allthebrazilianpolitics · 2 years ago
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Collagen craze drives deforestation and rights abuses
For the first time an investigation has linked collagen powder to violence against Indigenous peoples in Brazilian forests
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The stench arrives before the lorries do. They are carrying skins that were stripped from cattle carcasses days ago. Flies are everywhere.
The lorries’ destination is Amparo, a small industrial town in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Here, Rousselot, a company owned by the Texan business Darling Ingredients, extracts collagen – the active ingredient in health supplements at the centre of a global wellness craze.
But while collagen’s most evangelical users claim the protein can improve hair, skin, nails and joints, slowing the ageing process, it has a dubious effect on the health of the planet. Collagen can be extracted from fish, pig and cattle skin, but behind the wildly popular “bovine” variety in particular lies an opaque industry driving the destruction of tropical forests and fuelling violence and human rights abuses in the Brazilian Amazon.
An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the Guardian, ITV and O Joio e O Trigo has found that tens of thousands of cattle raised on farms damaging tropical forests were processed at abattoirs connected to international collagen supply chains.
Some of this collagen can be traced all the way to Nestlé-owned Vital Proteins, a major producer of collagen supplements championed by the actress Jennifer Aniston. Vital Proteins is sold globally – including online on Amazon, in Walmart stores in the US, in Holland & Barrett and Boots in the UK and in Costco in both countries.
The investigation – the first to connect bovine collagen with tropical forest loss and violence against Indigenous peoples – found at least 2,600 sq km of deforestation linked to the supply chains of two Brazil-based collagen operations with connections to Darling: Rousselot and Gelnex, which is in the process of being acquired by Darling for $1.2bn. It is unclear how much of this deforestation, which was calculated by the Center for Climate Crime Analysis, is linked to Vital Proteins.
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nocturnalnella · 1 month ago
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Veil of Shadows. (Chapter I)
Word count : 903.
Warnings : None. (so far)
Pairing : Dracula x female reader.
Setting : Victorian London, 1889, amidst the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution and rising supernatural rumors.
Plot : You, an aspiring journalist, are investigating a series of mysterious disappearances linked to the upper echelons of society. During your research, you stumble upon an invitation to an exclusive gala hosted by the enigmatic Count Dracula, a recently arrived nobleman rumored to be both charming and dangerous.
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Chapter I – Shadows of Curiosity.
The gaslights flickered in the damp London streets as you navigated the bustling crowd, your notebook clutched tightly in hand. Y/N, an aspiring journalist, had always been drawn to the stories hidden beneath the city’s surface, and the recent spate of mysterious disappearances had ignited a fierce determination within you.
You worked for a modest newspaper, yet your ambition pushed you to dig deeper. Each account of the missing—prominent figures from high society—had painted a chilling picture, and you felt compelled to uncover the truth behind their vanishing.
Whispers of a supernatural connection intertwined with the mundane, hinting at secrets lurking in the shadows of Victorian London.
As you delved into the investigation, you haunted the libraries, poring over records and old newspapers, each page revealing layers of intrigue.
The more you unearthed, the more unsettling the narrative became. It seemed the upper echelons of society were not only hiding their sins but also playing a part in the darkness that surrounded the disappearances.
Your late nights were filled with the rustle of parchment and the musty scent of forgotten stories. You had come across tales of a mysterious nobleman, Count Dracula, whose arrival in London coincided with the first disappearance. Lord Ashcombe, a well-respected member of Parliament, had vanished without a trace during a lavish soirée, his absence causing ripples of panic among the elite. Your research revealed a pattern; each missing person had been seen in the company of enigmatic figures at various high-society events. Rumours circulated that these figures were part of a secretive society rumoured to dabble in the occult, their gatherings filled with dark rituals and whispered incantations. You couldn’t shake the feeling that they were somehow connected to the Count, whose reputation was a tapestry of charm and danger a perfect enigma that both fascinated and terrified you.
One evening, as you combed through dusty tomes in a secluded corner of the library, a glimmer of gold caught your eye. A gilded invitation to an exclusive gala at the Count’s estate beckoned, promising a chance to uncover more than just rumours. Could this be the key to unlocking the mystery?
In your late-night research, you also stumbled upon a cryptic journal belonging to a long-deceased scholar. Its pages spoke of ancient curses and the allure of immortality, hinting at a dark legacy that echoed through generations. The scholar had mentioned a nobleman whose arrival would signal upheaval, drawing powerful figures into his orbit—an unnerving parallel to what was happening now. As the pieces began to fall into place, you felt a mix of exhilaration and dread. Could the Count truly be at the centre of this web of intrigue? Each clue added weight to the chilling realization that you were standing on the precipice of something far more dangerous than you had anticipated.
With a mix of excitement and trepidation, you resolved to attend, knowing that this gala could lead you closer to the answers you sought—or plunge you deeper into the darkness.
As you made your way home, the fog rolled in, shrouding the city in a thick veil. Your heartbeat quickened, not just from the chill in the air, but from the thrill of the unknown. You knew the path ahead would be treacherous, but you were not one to shy away from the shadows.
In the days leading up to the event, you transformed your modest lodgings into a flurry of activity. The dim light of your oil lamp illuminated the fabric swatches and fashion plates scattered across your small writing desk. You carefully selected an elegant gown from your limited wardrobe, a deep emerald silk that draped beautifully and accentuated your figure. The colour reminded you of the lush gardens that surrounded the grand estates of the wealthy—gardens where secrets might bloom as easily as roses.
As you stitched delicate lace to the sleeves, your mind wandered to the gala and the countless eyes that would be upon you. You envisioned yourself gliding through the crowd, a vision of poise and grace, but also determined to seek out the truth. You practiced your smile in the mirror, trying to exude both confidence and intrigue.
The final touch came as you adorned your hair with a simple but elegant arrangement of soft curls, pinned back with a jewelled comb that shimmered like stars. You imagined how the guests would gaze at you, intrigued by the mysterious newcomer.
You found an old leather-bound journal, its pages slightly yellowed with age. There, you began to jot down a few observations, notes on potential questions to ask and who might be worth your attention at the gala. Each word dripped with anticipation, a sense that this evening would alter the course of your investigation—and perhaps your life.
On the night of the gala, as you stood before the mirror, the reflection that stared back was not just a beautiful young lady but also a journalist a woman ready to face the darkness head-on. You took a deep breath, feeling the weight of your determination. With one last glance, you stepped out into the foggy night, ready to uncover the secrets that awaited you.
With determination etched on your face, you steeled yourself for the gala, knowing that the truth awaited—no matter how perilous the journey. The night loomed ahead, promising revelations that could change everything.
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thegazettejournalmirror · 8 months ago
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GREENDALE'S 1st TUMBLR ISSUE OF THE GAZETTE JOURNAL MIRROR!!
March 11 . 24. - a Quality publication of Greendale Community College
This issue's hot topics:
GLOW Party: Raging success, or total Dean-saster?
Elixirs, Potions and Me - Leonard Rodriguez rumoured to be in a cult for immortality.
An all-new update on the Winger-Perry wedding!
INCLUDES an exclusive interview of @prayingshirleybennett on getting the star couple engaged!
GLOW Party: Raging success, or total Dean-saster?
This past week saw the biggest, showiest party this year has seen so far - one anonymous attendee even suggested it was ‘reminiscent of those ragers people go to in the movies, you know, where they all get drunk and play beer pong.’ The party was nicknamed ‘GLOW Party’ in honour of the glowing cat owned by Troy Barnes and who is suggested to have been at the centre of the party’s inception. While it’s undeniable that this party was no disappointment in the wow factor, many will agree that the night became sour only a few drinks in.
The party invites were reported to have been sent out via a Tumblr post of student ‘Rayla Leone’ and by widespread messaging, word of mouth and Greendale’s official announcement Tumblr page, run by the Dean.
By the time day school was out only a few short hours later, the entire body was buzzing with the news, with the exception of the majority of the staff who remained uninvited and are still said to be ‘pretty darn pissed’ about the affair. 
A member of staff who asked to remain anonymous commented; ‘It’s just rude. That study group and all their little friends just pick and choose who they like. Always running the school! Even the pets were invited. Huh. And what if I wanted to see a glowing cat?”
When asked to elaborate on the grievance with said study group, the member of staff refused to comment further and terminated the interview.
