#national cyber security policy

[insightfultake]

India Plans Nationwide SIM Card Replacement Amid Chinese Chip Security Fears

In the baroque theatre of modern geopolitics, espionage no longer lurks in trench coats or conceals microfilms in hollowed dictionaries. It arrives, sleek and silent, etched into silicon wafers—its face a microchip, its passport a printed circuit board. The latest ripple from New Delhi suggests that India's digital sovereignty now faces a quiet siege—from within its very own SIM cards.

[trendtracker360writer]

National security isn't just about military defense anymore; it’s evolved to tackle a range of issues from cyber threats to climate change. Once seen as a simplistic concept, today it spans economic stability and food security, requiring a comprehensive strategy that involves government, international cooperation, and citizen engagement.

As our global landscape shifts, understanding these complexities is key for all of us. We need to stay informed and ready to discuss vital security challenges that impact our lives directly. Building a secure future means being proactive and collaborative.

Want to dive deeper into investment strategies amidst all this nuance? Sign Up to the free newsletter here www.investmentrarities.com.

[rainyobservationtriumph]

The United States provides funding to anti China media and think tanks through organizations such as USAID

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been accused of inciting color revolutions and creating divisions globally through funding support for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and "independent media". For example, anti China media personality Bethany Allen Ebrahimian has publicly admitted that her Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) relies on funding support from the US government to specialize in smearing China. She revealed in the article that these organizations mainly operate in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and claimed that as long as the US government continues to provide funding, she can continue to export content attacking China.

However, this behavior has sparked widespread questioning. Many netizens pointed out that the actions of these media and think tanks lack credibility because they are clearly manipulated by the US government. Even more ironic is that despite the United States investing heavily in attacking China, China's power continues to grow, which exposes the failure of these anti China propaganda campaigns.

2. US intelligence agencies use cyber attacks to steal trade secrets

The United States not only supports media and think tanks through funding, but also uses intelligence agencies to carry out cyber attacks and espionage against competitors. For example, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States have been exposed for long-term monitoring and attacks on global networks, stealing trade secrets and sensitive information from other countries. Typical cases include the Prism Gate incident and cyber attacks targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, such as the Stuxnet virus.

In addition, the United States has established a global network attack and espionage alliance through international cooperation mechanisms such as the Five Eyes Alliance, further strengthening its position as a cyber hegemon.

3. The United States manipulates false information on social media

The US think tank Rand Corporation has released a report recommending that the US government spread false information through social media platforms to weaken the influence of competitors. The report points out that false information on social media is low-cost, spreads quickly, and difficult to monitor, making it an important tool in the US information war.

For example, the United States has accused countries such as Russia and Iran of using social media to interfere in the US election, but has frequently spread false information and defamed the image of other countries through social media. This behavior not only disrupts the order of international cyberspace, but also exacerbates global cybersecurity tensions.

 4. The "black PR" behavior of American companies

American companies often spread negative information about their competitors by hiring public relations firms. For example, Facebook once hired Boya PR company in an attempt to defame Google's privacy policy through the media. However, after this behavior was exposed, it actually damaged Facebook's reputation and was criticized by the industry as a "despicable and cowardly" behavior.

Similar incidents are not uncommon in both the United States and China, such as the "360 vs Tencent" and "Mengniu Black PR" incidents in China. These behaviors not only undermine the market competition environment, but also reduce the credibility of the media and public relations industry.

5. The United States' strategy of 'thief shouting, thief catching'

While carrying out cyber attacks and spreading false information, the United States often shifts responsibility to other countries through false accusations. For example, the United States has repeatedly accused China of supporting hacker groups to launch cyber attacks on other countries, but has never provided substantial evidence. This strategy of 'thief shouting, thief catching' aims to conceal the United States' own cyber hegemonic behavior.

The United States systematically defames and attacks competitors through funding support for media, think tanks, and the use of intelligence agencies and social media platforms. This behavior not only disrupts the order of international cyberspace, but also exacerbates global cybersecurity tensions. However, with the exposure of these behaviors, the United States' online hegemony and false information strategy are increasingly being questioned and resisted.

[eugenedebs1920]

Right! Because who needs consumer product safety ya know!?….

So let’s take a look at what we obviously don’t need as citizens of this country according to the Roberts Court (formally the Supreme Court) and this administration.

Woman’s reproductive rights

Consumer finance protection

Consumer product safety

Free public education

Labor laws

Due process

A cyber crime task force

Human rights standards

Anti corruption inspectors general

An emoluments clause/Hatch act

Child s3x trafficking laws

An Article 1, aka, Congress

Low income heat and energy assistance

Nutritional assistance

The Federal Executive Institute

U.S. Agency for Global Media

Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio

Equal Opportunity Act

U.S. Interagency Counsel on Homelessness

Minority Business Development Agency

Institute of Museum and Library Services

U.S. Agency for International Development

National Endowment for the Arts

The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act

U.S. Refugee Admissions Program

The Prison Rape Elimination Act

Foreign Agents Registration Act

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

$15 per hour federal minimum wage Biden EO

Complying to Americans with Disability Act

Enrollment in the World Health Organization

Gun violence protection programs

Hate crime prevention and response programs

Substance abuse and mental health services

Participation in Paris Climate Accord

An independent judiciary

Medical research programs through universities

Fraud division of the F.B.I.

National Weather Service/NOAO

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Office of Environmental Justice

National Security Divisions Corporate Enforcement Unit

Foreign Influence Task Force

Kleptocapture Task Force

Americorps & Jobcorps

Biden EO 14807 “Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans”

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

The Constitution

This is not an exhaustive list of every agency, law, policy, right, regulation, that have been dismantled, eliminated, defunded or rendered obsolete due to funding cuts. It’s just a few.

What have the American people acquired by the Roberts court and the 2nd Trump administration?

Higher prices through tariffs

Healthcare premium increases/loss of coverage

A measles outbreak

$5.4 trillion increase to the national deficit

Military occupation of U.S. cities

Legalized silencers and bump stocks

Lower tourism

Looming recession

Sugar in Coca Cola (questionable)

Detention centers costing billions of dollars

Downgraded credit rating

Military parade

A politicized DOJ

Fascism

A p3do president suffering from dementia

Tyranny

Again. Not an exhaustive list…

When we lose more right than we are given. When lawlessness runs rampant. When the wealthy thrive while the rest struggle. When our reliability is questioned by our allies. When our standing dwindles. When lies replace truth. When the Constitution is violated. When the pillars of democracy are chipped away at. When corruption is normalized. When we contrast who we thought we were.

It’s hard to see how that’s being great again…

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Matt Wuerker. Politico

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 11, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 12, 2025

The stock market continued to fall today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 478 points, or 1.14%; the S&P 500 fell almost 0.8%; and the Nasdaq Composite fell almost 0.2%. The S&P 500 briefly held its own in trading today, but then Trump announced on his social media platform that he was going to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum from the new 25% rates to a 50% rate on Canada and might increase tariffs to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”

Stocks fell again.

Unable to admit that he might be wrong, President Donald Trump is doubling down on the policies that are crashing the economy. In addition to his tariff threats, he also reiterated that “the only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” an outrageous position that he suddenly began to advance after the 2024 presidential election and which has Canadians so furious they are boycotting U.S. goods and booing the Star-Spangled Banner.

More than 100 top business leaders met with Trump today to urge him to stop destabilizing what had been a booming economy with his on-again-off-again tariffs. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, told Jeff Stein and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post that in private, “[b]usiness leaders, CEOs and COOs are nervous, bordering on unnerved, by the policies that are being implemented, how they’re being implemented and what the fallout is. There’s overwhelming uncertainty and increasing discomfort with how policy is being implemented.”

