Links 05/12/2024: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft's PR (Bribery of Media) Agency, UnitedHealthcare CEO Shot Dead (2025)

  • ADF ☛ Reports Detail Forced Youth Conscription in Ethiopia

    Tedla Hirigo, 17, worked as a street vendor in Adama city in Ethiopia’s Oromia region on November 11 when police detained him.

  • ADF ☛ Al-Shabaab Could Capitalize on Somalia-Ethiopia Tensions

    Somali President Hassan Sheik Mohamudhas been so focused on his rift with Ethiopia over its port deal with Somaliland that he might be leaving an opening for al-Shabaab, according to Selam Tadesse Demissie, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

  • ADF ☛ U.N. Honors 25 Years of Protecting African Civilians

    The United Nations recently marked an important anniversary on the continent — 25 years of actively protecting civilians with its peacekeeping missions. On October 22, 1999, the U.N. Security Council ended its observer mission in Sierra Leone and established a new mission, UNAMSIL, with a new mandate permitting its troops to use force. >

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan watching Chinese carrier movements as sources say war games may start this weekend

    Three security sources said chances of Chinese military exercises starting this weekend were high.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Homicides decline as crackdown on high-impact crime intensifies: Tuesday’s mañanera recapped

    After sharing positive security figures in the first half of Tuesday's presser, Sheinbaum made an "inside joke" regarding Trump's latest threat to invade Mexico.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Marcos disavows Philippine impeachment case against Vice-President Duterte

    Lawmakers have little appetite for such a spectacle before midterm elections in May, observers say.

  • JURIST ☛ South Korea president declares martial law amidst political turmoil, with Parliament rejecting the move

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday, accusing the opposition of paralyzing the government with pro-North Korean sympathies. This proclamation adds to an already intense political climate, sparking controversy and eliciting a swift reaction from domestic political actors and international observers.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Air force for hire

    HostAlia Brahimi chats with mercenaries expert Alessandro Arduino, a top China analyst.

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-11-26 [Older] How Often Should You Post on TikTok Per Day to Become TikTok Famous? [Ed: Loaded question; it does not make you famous but merely a tool of the owners of the platform, in this case the Chinese Communist Party]
  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-27 [Older] Romanian Telecoms Regulator Calls for TikTok Suspension Pending Election Probe
  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-11-28 [Older] TikTok’s Role in Political Campaigns: Georgescu’s Strategy and Romania’s Push for Suspension
  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-29 [Older] TikTok, Meta slam Australia's social media ban for under-16s [Ed: Xi and the guy who wines and dines with Trump are upset that a country does something about meddling]
  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-11-30 [Older] The Power of Social Media in Elections: Lessons from Romania’s TikTok Case Study [Ed: Social control media subverts democracies]
  • The Age AU ☛ 2024-12-02 [Older] Too young for TikTok, old enough for jail: How a meaner Australia treats its kids [Ed: Lobbyists of social control media oligarchs use false equivalences; jail is for people who did something wrong]
  • The Register UK ☛ NATO tests aquatic drones to protect cables, coasts

    The war in Ukraine has highlighted the usefulness of aquatic drones for reconnaissance and offensive missions. Ukrainian forces have been using remote-controlled drone boats to attack the Russian navy – when Elon Musk allows them to.

  • Sightline Media Group ☛ New Army-funded tech creates realistic terrain, avatars in simulations

    In recent years, the Army has prioritized modernizing its modeling and simulations, primarily through its Program Executive Office-Simulation, Training and Instrumentation and its Cross Functional Team-Synthetic Training Environment.

    Each of the services are seeking to upgrade and expand use of simulation technology for more cost-effective and safer supplements to live training.

  • Semafor Inc ☛ Trump’s transition running into a litany of early problems

    Yet the consistent chaos and confusion that defined Trump’s first administration are already descending on Washington.

  • New York Times ☛ Opinion | Trump’s Project 2025 May Not Be What It Seemed. It’s Worse.

    Musk’s tweet, which was viewed by 33.2 million people, described Ashley Thomas, a 37-year-old who, The Journal reported, holds “engineering, business and water science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Oxford” and works as the “little-known director of climate diversification” at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which advises “private companies to fund ways to improve living standards in developing countries.” A Finance Corporation official told The Journal that Thomas’s work “is highly technical and is focused on identifying innovations that serve U.S. strategic interests, including bolstering agriculture and infrastructure against extreme weather events.”