According to varied sources, there were few discrepancies when the evening’s ‘rager’ began in the apartment of student ‘Rayla Leone’. In fact, our sources went as far as commenting how seriously fun’ it turned out to be and how they had  ‘needed the night off from mid-terms.’
The sources claimed there were drinking games, uno, spin the bottle, snooker, foosball and even a heated game of twister before the event turned bleak. 
We know that there was originally a small amount of cheap alcohol on scene, but some basic information such as the strengths and quantities remain unknown. However, Tumblr posts claim that student ‘Britta Perry’, belonging to the aforementioned study group, was known to have brought in a good amount of ‘blue raspberry svedka’ which has been blamed for the extreme hangovers and blackouts party-goers experienced the next day. 
There is also a strong likelihood that the party was mass-roofied, not unlike Greendale’s own Halloween party late last year, the events of which are still unknown despite intensive investigation and the shared experience of bite mark scars. 
Many rumours are known to have arisen of a personal nature to many students and staff and yet the largest event of the night in question is a recent development in the ‘Evil Timeline Debacle.’ Troy Barnes’ glowing cat, named ‘Lightbulb’, the centre of the party, was reported missing the following morning. Not many had yet shaken off their hangovers and as such no action was taken until the later hours of the day. 
The evil timeline members are said to have infiltrated the party and stolen Barnes’ ‘alien’ cat in exchange for a ransom of $1,000 and invitations to the upcoming Barnes-Nadir wedding. This wedding is allegedly platonic though evidence of this is still unclear. 
The evil members were also suggested to have roofied the party in order to get away with their act.
Jeff Winger, student of law and close friend of Troy Barnes, was called upon to pay the ransom. Following his agreement the cat was returned safely to Barnes that afternoon. 
In respect to the likely trauma induced by the sudden event, the Gazette Journal Mirror did not question Barnes on his experience. 
Images were posted of the event but other than mere speculation no further rumour or scandal can be confirmed or denied at this current time.
Elixirs, Potions and Me - Leonard Rodriguez rumored to be in a cult for immortality.
Leonard Rodriguez (né Briggs, he changed his last name to garner the Hispanic vote during his campaign for Student Body President) has reportedly been endeavouring to attain immortality.
The evidence is finite, and his methods are unclear, yet it nevertheless remains apparent that there is certainly something occurring behind the scenes. 
On his ask-blog, @leonardlikesthissite, Rodriguez often posts his Saturday events under the tag ‘Saturdays with Leonard.’ 
On a typical weekend, this includes activities such as swimming, clubbing, or jigsaws, (we particularly enjoyed this pizza review.) Once, he even posted about the political debate with his opponent and fellow student, ‘Magnitude.’
On this particular weekend however, Rodriguez alarmed many of his fellows and friends by posting ‘This Saturday Leonard is doing a ritual that may or may not lead to immortality!’ under his usual tag. When asked by another student ‘how’, Rodriguez denied details. 
He did however hint that Greendale’s AC repair school had something to do with the ‘ritual.’ 
Here at the Gazette Journal Mirror, we cordially wish Leonard the best of luck with his ambitions. May our school's longest-attending student, in his own words, ‘Live, laugh love,’ for his new eternity. 
An all-new update on the Winger-Perry wedding! 
According to the official Greendale announcements page, run by Dean Pelton, the Winger-Perry wedding will take place in Greendale itself. This has been a source of great excitement for many of their friends and indeed those at the school, too. 
Dean Pelton instructed that a repost of this statement would secure an invitation to the wedding. 
There have been a few comments here and there about the current attendees and who is in the wedding party. This remains limited so we must stress that no invitations can be guaranteed in the reposting of the wedding announcement. 
Further conversation about the upcoming nuptial of Winger-Perry has been unreported. 
Exclusive interview with Shirley Bennett!
Interviewer: Hello there! 
Bennett: Helloooo! So nice to be doing this todayy! And so exciting that the paper is making it to the interweb blogs, hehe!
Interviewer: Nice to have you. I agree, it is exciting. We’re all buzzing to go for the first release! Now, let’s talk weddings. Can you confirm that it was indeed you who incited the engagement in the first place?
Bennett: Oh yes! Of course I can, it was simply my duty to my Lord above and my friends, too. I didn’t want them to get sent to the burning place way down below all because they didn’t say a few little vows! Vows before God that is.
Interviewer: I see. And what does this union mean to you in terms of friendship?
Bennett: Well, from the start of being at Greendale I always used to say to Jeffery that two white people as cute and single as them should be together. I’m not saying I…stirrredd the pot…but I’ll say that maybe if I hadn’t said some things to Jeffery about Britta they might not even be together!
Interviewer: Would you share those details with us?
Bennett: OOooooh noooo! Heehe! It’s too personal, I can’t do that, it would be unholy. And unfriendly!
Interview: Well then, that wraps things up. Thanks for coming to our interview, Shirley!
Bennett: Thank you, and thank you, Lord and savior above!
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femsolid · 11 months ago
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[England]
Over the past five years more than 300 officers have been reported for rape and 500 for sexual assault. Only ten of those accused of sexual assault have been convicted. The vast majority – 350 – are still working for the police.
“Holly”, a serving police officer who was raped by a colleague, said there was “simply not a chance that all 350 are innocent of the things they are accused of”. Her attacker was allowed to stay in the force for years until he was exposed by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. In the meantime Holly and others who had been attacked struggled to get the force to take their allegations seriously.
“If you made a complaint, you were painted as having serious ‘mental health issues’ or ‘attention seeking’,” she said. “It was like you had stepped back into the 1920s before all women even had the right to vote. The police took women's voices and silenced them.”
More than 250 police officers had been reported more than once for sexual offences. A dozen had more than five separate reports against their names.
The true numbers of accused officers are likely even higher. TBIJ’s data was compiled from FOI requests to every police force in the UK, but nine failed to provide full figures.
TBIJ has been tracking forces’ failure to deal with police perpetrated domestic abuse (PPDA) for the past five years. In particular, TBIJ has highlighted how forces let down victims and the public when they fail to properly investigate allegations against their own officers.
The murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, a serving Met police officer who had been reported for exposing himself in public, showed how catastrophic the consequences of inaction on sexual offences can be. Two years on, however, there is little sign of wider reform.
In February this year David Carrick was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison after admitting 24 counts of rape and sexual offences against 12 women while serving as a Met officer. He had been repeatedly reported for domestic abuse since joining the police in 2001, but those allegations had not been taken seriously.
In TBIJ’s research, of the 375 officers and staff reported for domestic abuse in the past two years, more than three quarters are still working for the police.
In 2020 TBIJ worked with the Centre for Women’s Justice to submit a supercomplaint to police watchdogs. The Independent Office for Police Conduct, the College of Policing, and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services responded with a joint report last year, admitting there were systemic weaknesses in how forces respond to allegations against their own people.
In particular they were “not always doing enough to ensure all PPDA cases are properly and impartially investigated”. In January the National Police Chiefs Council reported that most forces had agreed to improve procedures for dealing with PPDA. In March the Casey Review found the Met Police was institutionally misogynist, racist and homophobic.
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arthur-lesters-ribcage · 2 months ago
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ribcagenotes-61:
tits suggested we start journaling while in the dreamlands, so that's what i'm doing here
to recap, @arthur-lesters-tummy was investigating around that fountain in the town centre (the loud wet one that i hate) and accidentally ended up in the sewers, as did i when following them. we managed to reunite and have been exploring underground for the past few days.
even with my weak sence of smell, this place is absolutely foul. it stinks and it's moist and i hate it here and i want out.
we exausted our food supply but the sewer rats have been kind enough to share what they find with us. unlike everything else here, i *like* the rats. they're nice to us. they whisper to me. i do not understand most of what they tell me but that does not matter.
...
i distrust this place.
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spacetimewithstuartgary · 2 months ago
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Gigantic asteroid impact shifted the axis of Solar System's biggest moon
Around 4 billion years ago, an asteroid hit the Jupiter moon Ganymede. Now, a Kobe University researcher realized that the Solar System's biggest moon's axis has shifted as a result of the impact, which confirmed that the asteroid was around 20 times larger than the one that ended the age of the dinosaurs on Earth, and caused one of the biggest impacts with clear traces in the Solar System.
Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System, bigger even than the planet Mercury, and is also interesting for the liquid water oceans beneath its icy surface. Like the Earth’s moon, it is tidally locked, meaning that it always shows the same side to the planet it is orbiting and thus also has a far side. On large parts of its surface, the moon is covered by furrows that form concentric circles around one specific spot, which led researchers in the 1980s to conclude that they are the results of a major impact event. “The Jupiter moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto all have interesting individual characteristics, but the one that caught my attention was these furrows on Ganymede,” says the Kobe University planetologist HIRATA Naoyuki. He continues, “We know that this feature was created by an asteroid impact about 4 billion years ago, but we were unsure how big this impact was and what effect it had on the moon.”
Data from the remote object is scarce making research very difficult, and so Hirata was the first to realize that the purported location of the impact is almost precisely on the meridian farthest away from Jupiter. Drawing from similarities with an impact event on Pluto that caused the dwarf planet’s rotational axis to shift and that we learned about through the New Horizons space probe, this implied that Ganymede, too, had undergone such a reorientation. Hirata is a specialist in simulating impact events on moons and asteroids, so this realization allowed him to calculate what kind of impact could have caused this reorientation to happen.
In the journal Scientific Reports, the Kobe University researcher now published that the asteroid probably had a diameter of around 300 kilometers, about 20 times as large as the one that hit the Earth 65 million years ago and ended the age of the dinosaurs, and created a transient crater between 1,400 and 1,600 kilometers in diameter. (Transient craters, widely used in lab and computational simulations, are the cavities produced directly after the crater excavation and before material settles in and around the crater.) According to his simulations, only an impact of this size would make it likely that the change in the distribution of mass could cause the moon’s rotational axis to shift into its current position. This result holds true irrespective of where on the surface the impact occurred.
“I want to understand the origin and evolution of Ganymede and other Jupiter moons. The giant impact must have had a significant impact on the early evolution of Ganymede, but the thermal and structural effects of the impact on the interior of Ganymede have not yet been investigated at all. I believe that further research applying the internal evolution of ice moons could be carried out next,” explains Hirata.
Interesting for its subsurface oceans, Ganymede is the final destination of ESA’s JUICE space probe. If everything goes well, the spacecraft will enter orbit around the moon in 2034 and will make observations for six months, sending back a wealth of data that will help answer Hirata’s questions.
TOP IMAGE: Kobe University HIRATA Naoyuki was the first to realize that the location of an asteroid impact on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is almost precisely on the meridian farthest away from Jupiter. This implied that Ganymede had undergone a reorientation of its rotational axis and allowed Hirata to calculate what kind of impact could have caused this to happen. Credit HIRATA Naoyuki
CENTRE IMAGES: On large parts of its surface, the Jupiter moon Ganymede is covered by furrows (right) that form concentric circles around one specific spot (left, red cross), which led researchers in the 1980s to conclude that they are the results of a major impact event. Credit HIRATA Naoyuki
LOWER IMAGES: Distribution of furrows and the location of the center of the furrow system shown in the hemisphere that always faces away from Jupiter (top) and the cylindrical projection map of Ganymede (bottom). The gray regions represent geologically young terrain without furrows. Furrows (green lines) exist only on geologically old terrains (black regions). Credit HIRATA Naoyuki
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Splitting hairs: Research team applies science of biomechanics to understand our bad hair days
Academics are often accused of "splitting hairs," but a team at Trinity College Dublin has now devised a machine to do just that. We all have a bad hair day from time to time, and split ends are a common problem. However, the science behind this kind of hair damage is poorly understood, which is why the Trinity team, led by Professor David Taylor, is investigating this knotty problem. Prof. Taylor's research in the Trinity Centre for Biomedical Engineering covers all kinds of natural materials, from human bone to seashells but he had never worked on hair. So, when cosmetics company L'Oreal approached him, he was happy to accept the challenge. Working with colleagues, he developed the "Moving Loop Fatigue machine," which has been expertly designed to recreate what happens when tangled hair is combed out. The results have just been published in the journal Interface Focus.
Read more.
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kashikojae · 1 year ago
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There were many things Cellbit thought of when he left his castle that night. New clues! New places to explore, new evidence to find, and the excitement in his face were clear signs of that. His husband remained on the island. He was invited to join, of course, but this time Roier had decided that he wasn't keen to investigate. It was Cellbit's thing. So he went alone, to brave his way through lands unknown to him, and search for anything, any clue, any footprint.
Cellbit certainly was not expecting to find himself in the adoption centre. A place so familiar to him. Where he first met his son. He had gone to the adoption centre a few times, but never looked attentively enough. If only he did. If only he paid attention. Maybe those clues would be found sooner. Maybe he would have found that strange room upstairs. Maybe, just maybe, he would have found them on time.
His heart was heavy, and his eyes were wet, walking back home late at night. A journal on his hand, and somehow a consuming feeling of blame. A life that was lost in vain, that could have been saved if only he had searched in the right places. Cellbit couldn't deny the way he saw himself in those words. They must have been so scared. But of course they were. He had gone through the same thing a few years ago, when he found himself lost in the middle of a war. Alone, with nothing but an empty mind. Oh, yes. He was just like that little kid. Discovering himself just yet, because he had no memories from before waking up in that warzone. An empty vase, ready to discover himself. Just to be broken and moulded into a killing machine — because it was war and they had to win, else something bad may happen.
Only what could be worse than war?
So he did know those words. Every single of them fell heavy on his heart. He saw himself in it. His doubts, his hopes for a better future, his wishes of someone to please, come and save him from that burning hell. Nobody came to him, of course. And he had to grow up to live the consequences of the monster they had made him become. Those memories haunted him every night he tried to make himself sleep. The memories of hurting, the memories of hunting, the memories of killing. Memories. Now that was the only thing left from that kid. A kid who was so excited to live his life, and be found, and be loved, but who died waiting. They both did. 
Only Cellbit had time to rebuild himself, he had a chance to live again. 
That kid, whose only thing left was the journal he now held in his backpack, was not so lucky.
'Gatinho?' He heard when he walked up the stairs, finding his husband in bed.
Even half asleep, Roier could feel something was different on the way Cellbit's breathing was heavy in the air. He couldn't help but notice how his shoulders had no strength to remain put up, how his feet were dragging themselves on the ground, how the shine of his eyes was the glistening of a sad past. So he waited. He sat up, turned on the lights, and waited. Cellbit would tell him if he wanted. But if he did not, Roier would be there to lend him his shoulders to cry on.
'Hola guapito,' his voice was deep and careful, as if there was something so fragile he didn't want to break. He sat on the bed, and didn't wait for Roier to offer his arms. He laid against his chest and closed his eyes. 'I found something today.'
'A new clue, then?'
'I'm not sure if it will take me anywhere,' he moved away to look in his husband's eyes, 'but I--'
'You don't need to tell me,' Roier reassured, when he heard Cellbit's voice breaking.
'I want to tell you,' he whispered. 'I found something in the adoption centre, a journal,' Cellbit shifted in place, and took a little notebook out of his backpack, handing it to Roier. 'It belonged to a kid. They were forgotten there. They were never adopted. No one ever came back to take them somewhere else. They--'
Cellbit's voice faltered again. He closed his eyes, and controlled his breath, as Roier read the pages carefully. It didn't take much for him to understand what was so painful. His eyes were filled with tears just before the last few pages. He put the book aside and hugged Cellbit. He was not sure what to do, or how deeply that kid's story had touched him, but he knew it hurted him badly. Roier's tears were empathetic, but Cellbit's tears were wounded.
'I can't help but think what could've happened if I had found that place sooner.'
Roier pushed him away and held his face so they could look into each other's eyes.
'Cellbit, it's not your fault,' Roier said. 'You don't have any part in this.'
'I know, but still,' he shrugged.
'I know how you feel. Maybe not all of it, but I know enough. There's nothing we could have done, gatinho, we didn't know.'
Cellbit sighed. 'You're right.'
He nestled against Roier's chest as they laid on bed, cuddling. Roier caressed Cellbit's hair, comforting him. It was no help wondering what could have happened. He searched for the backpack Cellbit had dropped next to bed a few minutes before, and brought it up to his lap, which caught Cellbit's attention.