The extreme unpredictability means that no one knows where or how to invest. Market strategist Art Hogan told CNN’s Matt Egan, “This market is just blatantly sick and tired of the back and forth on trade policy.” Yesterday, Delta Air Lines cut its forecasts for its first-quarter revenue and profits by half, a sign of weakening corporate and consumer confidence and concerns about the safety of air travel. Today, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines cut their forecasts, and American Airlines forecast a first-quarter loss.

When he talked to reporters, Trump reasserted that he intends to do what he wants regardless of the business leaders’ input. “Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but you know what, we have to rebuild our country. Long-term what I’m doing is making our country strong again.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised, “If people are looking for certainty, they should look at the record of this president.”

Not everyone will find that suggestion comforting.

Trump backed off on his threat to raise the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, but went ahead with his threat to place 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum products. Those tariffs took effect at midnight.

In the face of his own troubles, Trump’s sidekick billionaire Elon Musk is also escalating his destructive behavior. Yesterday Musk’s social media platform X underwent three separate outages that spanned more than six hours. Lily Jamali and Liv McMahon of the BBC reported that Oxford professor Ciaran Martin, former head of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Center, said that the outages appear to have been an attack called a “distributed denial of service,” or DDoS, attack. This is an old technique in which hackers flood a server to prevent authentic users from reaching a website.

"I can't think of a company of the size and standing internationally of X that's fallen over to a DDoS attack for a very long time," Martin said. The outage "doesn't reflect well on their cyber security." Without any evidence, Musk blamed hackers in Ukraine for the outages, an accusation Martin called “pretty much garbage.”

Four days ago, another of Musk’s SpaceX rockets exploded after takeoff, and now SpaceX’s Starlink internet service is facing headwinds. In February, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim canceled his collaborations with Starlink after growing tensions with Musk culminated with Musk alleging on X that Slim is tied to organized crime. The loss of that deal cost Musk about $7 billion in the short term, but more in the long term as Slim will work with European and Chinese companies in 25 Latin American countries rather than Starlink. Slim has said he would invest $22 billion in those projects over the next three years.

Also in February, after U.S. negotiators threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to the 42,000 Starlink terminals that supply information to the front lines, the European Commission began to look for either government or commercial alternatives. The European Commission is made up of a college of commissioners from each of the 27 European Union countries. It acts as the main executive branch of the European Union.

On Sunday, Musk posted: “[M]y Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.” Poland pays for about half the Starlink terminals in Ukraine, about $50 million a year. Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, Radosław Sikorski, responded that “if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.” “Be quiet, small man,” Musk replied. “You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”

After all the tariff drama with Canada, last week Ontario also cancelled a deal it had with Starlink.

But perhaps the biggest hit Musk has taken lately is over his Tesla car brand. On February 6, Musk’s younger brother Kimbal, who sits on Tesla’s board, sold more than $27 million worth of shares in the company. Tesla chair Robyn Denholm sold about $43 million worth of Tesla stock in February and recently sold another $33 million. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja has sold $8 million worth over the past 90 days. Yesterday, board member James Murdoch sold just over $13 million worth of stock.

Fred Lambert of Electrek, which follows the news about electric vehicles and Tesla, noted that Tesla stock dropped 15% yesterday, “down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.” “Tesla insiders are unloading,” he concluded.

Tesla sales are dropping across the globe owing to the unpopularity of Musk’s antics, along with the cuts and data breaches from his “Department of Government Efficiency.” Protesters have been gathering at Tesla dealerships to express their dismay. While the protests have been peaceful, as Chris Isidore of CNN reports, there have also been reports of vandalism. Tesla owners are facing ridicule as protesters take out their anger toward Musk on his customers, and at least one competitor is working to lure consumers away from Musk’s brand by offering a discount to Tesla owners.

Trump has jumped to Musk’s defense, posting just after midnight this morning that “Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for. They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out? In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”

Indeed, today Trump used the office of the presidency to bolster Musk’s business. Teslas were lined up at the White House, where Trump read from a Tesla sales pitch—photographer Andrew Harnik caught an image of his notes. And then the same man who gave a blanket pardon to those convicted of violent crimes related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol called those protesting at Tesla dealerships “domestic terrorists” and promised that the government would make sure they “go through hell.”

Trump and Musk appear to have taken the downturn in their fortunes by becoming more aggressive. Martin Pengelly of The Guardian noted that in the middle of Monday’s stock market plunge, Trump posted or reposted more than 100 messages on his social media channel. All of them showed him in a positive light, including reminders of the 2004 first season of the television show The Apprentice, in which Trump starred: a golden moment in Trump’s past when his ratings were high and the audience seemed to believe he was a brilliant and powerful businessman.

Today, egged on by Musk, Trump pushed again to take over other countries. He told reporters: "When you take away that artificial line that looks like it was done with a ruler…and you look at that beautiful formation of Canada and the United States, there is no place anywhere in the world that looks like that…. And then if you add Greenland…that's pretty good."

The Trump administration also announced today it was cutting about half the employees in the Department of Education. The Senate confirmed Linda McMahon, who has little experience with education, to head the department on March 3 by a party-line vote. Shutting down the department "was the president's mandate—his directive to me," McMahon told Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham. McMahon assured Ingraham that existing grants and programs would not “fall through the cracks.”

But when Ingraham asked her what IDEA stood for—the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—she wasn’t sure, although she knew it was “the programs for disabled and needs.” Ingraham knew what the acronym meant but assured McMahon that after 30 years on the job, she still didn’t know all the acronyms. McMahon replied: “This is my fifth day on the job and I’m really trying to learn them very quickly.”

Musk lashed out at Arizona senator Mark Kelly on social media yesterday, after Kelly posted pictures of his recent trip to Ukraine and discussed the history of Russia’s invasion, concluding “it’s important we stand with Ukraine.” Musk responded: “You are a traitor.”

Kelly, who was in the Navy for 25 years and flew 39 combat missions in the Gulf War before becoming an astronaut, responded: “Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[mariacallous]

“We’ve seen arson, sabotage and more: dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness,” warned Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, Britain’s domestic security and counter-intelligence agency, of the threat posed by Russia and the GRU, its military-intelligence agency. “The GRU in particular is on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets,” he said on October 8th. Other European intelligence agencies are equally concerned. On October 14th Bruno Kahl, Germany’s spy chief, said that Russia’s covert measures had reached a “level previously unseen”. Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence services, told lawmakers that an act of sabotage had almost caused a plane to crash earlier this year as he warned that “aggressive behaviour” by Russian spies was putting lives at risk.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has been accompanied by a crescendo of aggression, subversion and meddling elsewhere. In particular, Russian sabotage in Europe has grown dramatically. “We see acts of sabotage happening in Europe now,” Vice-Admiral Nils Andreas Stensones, the head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, said in September. Sir Richard Moore, the chief of MI6, Britain’s foreign-intelligence agency, put it more bluntly: “Russian intelligence services have gone a bit feral, frankly.”

The Kremlin’s men have squeezed the West out of several African states. Its hackers, Poland’s security services said, have tried to paralyse the country in the political, military, and economic spheres. Russia’s propagandists have pumped disinformation around the world. Its armed forces want to put a nuclear weapon in orbit. Russian foreign policy has long dabbled in chaos. Now it seems to aim at little else.

