World News

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18113590

Archived

International Communication Centers, or ICCs, have been sprouting up across China at a blistering rate since 2018. Tasked with leveraging local expertise and fusing traditional and new media to amplify the Party’s external propaganda, their story is one we have been following closely for years. But one part of the PRC has remained a grey area on the map — the part of the country perhaps most in need of positive spin, the far-western Xinjiang region.

Then, in late December 2024, Xinjiang’s branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China (网信新疆) announced the launch of the Xinjiang International Communication Center (新疆国际传播中心), housed in its own purpose-built offices in regional capital Urumqi.

[...]

A New Propaganda Nexus

Xinjiang Daily credits the new ICC with helping it to build a “matrix of foreign propaganda products.” One of the products they list is a website called Tianshan Net (天山网), which features videos from the new ICC and publishes content in English, Kazakh, Russian, and Uyghur. As we have written about before, China now conceives of external propaganda as an all-of-society effort pulling in various government and Party institutions. ICCs are not just production centers but hubs that serve to weave these different threads together.

[...]

Despite [...] efforts to reel in tourists with its “ethnic minorities” — majorities in much of the region — Xinjiang is best known internationally for subjecting its ethnically Turkic and predominantly Muslim population to what the UN calls crimes against humanity. More than anywhere else in the country, Xinjiang needs to refurbish its reputation. Yet while ICCs have spread throughout wealthier provinces to the east, Xinjiang has had most of its overseas propaganda created by outlets headquartered in Beijing like Xinhua and the People’s Daily.

[...]

Throughout 2024, Xinjiang’s government worked hard to cast off its poor reputation. In May, a special International Communication Research Center brought together members of the regional propaganda department to brainstorm new ways to “tell Xinjiang’s story well.” China’s annual World Media Summit also came to the regional capital [of Xinjiang], with executives from international news outlets like Reuters, AP, and CNN rubbing elbows with their counterparts at Xinhua, People’s Daily, and China Media Group.

[...]

Xinjiang’s ICC, despite the long wait and the lofty expectations ascribed to it, is unlikely to give us any new, innovative content. But it’s merely one more weapon in what they have called “a smokeless war” for global public opinion.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53215812

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53217263

Archived

A months-long open source investigation by Bellingcat and publishing partner Postimees has identified a trove of more than 1,000 online adverts selling six of the most common types of nitazenes and offering worldwide delivery.

The investigation team analysed the websites, social media accounts and contact details related to the ads, and searched business registries for information on companies associated with the drug sales.

It established that a series of entities linked to the advertisements match listings for companies on China’s corporate register — including one registered company that is advertising scores of nitazenes online.

Requests for public information, including court files and customs records, uncovered additional evidence linking nitazenes shipments seized in Europe back to China.

[...]

Nitazenes are up to 40 times more powerful than fentanyl and up to 500 times more potent than heroin. Even trace quantities of these drugs can lead to respiratory failure and it can sometimes take up to six or seven shots of an opioid overdose-reversing drug to save lives, rather than a single shot.

Since 2019, nitazenes have been found all over the world, including in at least 20 European countries, the US, Canada, and Australia.

[...]

Advertisements for nitazenes have infiltrated all corners of the internet: from an Australian sport fishing forum and a Congolese media outlet, to a Singaporean property site and ISSUU, a major publishing platform.

They were found on dozens of websites, including prominent Asian-headquartered marketplaces targeting international buyers, such as TradeFord, TradeKey, TradeAsia and IndiaMART. The ads also appeared on LinkedIn and the social media site X.

The platforms that responded to questions from Bellingcat last week pledged to pull nitazenes ads from their websites, but at the time of publication listings for the drugs still littered the internet.

Often, the suppliers of nitazenes are listed as Chinese companies. But these organisations are shape-shifting entities. Sellers hide behind opaque business structures: they regularly change addresses, use multiple emails and phone numbers, and promote contact via messaging platforms such as Telegram. Some appear to photoshop their names onto images of large factories. Many use generic photographs of young models or celebrities to market their drugs.

[...]

An additional executive order meant to "protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public threats" is undeniably meant to apply to pro-Palestinian protesters across America, particularly on college campuses.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53201664

A Russian court awarded more than 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of damages against the biggest Western bank in Russia, Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), in a landmark ruling underscoring the perils of doing business in Russia.

