cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5321003

Archived version

The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to "bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices, and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation," Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said.

The project will be known as "RISK," an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform, and knowledge building, he said at the seminar titled "Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum."

...

"This is not a national project but rather a global partnership," Lin said, calling on stakeholders around the world to join the initiative.

The project is "an open, inclusive, and collaborative platform" to secure a future "where data flows freely and securely, where no nation is left behind, and where connectivity is treated as a public good, not a geopolitical weapon," he said.

At the seminar, a member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said that currently there are more than 600 operational or planned cables worldwide, stretching nearly 1.5 million kilometers.

"These are not just lines of data. They are the nervous system of democratic connectivity," which is under stress, he said.

...

Between 2023 and 2025, there were 12 separate incidents that affected energy lines and undersea cables across the Baltic region, Kols said, adding that he believes they were "acts of sabotage."

Taiwan sits at a vital juncture of the Indo-Pacific's digital infrastructure and is a strategic hub for global connectivity, said Kols, who is from Latvia.

In recent years, Taiwan has repeatedly experienced the consequences of cable disruptions, in instances where local authorities have found damage to cables connecting its outlying islands, the minister said.

...

Asked a question on an annoyingly written post blaming the secretary of defence (or wtf ever the title is) for causing the loss of aircraft. Dude's an absolute idiot, but he didn't personally drive an F/A 18 into the largest body of water known to man.

I have no time for pointless inflammatory bullshit. Put your energy into a useful fight.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5320580

Archived

Researchers from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) analysed the response of four popular chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and DeepSeek) to a range of questions in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian on topics related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Almost one-fifth of responses cited Russian state-attributed sources, many of them sanctioned in the EU. Questions biased in favour of Russia were more likely to include these sources in responses, as did queries related to Ukraine’s military conscription of civilians and the perception of NATO. Some chatbots struggled to identify state-affiliated content especially when it had been disseminated by third-party outlets or websites.

With close to 45 million users in the EU, ChatGPT is close to reaching the threshold for a higher level of regulatory scrutiny from the European Commission as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act, the research firm writes.

Key points of the research:

• ISD tested 300 queries in five languages and Russian state-attributed content appeared in 18 percent of responses. These included citations of Russian state media, sites tied to Russian intelligence agencies, and sites known to be involved in Russian information operations that were surfaced during prior research into chatbot responses.
• Almost a quarter of malicious queries designed to elicit pro-Russian views included Kremlin-attributed sources compared to just over 10 percent with neutral queries. This suggests LLMs could be manipulated to reinforce pro-Russia viewpoints rather than promoting verified information from legitimate sources.
• Among all chatbots, ChatGPT cited the most Russian sources and was most influenced by biased queries. Grok, meanwhile, often linked to Russian-aligned but non–state-affiliated accounts amplifying pro-Kremlin narratives. Individual DeepSeek responses sometimes produced large volumes of state-attributed content, while Google-owned Gemini frequently displayed safety warnings for similar prompts.
• Some topics surfaced more Russian state-attributed sources than others. For instance, questions about peace talks resulted in twice as many citations of state-attributed sources as questions about Ukrainian refugees. This suggests that LLM safeguards may vary in effectiveness depending on the specific topic.
• The language used in queries had limited impact on the likelihood of LLMs citing Russian state-attributed sources. While each model responded differently, the sources surfaced to users were roughly similar across the five languages tested. Spanish and Italian prompted Russian sources that were mostly in English, which appeared in 12 results out of 60, compared to 9 of 60 for German and French (the languages with the lowest rates)

Archived

Researchers from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) analysed the response of four popular chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and DeepSeek) to a range of questions in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian on topics related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Almost one-fifth of responses cited Russian state-attributed sources, many of them sanctioned in the EU. Questions biased in favour of Russia were more likely to include these sources in responses, as did queries related to Ukraine’s military conscription of civilians and the perception of NATO. Some chatbots struggled to identify state-affiliated content especially when it had been disseminated by third-party outlets or websites.

With close to 45 million users in the EU, ChatGPT is close to reaching the threshold for a higher level of regulatory scrutiny from the European Commission as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act, the research firm writes.

Key points of the research:

• ISD tested 300 queries in five languages and Russian state-attributed content appeared in 18 percent of responses. These included citations of Russian state media, sites tied to Russian intelligence agencies, and sites known to be involved in Russian information operations that were surfaced during prior research into chatbot responses.
• Almost a quarter of malicious queries designed to elicit pro-Russian views included Kremlin-attributed sources compared to just over 10 percent with neutral queries. This suggests LLMs could be manipulated to reinforce pro-Russia viewpoints rather than promoting verified information from legitimate sources.
• Among all chatbots, ChatGPT cited the most Russian sources and was most influenced by biased queries. Grok, meanwhile, often linked to Russian-aligned but non–state-affiliated accounts amplifying pro-Kremlin narratives. Individual DeepSeek responses sometimes produced large volumes of state-attributed content, while Google-owned Gemini frequently displayed safety warnings for similar prompts.
• Some topics surfaced more Russian state-attributed sources than others. For instance, questions about peace talks resulted in twice as many citations of state-attributed sources as questions about Ukrainian refugees. This suggests that LLM safeguards may vary in effectiveness depending on the specific topic.
• The language used in queries had limited impact on the likelihood of LLMs citing Russian state-attributed sources. While each model responded differently, the sources surfaced to users were roughly similar across the five languages tested. Spanish and Italian prompted Russian sources that were mostly in English, which appeared in 12 results out of 60, compared to 9 of 60 for German and French (the languages with the lowest rates)

• Clarify U.S. objectives in the rivalry with language that explicitly rejects absolute versions of victory and accepts the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sudan’s civil war has become a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering scale, marked by famine, ethnic cleansing and sexual violence. Over three years, an estimated 150,000 people have been killed, and nearly 13 million have been forced from their homes. But the destruction of Sudan’s cultural heritage has drawn far less attention. Jeffrey Brown reports for our art and culture series, CANVAS.

Fred Hampton Speech: "Why don't you die for the people" [02:27 | AUG 28 2010 | jerbo414 | https://youtu.be/_7F8RfnDhkA]

Transcript:

1. If you ever think about me,
2. and if you think about me [removed]s,
3. and if you ain't gonna do
4. no revolutionary act
5. forget about me.
7. I don't want myself on your mind
8. If your not going to work for the people.
10. Like we always said,
11. If you're asked to make a commitment
12. at the age of twenty,
13. and you say,
14. "I don't want to make a commitment",
15. Only Because of the simple reason that,
16. "I'm too young to die",
17. "I want to live a little bit longer"...
18. What you did is,... you're dead already.
20. You have to understand,
21. That people have to pay
22. the price for peace.
24. If you dare to struggle,
25. you dare to win.
27. If you dare not struggle, then
28. god damn-it, you don't deserve to win.
30. Let me say peace to you.
31. If you're willing to fight for it.
33. Let me say in the spirit of liberation...
34. I've been gone for a little while.
35. At least my body's been gone
36. for a little while.
37. But I'm back now.
38. And I believe that I'm back to stay.
40. I believe that I'm going to do my job.
41. And I believe that I was born,
42. not to die in a car wreck;
44. I don't believe that I'm going to die
45. in a car wreck.
47. I don't believe I'm going to die
48. slipping on a piece of ice;
50. I don't believe I'm going to die
51. because I got a bad heart;
53. I don't believe I'm going to die
54. because of lung cancer.
56. I believe that I'm going to be able to
57. die doing the things I was born for.
59. I believe that I'm going to be able
60. to die high off the people.
62. I believe that I will be able to die
63. as a revolutionary in the
64. international revolutionary
65. proletarian struggle
67. and I hope that each one of you will
68. be able to die in the international
69. proletarian revolutionary struggle
70. or you'll be able to live in it.
71. And I think that struggle's
72. going to come.
74. Why don't you live for the people.
75. Why don't you struggle for the people.
77. Why don't you die for the people.

Over a third of UK workers, 34 per cent, risk being unable to cover their basic needs in retirement, new research from Scottish Widows indicates.

https://archive.is/WW6ji

Their fusion and fission work is very impressive,” the Microsoft Corp. co-founder said of China’s nuclear innovation efforts. The country is investing more in fusion “than the rest of the world put together, times two

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44791055

Archived

Kenyans have been "lured" by recruiters into fighting for Russia in Ukraine, the Kenyan Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday.