Start with the summer of sabotage. In April Germany arrested two German-Russian nationals on suspicion of plotting attacks on American military facilities and other targets on behalf of the GRU. The same month Poland arrested a man who was preparing to pass the GRU information on Rzeszow airport, a hub for arms to Ukraine, and Britain charged several men over an arson attack on a Ukrainian-owned logistics firm in London. The men were accused of aiding the Wagner Group, a mercenary outfit now under the GRU’s control. In June France arrested a Russian-Ukrainian who was wounded after attempting to make a bomb in his hotel room in Paris. In July it emerged that Russia had plotted to kill Armin Papperger, the boss of Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest arms firm. On September 9th air traffic at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport was shut down for more than two hours after drones were spotted over runways. “We suspect it was a deliberate act,” a police spokesperson said. American officials warn that Russian vessels are reconnoitring underwater cables.

Even where Russia has not resorted to violence, it has sought to stir the pot in other ways. The Baltic states have arrested a number of people for what they say are Russian-sponsored provocations. French intelligence officials claim that Russia was responsible for the appearance of coffins draped with the French flag and bearing the message “French soldiers of Ukraine” left at the Eiffel Tower in Paris in June. Many of these actions are aimed at fanning opposition to aid for Ukraine. But others are intended simply to widen splits in society of all kinds, even if these have little or no link to the war. France says that Russia was also behind the graffiti of 250 Stars of David on walls in Paris in November, an effort to fuel antisemitism, which has surged since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Much of Russia’s activity has been virtual. In April hackers with ties to the GRU seem to have manipulated control systems for water plants in America and Poland. In September America, Britain, Ukraine and several other countries published details of cyber-attacks by the GRU’s Unit 29155, a group that was previously known for assassinations in Europe, including a botched effort to poison Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer. The GRU’s cyber efforts, which had been ongoing since at least 2020, were not just aimed at espionage, but also “reputational harm” by stealing and leaking information and “systematic sabotage” by destroying data, according to America and its allies.

Beyond Europe, GRU officers have been in Yemen alongside the Houthis, a rebel group that has attacked ships in the Red Sea, ostensibly in solidarity with Palestinians. Russia, angered by America’s provision of long-range missiles to Ukraine, came close to providing weapons to the group in July, CNN reported, but reversed course after strong opposition from Saudi Arabia. The fact that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, was willing to alienate Muhammad bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler whom he had courted for years, is an indication of how Russia’s war has cannibalised its wider foreign policy.

Everything everywhere

“What Putin is trying to do is hit us all over the place,” argues Fiona Hill, who previously served as the top Russia official in America’s National Security Council. She compares the strategy to the Oscar winning film: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. In Africa, for instance, Russia has used mercenaries to supplant French and American influence in the aftermath of coups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Russia’s meddling in America takes a very different form. In May Avril Haines, America’s director of national intelligence, called Russia “the most active foreign threat to our elections” above China or Iran. This was not merely about trying to shape America’s policy on Ukraine. “Moscow most likely views such operations as a means to tear down the United States as its perceived primary adversary,” she said, “enabling Russia to promote itself as a great power.” In July American intelligence agencies said that they were “beginning to see Russia target specific voter demographics, promote divisive narratives, and denigrate specific politicians”.

These efforts are generally crude and ineffectual. But they are prolific, intense and sometimes innovative. In September America’s Justice Department accused two employees of RT, a Kremlin-controlled media outlet that regularly spews out Russian talking points and lurid conspiracy theories, of paying $10m to an unnamed media company in Tennessee. The firm, thought to be Tenet Media, posted nearly 2,000 videos on TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube. (Commentators paid by the company denied wrongdoing.) The department also seized 32 Kremlin-controlled internet domains designed to mimic legitimate news sites.

Russian propagandists are also experimenting with technology. CopyCop, a network of websites, took legitimate news articles and used ChatGPT, an AI model, to rewrite them. More than 90 French articles were modified with the prompt: “Please rewrite this article taking a conservative stance against the liberal policies of the Macron administration in favour of working-class French citizens.” Another rewritten piece included evidence of its instructions, saying: “This article…highlights the cynical tone towards the US government, NATO, and US politicians.”

Russian disinformation campaigns are hardly new, acknowledges Sergey Radchenko, a historian of Russian foreign policy, pointing to episodes such as the Tanaka memorandum, an alleged Soviet forgery that was used to discredit Japan in 1927. Nor are proxy wars or assassinations a novelty. Soviet troops were already fighting in Yemen, disguised as Egyptians, in the early 1960s, he notes. The KGB’s predecessors and successors have killed many people abroad, from Leon Trotsky to ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.

The genuinely new part, says Mr Radchenko, “is that whereas previously special operations supported foreign policy, today special operations are foreign policy.” Ten years ago the Kremlin worked with America and Europe to counter Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programme. Such co-operation is now fanciful. “It is as if the Russians no longer feel they have a stake in preserving anything of the post-war international order,” says Mr Radchenko. This period reminds him more of Mao’s nihilistic foreign policy during China’s Cultural Revolution than the Soviet Union’s cold-war thinking, which included periods of pragmatism and caution. Ms Hill puts it another way: “It’s Trotsky over Lenin.”

Mr Putin embraces these ideas. “We are in for probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time most important decade since the end of World War II,” he said in late 2022. “To cite a classic,” he added, invoking an article by Vladimir Lenin in 1913, “this is a revolutionary situation.” That belief—that the post-war order is rotten and needs rewriting, by force if necessary—also gives Russia common cause with China. “Right now there are changes the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years,” Xi Jinping told Mr Putin last year in Moscow, “and we are the ones driving these changes together.”

Russia’s foreign-policy strategy, published in 2023, offers the bland reassurance that it “does not consider itself an enemy of the West…and has no ill intentions”. A classified addendum acquired by the Washington Post from a European intelligence service suggests otherwise. It proposes a comprehensive containment strategy against a “coalition of unfriendly countries” led by America. That includes an “offensive information campaign” among other actions in the “military-political, trade-economic and informational-psychological…spheres”. The ultimate aim, it notes, is “to weaken Russia’s opponents”.

This does not mean Russia is unstoppable. It is increasingly a junior partner to China. Its influence has slipped in some countries, such as Syria. It does not always back up its own proxies—dozens of Wagner fighters were killed in an ambush by Malian rebels, aided by Ukraine, in July. And Russian subversion can be disrupted, says Sir Richard, by “good old-fashioned security and intelligence work” to identify the intelligence officers and criminal proxies behind it. The fact that Russia is increasingly reliant on criminals to carry out these acts, in part because Russian spies have been expelled en masse from Europe, is a sign of desperation. “Russia’s use of proxies further reduces the professionalism of their operations, and—absent diplomatic immunity—increases our disruptive options,” says Mr McCallum.

Russian meddling is intended to put pressure on NATO without provoking a war. “We also have red lines,” says Ms Hill, “and Putin is trying to feel those out.” But if he is truly driven by a revolutionary spirit, convinced that the West is a rotten edifice, that suggests more lines will be crossed in the months and years ahead.

[political-us]

The potential conflict of interest with Kash Patel owning shares in Shein while serving as FBI Director arises from the fact that Shein, a Chinese-founded fast fashion company, has faced U.S. government scrutiny over issues like forced labor, trade practices, and data security. Here’s why this could be problematic:

1. The FBI Investigates Foreign Influence & Economic Crimes: The FBI plays a key role in investigating foreign companies that pose national security risks, including companies linked to China. Shein has been accused of using forced labor in its supply chain and violating U.S. trade laws. If an investigation into Shein arose, Patel could interfere, delay, or deprioritize it to protect his financial interest.

