Anyone

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The bill formally endorsed by the Armenian government on January 9 was drafted by several pro-Western political and civic groups largely loyal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. They collected last year 60,000 signatures in support of their demands for a referendum on joining the EU.

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“I would like to emphasize that the adoption of the bill in itself does not constitute an application for Armenia's membership in the European Union,” Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian said during a two-day parliament debate on the issue.

Hovannisian told lawmakers that the bill is only designed to send a “clear message to the European side about moving our partnership to a qualitatively new stage.”

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Russia has warned that the launch of the EU accession process will mark the “beginning of Armenia's withdrawal from the EEU [Eurasian Economic (EEU), a Russian-led trade bloc].” That exit, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, would push up the cost of Russian natural gas and food imported by Armenia and cause a sharp decline in Armenian exports. Armenian officials have responded by emphasizing that Yerevan has no plans yet to leave the EEU.

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/18388964

Archived

The intensity and danger of hybrid threats, as well as disinformation, has been increasing in recent years, while Russia and China are considered the main actors of these threats, according to experts and diplomat at the recent "Balkan Disinfo 2025" conference, which is being held in Pristina.

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Finnish diplomat Tapio Pysalo said that these two countries are cooperating to spread disinformation, also using artificial intelligence.

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"The intensity and dangerousness of hybrid threats has been increasing in recent years, especially considering Russia and the People's Republic of China as the main threat actors. Their objective above all is to undermine our partnerships by sowing divisions within the EU and NATO, by hindering NATO enlargement, especially the EU in the Western Balkans, by undermining democratic institutions including the credibility of elections, by undermining public trust and by polarizing our societies, thereby affecting the stability of our society."

"The goal is to sow uncertainty, fear, undermining public trust and weakening the support we give to Ukraine. I believe that all of this can also be applied to disinformation as a general trend, and in disinformation we see that both China and Russia have escalated their operations in Europe and the US. Russia has invested heavily in disinformation," he said.

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Consultant specializing in new challenges to election integrity, Ben Graham, emphasized that in the United Kingdom, where he comes from, there is a strengthening of pro-Russian narratives from networks of the People's Republic of China.

But, he added that the numerous electoral processes that marked the past year have created some positive aspects for combating disinformation more effectively [but he emphasizes also that] we must also look at the psychological aspects of why people believe this disinformation and how they can convince people. I think we need to work more eloquently in the opposition".

"We see a greater strategic alignment with our adversaries, we see an increase or strengthening of pro-Russian narratives from the networks of the People's Republic of China, and it is important that we work together to counter them."

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Researcher and digital intelligence expert, especially on manipulation campaigns and foreign information influence, Benjamin Schultz from the United States, stated that due to executive orders received from the new American presidency, an attack on researchers is taking place.

According to him, the US has become a hyper-polarized society.

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/18388964

Archived

The intensity and danger of hybrid threats, as well as disinformation, has been increasing in recent years, while Russia and China are considered the main actors of these threats, according to experts and diplomat at the recent "Balkan Disinfo 2025" conference, which is being held in Pristina.

...

Finnish diplomat Tapio Pysalo said that these two countries are cooperating to spread disinformation, also using artificial intelligence.

...

"The intensity and dangerousness of hybrid threats has been increasing in recent years, especially considering Russia and the People's Republic of China as the main threat actors. Their objective above all is to undermine our partnerships by sowing divisions within the EU and NATO, by hindering NATO enlargement, especially the EU in the Western Balkans, by undermining democratic institutions including the credibility of elections, by undermining public trust and by polarizing our societies, thereby affecting the stability of our society."

"The goal is to sow uncertainty, fear, undermining public trust and weakening the support we give to Ukraine. I believe that all of this can also be applied to disinformation as a general trend, and in disinformation we see that both China and Russia have escalated their operations in Europe and the US. Russia has invested heavily in disinformation," he said.

...

Consultant specializing in new challenges to election integrity, Ben Graham, emphasized that in the United Kingdom, where he comes from, there is a strengthening of pro-Russian narratives from networks of the People's Republic of China.

But, he added that the numerous electoral processes that marked the past year have created some positive aspects for combating disinformation more effectively [but he emphasizes also that] we must also look at the psychological aspects of why people believe this disinformation and how they can convince people. I think we need to work more eloquently in the opposition".