  • C4ISRNET ☛ Space Force racing to meet training, testing demands

    Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman has made readiness a top priority for the service and has called on the organizations that write requirements, train guardians and develop test and training infrastructure to move quickly to prepare the force to operate in a more contested space environment.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ OpenAI's new defense contract completes its military pivot

    Today, OpenAI is announcing that its technology will be deployed directly on the battlefield.

    The company says it will partner with the defense-tech company Anduril, a maker of AI-powered drones, radar systems, and missiles, to help US and allied forces defend against drone attacks. OpenAI will help build AI models that “rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators, and improve situational awareness” to take down enemy drones, according to the announcement. Specifics have not been released, but the program will be narrowly focused on defending US personnel and facilities from unmanned aerial threats, according to Liz Bourgeois, an OpenAI spokesperson. “This partnership is consistent with our policies and does not involve leveraging our technology to develop systems designed to harm others,” she said. An Anduril spokesperson did not provide specifics on the bases around the world where the models will be deployed but said the technology will help spot and track drones and reduce the time service members spend on dull tasks.

  • Wired ☛ OpenAI Is Working With Anduril to Supply the US Military With AI

    OpenAI’s technology will be used to “assess drone threats more quickly and accurately, giving operators the information they need to make better decisions while staying out of harm’s way,” says a former OpenAI employee who left the company earlier this year and spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their professional relationships.

  • El País ☛ Texas raises alarm over rising number of unaccompanied children at the border

    “I want the American people to see the impacts of this current border situation that we’ve been in for the last three-plus years and how it impacts unaccompanied children coming across that border,” said Lt. Chris Olivarez, spokesperson for TxDPS, who shared the footage of the two-year-old on social media on November 24. The video shows the young girl holding a yellow post-it note with a name and phone number scribbled on it. The child, originally from El Salvador, was part of a group of over 200 migrants encountered by authorities in Eagle Pass, Texas. Among them were 60 unaccompanied children — the highest number Texas officials have seen in a single day.

  • El País ☛ Jihadists, rebel groups, Kurds... Who’s who in the offensive against the Syrian regime

    An operation led by HTS, with roots in Al Qaeda, and rebels allied to Turkey have made their move on the Syrian chessboard in the face of the ineffectiveness of the regime and its allies

  • Alabama Reflector ☛ UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson killed outside investor conference in New York City

    UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was shot and killed Wednesday morning outside the Hilton in midtown Manhattan, where he was set to address investors.

  • New York Times ☛ CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson Is Shot Outside Midtown Hotel

    At 6:44 a.m., he saw his man. Brian Thompson, 50, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare — the leader of one of the country’s largest companies — walking past in a blue suit toward the entrance to the Hilton.

  • CBC ☛ UnitedHealthcare CEO shot dead in New York by attacker who waited for him, police say

    Security footage obtained by CBC News showed the gun malfunctioned, but the shooter cleared the jam. The gunman also ignored a witness in the video, who escaped from just a metre or two away.

    "Based on the evidence we have so far, it does appear that the victim was specifically targeted, but at this point, we do not know why," Kenny said.

  • LRT ☛ Driving tests in Lithuania to take place only in EU languages

    Under the new order, the theory part of the driving test will be available in Lithuanian or another official EU language. During the practical test, people who do not speak Lithuanian will be allowed to be accompanied by an interpreter who can translate into the official EU language of their choice.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ U.S. Charges Russian Woman Over FSB Contacts – Reports - The Moscow Times

    The United States has charged a Russian woman who engaged with anti-war opposition activists over false statements about her ties with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), a U.S.-based non-profit of pro-democracy Russians said Monday.

    New York resident Nomma Zarubina last month was accused of concealing her 2020 recruitment by an FSB agent under the code name “Alyssa,” according to the Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR).

  • VOA News ☛ From VOA Russian: Russian woman in New York accused of working for FSB: What is known about her?

    The FBI has charged Nomma Zarubina, a Russian national living in New York, with two counts of making false statements to FBI agents regarding her ties to Russian intelligence services.

  • VOA News ☛ Ukraine demands Russia return 'kidnapped' children

    "Ukraine is searching for nearly 20,000 children who were subjected to illegal deportation and forced transfer," said Daria Zarivna, an adviser to Ukraine's president and a senior official at his Bring Kids Back Ukraine initiative.