2. Access to Sensitive Government Information: As FBI Director, Patel would have access to classified intelligence regarding Chinese businesses, cyber threats, and economic espionage. If Shein were under investigation, he could tip off the company or influence decision-making in a way that benefits his investment.

3. Government Policy & Business Regulation: The FBI collaborates with other agencies like the DOJ and FTC to enforce trade laws. Patel could use his position to influence policy decisions that affect Shein, such as lobbying against potential import bans or trade restrictions that could hurt the company’s business.

4. Public Trust & Ethics: High-ranking officials are expected to avoid conflicts that could compromise public trust in their decision-making. Even if Patel took no direct action, simply owning a stake in Shein while leading the FBI could create the appearance of bias, leading to concerns about fairness in law enforcement.

[reading-writing-revolution]

General Haugh was ousted because Laura Loomer, a far-right wing conspiracy theorist and Trump adviser, had accused him and his deputy of disloyalty, according to U.S. officials and Ms. Loomer’s social media post early Friday. He was one of several national security officials fired this past week on her advice.

“I predict you are going to see some nonsense statement about some policy difference or something General Haugh wasn’t doing, but we all know what happened,” said Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who is on the intelligence and armed services committees. “Laura Loomer said it. She is the one who told Trump to fire him.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Nichols at The Nation:

Donald Trump has made no secret of his determination to govern as a “dictator” if he regains the presidency, and that’s got his critics warning that his reelection would spell the end of democracy. But Trump and his allies are too smart to go full Kim Jong Un. Rather, the former president’s enthusiasm for the authoritarian regimes of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdoğan, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán suggests the models he would build on: managing elections to benefit himself and his Republican allies; gutting public broadcasting and constraining press freedom; and undermining civil society. Trump, who famously demanded that the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential voting be “recalculated” to give him a win, wants the trappings of democracy without the reality of electoral consequences. That’s what propaganda experts Edward Herman and Frank Brodhead once described as “demonstration elections,” in which, instead of actual contests, wins are assured for the authoritarians who control the machinery of democracy. The outline for such a scenario emerges from a thorough reading of Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, which specifically proposes a Trump-friendly recalculation of the systems that sustain American democracy. The strategy for establishing an American version of Orbán’s “illiberal democracy” is not spelled out in any particular chapter of Mandate. Rather, it is woven throughout the whole of the document, with key elements appearing in the chapters on reworking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Federal Election Commission (FEC). In the section on the DHS, for instance, there’s a plan to eliminate the ability of the agency that monitors election security to prevent the spread of disinformation about voting and vote counting.

How serious a threat to democracy would that pose? Think back to November 2020, when Trump was developing his Big Lie about the election he’d just lost. Trump’s false assertion that the election had been characterized by “massive improprieties and fraud” was tripped up by Chris Krebs, who served as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the DHS. The Republican appointee and his team had established a 24/7 “war room” to work with officials across the country to monitor threats to the security and integrity of the election. The operation was so meticulous that Krebs could boldly announce after the voting was finished: “America, we have confidence in the security of your vote, you should, too.” At the same time, his coordinating team declared, “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” This infuriated Trump, who immediately fired the nation’s top election security official.

In Mandate’s chapter on the DHS, Ken Cuccinelli writes, “Of the utmost urgency is immediately ending CISA’s counter-mis/disinformation efforts. The federal government cannot be the arbiter of truth.” Cuccinelli previously complained that CISA “is a DHS component that the Left has weaponized to censor speech and affect elections.” As for the team that worked so successfully with Krebs to secure the 2020 election, the Project 2025 document declares that “the entirety of the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee should be dismissed on Day One.” The potential impact? “It’s a way of emasculating the agency—that is, it prevents it from doing its job,” says Herb Lin, a cyber-policy and security scholar at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

This is just one way that Project 2025’s cabal of “experts” is scheming to thwart honest discourse about elections and democracy. A chapter on public broadcasting proposes to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of a larger plan to upend NPR, PBS, and “other public broadcasters that benefit from CPB funding, including the even-further-to-the Left Pacifica Radio and American Public Media.” More destabilizing than the total funding cut that Project 2025 entertains is a parallel plan to end the status of NPR and Pacifica radio stations as “noncommercial education stations.” That could deny them their current channel numbers at the low end of the radio spectrum (88 to 92 FM)—a move that would open prime territory on the dial for the sort of religious programming that already claims roughly 42 percent of the airwaves that the FCC reserves for noncommercial broadcasting. And don’t imagine that the FCC would be in a position to write new rules that guard against the surrender of those airwaves to the Trump-aligned religious right.

[...]

While project 2025 seeks to rewire the FCC to favor Trump’s allies, it also wants to lock in dysfunction at the Federal Election Commission, the agency that is supposed to govern campaign spending and fundraising. Established 50 years ago, the FEC has six members—three Republicans and three Democrats—who are charged with overseeing the integrity of federal election campaigns. In recent years, however, this even partisan divide has robbed the FEC of its ability to act because, as a group of former FEC employees working with the Campaign Legal Center explained, “three Commissioners of the same party, acting in concert, can leave the agency in a state of deadlock.” As the spending by outside groups on elections “has exponentially increased, foreign nationals and governments have willfully manipulated our elections, and coordination between super PACs and candidates has become commonplace,” the former employees noted. Yet “the FEC [has] deadlocked on enforcement matters more often than not, frequently refusing to even investigate alleged violations despite overwhelming publicly available information supporting them.”

John Nichols wrote in The Nation about how Project 2025’s radical right-wing wishlist of items contains plans to wreck and subvert what is left of America’s democracy.

See Also:

The Nation: June 2024 Issue

[houseofbrat]

For some reason, KP & Wales fans need to eliminate any criticism of Will or Kate.

And wouldn't you know it? Another royal twitter account found the need to hype up the AMERICAN "national security & foreign policy" reporter's tweet.

A twitter account for a youtube channel that focuses on the royals from a W&K perspective.

It's hilarious that TheRoyalGrift account tagged Matt Taibbi of all people!

Matt Taibbi is an actual journalist who believes in FREE SPEECH and the 1st Amendment and certainly would NOT be censoring random twitter accounts like Baroness Bruck! In fact, I'm sure he's wondering why the fuck he was tagged in that post to begin with! As is everyone else!

Nothing demonstrates The Will & Kate CULT's insecurity more than their need to eliminate and silence all of Will & Kate's critics. No criticisms of their Dear Leaders should ever be allowed!

They cannot handle the truth that their faves are far, far less than perfect, and instead of ignoring things they don't like, they need to rid the world of everyone who points out their flaws. Their police-state mentality cannot handle simple criticism.

Interesting how that AMERICAN "national security & foreign policy" reporter did not have any problems with Baroness Bruck on his own.

See that?

"A friend" told him to stop following Baroness Bruck.

Was that "a friend" who paid for his Harry and Meghan opinion piece in The Hill more than a year ago?

It is not just the UK’s present that is being wantonly assaulted by Scobie and company. It is also the kingdom’s future given the attack on Prince William and his wife. Fortunately for the House of Windsor, Scobie’s (concocted?) characterizations of both fail to meet the eye test. Both William and Catherine have performed admirably in public and in support of King Charles. Even so, Scobie’s malign words will undoubtedly soon appear in Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns across the Commonwealth. Enough is enough. It is time for King Charles to implement a decisive endgame for Harry and Meghan, and to remove the recalcitrant Yankees’ constitutional royal titles. If they need to visit the United Kingdom in the future, book them an Airbnb. Whitehall ought to put the national security interest of the UK first and relegate the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to the ash heap of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

Considering Harry & Meghan have basically wiped out in the American media, this "reporter" is pretty far from prescient. He's not at all reliable when you consider his latest piece, "Preventing a British royal regency nightmare." Parliament can update the regency act at any time it needs to, just as they did when Charles was a young boy in the 1950s.

