- Aug 2022
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www.diplomacy.edu www.diplomacy.edu
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based on minimal deterrence, and announced a «No First Use» policy
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He believed that even a single nuclear weapon that would hit the attacker in retalia-tion would be totally unacceptable price – and hence constitute a sufficient deterrent.
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The hyperve-locity missiles entering the Russian and Chinese order of battle can now bypass the whole collection.
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Both projects need, though, still several years until becoming operational while their Russian and Chinese equivalents are al-ready operational today (the Russian models were suc-cessfully used in the war with Ukraine)
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The Columbia class boats will displace some 21,000 tons, mount 16 tubes for Trident D5 SLBM each, and be the most sophisticated submarines ever built by the US.
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China has tested (and is about to introduce) hypersonic glider systems.
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The Sarmat, the Avangard, and the Iskander-M are already deployed.
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«Iskander-M»
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«Status-6»,
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«Avangard»
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he airborne «Kinzhal»
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«Zirkon» hypersonic glider (GL)
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finds itself today – as far as armour is concerned – with two partially equipped, skeleton armoured di-visionstructures with a total of 244 main battle tanks.
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Under the impression of having won the Cold War, the West felt it needed no longer armed forces capable to fighting a succession of major conventional battles against powerful Russian invasion forces.
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The truth is that the US has, after the end of the Cold War, largely neglected its strategic nuclear forces.
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national security cannot be ultimately guar-anteed without the possession of nuclear weapons.
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Ukraine is helpless. It can prevail on the battlefield, but it cannot force an end to the aggression
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The hell a nuclear war would un-leash would be too close to result in the extinction of the human race, and thus deprive words like «victory» of any meaning.
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he ensuing ABM Treaty limited both sides to one field of 100 ABM interceptors. The Russians completed under this regime their ABM defensive ring protecting Moscow, while the US chose to protect an ICBM field in Wyoming
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The US went down from a peak of more than 31,000 weap-ons in 1967 to an inventory of 5,428 today (of which 1,744 are deployed and ready to be launched, 1’964 in a stockpile, and 1’720 retired, awaiting dismantling). The USSR/Russia went from close to 40’000 weapons in 1985 down to 5’977 in 2022 (1,528 deployed, 2’949 in stockpile, and 1,500 retired, awaiting dismantling).
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diate Range Nuclear Forces), at the conventional level CFE (Conventional Forces in Europe).
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The nuclear nightmare would not disappear but be-come less costly
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This German unease has always been recognized by the So-viet Union (and later Russia) as NATO’s Achilles’ heel
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the US would rather go nuclear than being overwhelmed.
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and frozen to death in the «nuclear winter»
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would suffice to bomb the attacker back to the stone age.
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to be the political destiny of our planet.
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De-terrence and Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) had rendered the nuclear confrontation a dead end and hence essentially stable.
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www.fiod.nl www.fiod.nl
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Arrest of suspected developer of Tornado Cash
TITTLE: The Netherland's financial crime agency arrested the Tornado Cash developer.
On August 10, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested Alexey Pertsev (29) as a suspect to be a developer behind the Tornado Cash online service.
A couple of days earlier, on August 8, the US Treasury sanctioned the Tornado Cash online service and froze all of their property in hand of the US regulators. The Treasury also issued a list of cryptocurrency wallet addresses that are affected by this sanctions.
The FIOD mentioned in the statement that 'advanced technologies, such as decentralised organisations (DAO) that may facilitate money laundering are receiving extra attention' from the financial watchdog.
'Investigations showed that at least one billion dollars' worth of cryptocurrencies of criminal origin passed through the mixer. It is suspected that persons behind this organisation have made large-scale profits from these transactions'
This is a rare case in which the open source developer is charged for the illicit activities that are performed on the platform he created.
The investigation is led by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for serious fraud, environmental crime and asset confiscation.
LINK: https://www.fiod.nl/arrest-of-suspected-developer-of-tornado-cash/
TOPIC: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Legal, cybercrime,
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home.treasury.gov home.treasury.gov
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U.S. Treasury Sanctions Notorious Virtual Currency Mixer Tornado Cash
The US Treasury sanctions the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash
TITLE: The US Treasury sanctions the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash
CONTENT: On August 8th 2022, The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the online service Tornado Cash that served as a mixer for the Ether cryptocurrency since 2019. The cryptocurrency mixers are online places where users could obfuscate the origin of cryptocurrency. Mixers use utility of decentralised exchanges and peer-to-peer trading, to create massive amount of transactions in short period of time - mixing tinted coins with the rest of the online supply. Mixers don't collect any user data related to people behind the cryptocurrency funds, therefore they are in a violation of the US federal regulations, and the global AML/CFT regulation. The Treasury stated an issues of national security to be one of the reasons for such action. The FBI and the OFAC are arguing that Tornado Cash facilitated a money laundry operation for the ransomware group Lazarus attributed to the DPRK. The OFAC is calming that cryptocurrency mixer was mostly used for illicit founds. and issued a list of Ether wallet addresses that are sanctioned in this case. It is not an usual practice for OFAC to sanction online service as they main targets are individuals. The OFAC called for the cryptocurrency industry to address challenges that anonymising features can present to AML/CFT obligations.
The Tornado Cash was decentralized entity that run on an open source code.