'The least we can do,' he said, fetching some charms he had on their cabinet, 'is to honour his wishes. And not forget him.'
On the very front of Cellbit's backpack, Roier hung a silver charm of an egg. It was decorated with a plaid pattern all around it, and a tiny trinket on the front. Cellbit moved his hand towards the silvery egg and, pushing the trinket up with his fingers, opened it to discover a minimal silver hatchling resting inside.
'It's beautiful,' he whispered.
'That way we'll never forget our kid.'
'Our kid?' Cellbit indulged. 'Are we adopting them?'
'I don't like the idea of letting them remain orphaned, even if they're passed away.'
'Okay,' Cellbit giggled. 'And what do we call them?'
Roier spent a few minutes wondering. Thinking of something they could honour that little lost soul.
'Memories,' he declared.
He saw Cellbit's eyes glisten in the moonlight coming from the window.
That's when he knew he made the right choice.
'Memories,' Cellbit whispered, caressing the little silver charm with his fingers. 'I like it.'
'I bet Bobby has been annoying the hell out of them anyway, we have no choice but to embrace them as family.'
That took a laugh out of Cellbit, which soon was followed by Roier's own laughter.
Their family was delicate. It was built over much pain, and effort. Both Cellbit and Roier had fought their way into happiness, and there was a lot of loss in the way. But, still, they found happiness in each other. Roier's light was bright enough to light Cellbit's dark past. And Cellbit's love was big enough to heal every crack in Roier's heart. They found themselves in each other in a way they never thought they could.
'Eu te amo,' Cellbit said.
'Yo amo a ti también,' said Roier.
And they slept into each other's arms.
"(...) I was alive. I was somebody. I had hopes, I had ambitions, I had love that I was ready to give. (...)  Please don't forget me."
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mariacallous · 13 days ago
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On a chilly spring morning in March, British coast guards spotted something unusual around 100 kilometers off the Scottish shoreline: a dark stain, stretching 23 kilometers into the North Atlantic Ocean.
According to an internal analysis prepared by the coast guard’s satellite services and seen by POLITICO, the likely source of that stain was Innova, a tanker roughly the size of the Eiffel Tower that at the time was hauling 1 million barrels of sanctioned oil from Russia on its way to a refinery in India.
Yet the coast guard did little to investigate further, and the tanker — free from any repercussion — continues to trade oil today, helping fill the Kremlin’s war chest more than two years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Innova is just one of hundreds in the world’s so-called shadow fleet, a collection of often aging, poorly maintained ships sailing in defiance of Western sanctions — and spreading environmental harm without consequences. 
A joint investigation by POLITICO and the not-for-profit journalism group SourceMaterial found at least nine instances of covert shadow fleet vessels leaving spills in the world’s waters since 2021, using satellite images from the SkyTruth NGO paired with shipping data from market analysis firm Lloyd’s List and commodity platform Kpler.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told POLITICO the ships posed a “significant danger” to the marine environment. “The incidents [here] illustrate this.”
It’s a problem that’s only grown worse following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With Moscow under Western sanctions, an increasing number of tankers are ferrying illicit goods — and potential environmental devastation — across the globe. Not only are these vessels creaky and largely unregulated, they’re often uninsured, meaning that in case of a leak, or more serious spill, a government would struggle to hold them accountable. 
POLITICO and SourceMaterial identified discharges everywhere from Thailand to Vietnam to Italy and Mexico, all linked to the shadow fleet. The tankers also passed through busy shipping corridors like the Red Sea and the Panama Canal, meaning any serious accident could rupture international trade routes. 
Experts believe it’s only a matter of time before one of these ships suffers a catastrophe with major environmental — and economic — devastation.
“The oil spills and risk of slicks are horrendous,” said Isaac Levi, Europe-Russia lead and a shadow fleet expert at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a think tank. “Beyond the environmental damage, some of which will be irreversible, it’s a huge impact to coastal states that have to bear the cost of cleaning this up.”
In short: “It’s a ticking time bomb,” Levi said.
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skyfall8600 · 2 years ago
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Sucked In. Chap 26: Hello Again
Summary: You wake up in the world of Stranger Things before the events of Season 4. Are you able to help in the fight against Vecna, and save the man of your dreams?
Pair: Eddie Munson x fem!Reader
Warnings: sadness, swearing, sad Eddie
Main Eddie Masterlist
Series Masterlist
Previous: Chapter 25
Next: Chapter 27
[ 1.8k ] 
Our lovers are reunited. Only 3 chapters left 😭 
As Eddie looked around in his van trying to find a shirt, You were oblivious to how much your life was going to unfold. You were a happy child; growing up with loving parents who adored your every achievement and guided you through every mistake. You were creative; never going without the journal in your hand. In there was a world full of fantasies: daring sword-fights, mythical creatures, warriors and all of your wildest dreams. 
Ever since you could remember, your dreams were always vivid. Your sleeping mind curated near perfect details that stayed with you, long after you always woke up. But there was a downfall to this imagination, as you often received the bad just as much as the good. The nightmares were always the same; flashing green lights, the earth shaking to the core and screams all around you. 
Therapy was no help; if anything it made it worse. Especially when you told your therapist about your rather unique abilities…. Every time the people around you got suspicious or questioned what you may be able to do, your parents wasted no time in up and moving. Most kids wouldn’t be able to cope with moving from state to state, or town to town; but you weren’t like most other children. As long as you had an outlet for your imagination and your parents by your side, you took each move with dignity and wonder. 
This time was no different. Hawkins was a small town, or rather… a quiet town. Originally your parents wanted to go somewhere else, but there was a calling here that you couldn’t explain. Initially your mother refused to go to Hawkins, claiming that there were bad people who would have hurt you there…. But after a few weeks of research, your mother’s nerves seemed to calm down as your father took a road trip to investigate the town for himself. 
They had a discussion amongst themselves, and the rest was history. Before you knew it, your bags were packed and you were scheduling school meetings. 
“Now, we understanding that transitioning in the middle of your senior year is hard, but based on your transcript and willingness to discuss options with your teachers, I think you’ll be able to cope just fine.” Principal Higgins said with a smile. 
“Thank you Sir.” You replied, trying desperately to force a smile on your face. There was something about the man in front of you that you could not stand. 
“You can start classes tomorrow, for now I think it’s best you see your teachers so they can catch you up on what you need to do. Welcome to Hawkins High.” 
Grabbing the paperwork you needed, you practically ran out of his office. The principal gave you the creeps. 
By lunch time you had met up with all your teachers, and you didn’t feel like being ogled by all the students standing around in the cafeteria. The last thing you wanted was for everyone to stop and stare at the fresh meat walking in. And so, you searched for an empty room in one of the many corridors. The room was crowded with costumes and props, obviously the perfect place to hide. 
The commotion out in the corridor, you froze for a moment. Waiting until the students ran passed, you decided to observe the room closely. A large circle table with almost a dozen chairs was placed in the centre of the room, and looking into the far left corner you saw a small keyboard piano. 
Music has always been your escape from reality. Notes and melodies seemed to flow into your head; near complete songs that no one had ever heard off were at the tip of your tongue. It was a natural instinct that you gravitated towards the piano, setting down and letting your fingers brush off the dust on the keys. 
Humming to yourself, the lyrics to the song only you knew clouded your mind. Matching the rhythm to the dance of your fingers against the keys, you simply let the song take over. 
‘I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known’ 
The rest of the world faded away, and you failed to hear the rushed footsteps from outside the room. 
Eddie managed to find a relatively clean shirt from his van, but as he was searching around he realised that he had forgotten his D&D manual in the prop room from the night before. Scared that someone would vandalise or steal it, Eddie ran and practically tripped over his own feet to get to the Drama prop room. He thought he was too late, that someone was already inside the room as he could hear the faint notes of a keyboard. 
But it was only when his hand grabbed the doorknob did he realise what song was playing. A song that was yet to be written but was constantly on his mind. A song that only he and you knew….
He froze; fearful and nervous. “I–it can’t be.” He said to himself, not wanting to give rise to any hope that might come crashing down once that door opened. 
‘I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one, and I walk alone’ 
And there it was, the soft sweet melody of your voice. It sounded exactly like how he remembered it. His knees went weak and his body almost couldn’t keep up with his how fast his mind was moving. He swore he blacked out while his hand opened up the door, his eyes unable to make out anything as his other senses were so focused on listening to you. 