"We see a greater strategic alignment with our adversaries, we see an increase or strengthening of pro-Russian narratives from the networks of the People's Republic of China, and it is important that we work together to counter them."

...

Researcher and digital intelligence expert, especially on manipulation campaigns and foreign information influence, Benjamin Schultz from the United States, stated that due to executive orders received from the new American presidency, an attack on researchers is taking place.

According to him, the US has become a hyper-polarized society.

...

Archived

The intensity and danger of hybrid threats, as well as disinformation, has been increasing in recent years, while Russia and China are considered the main actors of these threats, according to experts and diplomat at the recent "Balkan Disinfo 2025" conference, which is being held in Pristina.

...

Finnish diplomat Tapio Pysalo said that these two countries are cooperating to spread disinformation, also using artificial intelligence.

...

"The intensity and dangerousness of hybrid threats has been increasing in recent years, especially considering Russia and the People's Republic of China as the main threat actors. Their objective above all is to undermine our partnerships by sowing divisions within the EU and NATO, by hindering NATO enlargement, especially the EU in the Western Balkans, by undermining democratic institutions including the credibility of elections, by undermining public trust and by polarizing our societies, thereby affecting the stability of our society."

"The goal is to sow uncertainty, fear, undermining public trust and weakening the support we give to Ukraine. I believe that all of this can also be applied to disinformation as a general trend, and in disinformation we see that both China and Russia have escalated their operations in Europe and the US. Russia has invested heavily in disinformation," he said.

...

Consultant specializing in new challenges to election integrity, Ben Graham, emphasized that in the United Kingdom, where he comes from, there is a strengthening of pro-Russian narratives from networks of the People's Republic of China.

But, he added that the numerous electoral processes that marked the past year have created some positive aspects for combating disinformation more effectively [but he emphasizes also that] we must also look at the psychological aspects of why people believe this disinformation and how they can convince people. I think we need to work more eloquently in the opposition".

"We see a greater strategic alignment with our adversaries, we see an increase or strengthening of pro-Russian narratives from the networks of the People's Republic of China, and it is important that we work together to counter them."

...

Researcher and digital intelligence expert, especially on manipulation campaigns and foreign information influence, Benjamin Schultz from the United States, stated that due to executive orders received from the new American presidency, an attack on researchers is taking place.

According to him, the US has become a hyper-polarized society.

...

Archived

Moldova's Kremlin-Backed Breakaway Region Transnistria Rejects EU Energy Aid Over ‘Russian Blackmail,’ Moldova's Prime Minister Says

Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria rejected 60 million euros ($61 million) in conditional aid from the European Union due to pressure from Russia, Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean said Monday.

Moldova began supplying EU-funded gas to Transnistria on Feb. 1 as part of an initial emergency aid package worth 30 million euros ($31 million). Those supplies were set to expire on Monday.

The EU had pledged an additional 60 million euros, contingent on Transnistria making “steps on fundamental freedoms and human rights.” Recean said the region also needed to “gradually increase” utility costs for consumers to receive the funds.

“Tiraspol refused this solution. Russia does not allow them to accept European aid for fear of losing control over the region,” Recean says.

[...]

Russia’s state-owned Gazprom halted gas supplies to Transnistria on Jan. 1 over an outstanding debt, while Ukraine refused to renew a Russian gas transit agreement.

Pro-Russian authorities in Transnistria have not publicly commented on the reported EU aid rejection. Earlier, the region extended its economic state of emergency over the gas crisis until March 10.

Archived

TLDR

• Umeå in northern Sweden is one of Europe's fastest-growing cities, offering a high quality of life despite the long winter's dark and cold.
• In surveys, 99% of residents say they feel safe during the day, and 90% of women say they are unafraid to walk alone at night.
• Following the trauma of a serial rapist active in the city, authorities have worked hard to eliminate spaces of fear, listening closely to women's needs and concerns in the sphere of public safety.

A look at the statistics casts light into this subarctic darkness: Umeå turns out to be more than just an education hub. The city also occupies top relative positions in terms of its infrastructure, the equality of opportunity, and sustainability. In October 2024, it was named the location in Sweden with the best quality of life. According to the crime statistics, it is the only significant urban center in this country afflicted by gang wars that does not have a neighborhood classified as «vulnerable» by the police.