Many have ended up detained in military camps across Russia, said the statement signed by Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi.

It did not give any numbers for the recruits, nor how many had been detained or hurt.

The Foreign Ministry said it held a "crucial meeting" last month with Russian officials to help secure their release and repatriation.

Kenyans are being "lured by... corrupt and ruthless agents to travel to Russia and unknowingly find themselves in the Russian military operation," Kenya's Foreign Ministry said.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/37969795

In mid-2025, military sources in Vietnam began circulating unconfirmed rumors that new multi-billion-dollar contracts with Russia were imminent.

Documents from Rostec identify Vietnam under the discreet label “Customer 704.” According to the sources and those documents, one deal could be worth ~$8 billion and include up to 40 new fighter jets.

I would like some ideas or suggestions as I am not sure how to continue with self hosting.

I want to self host images and caldav, maybe documents later as well. These would need to be continuously available to PC clients and Android. There would be a handful of users maximum.

The obvious (?) solution would be Nextcloud, which would do everything I need.

My problem is that I have only one public IP address and the HTTP and HTTPS ports are already in use by Apache.

The second problem is that I already use wireguard to another location, and Android cannot connect simultaneously to several wireguard endpoints. At least as far as I know.

Below, I list the approaches I have considered and the problems / drawbacks I see.

Please comment if I am wrong about something here.

At the moment I am looking at option 4.

Any comments are welcome!

Option 1. Nextcloud AIO publicly available through HTTPS

It needs the HTTP & HTTPS ports which are in use. Otherwise, this would be the go-to for me.

Option 2. Nextcloud AIO through wireguard

I would have to switch between two wireguard instances on Android. There would probably be continuous connection errors and sync problems on apps that try to connect to either location (nextcloud and davx5 for example).

Setup would be a bit compilated for me. AFAIK, I would have to set up a local DNS, self made certificates and a reverse proxy for the Apache server.

Setup would be complicated for all other users as well and require wireguard and manually installed certificates.

Option 3. Nextcloud AIO with tailscale

Setup complicated like #2 and then some?

I have no idea if it works while using the android wireguard app for the other connection I need.

Option 4. Radicale and Ente publicly available

As far as I know, these run on special ports that are not 80 or 443.

Server setup would be slightly complicated.

Client setup would be simple.

Document sync I would have to figure out later (maybe just syncthing or otter setup?).

IMO we have had decades of iterative change and exploration, but no major shifts or innovations. Like there have been many takes on the sounds of a guitar, but when do we get to the age of distortion piano-ish thing but entirely different? It seems like most major cultural shifts come from the cauldron or crucible of hard times. We may be near such a nightmare, so what do our kids create from the ashes?

I got the Meross Smart Matter+Wi-Fi Thermostat MTS300 US running today.

In case anyone is curious about what gets exposed to Home Assistant, here it is!

The installation was some what haphazard. I think I was supposed to install with the Meross app. But I'm not sure if that actually was needed. I think I installed via scanning the Matter code in Home Assistant... and then later it appeared in the Meross app. 🤷

The Meross app exposes fan controls. Also child lock. You can also create a schedule in the Meross app. None of these features are visible in HA. (Also cannot control display brightness via HA. Sad.)

Side question: how do y'all create a schedule for your thermostats? I feel like I shouldn't use Meross' scheduling features and I should keep all the smarts in HA, right? I guess I should create Automations and trigger them based on time of day?

SponsorBlock, Timestamps, and Generated Summary below:

SponsorBlock Timestamps:

1. 0:00.000 - 1:00.000 Preview/Recap
2. 1:00.000 - 12:20.000 Introduction & Show Opening
3. 12:20.000 - 31:30.000 Debating California's Affordability & Housing Crisis
4. 35:06.000 - 44:00.000 The "Grow the Pie" Fallacy & Wealth Inequality
5. 47:22.000 - 56:30.000 Healthcare, "Constraints," and Democratic Party Inaction
6. 59:51.000 - 1:08:00.000 The Zohran Mamdani Case Study & Co-optation
7. 1:18:00.000 - 1:33:00.000 The Future of the Left & Rising Class Consciousness
8. 1:34:23.000 - 1:48:00.000 Newsom's AIPAC Meltdown & The Israel-Palestine Litmus Test
9. 1:55:00.000 - 2:01:50.000 Final Thoughts & Calls to Action
10. 2:01:54.300 - 2:02:07.200 Unpaid/Self Promotion
11. 2:02:07.200 - 2:02:44.221 Endcards/Credits

