[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241216200935/https://www.oasis.security/resources/blog/oasis-security-research-team-discovers-microsoft-azure-mfa-bypass) Here is the [report (pdf)](https://pages.oasis.security/rs/106-PZV-596/images/oasis-security-authquake-mfa-bypass.pdf?version=0) -- ([archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241216200935/https://pages.oasis.security/rs/106-PZV-596/images/oasis-security-authquake-mfa-bypass.pdf?version=0)) **Oasis Security's research team uncovered a critical vulnerability in Microsoft's Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) implementation, allowing attackers to bypass it and gain unauthorized access to the user’s account, including Outlook emails, OneDrive files, Teams chats, Azure Cloud, and more. Microsoft has more than 400 million paid Office 365 seats, making the consequences of this vulnerability far-reaching.** The bypass was simple: it took around an hour to execute, required no user interaction and did not generate any notification or provide the account holder with any indication of trouble. [Edit to insert the original link to the Oasis site.]

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241220082229/https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/international/2024/12/17/eu-takes-a-fresh-look-at-confiscating-russias-frozen-assets/) The bloc’s diplomatic service, as well as some member states, are examining whether judicial decisions would be needed as a legal basis to seize the frozen assets, or if a damage calculation would be enough, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue. [...] A decision to confiscate the money and hand it over to Ukraine would be a significant departure from the current approach. [...] Up to now, the EU and the Group of Seven nations have tapped the profits generated by some $300 billion in sanctioned Russian assets to provide aid to Ukraine. Under a G-7 plan, Kyiv’s allies approved a mechanism where the profits would be used to underpin a €50 billion ($52.5 billion) loan package for Kyiv. [Confiscation of foreign assets, let alone of that size, would be unprecedented in history. While central bank reserves have been frozen many times -e.g., the United States are still holding the reserves of Iraq and Afghanistan, yet technically they remain the property of these countries. Central bank reserves of another country have never been confiscated before.] [...] Some EU member states are currently evaluating what effect such a move would have on the euro as a currency, the people said. They’re also assessing the potential impact of third countries deciding to withdraw assets from countries that proceed with seizures. [...] Kaja Kallas, the EU’s new foreign policy chief who runs its diplomatic service, said during her confirmation hearing last month that frozen assets should be tapped directly. “I will not use the word confiscation, because it’s really using the assets in a legal way,” she said. [...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17662074 > **Ever wonder where all those high officials in China keep disappearing to?** > > **They are but few of a whopping 26,000 individuals placed into the Chinese Communist Party’s notorious Liuzhi system in 2023 alone. Liuzhi, or retention in custody, is a special “investigative mechanism” that allows the [Chinese Communist] Party’s [CCP] internal police force (Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – CCDI) to forcefully disappear, arbitrarily detain and torture individuals for up to six months. All without any judicial oversight or appeal mechanism, the system is specifically designed to force confessions from the victims.** > > As former CCDI lead Liu Jianchao (since promoted to head of the International Liaison Department) put it: “These are not criminal or judicial arrests and they are more effective”. > > A successor to Shuanggui, the system is another of the many hardening reforms since Xi Jinping assumed the helm of the CCP and rapidly started moving the country even further away from the most basic human rights standards to which it is beholden under international law. > > [...] > > Officially instituted under the National Supervision Law in 2018, liuzhi is rapidly catching up with other mechanisms of enforced disappearances in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Its use now appears to be on par with the use of [Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL)](https://safeguarddefenders.com/en/blog/deaths-chinas-rsdl-system-spark-domestic-calls-reform), instituted in 2014 and most often employed against human rights defenders. > > [...] > > Per regulation, any individual placed inside the system must be held in solitary confinement. The vast majority of **victims are kept from any type of communication with the outside world and their family members are not informed of their whereabouts** (or even the retention itself) as the system makes use of undisclosed (designated) locations, from custom-built facilities to CCP-run hotels, guesthouses, offices, etc. By any definition, it is a system of Party-state sanctioned incommunicado detention. > > [...] > > The reasoning behind it all is very simple: to break the victims down. As a Professor at Peking University explained: [These cases are] “heavily dependent on the suspect’s confession. (...) If he (the suspect) remains silent under the advice of a lawyer, it would be very hard to crack the case”. > > Testimonies from inside liuzhi (or its predecessor shuanggui) are rare, but all agree: "It looks very nice. But it is the worst place in the world." - Jean Zou, a shuanggui victim. > > >“The rooms mostly looked normal, with all the expected facilities — bathroom, tables, sofa, she said in an interview. The only sign of the room’s true purpose was the soft rubber walls. They were installed because too many officials had previously tried to commit suicide by banging their heads against the wall” – description of a facility in Shanghai by Lin Zhe, professor at the Central Party School. > > [...] > > In January 2024, for the first time since the system’s formal inauguration, the CCDI published official data on its use: no less than 26,000 individuals had been placed inside the system in 2023 alone! > > **That is an average of 71 people being forcefully disappeared, arbitrarily detained and subjected to torture in liuzhi alone… Every. Single. Day.** > > The scary part: the 2023 number corresponds exactly to the worst-case high estimates [the rights group] Safeguard Defenders had made for previous years, based on partially available data from provincial Discipline Inspection Committees and punishment statistics. > > [...]