‘I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone, I walk a-’ 
Perhaps, Eddie should have waited until he was more mentally alert. Otherwise he wouldn’t have crashed into the drum kit and caused for you to scream, jumping up from your seat. 
“Shit– I’m sorry!” He screamed, struggling to get up to his feet. Once of his feet was submerged into the drum and cymbal crashed into his head. “Ow, fuck–” 
You moved towards him, your heart beating so fast from being startled. “Oh my god– are you okay?” You asked sincerely, watching the curly haired boy stumble and fall over and over. 
Not wanting to embarrass himself any longer, he finally managed to stand and placed his hands on his hips. He couldn’t stop the blush or smile that instantly came on his face when he finally took in your face. Your hair was wild and untamed, so similar to that first time he saw you walk out the shower. 
“Hi–hi.” he breathed out, breathlessly. 
You giggled, returning his smile. “Hi, I’m sorry– i didn’t know someone needed the room, I promise I’ll get going soon— My name’s Y/n.” 
His heart shattered and his face fell the second you introduced yourself, holding out your hand and waiting for him to state his name. You didn’t remember him. You didn’t know who he was…. Eddie started to think the worst; perhaps on the day when the crystal broke it had opened up his own living hell. 
You raised your eyebrow, unsure why the cute boy in front of you looked so disheartened by hearing your name. 
“Oh– I’m Eddie.” He said, “And you can... um, stay as long as you want. I just came in to get something.” 
You nodded, noticing that something was wrong. “Are you okay?” 
As he stared into your eyes, he remembered the last words you said to him before the crystal shattered. You claimed that you would have loved him in every timeline, in every reality. And he prayed to god it was true; because even though you had no memory of him, he sure as hell wasn’t going to just give up now. You were standing in front of him, alive and safe. Within those few seconds, he became determined that even if you didn’t remember ever loving him, he could live through it all again. He wouldn’t waste the opportunity. 
His face snapped quickly into a half grin, “Yeah, I’m perfect— just wasn’t expecting a pretty girl to be in here.” 
You blushed at his words. Normally you ignored guys who spat out one flirtatious complement after another; but there was something about him that made your whole body short circuit. His dark brown eyes were captivating and almost…. Familiar. The boy, Eddie, had a striking resemblance to the dashing knight that always saved you in your dreams. 
“Nice attempt at being smooth when you still have one foot in the drum kit,” You teased back with a smile. 
His eyes widened with shock as he looked down, “Fuck– we should probably get out of here before they blame it on us, I do not have the money to pay for this.”
“On us?! That was all you– I was over by the piano. Plus, I don’t even start until tomorrow so they can’t blame it on me.” 
The two of you laughed, simultaneously moving together and out of the drama prop room. Away from the crime scene. Another school bell rang, signalling the end of the lunch period. 
“Oh– I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” You asked, shyly looking up to meet his gaze. 
He nodded instantly, “I’ll save you a seat, Angel.” 
He stood there, dazed and confused as you walked away. Your figure disappearing down the corridor, you only turned back once to give him a final smile. It was sheer magic hearing you play and sing softly–
“She remembered the song.” He whispered to himself. Smiling, “She remembered the fucking song.” 
In his mind, surely if you remembered something from the other timeline, it meant that there might be a chance that you also remembered him. He would just have to figure out a way to make you remember.
_______________________________________________________________________
Eddie TAGLIST:
@silky-luxe @fentyreligion @littlelunarfox @coconutchumby @eempxth @superflannel @fluffycookies22 @yearwalker96 @magicalchocolatecheesecake @grungegrrrl​@m1rkw00dpr1ncess @dixontardis @buckyslwts @bratckerman @dani-d0rk @musicmoviestv @tomshelbystits @reddisteddie @ungracefularchimedes @santaatemypuppy @cherryrevenger @chipster-21​ @grungegrrrl @azaleaforsure @eddielives1986 @luceneraium @i-always-come-back-xoxo @chipster-21 @i-always-come-back-xoxo
Series Taglist:
@assassinsasha23 @dreamingsmile @introvertedmouse @thegirlwhohides @gobringmemyfood @munchabunch @empty-and-nameless @el1997 @gooblerstan @bigbundabucket @theprettyandthereckless @earthtokace @ifellinlovewithawarsblog @secretsicanthideanymore @blueberryhitosh1 @maryan028 @bakugouswh0r3  @loliakeoghan23 @gamorxa  @stardustworlds @bakugouswh0r3 @taeddybearkim @azaleaitsgreen @eddiemunsonslips @awhoreforeddiemunson @strangerthingsstories5255 @queenotaku23 @sweetberry47 @sammararaven @anothermunsonsimp @megumimind @zephyrs-world ​@thegirlwhohides@lem0nb0iii @whoreforhowl @kaitebugg03 @preciousbabypeter @snapped-chopstick @cutiecusp @sl-tfor-joseph-quinn  @crescent-moon-palace @silky-luxe @resident-gay-bitch @anonymousstoryteller2000 @ches-86 @dreamingsmile @assassinasha23 @introvertedmouse 
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mostlysignssomeportents · 11 months ago
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This day in history
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#20yrsago Blockbuster prez calls for end to DVD region-coding https://web.archive.org/web/20060501151122/http://hometheater.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/home_video/brief_display.jsp%3Fvnu_content_id=2047010
#20yrsago LiveJournal demographics https://web.archive.org/web/20040212004957/https://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml
#20yrsago Verisign calls for Internet redesign, Minitel-style https://www.isen.com/blog/archives/2003_12_01_archive.html#107166720994279652
#15yrsago Henry Jenkins’s Neil Gaiman interview video http://henryjenkins.org/2008/12/from_neil_gaiman_to_j_michael.html
#15yrsago Steven Johnson’s “The Invention of Air” — how an eclectic minister/scientist/politician shows that history is a web https://memex.craphound.com/2008/12/17/steven-johnsons-the-invention-of-air-how-an-eclectic-minister-scientist-politician-shows-that-history-is-a-web/
#15yrsago Yahoo to anonymize logs after 90 days https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/12/yahoo-anonymize-logs-after-90-days-compared-google
#15yrsago HOWTO Make a DNS dead-drop https://landonf.org/code/security/DNS_Dead_Drop.20060128201048.26517.luxo.html
#15yrsago HOWTO build a Linux-based supercomputer out of Playstation 3s https://phys.org/news/2008-12-scientists-supercomputer-sony-playstation.html
#10yrsago CopyrightX: Harvard’s ground-breaking MOOC on copyright law https://web.archive.org/web/20131214032640/http://copyx.org/
#10yrsago Amnesty petition to release Chelsea Manning https://web.archive.org/web/20131221031616/http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=520439
#10yrsago Arapahoe teacher on survival and resilience https://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2013/12/scar-tissue.html
#10yrsago 60 Minutes attains new journalistic low with NSA puff-piece https://www.techdirt.com/2013/12/16/cbs-airs-nsa-propaganda-informercial-masquerading-as-hard-hitting-60-minutes-journalism-reporter-with-massive-conflict-interest/
#10yrsago Edward Snowden’s open letter to the people of Brazil, offering help in rooting out NSA spying in exchange for asylum https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/17/edward-snowden-letter-brazilian-people
#5yrsago London cops are subjecting people in the centre of town to facial recognition today and tomorrow https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/12/londons-police-will-be-testing-facial-recognition-in-public-for-2-days/
#5yrsago Official UK investigation of $100 billion laundered through Scottish Limited Partnerships ignores all evidence https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/12/uks-reform-limited-partnership-law-dead-arrival.html
#5yrsago No peace in Hungary as thousands fill the streets, risking police violence, to protest slave labor law https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/16/europe/hungary-protests-intl/index.html
#5yrsago ISP that protested being ordered to block Sci-Hub by blocking Elsevier and government agencies now under threat for “Net Neutrality” violations https://torrentfreak.com/isp-faces-net-neutrality-investigation-for-pirate-site-blocking-retaliation-181217/
#5yrsago “Owning your data” will not save you from data capitalism https://memex.craphound.com/2018/12/17/owning-your-data-will-not-save-you-from-data-capitalism/
#5yrsago Science fiction writers on the future of work https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-sci-fi-issue/
#5yrsago Google’s secretive, data-hungry private city within Toronto will be much larger than previously disclosed https://rabble.ca/general/plan-re-image-torontos-waterfront-how-much-does-public-know-about-plan/
#5yrsago Internal sources say googler uprising has killed Google’s plans to launch a censored, spying Chinese search engine https://theintercept.com/2018/12/17/google-china-censored-search-engine-2/
#5yrsago False Flag: my science fiction story about the future of copyright filters in an Article 13 Europe https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/false-flag/
#5yrsago Arizona realtor surprised to find Canadian “white hat” hacker talking to him through his smart doorbell https://memex.craphound.com/2018/12/17/arizona-realtor-surprised-to-find-canadian-white-hat-hacker-talking-to-him-through-his-smart-doorbell/
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thesacredself · 1 year ago
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Earth Signs: Self-Care
Suggestions for self-care over Cancer Season. Please take what resonates or is needed at this time ✨
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Taurus: go to the cinema; set up a daily journal practice, keep up those daily step counts; watch a movie that you’ve been dying to watch; spend time with found or biological family- be with your community; when you feel like you need to vent, try journalling rather than venting to another person; spend time with your family/loved ones by going for a walk with them- have a chat, set up a picnic, or just be in their presence; deliberately set some time aside to take a walk out in nature; rewatch an old favourite that brings you comfort; journal specifically about a project, subject, your menstruation cycle, etc.; be present and affectionate with your family and loves ones; find an excuse to walk more, such as walking to work or taking an extra lap around the shopping centre- just be in movement; journal through some family issues or family trauma.