EXCERPT: The US Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash and
LINK: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0916
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20220808 - LIST OF CRYPTOCURRENCY WALLETS
TOPIC: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Legal,
TREND:
PROCESS:
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TITLE: RSF’s new investigation on online media attacks throughout the Brazilian election campaign
CONTENT: Throughout Brazil's election campaign, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) will track and analyze internet threats, violence, and attacks against the media as a part of their ongoing project. The election campaign was launched on 16 August and it will end with the election of a new president, members of both houses of the national congress, governors and members of the legislative assemblies in Brazil’s states on 2 or 30 October.
During the campaign, RSF's Latin America bureau will monitor, analyze, and denounce online attacks on journalists in collaboration with the Laboratory for Image and Cyberculture Studies (LABIC), a leading research center specializing in social media analysis and digital trends affiliated with the Federal State University of Espirito Santo.
The results of this research will be collected and posted on the RSF website on a regular basis. Following the elections, a detailed report analyzing the main trends and attacks observed during the project will be published. The project's goal is to better understand the origin, structure, and spread of these online attacks, to expose the main perpetrators, and to find effective and long-term solutions to combat this phenomenon.
RSF published the findings of a survey of Twitter users' behavior in 2021, the platform used for the majority of attacks against the media and journalists in Brazil. Bolsonaro supporters were the primary perpetrators of these attacks, with the main targets being female journalists and media outlets critical of the government.
EXCERPT: RSF is planning to investigate the online attacks on Brazilian media during the ongoing election in their new project. The results will be posted on a regular basis, and after the elections end, a detailed report on main trends and attacks during the project will also be published. The main goals of this analysis are to better understand what caused the spread of these online attacks, as well to expose the main perpetrators whilst finding a solution to combat this phenomenon.
DATE: 23.08.2022.
LINK: https://rsf.org/en/rsf-will-analyse-online-attacks-against-media-during-brazilian-election-campaign
TOPIC: Freedom of the press, Freedom of expression
COUNTRY: Brazil
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www.blockdata.tech www.blockdata.tech
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blockchain investments these top corporations made from September 2021 to mid-June 2022.
TITLE: Research on the corporate investments in the blockchain technology for the 2021-2022 period.
CONTENT: According to the latest research from the Blockdata company, 40 corporations invested in companies in the blockchain/crypto space during the September 2021 till June 2022.
Korean tech giant Samsung is the most active, having an invested share in 13 companies.
Research look at the total funding amounts of the rounds companies participated in.
Based on this, the investors active in the biggest funding rounds are Alphabet ($1,506M in 4 rounds), Blackrock ($1,171M in 3 rounds), Morgan Stanley ($1,10M in 2 rounds), Samsung ($979M in 13 rounds), Goldman Sachs ( $698M in 5 rounds, BNY Mellon ($690M in 3 rounds), and PayPal ($650M in 4 rounds).
EXCERPT: Approximately $6 billions invested in the blockchain based startups in 2021. Samsung and Alphabet are leading the pack followed by the financial industry corporations
TOPIC: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency,
TREND: -
PROCESS: -
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www.bleepingcomputer.com www.bleepingcomputer.com
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TITLE: Dominican Republic government agency was disrupted by a quantum ransomware attack
CONTENT: The Quantum ransomware assault that affected the Instituto Agrario Dominicano in the Dominican Republic and encrypted numerous services and workstations, occurred on August 18, local media reports. ‘They ask for more than 600 thousand dollars. We were affected by four physical servers and eight virtual servers; virtually all servers,’ Walixson Amaury Núñez, the IAD's director of technology, told the local press.
As IAD does not have enough money to pay the ransom and with only basic security software systems - the company’s data was completely compromised.
According to the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS), who has been helping the agency recover from the attack, the attackers' IP addresses came from the United States and Russia.
BleepingComputer investigated the case and found out that the Quantum ransomware operation was the attacker. If IAD did not pay the ransom publicly, the threat actor, who claimed having stolen over 1TB of data, threatened to release it. This ransomware actor is supposedly an offshoot of the Conti ransomware operation which adopted the earlier name of the MountLocker ransomware operation.
EXCERPT: Instituto Agrario Dominicano, Dominican Republic’s government agency, suffered a ransomware attack by the Quantum ransomware operation. They are threatening them with a ransom of around 650.000 dollars. As the agency is not able to afford the ransom, and with only basic software security, their data is at stake. As the National Cybersecurity Center reports, the IP addresses of the attackers come from the U.S. and Russia.
TOPIC: Cyberconflict and warfare, Cybercrime
COUNTRY: Dominican Republic
DATE: 24.08.2022.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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Patrick Hillmann, chief communications officer at the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, claims scammers made a deepfake of him to trick contacts into taking meetings.
The CCO of the world biggest cryptocurrency exchange, wrote about this case in his blog published on a company website. In his words: 'this deep fake was refined enough to fool several highly intelligent crypto community members”
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www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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Russia’s Yandex to sell off news service as state tightens grip on online media
TITLE: Russia's Yandex sells news and blogging services as state tightens control over online media
CONTENT: In a transaction that would expand direct state control over the news that many Russians view online, the largest internet firm in Russia will sell off its news and blogging services to the state-controlled social media site VK.
Yandex.ru's main page, which was sold together with the news aggregator and blogging platform Zen, is expected to turn into a social media-style news feed managed by Gazprom-owned VK as a result of the transaction, with its chief executive being the son of a Kremlin official tasked with integrating the occupied territories of Ukraine.