The case, in which lawyers for Raiffeisen accused the court of using intimidation tactics, is one of the most significant rulings against a Western company still operating in Russia, with one of the largest awards of damages yet.

[...]

Almost three years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, RBI's continued presence in Russia underlines the lingering ties between Moscow and Vienna - with Vienna having served as a hub for cash from Russia and former Soviet states.

That bond put Raiffeisen and Austria on the front line of a global push by the United States to isolate Russia by reinforcing sanctions on banking and choking off access to Western goods after it invaded Ukraine.

[...]

"This lawsuit, with a huge number of gross violations, is an attempt to force the sale of blocked assets through a Russian court," Andrei Timchuk, partner at Delcredere, representing Raiffeisen Bank, said in a statement.

[...]

"The court hearing was attended by unidentified armed people in balaclavas, whom the court sat next to the defendant with the obvious goal of exerting additional pressure," he said.

[...]

The dispute followed the failure of an earlier deal that Raiffeisen hoped would allow it unlock some of its frozen billions in Russia.

The case was centred on a claim by Russian investment company Rasperia against builder Strabag, its Austrian shareholders and the Russian arm of Raiffeisen.

RBI had sought to buy a stake in Vienna-based Strabag from Rasperia, which Strabag had linked to Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53161995

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/36008883

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53181465

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53195760

https://archive.is/DxN1a

Archived

The founder of British clothing brand All Saints has said he would be “horrified” if fast-fashion firm Shein is allowed to list in London, describing the Chinese-founded company as the “worst” offender in the sector.

“Fast fashion really has changed the whole industry, because it’s now like a race to the bottom… The planet cannot afford it,” Stuart Trevor, who founded All Saints in 1994, says.

With the average consumer purchasing double the amount of clothes as 15 years ago and keeping it for half as long, emissions from the industry have skyrocketed.

“Everybody’s got wardrobes full of clothes that they don’t wear,” Trevor said. “We’re never going to stop people from buying clothes, but it would be better if we could encourage people to create longer-lasting items of clothes.”

[...]

The Singapore-based firm Shein is currently aiming for an initial public offering (IPO) in London, although the IPO is facing signifcant scrutiny from MPs and human rights groups.

Leigh Day, the lawyers for Stop Uyghur Genocide (SUG), delivered a dossier of evidence alleging supply chain abuses to Shein’s senior lawyer for EMEA, Yinan Zhu, prior to an appearance before MPs last week.

The dossier is said to show “clear, identifiable links between cotton production in the Uyghur region and forced labour”.

Shein was widely criticised for its responses to MPs’ questions, where it declined to answer questions over the company’s supply chain. The firm’s representative, Yinan Zhu, asked if she could write to the committee following the hearing.

“Their performance at that inquiry was quite shocking… but it was also a bit of a sigh of relief,” Trevor said. “Hopefully now [the listing] won’t happen.”

[...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18107314

Thai officials had tried to persuade the detainees [who were detained in Thailand in 2014 after fleeing increasing repression in their hometown in China's Xinjiang province] to sign forms consenting to be sent back to China. When they realised what was in the forms, they refused to sign them.

The Thai government has denied having any immediate plans to send them back. But human rights groups believe they could be deported at any time.

[...]

The last time Thailand deported Uyghur asylum seekers was in July 2015. Without warning, it put 109 of them onto a plane back to China, prompting a storm of protest from governments and human rights groups.

The few photos that were released show them hooded and handcuffed, guarded by large numbers of Chinese police officers. Little is known about what happened to them after their return. Other deported Uyghurs have received long prison sentences in secret trials.

The nominee for Secretary of State in the incoming Trump administration, Marco Rubio, has promised to press Thailand not to send the remaining Uyghurs back.

Their living conditions have been described by one human rights defender as "a hell on earth".

They are all being held in the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in central Bangkok, which houses most of those charged with immigration violations in Thailand. Some are there only briefly, while waiting to be deported; others are there much longer.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53195593

https://archive.is/ou4Xd

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53183051

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53181729

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53181572

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53181794

Original link in German

A Russian disinformation campaign is seeking to boost the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of the country's election on Febryuary 23, an investigation by the German Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS) has found.

CeMAS tracked a total of 630 German-language posts with typical double-track patterns were documented on X from 17 December 2024 to 14 January 2025, the organization says. The contributions reached a total of over 2.8 million views by January 15, 2025. Due to the nature of this metric, this figure is to be considered as a rough guide, for example because of the artificial distribution of the contributions by the campaign itself. For the 630 contributions, only a few responses from apparently uninvolved accounts could be recorded, which were also mostly critical.

