their protector.

    As reported by several ancient sources, including Cicero and Livy, in 204 B.C. the Roman state consulted a set of prophetic scrolls called the Sibylline Oracles on how best to respond to the pressures it faced as a result of the Second Punic War – Rome’s prolonged conflict with Carthage and its fierce military general, Hannibal.

    The oracles’ answer – and Rome’s subsequent action – was to import a strange and foreign religious order from Asia Minor into the heart of Rome, where it would remain for the next several hundred years.

    The temple of Cybele was located on the Palatine Hill, next to several important shrines, monuments and later even the residence of the Emperor Augustus. As the poet Ovid tells us, each year during Cybele’s festival the galli would proceed through the streets of Rome carrying a statue of the goddess, while ululating wildly in time with the sound of wailing pipes, banging drums and crashing cymbals.

    More so than the figure of the cinaedus, ancient literary sources present the galli’s gender difference similarly to modern-day trans women, often using feminine pronouns when describing them.

    For instance, the poet Catullus details the origin story of the galli’s founder figure, Attis, who was Cybele’s mythical consort and chief priest. Notably, Catullus switches from using masculine adjectives to feminine ones at the very moment of Attis’ self-castration.

    Attis.

    Similarly, in his novel, “The Golden Ass,” the second century A.D. writer Apuleius has one gallus address his fellow devotees as “girls.”

    While several ancient sources mock these figures for their gender-nonconforming appearance and behaviors, it is nevertheless evident that the galli held a sacred place within the Roman state. They were viewed as being important to Rome’s continued safety and prominence.

    For example, Plutarch in his “Life of Marius” relates that a priest of the Great Mother came to Rome in 103 B.C. to convey an oracle that the Romans would be triumphant in war. Though believed by the Senate, this priest, Bataces, was mocked mercilessly in the plebian assembly. However, when the individual who had insulted Bataces swiftly died of a terrible fever, the plebians too gave this oracle and the goddess’s prophetic powers their backing.

    Today’s trans issues

    Behind Trump’s executive orders are two assertions: first, that transgender identity is a form of ideology: a modern invention created to justify deviance from one’s sex as assigned at birth; second, that transgender identity is both a form of disease and of dishonesty.

    The reissued military ban doubles down on the perceived dishonesty of trans folk, contrasting it with the ideals and principles needed for combat. The order states that the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.”

    Taking a long view of gender diversity across millennia has shown me that many individuals in antiquity certainly lived lives outside of the clear-cut formula that the Trump administration has stated, namely that “women are biologically female and men are biologically male.”

    Gender diversity is not simply a late 20th- or early 21st-century phenomenon. However, the fear that gender-diverse people are diseased and devious likewise arises in several ancient sources. In the classical world, these fears seem limited to the realms of satire and fantasy; in our current time, we are seeing these fears being harnessed for government policy.

    This article incorporates material from a story originally published on Aug. 1, 2017.

    Tom Sapsford is affiliated with the Lambda Classical Caucus.

    – ref. How Roman society integrated people who altered their bodies and defied gender norms – https://theconversation.com/how-roman-society-integrated-people-who-altered-their-bodies-and-defied-gender-norms-248726

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –