Like, I'm probably answering myself here but I think it is pointed out by gatekeepers who can't stand the idea of community growth and everything should adhere to some other unfound arbitrary way to keep things 'pure' in a community.

When they forget that they too, started out as new and that they too probably have had other people sneer at them for simply being new. So now they go around and pretend this is some kind of ultimate shut-down insult to people who're just trying to contribute to the fediverse by devaluing it by saying "OH U JUST SOME DAY OLD ACCOUNT, NOBODY SHOULD MIND THEM!".

Whoops.

So, with the Cloudflare outage, I have found my self hosted services are not accessible outside of the home. I use a SWAG reverse proxy from linuxserver.io and bought my domain through cloudflare. I'm fairly new at this stuff, so is this a secure way of doing things? Does cloudflare have access to my data? I'm fairly new at this, so I apologize if this is a silly question. Is there some way to self host what cloudflare does?

- I would encourage @elena to cover both options - VPS and locally / selfhosted in a guide to setting up Yunohost - and include plenty of references to doc.yunohost.org/en/admin/get_… - I'd also encourage you to include some suggestions on areas/things that its worth learng a little more about (e.g. DHCP, some basic routing, Firewalls/Portforwarding )
RE: aseachange.com/users/elena/sta…

I really dont like this centralization of the internet into a few gigantic companies having every site under their wings. And then something goes wrong and millions of web sites are affected.

It also gives these companies the power to shut down any of their user sites.

On the other hand, handling a ddos attack is hardly possible without them these days.

thankfully the two websites I use aren't edit: chatGPT is down but deepseek isn't... scratch one more chinese victory.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5665932

Here is an Invidious link to the video (1 min).

Hollywood actor [and Tibet activist] Richard Gere says Canada should not pivot to a stronger relationship with China just because of its currently strained relationship with the United States.

He says he is worried about that strain but says that won’t last forever and it is problematic for Canada to make “corrections” in its relationship with China as a result of the issues with the U.S.

...

"If you look what's happened around the world with the arrangements the Chinese have made, [it is clear that] they haven't turned on well for anybody," Gere said. "I'd be very, very sceptical of these arrangements."

...

Gere was on Parliament Hill on what is known as Tibet lobby day, an annual event that advocates for the rights and freedoms of Tibetans.

Gere’s philanthropy work includes advocating for human rights in Tibet and supporting the Tibetan independence movement.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet and the head of Tibetan Buddhism who was forced into exile in 1959 after an uprising by Chinese troops.

Liberal MP James Maloney, whose Ontario constituency is home to the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, welcomed Gere in a statement before question period today, before most MPs gave the actor a standing ovation.

...

In the video, Gere warns of

A 14-year-old autistic boy from Jaffa, who is charged with security offenses, will continue to be held in prison, even after being sexually assaulted there, a Tel Aviv court ruled on Sunday.

In his decision, Judge Ala Masarwa ruled that the parties in the proceedings will appear in one week for a hearing where his defense attorney will propose alternatives to detention to him and the probation officer handing the case.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45823936

Archived

Beijing has mastered the art of punching above its weight in multilateral organizations to wield substantially more influence than its membership positions otherwise entitle it to. This is true in a variety of organizations, from the World Health Organization to the multilateral development banks. But perhaps the best example is the United Nations (UN), which is treated by the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP) less as a neutral forum and more as an arena to rewrite norms in its favour.

[...]

Over the last decade, Chinese diplomats have pursued a systematic campaign to place loyal nationals in senior UN posts, leveraging financial contributions, vote trading, and bilateral pressure. Since 2019, Chinese nationals have headed four UN specialized agencies—the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the UN Industrial Development Organization—each critical to setting international standards.

[...]

This concentration of influence gives Beijing disproportionate sway over how global norms are written, codified, and monitored. The heads of these agencies shape global standards for digital infrastructure, aviation safety, and industrial technology—fields central to China’s long-term economic and security strategy.

[...]

While China still casts fewer vetoes on the UN Security Council than Russia or the US, when it does, it is overwhelmingly in tandem with Moscow, shielding regimes accused of atrocities in such countries as Syria, North Korea, and Sudan. An analysis of voting patterns shows that China consistently backs states resisting Western-led resolutions on human rights and accountability.

Beijing has also mastered the UN’s procedural grey zones. An in-depth Washington Post investigation revealed how Chinese government-linked NGOs—many explicitly pledging loyalty to the CCP—exploit consultative status in Geneva to disrupt human-rights hearings, harass dissidents, and dilute references to abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Nearly half of all Chinese NGOs accredited at the UN are effectively extensions of the state. By weaponizing the openness of the UN system, Beijing converts what was meant to be a platform for civil society into a shadow arm of state influence.

[...]

While boasting of its growing contributions, Beijing has also become notorious for delayed payments to the UN, at times holding back dues for nearly a year and deepening the organization’s liquidity crisis. Simultaneously, its voluntary funding—directed toward specific programs in development, technology, or infrastructure—channels money into projects that amplify Chinese influence rather than universal priorities. The result is quiet leverage: financial dependency that deters criticism.

[...]

Leadership contests for key agencies are often uncontested by Western candidates, and funding cuts have left the field open to states willing to pay without any questions. Beijing fills the vacuum, not by brute force but by relentless attendance—showing up, lobbying, and organizing, while others retreat.

If this continues, the UN of the next decade may resemble something closer to a managed marketplace of state narratives than a rules-based community. The remedy is not abandonment but engagement: reclaiming influence by competing seriously for leadership posts, funding independent oversight, and building coalitions of democracies and reform-minded states that still believe in transparency and accountability. The UN cannot be saved by nostalgia. It will survive only if its largest non-Chinese stakeholders treat it as worth defending from within.