News articles on Yandex were already perceived as having been deliberately selected to abstain from controversial subjects in Russia, particularly criticism of the war in Ukraine. By reducing Yandex's exposure to politics, the sale of the company's media holdings is reportedly an effort to protect it from the threat of western sanctions.
DATE: 23.08.2022.
TOPIC: Freedom of the press
COUNTRY: Russia
EXCERPT: Russia’s Yandex sells its news and blogging services to the state-controlled social media site VK. Yandex.ru’s main page is expected to turn into a social media-style news feed managed by Gazprom-owned VK, as a result of this transaction. The goal was reportedly an effort to loosen up the threats from western sanctions.
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techcrunch.com techcrunch.com
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The TikTok threat to Google’s business isn’t just limited to YouTube, as it turns out. Core Google services, including Search and Maps, are also being impacted by a growing preference for social media and videos as the first stop on younger users’ path to discovery, a Google exec acknowledged today, speaking at an industry event.
It is interesting to see that Google is getting threatened even on search function by TikTok and Instagram.
We should monitor this development.
||Jovan||
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www.bleepingcomputer.com www.bleepingcomputer.com
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TITLE: Greece’s largest natural gas distributor DESFA suffered ransomware-related data breach
CONTENT: Greece’s largest natural gas distributor (DESFA) suffered a limited scope data breach and IT system outage which were followed by a cyberattack, this Saturday.
DESFA shared in a public statement that hackers tried to infiltrate its network, but were faced with a quick response from their IT team. Nevertheless, the attack possibly caused the leakage of some files and data and a network intrusion was definitely made, although limited. DESFA is working on returning to normal operations and is ensuring the customers this incident would not impact the gas supplies.
The attack was confirmed on Friday by Ragnar Locker ransomware operation, a threat actor. It is said in a recent FBI report that Ragnar Locker made 52 intrusions in critical U.S. infrastructure entities since January this year.
This ransomware actor is threatening to publish all files that would victimize DESFA, if they do not answer their demands. The timeline of this attack is tough for European gas suppliers after being cut from Russia’s natural gas.
The upcoming period is believed to be full of shortages, power cuts, and growing energy prices, leaving everyone involved even more vulnerable to ransomware attacks against gas distributors.
EXCERPT: DESFA, Greece’s largest gas distributor was targeted with an ransomware attack. This attack was confirmed to be made by Ragnar Locker - a ransomware operation, familiar to FBI for their previous intrusions. This attack comes at a vulnerable time for European gas suppliers after being cut from Russian gas, and it is believed that the situation will get worse if similar attack should happen in this region again.
COUNTRY: Greece
TOPIC: Cyberconflict and warfare, Cybercrime
DATE: 22.08.2022.
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cpj.org cpj.org
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TITLE: Jordanian journalist arrested for allegedly violating Jordan’s cybercrime law by writing posts on Facebook
CONTENT: On August 15, Adnan Al-Rousan, a Jordanian journalist, has been arrested by seven unidentified men, with two of them being in military uniform. The reasons behind this arrest are Al-Rousan’s posts on his Facebook profile, which were considered to be ‘insulting to Jordan.’ His most recent one, on August 14, was directed towards the ruler of Jordan, King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, saying ‘Jordan isn’t your property, it’s for us Jordanians.’
He is believed to be violating Jordan’s cybercrime law with these posts on social media, while regularly publishing political commentary of similar content as above mentioned. Committee to Protect Journalist asks for an immediate release of the reporter, while trying to get any contact information for the Jordanian public prosecutor.
EXCERPT: Adnan Al-Rousan, a Jordanian journalist has been arrested for allegedly violating the country’s cybercrime law. He regularly posts on his Facebook profile, criticizing the regime. Recently he wrote a post directed towards the King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, which caused his arrest. Committee to Protect Journalists condemns this arrest and asks for his immediate release.
TOPIC: Freedom of the press
DATE: 18 August 2022
COUNTRY: Jordan
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www.infosecurity-magazine.com www.infosecurity-magazine.com
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Estonia's Battle Against a Deluge of DDoS Attacks
TITLE: Estonia battles a series of DDoS attacks during August
CONTENT: According to Infosecurity magazine, Estonian public authorities and businesses have been the subject of increased large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in August. The Head of the incident response (CERT-EE) department, Tõnu Tammer, said that these attacks are a daily occurrence in Estonian cyberspace. Nevertheless, the Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) is highlighting that data confidentiality is not at risk, as attackers are not able to access or change the data. On August 18, Estonia faced the most extensive cyber-attack since 2007.
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian stated-backed cybercriminals are believed to be the main suspect for numerous cyberattacks on neighboring countries. This is why it is advised to Governments in Eastern Europe to heighten their alerts and ensure their cyber-defenses are as robust as they can be.
EXCERPT: Estonian public authorities and businesses are facing a large number of DDoS attacks during the month of August 2022. Infosecurity magazine has talked about this issue with Tõnu Tammer, the Head of the CERT-EE department. Estonia is not the only Eastern European country at risk of potential cyber attacks since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine in February this year. Strengthening cyber-defenses of these actors is highly recommended.
LINK: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news-features/estonias-battle-against-a-deluge/
TOPIC: Cyberconflict and warfare, Cybercrime
TREND:
PROCESS:
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csrc.nist.gov csrc.nist.gov
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On 5 July, the USA National Institute for Standardisation and Technology (NIST) selected candidate to become standard for Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)
The new PQC standards should prevent risk that powerful quantum computing will pose to existing cryptography and encryption of digital traffic.
It is anticipatory standard that should prevent risk that will come with deployment of quantum computing for cracking encrypted communication.
See more here: https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/post-quantum-cryptography
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The Candidates to be Standardized and Round 4 Submissions were announced July 5, 2022. NISTIR 8413, Status Report on the Third Round of the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Process is now available. NIST has developed Guidelines for Submitting Tweaks for Fourth Round Candidates.
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thediplomat.com thediplomat.com
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the Open Technology Fund
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hese efforts could be used to improve legislative oversight of Chinese ICT companies and other entities seeking involvement in a host country’s digital information stack
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closer to Chinese data policy regulations that focus on state sovereignty over personal data, even when couched in the language of protecting privacy.
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extensive training programs at both the popular and elite levels aimed at fostering dependence on, and brand loyalty to, Chinese telecommunications firms like Huawei and ZTE
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a state-centric model of cyber governance
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The digital information stack consists of five layers – network infrastructure, devices, applications, content, and governance – and each layer of the stack includes several components.
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to be more aware of the tradeoffs of China’s involvement in their digital information stacks
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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Most who implement pqc will not see any difference, and have no need to fuss with the 600-digit numbers in use today.
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nist’s new standards are unlikely to be the last, as quantum computers’ strengths develop and protocols are tested to destruction in the white-hat hackers’ white-hot heat.
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Eventually the new standards must percolate through every device and service that transmits encrypted data—every browser tab, every nuclear facility, every payment gizmo, every military digital radio.
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None has yet become a trusted standard, but now nist has picked a set of recipes that have survived years of tyre-kicking.
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“post-quantum cryptography”
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Cryptography protocols involve calculations that are harder to undo than do.
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the National Institute of Standards and Technology (nist)
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When quantum computers reach their potential, decades of secret intelligence, credit-card details, intellectual property and military and medical data will become as easy to read as the words before your eyes.
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One defence is to use encryption, but in the fast-approaching era of quantum computers that defence will fail.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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We will now allow singular use of data alongside the plural. Specifically, when considered as a concept—as in data is the new oil—the singular will be acceptable, as well as when the data in question is considered as a mass (the data on this mobile-phone plan is insufficient). However, when data points are considered as a group of pieces of information, the plural should still be used: data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate the hottest summer of all time.
The Economist allows use of data as both singular and plural. For example, data is the new oil. But, as it was indicated 'data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate the hottest summer of all time.'
The Economist explains plural and singular use of 'data' here.
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Plural data in the sense of “data points” will probably appear in one kind of story exclusively (ie, those reporting on a study based on a number of observations), and mass-style singular data in others (especially those to do with computing). In any case, our style guide already allows some collective nouns, like council or staff, to be singular or plural depending on whether it is the entity or its constituents under discussion, with no resulting chaos.
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Singular data is now more common than the plural in books, and far more prevalent on the web.
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Data, as every child at a grammar school once knew, is the plural of Latin’s datum, “something given”.
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We will now allow singular use of data alongside the plural. Specifically, when considered as a concept—as in data is the new oil—the singular will be acceptable, as well as when the data in question is considered as a mass (the data on this mobile-phone plan is insufficient). However, when data points are considered as a group of pieces of information, the plural should still be used: data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate the hottest summer of all time.
||GingerP|| We should update our editorial text on data.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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Tencent is Chinese company behind WeChat, one of the most used Internet applications. Tencent is also major gaming company globally. It has investment in hundreds of tech start-ups.
While Tencent is strong in China, its global activiteis could be endangered by Splinternet building around Sino-American digital tensions.
More at the Economist article.
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As Sino-American tensions worsen, that is a game no one can win.
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as well as its games, run the risk of arousing hostility from China hawks in America
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Mr Xi’s crackdown on internet firms has hit its gaming arm, its fintech plans and local investments such as Didi. It has to censor itself vigorously.
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Tencent is embedded in almost every aspect of life there
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are fascinatingly idiosyncratic,
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As Ms Chen puts it, it has become an incubator of startups, not a killer of potential competitors.
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all of Tencent’s transformational ideas, including WeChat, came from second-tier teams competing against each other, not from the top brass
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(“You either wait for someone to kill you or you kill yourself first,” is how he describes the firm’s constant efforts at reinvention)
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That threatens its reputation in the West, where it is a huge investor in gaming (among other businesses) and where it is keen to expand its reach.
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WeChat is Tencent’s flagship product, a “Swiss Army Knife” of a super app, offering messages, search, ride-hailing, food delivery and other applications on a single platform. But in a paranoid regime, its power is also a threat.
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It was a rare moment when WeChat (Weixin within China) was used to express people’s anger and pain, rather than the blander stuff—swanky dinners, clouds at dusk—that people usually post.
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www.voanews.com www.voanews.com
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"extremely straightforward, very open and friendly. He's got a pretty good sense of humor."
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He was CEO of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based national security think tank, before becoming CEO of Endgame, a cybersecurity software firm that was acquired by the cloud computing firm Elastic in 2019.
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to make the case for developing countries to incorporate openness and freedom into their regulation of the internet rather than authoritarian control.
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imit the flow of information to and among their citizens.
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lighter regulation biased in favor of the free flow of information
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It's a battle over who controls the digital environment."
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for security and digital policy
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The bureau combines three pre-existing policy units within the State Department: International Cyberspace Security, International Information and Communications Policy, and Digital Freedom.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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Casting the prosecution of a presidential candidate as a deep-state conspiracy is peculiarly compelling.