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241219075904/https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/poland-adds-media-telecommunication-firms-strategic-companies-list-2024-12-18/) Poland decided to add several media and telecommunication firms to its list of strategic companies, which means their takeover will not be possible without government consent, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday. Tusk had earlier said that private broadcasters TVN, owned by U.S. company Warner Discovery, and Polsat would be added to the list, highlighting increased concern about foreign interference. Tusk cited "hybrid war" against countries in the region. Romania's top court annulled an ongoing presidential election this month after accusations of Russian meddling, particularly on social media. Russia denies interfering in elections in foreign countries. "We adopted a regulation... on the basis of which we added to a list of entities subject to protection... companies such as Cyfrowy Polsat, P4 - the company that operates Play, TVN, Polsat television, T-Mobile and WB Electronics," Tusk said on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting. "This list already includes previously protected companies... such as Tauron Polska, Orlen, Emitel, Grupa Azoty, Gaspol. I do not need to justify the necessity for protection against the risk of these companies, which are key to the security of the Polish state, falling into the wrong hands." Poland's list of strategic companies included mostly energy, chemical companies until now.

[Archived version](https://web.archive.org/web/20241219074005/https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/estonia-pm-kristen-michael-nato-leaders-tallinn-5lkjvwpln) [...] Estonia PM Kristen Michal, who is hosting Sir Keir Starmer and eight other European leaders at a security summit in Tallinn, said that if the allies wanted to have peace, they needed to prepare for a defensive war against Russia that could begin in the next five or ten years. “Russia has a mentality that war is something sacred, that this is a sacred war, and they are against everybody,” he said. “They are against Europe, they are against Nato, they are against the United States. And the only way they would diverge from this path is if they were to meet something bigger or stronger on this path.” Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, defence spending across Nato as a whole has crept over 2 per cent of GDP for the first time in three decades. Twenty-three of the 32 allies have now crossed the threshold, compared with only seven before the onslaught. Poland’s budget is climbing towards 5 per cent and Estonia’s is projected to reach 3.7 per cent next year. [...] Last week Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general, said the Europeans needed to get back to Cold War-era levels of military spending, when budgets were routinely well over 3 per cent, because the threat to their security was even greater today. [...] Estonian officials now say they are confident that Nato will raise the bar to 2.5 or 3 per cent in the near future, not least because the alliance’s new lists of specific requirements from each national military will force the issue. “I believe that we’ll reach the momentum and more and more countries are understanding that they need to do more,” Hanno Pevkur, Estonia’s defence minister, told The Times. “It’s not only about the words that Trump is saying. It’s about the real needs.” [...] Estonian officials argue that if Ukraine can cling on until the spring then Putin will face mounting discontent within his own regime and find it harder to persuade other power brokers that Russia can outlast its opponents. In the long run, Michal said, **Russia was “absolutely” destroying its economic future**. “If one were to look at Russia’s economy like we look at other economies … Russia’s economy would be like a train wreck in slow motion,” he said. “But because the [Russian] narrative is different, the Putin regime’s only way of staying in power is to continue this kind of war because during the war [its critics] cannot ask any questions”. [...]