The so-called Doppelgaenger campaign, created after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine to undermine Western support for Kyiv, spreads links to falsified Western news outlets sharing false information, according to a German foreign ministry report published last June.

The German posts on X have blamed the Greens party for Germany's economic woes, lambasted Chancellor Olaf Scholz (from the Social Democratic Party for his support of Ukraine, cast the conservatives as untrustworthy but spoken in favour of the right-wing AfD, according to the report.

While 79 posts were based on images and did not contain a link, 63 articles referred to authentic articles from existing German media such as Focus, Spiegel, Welt or Handelsblatt, which focused primarily on economic problems. It is assumed that these articles were instrumentalized in the sense of the campaign goal, as they fit into the narrative, CeMAS says.

The new initiative will be rolled out across 27 stations and feature "additional visual storytelling capabilities," Allen Media Group says.

Archived

Slovak psychiatrists have raised serious concerns about the state of democracy in the country in an open letter, accusing Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD/NI) of aggressive, polarising rhetoric and a foreign policy that threatens Slovakia's standing in the EU and NATO.

According to the signatories of the letter, Fico’s aggressiveness and emotional explosiveness in his public speeches became more pronounced after the assassination attempt in May 2024.

Addressing Fico directly, the psychiatrists stressed that his current political behaviour is causing frustration and dissatisfaction among a significant part of the Slovak population, leading an increasing number of people to consider leaving the country.

They accused him of being authoritarian, manipulating facts, lying and attacking journalists, members of the public and political opponents.

By Sunday evening, 155 psychiatrists had signed the letter, and the number continues to grow.

In the letter, they say that Fico’s domestic policy is primarily focused on consolidating power for himself, his party, and his coalition partners while neglecting critical issues of the state, such as lagging infrastructure development, the struggling education system and health care.

[...]

Fico's stance on Russia has become increasingly problematic, especially after he visited Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatened Ukraine for halting gas transits.

[...]

“We hope in your capacity for self-reflection and the possibility of correcting your political behaviour, including the consideration of leaving high-level politics,” the letter concluded.

Fico speaks of Maidan

In his response to the letter, Fico threatened the initiators of the letter - psychiatrists Professors Jozef Hašto and Anton Heretik.

[...]

“I do not doubt for a second that you will support the opposition's attempt at a Slovak Maidan, which the Slovak opposition, with the full support of foreign-funded NGOs and the anti-Slovak media, is working hard on,“ Fico said in a Facebook post.

Long known as one of Africa's great beach destinations, a new generation of Sierra Leoneans is eager to show visitors that the formerly war-torn nation is now safe and reintroduce it to the world.

Sitting in the shade of a palm tree on Tokeh Beach, one of Sierra Leone's many postcard-worthy, white-sand waterfronts, Peter Momoh Bassie told me his story. "I am not ashamed to say I was part of the rebels because I was captured by force," he said, looking out over the emerald-coloured water. "I never killed anyone," he added.

Stories like Bassie's abound in Sierra Leone, a small nation in West Africa with more than 300km of coastline sandwiched between Guinea and Liberia. The country's 11-year civil war that ended in 2002 killed more than 50,000 people and displaced 2.6 million more. The rebels captured Bassie when he was just 11 years old. He was held captive for six years, managing to escape – and get caught again – three times.

Today, Bassie works as a tour guide for Tourism Is Life, one of many Sierra Leonean travel companies eager to show the world that the nation is now safe and introduce visitors to its many rainforests, beaches and rich cultural experiences.

Retelling stories like these is at the heart of what Bimbola Carrol does. Twenty years ago he founded VSL Travel after seeing mostly negative coverage of his country. "I felt that if we were looking to get back on our feet, we needed to show people another side of Sierra Leone," he told me.

Today, Carrol organises a range of trips: to the small village of Rogbonko in the Northern Province where travellers can stay in thatched-roof huts with the local community, or to the Western Peninsula near Freetown to spot the white-necked rockfowl, one of Africa's rarest and most peculiar birds. "Everyone who comes to Sierra Leone falls in love with our nation," said Carrol. "We are lagging behind other countries, but the world is starting to take note. For me, that is cause to be optimistic about the future."