Virgo: wear your favourite crystals; set up an ancestor altar or clean the one you have; start a daily gratitude list; use crystals in meditation; practice deep breathing daily; carry a crystal around with you- if you don’t know the meaning, pick whichever one you are drawn to; ask your ancestors to be with you during any moment of the day; write down what you are grateful for in various areas of your life, such as friends, family, work, health, etc.; investigate your family tree; set a timer, gong, or bell to remind you to take three deep breaths; practice your intuition by opening a conversation with loved ones who have passed; set crystals around your home or work environment to cleanse and support the space; meditate; find inspiration in all those who came before (biological or inspirational); learn more about crystals online or in a book; remember to remind yourself of what is abundant in your life during tough moments; do an ancestor meditation.
Capricorn: put on some incense and oils; put a gong, bell, or alarm on your device to remind you to breathe deeply three times; set up an ancestor altar or clean the one you have; listen to your favourite music; ask your ancestors to be with you during any moment of the day; masturbate; wear your favourite scent; add flowers, decorations, or art pieces to your living/work space; massage yourself or book a massage; practice your intuition by opening a conversation with loved ones who have passed; try deep breathing exercises; put some calming music on in the background; wear comfortable clothes; do an ancestor meditation; eat some good food; start and end each day by breathing deeply; investigate your family tree.
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yellow-yarrow · 1 year ago
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fayde deep dive of the day: Vredefort psychology and other things I wish Trant elaborated on
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Jean Vicquemare - "What?! He lost his memory because of *capitalism*?"
Trant Heidelstam - "No, not like that, I'm not talking Vredefort School here. (..)
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Rhetoric - Something about her son going to Vredefort on an aerostatic... to see some psychologists? Or maybe it's the psychologists saying it's normal... to have feelings for strangers? (..)
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Trant Heidelstam - "The Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre for Contemporary Arts." There it is again -- those words. "The exhibition itself drew on Lagerman's notion of memory and so there were some parallels, that's why the head curator Paul Ockermann chose to..."
I wish we learned about this, I wonder what they mean by having feelings for strangers and what their theories are on memory
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Trant Heidelstam - "There's an exhibition on Vespertine proto-expressionism that I can't wait to take Mikael to. We're working our way through the major artistic movements of the last century."
what is Vespertine proto-expressionism 👀 I want to see what elysian art movements look like
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Trant Heidelstam - "The line is from Lu Jiatun's 'Mirova Cycle', isn't it? About Girl Child Communism -- the titular *returning* character. The ghostly apparition of..." He looks around and, noticing the impatience of his companions, stops himself. "Good choice, Harry."
augh no tell me more about Girl Child communism
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Trant Heidelstam - "In this case I suggest looking into the Seolite *invisibles* class. The word refers to their remarkable ability to traverse any environment in the most efficient way possible. There's this excellent investigative piece of journalism by..."
let him talk!!
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rollsrocker · 2 years ago
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Kremlin's Plan for Moldova
Greetings everyone.
The RISE investigative journalism agency published a highly detailed account of the Russian efforts to infiltrate Moldovan politics with a comprehensive strategy to integrate the country firmly in the Russian sphere of influence by 2023, with the side effect of completely alienating Moldova from Romania, the EU, NATO and the wider west.
Bellow I took the liberty of translating it into English, and the hyperlink of the Investigation in Romanian.
If you are Moldovan/Romanian, or if you take interest in the regional geo-politics, I highly recommend this read.
Thank you for your attention and time!
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A document leaked from behind the scenes of the Kremlin presidential administration reveals Russia's plan to bring Moldova under its own umbrella by 2030.
The document, which has not been made public, is called "Strategic Objectives of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova" and was created in 2021. Several key points of Moscow's strategy have also appeared over the years on the public platforms of pro-Russian parties and in speeches by politicians. 
"The document is an interesting one, but it shows that they are one step behind the general situation because of the war in Ukraine and because of the regional capacity of EU countries and other international organisations to mobilise and face Russia's intentions to achieve this," Sergiu Diaconu, head of the Moldovan Prime Minister's Office, told us after we showed him the resulting strategy.
Against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government in Chisinau is increasingly promoting Moldova's rapprochement with the European Union. The head of state recently set a deadline for this goal. The year 2030.
This year - 2030, is also included in Russia's strategy as the deadline for gaining control over the Republic of Moldova and moving it away from the EU, NATO and other partners.
The document detailing Moscow's strategy was obtained by RISE Moldova together with an international consortium of journalists including Yahoo News, Delfi Estonia, the London-based Dossier Centre, the Swedish newspaper Exane Westdeutscher, Rundfunk and Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the Polish investigative station Frontstory, the Belarusian Investigative Centre and the Central European news website VSquare.
The document comes from the same Presidential Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation that produced a similar strategy on Russia's plans to annex the Republic of Belarus. The strategy was drafted in autumn 2021, as was the Belarus strategy, with input from the Russian General Staff and Moscow's special services: the FSB, SVR and GRU. "There is zero percent [chance that] these documents are fake," according to the source who provided us with the documents.
The strategy was built on three spheres of influence: political and military, economic and humanitarian.
PRO-RUSSIAN POLITICAL AND BUSINESS INFLUENCE GROUPS
Strategic objectives in the political, military, military-technical and security spheres
In the short term (until 2022), Russia has set out to open a consulate in ATU Gagauzia, but this has not happened. The idea of opening a Russian consulate in Comrat has been promoted by former head of state Igor Dodon since 2012. At the time, Dodon was a member of parliament.
In 2021, an initiative group started collecting signatures in support of the idea, arguing that "many Gagauz residents have Russian citizenship and go to this country to earn money. Many citizens of the autonomy got married in Russia, have businesses there. We are linked to Russia by many threads".
Mihail Vlah is the chairman of the supervisory board of the public company Teleradio Gagauzia (GRT) and one of the organisers of the rally against price increases in the summer of 2022. His wife, Tatiana Vlah, owns 67% of Bakayan, which is on the list of Moldovan companies that Rosselkhoznadzor allowed to export to Russia in December 2022, after imposing an embargo on all agricultural producers on the right bank of the Dniester in August. Vlah denied at the time any link between obtaining the right to export to Russia and the organisation of the protest.
Mihail VLAH, civic activist from Gagauzia: I think Russia is generally not interested in Moldova. What is happening in the Transnistrian region is very important for Russia, because about 50% of the population there is Russian, they keep their weapons there and there are peacekeepers there.
As far as Moldova as a whole is concerned, I think Russia would naturally like to see Moldova in its sphere of influence. Just as Europe and America would like to see Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in their sphere of influence.