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Not charging Mr Trump gives him an air of impunity; charging him unsuccessfully would make him look invincible.
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But the possibility of prosecution seems to fire Mr Trump and his supporters up, rather than turn them off. They treat it as offering a form of vindication—evidence of how much “the regime” wants him off the scene.
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“People are happy—overwhelmingly—with the direction of the party. And that means America First,” says Ms Longwell. “Even if Trump the man loses some altitude…the party has now changed for ever.”
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Much of it has come from former Trump donors who think the risk of another loss against Mr Biden is too high.
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“We will bring Big Tech down to their knees!” screamed Lauren Boebert, a Republican congresswoman.
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The Republican parties in various other potential swing states, including Michigan and Nevada, have chosen to field Big Lie endorsers as their candidates for some or all of the same offices (see chart 2).
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Any investigative committees they come to control will abruptly lose interest in Mar-a-Lago’s safes and turn their attention to President Joe Biden’s administration and family.
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they will act as fierce Trump loyalists
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The party’s base is still devoted to Mr Trump (65% net approval in polls) and to his Big Lie about the 2020 election (70% tell pollsters they believe it was stolen from him), and he can focus their ire on anyone whose head rises above the parapet. His power in the party is not absolute. But it is unquestionable.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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This is rare, optimistic, article on EU and Brussels. Author returns after 10 years to Brussels. EU survived 'decennium horribilis'.
EU has not moved into direction of more democarcy. National governments make deals in the late night negotiations. But, while they criticise Brussels, they often pass difficult political issues to the EU.
New mantra is 'a Europe that protects'. But the real question is if EU will manage to protect from problems that are beyond EU's power to shape.
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“we will live in a world determined by others, with stifling constraints on our ability to shape our future”.
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The mantra these days in Brussels is to provide “a Europe that protects”, whether from the vagaries of globalisation, a changing climate or foreign tyrants.
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That model largely endures to this day. This is a disappointment to purists of European integration, for whom the project should aim to mitigate the power of selfish national governments, not enhance it.
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during the euro crisis Brussels became a venue for national leaders to broker late-night deals rather than the home of institutions which themselves made decisions.
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No national watchdog in Europe could boss around an Amazon or Google. The eu’s regulation of such tech giants, in contrast, has given the concerns of Europeans, whether on privacy or rapacious business models, real heft.
Good point on limitations of national governments in handling big tech companies.
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national leaders kick things up to the European level because they realise there is no way any single government can tackle them alone.
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A decade ago the mantra in Brussels was “more Europe”: every problem had a solution that required power to be handed to the eu
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the collective satisfaction of having come through a decennium horribilis in one piece (minus Britain)
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Brussels is brimming with confidence, even as Europe’s prospects look more tenuous. What happened?
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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Something for Sorina and her work on standardisation. It is a very interesting story on the way how the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) works. NIST's work is explained on examples of peanut butter and marijuna/hemp.
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formula is “right on the cusp of a pharmaceutical”, because it is many babies’ sole source of nutrition. Getting exactly the recommended levels of vitamins—not 90%, not 110%—is crucial.
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every foodstuff can be seen as a combination of fat, protein and carbohydrate.
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The nascent nbs worked with iron founders to define the precise alloys that railway-builders should use.
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They need physical embodiments of the standards they define.
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Often they began as repositories for lumps of metal of precisely a kilogram’s mass or a metre’s length, though these fundamental units are now defined in terms of natural phenomena rather than iridium-platinum artefacts.
How standards started?
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Standard methods and units are the bedrock of scientific endeavours from atom-smashing to astronomy.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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He was saying that nato forces and the Ukrainian government had trained him to “eliminate” peace-loving citizens.
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Schools are preparing to start teaching the Russian curriculum
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Ukrainian mobile numbers no longer work.
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Ukrainians can open accounts at one of two new Russian banks, but only if they get a Russian passport.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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China is more complex politically and socially than it is portrayed in most of the Western media. The Economist brings an interesting article on neo-Maoist group 'Red song society'.
The ruling elite walks delicate line of tolerating neo-Maoist to the point that may (in)directly criticise, especially, social policy of the Communist party.
In this case, government-controlled media is trying to stop Red song society through economic fines for misuse of copyright-materials. This court case cannot happen without approval of the Communist Party.
it is interesting that 'economist censorship' is becoming favourite approach in countries worldwide. Instead of closing media outliet, they are forced to close via high fines for breach of copyright law or libel.
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such as whether the party responded forcefully enough to the recent visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi
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their support for Bo Xilai, a red-song-loving rival to China’s then leader-in-waiting, Xi Jinping.
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The neo-Maoists know well that the government watches them warily.
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Among officials, the flare-up of neo-Maoist discontent will not be welcome.
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Neo-Maoist websites, as well as others run by nationalists of a less ideological hue, often serve a useful purpose for the party.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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The future of the United States will determine future of the world. In the center of America's future is future of Donalnd Trump.
This article shows how the raid on Mar-a-Lago compound may shake the very foundation of the United States (and the world).
Mishandling of classified document could be legally sufficient but, politically, most likely not sufficient to stop Trump's return to political leadership.
Fasten seat belts!
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It is tearing at America’s governing institutions.
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the black hole at the centre of its politics.
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what was it about Mr Trump that drew people to him like this? “I don’t think about it…” he called back over his shoulder, with a grin. “Whatever it is, it is.”
