NewzIntel.com

Category: Transport

  • MIL-OSI Europe: OSCE hands over ambulance vehicles and equipment to Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs

    Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE

    Headline: OSCE hands over ambulance vehicles and equipment to Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs

    (left-right) Major General Azizulozoda Safialo, National Coordinator for Police Reform at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Miroslav Milojevic, Adviser on Police Affairs at the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, during the handover ceremony of ambulance vehicles and equipment to Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dushanbe, 11 April 2025. (OSCE/Atodzhon Salibaev) Photo details

    On 11 April 2025, the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe officially handed over two ambulance vehicles and five sets of equipment to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan.
    This donation supports the Government of Tajikistan’s efforts to advance internal reforms and strengthen police services. Specifically, the ambulance vehicles will enhance the capacity of the Medical Service of the Ministry to provide on-site first aid and emergency medical transportation for police personnel.
    The five sets of equipment will be awarded as prizes in the “Best Territorial Police Inspector” competition, organized by Public Councils across five regions of the country.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: OSCE trains Uzbek border and customs officers in identifying suspected foreign terrorist fighters

    Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE

    Headline: OSCE trains Uzbek border and customs officers in identifying suspected foreign terrorist fighters

    The OSCE Transnational Threats Department, in co-operation with the Border Troops and Customs Committee of Uzbekistan, held a national training course on identifying suspected foreign terrorist fighters and other criminals at border crossings in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 4 to 7 April.
    Twenty-two first- and second-line border and customs officers sharpened their skills through practical exercises on identity management, detecting illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW), profiling techniques, risk analysis, and methods for preventing trafficking in human beings.
    The training course was delivered by seven members of Uzbekistan’s National Mobile Training Team as part of their third deployment mission since they completed their advanced training with support of the OSCE-led Mobile Training Team in 2023. International experts from Belgium, North Macedonia and the United Kingdom as well as the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism and the OSCE also contributed with their expertise and provided training materials.
    The course was followed by an official opening of the OSCE classroom at the Advanced Training Faculty under the Customs Committee of Uzbekistan. This included a handover ceremony of two servers to improve the video surveillance system at Uzbek border checkpoints as well as 100 copies of Frontex guidebooks on SALW in the Uzbek language. The classroom and donations are expected to enhance the effectiveness of local customs and border officers’ daily work.
    These activities are part of the OSCE extrabudgetary project “Strengthening the resilience of Uzbekistan to address cross-border challenges emanating from Afghanistan” funded by Germany, Sweden and the United States of America. Further training courses are scheduled in 2025.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Baltimore Man Pleads Guilty to Machine Gun Possession in Federal Court

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Baltimore, Maryland – Garrick Powell, 32, of Baltimore, has pled guilty to the unlawful possession of a machine gun in federal court. 

    Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the plea with Special Agent in Charge Toni M. Crosby, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) – Baltimore Field Division, and Commissioner Richard Worley, Baltimore Police Department (BPD).

    According to the guilty plea, on April 19, 2023, law enforcement found Powell in possession of a machine gun.  BPD officers from the Eastern District Baltimore Community Intelligence Center — who were surveilling the 500 block of North Patterson Park Avenue — spotted Powell displaying the characteristics of an armed person.

    An officer observed Powell enter a vehicle and drive away from the block. Officers then conducted a traffic stop, searched Powell’s vehicle, and recovered a loaded Poly80 9mm handgun with an extended magazine.  The Poly80 firearm is frequently referred to as a “ghost gun” because there is no serial number on the firearm.  Additionally, the Poly80 had a conversion device attached to the weapon which converted the semi-automatic weapon into an automatic Poly80, making it a machine gun. Officers also recovered a second extended magazine and 63 rounds of 9mm ammunition from Powell’s vehicle.

    Sentencing is set for July 16, at 10 a.m. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge determines sentencing after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

    U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the ATF and BPD for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia McLane and Stanton Lawyer who are prosecuting the case.

    For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-neighborhoods-psn. 

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is a ‘revisionist’ state, and what are they trying to revise?

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Andrew Latham, Professor of Political Science, Macalester College

    A meeting of top diplomats from China, Iran and Russia – three so-called revisionist powers. Photo by Getty Images

    Once upon a time, “revisionist power” was a term reserved for nations trying to overturn the postwar liberal order – the usual suspects being countries like Russia, China or Iran.

    But lately, that concept is starting to fray. When Beijing’s top diplomat says the United States is the one disrupting global stability, and respected analysts argue that Washington itself is acting like a revisionist state, the label suddenly looks a lot less tidy.

    And yet the term is everywhere – in think tank reports, in political speeches, in headlines about political hot spots.

    But what does revisionist really mean? And why should we care?

    The roots of ‘revisionism’

    At its core, “revisionist power” is a label applied to nations that want to change the way the world is ordered. The concept dates back to the period between the two world wars, when it described countries opposing the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. Political scientist Hans Morgenthau later distinguished between status quo powers and those seeking to overturn the balance of power.

    The label itself was popularized in the mid-20th century, especially through A.F.K. Organski’s 1958 work on power transition, which defined revisionist powers as those dissatisfied with the existing order and determined to reshape it.

    The change desired by nations can take many forms: redrawing borders, rebalancing regional power balances or creating alternative rules, norms and institutions to the ones that currently structure international politics. The key is that revisionists nations aren’t just unhappy with specific policies – they’re dissatisfied with the broader system and want to reshape it in fundamental ways.

    The concept comes out of the realist tradition in international relations, which sees the world as an arena of power politics.

    In that framework, countries operate in an anarchic international system with no higher authority to enforce the rules. The most powerful nations construct or impose a particular set of rules, norms and institutions on the international system, creating an order that reflects their values and serves their interests.

    Revisionism in action

    In this tradition, status quo powers benefit from the system and want to keep it more or less as it is. But revisionist powers see the system as constraining or unjust – and seek to alter it.

    This doesn’t always mean war or open confrontation. Revisionism isn’t inherently aggressive, nor is it always destabilizing. It simply describes a nation’s support for or opposition to the prevailing international order. How that desire is expressed can include diplomacy, economic coercion or even armed conflict.

    Consider Russia. Its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 were not just violations of international law – they were clear efforts to overturn the post-Cold War, NATO-based security order in Europe. Russia was not lashing out at individual policies; it was challenging – or seeking to revise – the legitimacy of the existing system.

    China presents a different kind of case. Beijing has made use of existing international institutions and benefited enormously from global trade, but it’s also been building alternatives, including regional banks, trade blocs and digital infrastructure designed to reduce dependence on Western systems. China’s expanding presence in the South China Sea, its pressure on Taiwan and its desire to shape global norms on everything from human rights to internet governance point to a broader effort to revise the current order – though more gradually than Russia’s approach.

    Iran, meanwhile, operates mostly at the regional level. Through its support for proxy groups like Hezbollah, its influence in Iraq and Yemen, and its confrontational stance toward Israel and the Gulf monarchies, Iran has long sought to reshape the Middle East’s power dynamics. It’s not trying to rewrite the entire international system, but it’s certainly revisionist in the region.

    A loaded term

    Of course, calling a nation “revisionist” is not a neutral act. It reflects a judgment about whose vision of world order is legitimate and whose is not. A rising power might see itself as correcting historical imbalances, not disrupting stability. The term can be useful, but it can also obscure as much as it reveals.

    Still, the label captures something real – though maybe not as cleanly as it used to. Much of today’s geopolitical tension does hinge on a basic divide: Some nations want to preserve the existing order, and others want to reshape it. But it’s no longer obvious who belongs in which camp.

    Now, when the U.S. sidelines institutions it once championed, imposes extraterritorial sanctions or pushes for new tech and trade regimes that bypass rivals, it starts to blur the line between defender and challenger of the status quo.

    Maybe the more useful question now isn’t just which great power is revisionist – but whether any of them are still committed to the post-World War II international order created in the U.S.’s image.

    This article is part of a series explaining foreign policy terms commonly used, but rarely explained.

    Andrew Latham 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. What is a ‘revisionist’ state, and what are they trying to revise? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-revisionist-state-and-what-are-they-trying-to-revise-252966

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: China’s new underwater tool cuts deep, exposing vulnerability of vital network of subsea cables

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By John Calabrese, Assistant Professor, School of Public Affairs and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute, American University

    Laying an undersea fiber-optic cable at Arrietara beach near the Spanish village of Sopelana. Ander Gillenea/AFP via Getty Images

    Chinese researchers have unveiled a new deep-sea tool capable of cutting through the world’s most secure subsea cables − and it has many in the West feeling a little jittery.

    The development, first revealed in February 2025 in the Chinese-language journal Mechanical Engineering, was touted as a tool for civilian salvage and seabed mining. But the ability to sever communications lines 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) below the sea’s surface − far beyond the operational range of most existing infrastructure − means that the tool can be used for other purposes with far-reaching implications for global communications and security.

    That is because undersea cables sustain the world’s international internet traffic, financial transactions and diplomatic exchanges. Recent incidents of cable damage near Taiwan and in northern Europe have already raised concerns of these systems’ vulnerabilities − and suspicions about the role of state-linked actors.

    The growing sophistication and openness of underwater technology evidenced by the latest news from China suggest that undersea infrastructure may play a larger role in future strategic competition. Indeed, this development adds a new layer to the broader challenge of securing critical infrastructure amid expanding technological reach and the rise of so called “gray zone” tactics – antagonisms that take place between direct war and peace.

    The backbone of global communication

    Despite their unassuming appearance, undersea cables form the backbone of modern communication systems. Stretching around 870,000 miles (over 1.4 million kilometers) across every ocean, these cables transmit almost 100% of global internet communication.

    Underwater cables unite the world.
    TeleGeography/submarinecablemap.com, CC BY-SA

    These information superhighways are a major engine for the modern economy and are indispensable for things such as almost instantaneous financial transactions and real-time diplomatic and military communications.

    If all these cables were suddenly severed, only a sliver of U.S. communication traffic could be restored using every satellite in orbit.

    The entire system is built, owned, operated and maintained by the private sector. Indeed, approximately 98% of these cables are installed by a handful of firms. As of 2021, the U.S. company SubCom, French firm Alcatel Submarine Networks and Japanese firm Nippon Electric Company collectively held an 87% market share. China’s HMN Tech holds another 11%.

    Tech giants including Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft now own or lease roughly half of the undersea bandwidth worldwide, according to analysis by the U.S.-based telecommunications research group TeleGeography.

    Vulnerabilities and sabotage

    The very characteristics that make undersea cables effective also render them highly vulnerable. Built to be lightweight and efficient, they are exposed to a variety of natural hazards, including underwater volcanic eruptions, typhoons and floods.

    But human activity is still the primary cause of cable damage, whether it’s from accidental anchor drags or inadvertent entanglement with trawler nets.

    Now, security experts are increasingly concerned that future human disruptions might be intentional, with nations launching coordinated attacks on undersea cables as part of a hybrid war strategy.

    Such assaults could disrupt not only civilian communications but also critical military networks.

    An adversary, for example, could cut off a nation’s command structures from intelligence feeds, sensor data and communication with deployed forces. The ramifications extend even to nuclear deterrence: Without reliable communication, a nuclear-armed state might lose the ability to control or monitor its strategic weapons.

    The loss of communications, even for a few minutes, could be catastrophic. It could mean the difference between a successful defense and a crippling first strike.

    A technician explains the undersea damage to cables around Taiwan following a 2006 earthquake.
    Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images

    Geopolitical threats

    In recent years, Western policymakers have become particularly concerned about the capabilities of Russia and China to exploit the vulnerabilities of undersea cables.

    One particularly illustrative incident occurred in 2023 when Taiwanese authorities accused two Chinese vessels of cutting the only two subsea cables supplying internet to Taiwan’s Matsu Islands.

    The resulting digital isolation of 14,000 residents for six weeks was not an one-off episode. Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party has pointed to a pattern, noting that Chinese vessels have disrupted cable operations on 27 occasions since 2018.

    In January 2025, Taiwan’s coast guard blamed a Cameroon- and Tanzania-flagged vessel crewed by seven Chinese nationals and operated by a Hong Kong-based company when an undersea cable was severed off the island’s northeastern coast.

    Such incidents, often described as gray-zone aggression, are designed to wear down an adversary’s resilience and test the limits of response.

    China’s recent push to enhance its cable-cutting capabilities coincides with a surge in its military drills around Taiwan, including a number of recent exercises.

    Similar cable disruptions have occurred in the Baltic Sea. In October 2023, a telecom cable connecting Sweden and Estonia was damaged along with a gas pipeline. In January 2025, a cable linking Latvia and Sweden was breached, triggering NATO patrols and a Swedish seizure of a vessel suspected of sabotage tied to Russian activities.

    Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, even hinted at the possibility of targeting undersea communication cables as retaliation for actions such as the Nord Stream pipeline explosions in 2023.

    The involvement of state-linked vessels in incidents operating under flags of convenience − that is, registered to another country − further complicates efforts to attribute and deter such attacks.

    It isn’t just security and defense at risk. The modern financial system is predicated on the assumption of continuous, high-speed connectivity; any interruption, however brief, could disrupt markets, halt trading and lead to significant monetary losses.

    The undersea battlefield

    Given the strategic importance of undersea cables and the multifaceted risks they face, Western governments intent on preventing further conflict would be wise to find a comprehensive and internationally coordinated way to secure the infrastructure against threats.

    One clear option would be to bolster repair and maintenance capacities. Currently, a significant vulnerability stems from the overreliance on Chinese repair ships. China’s robust maritime industry and state-supported investments in global telecommunications has contributed to the Asian nation taking a prominent position when it comes to cable repair ships.

    The protection of undersea cables should not, I believe, be viewed as the responsibility of any single nation but as a collective priority for all nations reliant on this infrastructure. As such, international frameworks and agreements could facilitate information sharing, standardize security protocols and establish rapid response mechanisms in the event of a cable breach.

    But such international efforts would be fighting against the tide. The incidents in Taiwan, the Baltic Sea and elsewhere come as great power competition intensifies between the U.S. and China.

    China, in developing deep-water cable-cutting technology, may be sending a message of intent. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s “America First” approach signals a shift that could complicate efforts to foster partnerships for the general global good.

    The defense of undersea cables reflects the challenges of our hyperconnected world, requiring a balance of innovation, strategy and cooperation. But as nations including China and Russia seemingly test and probe this vital global infrastructure, it appears the systems underpinning the West’s prosperity and security could become one of its greatest vulnerabilities.

    John Calabrese 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. China’s new underwater tool cuts deep, exposing vulnerability of vital network of subsea cables – https://theconversation.com/chinas-new-underwater-tool-cuts-deep-exposing-vulnerability-of-vital-network-of-subsea-cables-251877

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Kids cheering ‘chicken jockey!’ at A Minecraft Movie isn’t antisocial – it creates a chance for us to connect

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Sophia Staite, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania

    Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

    Social media is ablaze with reports of kids going wild at screenings of A Minecraft Movie.

    Some cinemas are cracking down. There are reports of cinemas calling in police to deal with rowdy theatregoers and making special announcements before the film, warning of consequences for “anti-social behaviour” including “clapping and shouting”.

    But these kids are engaging in a kind of communal experience. Rather than being antisocial behaviour – couldn’t we label it as prosocial?

    The global fandom of Minecraft

    Minecraft was first released in 2011 and has sold over 350 million copies, making it the best-selling video game of all time.

    Minecraft is an unstructured game that provides mineable resources and leaves players to create whatever they want with them. Creations can be as basic as stacking blocks of wood to make a wall, or as complex as a working computer.