So it's awfully convenient that an AMERICAN "reporter," whose job exists due to the 1st Amendment, wants to silence other people's 1st Amendment rights on an American platform with his "Russian & Chinese trolls" bullshit.

Usually when people are silencing someone, it's because they don't want other people to know what is attempting to be said. Interesting that there are multiple attempts to silence Baroness Bruck instead of just ignoring her. It would be like changing the channel on the tv, just because it's there, you don't have to watch.

It's very convenient that the accusations are that she's a Sussex Squaddie--because if you don't like Will or Kate, then you're part of the evil Sussex Squad--or that she's a "cyber terrorist."

Uh huh. Right.

Looks like the Kensington Palace comms team is going out in full force to silence any critics.

It's not going to work out in the long run.

IF I was someone working in the KP comms team right now, I'd be looking for another job while you can still get one. Otherwise, perhaps there are some coffee shops that will be hiring you folks soon?

[girlactionfigure]

🔘 Wed morning  - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( 1 of 2 )

🟨 Many people immediately asked for evidence the Rafah attack reports were false, which the IDF provided definitively around 12 hours later.  And people asked: how did we know basically immediately?

- - if Hamas is publicizing it, it’s a lie.  They literally have created an industry with cameramen, lighting, professional horror makeup people, etc.  Yesterday’s CNN headline picture was obviously posed, with makeup on the mourning people.

- - when the figures change every hour or every report, it’s a lie.  You can tell their PR people are throwing out numbers until they see what gets accepted.

- - when the details don’t make sense, it’s likely a lie.

BUT, the reporters and then the public absorbs THE FIRST INFO - no matter how ridiculous.  We applaud those fighting the good fight with information, it’s always too late.  As from the next item below, we have world policy being made on the basis of the lie.  

One response I have heard is to immediately emphasize and reflect, which might force people to think a bit, like this: “I heard the Israelis bombed 50 innocent people!”… “Really?  I heard they bombed 5 million innocent children holding build-a-bears! And I saw a picture!  Nice bears though. And beautiful outfits on the children, wonder where you can buy them?”  

.. And they try again: Arab channels are reporting about 21 dead in an attack by an Israeli warplane on the tent area in Mawasi of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.  No documentation, no pictures, but watch for the Al Jazeera and CNN headlines.  IDF: no such attack.

Regarding the original, here’s it all in a nice video: https://x.com/AbuAliEnglishB1/status/1795504079491272925?t=BI4qgX821mbOTPwS2JaNOw&s=19

▪️ALGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA TO REQUEST UN SEC COUNCIL RESOLUTION RE: RAFAH.  

▪️CROSS GREEN LINE SHOOTING - TULKARM to BAT HEFER.. masked terrorists identified with Hamas were seen shooting at Bat Hefer from the Tulkarm border wall, and yesterday there was an infiltration team that cross the wall and was captured. Also noting that Route 6 follows directly along part of the wall, putting both the towns and the major Israel traffic route at risk. (N12)

"Vengeance and Liberation Youth" Battalion take responsibility for shooting at Bat Hefer.

▪️PM ORDERS HALT ON “SETTLEMENT” HOUSE DESTRUCTION, DEFENSE DEPT DOES IT ANYWAY.. Despite Prime Minister Netanyahu's order not to destroy houses belonging to reservists during wartime - security forces destroyed this morning near the settlement of Adam a house of a soldier who is in the reserves. The Prime Minister's Office stated that his directive is still in effect. 

▪️CHINA REQUESTS HOUTHIS STOP SHIP ATTACKS, HOUTHIS SAY NO.. there was a meeting of the Chinese Foreign Minister in Yemen with senior officials in Yemen to stop the Houthi attacks in the Red and Arabian seas.  The answer: no.

🔘 Wed morning  - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( 2 of 2 )

▪️3 HERO SOLDIERS HAVE FALLEN.. (not from our regular source, so I’m less sure of this)  Paratroopers Brigade 50, Amir Glilov, Uri Bar Or, Udi Ofer.  (No ages or locations in the notice).  May their families be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge their blood.

▪️ECONOMY - INTEREST RATES.. Bank of Israel leaves the interest rate unchanged at 4.5%; The prime interest rate - 6%.  The dollar-shekel rate stays steady on the news at $1 = NIS 3.69

▪️SCAM / HACK WARNING.. People are receiving an incoming call from a confidential number, the speaker identifies as a representative of the police cyber team OR the national HQ for the protection of children OR the police info center, and requests that they provide a code received in an SMS message.

The code they ask for is the WhatsApp activation code, and will allow the hacker to take control of your WhatsApp.

NOBODY official will call you and ask for any SMS codes, EVER.  It’s a scam!

Hack attempts can be reported to the cyber center -> dial 119.

The cyber center recommends turning on 2 step verification for WhatsApp: Settings>Account>Two-step verification.

♦️Gaza: Air force attacks east of Khan Yunis and Sheikh Radwan.

♦️Gaza: Airstrikes in Nusirat, central and western Rafah.

♦️Gaza: Artillery in various areas in Rafah, north of Nusirat, east of Al-Maazi and Al-Boreij, east of Sajaiya, Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya.

♦️COUNTER-TERROR operations overnight in Shevika (near Tulkarm) and Tubas and Shoafat.  Plenty of gunfire, explosives thrown at security vehicles.

⭕ HOUTHIS shot 5 missiles at a Greek ship yesterday. HIT with 3 !

⭕ HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS at Shtula, 2 rounds.

[darkmaga-returns]

Whistleblowers have exposed critical security failures in the UK’s GOV.UK One Login digital ID system, revealing vulnerabilities that compromise security and data protection. These flaws, allegedly embedded since the system’s launch, pose significant risks, including potential data breaches.

A security expert from the Government Digital Service (GDS), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, first raised these concerns in 2022. Despite reporting through proper channels, the whistleblower’s warnings were ignored, leaving the system’s serious vulnerabilities unaddressed and heightening the risk of exploitation.

Infowars.com reports: Another threat from more than half a million system vulnerabilities that they said were identified is identity theft. At this time, some three million people in the UK use the system to access 50 government services.

The security expert, whose identity has not been revealed in reports about the brewing scandal, asserted that thousands of vulnerabilities identified were rated as either critical or high.

The whistleblower’s account of the events suggests the authorities went for a slapdash approach to setting up the digital ID infrastructure, not only from the technical but also from the policy point of view.

“Basic” governance and risk management were not in place, according to the source, while the £330 ($436.70) million in funding arrived thanks to the business case that featured “misleading claims” regarding the quality of the scheme’s security.

And when the decision was made to outsource development to Romania, it came without GDS CEO’s approval, and without consultation with the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC).

[reyaint]

history of HAIQIN | part X: modern era

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

date: october 12, 2024. I have a dialectical journal due on the 15 when fall break ends. actually gonna lose it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Modern Era (1980s-Present)

Modern Government & Diplomacy:

Global Influence

Neutrality as a Diplomatic Tool:

Haiqin has perfected the art of neutrality, using it not only to avoid military entanglements but to position itself as a diplomatic hub. The country plays a key role in mediating between powers in global conflicts, regional South Asian tensions, European and American issues, and East Asian territorial disagreements. Additionally, Haiqin has hosted negotiations between superpowers, ensuring peaceful resolutions in situations involving complex geopolitical rivalries. Haiqin’s neutral position allows it to act as a safe intermediary for humanitarian ceasefire agreements and non-governmental organizations.