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not giving direct orders that might implicate him but speaking “in a code.” The president who had the foresight to bar the White House photographer from his presence on January 6th, and leave no phone trail that day, seems unlikely to have left incriminating evidence lying around Mar-a-Lago.
It is serious insight about Trump's modus operandi.
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The raid appears to stem from an investigation into how he handled classified information
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America faces the possibility of an indicted or convicted candidate winning a presidential election while campaigning against the rule of law.
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The constitution, which spells out the qualifications for serving as president, is silent on the question of a criminal record.
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Mr Trump was able to present himself in his favourite light, as the victim of dark, partisan forces out to protect the establishment by dragging him down.
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“Another day in paradise,”
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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Trust your instinct. Do not overthink. Avoid 'paralysis by analysis'.
These are some advises from the Economist. Big organisations are designed to stamp our instinct, which helped us to survive for centuries as much as our rationality. Should we rethink organisations of modern era? Could a bit of survival instinct help us to save us from crazy decision that may end humanity?
This text opens many questions. Answers could be discovered by intuition. The first step is to decide faster, move on, reflect, adjust, and move on.
We advanced a lot in this direction over the last few years especially on adjusting Diplo's tech and creative activities. Now, we should move to content and courses.
Trust your guts more! There is a lot of intelligence in guts!
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When to use intuition in the workplace rests on its own form of pattern recognition.
Can AI and pattern recognition help intuition? ||JovanNj||||anjadjATdiplomacy.edu||
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Managers often suffer from analytical overshadowing, mulling a simple problem until it turns into a complex one.
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The value of many managerial decisions lies in the simple fact that they have been made at all.
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coming face to face with a lion.
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“I’d like to understand how we are measuring success,”
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completely zoned out
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a succession of choices, a few big and many small: what to prioritise, when to intervene, whom to avoid in the lifts and, now, where to work each day.
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people make over 200 decisions a day about food alone.
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Plenty of research has shown that intuition becomes more unerring with experience.
intuition is condensed experience.
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Gut instincts can also be improved (call it “probiotic management”).
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Processes are increasingly designed to stamp out instinctive responses.
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when to trust your gut and when to test your assumptions
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www.researchgate.net www.researchgate.net
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During impulse propagation in the neurons of the brain, at the level of the synaptic knob of specific neurons, there is the release of Nitric Oxide which is a neurotransmitter. This Nitric Oxide then diffuses into the blood capillaries surrounding the neurons and it is transported to the lungs where it diffuses into the Alveoli and it is expired. The presence of this gas in the outer space influences the thought or state of consciousness of the indi-vidual around the area covered by the gas. This is done through inspiration of the gas which is transported to the brain by the circulatory system where it acts as a neurotransmitter to the neurons specific to it and produces the same thoughts. Much is not to be said about this means of communication because the quantity of gas produce and the area covered are mild
||MilicaVK||||anjadjATdiplomacy.edu||||JovanNj|| Pozdrav svima, Aleksa mi je poslao zanimljiv tekst o naucnoj bazi 'hemije izmedju ljudi' (kako komuniciramo transmiterima. Ovo je zanimljiva tema za 'cognitive proximity', diplomatiju, i sastanke. Pz, Jovan
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www.foreign.senate.gov www.foreign.senate.gov
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Nathaniel Fick was appointed U.S. Ambassador at-large to Cyberspace Policy and Digital Policy. His new title tries to balance tensions between cyber and digital. Will he become a digital or cyber ambassador?
It's also interesting to see that he frames digital foreign policy's approach around the traditional multilateral "trinity" architecture of security, economy and human rights.
SECURITY: he reiterates traditional U.S. approach to cybersecurity. A new element is that it brings cybercrime in proximity to cybersecurity which the U.S. has keeping separate in international relations.
ECONOMY: the focus is on the free flow of data, open/transparent standards, multistakeholder Internet governance, and Open RAN.
HUMAN RIGHTS: he calls for digital freedom and inclusion.
He also plans to develop institutional capacity in the U.S. diplomacy to follow digital/cyber topics.
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meaningfulconsequencesonstatesthatengageinitandthosethatwillfullyharborcybercriminalorganizations.
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forCyberspaceandDigitalPolicy
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govinfo.library.unt.edu govinfo.library.unt.edu
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Recommendation: Information procedures should provide incentivesfor sharing, to restore a better balance between security and sharedknowledge
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is the human or sys-temic resistance to sharing information.
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What all these stories have in common is a system that requires a demon-strated “need to know” before sharing.This approach assumes it is possible toknow, in advance, who will need to use the information. Such a system implic-itly assumes that the risk of inadvertent disclosure outweighs the benefits ofwider sharing.Those Cold War assumptions are no longer appropriate.The cul-ture of agencies feeling they own the information they gathered at taxpayerexpense must be replaced by a culture in which the agencies instead feel theyhave a duty to the information—to repay the taxpayers’ investment by makingthat information available.
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www.euronews.com www.euronews.com
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Russian journalist gets a new fine for ‘discrediting’ the state’s military
Maria Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist, has been convicted by a Moscow court for ‘discrediting’ the Russian military. This is not her first fine, as she is well known for her famous protest against the invasion of Ukraine on live television, according to Euronews. In her Facebook posts, she often calls out the Russian authorities, saying ‘I go to the courts like I go to work.’ Ovsyannikova is just one among Russian citizens who pay fines or even serve prison time of up to 15 years if it is found out they spread the news about the Russian army or entities across borders that are considered to be ‘false.’