    It has become the nexus of a vast online community of people with an interest in the game.

    Players connect to one-another digitally and share certain social norms and knowledge, including a memeified vernacular. Minecraft-playing Youtubers have also become popular, and are the source of many memes.

    The community is dominated by children and young adults and the incomprehensibility of their vernacular for other generations is possibly part of its appeal.

    Within child and youth fan communities the usual hierarchies of communication are reversed. Instead of kids having to learn to speak according to adults’ rules, in this community the kids maintain a knowledge system that excludes a lot of adults.

    Enter A Minecraft Movie

    A Minecraft Movie opened last weekend to enormous box office success, bringing in US$313.2 million globally. The film follows four humans who stumble through a portal into the Overworld (Minecraft). Their only way home involves teaming up with fellow human Steve (Jack Black) to save the Overworld from the creativity-hating Piglins.

    Almost immediately, social media conversations sprang up about the behaviour of audiences. One bemused parent described the atmosphere of the cinema as “like [when] The Beatles came to America”.

    Many of the videos shared of audiences during screenings show joyful scenes of communal pleasure, similar to other responses to highly anticipated films such as Avengers: Endgame.

    But while the response to Avengers: Endgame was celebrated, the behaviour of children and teens at A Minecraft Movie has been framed by news outlets in negative terms.

    Journalist Keith Stuart suggests the different responses are a result of parents feeling excluded by A Minecraft Movie’s frequent references to memes.

    Negative news reports link audience behaviour to existing moral panics about social media challenges and are particularly focused on popcorn being thrown.

    The use of the same two or three videos of popcorn throwing to illustrate multiple news articles highlights how relatively few reports of popcorn throwing there currently are.

    Instead, most of the debate on social media has been about the etiquette of noisiness during screenings, including cheering and clapping.

    Finding community

    A Minecraft Movie speaks the memeified vernacular of its online community.

    The film incorporates references to longstanding memes, popular Minecraft YouTubers (and some cameos) and, of course, to the game itself.

    The film is speaking directly to Minecraft fans, and audiences are responding by displaying their mastery of this vernacular and strengthening their sense of belonging.

    By clapping and cheering when they recognise a meme, or saying lines of dialogue in sync with the actors, kids are identifying themselves as members of a community.

    When a whole cinema full of young people does this simultaneously, they are identifying themselves to and with one another.

    This is prosocial, strategic communication – not the antisocial pandemonium and chaos some reports would have us believe. Instead, fans are reporting the cheering and clapping happens at specific moments: they are enjoying both the film, and reacting to it.

    During the brief (but meaningful for knowledgeable audience members) tribute to beloved YouTuber Technoblade, who died of cancer in 2022, there have been reports of whole theatres falling silent as a mark of respect.

    An online community of kids and teens has suddenly become hyper visible to adults because it has intersected with the traditional media space of the cinema.

    Online games such as Minecraft are a crucial part of kids’ social lives and play.

    Perhaps adults can seize this moment as an opportunity to learn more about something that clearly matters deeply to a lot of kids.

    Sophia Staite 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. Kids cheering ‘chicken jockey!’ at A Minecraft Movie isn’t antisocial – it creates a chance for us to connect – https://theconversation.com/kids-cheering-chicken-jockey-at-a-minecraft-movie-isnt-antisocial-it-creates-a-chance-for-us-to-connect-254287

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: China to strengthen employment services for ex-service personnel

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, April 11 — Chinese authorities have launched a nationwide campaign focusing on employment services for ex-service personnel this year.

    Scheduled to run from April to November, the campaign was announced through a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and three other authorities.

    Veteran affairs departments across the country should establish up-to-date data comparison mechanisms in coordination with local human resources and social security as well as tax authorities, in order to maintain dynamic oversight of the employment situation of ex-service personnel, according to the circular.

    It called for a combination of online and offline channels to intensively carry out various recruitment activities, with the aim of providing suitable employment opportunities for retired military personnel.

    The circular highlighted the role of private businesses in the employment of ex-service personnel, while calling for targeted recruitment campaigns within state-owned enterprises.

    Efforts should also be made to align with the development of artificial intelligence in skills training, and guide ex-service personnel toward employment in areas such as algorithm design, data processing and engineering applications, according to the circular.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pikachu protesters, Studio Ghibli memes and the subversive power of cuteness

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Yii-Jan Lin, Associate Professor of New Testament, Yale University

    The Pokémon character Pikachu has become the unofficial symbol of the opposition to Turkish President Recep Erdogan. Pat Batard/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

    In Antalya, Turkey, in the early hours of March 27, 2025, Pikachu was spotted fleeing the police, making a getaway as fast as his short yellow legs could waddle.

    The person dressed as the popular Pokémon character had been objecting to the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, whose political party later posted on X, “Pepper spray, which even affects Pikachu, won’t do anything to you or me! #ResistPikachu.”

    At the same time, the internet was having a field day with another stalwart of Japanese anime, deploying generative AI to infuse famous memes, family portraits and movie scenes with a patina of cuteness by recasting them in the style of the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli.

    Never mind that Studio Ghibli director and founder Hayao Miyazaki famously denounced AI-generated art as “an insult to life itself.” Both the Pikachu protester and the viral Studio Ghibli-esque animations demonstrate the global appeal of cuteness.

    But to me, there’s more to cute than its ability to go viral.

    Cuteness can be used politically. It can highlight injustices against the vulnerable, and it can boost support of the underdog.

    It’s a form of soft power in the truest sense of the term.

    Asia embraces the cute

    As a Taiwanese American, I’ve been a lifelong fan of the cuteness that’s part of East Asian cultures: cute cartoon characters, cute stationery and even cute-looking food.

    Now I study cuteness: what makes something “cute,” and how it operates in culture and politics.

    Many well-known, cute, pop culture characters and products can be traced to Japan, particularly after World War II, when Japanese animation – known as anime – and a style of Japanese comics called manga became popular.

    Their narratives and aesthetics spoke to a country still reeling from devastation wrought by the atomic bombs and the humiliation of U.S. occupation.

    Anime and manga imagined both dystopian and utopian futures, using stories that were nostalgic, upsetting, or a blend of both to process collective trauma.

    In many cases, cute characters guided viewers and readers through grief, guilt and loss. For example, the manga “Barefoot Gen” details the adventures of 6-year-old Gen after he survives the bombing of Hiroshima. Likewise, Studio Ghibli’s “Grave of the Fireflies” tells the story of two young siblings, Seita and Setsuko, who face starvation after the bombing of Kobe in the waning days of World War II. They’re drawn with large eyes and expressive faces, evoking innocence and powerlessness.

    The trailer for Studio Ghibli’s ‘Grave of the Fireflies.’

    Both Studio Ghibli and the Pokémon franchise emerged in the latter half of the 20th century, along with other titans of cuteness, such as Hello Kitty – she just celebrated her 50th birthday – Doraemon, and popular Nintendo characters Kirby and Yoshi.

    Cuteness now dominates East Asian cultures.

    Cute mascots such as Tencent’s QQ Penguin hawk products in China; popular cartoon characters plaster the sides of Japanese trains; and Taipei’s subway cards come in the shape of pink bunnies and miniature rice cookers.

    In Japan, the term “kawaii” refers to the lovable and cute. This includes not only cartoon characters and plush dolls, but also clothing and even speech, such as talking with a pout or in a childlike voice.

    Across Asia, you can see cuteness celebrated in the way people flash heart symbols with their fingers – a gesture originating in South Korea – and you can hear it in the way celebrities sometimes speak with a baby voice, puff out their cheeks or bat their eyelashes.

    Characters often express themselves in cute ways on television shows in Korea, where it’s called ‘aegyo.’

    Softening the blows

    Cuteness has a place in American culture. But it has nowhere near the cultural cachet that it has in Asia.

    Yet to me, the Studio Ghibli memes that swept American social media platforms revealed a widespread longing for tenderness at a time when the world seems particularly harsh, violent and unpredictable.

    Theorist Sianne Ngai has argued that cuteness is usually based on the power differential between the observer and the cute object: A small kitten, a stuffed animal or a cooing baby are cute, in part, because they’re so vulnerable.

    I think that’s why the White House’s efforts to join in on the Ghibli memes fell flat. Its X account posted a Ghibli-esque image of a Dominican woman crying while being handcuffed by an ICE agent. The depiction generated outrage.

    The cartoon imagines that the audience would revel in punching down. It’s a perversion of how cuteness works, celebrating the powerful – the ICE agent and the U.S. government – and not the powerless. Contrast the White House’s image with the “Grave of the Fireflies,” which highlighted the vulnerability of children during war.

    Rallying around cuteness

    Yet the powerlessness of cute characters can also, paradoxically, be powerful: Most onlookers can’t help but cheer for a furry, yellow cartoon animal fleeing from riot police. A cute character can look helpless, but it can rally support for the underdog.

    Perhaps that’s why Pikachu again popped up at two other protests: at an anti-Netanyahu demonstration in Israel on April 5, 2025, and at an anti-Trump rally in Washington, D.C. that same day.

    Cuteness, perhaps not surprisingly, has been used as a political tool in Asia. The Milk Tea Alliance, which formed in 2020, is a pan-Asian, pro-democracy movement that unites communities in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar and beyond.

    The origins of the Milk Tea Alliance.

    Organizers pointedly emphasize the effectiveness of cuteness and humor as a tool to condemn violence and denounce authoritarianism. Online images shared by the movement include anime-style drawings of young student protestors and cartoons of anthropomorphized cups of Taiwan bubble tea, Thai cha and Hong Kong milk tea holding hands.

    Comedy can be subversive. Political cartoons and comedians, of course, have long tapped into this dynamic.

    But cuteness adds a touch of whimsical absurdity that further defangs the power hungry. Is it any wonder Chinese officials banned the release of a Winnie-the-Pooh movie after memes comparing Xi Jinping to the beloved stuffed bear went viral?

    Despite its cuddly, quaint and charming exterior, cuteness contains hidden superpowers: It celebrates the vulnerable, while sapping authoritarians of gravitas they seek to project.

    Yii-Jan Lin 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. Pikachu protesters, Studio Ghibli memes and the subversive power of cuteness – https://theconversation.com/pikachu-protesters-studio-ghibli-memes-and-the-subversive-power-of-cuteness-253909

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: ICE can now enter K-12 schools − here’s what educators should know about student rights and privacy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian Boggs, Assistant Professor of Policy and Educational Leadership, University of Michigan

    Educators are legally obligated to protect and educate all their students. PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty

    United States federal agents tried to enter two Los Angeles elementary schools on April 7, 2025, and were denied entry, according to the Los Angeles Times. The agents were apparently seeking contact with five students who had allegedly entered the country without authorization.

    The Trump administration has been targeting foreign-born college students and professors for deportation since February 2025. This was the first known attempt to target younger students since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in January rescinded a 2011 policy that had limited immigration enforcement actions in locations deemed sensitive by the government such as hospitals, churches and schools.

    “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the department said on Jan. 21, 2025.

    Roughly 600,000 migrant students without legal status are enrolled in the U.S public education system.

    Many K-12 educators are worried that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could start removing students from classrooms. In some places, including New York City, school attendance has decreased over fears that children could be swept up in a raid.

    I am a scholar who studies the intersection of U.S. law and the public education system. Under U.S. law, ICE can now legally enter K-12 school grounds. That makes it important for students and schools to understand their rights under the law.

    The federal government

    Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the ability to regulate immigration and “provide for the common defense and general Welfare of the United States.”

    This last clause was used following the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001 as the constitutional basis to establish the Department of Homeland Security and create ICE as one of its security agencies. ICE enforces over 400 federal statutes dealing with immigration, including the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which allows it to investigate and detain certain noncitizens.

    ICE arrested Columbia University student Mahmoud Kahlil in March 2025, spurring protests. Several other international students have been detained since.
    Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

    This law can place schools and their staff in a potentially conflicted legal position if ICE starts targeting schools, because educators have legal obligations to their students.

    Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires public schools to educate every student without regard for their citizenship or immigration status. Meanwhile, residents of all 50 U.S. states have the right to a free and public education under their state’s constitution.

    Under the laws governing immigration and ICE’s role in enforcement, educators cannot obstruct an ICE investigation or knowingly hide students.

    Laws and court precedents

    The U.S. Supreme Court has additionally ruled that students who are not legally living in the U.S. have the same right to an education as any other child.

    In the 1975 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe, the justices struck down a Texas law allowing the state to withhold school district funds for educating children without legal immigration status. The court said the law was unconstitutional because it violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which reads in part that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

    Plyler v. Doe asserted that “person” meant just that − a person, not necessarily a citizen.

    Around the same time, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was enacted to protect personal student information from release to a third party. That includes law enforcement and ICE, except under three circumstances: the parents consent to the release; a school directory includes student information; or a court orders the school to release the information.

    Finally, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act says that schools must enroll and educate students who are with unstable living situations, including migrants, without discrimination.

    In addition to these federal laws and cases, many states have additional laws that encourage the education of local K-12 students who lack citizenship or residency status. In Michigan, for example, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976 prohibits discrimination based on national origin and race in schools, including in admissions and expulsions.

    A women who fears she could be targeted by immigration officials holds a ‘know your rights’ card handed out by her grandchildren’s school on Jan. 22, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
    AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

    School districts and ICE

    What can K-12 educators do if they find themselves confronting contradictory legal obligations − that of educating all students and that of not impeding a criminal investigation?

    Interpreting conflicts in the law is the job of judges − not teachers, ICE agents or academics. The following guidance may help districts prepare for immigration enforcement in K-12 schools:

    1. Get ready. Every school district should develop a process and protocol for how to engage with law enforcement in general and ICE specifically.

    This plan would involve coordination between the school principals and district superintendent, as well as, most importantly, the district’s lawyers. Traditional school corporate counsel may not have much experience in criminal law; engaging additional counsel with experience in criminal procedures and Fourth Amendment protections can be helpful.

    Everyone should understand their role in the plan. Administrative assistants are likely to be the first people engaged when ICE shows up to the school. Do they know what to do?

    2. Collect data thoughtfully. There is no state or federal mandate for schools to document citizenship for K-12 school enrollment, though some states are considering requiring proof of citizenship or legal immigration status for enrollment, including Oklahoma, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee and New Jersey.

    3. Obey the law. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act forbids sharing certain information about students with outsiders, including law enforcement. As a rule, then, staff should always avoid discussing students beyond what they are required to do as a function of their employment. Many school board policies ensure that the information they release publicly about enrolled students is minimal.

    4. Understand how warrants work. Just because a school is public does not mean that anyone can just come into a classroom, and that includes the police or ICE. A warrant may not be required to detain or arrest a student on the spot, but law enforcement must produce one to access any nonpublic areas of the school in search of that student. They must also show a warrant to see student records or other information, unless parents have previously consented to this information being shared.

    Under exigent circumstances, such as if the public is at risk of imminent harm, a warrant may not be required for police to enter the school.

    5. Keep records. If ICE does knock on the schoolhouse door, administrators should be sure to prepare a report, in accordance with school board policies, for the school district’s records that describes everything that happened and retain all documentation.