And from Gagauzia, Russia wants nothing. We live as badly as the whole of Moldova. We pay 30 lei each for gas and electricity. Our products do not reach Russia. We, like our Moldovan brothers, suffer from the fact that there is war in Ukraine and from this relationship between the authorities of the Republic of Moldova and the authorities of the Russian Federation.
Another objective of the Russian Federation is 'Countering Moldova's collaboration with NATO', which it has set itself to achieve by 2025. And in the long term, i.e. by 2030, Russia wants to "form a negative attitude towards NATO in Moldovan society and political circles". This was one of the "10 priority objectives" promoted by the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) in the February 2019 parliamentary elections: "We will not allow NATO membership and we will achieve the closure of the NATO office in Chisinau".
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"Countering Romania's expansionist policy in Moldova" - Russia's medium-term goal - by 2025. In the same 2019 elections, the PSRM claimed that if it had a parliamentary majority, it would ban "unionist parties and movements". At the same time, the socialists promised that Moldova would "achieve full membership of the Eurasian Economic Union" (EEU). The objective is also reflected in the Russian Federation's strategy.
Also in the political, military, military-technical and security spheres, Russia wants to "broaden the electoral base of political forces in Moldova that advocate constructive relations with the RF", "create stable pro-Russian groups of influence among the Moldovan political and economic elite", 'developing cooperation in the politico-military sphere, including intensifying Russian-Moldovan contacts between the armed forces and law enforcement institutions' and 'increasing the level of Moldova's participation in CIS activities, including restoring the participation of Moldovan representatives in all Community formats as well as through the EEU'.
Dorin RECEAN, Prime Minister: From a military point of view, at the moment, they do not have the resources and circumstances to do much. They cannot advance on the Transnistrian side. They are not aligned enough.
But in terms of increasing insecurity and fear and anxiety and funding protests and different kinds of destabilization, that's what they're trying to do. And that coincides with the agenda of these groups that normally should be in jail, and their money - recovered by the government, because they stole money from the people.
"Russia sees the Shor Party as a reliable partner"
One party that satisfies the Russian Federation's agenda in Chisinau is Shor. The party led by fugitive Ilan Shor has openly shown sympathy for Moscow.
Alongside socialists and communists, Șor has not once spoken out against NATO, even threatening that our country's rapprochement with the military alliance could lead to war with Russia.
"As if it is not clear how our traditional partners in the East will react to our giving up our neutral status and joining NATO. [...] Do we want war? Maybe we should tell this witch (Maia Sandu - ed.) to stop bringing NATO trouble to our peaceful land," Ilan Shor said in early 2023.
Amid the large-scale war unleashed by Russia, Șor has shown his support for the aggressor state, campaigning against the sanctions imposed by the EU. "In the case of support for sanctions against Russia (by the authorities in Chisinau - ed.), I reserve the right to call people to the streets," Șor said in a Facebook video.
Moreover, back in 2021, the parliamentary party claimed that it aimed to establish cooperation relations with "Edinaia Rossia" (United Russia), the party that has been governing in Russia for more than a decade. A statement published by the Shor Party said that the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Russian State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, said that "in recent years, the big problem has been that we have not had a reliable and long-term partner in Moldova for all our big companies. Today, however, we have found this partner in the person of Ilan Shor and the 'Shor' Party."
Ilan Shor and his party have been included on the US sanctions list for representing Russian interests in Moldova.
"Before the 2021 parliamentary elections, Russia was planning [...] to bring Moldova back into its sphere of influence. To support this effort, it worked with Russian citizens to create a political alliance designed to control Moldova's parliament and then support the adoption of a series of legislative acts in the interests of the Russian Federation," a document issued by the US State Treasury in October 2022 said.
We interviewed Marina Tauber in front of the government during the Sunday, 12 March 2023 protest organised by the Shor Party. Tauber denied that she was financed by Russia in any way.
Marina TAUBER, member of the Shor Party: No, we are not financed by Russia in any way. I declare this officially. And when people say or affirm this, please ask them to prove it to you and show you the concrete evidence. Otherwise, sorry, blah, blah, blah. I can't answer for all the people in the world. If they hired some of their employees, they have to answer. Mr Chernăuțan (Viorel Chernăuțeanu, head of the General Inspectorate of Police), as far as I heard from his briefing, said nothing about the Shor political party. If there are provocateurs here, what can I say? How can I tell you? I show you people who came from the district at our invitation. What the others are doing, I can't answer for the whole world.
PRO-RUSSIAN NGOS, CHURCH SUPPORT AND SPECIAL STATUS FOR THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE
Strategic objectives in the humanitarian sphere
By 2025, Russia aims to create a network of "NGOs promoting the development of Russian-Moldovan relations" in Moldova and to provide "organisational, financial, legal and informational support for Russian-friendly NGOs". Igor Dodon founded such an NGO in 2021.
Transfers to the Moldovan-Russian Business Union
About the former president's "Moldovan-Russian Business Union", RISE Moldova wrote in the "Rubles for Dodon" investigation, in which we showed how from October 2021 to April 2022, i.e. in just seven months, more than 20 million Russian rubles (about five million lei) entered the association's Moldovan account. The money came from the "Delovaia Rossia" organisation in the Russian Federation, financed by businessmen close to the Kremlin and represented in Moldova by Igor Chaika, younger son of Yurii Chaika, Russia's Prosecutor General in 2006-2020.
Also on the humanitarian track, the authors of the plan set as their objectives "ensuring that the Moldovan authorities give up the idea of abolishing the study of Russian in schools" and "reconfirming the status of the Russian language as a language of inter-ethnic communication". The issue of the status of the Russian language on the territory of the Republic of Moldova is also reflected in the political programmes of the Socialist and Communist parties. In the latest political programme, approved in 2021, the PSRM "advocates strengthening the legislative framework on the status of the Russian language as a language of interethnic communication throughout the Republic of Moldova". And the PCRM notes in its electoral programme that "the state authorities will strictly observe the rules stipulating that Russian is the language of interethnic communication on the territory of our country". At the end of 2020, the parliamentary majority made up of socialists and the "For Moldova" Platform (made up of Shor Party MPs and defected MPs) passed a law in Parliament giving the Russian language special status. A month later, the law was declared unconstitutional and subsequently repealed.
Young people are also on the Russian Federation's radar. Russia aims to "expand opportunities for Moldovan students to receive distance education in Russian", to increase the quota allocated by the "Russian government to Moldovan students for studies at Russian universities with budget funding", and to create consortia between "higher education institutions of the two countries", open branches of Russian universities and develop an academic exchange programme.
Sergiu DIACONU, Head of the Prime Minister's Office: Interesting in this document, what we know exactly, but it is just a confirmation that they will put a lot of pressure on the so-called humanitarian and social zone. And here they can really cause some damage, because they are using institutions, including the Russian Cultural Institute here in Moldova, where you can see the permanent presence of the young generation, especially from the socialist side. It's a kind of enclave for the exchange of anything but cultural issues.
And the most interesting thing in the humanitarian sphere is that they want to increase the number of student organizations and the growing presence of the Russian language. They want to increase their media capacity.
The Russians' strategy also targets the church. According to the plan, by 2030 they aim to support "the Russian Orthodox Church in defending the interests of canonical Orthodoxy in the Republic of Moldova".
Mihail VLAH, civic activist from Gagauzia: The European Union is a very big and friendly family. It is like an intellectual, brain, technology. And Russia is Orthodoxy, a shared history of centuries that you cannot break with a pickaxe.
MAINTAINING DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIAN GAS
Strategic objectives in the commercial and economic sphere
"Maintaining the volume and legal framework for Russian natural gas supplies" is the objective with which the plan for the commercial and economic sphere begins.
Sergiu DIACONU, Head of the Prime Minister's Office: I would be very happy if people in Moldova could see this strategy. Because in the second point, in the economic sphere, they set out in the short term that they want to maintain the volume of gas deliveries to Moldova, which they did in 2021. But in this year, 2022, they have cut the supply by 40% and they are keeping us permanently under the prospect of the permanent cessation of gas imports from Russia. Every month we have this problem, that they say we're going to cut gas across the country. So how does what they say here stack up against what they do?
The goal of expanding "Russian-Moldovan cooperation in trade, economic and interregional relations" is similar to the mission of Igor Dodon's organisation. The "Moldovan-Russian Business Union" advocates the development of bilateral relations in the business environment of Moldova and the Russian Federation.