Within the EU, it is considered a model of sustainable and inclusive urban planning. Fully 99% of residents say they feel safe during the day, regardless of their gender or age. And even at night, almost nine out of 10 women say they are unafraid to walk the streets alone. For comparison: According to the December 2024 survey, about 50% of women in Bern report feeling unsafe at night. In Zurich, 70% of women avoid certain streets and locations after dark.

Something must be different in Umeå. How is it possible to create such a pervasive sense of security in a place where it is constantly dark?

Archived link

As we head into fashion month, we’re taking a step forward to also highlight the impact of our clothing with The Last Stop, a package emphasizing the long journey of our discarded clothing and their often forgotten final stage – somewhere across several cities in the Global South where communities are tasked with the brunt of the impact. In this series, we meet upcyclers and resellers who are at the center of the clothing waste crisis, hear from garment workers who know firsthand how much clothing is being made, and we offer steps you can take to help the problem.

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The declining quality of clothing is working in tandem with insatiable consumption habits to exacerbate the global fashion waste crisis. While we are buying more fast fashion than ever — a report released by the United States Slow Fashion Caucus found that in the last eight years, the rate of textile waste grew 50% — clothing is being made with cheaper, fossil fuel-based materials and with poorer construction due to cost-cutting measures at factories. The Slow Fashion Caucus report also pointed specifically to fast fashion brands that are intentionally making cheaper clothes so consumers will continue to buy more and more.

Says Branson Skinner, cofounder of the Or Foundation, a nonprofit based in Accra working on solutions to problems caused by overproduction, “Certain communities have tried to recirculate clothes, but they are getting less and less material they can do that with — which is ultimately impacting the quality of clothes here too.”

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Even with innovative ways to resell or repurpose textile waste, often it’s not enough. More discarded clothing is coming into Accra [in Ghana] than the community can manage. The lack of landfill infrastructure and the fact that recycling solutions for textiles, especially polyester, are poor at best means clothing ends up in the streets, in water systems, and in small neighborhoods where it piles up or gets burned.

In Chile, a massive fire fueled by fast fashion waste sent plumes of toxic smoke into the environment. And in Indonesia, where more than 2.7% of the globe’s textiles are made, garment workers know that the volumes they are tasked with producing contribute to an issue that will harm their own communities, but they have little choice.

This has become a dire issue across the Global South — and it just got more urgent. On January 2, a massive fire tore through the Kantamanto Market, devastating 60% of stalls, including Grace and Janet’s, and taking the livelihoods of thousands of sellers. Sellers have been trying to manage the textile waste that chokes Ghana's shores, but their ability to do so is even more hindered, a disaster for the environment and the families who now have no source of income. ...

Download the analysis here (pdf)

The implementation of the regulation for a European electronic identity (EUid) based on digital wallets faces new criticism by digital rights groups. One of them, Austria-based Epic, recently published an open letter, and urged the European Commission to close certain loopholes that would lead to severe privacy and transparency problems.

Soon after the letter, the updated implementing acts seemed like a step in the right direction – "until we discovered completely new weak spots that not only endanger user privacy but also contradict the European Parliament’s agreement," Epicenter says in an analysis.

The Commission's new draft contains "privacy and transparency shortcomings [that] undermine trust in the eIDAS ecosystem and the democratic process as a whole. They must be fixed immediately," Epicenter adds.

A core pillar of trust in the eIDAS ecosystem is the public relying party registry. This registry is essential to enable oversight by public watchdogs and to ensure transparency. However, the current system makes it nearly impossible to obtain a meaningful overview of how relying parties are using digital identities – undermining the sole purpose of a transparency register.

The current draft of implementing acts fails to clearly distinguish between cases where a relying party is legally required to identify wallet users and other scenarios where such identification is optional. Practically speaking, the Wallet doesn’t know if it interacts with a bank that has a legal obligation to know who their customers are or Facebook that have no right to identify or track us.

Since the right to use pseudonyms depends on this distinction, it is critical that relying parties explicitly state whether a legal identification obligation applies to them and based on which law in particular. This lack of clarity cancels out the right to pseudonymity and makes the enforcement nearly impossible.

Even more concerning are the controversial changes made behind closed doors, after the public consultation process had already concluded, and at the explicit request of powerful industry players. These changes reintroduce a unique, persistent identifier and extend its scope towards the private sector – assigning users a lifelong, unchangeable digital identity number.