    Brian Boggs 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. ICE can now enter K-12 schools − here’s what educators should know about student rights and privacy – https://theconversation.com/ice-can-now-enter-k-12-schools-heres-what-educators-should-know-about-student-rights-and-privacy-253519

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A Roman governor ordered Jesus’ crucifixion – so why did many Christians blame Jews for centuries?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Nathanael Andrade, Professor of History, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    ‘Ecce Homo’ (Behold the Man), by 19th-century painter Antonio Ciseri, depicts Pontius Pilate presenting Jesus to a crowd in Jerusalem. Tungsten/Galleria d’Arte Moderna via Wikimedia Commons

    It’s a straightforward part of the Easter story: The Roman governor Pontius Pilate had Jesus of Nazareth killed by his soldiers. He imposed a sentence that Roman judges often inflicted on social subversives – crucifixion.

    The New Testament Gospels say so. The Nicene Creed, one of Christianity’s key statements of faith, says Jesus “was crucified under Pontius Pilate.” The testimony of Paul, the first person whose preaching in the name of Jesus Christ is preserved in the New Testament, refers to the crucifixion.

    But over the past 2,000 years, it was common for some Christians to deem Pilate almost blameless for Jesus’ death and treat Jews as responsible – a belief that has shaped the global history of antisemitism.

    Throughout medieval times, Easter was often a dangerous time for Jewish communities, whom Christians targeted as “Christ-killers”. This perception was integral to the hate that motivated mass violence in Europe as late as the 19th and 20th centuries, including pogroms in Russia and even Nazi genocide.

    Why did Christian teachings practically let Pilate off the hook? Why did many Christians allege Jews were to blame?

    The Gospels’ story

    In the Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, Pilate believes Jesus innocent of any crime. In some of them, he even proclaims so in public.

    But the chief priests of the ancient Jewish temple at Jerusalem see Jesus as a charismatic and popular Jewish preacher who challenges their authority. They have Jesus arrested and tried before Pilate during the week of Passover.

    ‘Jesus Before Pilate, First Interview,’ by 19th-century painter James Tissot.
    Gandvik/Brooklyn Museum via Wikimedia Commons

    Pilate schemes for Jesus’ release, but a riotous crowd clamors for his death. Pilate caves and decides to crucify Jesus, whom Christians believe rose from the dead three days later.

    Any reader of the Gospels knows the sequence, though it varies somewhat in each of them. The earliest Gospels, composed at least a generation after Jesus’ death, blamed the chief priests and attending crowd for persuading Pilate to have Jesus crucified. The Gospel of John, written some decades after the other three, portrayed Jews in general as responsible, and so did much of early Christian literature.

    One account, written in the mid-second century or later, and not included in the New Testament, even claimed that Jesus’ crucifixion was not ordered by Pilate. Instead, it blamed Herod Antipas, the Jewish ruler of Galilee – the region where Jesus grew up. Other texts from after the first few centuries A.D. said that Pilate became a Christian.

    Roman history

    Scholars have long debated the historical facts of Jesus’ trial. In my 2025 book, “Killing the Messiah,” I do too.

    The Gospel testimonies capture the basics of criminal trials before Roman judges, which were held in public. Judges posed questions to prosecutors and defendants, and had ample power to decide whether a person was innocent or guilty and impose a punishment.

    Writers who lived in the Roman Empire portrayed judges as capricious, unaccountable or swayed by menacing crowds. The Gospels reflect this attitude by making Pilate appear bullied into condemning an innocent man.

    An illustration from the 14th century shows Pontius Pilate washing his hands to absolve himself as Christ is beaten before crucifixion.
    Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images

    But from a historian’s viewpoint, there is a crucial problem with the Gospels’ description. Roman judges could and sometimes did face removal from office, property confiscation, exile or even death for executing clearly innocent people. In other words, it seems unlikely that Pilate would have proclaimed Jesus guiltless, but then conceded to pressure and condemned him anyway.

    Other ancient writers describe Pilate as someone who was not above offending the Jews of Judaea. According to the first-century Jewish philosopher Philo and the historian Josephus, Pilate had his soldiers carry objects that honored Roman emperors into Jerusalem, which Jewish residents saw as sacrilegious. When crowds protested, he sometimes backed down. But his soldiers attacked an agitated crowd that opposed Pilate’s use of Temple money to build an aqueduct. They also massacred an insurrection of Samaritans – people who also claimed descent from Israelites.

    Pilate did not cave to hostile crowds indiscriminately, or do whatever the chief priests wanted. Since Roman prefects like him had to coordinate with Jewish priests to govern Jerusalem, he likely viewed people who incited social disturbance against them as subversive. Jesus would have fit in that category, but neither Philo nor Josephus provides examples of Pilate killing people after acquitting them.

    Growing divide

    Why, then, did Pilate have Jesus crucified? As many scholars have argued, the simple answer would be that he believed Jesus committed some sort of sedition – not that the crowd simply pressured Pilate into doing so.

    Yet, when the Gospels were composed a generation after the crucifixion, they portrayed Pilate as convinced of Jesus’ innocence. As more time passed, other works of ancient Christian literature shifted accountability from Pilate to Jews.

    A mosaic showing St. Paul, one of the earliest apostles who preached after Jesus’ death, in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.
    Reserveacc/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    The experiences of Jesus’ early followers help explain this shift. They, like Jesus himself, were Jewish, and they considered him a heaven-sent Messiah. But over the course of the first and second centuries, they increasingly separated themselves from other Jews, until they began to see themselves as members of a non-Jewish movement: Christianity.

    In Roman authorities’ eyes, the Christians were troublesome, and they sometimes faced prosecution and capital punishment. In addition, Rome had inflicted atrocities and punitive measures upon Jews after insurgencies – further motivating Jesus’ followers to distance themselves. Their literature became increasingly hostile toward Jews.

    Historians and biblical scholars continue to debate why Pilate condemned Jesus. Was it for suggesting that he was the Messiah, or, in Pilate’s wording, “King of the Jews”? Did Jesus incite a crowd disturbance at the Temple during Passover – or were officials worried he could, even inadvertently? Were Jesus and his followers engaged in armed insurrection?

    But regardless of the answer, as I argue in my book, responsibility for the crucifixion lies with Pilate – not the chief priests and the Jewish crowd at Jerusalem.

    Nathanael Andrade has received fellowship funding from the Andrew Mellon Foundation/the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

    – ref. A Roman governor ordered Jesus’ crucifixion – so why did many Christians blame Jews for centuries? – https://theconversation.com/a-roman-governor-ordered-jesus-crucifixion-so-why-did-many-christians-blame-jews-for-centuries-250231

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Citizenship voting requirement in SAVE Act has no basis in the Constitution – and ignores precedent that only states decide who gets to vote

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By John J. Martin, Research Assistant Professor of Law, University of Virginia

    People stand in line to vote in Santa Monica, Calif., on Nov. 5, 2024. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

    The Republican-led House of Representatives passed on April 10, 2025, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act – or SAVE Act. The bill would make voting harder for tens of millions of Americans.

    The SAVE Act would require anyone registering to vote in federal elections to first “provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship” in person, like a REAL ID or a passport.

    The House already passed an identical bill in July 2024, also along partisan lines, with the GOP largely supporting the legislation. At that time, the Senate killed the bill. With a now GOP-controlled Senate, and a Republican in the White House, the SAVE Act could become law before 2025 ends.

    Voting rights experts and advocacy organizations have detailed how the legislation could suppress voting. In part, they say it would particularly create barriers in low-income and minority communities. People in such communities often lack the forms of ID acceptable under the SAVE Act for a variety of reasons, including socioeconomic factors.

    As of now, at least 9% of voting-age American citizens – approximately 21 million people – do not have even have driver’s licenses, let alone proof of citizenship. In spite of this, many legislators support the bill as a means of eliminating noncitizen voting in elections.

    As a legal scholar who studies, among other things, foreign interference in elections, I find considerations about the potential effects of the SAVE Act important, especially given how rare it is that a noncitizen actually votes in federal elections.

    Yet, it is equally crucial to consider a more fundamental question: is the SAVE Act even constitutional?

    Voters cast their ballot in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 5, 2024.
    Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images

    How the SAVE Act could change voting requirements

    The SAVE Act would forbid state election officials from registering an individual to vote in federal elections unless this person “provides documentary proof of United States citizenship.”

    Acceptable forms of proof for registration would include REAL ID, a U.S. passport or a U.S. military identification card. A regular driver’s license alone would not be enough unless it shows the applicant was born in the U.S., or if it is accompanied with a birth certificate or naturalization certificate.

    So, should the SAVE Act become law, if a person turns 18 or moves between states and wishes to register to vote in federal elections in their new home, they would likely be turned away if they do not have any such documents readily available. At best, they could still fill out a registration form, but would need to mail in acceptable proof of citizenship.

    For married people with changed last names, among others, questions remain about whether birth certificates could even count as acceptable proof of citizenship for them.

    The Constitution says little about voting rights

    Despite the national conversation the SAVE Act has sparked, it is unclear whether Congress even has the power to enact it. This is the key constitutional question.

    The U.S. Constitution imposes no citizenship requirement when it comes to voting. The original text of the Constitution, in fact, said very little about the right to vote. It was not until legislators passed subsequent amendments, starting after the Civil War up through the 1970s, that the Constitution even explicitly prohibited voting laws that discriminate on account of race, sex or age.

    Aside from these amendments, the Constitution is largely silent about who gets to vote.

    Who, then, gets to decide whether someone is qualified to vote? No matter the election, the answer is always the same – the states.

    Indeed, by constitutional design, the states are tasked with setting voter-eligibility requirements – a product of our federalist system. For state and local elections, the 10th Amendment grants states the power to regulate their internal elections as they see fit.

    States also get to decide who may vote in federal elections, which include both presidential and congressional elections.

    When it comes to presidential elections, for instance, states have – as I have previously written – exclusive power under the Constitution’s Electors Clause to decide how to conduct presidential elections within their borders, including who gets to vote in them.

    The states wield similar authority for congressional elections. Namely, according to Article I of the Constitution and the Constitution’s 17th Amendment, if someone can vote in their state’s legislative elections, they are entitled to vote in its congressional elections, too.

    Conversely, the Constitution provides Congress zero authority to govern voter-eligibility requirements in federal elections. Indeed, in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling on the Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council case, the court asserted that nothing in the Constitution “lends itself to the view that voting qualifications in federal elections are to be set by Congress.”

    Is the SAVE Act constitutional?

    The SAVE Act presents a constitutional dilemma. By requiring individuals to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections, the SAVE Act is implicitly saying that someone must be a U.S. citizen to vote in federal elections.

    In other words, Congress would be instituting a qualification to vote, a power that the Constitution leaves exclusively to the states.

    Indeed, while all states currently limit voting rights to citizens, legal noncitizen voting is not without precedent. As multiple scholars have noted, at least 19 states extended voting rights to free male “inhabitants,” including noncitizens, starting from our country’s founding up to and throughout the 19th century.

    Today, over 20 municipalities across the country, as well as the District of Columbia, allow permanent noncitizen residents to vote in local elections.

    Any state these days could similarly extend the right to vote in state and federal elections to permanent noncitizen residents. This is within their constitutional prerogative. And if this were to happen, there could be a conflict between that state’s voter-eligibility laws and the SAVE Act.

    Normally, when state and federal laws conflict, the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause mandates that federal law prevails.

    Yet, in this instance, where Congress has no actual authority to implement voter qualifications, the SAVE Act would seem to have no constitutional leg on which to stand.

    Reconciling the SAVE Act with the Constitution

    So, why have 108 U.S. representatives sponsored a bill that likely exceeds Congress’s powers?

    Politics, of course, plays some role here. Namely, noncitizen voting is a major concern among Republican politicians and voters. Every SAVE Act cosponsor is Republican, as were all but four of the 220 U.S. representatives who voted to pass it.

    When it comes to the constitutionality of the SAVE Act, though, proponents simply assert that Congress is acting within its purview.

    Specifically, many proponents have cited the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives Congress the power to regulate the “Times, Places and Manner” of congressional elections, as support for that assertion. Sen. Mike Lee, for example, explicitly referenced the Elections Clause when defending the SAVE Act earlier in 2025.

    But the Elections Clause only grants Congress authority to regulate election procedures, not voter qualifications. The Supreme Court explicitly stated this in the Inter Tribal Council ruling.

    Congress can, for instance, require states to adopt a uniform federal voter registration form, and even include a citizenship question on said form. What it cannot do, however, is implement a non-negotiable mandate that effectively tells the states they can never allow any noncitizen to vote in a federal election.

    For now, the SAVE Act is simply legislation. Should the Senate pass it, President Donald Trump will almost assuredly sign it into law, given, among other factors, his March 2025 executive order that says prospective voters need to show proof of citizenship before they register to vote in federal elections. Once that happens, the courts will have to reckon with the SAVE Act’s legitimacy within the country’s constitutional design.

    John J. Martin 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. Citizenship voting requirement in SAVE Act has no basis in the Constitution – and ignores precedent that only states decide who gets to vote – https://theconversation.com/citizenship-voting-requirement-in-save-act-has-no-basis-in-the-constitution-and-ignores-precedent-that-only-states-decide-who-gets-to-vote-252792

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: AI-generated images can exploit how your mind works − here’s why they fool you and how to spot them

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Arryn Robbins, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Richmond

    A beautiful kitchen to scroll past – but check out the clock. Tiny Homes via Facebook

    I’m more of a scroller than a poster on social media. Like many people, I wind down at the end of the day with a scroll binge, taking in videos of Italian grandmothers making pasta or baby pygmy hippos frolicking.

    For a while, my feed was filled with immaculately designed tiny homes, fueling my desire for minimalist paradise. Then, I started seeing AI-generated images; many contained obvious errors such as staircases to nowhere or sinks within sinks. Yet, commenters rarely pointed them out, instead admiring the aesthetic.

    These images were clearly AI-generated and didn’t depict reality. Did people just not notice? Not care?

    As a cognitive psychologist, I’d guess “yes” and “yes.” My expertise is in how people process and use visual information. I primarily investigate how people look for objects and information visually, from the mundane searches of daily life, such as trying to find a dropped earring, to more critical searches, like those conducted by radiologists or search-and-rescue teams.

    With my understanding of how people process images and notice − or don’t notice − detail, it’s not surprising to me that people aren’t tuning in to the fact that many images are AI-generated.

    We’ve been here before

    The struggle to detect AI-generated images mirrors past detection challenges such as spotting photoshopped images or computer-generated images in movies.

    But there’s a key difference: Photo editing and CGI require intentional design by artists, while AI images are generated by algorithms trained on datasets, often without human oversight. The lack of oversight can lead to imperfections or inconsistencies that can feel unnatural, such as the unrealistic physics or lack of consistency between frames that characterize what’s sometimes called “AI slop.”

    Despite these differences, studies show people struggle to distinguish real images from synthetic ones, regardless of origin. Even when explicitly asked to identify images as real, synthetic or AI-generated, accuracy hovers near the level of chance, meaning people did only a little better than if they’d just guessed.

    In everyday interactions, where you aren’t actively scrutinizing images, your ability to detect synthetic content might even be weaker.

    Attention shapes what you see, what you miss

    Spotting errors in AI images requires noticing small details, but the human visual system isn’t wired for that when you’re casually scrolling. Instead, while online, people take in the gist of what they’re viewing and can overlook subtle inconsistencies.

    Visual attention operates like a zoom lens: You scan broadly to get an overview of your environment or phone screen, but fine details require focused effort. Human perceptual systems evolved to quickly assess environments for any threats to survival, with sensitivity to sudden changes − such as a quick-moving predator − sacrificing precision for speed of detection.

    This speed-accuracy trade-off allows for rapid, efficient processing, which helped early humans survive in natural settings. But it’s a mismatch with modern tasks such as scrolling through devices, where small mistakes or unusual details in AI-generated images can easily go unnoticed.