    "Yet the actual figure could be much higher, but we can't find it out — Russian officials systematically refuse to provide information," Zarivna added.

  • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Trends Drive Top Tracks on the Platform

    In the US, the Top 10 Songs on TikTok inspired 140 million creations on the platform globally, with hits like Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby (VHS),” Lay Bankz’s “Tell Ur Girlfriend,” and Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me.” Sabrina Carpenter also secured the number one spot on the Top Artists list with her viral hits “Espresso,” “Please Please Please,” and “Taste,” which altogether generated over 15 million TikTok video creations.

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ A Better Resistance to Trump Is Possible

    But we also need a broad coalition that includes but is not limited to socialists and can blunt or derail the worst of the crazy right-wing experiment that is about to unfold. Over 48 percent of American voters voted against Trump. The country has plenty of likely recruits for a mainstream resistance movement against Trumpism. Such a movement should organize around issues with a broad popular appeal.

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Woman Arrested In U.S. For Alleged Ties To Russian Intelligence

    A Russian national, Nomma Zarubina, has been arrested on possible charges of providing false information to U.S. law enforcement and maintaining connections with Russian intelligence services, linking her to another suspected spy who fled the United States while being pursued by authorities.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ How the Nordic-Baltic states are leading the way on European security

    If you want to know what’s next for security in Europe, then watch the Nordic-Baltic nations. They may not have a reputation as the heaviest hitters in the transatlantic alliance, but the eight countries—Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden—are becoming increasingly significant players in European security. On November 28, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson hosted his Nordic-Baltic colleagues together with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at Harpsund, Sweden, where they pledged to step up military support to Ukraine and continue to invest in their own deterrence and resilience. Underscoring the increasing importance of the Nordic-Baltic states in European security, French President Emmanuel Macron even called in and joined the conversation.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ How NATO learns and adapts to modern warfare

    Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have had strategic consequences far beyond the region, showcasing the complexities of modern conflicts, where conventional battles are intertwined with cyber warfare, information operations, and hybrid tactics.

  • RFERL ☛ Declassified Documents Show Romanian Elections Targeted By 'Aggressive Hybrid Russian Action'

    Documents declassified by Romania's security council on December 4 said the country was the target of an "aggressive hybrid Russian action" during recent election campaigns, including last month's surprise victory of a pro-Russian far-right candidate.

    The Supreme Council of National Defense declassified the documents, saying they showed that Romania was the target of various coordinated actions leading up to the presidential election's November 24 first round, won by Calin Georgescu.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Will TikTok decide the presidential election in Romania?

    Georgescu's polarizing election campaign videos on TikTok have been viewed millions of times. In them, he not only criticizes Romania's political establishment — often making false claims against politicians — but is also seen doing judo or riding horses, just like the man he so admires, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    When Georgescu won the first round of the election, the surprise and the dismay were huge. Now, the extreme right-wing conspiracy theorist, NATO critic and Putin admirer has a chance of being elected president of Romania on Sunday.

    Many observers are convinced that social media platforms — and above all TikTok — played a major role in Georgescu's success.

  • EDRI ☛ TikTok breaches electoral legislation in Romania

    Analyses have examined many social causes for the surprise win, such as social and political turmoil and economic problems. However, the Romanian NGOs highlight a clear and important role that TikTok has played in the surprising results, given the platform is one of the most important online forums for national debates.

    The platform has catalysed the electoral content of an extremist candidate, allowing posting from coordinated fake accounts and failing to flag its content as election advertising. The winning candidate claimed that he has spent no financial resources during this campaign.

  • Wired ☛ Lasers Are Making It Easier to Find Buried Land Mines

    In response, US researchers developed a technology to detect land mines indirectly, and which could detect both metal and plastic mines. Lambdis works by sending a vibration into the ground while at the same time scanning the area with a laser beam. Materials in the ground will vibrate at different frequencies, as will the soil itself, and these differences are picked up by the laser when it is reflected back to its emitter. The Lambdis system then generates an image that visualizes these vibrations and their locations in different colors—creating a map of things buried in the soil.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Links 05/12/2024: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft's PR (Bribery of Media) Agency, UnitedHealthcare CEO Shot Dead (2025)

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