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241219072348/https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/chinese-man-arrested-on-german-naval-base-tv-says-spy-charges-being-consideredhttps://www.bairdmaritime.com/security/naval/germany-says-chinese-man-arrested-on-naval-base-spy-charges-being-considered) A Chinese man was arrested on the territory of a German naval base, police said on Wednesday, and a public broadcaster said prosecutors were considering spying charges. [...] The man was found carrying a camera at the naval base in Kiel on December 9, and that prosecutors were considering charges of taking security-endangering pictures of military installations. "We have an open investigation into a Chinese man who was found on the territory of the marine port," said Carola Jeschke, spokesperson for Schlesweig-Holstein's criminal investigation department. [...] The investigation comes amid a greatly heightened focus on the security threat posed by China, whose booming car industry is an increasingly formidable competitor to Germany's economic mainstay, and which continues to cooperate with Russia even as the West seeks to isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. **Kiel, on the Baltic Sea, is home to one of the German navy's three flotillas and the dry dock where ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems builds submarines.** In October, Germany took over command of NATO's task force in the Baltic Sea, which is criss-crossed by fuel pipelines and data cables that have repeatedly been severed since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022. Germany's security agencies have frequently warned of an increased threat from Chinese intelligence services. **In 2023, Kiel scrapped plans to establish a twin-city partnership with the Chinese military port of Qingdao after researchers warned that it could serve as a cover for espionage. ** [Replaced the link with a Cloudflare-free version.]

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241217003436/https://www.intellinews.com/russia-s-hiv-crisis-30-000-annual-deaths-of-working-age-people-undermine-dwindling-labour-force-358622/?source=russia) Around 30,000 Russians of working age die annually from HIV, according to Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of Russia’s Federal Methodological Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention. This figure continues to rise alongside increasing treatment costs for the government and a lack of early HIV testing. Speaking to TASS, Pokrovsky revealed that the Russian government spends RUB70bn ($670mn) per year on HIV treatment. The epidemic is exacerbated by the loss of economically active individuals, which Pokrovsky highlighted as a critical economic blow. “If each year we lose 30,000 young, able-bodied people who could work for another 20-30 years, that is an additional loss [to the economy],” he said. Russia’s HIV epidemic, which has resulted in 1.7mn infections and nearly 500,000 deaths to date, stems primarily from gaps in early diagnosis and inconsistent treatment availability. Reports indicate that shortages of antiretroviral drugs, including the vital medication Dolutegravir, have emerged due to disrupted supply chains and procurement issues, with some supply tenders being cancelled altogether. While heterosexual transmission is now the most common means of spreading HIV in Russia, marginalised groups such as drug users, sex workers and gay men remain disproportionately vulnerable. Reduced funding for HIV testing – currently 30% below the recommended levels – has further undermined efforts at early detection, despite calls from medical experts for regular screenings to prevent immune system deterioration.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17627707 > **On International Human Rights Day, a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Vienna united Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Christians demanding an end to Chinese Communist Party oppression. Demonstrators called for global action against the ongoing human rights abuses and systemic oppression of marginalized communities in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).** > > On International Human Rights Day, a significant protest unfolded outside the Chinese Embassy in Vienna as Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Chinese Christians united against ongoing oppression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The event, spearheaded by the Tibetan Community Organisation in Vienna, spotlighted widespread human rights abuses by the Chinese authorities. > > Leading the demonstration, Tibetan diaspora members waved flags and held banners condemning the CCP's persistent violations in Tibet. They voiced concerns over issues such as the demolition of monasteries, enforced relocation of Tibetan children, and what many called cultural genocide. The protesters urged global recognition of these atrocities and pressed for international intervention to halt Chinese repressive policies. > > Uyghur activists stood alongside their Tibetan peers, highlighting the severe persecution faced by Uyghurs, including mass detentions, forced labor, and the destruction of religious sites. Joined by Chinese Christians, who protested against the state's control over religious practices, they collectively demanded an end to CCP tyranny and urged the world to hold China accountable. > > [Edit to include the link.]

[Archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20241218062814/https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-chinese-tariffs-1.7412834) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has already slapped a 100 per cent tariff on all Chinese electric vehicles and a 25 per cent tariff on imports of Chinese steel and aluminum products. The finance ministry has said it's exploring options to widen the duties. The mid-year fiscal update presented on Monday showed that Ottawa has decided to apply tariffs to imports of certain solar products and critical minerals from China early in the new year, with levies on semiconductors, permanent magnets, and natural graphite following in 2026. [...] Trudeau's government has frequently criticized the Chinese government-funded policy of oversupply and over-capacity. He has said Canada needs to protect local jobs from cheap Chinese products finding their way into the country.