    People also miss things they aren’t actively paying attention to or looking for. Psychologists call this inattentional blindness: Focusing on one task causes you to overlook other details, even obvious ones. In the famous invisible gorilla study, participants asked to count basketball passes in a video failed to notice someone in a gorilla suit walking through the middle of the scene.

    If you’re counting how many passes the people in white make, do you even notice someone walk through in a gorilla suit?

    Similarly, when your focus is on the broader content of an AI image, such as a cozy tiny home, you’re less likely to notice subtle distortions. In a way, the sixth finger in an AI image is today’s invisible gorilla − hiding in plain sight because you’re not looking for it.

    Efficiency over accuracy in thinking

    Our cognitive limitations go beyond visual perception. Human thinking uses two types of processing: fast, intuitive thinking based on mental shortcuts, and slower, analytical thinking that requires effort. When scrolling, our fast system likely dominates, leading us to accept images at face value.

    Adding to this issue is the tendency to seek information that confirms your beliefs or reject information that goes against them. This means AI-generated images are more likely to slip by you when they align with your expectations or worldviews. If an AI-generated image of a basketball player making an impossible shot jibes with a fan’s excitement, they might accept it, even if something feels exaggerated.

    While not a big deal for tiny home aesthetics, these issues become concerning when AI-generated images may be used to influence public opinion. For example, research shows that people tend to assume images are relevant to accompanying text. Even when the images provide no actual evidence, they make people more likely to accept the text’s claims as true.

    Misleading real or generated images can make false claims seem more believable and even cause people to misremember real events. AI-generated images have the power to shape opinions and spread misinformation in ways that are difficult to counter.

    Beating the machine

    While AI gets better at detecting AI, humans need tools to do the same. Here’s how:

    1. Trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is. Your brain expertly recognizes objects and faces, even under varying conditions. Perhaps you’ve experienced what psychologists call the uncanny valley and felt unease with certain humanoid faces. This experience shows people can detect anomalies, even when they can’t fully explain what’s wrong.
    2. Scan for clues. AI struggles with certain elements: hands, text, reflections, lighting inconsistencies and unnatural textures. If an image seems suspicious, take a closer look.
    3. Think critically. Sometimes, AI generates photorealistic images with impossible scenarios. If you see a political figure casually surprising baristas or a celebrity eating concrete, ask yourself: Does this make sense? If not, it’s probably fake.
    4. Check the source. Is the poster a real person? Reverse image search can help trace a picture’s origin. If the metadata is missing, it might be generated by AI.

    AI-generated images are becoming harder to spot. During scrolling, the brain processes visuals quickly, not critically, making it easy to miss details that reveal a fake. As technology advances, slow down, look closer and think critically.

    Arryn Robbins 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. AI-generated images can exploit how your mind works − here’s why they fool you and how to spot them – https://theconversation.com/ai-generated-images-can-exploit-how-your-mind-works-heres-why-they-fool-you-and-how-to-spot-them-246867

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Tiny cut marks on animal bone fossils reveal that human ancestors were in Romania 1.95 million years ago

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Briana Pobiner, Research Scientist and Museum Educator, Smithsonian Institution

    Several fossils with possible cut marks from Grăunceanu, Romania. Briana Pobiner

    Looking again through the magnifying lens at the fossil’s surface, one of us, Sabrina Curran, took a deep breath. Illuminated by a strong light positioned nearly parallel to the surface of the bone, the V-shaped lines were clearly there on the fossil. There was no mistaking what they meant.

    She’d seen them before, on bones that were butchered with stone tools about 1.8 million years ago, from a site called Dmanisi in Georgia. These were cut marks made by a human ancestor wielding a stone tool. After staring at them for what felt like an eternity − but was probably only a few seconds − she turned to our colleagues and said, “Hey … I think I found something.”

    What she’d spotted in 2017 was our team’s first evidence that hominins butchered several animals at the site of Grăunceanu, in Romania, at least 1.95 million years ago. Before this discovery, those other cut marks from Dmanisi were the oldest well-dated evidence in Eurasia of the presence of hominins − our direct human ancestors.

    Other scientists have reported sites in Eurasia and northern Africa with either hominin fossils, stone tools or butchered animal bones from around this time. Our recently published research adds to this story with well-dated, verified evidence that hominins of some kind had spread to this part of the world by around 2 million years ago.

    Romanian site with fossilized animal bones

    A 1960s photo of fossil bones before they were excavated from the ground at Grăunceanu, Romania.
    Emil Racoviță Institute of Speleology

    A little background on Grăunceanu: This open-air site was originally excavated in the 1960s, and researchers found thousands of fossil animal bones there. It’s one of the best-known Early Pleistocene sites in East-Central Europe. Many of the fossil animal bones are quite complete and at the time of excavation lay together as they were positioned in life. The original deposition was called a “bone nest” because of how densely packed the bones were.

    If you were to stand on the hillside surrounding Grăunceanu almost 2 million years ago, it would likely have seemed familiar: a river channel surrounded by a forest that fades into more open grasslands to the foothills. Occasionally that river floods its banks, inundating the valley with rich soils, providing nutrients for the plants that the resident animals feed on. All pretty familiar, until you look more closely at those animals: ostriches, pangolins, giraffes, saber-toothed cats and hyenas − in Europe!

    It’s the fossil bones of these ancient animal inhabitants that were excavated at Grăunceanu. Unfortunately, most of the excavation records and provenance data for the site have been lost. Even without those, though, the Grăunceanu fossils are so remarkably preserved that they offer up a wealth of paleontological information.

    A few years after finding those first cut marks, our team, including biological anthropologist Claire Terhune, zooarchaeologist Samantha Gogol, and paleoanthropologist Chris Robinson, spent several weeks carefully studying all 4,524 Grăunceanu fossils, looking for more marks.

    We examined all surfaces of every fossil bone with a magnifying lens and low-angled light. Most of these fossils have root etching on them − sinuous, shallow, overlapping marks made by plant roots that grew nearby. But whenever we saw a linear mark that looked interesting, we took an impression of that mark with dental molding material.

    Briana Pobiner and Claire Terhune take molds of marks of interest on Grăunceanu fossils.
    Sabrina Curran

    Confirming they’re cut marks

    We can’t go back in a time machine to watch when these marks were made. Yes, ancient human butchers wielding stone tools would leave marks on bone. But mammalian predators or crocodiles could also leave marks with their sharp teeth. Sediments in rivers could scratch any bones rolling around in the water. Large animals walking across the landscape could move and scrape bones with their steps.

    So how can we be confident that they’re cut marks? That’s where our zooarchaeologist collaborators Michael Pante and Trevor Keevil came in.

    Close-up of a cut-marked bone from Grăunceanu, Romania.
    Sabrina Curran

    Within the past decade, Pante developed a novel method for identifying the source of marks left on bones. The first step is capturing precise 3D measurements of the mark impressions using an advanced microscope called a noncontact 3D optical profiler.

    Then they compare the 3D shape data from the ancient marks with a reference set of 898 marks on modern bones made by known processes, including stone tool butchery, carnivore feeding and sedimentary abrasion.

    This new method adds to the more qualitative, descriptive criteria many researchers, including our team, use to make mark identifications. For instance, we consider things such as mark location: Is the mark near a muscle attachment site, where you might expect to find a cut mark if a hominin were removing meat from a bone?

    Based on our analyses, we determined that 20 Grăunceanu fossils are marked by cuts, with eight displaying high-confidence cut marks. Most of those marks are on fossils of hoofed animals, including a few deer; one is a small carnivore leg bone. When we could identify the type of bone, the cut marks are always in anatomical locations consistent with cutting meat off bones.

    Dating the site

    While the fossil species present can give us a rough age estimate of the site, we used uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating to get more precise age information. This technique relies on the fact that naturally occurring uranium decays over long but well-known periods of time to eventually transform into lead. Geologists use the ratio of these two elements like a radiometric clock to determine how old something is.

    When one of us, Virgil Drăgușin, asked geochemist Jon Woodhead to use U-Pb dating to estimate the age of the Grăunceanu fossils based on several small tooth fragments, he was reluctant. Teeth do not usually work well for this dating technique. But he agreed to a test run, and to his surprise the teeth he tried worked very well.

    Together with his colleague John Hellstrom, they calculated a much more precise date for the site. We now know the Grăunceanu site is older than 1.95 million years.

    All of this data together − the very well-calibrated and tightly clustered dates of the specimens plus at least 20 cut-marked bones verified both by qualitative and quantitative methods − provides very reliable evidence that hominins were indeed in Eurasia by at least 1.95 million years ago, even though there are no hominin fossils from Grăunceanu.

    An artist’s reconstruction of the Early Pleistocene landscape around Grăunceanu.
    Emi Olin

    Sometimes when we look through our magnifying lenses, it almost feels like we can peer into the past. That’s impossible − but we can piece together lines of evidence to paint a clearer picture of what happened in the past at Grăunceanu.

    Now, imagining the view 1.95 million years ago, we see scenes of deer cautiously drinking from the river, majestic mammoths in the distance, a herd of horses grazing, a saber-toothed cat stalking a large monkey, a bear teaching her cubs to hunt … and a small group of hominins butchering a deer.

    Briana Pobiner has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Leakey Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

    Sabrina Curran has received funding from The Leakey Foundation, National Science Foundation, and Ohio University.

    Virgil Drãgușin received funding from CNCS-UEFISCDI (Department of Education, Romanian Government).

    – ref. Tiny cut marks on animal bone fossils reveal that human ancestors were in Romania 1.95 million years ago – https://theconversation.com/tiny-cut-marks-on-animal-bone-fossils-reveal-that-human-ancestors-were-in-romania-1-95-million-years-ago-249838

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Seychelles Reach Staff-Level Agreement on the Fourth Reviews Under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) Arrangements

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, April 11, 2025/APO Group/ —

    • IMF staff and the Seychellois authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the fourth reviews under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangements. Approval of the reviews by the IMF’s Executive Board would release financing of SDR 10 million, equivalent to $13.4 million.
    • The government has made strong progress in implementing policies under the EFF and RSF programs. All quantitative targets for the fourth reviews have been met. Good progress has been made on a range of macro-structural issues.
    • Seychelles’ economic outlook is generally stable, but downside risks have increased. Given vulnerability to changes in tourist spending, international commodity prices, and transport costs, continued fiscal prudence and close monitoring of economic and financial indicators is recommended.

    An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Mr. Todd Schneider, conducted discussions with the Seychellois authorities in Victoria from March 31 to April 11, 2025, and reached a staff-level agreement on the fourth reviews under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangements. This agreement is subject to approval by the IMF’s Executive Board. Approval would release financing of SDR 10 million, equivalent to $13.4 million.

    At the end of the mission, Mr. Schneider issued the following statement:

    “The authorities continue to make progress in implementing the EFF-supported program. All end-December 2024 quantitative performance criteria under the program were met. Structural reforms related to improving the transparency of tax policy, enhancing monetary policy operations, and strengthening the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime were completed.

    “Real GDP growth for 2024 is estimated at 2.9 percent. Total tourist arrivals increased by only 0.5 percent, and tourist earnings declined by 6.9 percent. Growth in other sectors of the economy was generally moderate, apart from agriculture, information and communication, and financial services. Real GDP growth is expected to reach 3.2 percent in 2025 but is subject to downside risks given recent global economic developments.

    “Fiscal performance in 2024 was tighter than budgeted. The government’s primary fiscal surplus rose from 1.7 percent of GDP in 2023 to 3.2 percent in 2024. Tax and other revenues were slightly lower than earlier forecasts, but government expenditures were substantially lower than expected. The underspend was spread across budget lines but was highest with respect to capital projects, reflecting diversion of government planning resources to emergency reconstruction in the first part of the year and delays in several projects due to design and procurement issues. For 2025, the government is expected to achieve a primary fiscal surplus of 1.2 percent of GDP as budget execution improves.

    “The 2024 external current account position was stronger than expected due largely to lower than expected imports as some foreign financed projects did not materialize. The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) was able to increase gross foreign exchange reserves to $774 million, equivalent to 3.8 months of imports of goods and services. Looking ahead, a modest deterioration of the external account is expected in 2025. Tourist arrivals and earnings are projected to cool in the second half of the year but will be partially offset by lower international oil prices. On balance, this should allow the CBS to maintain central bank foreign exchange reserves over $800 million in 2025, raising import cover to the equivalent of 3.9 months.

    “The CBS has maintained a broadly accommodative monetary policy, facilitating a steady increase in the growth of private credit. Inflation remains low and is projected to remain below 2 percent in 2025. The CBS will need to monitor developments closely in coming months and be ready to adjust policy rates if needed. CBS will also continue to strengthen Seychelles’ monetary policy framework and bolster financial sector supervision.

    “The authorities are committed to bolstering governance. The Public Enterprise Monitoring Commission—through an independent audit firm—will complete governance and performance assessments of six key public enterprises by end-year. The 2025 budget contained an estimate of foregone revenue from tax expenditures (such as exemptions, deductions, and reduced rates). The government also continues to improve the transparency of the beneficial ownership database and ensure the accuracy of collected information.

    “With respect to climate change mitigation and adaptation, the authorities are advancing reform measures agreed under the RSF. Measures related to the current review focused on assessing and reporting on climate related risks in the banking sector, adopting a disaster risk financing strategy, and steps to facilitate the scaling up of renewable energy.

    “The team thanks the Seychellois authorities for the open dialogue and close collaboration. Meetings were held with President Ramkalawan, Vice President Afif, Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles Abel, and other senior government officials as well as representatives of the private sector.”

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Political Peerages: April 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Political Peerages: April 2025

    The King has been graciously pleased to signify His intention of conferring Peerages of the United Kingdom for Life.

    The King has been graciously pleased to signify His intention of conferring Peerages of the United Kingdom for Life.

    Nominations from the Leader of the Conservative Party:

    Amanda Spielman – Former HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

    Citation provided by the Leader of the Conservative Party

    Amanda Spielman has worked in the public, voluntary and private sectors. Her main interests are in education, children’s services and regulation, where she has worked for 20 years. She served two terms as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at Ofsted, promoting substance and integrity in education for all children and young people, and also high-quality social care. She previously chaired the exam regulator Ofqual, overseeing the programme of qualification reform.

    She spent a decade with the ARK Schools academy trust, mainly as Research and Policy Director. She led a cross-government review of non-economic regulators. Her earlier career was in accounting, investment banking and private equity. She is now a trustee of the Victoria & Albert Museum and chair of the Academic Council at GEMS Education. She is also a Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE. She was born in London and brought up in Glasgow. She is married with two children.

    Updates to this page

    Published 11 April 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two men convicted following fatal stabbing

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    Two men have been convicted of the fatal stabbing of 38-year-old Jack Hague in Tower Hamlets last year.

    Umair Rafiq, 36 (21.12.88) of no fixed address was found guilty of murder at Inner London Crown on Thursday, 10 April.

    Mohammed Ikram Uddin, 24 (27.08.99), of no fixed address was also found guilty of manslaughter at the same court on Thursday, 10 April.

    In a trial which started on Monday, 17 March, the court heard that police were called at around 20:20hrs on Sunday, 5 May 2024 to reports of a fight on Corfield Street, E2. The jury were told that this followed an initial exchange of words between the three men which quickly escalated and led to Jack’s fatal stabbing.

    Despite the best efforts of emergency services, Jack died at the scene as a result of multiple stab wounds across his body.