Archived

The authorities are trying to ensure that Russians do not notice the war, and people are trying to get used to it and live their normal lives. However, there are those who cannot do this — primarily the wives, mothers, and other relatives of those who are at war or in the army during wartime. It would seem that they should have reassessed their attitude towards what is happening — but no, a study by the Public Sociology Laboratory (PS Lab) has shown. IStories publishes excerpts from the report.

In previous studies, PS Lab showed that most Russians justify the war without being its convinced supporters (PS Lab calls them “non-opponents” of the war) — they were helped in this by the attitude towards the state, formed over the years of Putin's rule, as an entity separate from the people and which they cannot influence. Also, the fact that Russians justify not the war itself, but themselves, and how, because of the war, they have stopped thinking about the future.

[...]

[Some statements by Russian mothers whose sons are on the frontline in Ukraine as cited by a recent study by PS Lab:]

“When he [my son] was taken, they immediately told him that he would go to serve in Crimea. <…> I started looking for information… and seemed to calm down. <…> But then suddenly I found out that those demobilized soldiers who were stationed there on the border… They were suddenly bombed. And allegedly there are casualties. <…> Well, of course, I looked for this information on the internet. I didn’t find it there. Accordingly, it’s possible that it wasn’t posted. I found a bunch of other information instead, which shocked me. <…> Well, I realized that this is an unsafe territory for children to be in.” (Russian mother, about 44 years old, quality inspector at a factory)

[My son] started having problems with his legs, with his veins, he was getting worse and worse. He was already having difficulty moving. <…> And that's when I started ringing the alarm bells, realizing that they weren't even putting him in the hospital (Russian mother, about 50 years old, school administrator)

[Russian citizen] Anna’s son spent a significant part of his service in various medical institutions, in one of which he was beaten so that he “wouldn’t complain,” but he was only able to receive a diagnosis and the necessary medical care after demobilization. The stories told by the mothers of conscripts show: the army easily accepts those who should not be there, but has difficulty letting them go.

My son was injured there [In Ukraine], defending the homeland, but he’s no longer entitled to any payments. He ruined his health. He left healthy, and now his eyesight has deteriorated, and everything, and his speech is gone. But the state said: “If he had been wounded, he would have received [payments]. But this way — no.” How can one feel and what can one say, tell me? (Russian mother, about 50 years old)

There [in the army] are a lot of problems. And if the government was sort of expecting to declare such hostilities — they should have prepared better. Then I am very surprised by the fact that there are very few children of officials in this war… The media talks so much about patriotism... And now it turns out that our children, who were driven there, are [fighting] — just mobilized. Where is our contract army then? (Russian mother of conscript, about 44 years old, quality inspector at a factory)

[...]

The unwillingness [among Russian citizens] to blame the state for their troubles and condemn the war stems, on the one hand, from the experience of interacting with the state — confusing and often meaningless. Who is to blame if it is not always clear what happened and who to contact? On the other hand, this unwillingness to blame reflects the perception of many people of the state as an unpredictable force that acts according to its own laws: it takes children, moves them, returns them crippled, dead, or does not return them at all. It is useless to fight such a state, therefore it is useless to criticize it — this is how many mothers of mobilized soldiers and conscripts reason. Except that sometimes you can try to get small concessions from it.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18095419

Archived

For the past six months, several pro-war Telegram channels have been calling on Russian-speaking residents of Europe to spy on NATO military sites and report their findings through a special bot. Recruits are instructed to photograph military bases and purchase local maps, guidebooks, and SIM cards to send to Russia.

[...]

Over the past year, authorities in several European Union countries have accused Russian intelligence of orchestrating sabotage on their soil. In Estonia, more than a dozen individuals were arrested and charged with carrying out orders from Russian operatives. The allegations included desecrating national monuments and targeting the property of public officials and journalists.

In Latvia, individuals were reportedly recruited to spy on a NATO airbase and commit acts of vandalism in military barracks. According to journalists from Re:Baltica, the recruitment was conducted via Telegram. Two men in Latvia are also currently on trial for attempting to set fire to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.

In April 2024, German prosecutors announced the arrest of two individuals with dual Russian and German citizenship on suspicion of planning arson attacks and bombings at industrial and military sites. And back in 2023, the Polish authorities arrested a group accused of planning to sabotage trains carrying weapons and supplies to Ukraine, allegedly acting on Russian orders.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53111515

https://archive.is/2yI9Q