Russian Economist Konstantin Sonin explains what a recent report on the Russian economy – which argues that “Putinomics” can both keep the war going and ensure economic growth – gets wrong. **Konstantin Sonin**: [...] here are a number of artificial statistical effects that create the impression that the economy as a whole is growing. The fact is that it is not growing. In fact, two processes are taking place in the economy: a decline in people’s standard of living and a decline in consumption – in both the quantity of goods consumed and the quality of goods consumed. This is how the war is being financed [...] We get a statistical illusion. [...] If we take all these [official statistical] figures on faith, then we get something strange: you can take a working economy, remove a million people from the workforce – 500,000 for the war, 500,000 as emigrants – increase the costs of all transactions – because, owing to the chain of intermediaries, each transaction abroad now costs more and gets you less – and the end result is an economy producing more. This contradicts what we know about the functioning of an economy. There is no such thing as pressing a button and producing more. Especially if your costs have increased. You can also imagine a situation where you press a button and produce more now at the expense of tomorrow, but my colleagues do not expect a downturn tomorrow. [...] I do not think that the people sitting at [Russia's federal statistics agency] Rosstat are deliberately tweaking the numbers. But it would not be surprising if you, presented with the opportunity to decide, roughly speaking, how to calibrate a model, you did it in such a way that it gave you the most favorable numbers. [...] If we roughly assume that inflation [which is officially at around 9 percent year on year at the moment] is actually underestimated by about half, then GDP growth disappears, as does the growth of real incomes [...] obviously does not exist. Because if this growth were real, we would have no idea where these real incomes are going, as there is no consumption growth in any data. [...] Of course, the Russian economy has not collapsed, as some hotheads predicted; it has not gone away. But for each transaction, for each item, the costs have gone up. Every unit of Russian exports is sold for less than it was sold for before. Every unit of Russian imports is bought for more than it was bought for before. [...] The effects we are talking about, which I believe indicate an economic deterioration, are a couple percent, single percentage points. Maybe even 10%. We have seen that GDP and other macroeconomic aggregates can halve in seven years – this was the case in the early 1990s. But did trams stop running? Did clinics stop working? In other words, this alone does not lead to an economic collapse. [...] **There is a war going on now and that it is being financed by reducing the country’s standard of living.** We know from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that people can put up with a lot for a long time. Before my eyes, from the age of 10 to 18, we went from queues for quality products to queues for butter, and then to queues for eggs and bread. [...] I do not think it’s possible to assist the brain drain more than it has already been assisted [...] Russia has experienced a brain drain that is unprecedented for any country in the last half century. [...] Regarding capital flight, we also need to understand what it means to “encourage capital flight." [...] Dollars only make sense if our oligarch bought some goods abroad and brought them to Russia. In this case, the dollars are put to work. And what would our hypothetical oligarch invest in if he were allowed to? In the most profitable business today: circumventing sanctions. This is where the biggest margins are now. Allowing Putin’s oligarchs to invest money abroad now, allowing capital flight, would amount to subsidizing the most profitable business out there. [...] If Putin today decisively carries out demilitarization and reduces spending on the security services and propaganda, then yes, he can prolong the life of his regime. But if, for example, next year he increases military spending and increases spending on the security services and propaganda, then he might bring it all down in a year.

Russian state-controlled media report about the resignation of former Deputy Prime Minister insinuates that “her resignation comes in the wake of new controversy surrounding her family’s past, particularly her grandfather’s ties to Nazi collaboration in Ukraine.” The RT article falsely claims that “Freeland’s departure has reignited scrutiny of her family’s wartime past”. [...] Russian-state or pro-Kremlin media repeatedly targets Western politicians of Ukrainian descent, distorting and weaponizing WWII-era history to brand them as “Nazis” or “Nazi collaborators.” Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian heritage and who has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine, is a prime target. [...] The exaggerated storyline of Freeland’s resignation fits into a broader trope of portraying NATO or G7 countries as facing severe internal crises. Presenting “policy disagreements” as a dramatic cabinet split underscores the narrative that Trudeau’s government is collapsing—a recurrent theme in Russian-state-backed outlets. [...] [Edit typos in the title.]