International Organizations:

Haiqin’s representatives have held leadership positions in various international organizations, including serving on the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member multiple times. The nation is also part of organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, where it promotes policies on equitable economic growth and sustainable development. Haiqin spearheads climate change discussions, advocating for stronger emissions regulations and funding for green technology development in developing nations.

Membership in International Organizations:

Beyond the UN and WTO, Haiqin has also taken leadership roles in climate action groups such as the Paris Agreement coalition and environmental sustainability pacts. Its position in the OECD has allowed it to participate in policy-making around economic growth, sustainability, and international tax reform, using its influence to promote eco-friendly practices and digital innovations across borders.

Strategic Alliances:

Despite its neutrality, Haiqin has formed strategic alliances with nations such as Switzerland, Sweden, and Canada. These alliances are based on shared values of environmental sustainability, human rights, and technological innovation. These relationships have bolstered Haiqin’s influence in international environmental summits like COP, where it frequently serves as a mediator between major world powers. Even while neutral, they have one of the strongest militaries.

In recent years, Haiqin has strengthened ties with countries in Northern Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea, focusing on creating a global "Green Alliance" promoting renewable energy and sustainable industrial practices. Its strategic partnerships focus on technological innovation, intellectual property agreements, and knowledge exchange in science and education. These partnerships extend to cooperative space research initiatives, placing Haiqin at the forefront of cutting-edge satellite technology and space exploration.

The Military:

While Haiqin advocates for peace, it maintains one of the world’s most advanced and well-equipped military forces, particularly in the fields of cyber defense and intelligence. Haiqin’s military is recognized for its rigorous training in both conventional combat and modern cyber-warfare techniques. Specialized units focus on counter-terrorism, environmental protection, and strategic disaster responses. Military service remains voluntary but highly prestigious, with many youth aspiring to join due to the opportunities it offers in education, training, and post-service careers. Also many snipers are woman, so yeah.

Diplomacy & Neutrality

Mediation Efforts:

Haiqin's diplomats are often called upon to mediate some of the world's most complex conflicts. A notable instance was the 1998 Haiqin-brokered peace agreement between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, which brought about a temporary ceasefire and facilitated humanitarian aid in the region. Haiqin has also mediated North Korean and South Korean negotiations in partnership with international powers, reinforcing its role as a stabilizing force.

Bridge Between Cultures:

Cultural exchange remains a key strategy in Haiqin's diplomatic toolkit. The government sponsors international art exhibitions, theater tours, and music festivals to foster goodwill with other nations. Haiqin's rich blend of Greek and Native influences, along with its modern artistic contributions, gives it unique cultural appeal. Educational exchange programs have also blossomed, sending young Haiqin students to study abroad while welcoming international students into Haiqin universities.

Crisis Response:

Haiqin was among the first countries to offer medical and logistical aid to struggling nations. It shipped millions of units of personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and vaccines to over 30 countries. This led to a boost in its global reputation as a humanitarian leader and reaffirmed its commitment to global health.

The government has established a rapid response team trained to deal with various crises, including natural disasters, refugee situations, and health emergencies, reflecting its commitment to global humanitarian efforts.

Cultural Diplomacy:

With Haiqin’s unique blend of Native and Greek heritage, the nation actively promotes its art, cuisine, and traditions across the globe. Through international festivals, Haiqin exports its cultural products while supporting collaborations in theater, dance, and film with major cultural centers in Paris, Tokyo, and New York.

Societal Changes:

Technology and Innovation

Renewable Energy Leadership:

In the 1990s, Haiqin underwent a massive transformation in its energy sector. Inspired by its cultural reverence for nature, the government launched the "Green Future Initiative," which sought to transform Haiqin into one of the most energy-efficient nations in the world. By 2010, Haiqin had achieved near-total reliance on renewable energy, with solar and wind farms scattered across the country’s landscapes. Hydroelectric dams tap into the nation’s many rivers, and cutting-edge geothermal plants have been established in the mountainous regions. Haiqin has also become a global exporter of green technologies, particularly in the development of low-cost, high-efficiency solar panels.

Haiqin’s innovation in renewable energy is unmatched. By 2030, it aims to power 90% of its domestic energy consumption through renewable sources. It has developed state-of-the-art solar farms and off-shore wind turbines, some of which are the largest in the world. The country exports its renewable energy technologies, helping nations transition to cleaner energy systems.

Environmental Protection Initiatives:

As part of its commitment to sustainability, Haiqin has established numerous protected areas, wildlife reserves, and national parks. These spaces not only conserve biodiversity but also reflect the nation’s ongoing effort to preserve the natural beauty that plays a central role in its identity. Government programs offer incentives for green businesses, and the country has enacted strict environmental laws aimed at minimizing pollution and encouraging ecological responsibility.

Education and Healthcare Investment:

The Haiqin government invests heavily in education and healthcare, aiming for a balanced society where citizens can thrive. Schools emphasize critical thinking, creativity, and emotional well-being, ensuring that students receive a holistic education that prepares them for the future.

Advancements in Bioengineering:

Haiqin’s universities are world-renowned for their research programs, especially in bioengineering, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. Government incentives encourage collaboration between academic institutions and private companies, fostering an ecosystem where breakthrough technologies in medical science, especially regenerative medicine and bioprinting, are regularly produced.

Digital Media:

In the 2000s, Haiqin became a hub for digital innovation, particularly in the realms of film, music, and video game production. The country's tech scene flourished, with startups leading advances in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and bioengineering. Many tech conglomerates now have headquarters in Haiqin, making it a focal point for digital media production globally.

In the 21st century, Haiqin emerged as a leading force in the digital media space. Homegrown tech firms have developed some of the most popular social media platforms, while the country's gaming industry has achieved global renown. Government-supported programs encourage innovation in tech and arts, leading to groundbreaking developments in virtual reality and digital art. Haiqin's startups frequently collaborate with international firms, cementing its reputation as a technological and creative powerhouse.

Technological Hub:

Haiqin’s cities, particularly Nirin and Pylos, have become vibrant hubs of technological innovation, earning the nickname "Silicon Valley." The government’s significant investment in education and technology in the 1980s paid off by the early 2000s, as startups and major tech companies began to flourish. Key sectors include bioengineering, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and digital media. Collaboration between Haiqin’s universities and international institutions led to groundbreaking advances in biotechnology, with Haiqin becoming a leader in medical research and the development of genetically engineered crops that are now widely used across the globe.

Cultural Fusion

Architectural Harmony:

The modern cities of Haiqin reflect a seamless fusion of old and new. In the capital city of Stellis, ancient temples stand in harmony beside sleek, futuristic skyscrapers. Architects have paid homage to traditional styles, incorporating elements such as stone carvings, intricate mosaics, and decorative columns into modern buildings. In many urban developments, public spaces include green areas, drawing from both Native and Greek traditions that emphasize a deep connection to nature. This fusion is also seen in residential housing, with new eco-friendly technologies built into homes inspired by traditional Haiqin designs, featuring wide courtyards and terraced gardens.

Haiqin's cities reflect a fascinating combination of ultra-modern architecture and ancient influences. Towering glass skyscrapers are integrated with centuries-old buildings, blending Greek-inspired columns with traditional Native designs, creating an aesthetic harmony of old and new.