    A manhunt began immediately, with officers painstakingly combing through hours of CCTV footage to understand what took place, identify the attackers and track their movements after they fled the scene. Uddin was arrested on Thursday, 9 May 2024 and charged the following day. Rafiq was arrested on Sunday, 12 May 2024 and charged the following day.

    A knife and Rafiq’s glasses were both discarded at the scene and were sent for forensic testing. DNA found on the items provided a match to Rafiq – further proof that he had been at the scene.

    Jack’s mother Lesley said:

    “Last year our lives changed forever. Ever since, I do not feel like I used to. I am not living, just existing, with no joy, life appears to be an act. I think I am truly only happy when my grandkids are around, they help me forget about things for a little while, and I enjoy them. Jack was my blue eyed boy and called me “mummsy”. His loss has caused an emptiness and void nothing can fill. I feel like I am at the edge of it looking in but noting can fill it.

    “I miss him so much. A mother should not have to bury her son. We are in mourning at the loss of my precious child but also because of the loss of so many hopes, dreams and expectations.

    “Today’s result will not bring back my son but I hope that it will keep those responsible from committing such a monstrous crime again.”

    Detective Sergeant Brian Jones who led the investigation said:

    “There is nothing that can be done to bring back Jack, but I hope today’s result brings some closure at this terrible time.

    “By carrying and using a knife, Rafiq’s callous act demonstrates once again the devastating and far-reaching effects of knife crime.

    “I therefore commend the officers who worked incredibly hard to build evidence against Rafiq and Uddin in order to prove that there could be no doubt as to their guilt. London will be a safer place with them taken off the streets”.

    Umair Rafiq and Mohammed Uddin will be sentenced on Friday, 6 June at Inner London Crown Court.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: CSW Industrials Increases Quarterly Dividend by 12.5% to $0.27 Per Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DALLAS, April 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Board of Directors of CSW Industrials, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSWI) today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents an increase of $0.03 per share, or approximately 12.5%, as compared to the paid dividend in the prior quarter. The dividend is payable on May 9, 2025, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 25, 2025.

    “We are pleased to announce the sixth increase in our quarterly dividend, reflecting our strong balance sheet, cash flows and profitability. Since October of 2017, CSWI has returned $222.4 million in cash to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, while delivering impressive growth, both organically and through accretive acquisitions,” said Joseph B. Armes, CSW Industrials Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer.

     
    Details
    Dividend Amount: $0.27
    Record Date: April 25, 2025
    Payable Date: May 9, 2025
       

    About CSW Industrials
    CSW Industrials is a diversified industrial growth company with industry-leading operations in three segments: Contractor Solutions, Specialized Reliability Solutions, and Engineered Building Solutions. CSWI provides niche, value-added products with two essential commonalities: performance and reliability. The primary end markets we serve with our well-known brands include: HVAC/R, plumbing, electrical, general industrial, architecturally-specified building products, energy, mining, and rail transportation. For more information, please visit www.cswindustrials.com. 

    Investor Relations
    Alexa Huerta
    Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer
    214-489-7113
    Alexa.Huerta@cswi.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Keir Starmer’s psychological profile is different from other prime ministers – and what it means for his dealings with Donald Trump

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Consuelo Thiers, Lecturer in International Relations, University of Edinburgh

    Flickr/10 Downing Street, CC BY-NC-ND

    The question “Who is Keir Starmer?” echoed across headlines before and after he took office in 2024. Despite leading the Labour party for years, his personality, leadership style and core motivations remained something of a mystery. Now in office, that question matters more than ever. In moments of crisis, a national leader’s psychology plays a decisive role.

    The UK faces a difficult foreign policy landscape. Post-Brexit Britain is still rebuilding alliances amid economic strain and Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency has put a more transactional, Russia-friendly approach in the White House. The UK’s balancing act has become even more precarious. Starmer must back Ukraine, strengthen ties with the EU and manage an unpredictable relationship with Trump. For any leader, it’s a high-stakes task.

    Traditional international relations theories often treat states as rational actors, with little attention paid to who is making the decisions. In this view, leaders are interchangeable; internal traits are “black-boxed” and considered irrelevant.

    But political psychology challenges this. Leaders are not all the same. How they perceive and respond to constraints – be they economic, institutional, or geopolitical – varies dramatically.

    Faced with similar conditions, different leaders make different choices. Their decisions are shaped by traits, motivations, emotions and deeply held beliefs.

    Starmer: psychologically different to other PMs

    Political psychology provides tools for assessing leaders by analysing their public statements. Since traditional psychological assessments are rarely feasible, researchers rely on at-a-distance methods, based on the premise that the way leaders speak and the language they use can reveal underlying traits, motivations and beliefs.

    One of the most widely used approaches is leadership trait analysis (LTA), developed by psychologist Margaret Hermann. It employs computational content analysis to systematically code language and produce comparable personality profiles.

    To reduce the influence of speechwriters, the analysis focuses on spontaneous material such as interviews and press conferences. The framework identifies seven core traits that are particularly relevant to foreign policy decision-making.

    Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.

    Sign up for our weekly politics newsletter, delivered every Friday.

    Applying this framework to Starmer’s public appearances since taking office reveals notable differences between his profile and that of the average UK prime minister.

    Of the seven core traits measured by the framework, Starmer scores within the typical range on task orientation, in-group bias, self-confidence, and conceptual complexity. But he stands out in three areas: distrust, belief in his ability to control events, and need for power. In these, he scores significantly above average.

    These traits suggest a leader who is confident in his influence, driven to shape outcomes, and inclined to assert control when faced with obstacles. Leaders high in belief in their ability to control events tend to be proactive and view challenges as manageable. When paired with a high need for power, this reflects a strong drive to steer the political environment, often through strategic manoeuvring and behind-the-scenes influence.

    These leaders test boundaries and thrive in direct, high-stakes negotiations. This combination has been seen in figures like Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

    Compared with his most recent predecessors – Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson – Starmer shares certain traits but also diverges in meaningful ways. Like Johnson and Sunak, he shows a strong belief in his ability to control political events and a high need for power.

    However, what sets him apart most clearly is his elevated level of distrust, which surpasses even Sunak’s. Research links this trait to risk-prone, uncooperative leadership styles.

    Distrustful leaders often view others as potential threats, are less inclined to compromise, and fall back on control rather than collaboration. It’s a hallmark of hawkish leadership and has been associated with costly policy errors, such as George W. Bush’s misjudgement of Iraq’s weapons capabilities.

    At the same time, Starmer differs from Johnson and Sunak in his greater cognitive complexity. He sees nuance, tolerates ambiguity and avoids black-and-white thinking.

    He appears more open to new information and more flexible in adapting his approach. While Johnson and Sunak were more people-focused and scored low on task orientation, Starmer brings a balanced leadership style, combining interpersonal awareness with a clear focus on results. He can build relationships while staying goal-driven – an essential combination in today’s global landscape.

    Starmer and Trump

    What does this suggest about Starmer’s potential relationship with Trump? While research on leader-to-leader dynamics is still developing, Trump’s leadership profile is well-established.

    He scores high in self-confidence, low in task orientation, places a strong emphasis on loyalty, and shows high levels of distrust. His self-confidence means he rarely seeks disconfirming information, often filtering reality to fit his beliefs.

    His low task focus reflects a preference for group loyalty over detailed policy. Combined with a deep suspicion of others, this results in a transactional, uncompromising leadership style centred on personal allegiance.

    This presents challenges for Starmer, whose high distrust and tendency to defy constraints could complicate efforts to build mutual understanding. Yet his adaptability, pragmatism, and balanced focus on people and tasks, combined with confidence in his ability to shape outcomes, may help him navigate this volatile relationship.

    His assertive style, however, could still surprise or alienate some supporters as he makes bold moves beyond expectations.

    Starmer’s leadership may lack the charisma or flair of his predecessors, but his personality profile reveals a distinct and consequential approach to power. Confident, strategic, and distrustful, he is not a passive figurehead but a leader likely to assert control, challenge limits, and drive his vision.

    When the stakes are this high, Starmer’s psychology may not just influence Britain’s path – it could determine it.

    Consuelo Thiers 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 Keir Starmer’s psychological profile is different from other prime ministers – and what it means for his dealings with Donald Trump – https://theconversation.com/why-keir-starmers-psychological-profile-is-different-from-other-prime-ministers-and-what-it-means-for-his-dealings-with-donald-trump-254242

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Two key ingredients cause extreme storms with destructive flooding – why these downpours are happening more often

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Shuang-Ye Wu, Professor of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, University of Dayton

    A powerful storm system that stalled over states from Texas to Ohio for several days in early April 2025 wreaked havoc across the region, with deadly tornadoes, mudslides and flooding as rivers rose. More than a foot of rain fell in several areas.

    As a climate scientist who studies the water cycle, I often get questions about how extreme storms like these form and what climate change has to do with it. There’s a recipe for extreme storms, with two key ingredients.

    Recipe for a storm

    The essential conditions for storms to form with heavy downpours are moisture and atmospheric instability.

    First, in order for a storm to develop, the air needs to contain enough moisture. That moisture comes from water evaporating off oceans, lakes and land, and from trees and other plants.

    The amount of moisture the air can hold depends on its temperature. The higher the temperature, the more moisture air can hold, and the greater potential for heavy downpours. This is because at higher temperatures water molecules have more kinetic energy and therefore are more likely to exist in the vapor phase. The maximum amount of moisture possible in the air increases at about 7% per degree Celsius.

    Floodwaters rise in downtown Hopkinsville, Ky., on April 4, 2025.
    AP Photo/George Walker IV

    Warm air also supplies storm systems with more energy. When that vapor starts to condense into water or ice as it cools, it releases large amount of energy, known as latent heat. This additional energy fuels the storm system, leading to stronger winds and greater atmospheric instability.

    That leads us to the second necessary condition for a storm: atmospheric instability.

    Atmospheric instability has two components: rising air and wind shear, which is created as wind speed changes with height. The rising air, or updraft, is essential because air cools as it moves up, and as a result, water vapor condenses to form precipitation.

    As the air cools at high altitudes, it starts to sink, forming a downdraft of cool and dry air on the edge of a storm system.

    When there is little wind shear, the downdraft can suppress the updraft, and the storm system quickly dissipates as it exhausts the local moisture in the air. However, strong wind shear can tilt the storm system, so that the downdraft occurs at a different location, and the updraft of warm moist air can continue, supplying the storm with moisture and energy. This often leads to strong storm systems that can spawn tornadoes.

    Extreme downpours hit the US

    It is precisely a combination of these conditions that caused the prolonged, extensive precipitation that the Midwest and Southern states saw in early April.

    The Midwest is prone to extreme storms, particularly during spring. Spring is a transition time when the cold and dry air mass from the Arctic, which dominates the region in winter, is gradually being pushed away by warm and moist air from the Gulf that dominates the region in summer.

    This clash of air masses creates atmosphere instability at the boundary, where the warm and less dense air is pushed upward above the cold and denser air, creating precipitation.

    The Storm Prediction Center’s one-day convective outlooks from March 30 through April 5, 2025, and the tornado, wind and hail reports over that period reflect the damage when severe storms flooded communities in the Midwest and South.
    National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center

    A cold front forms when a cold air mass pushes away a warm air mass. A warm front forms when the warm air mass pushes to replace the cold air mass. A cold front usually moves faster than a warm front, but the speed is related to the temperature difference between the two air masses.

    The warm conditions before the April storm system reduced the temperature difference between these cold and warm air masses, greatly reducing the speed of the frontal movement and allowing it to stall over states from Texas to Ohio.

    The result was prolonged precipitation and repeated storms. The warm temperatures also led to high moisture content in the air masses, leading to more precipitation. In addition, strong wind shear led to a continuous supply of moisture into the storm systems, causing strong thunderstorms and dozens of tornadoes to form.

    What global warming has to do with storms

    As global temperatures rise, the warming air creates conditions that are more conducive to extreme precipitation.

    The warmer air can mean more moisture, leading to wetter and stronger storms. And since most significant warming occurs near the surface, while the upper atmosphere is cooling, this can increase wind shear and the atmospheric instability that sets the stage for strong storms.

    Polar regions are also warming two to three times as fast as the global average, reducing the temperature gradient between the poles and equator. That can weaken the global winds. Most of the weather systems in the continental U.S. are modulated by the polar jet stream, so a weaker jet stream can slow the movement of storms, creating conditions for prolonged precipitation events.

    All of these create conditions that make extreme storms and flooding much more likely in the future.

    Shuang-Ye Wu 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. Two key ingredients cause extreme storms with destructive flooding – why these downpours are happening more often – https://theconversation.com/two-key-ingredients-cause-extreme-storms-with-destructive-flooding-why-these-downpours-are-happening-more-often-254123

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: White House plans for Alaskan oil and gas face some hurdles – including from Trump and the petroleum industry

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Scott L. Montgomery, Lecturer in International Studies, University of Washington

    A pumping station and oil pipeline north of Fairbanks, Alaska, are part of the existing fossil fuel industry in the state. AP Photo/Al Grillo

    The second Trump administration has launched the next stage in the half-century-long battle between commerce and conservation over Alaskan oil and gas development. But its moves are delivering a mixed message to the petroleum industry.

    The administration has opened – or reopened – large swaths of government land in Alaska to oil and gas drilling, though only some of those opportunities have drawn much commercial interest in recent years. And an 800-mile pipeline across Alaska that the administration says it supports is not yet funded, and other administration policies risk turning off prospective partners.

    President Donald Trump says he wants to grow oil and gas production and advance the goal of what he calls U.S. “energy dominance.” The White House says that term means both reducing the amount of energy imported from other countries and increasing the amount of energy exported from the U.S., especially to allies.

    The U.S. is already the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas as well as the largest producer of crude oil. And the nation’s oil industry boomed under the Biden administration. However, the U.S. does import an average of over 6 million barrels per day of crude oil, most of it from Canada.

    Trump’s efforts seek to boost U.S. production to still greater heights by expanding access to areas for drilling and building related infrastructure. But as a former petroleum geoscientist and industry observer, I would suggest his various actions, taken as a whole, may have more limited effects than he seems to hope.

    Returned to leasing

    In one of his first executive orders after retaking office on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump declared that the U.S. would develop Alaska’s petroleum resources “to the fullest extent possible.”

    The Biden administration had banned oil leasing in three areas of Alaska. One was all but 400,000 acres in the coastal plain portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Another was a 13-million-acre swath of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a massive parcel of federal land west of the refuge. The third area was 44 million acres of the offshore coastal portion of the northern Bering Sea, based on concerns for tribal rights and the migration routes of marine mammals.

    Trump moved quickly to reverse all these bans, describing them as an “assault on Alaska’s sovereignty and its ability to responsibly develop (its) resources for the benefit of the Nation.” And Trump went farther, expanding the available land by an additional 6 million acres in the petroleum reserve and another 1.1 million acres of the wildlife refuge.

    All those areas are home to many different types of wildlife, as well as Indigenous groups.

    Caribou migrate onto the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska.
    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP

    The view of industry

    For the petroleum industry, I expect these actions are both welcome and irrelevant. Reopening the northeastern portion of the petroleum reserve creates a real opportunity: Exploration has found a significant amount of oil and gas in that area, and indications are that there may be more yet to discover.

    But prospects on the land in the wildlife refuge and the shallow waters of the Bering Sea are not likely of much interest to drilling companies unless oil prices rise significantly from their levels in early 2025. There is no established production in either area at present. And, though the refuge has oil and gas potential, there are no roads or pipelines, and Arctic drilling is especially expensive.