[Archive](http://web.archive.org/web/20241213171248/https://theins.ru/en/news/277174) The Russian disinformation network Matryoshka has launched a new campaign aimed at convincing social media users that scholars and professors from top global universities are calling for the West to lift sanctions against Russia. In the videos, well-known academics can purportedly be heard urging Ukraine to surrender “historically Russian lands” — and even portraying Volodymyr Zelensky as a vampire. The campaign spreads this disinformation by cloning the voices of real professors using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The campaign was uncovered by the Bot Blocker project (which goes by the @antibot4navalny handle on X). The videos all follow a similar structure: a speaker introduces themselves, often citing an affiliation with renowned institutions like Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, or the University of Bristol. The footage then transitions to segments without the speaker on screen — while their voice supposedly continues. During these moments, the voice promotes claims that Europe is suffering under anti-Russian sanctions, that the West must stop providing Ukraine with weapons and financial aid, that Zelensky is sending Ukrainian soldiers to their deaths, and that Ukraine must cede its territories to Russia. Investigations by The Insider and Bot Blocker confirmed that the opening sections, in which the speakers appear and introduce themselves in person, were taken from real videos. The other portions, however, were artificially generated using AI, which effectively cloned the academics’ voices. [...] In [one] video, [Historian and University of Bristol Professor Ronald] Hutton begins by discussing the study of folklore. However, the footage then shifts to a portrait of Volodymyr Zelensky as a cloned version of Hutton's voice claims that the Ukrainian president is a vampire feeding on the lives of his citizens sent to fight in the war with Russia. The original video, from which the introductory segment was taken, genuinely focuses on folklore and vampires — but makes no reference to Zelensky or Ukraine. The Insider and Bot Blocker have identified other original recordings that were manipulated for similar fake videos. [...] The creators of these fake videos have used the voices and images of real academics from institutions including Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Bristol, the University of Cumbria, and Sciences Po (Paris Institute of Political Studies). They also manipulated footage from events like the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. [...] The disinformation campaign known as Matryoshka began no later than September 2023, as first reported by Bot Blocker. Initially, the campaign organizers posted messages on Twitter (now X) addressed to Western media, urging them to “verify information” that proved to be fabricated materials containing anti-Ukrainian propaganda created by the organizers themselves. These posts were then widely shared by stolen accounts, allowing the content to spread rapidly across the platform. The bots operate in a coordinated manner. One account might share a photo of supposed graffiti in Los Angeles depicting President Zelensky as a beggar, while another account calls on journalists to confirm whether the image is real or fake. In most cases, the bots spread defamatory videos targeting Ukrainians, often overlaid with logos of credible media outlets to lend an appearance of authenticity. [...]

[Archived](http://web.archive.org/web/20241216215300/https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/12/16/mass-layoffs-hit-russian-it-workers-as-businesses-try-to-conceal-cutbacks-amid-claims-of-a-robust-economy-the-bell) **Layoffs of IT specialists in Russia have accelerated as 2024 draws to a close. According to reporting by The Bell in its subscribers-exclusive newsletter, the cutbacks have hit both tech firms and the IT divisions of companies in other industries. However, Russia’s wartime political posture has made it difficult to speak openly about economic setbacks, and businesses have labored to conceal or deny mounting troubles with IT personnel. Meduza summarizes The Bell’s report.** Multiple IT recruitment specialists told The Bell that businesses have tried to conceal information about the layoffs or denied outright that cutbacks are happening at all. One source explained that layoffs have been “quietly underway” all year, but the rate intensified in recent months. “No one is ready to make this public. They say, ‘Sure, we let some people go, sure, it was the whole department, sure, it was the entire project, but it’s not layoffs, come on,’” the source said. Another IT recruiter told The Bell that layoffs have become routine. “Entire teams are coming to us,” he explained. The Bell reported layoffs at the social media conglomerate VK and the telecom giant MTS, though both companies deny it. The Bell’s sources also mentioned cutbacks to IT workers at the development group Samolet. (Samolet says it merely “streamlined” its IT department to eliminate redundant functions when creating a new division called Samolet Technologies.) Sberbank is also rolling back investments in testing and evaluation, reportedly by cutting contracts with outsourced IT product developers. Additionally, the founder and former CEO of MyOffice (which designs office software intended to replace Microsoft Office products in Russia) revealed earlier this month that executives had laid off its entire senior management (who were appointed only two years earlier when Kaspersky Lab gained control over the company). The IT Workers Union has reported cutbacks at other firms, as well. [...] “The economy is screwed,” the source said. “IT specialists were supposedly in high demand, there was a labor shortage, and so on. But the market has no money for growth, and marketing instruments have failed. Sure, companies need marketers and IT specialists, but there’s no money [to pay them]. However, they’re hiding all this because, in Russia, the economy can’t possibly be screwed.” [...]