You can watch the video of Ovsyannikova’s interruption of state TV news broadcast here.
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curator.diplomacy.edu curator.diplomacy.edu
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In official papers filed with Sri Lankan authorities, the investors say that in early 2020 Shamal Bandara, a Sri Lankan, and Zhang Kai, introduced to the investors as Chinese, had set up “Sports Chain”, which they said was a cryptocurrency investment platform. They are alleged to have run their operations as a Ponzi scheme, a fraudulent venture in which existing investors were paid with funds collected from new investors.
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www.lawfareblog.com www.lawfareblog.com
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In our research on Russian state-backed media coverage of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, we show how attributable state media outlets, posting on Facebook, strategically employed race and racism to simultaneously promote the movement (on some channels) and undermine it (on others).
to find this research ||Jovan||
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coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB)
@jovan New acronymes to be added to our dictionarya nd acronyme database.
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Russia has a long history of “full spectrum” information operations that span the range of available communication mediums.
||Jovan|| Could you find more info on this approach of 'full spectrum' information operations.
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Meta announced plans to demote Russian state-backed media (including regional channels) on Facebook and Instagram,
||Jovan|| Here is an intereting survey of social media monitoring of the Ukraine war.
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TITLE: Role of Telegram and other emerging platforms in the Ukraine war
CONTENT: There is growing concern in the Western countries that Russian propaganda in the Ukraine war is using intensively Telegram and other new social media platforms. While mainstream platforms including Twitter and Facebook/Meta exercised intensive content moderation around the Ukraine war, new platforms have more relaxed approach.
You can consult this article for more details about the challenge of what they call 'unmoderated platform' (not currect description because all platforms are moderated to some extend).
Topic: Content policy, Tag: Ukraine crisis Source: Lawfare
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The Russia-Ukraine war has shown that platforms are not simply neutral or commercial entities: Their policies make them arbiters of geopolitics, and the decisions they make—or don’t make, in the case of Telegram—can mean life or death during times of war, conflict, and violence.
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ncluding non-Western platforms like Telegram
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by using official embassy accounts a
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Telegram limited access to RT and Sputnik channels for those users who signed up with a European phone number, and TikTok adopted some transparency and labeling policies, expediting the rollout of state-backed media labels to Russian state-backed media.
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YouTube blocked Russian state-funded media channels from operating globally,
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transparency and labeling policies.
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to state-backed media
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On TikTok in particular, editorial teams employ millennial language and meme culture that mixes Russian state political content with dance videos and life hacks.
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In the United States during the civil rights movement, for example, incidents of racism were published and amplified by Soviet media as a broader strategic effort to highlight American hypocrisy and undermine the United States’ position on the world stage.
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overt information operations and the rise of social media propaganda on alternative platforms like Telegram.
two key aspects of ongoing information operations
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However, even as the Western conversation focuses on Facebook, Twitter, and Alphabet’s successes and failures, state war propaganda is increasingly prevalent on platforms that offer minimal-moderation virality as their value proposition.
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www.draft2digital.com www.draft2digital.com
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Solve Reader Problems with Better Book Descriptions (for Non-Fiction)
How to draft book description?
||minam||
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rsf.org rsf.org
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RSF is concerned by the appointment of Eddie Cheung as the head of Radio Television Hong Kong
RSF dissaproves the decision Eddie Cheung’s appointment as the head of Radio Televison Hong Kong (RTHK). He was a former territory’s representative to the European Union, known for his involvement in a smear campaign against international media. He is filling the role of another political commissar, Patrick Li, who was also a bureaucrat without previous media experience, with a strong pro-Beijing commitment.
While serving as the Special Representative for Hong Kong Economic and Trade Affairs to the EU, he signed about 58 public letters in which he accused some of major European media of ‘unfounded allegations’ on Hong Kong’s policies.
RSF revealed the systematic censorship and information control by the Chinese regime in Mainland China and Hong Kong in their report titled The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China. The analysis showed that these actions pose a great threat to press freedom and democracy on a global level.
While once being an example of well implemented press freedom, Hong Kong had a downfall from 80th in 2021 to 148th this year according to the RSF World Press Freedom Index.
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cybernews.com cybernews.com
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Finland parliament’s website hit by DDoS launched by Russian hackers
Yesterday, the external websites of the Finnish parliament were inaccessible for a couple of hours due to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack launched by pro-Russian hackers. They explained the reason for this attack as a response to Finland’s aspiration towards joining NATO. This hacker group called NoName057(16) took the responsibility for the attack on their Telegram channel.
In the post, the hackers said that ‘We decided to pay a ‘friendly’ visit to neighboring Finland, whose authorities are so eager to join NATO.’ The DDoS attack happened on the same day US president Joe Biden signed ratification documents regarding Washington’s support for Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
The Finnish parliament replied to this event with this statement: ‘A denial-of-service attack is directed against the Parliament’s external websites. […] The Parliament takes steps to limit the attack together with service providers and the Cybersecurity Center.’
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www.draft2digital.com www.draft2digital.com
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||minam||||viktormATdiplomacy.edu|| Ovo je dobar tekst o psihologiji 'cover page'. Objasnjava dinamiku strane, fontove, nacin citanja, itd.
Pozdrav, Jovan
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It’s all about knowing what works, not about doing what works.
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How well does it scale down?
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if it’s invisible when the cover is shrunken down into a thumbnail.
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what your book cover will look like as a thumbnail.