Video Description:

Marxist economist Richard Wolff returns to Bad Faith along with historian, professor, and Green Party candidate for the governor of California Butch Ware, to forensically break down California governor Gavin Newsom's recent viral appearance on Higher Learning with Van Lathan & Rachel Lindsay. Wolff & Ware weigh in on Newsom evasions in response to questions about the inherent contradictions of capitalism, California's failure to implement Medicare for All, & the "interesting" AIPAC moment, but the Higher Learning interview serves as a jumping off point for a broader and deeper conversation about the future of left politics, Zohran Mamdani, and the limits of the Democratic Party. (It's spooky season, and there's something magical happening with this guest pairing.)

Generated Summary:

"The Most Effective Counter-Insurgency": How the Democratic Party Co-opts the Left (A Case Study of Gavin Newsom)

This episode features a deep dive into California Governor Gavin Newsom's recent interview on the "Higher Learning" podcast. Marxist economist Richard Wolff and Green Party gubernatorial candidate Butch Ware provide a critical analysis of Newsom's positions on housing, the economy, healthcare, and Israel/Palestine, using his interview as a springboard for a broader discussion about the limits of the Democratic Party and the future of left politics.

Major Segments & Timestamps

1. Segment: The California "Affordability Crisis" & The Failures of Capitalism

• Starts: ~12:20 | Ends: ~31:30
• Main Points:
  • Newsom's Argument: Newsom defends his record by pointing to job growth and a "vibrant" California economy, blaming the housing crisis on a "supply/demand imbalance" and local "NIMBY" (Not In My Backyard) opposition. He frames the solution as "Econ 101": building more housing and creating favorable conditions for private developers.
  • Richard Wolff's Rebuttal: Wolff dismantles this, stating that relying on the "profit motive" is the core of the problem. He explains that private developers will only build luxury housing, not affordable housing. He argues for massive public investment and non-profit, cooperative housing models, pointing out that treating housing as a human right, not a commodity, is the real solution.
  • Butch Ware's Rebuttal: Ware calls Newsom's narrative "neoliberal garbage," highlighting California's extreme wealth inequality, high poverty rates, and vast homelessness. He points out that there are already enough vacant units; the problem is corporate landlords like Blackstone hoarding them. His solution is to tax these entities heavily and create a massive public housing sector, like the model in Vienna.

2. Segment: Wealth Inequality & The "Growth vs. Distribution" Shell Game

• Starts: ~35:06 | Ends: ~44:00
• Main Points:
  • Newsom's Argument: When asked about capitalism's role in wealth inequality, Newsom acknowledges the problem but pivots to a "grow the pie" argument. He praises "entrepreneurialism" and says he doesn't "begrudge other people's success," framing the solution as "growth" with "inclusion."
  • Richard Wolff's Rebuttal: Wolff labels the "grow the pie" argument a centuries-old trick used by the rich to avoid addressing the real issue: how the pie is divided. He states that growth alone has never solved inequality and that Newsom's "inclusion" rhetoric is a empty pivot to avoid talking about redistributing wealth and power.
  • Butch Ware's Rebuttal: Ware connects this to Reagan-era "trickle-down economics," which he notes was originally called "horse and sparrow theory" (the idea that if you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through for the sparrows). He argues Democrats are now to the right of Reagan on economics.

3. Segment: Healthcare & The "Constraints" of Power

• Starts: ~47:22 | Ends: ~56:30
• Main Points:
  • Newsom's Argument: Confronted on why Democrats don't support popular policies like Medicare for All, Newsom claims he believes single-payer is "inevitable" but blames "constraints," "pragmatism," and the need for "compromise." He points to expanding healthcare access under Obamacare as a pragmatic achievement.
  • Butch Ware's Rebuttal: Ware states the simple reason: the Democratic Party is a "wholly-owned subsidiary" of corporate donors, including the healthcare industry. He notes that Newsom ran on single-payer and then abandoned it once in office after industry pressure.
  • Richard Wolff's Rebuttal: Wolff eviscerates the "constraints" argument, stating that a real leader would mobilize public pressure to overcome those constraints. He uses the example of President Obama asking for a mass movement and then crushing the Occupy Wall Street movement when it emerged, proving the "constraints" excuse is a hollow justification for inaction.