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241217134903/https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-romania-european-union-election-0638e90cb3898fc61619e8aed4731a53) European Union regulators are investigating whether TikTok breached the bloc’s digital rulebook by failing to deal with risks to Romania’s presidential election, which has been thrown into turmoil over allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling. The European Commission is escalating its scrutiny of the popular video-sharing platform after Romania’s top court canceled results of the first round of voting that resulted in an unknown far-right candidate becoming the front-runner. The court made its unprecedented decision after authorities in the European Union and NATO member country declassified documents alleging **Moscow organized a sprawling social media campaign** to promote a long shot candidate, Calin Georgescu. “Following **serious indications that foreign actors interfered in the Romanian presidential elections by using TikTok**, we are now thoroughly investigating whether TikTok has violated the Digital Services Act by failing to tackle such risks,” European Commission president Ursula on der Leyen said in a press release. “It should be crystal clear that in the EU, all online platforms, including TikTok, must be held accountable.” The European Commission is the 27-nation EU’s executive arm and enforces the bloc’s Digital Services Act, a sweeping set of regulations intended to clean up social media platforms and protect users from risks such as election-related misinformation. It ordered TikTok earlier this month to retain all information related to the election. [...]

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241216092511/https://balkaninsight.com/2024/12/16/vw-owned-firm-halts-chinese-tyre-imports-from-serbia-over-exploitation-claims/) [...] Munich-based MAN Truck & Bus, a subsidiary of Volkswagen-owned commercial vehicle manufacturer Traton, has ended a tyre supply deal with the Serbian plant of Chinese Shandong Linglong Tire Co., citing allegations of “human rights violations” in reports on working conditions at the plant, BIRN and Manager Magazin can reveal. In cooperation with anti-trafficking organisation ASTRA and the Serbia-based Initiative for Economic and Social Rights, A11, BIRN [Balkan Investigative Reporting Network] has reported extensively since 2021 on the exploitation of Vietnamese and Indian workers at the Linglong site in Serbia, which is key to the Chinese company’s European ambitions. **The allegations included a raft of Labour Law violations, the confiscation of passports and cramped, dirty, unsanitary accommodation.** [...] Serbia has faced calls from the European Parliament and United Nations human rights rapporteurs to investigate allegations of exploitation, while since the start of 2023 German companies have been obliged to carry out due diligence with respect to human rights in global supply chains under Germany’s Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains. MAN Truck & Bus told Manager Magazin: “We have been following the reports on the working conditions in the Serbian plant of one of our suppliers. We take the allegations that human rights violations have occurred in this context very seriously and, in connection with this suspected case, stopped all delivery requests to the supplier in question at the end of November.” However, German car giant Volkswagen, MAN’s ultimate owner, said it was still seeking to “clarify the facts”. “We have followed the reporting on working conditions at the Serbian facility of one of our suppliers,” the company told Manager Magazin. “The allegations of human rights violations in this context are taken very seriously, and we have already taken appropriate steps to clarify the facts. Please understand that we cannot provide further details regarding our supplier relationships due to contractual confidentiality obligations.” While underscoring that Volkswagen itself had not yet received any supplies from Linglong’s Serbia plant, the company said: “Serious violations of labour standards and human rights can lead to the termination of contracts with suppliers if corrective measures are not taken.” Volkswagen specified that Linglong China supplies a 19-inch tyre first used on the VW Tiguan and Cupra Terramar models this year and manufactured “exclusively” in China. “In addition, Linglong China is a supplier of spare tyres that are used throughout the Volkswagen Group,” it added. Alongside Volkswagen, Linglong is one of the sponsors of Bundesliga football club FC Wolfsburg, which grew out of a sports club for Volkswagen workers in the northern German city of Wolfsburg, where Volkswagen Group is headquartered. The Linglong plant in the northern Serbian town of Zrenjanin is key to the company’s European market hopes. The factory officially opened its doors in September this year, when Linglong Tire general director Wang Feng listed Volkswagen as among the plant’s first customers, alongside Nissan, Audi, Ford, Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia and MAN Truck & Bus. **Labour legislation and human rights violations** For years, Serbian NGOs have been sounding the alarm about the exploitation and possible human trafficking of foreign workers engaged in building Linglong’s Serbian plant, the first Chinese tyre factory in Europe. They alleged that passports had been confiscated from Vietnamese and Indian workers and that the workers were housed in