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Smaller, unobtrusive, unobvious type tucked into the bottom of the page sends a pretty clear psychological message: This author isn’t important.
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ur title can help move the reader’s eye across the page in one direction, and that’s handy. But as a graphic, the title can do the same job in multiple directions, through its style and orientation.
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Titles are written—and we read from left to right. So titles usually need to be in a left-to-right position in our ‘Z’. For example, if you put the title at the top of the book, it’s the top of the ‘Z.’ And the bottom of the book—well, you get the idea.
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Nothing wrecks a pretty picture faster than a title.
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Controlling eye flow in an image allows you to invoke a sense of movement, and thus action. Action sells books. Invoking it is good.
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But a good rule of thumb is to mimic the eye movement of reading. Because your cover can be the primer for the experience you want your will-be reader to have.
eye movement.
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left to right and then down the page, and as that happens you’re engaged and your interest is empowering your comprehension. If your eyes weren’t moving over this page, it would just be blocks of gray—nothing but a sailboat hidden in plain sight.
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is flow.
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The second philosophy to bear in mind for cover imagery is professionalism. The image needs to tell the reader that A) you have the resources and the means to do this work at a standard above the hobby level, and B) you have the kind of respect for your readers that empowers, enables, and compels you to give them your best.
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the reader’s attention to the problem you are solving.
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the non-fiction covers that perform best are nearly always simple in design, with all of the reader’s attention focused on the title and subtitle.
We have to clearly communiate title and sbutitle.
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An image related to your topic is the way to go, but there’s nothing that says you can’t push the symbolism a little.
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We can scan an entire digital page or an entire physical display of books, and in seconds we’ll spot the one or two that make us feel that little twinge of excitement.
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Humans are lazy. We’re constantly looking for ways to shortcut the decision-making process, and that includes looking for anything useful in helping us decide what we should read next.
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Few things sell your book as successfully to a new reader as your cover.
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study.diplomacy.edu study.diplomacy.edu
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TEST Aug 14
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Since the fall of Kabul Afghanistan suffers from a serious lack of press freedom and women journalists are impacted the most
Since the fall of Kabul and the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the impact on media is unquestionable. During the past year, journalism in Afghanistan has been decimated. RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire emphasizes: ‘Media and journalists are being subjected to iniquitous regulations that restrict media freedom and open the way to repression and persecution. The authorities must undertake to end the violence and harassment inflicted on media workers, and must allow them to do their job unmolested.’
When it comes to the slaughtering of press freedom in Afghanistan, women journalists are subjected to it the most. According to RSF’s survey, in the past year, they disappeared in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Out of 2,756 women journalists and media workers who were employed in 2021, only 656 are working today. This downfall resulted in the percentage of 76.19% of women journalists who are no longer working in their homeland. Statistically, 84.6% of female media workers are working in the Kabul region, while recently women TV presenters were being made to cover their faces while presenting on camera. The excuses for harassing female workers are primarily accusations of ‘immorality or conduct contrary to society’s values.’
The overall statistical report on press freedom in Afghanistan shows that both men and women have lost their jobs since the regime change. 7098 journalists are no longer employed which includes 54.52% of men. The number of media outlets also dropped, with 39.59% of them lost.
This media situation is a reflection of Taliban governance, with the impact of the draconian regulations and the inability to respect Afghanistan’s press freedom law.
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RSF warns of violence against Iraqi reporters during protests
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is warning of and condemning the harassing of opposition media in Iraqi Kurdistan. RSF’s Middle East desk said that the brutality against journalists shows a complete refusal for toleration of political pluralism and a desire to suppress this popular protest.
The violence is used as a tool for dispersing not only protesters, but also the journalists who cover it. RSF has gained the information from Metro Center, an NGO that defends journalists’ rights in Iraqi Kurdistan, that there are a total of 78 violations against 60 journalists, including searching, detaintment, prevention from covering protests, and equipment confiscation.
These protests are called by the New Generation leader, Shaswar Abdalwahid in order to demand elections and to denounce “corruption, poverty and unemployment.” Consequently, out of the 26 journalists who were detained shortly, at least ten work for NRT, a TV channel owned by Abdalwahid.
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1106design.com 1106design.com
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we recommend self-publishing through IngramSpark for expanded distribution of paperbacks and ePub eBooks
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if you use KDP for expanded distribution, IngramSpark cannot accept your book—at all (it’s complicated).
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diplomaticacademy.us diplomaticacademy.us
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Diplomats are also managers but they are rarely trained in management skills.
Junior diplomats have often to manage local staff. Heads of missions have to manage complete mission from human resources to financial issues.
This article reflects on unique role of Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) which has to manage diplomatic mission. This role becomes particularly complex and, often, difficult is the head of mission is political appointee as it is often the case in the US diplomacy.
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“If earlier in my career, I had been sent to be a general services officer in the management section in, say, Kazakhstan, and I’d learned how to fix people’s toilets, it probably would have prepared me better to be DCM in Warsaw,” Munter said.
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A novice to diplomacy, Ashe was “grateful” to learn how the system worked and “didn’t boss you around,” Munter said, which was “most of my experience with political appointees.”
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“You are utterly at their mercy” in order to be able to function, Munter added. While still in Warsaw, he also served under a political ambassador, former Knoxville, Tenn., mayor Victor Ashe.
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For months, Lukens “acted as a buffer” between Johnson and the mission’s staff, “essentially protecting the embassy from some of his more outlandish demands.”
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