This proposal clearly contradicts the eIDAS regulation. The European Parliament had already drawn a clear red line against such an identifier – and now, it is being reintroduced in an undemocratic manner through an implementing act.

Just started reading this book by J. McKenzie Alexander, Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at London School of Economics (LSE), which is free to download as ePub, Mobi, and pdf.

Nearly 80 years ago, Karl Popper gave a spirited philosophical defence of the Open Society in his two-volume work, The Open Society and Its Enemies. In this book, J. McKenzie Alexander argues that a new defence is urgently needed because, in the decades since the end of the Cold War, many of the values of the Open Society have come under threat once again. Populist agendas on both the left and right threaten to undermine fundamental principles that underpin liberal democracies, so that what were previously seen as virtues of the Open Society are now, by many people, seen as vices, dangers, or threats.

The Open Society as an Enemy interrogates four interconnected aspects of the Open Society: cosmopolitanism, transparency, the free exchange of ideas, and communitarianism. Each of these is analysed in depth, drawing out the implications for contemporary social questions such as the free movement of people, the erosion of privacy, no-platforming and the increased political and social polarisation that is fuelled by social media.

In re-examining the consequences for all of us of these attacks on free societies, Alexander calls for resistance to the forces of reaction. But he also calls for the concept of the Open Society to be rehabilitated and advanced. In doing this, he argues, there is an opportunity to re-think the kind of society we want to create, and to ensure it is achievable and sustainable. This forensic defence of the core principles of the Open Society is an essential read for anyone wishing to understand some of the powerful social currents that have engulfed public debates in recent years, and what to do about them.

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A giant digital clock in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, is counting down the hours until the states join the western European power grid. "We are now removing Russia's ability to use the electricity system as a tool of geopolitical blackmail," Lithuania's Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas said.

Official celebrations are planned across the Baltics, although some consumers worry about disruptions to supply.

Latvia will physically cut a power line to Russia on Saturday and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is to attend a ceremony with Baltic leaders in Vilnius on Sunday.

"This is the last step in our fight for energy independence. We can finally take matters into our own hands," Vaiciunas said.

The Baltic states were once Soviet republics but are now part of the European Union and key NATO members on the frontier with Russia.

They have been preparing to integrate with the European grid for years but have faced technological and financial issues.

The switch became more urgent after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022

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Archived

Recovering South Korean shopaholic-turned-climate activist Lee So-yeon used to buy new clothes almost daily – until a $1.50 winter coat triggered an awakening that stopped her shopping entirely.

While looking at the ultra-cheap padded jacket at an H&M shop in the United States, where she was working at the time, Lee asked herself how any item of clothing could be sold so cheaply.

The 30-year-old embarked on a deep dive into fast fashion production methods and was horrified at the human, social and environmental toll hyperconsumerism is having on the planet – and on the mental health of women who make and buy cheap clothes.

[...]

The reason the clothes are so cheap, Lee learned, is because the women who sew for companies are paid little, while the business model itself is causing significant environmental harm.

[...]

Lee now organises clothing swaps with her friends and family, and has written a book to promote the idea of valuing garments for “the story behind it”, rather than chasing ephemeral trends.

She is part of a small but growing global movement seeking to promote second-hand clothing and help people – especially women – opt out of the cycle of over-consumption.

The app Lucky Sweater provides a platform for users to trade items from their closets with each other, focussing on sustainable brands, founder Tanya Dastyar [said].

[...]

Archived

The European Union and Moldova on Tuesday agreed on an energy security plan aimed at weaning the country off its dependence on Russian supplies and integrating it into the 27-nation bloc’s network.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, said that Moldova would receive 250 million euros ($258 million) this year — 40% of it by mid-April — after Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom cut supplies on Jan. 1.

Daily electrical outages were imposed after hundreds of thousands of people in Moldova’s separatist pro-Russian Transnistria region were left without heating and hot water last month over an alleged $709 million bill for past supplies to Moldova.

The decision by Gazprom, which came into effect a day after a gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expired, halted gas supplies to Transnistria’s gas-operated Kuciurgan power plant, the country’s largest, which provided a significant portion of Moldova’s electricity.

The commission said that its financial package will provide support to consumers in Moldova – a candidate country for EU membership – to help pay their rising electricity bills. Some 60 million euros ($62 million) is earmarked for 350,000 people left in the cold in Transnistria.

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