A Moldovan-Russian investment project is also AgroHub Moldova, a business started in Hincesti, which RISE Moldova wrote about last March. Specifically, the investment involved the creation of an agro-industrial and logistics centre, which aims to facilitate the export and import of agri-food and wine products. Worth $55 million, the project was also included in the protocol of the Moldovan-Russian Intergovernmental Commission meeting of 2 October 2020 and, according to the document, the agrohub was "aimed at improving trade relations between the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation". Except that, a few months after the publication of the RISE investigation, the lease contract for the public land on which the agrohub was to be built was terminated. Details, HERE
RISE Moldova sent requests for information to the Party of Socialists and the Party of Communists in which we asked them if there is any connection between the political and humanitarian objectives in the parties' programmes of activities and the exact same objectives found in the Russian Strategy. At the time of going to press, I had not received any reply.
Intelligence and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova: A multitude of subversive strategies, scenarios or plans with direct or indirect reference to the Republic of Moldova are circulating in the public space, elaborated by various experts or pseudo-experts. However, in most cases, these have little prospect of materialisation, as they are launched either to attract generous financial resources from sponsors or to manipulate public opinion.
"THE KREMLIN'S 'MOLDOVAN DIVISION
The document "Strategic Objectives of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova" was reportedly drafted under the leadership of Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Colonel Igor Maslov, who headed the Kremlin's so-called "Moldovan Division" until 2021. We talked about this subdivision in the #Kremlinovich series of investigations.
Our partners' sources report that Andrei Vavilov, an employee of the "Moldovan branch", was among the authors of the strategy. Our sources in special services in several countries claim that Vavilov's superior is Victor Lisenko.
Vavilov and Lisenko are not just officials of Putin's administration. They also communicate with FSB General Dmitry Miliutin, who is in charge of the Moldovan-Transnistrian intelligence network. We talked about how Miliutin influences Moldovan politics in the investigation "FSB agents in charge of Moldova".
According to data obtained by RISE Moldova together with the Dossier Centre, from November 2021 to May 2022, Vavilov called Miliutin at least three times, and Lisenco is one of the most frequent phone contacts of the FSB Moldova coordinator. During the period mentioned, Lisenko called the general at least ten times, being surpassed in terms of calls only by Miliutin's wife - Natalia.
If Miliutin came to Moldova in 2016 when Igor Dodon took office as Moldova's president, then Lisenko paid a visit to Chisinau relatively recently. In June 2019, an official Russian government delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak arrived in Moldova. Kozak was also accompanied by Viktor Lisenko, only his presence in the delegation was not made public.
Viktor Lisenko at the meeting between representatives of the Moscow and Chisinau governments. 24 June 2019. Photo:gov.md
In Chisinau, the Russian guests met with Maia Sandu, newly appointed prime minister in a coalition government with the socialists. The incumbent president at the time, Igor Dodon, also met with the Russian delegation. The parties discussed bilateral trade and Moldova's gas supplies, which later became the focus of Russia's ten-year strategy.
RISE Moldova contacted Vavilov on one of his phone numbers just a day before this story was published. As soon as he heard his last name, the man asked:
Andrei Vavilov
- But who is calling?
- This is Vladimir Thorik calling from Moldova.
- About what?
- I'm a journalist with RISE Moldova. I have a question about a document concerning Moldova. We have a document: "Strategic Objectives of the Russian Federation..."
- You... you got the wrong number... Then he hung up.
We sent an official request to the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova to find out which of Russia's strategic objectives had been achieved, but until the inquiry was published we had not received a reply.
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radicalfeministnews · 1 year ago
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"The stench arrives before the lorries do. They are carrying skins that were stripped from cattle carcasses days ago. Flies are everywhere.
The lorries’ destination is Amparo, a small industrial town in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Here, Rousselot, a company owned by the Texan business Darling Ingredients, extracts collagen – the active ingredient in health supplements at the centre of a global wellness craze.
But while collagen’s most evangelical users claim the protein can improve hair, skin, nails and joints, slowing the ageing process, it has a dubious effect on the health of the planet. Collagen can be extracted from fish, pig and cattle skin, but behind the wildly popular “bovine” variety in particular lies an opaque industry driving the destruction of tropical forests and fuelling violence and human rights abuses in the Brazilian Amazon.
An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the Guardian, ITV and O Joio e O Trigo has found that tens of thousands of cattle raised on farms damaging tropical forests were processed at abattoirs connected to international collagen supply chains."
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head-post · 3 months ago
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British police examining allegations Washington Post publisher purposely deleted emails in phone hacking scandal
A special investigation team of British police is looking into allegations that Will Lewis, now chief executive of the Washington Post, oversaw the deliberate destruction of emails at Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper business when he worked at the company 13 years ago.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a victim of tabloid hacking, said in an article in The Guardian:
Blazoned across the top of every edition of the Washington Post is the statement, “Democracy dies in darkness.” But what if the publisher himself is a master of the dark arts?
As first reported by The Guardian, the police commissioner wrote to Brown that a review of the case requested by the former prime minister would be handled by a “special investigation team.” According to Brown, this team “reports to the central special offences directorate.”
The investigation poses the most serious threat to Lewis’s position as editor-in-chief of the Washington Post, one of the most respected institutions of American journalism. Since taking the post in January, Lewis has been haunted by allegations related to the years-old scandal. He has previously strongly denied wrongdoing but declined to comment through a spokesman.
News UK, where Lewis worked, said in a statement that Brown was “trying to persuade [police] to take one side or the other in the public debate about media liability” and to help plaintiffs suing the company. British police told CNN, “There is no criminal investigation underway at this time.”
Deleted emails
The investigation centres on events in 2011. The Murdoch’s tabloids had for years hacked into the phone records and otherwise illegally obtained the personal records of celebrities including Prince Harry, government officials and ordinary people in search of juicy scoops. As private lawsuits piled up, police began investigating.
Soon after joining News UK, Lewis became the police’s chief liaison. Documents filed in lawsuits against News UK show that in July 2011, police questioned Lewis and chief technology officer Paul Cheesbrough about the deletion six months earlier of millions of emails that the plaintiffs suspected contained evidence of crimes.
When police asked why the emails had been deleted, Lewis and Cheesbrough said they were told that Brown and another MP had plotted to pay a former News UK employee to retrieve the emails of its chief executive Rebekah Brooks. Brown and former MP Tom Watson denied there was any such plan.Lewis said, according to police records of that meeting, which were later made public in court:
We got a warning from a source that a current member of staff had got access to Rebekah’s emails and had passed them to Tom WATSON. Then the source came back and said it was a former member of staff and the emails had definitely been passed and that it was controlled by Gordon BROWN. This added to our anxieties. Tom WATSON has been remarkably well-informed on this. We apologise for hiding this piece of work from you.
Apart from a single email sent to Cheesbrough describing the alleged conspiracy, News UK has provided no evidence of the source, much less substantiated the allegations. Cheesbrough is now one of the most senior figures at Murdoch’s Fox Corp. in New York. (A Fox Corp. spokesman referred comment to News UK. Both companies are controlled by the Murdoch family).
False security threat
Lawyers representing a large group of people suing News UK, including Watson, argued in court earlier this week that Lewis “fabricated a false security threat” to justify deleting millions of emails during a police investigation.
Lewis is not a defendant in the claims. In its statement, News UK claims the company believed the security concerns were “genuine” and were not used as an excuse to delete the emails, despite police notes documenting that meeting in July 2011.
The company categorically denies it tried to interfere with or hide evidence from police. News UK also cites a 2015 statement from the Crown Prosecution Service that it found no evidence that the emails were destroyed “to pervert the course of justice.”
A rocky start atop the Post
Late last year, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos appointed Lewis to head the well-known but financially struggling newspaper. Lewis led Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal to a strong position by successfully developing digital subscriptions.
NPR reported the allegations against Lewis in December, a month before Lewis took his new position, which were further detailed in a recent court filing.
Subsequent court developments this spring led the Post to cover the cases itself. Those materials became a point of tension between Lewis and then-executive editor Sally Buzbee. He offered her another role in the newsroom, but she chose to leave.
Brown personally asked the police commissioner in early May to conduct a criminal investigation into Lewis’s role in the deletion of the emails.
Read more HERE
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