    In fact, the last two attempts by the government to lease oil development rights in the wildlife refuge drew very little interest. In 2020, the first Trump administration teamed with Republicans in Congress to overcome long-standing legal and political opposition to leasing in the refuge. But the 2021 lease sale was a bust, with none of the top oil producers in the state participating.

    A second round of bidding, in January 2025, received no interest at all from oil companies.

    The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs 800 miles from the North Slope to the port of Valdez, Alaska.
    Mario Tama/Getty Images

    Pipe dreams that could come true

    A strong gain for the petroleum industry would be a major new pipeline to carry natural gas more than 800 miles south from the Prudhoe Bay area on the Arctic coast to a port near Anchorage on south-central Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

    The idea has its own decades-long history, and has been both pushed forward and set back over the years by changing economics, government plans, and tribal interest and opposition.

    The main challenge is that there is no way to transport natural gas off the North Slope. Since drilling began in the late 1970s, some has been used locally for heating and running equipment, with the vast majority being reinjected into oil reservoir rock to help maintain oil production.

    Rising demand and elevated prices in Asia, however, suggest the project could be profitable, despite the current cost estimate of US$44 billion. Project plans indicate most of it would go to build a liquefied natural gas export terminal near Anchorage, with the rest spent to construct an 807-mile pipeline paralleling the existing Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and a plant at Prudhoe Bay that would capture carbon from the atmosphere, compress it and inject it into oil-producing reservoirs to boost production.

    The pipeline is designed to carry 3.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day, which would make it one of the largest pipelines in North America. The export terminal, to be built near the town of Nikiski on Cook Inlet, would have a capacity of roughly 1 trillion cubic feet per year, enough to heat about 15 million homes for a year.

    The pipeline could take as little as two to three years to build, but the terminal and carbon-capture plant would take longer – five years or so. The exports from Alaska could go to other ports in the U.S., but they could also fetch higher prices in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and possibly China.

    An artist’s rendering of what a natural gas export terminal would look like on Cook Inlet, near Nikiski, Alaska.
    Alaska Gasline Development Corporation

    A wrench in the works

    Most of the permits needed for the pipeline-and-export-terminal project have been secured by the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, a company created by the state of Alaska to build the project.

    However, no company or foreign government has yet agreed to foot the bill, and despite the support of the Trump White House, there’s no indication the federal government will do so either.

    The Trump administration has also created a new barrier to the project. Its sweeping tariffs and the resulting trade war crashed prices in the global oil and gas market in early April 2025.

    In addition, uncertainty about the permanence of tariffs or other restrictions on international trade are now widespread and directly affect the oil industry. Lower gas and oil prices and less stability make any project less attractive.

    It’s true that Trump exempted oil and gas from his most recent tariffs. But that matters less than the broader effect the trade war is already having, with analysts projecting it is driving the global economy toward recession. Less economic activity means less demand for oil and gas, and therefore less incentive for companies to drill new wells and build new pipelines.

    To top everything off, the White House slapped heavy tariffs on Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the very countries that might be inclined to help fund the pipeline project. Even before the trade war, they were hesitant about supporting it. The potential suspension, or reinstatement, or adjustment of tariffs is not likely to help them view the situation as more stable.

    Those who favor oil and gas development in Alaska may be wondering whether the president is truly on their side. It remains to be seen whether their hopes might end up a casualty of White House economic policy.

    Scott L. Montgomery 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. White House plans for Alaskan oil and gas face some hurdles – including from Trump and the petroleum industry – https://theconversation.com/white-house-plans-for-alaskan-oil-and-gas-face-some-hurdles-including-from-trump-and-the-petroleum-industry-254040

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Companies will still face pressure to manage for climate change, even as government rolls back US climate policy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ethan I. Thorpe, Fellow at Private Climate Governance Lab, Vanderbilt University

    Amazon partnered with Dominion Energy to build solar farms in Virginia to power its cloud-computing service. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

    As the federal government moves to eliminate U.S. climate rules, companies still face pressure to be better stewards of the planet from their customers, investors, employees, local communities, lenders, insurers, global trading partners and many states.

    Each of those groups knows it will face increasing costs from rising temperatures and extreme weather if corporations don’t rein in their greenhouse gas emissions.

    Many companies will find that returning to past polluting ways isn’t in their best interest. Over 60% of chief financial officers surveyed by global management firm Kearney in December 2024 signaled that they intended to invest at least 2% of their revenue in sustainability in 2025.

    These companies may maintain a low profile about climate change while the Trump administration is in power, but they have strong financial incentives to continue to reduce their emissions and their own climate risks.

    We study private environmental governance – the ways companies and organizations work outside government to improve the nation’s sustainability and reduce environmental damage. Our work finds that, in this polarized era, addressing climate and sustainability challenges is not just a matter of government action. That’s because a lot of climate and sustainability progress is underway in the private sector.

    Sustainability matters to companies’ bottom lines

    Businesses have used climate and sustainability initiatives for years to make their operations and supply chains more efficient and to reduce their long-term costs.

    When McDonald’s faced public pressure to reduce waste in the late 1980s, the company teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund to analyze the problem. It was able to reduce its waste by 30% over the following decade, saving the company US$6 million a year. This early risk-taking by McDonald’s opened the door for other environmental groups to help businesses understand how to reduce their environmental impact, including emissions, while boosting the companies’ profitability.

    The shipping company Maersk expects to cut emissions and boost productivity at the same time with better logistics and low-emissions ships like this one, which runs on methanol.
    Axel Heimken/picture alliance via Getty Images

    Maersk, the logistics giant responsible for nearly a quarter of global shipping, has responded to pressure from its corporate customers with a plan to reduce carbon emissions by one-third from 2022 to 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2045. It expects the combination of low-emissions vessels and a more efficient delivery network with hubs and shuttles to help meet its climate goals while increasing productivity.

    Companies have also helped drive the expansion of renewable energy, motivated by the competitive economics of renewables and business opportunities. Facebook’s parent company Meta and Google invested nearly $2 billion in projects to provide renewable energy in the Tennessee Valley Authority service area, even though no government required them to do so. And major companies continued
    signing renewable energy power purchase agreements in 2025.

    Microsoft and Amazon are responding to massive new power demand by trying to locate data centers near existing nuclear power plants for cleaner energy supplies.

    Thousands of companies report emissions via private systems

    Another sign of companies’ continuing commitment to sustainability is how many of them measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions even when governments do not require them to do so.

    Nearly 25,000 companies representing two-thirds of total global market capitalization and 85% of the S&P 500 report their emissions to the nonprofit CDP. Disclosing emissions is like keeping a fitness journal with a personal trainer. It helps a company track its progress and plan for future financial and environmental risks. More than 12,500 small- and medium-size companies also disclosed emissions to CDP in 2024.

    Many of these companies were initially motivated by pressure from environmental groups or corporate customers. Today, they have more reason to continue paying attention to emissions.

    California has its own formal reporting requirements designed to encourage companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. And other states are considering setting climate disclosure rules. The Trump administration has promised to challenge them, and announced that it also plans to cut federal greenhouse gas reporting standards, but companies will likely still face reporting rules in the future.

    The European Union also approved reporting requirements. It delayed their start date in April 2025 to give companies more time to comply.

    Cleaner supply chains can also be more efficient

    Managing supply chains with climate and environmental risks in mind can also help businesses increase their efficiency and reduce the risk that climate change will disrupt their operations.

    The supply chain is the largest source of the average company’s emissions and may be particularly vulnerable to climate shocks. A storm can easily disrupt vital production or shipping, and droughts or heat waves can damage crops, stop work and increase costs. Companies estimate climate-related supply chain risks at $162 billion, nearly three times the cost of mitigating those risks. Many companies therefore have incentives to reduce emissions and their exposure to related hazards.

    Nearly 80% of the largest companies across seven global economic sectors had set environmental requirements for suppliers within their value chains as of 2023. These requirements include reporting carbon emissions, reducing emissions and using sustainable forestry practices.

    Walmart eliminated 1 billion tons of carbon emissions from its supply chain in less than seven years by sharing its expertise with suppliers and working with them to reduce their emissions. Walmart’s global director of sustainable retail noted in 2024 that the effort made its suppliers more efficient, too.

    Keeping employees and customers happy

    Companies also face pressure from average people − both employees and customers.

    More than two-thirds of Americans support action to address climate change. Even companies that are not consumer-facing need retail customer and employee support. Pro-climate actions have been found to improve employee and customer loyalty.

    The outdoor clothing company Patagonia ranked third out of over 300 brands in a 2024 customer experience survey, in part because of its reputation for sustainable practices. Many of the over 10,000 respondents cited the company’s sustainable practices as the leading reason for their support.

    Many companies also face pressure from lenders and insurers who want to reduce climate risks to their own bottom lines. Dozens of insurers have committed to ending or restricting underwriting for new fossil fuel projects. Others use incentives, such as lower premiums for companies that reduce emissions or invest in climate adaptation.

    Climate change may accelerate the current 5% to 7% annual increase in insured losses, according to estimates from insurer Swiss Re. That has led some insurance leaders to recommend insurance companies take bigger steps to reduce emissions through their investments and policy underwriting.

    Private climate governance can help buy time

    Media attention and interest group advocacy is often focused on government actions, but decisions made in boardrooms and through initiatives with nonprofits have created an important kind of private climate governance.

    As companies respond to their own economic risks and incentives, they help buy time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change until the political system recognizes the financial risks posed to the entire country.

    Zdravka Tzankova receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

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

    – ref. Companies will still face pressure to manage for climate change, even as government rolls back US climate policy – https://theconversation.com/companies-will-still-face-pressure-to-manage-for-climate-change-even-as-government-rolls-back-us-climate-policy-251580

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: RailAdventure UK to drive Coventry’s revolutionary Very Light Rail test

    Source: City of Coventry

    RailAdventure UK, a specialist transport company in the West Midlands, will operate the Coventry Very Light Rail (CVLR) vehicle for the on-road test in the city centre in May and June this year.

    CVLR is a new and innovative transportation system that is using the region’s advanced automotive expertise to provide a flexible and affordable alternative to traditional light rail. It features a modern vehicle and a unique, revolutionary track design, aiming to offer a reliable, frequent, and eco-friendly ‘hop-on, hop-off’ service for Coventry residents.

    RailAdventure UK has earned its reputation by providing support services for rail operations, moving trains, testing them, and running passenger services. The company has now secured the contract that will see a father-and-son team driving the vehicle and its passengers on the 220-metre demonstration track.

    Councillor Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration, and Climate Change at Coventry City Council, said: “This is a significant step in our ongoing testing of Very Light Rail, and it’s fantastic that we’re working with RailAdventureUK to demonstrate this innovative model and prove the benefits it will bring to Coventry.

    “Very Light Rail is just the beginning of our plans to revolutionise transport in our city, tackle climate change, improve air quality, and provide a reliable and accessible travel option.

    “We will be running Very Light Rail for four weeks, and residents will have the opportunity to experience this one-of-a-kind vehicle and track system and provide feedback on the experience.  

    “I look forward to travelling in our vehicle on our track and encourage all residents to sign up when available. Details of how to apply will be made available on the council website soon.”

    Kevin Walker, Managing Director of RailAdventure UK, said: “This project is a perfect fit for RailAdventure – it’s local, innovative, and uses our operational expertise and passion for bringing new ideas to life! Our local teams will be working on this test.

    “With our experience as a rail operator, including battery-powered traction, we are excited to showcase why we believe there is a strong future for this type of operation. We look forward to playing a role in shaping it.”

    Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands and West Midlands Combined Authority chair, said: “Very light rail is a revolutionary technology being developed and delivered here in our region – so it’s right that the operator for this first test track should be a West Midlands company.

    “The speed at which we can move from starting work to running a tram through Coventry city center shows the world how fast and efficiently a tram system can be installed. CVLR will play a huge role in delivering on my vision to connect more communities with affordable and accessible public transport.”

    Graham Dibbins, Train Driver at RailAdventure, said: “It’s an extraordinary feeling to be involved in such an innovative project and at the same time to be working with my son for the first time in a professional capacity as train drivers.”

    Joe Dibbins, Train Driver at RailAdventure, said: “It seems unbelievable that I am working with the one person I respect more than anyone else – my dad. The fact that this Very Light Rail project is technologically advanced is simply the icing on the cake.”

    The West Midlands Combined Authority funds CVLR through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.

    During the four-week test, members of the public and other stakeholders will have the opportunity to experience CVLR between Greyfriars Road and Queen Victoria Road and provide feedback. Coventry City Council is leading this groundbreaking project to create the city’s first route. In the long term, the Council plans to establish a network of routes around Coventry.

    More information about Coventry Very Light Rail

    More information about RailAdventureUK

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SPbPU Educational Tour to Morocco

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University is actively promoting Russian engineering education in Morocco. An important step was opening of the SPbPU Information Center and the Russian-African Network University (RANU) consortium in December 2024 in partnership with the Russian-Moroccan Alliance (RMA). In a few months, the center has become a key platform for career guidance for applicants and presentations of the university’s educational programs. Polytechnic in Morocco was represented by Deputy Head of the International Education Department Tatyana Sytnikova and Project Office Specialist Alexandra Le Gall, and President Said Zuhir was present at the exhibition from the RMA.

    The educational initiative gained momentum in April 2025. A delegation from SPbPU joined a large-scale exhibition at the Russian Cultural Center in Rabat, organized with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo. The event brought together more than 400 participants: schoolchildren, their parents, and journalists. The guests studied in detail the undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, as well as the conditions for receiving scholarships, including quotas from the Government of the Russian Federation. The head of the Russian House in Rabat, Alexander Sen, noted at the opening that interest in the Russian language in Morocco has grown significantly.

    It is interesting that the children want to learn Russian in Russia, although we also offer courses in Morocco. As parents and teachers explain, the key factor is immersion in the cultural environment. St. Petersburg with its unique atmosphere is becoming an ideal choice for them, emphasized Tatyana Sytnikova.

    The next stage of the tour was a visit to Casablanca, where the SPbPU delegation held a series of meetings in three Moroccan international schools and a lyceum. More than 800 students learned about promising areas of training: biomedical technologies, artificial intelligence, civil engineering and international trade.

    On April 10, at the largest educational exhibition in Morocco — the International Student Forum in Casablanca, SPbPU presented a unique pre-university training program in French. The course includes not only intensive study of the Russian language, but also training in mathematics, physics, and the basics of engineering. This will allow students to smoothly integrate into the Russian academic environment. Already in the first days of the exhibition, more than 600 applicants and their parents visited the Polytechnic University stand. Special emphasis was placed on working with parents: university representatives spoke in detail about the safety, infrastructure of the SPbPU international campus, and the cultural adaptation program. Visitors were especially interested in internship opportunities in partner companies.

    The Casablanca Student Forum will continue until Sunday. Organizers note that by the second day, the exhibition had already been visited by several thousand guests: not only schoolchildren and parents, but also university graduates, students from Europe and Asia, and representatives of recruiting agencies. The latter are actively seeking sustainable educational partnerships for African applicants, noting the growing demand for Russian programs in IT, energy, and bioengineering.

    North Africa today is one of the most open regions for educational export. SPbPU as a flagship of engineering education is becoming a key “hub” for such collaborations, explained Tatyana Sytnikova.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: You have the floor, Eduard Tiktinsky: Polytechnic graduate wishes students to surpass themselves

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    Over the year and a half of the existence of the discussion club “You have the floor!” many interesting people have become its guests. But it is especially pleasant when such a guest is not just a successful and bright person, but also a graduate of the Polytechnic University. So, the eleventh hero of the project was the founder and chairman of the board of directors of the RBI Group Eduard Tiktinsky.