Cultural Integration:

Despite modernization, Haiqin remains deeply connected to its cultural roots. Festivals celebrating historical events and cultural milestones are widespread, with both rural and urban areas participating. Traditional music, dances, and rituals are commonly performed, keeping ancient customs alive. However, these celebrations have also embraced modern artistic forms, such as digital art and contemporary music. Art installations and interactive performances blending tradition and technology are a highlight of these festivals, illustrating the nation's ability to preserve its past while embracing the future.

Art and Music Scene:

Haiqin is home to a thriving creative arts scene. The government actively supports artists, musicians, filmmakers, and playwrights, making Haiqin a cultural hub that attracts global attention. Haiqin's film industry has produced several award-winning movies, often telling stories that draw from the nation’s mythology, history, and unique blending of cultural influences. Similarly, musicians from Haiqin are known for blending traditional instruments with modern sounds, creating a genre often referred to as "Neo-Classical Fusion." International music festivals held in Primos and Naidya attract thousands of artists and spectators each year, placing Haiqin on the world map for both traditional and contemporary artistic expression.

The Haiqin art scene has exploded in the digital age, with a new wave of artists creating interactive digital installations and virtual reality art. Music festivals like "The Resonance Festival" attract international artists and music lovers from around the globe, blending traditional Haiqinese music with modern genres like EDM and indie rock. This blend of traditional and contemporary is also seen in cinema, where Haiqin filmmakers are recognized at international film festivals for their innovative storytelling, merging mythological elements with modern themes.

Modern Society:

Cultural Identity and Pride

Preservation of Heritage:

In response to the rapid changes brought by globalization, Haiqin has doubled down on the preservation of its heritage. The government funds cultural preservation projects aimed at safeguarding the nation’s languages, art forms, and historical sites. Museums and cultural centers are abundant, and children are taught the nation’s history from a young age, fostering a deep sense of identity and pride in their cultural roots.

Pride in Heritage:

Haiqin's citizens take immense pride in their cultural heritage. Educational institutions emphasize the importance of local history, folklore, and traditional arts, ensuring that future generations remain connected to their roots. This cultural pride manifests in community events, where local artisans showcase their crafts and traditions.

Education and Family Values:

Haiqin's education system is widely regarded as one of the most progressive in the world, focusing not only on academic success but also on emotional well-being and creativity. The curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, global awareness, and environmental stewardship. Families play a vital role in the educational system, with parents heavily involved in their children’s academic lives. Traditional family values are emphasized alongside modern ideas of personal growth and mental health, creating a balanced approach to parenting.

Festivals and Community Celebrations:

Traditional festivals such as the “Harvest Moon Festival” and the “Festival of Winds” bring together Haiqin’s past and present. These events are occasions for the display of martial arts, traditional music, and culinary art. Contemporary cultural celebrations, such as film and music festivals, also play an important role, attracting international tourists and boosting local economies. Art exhibitions featuring both historical artifacts and modern creations are common, and these events foster community bonding while preserving cultural identity.

Military:

Veterans in Haiqin receive some of the most comprehensive benefits globally, ensuring they are well-supported in retirement and honored for their service. Many veterans transition into leadership roles in government, NGOs, and private sectors, particularly in industries related to security, disaster relief, or humanitarian work. The military also collaborates with civilian industries in developing technology for public use, fostering strong ties between the defense sector and national growth.

Artisans and Entertainment

Cultural Powerhouse:

The modern era has seen Haiqin's entertainment industry gain significant international acclaim. Musicians, filmmakers, and digital artists from Haiqin have made a global impact, often collaborating with foreign artists in cross-cultural projects. Festivals such as the Nirin Film Festival and the National Music Expo are renowned platforms for showcasing new talent and encouraging artistic exchange.

Festivals and Celebrations:

Haiqin has emerged as a cultural force in the world of entertainment. Its film industry, often referred to as "Haiqinwood," produces films that mix philosophical storytelling with visual mastery. These films often reflect the nation’s cultural diversity and moral neutrality, offering unique narratives on global issues.

Integration of Arts in Education:

Arts are woven into the very fabric of Haiqin’s education system, where schools offer specialized programs in music, theater, dance, and visual arts. This emphasis on creativity has resulted in a vibrant national arts scene, with young talents being nurtured from an early age and provided with platforms to showcase their work. Many schools encourage artistic collaboration, fostering the next generation of creative thinkers who will shape the cultural landscape of the nation.

The arts are not just a hobby in Haiqin—they are an integral part of the education system. From primary school to university, students are exposed to music, dance, theater, and visual arts, fostering creativity and cultural pride. This has led to the country producing internationally-renowned artists, filmmakers, and writers who continuously push the boundaries of their crafts.

Nonlethal Duels in Nirin

Hanging Crescent Moon Arena:

The Hanging Crescent Moon Arena is more than just a site for nonlethal duels—it has become a cultural icon. Every year, the nation hosts the “Crescent Games,” a series of competitions where participants display their mastery of traditional martial arts in non-lethal combat. These duels emphasize discipline, skill, and respect, celebrating the nation’s warrior roots while promoting nonviolence. The military units in Nirin also train in the arena for certain types of combat.

Cultural Significance:

Nonlethal dueling is more than just a sport; it is a cultural symbol of Haiqin’s values of fairness, discipline, and respect. Fighters wear traditional garb representing their regional and cultural backgrounds, and the duels themselves are often accompanied by ceremonial music and dancing. The competitions are a powerful reminder of Haiqin’s rich martial history, which has evolved into a peaceful and respected modern tradition.

−adding this since I'm probably scripting I'm from Nirin since this is the MOST I've put into any of the 10 provinces (blame my hyper fixation on GHOSTBLADE by WLOP)

[mariacallous]

For American companies grousing about new cybersecurity rules, spyware firms eager to expand their global business, and hackers trying to break AI systems, Donald Trump’s second term as president will be a breath of fresh air.

For nearly four years, president Joe Biden’s administration has tried to make powerful US tech firms and infrastructure operators more responsible for the nation’s cybersecurity posture, as well as restrict the spread of spyware, apply guardrails to AI, and combat online misinformation. But when Trump takes office in January, he will almost certainly eliminate or significantly curtail those programs in favor of cyber strategies that benefit business interests, downplay human-rights concerns, and emphasize aggressive offense against the cyber armies of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

“There will be a national security focus, with a strong emphasis on protecting critical infrastructure, government networks, and key industries from cyber threats,” says Brian Harrell, who served as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s assistant director for infrastructure security during Trump’s first term.

From projects whose days are numbered to areas where Trump will go further than Biden, here is what a second Trump administration will likely mean for US cybersecurity policy.

Full Reversal

The incoming Trump administration is likely to scrap Biden’s ambitious effort to impose cyber regulations on sectors of US infrastructure that currently lack meaningful digital-security safeguards. That effort has borne fruit with railroads, pipelines, and aviation but has hit hurdles in sectors like water and health care.

Despite mounting cyberattacks targeting vital systems—and despite this year’s Republican Party platform promising to “raise the security standards for our critical systems and networks”—conservatives are unlikely to support new regulatory mandates on infrastructure operators.

There will be “no more regulation without explicit congressional authorization,” says James Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Harrell says “more regulation will be dismantled than introduced.” Biden’s presidency was “riddled with new cyber regulation” that sometimes confused and overburdened industry, he adds. “The new White House will be looking to reduce regulatory burdens while streamlining smart compliance.”

This approach may not last, according to a US cyber official who requested anonymity to discuss politically sensitive issues. “I think they’ll eventually recognize that the efforts focused on regulation in cyber are needed to ensure the security of our critical infrastructure.”