4. Segment: The AIPAC Meltdown & The Democratic Party's Israel Problem

• Starts: ~1:34:23 | Ends: ~1:48:00
• Main Points:
  • The Newsom Clip: The panel reviews the viral moment where Newsom is asked about taking money from AIPAC. He has a visibly flustered meltdown, repeatedly calling it "interesting" and claiming, "I haven't thought about Apac in years."
  • Panel's Analysis:
    • Briahna & Butch: They see this as a revealing moment of panic. Ware suggests Newsom was caught off-guard by credible journalism from a Black podcast, expecting a softer interview. Both see it as proof of the illicit, unspoken relationship between establishment Democrats and pro-Israel lobbies.
    • Richard Wolff: Wolff expresses shock that a major politician would so blatantly lie in public and be unconcerned about the backlash, seeing it as a sign of impunity.

5. Segment: Zohran Mamdani, Co-optation, and the Future of the Left

• Starts: ~1:18:00 | Ends: ~1:33:00
• Main Points:
  • A Case Study in Co-optation: The discussion uses NY politician Zohran Mamdani as a case study for the pressures faced by leftists inside the Democratic Party. Briahna expresses concern that Mamdani is already moderating his stances on issues like policing and Palestine after winning his primary.
  • Butch Ware's Thesis: Ware powerfully argues that the Democratic Party is "the most effective counterinsurgency organization ever to emerge in modern history," designed to identify, co-opt, and neutralize any truly transformative movement. He quotes Malcolm X that the "white liberal is the most dangerous thing" because they are a "concealed enemy."
  • Richard Wolff's Optimism: Wolff is more optimistic, arguing that the mass support for figures like Mamdani and Bernie Sanders signals a rising "class consciousness" and a turning of the public against capitalism, even if they don't use the word. He believes this shift in mass awareness is a cause for hope.

6. Segment: Final Thoughts & Calls to Action

• Starts: ~1:55:00 | Ends: ~2:01:50
• Main Points:
  • Richard Wolff: Warns about the dangers of AI-generated fake videos and highlights the US's extrajudicial killings off the coast of Venezuela as a terrifying example of resurgent colonialism that is being ignored.
  • Butch Ware: Makes his pitch for his California gubernatorial campaign, emphasizing its grassroots, no-corporate-money model and its commitment to mutual aid and direct action. He positions himself as the only anti-Zionist candidate in the race.

Overall Key Takeaways

• The Democratic Party's Core Problem: Both guests argue the party is fundamentally a capitalist party that serves corporate donors, making it incapable of delivering systemic change on housing, healthcare, or foreign policy (e.g., Israel/Palestine).
• The "Fox vs. Wolf": Butch Ware's use of Malcolm X's analogy frames establishment Democrats (the "fox") as more dangerous than open conservatives (the "wolf") because they pretend to be allies while actively working against working-class interests.
• A Shift in Consciousness: Despite the criticism, there is optimism that public consciousness is shifting, with growing anger over inequality and genocide creating new opportunities for left politics outside the two-party system.

About Channel:

based on the hit tv show

With Briahna Joy Gray

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/37968628

Amazon is preparing to lay off tens of thousands of corporate workers, reversing its pandemic hiring spree. The cuts come months after the retail giant’s CEO warned white-collar employees their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence.

I'm sure the tRump slump has nothing to do with it

DEF CON 33 - Post Quantum Panic: When Will the Cracking Begin, & Can We Detect it? - K Karagiannis

Due to recently published algorithmic improvements (1399 qubits @ 2048 bit key length for Shor's) and leaps being made in quantum computing hardware (IBM Starling @ 200 logical qubits in 2029, and IBM Blue Jay @ 2000 logical quibits from 2033 and on), encryption is in danger of State-sponsored and high end-criminal attacks as soon as 2030. Particularly susceptible are crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, which rely on the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP) and are attackable by Shor's factoring capability on a predictably feasible quantum computer.

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