    Eduard Saulevich graduated from the economics department of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute and the advanced courses in economics and privatization of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. His company is engaged in development activities in the field of residential and commercial construction. More than 80 projects have been implemented.

    Eduard Tiktinsky is an honorary builder of Russia, recipient of the Order of Merit in Construction, member of the Board of Trustees of the World Club of Petersburgers, initiator and ideological inspirer of the social project for talented youth “School of Leaders of the Future”, holder of the title “Expert of the Year” in the nominations “Expert in Business and Innovation” (2017) and “Expert in Education” (2021). In 2024, he entered the top 50 most famous people in St. Petersburg according to Sobaka.ru magazine. According to the Person 2024 rating from RQ Index and Urban, he is the first in management efficiency among CEOs of development companies in Russia.

    At the meeting at the Polytechnic, Eduard Tiktinsky thanked the organizers for the opportunity to speak to students and emphasized that his goal was not to limit himself to a simple dialogue, but to convey to the audience truly valuable knowledge that could help them in the future.

    This is what Eduard Tiktinsky said.

    On the influence of parents

    — My parents gave me a lot of freedom of choice and independence. From an early age I understood that I had to rely on myself, and I started earning money at 19. My parents also gave me a good education: I studied at an English school, then, until the 8th grade, at an English boarding school in Pushkin, and the 9th and 10th grades — at a good physics and mathematics school. As a child, I didn’t say that I would be an entrepreneur, because there was no such profession in the USSR, but I dreamed of becoming a lawyer, it seemed to me that it was such a competitive independent profession.

    About student life at the Polytechnic

    — When I was studying, it was a completely different era. Interesting, with a lot of challenges. It implied a lot of opportunities and an empty market that was slowly filling up, and the window of opportunity was slowly closing. So I will honestly say that I spent little time at the Polytechnic. Only in the first year, and then I came to take exams. And at the same time I studied at advanced training courses held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, it was a high level and a powerful impetus.

    And now times have changed, and the university years seem extremely important to me. For you, student years are a period of establishing social connections, refining some hypotheses, an opportunity to try and figure out what you want. Plus an element of a carefree life.

    About starting a business in the 90s

    — The vast majority of entrepreneurs who started their activities in the late 80s — early 90s will not tell you that it was a difficult period. It was a romantic period, a time of a free market, weak competition, where many things had to be built from scratch: inventing new schemes, literally creating industries — it was an interesting challenge. And the most difficult thing — and nothing has changed here today — is to go through your own crises. Everyone faces them, but if you are an entrepreneur, then your crises, as a rule, concern not only you, but also your business and the people you are responsible for. My crises were difficult, but useful, they gave the greatest impetus for further development. When you cope with this, you seem to be renewed, you become a little — or not a little — a different person.

    On how to choose your path

    — I am often asked: how to determine what to do in the future? I used to answer that you need to get to know yourself as early as possible, understand how you are structured, where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are — developmental books, various courses, psychology can help with this. And once we answered this question together with the outstanding world entrepreneur Len Blavatnik, and he said: you need to try a lot. He spoke about his experience, and he is also right. I had no forks or doubts about which path to choose, but if they are, then you need to try a lot.

    On the difficulties of development activities in a museum city

    — Now that we have dozens of cultural heritage sites behind us, there are no such difficulties. In our work, we need to be open, tell people about our completed projects — this creates trust and the opportunity to have a constructive dialogue with urban conservationists. I think that “urban conservationist” is a good word, for example, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky is an urban conservationist, he and the “World Club of Petersburgers” helped us a lot when we were restoring the Levashovsky Bakery and building our Futurist facility on Barochnaya Street and Levashovsky Prospekt. But it can be difficult to negotiate with those people who only call themselves urban conservationists: they often do not accept any arguments, they simply implement their request for aimless social activity. But we love our city, what we do is our life’s work, this is why we came to this world.

    About digital products and artificial intelligence

    — For the development business, AI projects are still secondary things. But we don’t realize how quickly the world will change. As a physicist friend of mine used to say: At bifurcation points, all events happen much faster. We are at such a point now, and if we talk about key industries, then in the “robotics and artificial intelligence” bundle, the world will change very soon and very much. We still need to “pump up the muscle”, track everything that appears, and teach people to use these tools.

    About a place of power and living life to the fullest

    — My place of power now is the Central Park of Culture and Leisure. I hold meetings with colleagues and friends there, we walk and discuss things. Another place of power is the dacha. Whatever you do, it is important to live a full life: diverse, complex, multi-component. A person can achieve unrealistically great success by doing only one thing. But will such a person be happy? I have big doubts. It is very important to devote time to loved ones, communicate with friends, attend cultural events, play sports — this is what I call living to the fullest.

    About sources of inspiration and energy

    — I get my inspiration from the fact that I love my job very much. I try to do only what I like, what gives me strength and energy. And I am proud of what we do, although we are far from perfect. We measure customer loyalty, the willingness to recommend us, at six stages: buying an apartment, waiting, moving in, renovation, living up to five years, and living after five years. And at the living stage, the loyalty index drops because various everyday difficulties arise. And we get upset if something is not good enough, we try to improve: in the Futurist house, some residents are unhappy with the size of the gym, in our next house “MIR” the gym will be twice as big.

    On the solution to the problem of the “gray belt” of St. Petersburg

    — The “Grey Belt” is a serious conceptual project. There should be an understanding of how much the enterprises there can be modernized, how environmentally neutral they are, whether they can be left in a residential area. And if so, then that’s great, because we need short “transport shoulders”, we don’t need people to go one way in the morning, and then drive kilometers in the other direction in the evening, get stuck in traffic jams. Housing, production, and recreation areas need to be connected.

    On the “excellent strategy” of real estate sales, or how the company plans to stand out from other developers

    — I like your expression “excellent strategy”. Our strategy as premium developers is an outstanding product and outstanding service. When you come to us to buy an apartment, in our sales department you find yourself in an atmosphere of beauty, exquisite aromas, jazz music. You are treated to craft coffee and an exclusive dessert. One of our regular customers recently came to us again to buy an apartment, and he was offered a cheesecake, and he remembered that a year ago he was treated to some unforgettable golden eclairs. And he was a little upset that they were not available today. Then colleagues contacted the manufacturer of these eclairs, found out that they were no longer making them, but somehow agreed to make us a few as an exception. And they delivered a box of golden eclairs to the client in the evening. This is what I call outstanding service. Doing everything for the client and a little more, exceeding expectations.

    At the end of the meeting, Eduard Tiktinsky was traditionally presented with a branded Lepota project T-shirt with number 11. Now we have a full football team, joked the host of the meeting, the head of the news portal department, Evgeny Gusev. And on the second T-shirt, which remained at the Polytechnic, the hero of the evening left an autograph and, apparently inspired by the last question, the following wish: “Become better than yesterday.”

    Photo archive

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Manuscript sold for €300 is now attributed to Cyrano de Bergerac – but questions remain about the play’s authorship

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alisa van de Haar, Assistant Professor in Historical French Literature, Leiden University

    Cyrano de Bergerac illustrated by Zacharie Heince (circa 1654). Gallica Digital Library/Canva, CC BY-SA

    French researchers recently published an edition of a previously unknown 17th-century French play that they argue could be attributed to the French satirist and dramatist Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac.

    Bibliophiles and literary historians like myself are rejoicing at this discovery, which sheds new light on 17th-century literary, political and libertine culture. However, questions remain regarding the authorship of the comedy.

    Cyrano de Bergerac is best known as the big-nosed protagonist in a 19th-century eponymous play by Edmond Rostand. Adapted for the screen most recently in 2021, Rostand’s play portrays Cyrano de Bergerac as a flamboyant young man who combines the arts of duelling and poetry and is tormented by love for his cousin, Roxane. It caricatures the real Cyrano, who led a tumultuous life that ended tragically when he was only 35.

    Contrary to what Rostand’s play suggests, historians have argued that Cyrano de Bergerac was homosexual. While he enlisted as a musketeer serving the French king for some time, he quit after suffering several wounds. He is often associated with libertine culture, questioning the core dogmas of Christianity and the moral, sexual and political values of 17th-century France.

    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.

    Cyrano de Bergerac wrote a variety of plays, letters and novels, often in a satirical vein. Few were published during his lifetime and his most famous works, Les États et Empires de la Lune (The States and Empires of the Moon) and a sequel on the Sun, were both published posthumously.

    These novels have been characterised as early forms of science fiction. They describe voyages to the Moon and Sun, where the protagonist encounters utopian societies inspired by some aspects of libertine thought. While Cyrano de Bergerac became the object of ridicule by some contemporaries, others – including the acclaimed French playwright Molière – were inspired by his works.

    The 17th-century manuscript now tentatively attributed to Cyrano de Bergerac was brought to the attention of lead researcher Guy Fontaine by the previous owners, who asked him to determine its possible author.

    However, in 2022, before Fontaine and his research team were able to draw any conclusions, the manuscript was sold at an auction for the low sum of €300 (£257). The auction catalogue attributed it to the minor playwright Gabriel Gilbert.

    But Fontaine and his team later concluded that the attribution to Gilbert was unlikely. According to them, the manuscript, which contains a comedy written out over 70 pages, points in the direction of Cyrano de Bergerac.

    Cyrano, a film based on the Edmond Rostand play Cyrano de Bergerac, was released in 2021.

    The play, entitled L’Art de Persuader (The Art of Persuasion), tells the story of two young men seeking to marry two women, incidentally both named Julie, in a traditional structure in five acts. The play shows an experienced playwright at work, aware of both classical and contemporary models.

    Set against the backdrop of Paris during the political upheavals involving Cardinal Mazarin and the thirty years’ war, the political events described in the play allowed the researchers to situate its creation in the final years of the 1640s or first half of the 1650s. These dates are corroborated by physical evidence. The play is written in a mid-17th-century handwriting style, and watermarks found in the paper were only in use until 1656.

    This timeline corresponds to the the active years of Cyrano de Bergerac, who emerged as a potential author because of the combined presence of a number of elements in the comedy. The play’s references to libertine ideas and Epicurean philosophy, a topic with which Cyrano de Bergerac was familiar, point in his direction.

    L’Art de Persuader’s style, including many Latin influences, and division into acts and scenes bear similarity to Cyrano de Bergerac’s known plays, as does the pairing of its characters, who often appear in duos. The locations mentioned in the play all have some connection to the historical Bergerac – and the author’s most famous theme, the Moon, is also mentioned.

    Reason for caution

    Despite the clear similarities with the style and themes preferred by Cyrano de Bergerac, the researchers remain cautious with their claim – and rightly so. Many of the elements that correspond with his style, such as the pairing of characters, were in fashion in the mid-17th century and can be found in the works of other writers, too.

    No single element connects the play irrefutably to this particular libertine author. An additional problem is that an expert in 17th-century handwriting who was consulted by the research team was unable to definitively match the writing of the manuscript to Cyrano de Bergerac’s.

    The edition of L’Art de Persuader published by the research team will enable other experts of Cyrano de Bergerac to shed their light on the authorship question. But whoever the author is, this play is of interest to literary historians as it provides new insights into the interplay between political history and theatre culture, as well as into libertine writing and the influence of Latin comedy – in particular Plautus – on baroque literature.

    For any bibliophile or historian, finding such an important text at an auction is a dream come true. And though rare, this is not the only major literary find of recent years. Take, for example the handwritten poems by Emily Brontë and the sole surviving copy of an early edition of the Bay Psalm Book, both of which came up for auction in 2021.

    When part of a private collection, however, these materials are difficult for researchers to access. It is therefore all the more valuable when owners contact specialists themselves, which is how Fontaine and his team first learned about this precious French play. For now, their edition is the only way to study this manuscript as, following the auction, it is in private hands.

    Alisa van de Haar 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. Manuscript sold for €300 is now attributed to Cyrano de Bergerac – but questions remain about the play’s authorship – https://theconversation.com/manuscript-sold-for-300-is-now-attributed-to-cyrano-de-bergerac-but-questions-remain-about-the-plays-authorship-254315

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Sudan’s war isn’t nearly over – armed civilian groups are rising

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mohamed Saad, Researcher, Charles University

    Sudan’s war, now entering its third year, has taken another unexpected turn. In March 2025, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), also known as the Janjaweed, withdrew from Khartoum, abandoning the presidential palace and airport.

    This retreat marks a significant contrast to the paramilitary group’s earlier victory when troops stormed the capital in April 2023.

    The fall of Khartoum is a turning point. But, based on my research into Sudan’s political turmoil over the past three decades, I don’t believe recent developments mark the war’s final chapter.

    What began as a power struggle between two military factions is now transforming into a much wider conflict, marked by deepening fragmentation and the rise of armed civilian groups. Across the country, new militias are emerging, many formed by civilians who once had no part in the war.

    The army encouraged civilians to fight, but now it faces a growing number of independent armed groups. In cities and rural areas alike, civilians have taken up arms.

    Some are fighting alongside the army, answering calls from the military leadership, including army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to defend their neighbourhoods and families. Others have formed self-defence units to protect against looting and violence. Some have joined breakaway militias that have their own agendas.

    These groups don’t share a single goal. Some fight for self-defence, others for political power. Some for revenue and wealth. Others are seeking ethnic control – Sudan’s population has 56 ethnic groups and 595 sub-ethnic groups. This is what makes Sudan’s war even more dangerous: fragmentation is creating multiple mini-wars within the larger conflict.

    How the Rapid Support Forces lost Khartoum

    Several key factors forced the RSF to retreat from Khartoum after it claimed control of the Sudanese capital city two years earlier.

    • Internal fractures: The RSF, built on tribal loyalty, struggled to hold together as the war dragged on. Many factions felt sidelined by its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

    • Civilian resistance: The RSF’s reliance on brutality backfired, alienating even those who might have supported them. Instead of consolidating control, they turned civilians into enemies. The RSF relied on terror – looting, mass killings and sexual violence. Instead of gaining control, they provoked fierce resistance. Armed civilians, originally taking up arms in self-defence, have become an informal militia network working against the RSF.

    • Foreign intervention: Reports suggest Egyptian airstrikes and tactical support helped the army take Khartoum. Additionally, Turkish-made Bayraktar drones weakened RSF positions. With supply lines cut, the RSF had no choice but to retreat.

    Khartoum was not just a battlefield defeat for the RSF. It was a turning point in how the war is fought – it’s no longer a military struggle but a battle involving armed civilians across Sudan.

    Based on reports from humanitarian organisations, conflict monitors and local testimonies, a clearer picture has emerged of a growing number of armed groups operating across Sudan. These groups have formed in response to the escalating conflict.

    Recent analyses highlight that arms trafficking and intensified community mobilisation have accelerated within the past two years.

    Read more: Omar al-Bashir brutalised Sudan – how his 30-year legacy is playing out today

    Neighbourhood defence units have emerged in urban areas like El-Gezira in central Sudan, El-Fasher in North Darfur, Al-Dalang in South Kordofan, El-Obeid in North Kordofan, Babanusa in West Kordofan and Khartoum. They were initially formed to protect residential zones from the RSF but have since expanded their roles and increasingly operate outside the oversight of the army.

    Tribal and regional militias have also become more prominent, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan. In these regions, entrenched ethnic and political rivalries have intertwined with the current war. Some of these militia groups have aligned with the army. Others remain independent, pursuing their own agendas, which include securing territory.