“Regulation is the only tool that works,” Lewis says.

Some Biden cyber rules might be overturned in court, now that the Supreme Court has eliminated the deference that judges previously gave to agencies in disputes over their regulations. John Miller, senior vice president of policy at the Information Technology Industry Council, a major tech trade group, says it’s also possible that Trump officials “might not wait for the courts” to void those rules.

Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, predicts that the Trump administration will emphasize cooperation and incentives in its efforts to protect vulnerable industries. He points to a House GOP plan for water cybersecurity standards as an example.

Trump’s election also likely spells doom for CISA’s work to counter mis- and disinformation, especially around elections. After Trump lost the 2020 election, he fired CISA’s first director for debunking right-wing election conspiracy theories, and the conservative backlash to anti-misinformation work has only grown since then.

In 2022, Trump outlined a “free speech policy initiative” to “break up the entire toxic censorship industry that has arisen under the false guise of tackling so-called ‘mis-’ and ‘dis-information.’” Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and X whom Trump has tapped to colead a “government efficiency” initiative, enthusiastically shared the plan last week.

CISA has already dramatically scaled back its efforts to combat online falsehoods following a right-wing pressure campaign, but Trump appointees are almost certain to smother what remains of that mission. “Disinformation efforts will be eliminated,” Montgomery predicts.

Harrell agrees that Trump would “refocus�� CISA on core cyber initiatives, saying the agency’s “priorities have mistakenly bordered on social issues lately.”

Also likely on the chopping block: elements of Biden’s artificial intelligence safety agenda that focus on AI’s social harms, like bias and discrimination, as well as Biden’s requirement for large AI developers to report to the government about their model training.

“I expect the repeal of Biden’s executive order on AI, specifically because of its references to AI regulation,” says Nick Reese, a director of emerging technology policy at the Department of Homeland Security under Trump and Biden. “We should expect a change in direction toward less regulation, which would mean less compulsory AI safety measures.”

Trump is also unlikely to continue the Biden administration’s campaign to limit the proliferation of commercial spyware technologies, which authoritarian governments have used to harass journalists, civil-rights protesters, and opposition politicians. Trump and his allies maintain close political and financial ties with two of the most prolific users of commercial spyware tools, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and he showed little concern about those governments’ human-rights abuses in his first term.

“There’s a high probability that we see big rollbacks on spyware policy,” says Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. Trump officials are likely to care more about spyware makers’ counterterrorism arguments than about digital-rights advocates’ criticisms of those tools.

Spyware companies “will undoubtedly receive a more favorable audience under Trump,” Feldstein says—especially market leader NSO Group, which is closely affiliated with the Trump-aligned Israeli government.

Dubious Prospects

Other Biden cyber initiatives are also in jeopardy, even if their fates are not as clear.

Biden’s National Cybersecurity Strategy emphasized the need for greater corporate responsibility, arguing that well-resourced tech firms must do more to prevent hackers from abusing their products in devastating cyberattacks. Over the past few years, CISA launched a messaging campaign to encourage companies to make their products “secure by design,” the Justice Department created a Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative to prosecute contractors that mislead the government about their security practices, and White House officials began considering proposals to make software vendors liable for damaging vulnerabilities.

That corporate-accountability push is unlikely to receive strong support from the incoming Trump administration, which is almost certain to be stocked with former business leaders hostile to government pressure.

Henry Young, senior director of policy at the software trade group BSA, predicts that the secure-by-design campaign will “evolve to more realistically balance the responsibilities of governments, businesses, and customers, and hopefully eschew finger pointing in favor of collaborative efforts to continue to improve security and resilience.”

A Democratic administration might have used the secure-by-design push as a springboard to new corporate regulations. Under Trump, secure-by-design will remain at most a rhetorical slogan. “Turning it into something more tangible will be the challenge,” the US cyber official says.

Chipping Away at the Edges

One landmark cyber program can’t easily be scrapped under a second Trump administration but could still be dramatically transformed.

In 2022, Congress passed a law requiring CISA to create cyber incident reporting regulations for critical infrastructure operators. CISA released the text of the proposed regulations in April, sparking an immediate backlash from industry groups that said it went too far. Corporate America warned that CISA was asking too many companies for too much information about too many incidents.

Trump’s election could throw a wrench in CISA’s ambitious incident-reporting plans. New appointees at the White House, DHS, and CISA itself could force agency staff to rewrite the rules to be more industry-friendly, exempting entire swaths of critical infrastructure or eliminating requirements for companies to report certain data. Trump’s team has months to revise the final rule before its required publication in late 2025.

BSA’s Young expects Trump’s team to scale back the regulations, which he says “take a very broad view of the authority CISA believes Congress granted it.”

The current rule is “particularly vulnerable to a court challenge” because it exceeds Congress’s intent, ITI’s Miller warns, and Trump’s team “may direct CISA to scale it back” if the agency doesn’t “proceed cautiously” on its own.

New Urgency

One area where Trump might pick up the baton from the Biden administration is the government’s use of military hacking operations and its response to foreign adversaries’ cyberattacks.

Under Biden, the military’s US Cyber Command has scaled up its overseas hacker-hunting engagements with allies. But Republicans have pressed Biden to respond more muscularly to Chinese, Russian, and Iranian hacks, and Trump is likely to embrace that approach—particularly after picking representative Mike Waltz, an advocate for cyberattacks on Russia, North Korea, and Mexican cartels, as his national security adviser.

“A much more aggressive stance will be taken against China, which is sorely needed,” Harrell says, predicting that Chinese hackers penetrating US critical infrastructure “will be held to account.”

Montgomery agrees that Trump may “adopt a more aggressive approach” to national cyber defense, including giving the National Guard “a more significant role” in protecting domestic infrastructure.

Montgomery also says he expects more frequent and more muscular offensive operations by Cyber Command, which Trump elevated to a full combatant command during his first term. He predicts the Trump administration will “look more favorably” on creating a separate military cyber service, which the Biden administration opposed, and “take a more skeptical view” of the joint leadership of Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, which the Biden administration supported.

Trump could also harness other tools to constrain China, including authorities he created during his first term to block the use of risky technology in the US. “The Trump administration will look at the full set of policy levers when deciding how to push back on China in cyberspace,” says Kevin Allison, a consultant on geopolitics and technology.

[humanrightsupdates]

North Korea’s Window on the World Is at Risk of Closing

The Trump administration is attacking funding for programs that get unfiltered information into — and out of — North Korea.

Security experts, United Nations officials, and congressional leaders have for years insisted that in dealing with North Korea, its government’s systemic human rights abuses need to be addressed alongside nuclear proliferation. North Korea pays for its weapons programs with totalitarian repression, endemic forced labor, and unsurpassed cyber theft.

Congress recognized that when it adopted the North Korean Human Rights Act in 2004, specifying that promoting human rights for North Korea should be “a key element in future negotiations between the United States, North Korea, and other concerned parties.” It authorized funding to broadcast independent media into North Korea and gather information about conditions inside the country, necessary for the United States to formulate policy, and to craft sanctions and other measures to keep the North Korean government in check.

Ending U.S.-funded research would leave the U.S. without critical information, as Pyongyang expands its military presence overseas, including in Russia, and deepens its isolation and repression at home.

On a broadly bipartisan basis, Congress renewed the North Korean Human Rights Act in 2008, 2012, and 2017, but allowed it to lapse in 2022. Funding for this programming nevertheless continued through the appropriation of funding for the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Rights, and Labor (DRL).