    In Darfur, growing anger at Hemedti’s favouritism towards his own tribe (Rizeigat) led to defections. Internal divisions within the RSF have played a major role in its recent losses. Some former RSF fighters have formed their own militias. The RSF was never a unified force, but a tribal alliance dominated by the Dagalo family and Rizeigat elites. Initially, gold revenues secured loyalty, but as the war has dragged on, internal fractures have deepened.

    Another ethnic-linked group is the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North. It has expanded its control in Kordofan and Blue Nile, two resource-rich regions in southern Sudan. The group allied with the RSF to push its own agenda, which includes securing greater autonomy for these regions and promoting a secular political framework that challenges Khartoum’s Islamist-leaning governance. Other ethnic militias also operate in eastern Sudan, supported by neighbouring countries such as Eritrea, further escalating the situation.

    Islamist-linked militias are also on the rise. The main example of these groups is El Baraa Ibn Malik Brigade, which emerged as a key player supporting the army against the RSF. Reports link the group to remnants of the Omar al-Bashir regime (1993-2019) – the dissolved Popular Defence Forces. This was a paramilitary group established in the mid-1980s to defend Arab tribes and support the military. It flourished under the al-Bashir regime.

    What next?

    While the RSF’s retreat from Khartoum is a major victory for the Sudanese army, it doesn’t mean stability is returning. Instead, Sudan is now facing a dangerous new reality: the rise of civilian militarisation.

    If not reined in, these groups could evolve and establish de facto warlord-run territories where local commanders wield unchecked power. This would undermine any prospects for centralised governance in Sudan.

    Read more: Sudan is burning and foreign powers are benefiting – what’s in it for the UAE

    With militias multiplying and no clear political solution, Sudan risks becoming a battlefield of warring factions.

    Meanwhile, international mediators are struggling to find a solution while foreign interference continues. The United Arab Emirates, a major RSF backer, still supports Hemedti financially, ensuring he remains active in Sudan’s gold trade.

    – Sudan’s war isn’t nearly over – armed civilian groups are rising
    – https://theconversation.com/sudans-war-isnt-nearly-over-armed-civilian-groups-are-rising-254100

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: The Truth About Porton Down

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    The Truth About Porton Down

    Answering the myths and misconceptions.

    Porton Down carries out research to ensure that the UK’s military and wider public benefit from the latest technical and scientific developments. In the interests of national security much of this work is secret. Inevitably this has led to many myths and misconceptions springing up about Porton Down and the wider work carried out by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).

    The Truth

    Chemical and Biological Weapons

    The UK’s chemical and biological weapons programme was closed down in the 1950s. Since then Porton Down has been active in developing effective countermeasures to the constantly evolving threat posed by chemical and biological weapons. To help develop effective medical countermeasures and to test systems, we produce very small quantities of chemical and biological agents. They are stored securely and disposed of safely when they are no longer required.

    Animal Testing

    Safe and effective protective measures for the UK and its Armed Forces could not, currently, be achieved without the use of animals. Examples include:

    • Nerve Agent Pretreatment Set (NAPS) Tablets. These provide protection against exposure to nerve agents such as Sarin and VX.
    • ComboPen containing atropine, P2S and avizafone. This is used when individuals are showing signs of exposure to nerve agent poisoning.
    • Doxycycline and Ciprofloxacin are antibiotics that are given as both a pretreatment and a treatment in the event of exposure to high threat biological agents such as plague and anthrax.

    All of these countermeasures are available for use by both the UK’s military and wider civilian population.

    It is also notable that several products and procedures developed by Dstl are now used in the NHS. Dstl research, for example, provided evidence that giving specific blood products before casualties reach hospital could help save lives as it improves the ability to form blood-clots.

    Dstl is committed to reducing the number of animal experiments. The “three Rs” of ‘reduce’ (the number of animals used), ‘refine’ (animal procedures) and ‘replace’ (animal tests with non-animal tests) are integral to our testing programme. We only apply for licenses if the research cannot be obtained without the use of animals. Dstl Porton Down currently uses less than half of one per cent of the total number of animals used in experimentation in the UK. All research involving animals is licensed by the Home Office, in accordance with relevant legislation, who carry out both announced and unannounced visits several times a year and can access the laboratories at any time.

    Human Volunteers

    Since 1916 over 20,000 volunteers have taken part in studies at Porton Down. Without their involvement we could not have developed the highly effective protective clothing and medical countermeasures that our armed forces rely on.

    The Volunteer Programme has always been operated to the highest ethical standards of the day.

    We still carry out trials with human volunteers to make the protective equipment easier to wear and to develop better training procedures. These trials comply with all nationally and internationally accepted ethical standards. All of the trials are approved by the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committees (MODREC) process.

    If any ex Porton Down Volunteer has any concerns about the trials in which they participated or any subsequent effects on their health they should contact the Porton Down Volunteers Helpline on 0800 7832521.

    The Death of Leading Aircraftsman Maddison

    The death of Aircraftsman Ronald Maddison in 1953 was a tragic and regrettable incident. He died following participation in a trial in which a number of small drops of the nerve agent sarin were applied to the forearm through two layers of cloth. An inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing in 2004. He is the only member of the UK Armed Forces to have died as the direct result of participation in experimental tests carried out at Porton Down on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

    Porton Down has always been open about the fact that Aircraftsman Maddison died at the site. The Wiltshire coroner held the original inquest in secret, on the grounds of national security, recording a verdict of misadventure. The pathologist’s report stated that he had died from asphyxia. The subsequent inquest into his death overturned the coroner’s original findings, recording a verdict of unlawful killing.

    Aerial Release Trials

    During the cold war period between 1953 and 1976, a number of aerial release trials were carried out to help the government understand how a biological attack might spread across the UK. Given the international situation at the time these trials were conducted in secret. The information obtained from these trials has been and still is vital to the defence of the UK from this type of attack. Two separate and independent reviews of the trials have both concluded that the trials did not have any adverse health effects on the UK population.

    Ebola

    Dstl has an active research programme on Ebola and played an important role in the UK’s support to Sierra Leone during the recent outbreak. Dstl’s scientists provided advice on the biological and physical aspects of the virus, as well as deploying highly skilled research scientists to the diagnostic laboratory at the Kerry Town Ebola Treatment Unit.

    Gruinard Island

    During the Second World War, Porton Down scientists developed a biological weapon using anthrax spores. Trials were held on Gruinard Island off the coast of Scotland. Anthrax spores can remain active for decades and Gruinard was finally decontaminated in 1986.

    Destruction of Chemical Weapons

    Each year small quantities of old chemical weapons are found in the UK. Dstl possesses the only licensed UK facility for the receipt, storage, breakdown and safe disposal of old chemical weapons. We currently have around 1,000 munitions that are in the process of being safely disposed of.

    The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) makes annual inspections at Dstl to assess compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by confirming it is making accurate returns on munition types and numbers and is undertaking control and disposal of the UK’s old chemical weapons. We share our world leading expertise on the disposal of legacy weapons with other nations. As part of this we host an annual conference in support of the OPCW.

    Alien Bodies

    No aliens, either alive or dead have ever been taken to Porton Down or any other Dstl site.

    Cannabis Cultivation

    Dstl and its predecessors do not and have never grown cannabis at Porton Down.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Twillingate — Twillingate RCMP investigates theft of truck from Summerford, man arrested

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    As part of a stolen vehicle investigation, 24-year-old Jack LeBlanc of Summerford was arrested by Twillingate RCMP on April 8, 2025.

    Shortly before 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Twillingate RCMP received a report that a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado had been stolen from a commercial property in Summerford. As part of the investigation, police attended the area and gathered information that identified Leblanc as the suspect.

    Later that same morning, Twillingate RCMP received a report of a single-vehicle crash in Twillingate involving the stolen truck. The driver, who was identified as LeBlanc, departed the scene on foot and was causing a disturbance outside a nearby residence. Police attended the property where LeBlanc was arrested without further incident.

    LeBlanc appeared in court earlier this week and was charged with the following criminal offences:

    • Theft of a motor vehicle
    • Possession of property obtained by crime
    • Failure to comply with conditions of an undertaking

    He was released by the court on a number of conditions and is set to appear in court at a later date.

    The investigation is continuing.

    RCMP NL continues to fulfill its mandate to protect public safety, enforce the law, and ensure the delivery of priority policing services in Newfoundland and Labrador.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sudan’s war isn’t nearly over – armed civilian groups are rising

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mohamed Saad, Researcher, Charles University

    Sudan’s war, now entering its third year, has taken another unexpected turn. In March 2025, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), also known as the Janjaweed, withdrew from Khartoum, abandoning the presidential palace and airport.

    This retreat marks a significant contrast to the paramilitary group’s earlier victory when troops stormed the capital in April 2023.

    The fall of Khartoum is a turning point. But, based on my research into Sudan’s political turmoil over the past three decades, I don’t believe recent developments mark the war’s final chapter.

    What began as a power struggle between two military factions is now transforming into a much wider conflict, marked by deepening fragmentation and the rise of armed civilian groups. Across the country, new militias are emerging, many formed by civilians who once had no part in the war.

    The army encouraged civilians to fight, but now it faces a growing number of independent armed groups. In cities and rural areas alike, civilians have taken up arms.

    Some are fighting alongside the army, answering calls from the military leadership, including army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to defend their neighbourhoods and families. Others have formed self-defence units to protect against looting and violence. Some have joined breakaway militias that have their own agendas.

    These groups don’t share a single goal. Some fight for self-defence, others for political power. Some for revenue and wealth. Others are seeking ethnic control – Sudan’s population has 56 ethnic groups and 595 sub-ethnic groups. This is what makes Sudan’s war even more dangerous: fragmentation is creating multiple mini-wars within the larger conflict.

    How the Rapid Support Forces lost Khartoum

    Several key factors forced the RSF to retreat from Khartoum after it claimed control of the Sudanese capital city two years earlier.

    • Internal fractures: The RSF, built on tribal loyalty, struggled to hold together as the war dragged on. Many factions felt sidelined by its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

    • Civilian resistance: The RSF’s reliance on brutality backfired, alienating even those who might have supported them. Instead of consolidating control, they turned civilians into enemies. The RSF relied on terror – looting, mass killings and sexual violence. Instead of gaining control, they provoked fierce resistance. Armed civilians, originally taking up arms in self-defence, have become an informal militia network working against the RSF.

    • Foreign intervention: Reports suggest Egyptian airstrikes and tactical support helped the army take Khartoum. Additionally, Turkish-made Bayraktar drones weakened RSF positions. With supply lines cut, the RSF had no choice but to retreat.

    Khartoum was not just a battlefield defeat for the RSF. It was a turning point in how the war is fought – it’s no longer a military struggle but a battle involving armed civilians across Sudan.

    Based on reports from humanitarian organisations, conflict monitors and local testimonies, a clearer picture has emerged of a growing number of armed groups operating across Sudan. These groups have formed in response to the escalating conflict.

    Recent analyses highlight that arms trafficking and intensified community mobilisation have accelerated within the past two years.



    Read more:
    Omar al-Bashir brutalised Sudan – how his 30-year legacy is playing out today

    Neighbourhood defence units have emerged in urban areas like El-Gezira in central Sudan, El-Fasher in North Darfur, Al-Dalang in South Kordofan, El-Obeid in North Kordofan, Babanusa in West Kordofan and Khartoum. They were initially formed to protect residential zones from the RSF but have since expanded their roles and increasingly operate outside the oversight of the army.

    Tribal and regional militias have also become more prominent, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan. In these regions, entrenched ethnic and political rivalries have intertwined with the current war. Some of these militia groups have aligned with the army. Others remain independent, pursuing their own agendas, which include securing territory.

    In Darfur, growing anger at Hemedti’s favouritism towards his own tribe (Rizeigat) led to defections. Internal divisions within the RSF have played a major role in its recent losses. Some former RSF fighters have formed their own militias. The RSF was never a unified force, but a tribal alliance dominated by the Dagalo family and Rizeigat elites. Initially, gold revenues secured loyalty, but as the war has dragged on, internal fractures have deepened.

    Another ethnic-linked group is the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North. It has expanded its control in Kordofan and Blue Nile, two resource-rich regions in southern Sudan. The group allied with the RSF to push its own agenda, which includes securing greater autonomy for these regions and promoting a secular political framework that challenges Khartoum’s Islamist-leaning governance. Other ethnic militias also operate in eastern Sudan, supported by neighbouring countries such as Eritrea, further escalating the situation.

    Islamist-linked militias are also on the rise. The main example of these groups is El Baraa Ibn Malik Brigade, which emerged as a key player supporting the army against the RSF. Reports link the group to remnants of the Omar al-Bashir regime (1993-2019) – the dissolved Popular Defence Forces. This was a paramilitary group established in the mid-1980s to defend Arab tribes and support the military. It flourished under the al-Bashir regime.

    What next?

    While the RSF’s retreat from Khartoum is a major victory for the Sudanese army, it doesn’t mean stability is returning. Instead, Sudan is now facing a dangerous new reality: the rise of civilian militarisation.

    If not reined in, these groups could evolve and establish de facto warlord-run territories where local commanders wield unchecked power. This would undermine any prospects for centralised governance in Sudan.



    Read more:
    Sudan is burning and foreign powers are benefiting – what’s in it for the UAE

    With militias multiplying and no clear political solution, Sudan risks becoming a battlefield of warring factions.

    Meanwhile, international mediators are struggling to find a solution while foreign interference continues. The United Arab Emirates, a major RSF backer, still supports Hemedti financially, ensuring he remains active in Sudan’s gold trade.

    Mohamed Saad 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. Sudan’s war isn’t nearly over – armed civilian groups are rising – https://theconversation.com/sudans-war-isnt-nearly-over-armed-civilian-groups-are-rising-254100

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: OSCE PCUz organizes workshop on gender mainstreaming in anti-corruption

    Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE

    Headline: OSCE PCUz organizes workshop on gender mainstreaming in anti-corruption

    Representatives of the OSCE PCUz, OSCE Gender Issues Programme and Law Enforcement Academy of the Republic of Uzbekistan open the workshop. (OSCE) Photo details

    On 11 April, the OSCE PCUz organized a workshop on gender mainstreaming in anti-corruption at the Law Enforcement Academy of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
    Representatives from government ministries and agencies as well as academia and NGOs were involved in the workshop, led by OSCE Adviser on Gender Issues Javiera Thais Santa Cruz, to discuss the role of gender in anti-corruption work.
    Through discussions and examples of gendered corruption, such as job discrimination, unequal access to services and sextortion, participants examined the impact of corruption on men and women, and identified tools needed to improve current approaches. The session emphasized the importance of mainstreaming gender into anti-corruption policies and included interactive group work where participants developed practical examples and strategies for incorporating gender perspectives into institutional frameworks. The event concluded with a collaborative session aimed at identifying challenges and solutions to stakeholder engagement.
    Opening the event, Dr. Lara Scarpitta, OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues stated that “corruption is not a gender-neutral topic. Research from the past 20 years shows that women often face corruption differently than men due to societal roles, existing stereotypes, and sometimes limited access to information and justice.”
    PCUz Head of Office, Ambassador Antti Karttunen underlined the importance of the event, stating: “the objective of this workshop is to work towards exploring issues of gender equality in relation to anti-corruption and we hope to build on the efforts already accomplished by the OSCE.”
    This event comes as part of the PCUz’s support in improving Uzbekistan’s reforms in the sphere of good governance as well as women empowerment.

    MIL OSI Europe News –