dirty, cramped dormitories with just two toilets for hundreds of men and a lack of clean, warm water. In two separate investigations, BIRN found that the contracts they signed with subcontractors of China’s Shandong Linglong Tire Co. violated multiple articles of Serbia’s Labour Law, from working hours to vacation days and financial penalties. Under the terms seen by BIRN, the workers faced being fired if they tried to unionise or protest, while “regular working hours” could, if necessary, breach the legal maximum. “The illegalities in the employment contract are such that it is easier to count what is legal than what is not,” Mario Reljanovic, an expert on labour law, told BIRN at the time. Both the Vietnamese and Indian workers were hired through intermediaries, who charged them thousands of dollars to secure them employment in Serbia. One Indian worker, Rafiul Bux, told BIRN in January 2024 that he had paid a recruitment agency $3,500, for which he had to take a bank loan. He described dire working and living conditions in Serbia, a lack of medical support, unpaid salaries and having to surrender his passport to his employer for months on end. Tomoya Obokata, the UN Special Rapporteur on modern slavery, told BIRN at the time that such fees are a kind of “debt trap”. “They should not be paying that,” he said in an interview. “It should be employers who should be paying for all of this, and governments to monitor these practices.” **Serbia’s backing for Linglong** Construction of the Linglong factory began in 2019 as one of a number of Chinese projects in Serbia that have made the country a Balkan hub for Chinese investment. The government handed over 95 hectares of land – valued at 7.6 million euros – free of charge and provided 75 million euros in subsidies from state coffers for the recruitment of 1,200 employees by the end of 2024, according to Serbia’s Commission for the Control of State Aid. Critics in Serbia say the government, hungry for investment, has turned a blind eye to labour and living conditions facing workers engaged in major foreign projects, particularly Chinese. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has regularly defended Linglong, despite mounting evidence of human rights violations. Confronted with the allegations concerning Vietnamese workers in 2019, Vucic told reporters: “An inspection has been sent. What do people want? You want us to destroy an investment of $900 million dollars so that Zrenjanin does not progress?” “You care about Vietnamese workers? Come on people, we know each other well; you’re not worried about Serbian workers and here you are worrying about Vietnamese.” Serbian authorities said they were looking into the allegations based on criminal complaints made by ASTRA and the workers themselves, but nothing ever came of it. Linglong has dismissed the accusations and, on occasion, tried to shift any responsibility onto its subcontractors. It denied ever employing workers from India and said its contract with another Chinese company, CEEG TEPC, which did bring in Indians, was terminated in September 2022. Obokata said that neither Linglong nor the Serbian government had ever responded to the concerns he and his UN colleagues outlined in a letter to them regarding the case of the Vietnamese workers. “There is a disturbing trend in your country, and it is up to the Serbian government to do something about it,” he said at the time. “If the Serbian authorities are not doing that, they should be held liable as a country and as a government for facilitating labour exploitation and human trafficking.” **Germany’s supply chain act** Germany’s Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains has faced criticism from all sides, either as too soft on companies or as an unwanted brake on the country’s struggling economy. The Act cites an exhaustive list of international human rights conventions, including the prohibition of child labour, slavery and forced labour, the disregard of occupational safety and health obligations, withholding an adequate wage, disregard of the right to form trade unions or employee representation bodies, the denial of access to food and water as well as the unlawful taking of land and livelihoods. If enterprises fail to conduct due diligence when choosing suppliers, they risk fines of up to eight million euros or two per cent of annual global turnover. The latter is applicable only to enterprises with an annual turnover of more than 400 million euros. Companies ultimately risk being excluded from public contracts. []() []()

Due to the continual risks of attacks, children in some areas of the country are now sheltering up to six hours a day sheltering in basements and other damp dark spaces, said Catherine Russell, head of UN child rights agency, UNICEF. At least 2,406 boys and girls have been killed or injured since the war began in February 2022 - an average of two a day, according to UN verified numbers, though the true figure is likely far higher. [...] "Some parts of Ukraine are experiencing power outages for 18 hours a day. As a result, many children in Ukraine are left without essentials such as heating, safe water and sanitation,” she said. [...] The war is also taking a terrible toll on children’s mental health and robbing them of their childhood, she continued. "Children are impacted by the constant threat and fear of attacks or violence, the loss of loved ones, the separation of families due to displacement, and the disruption of education – including isolation due to long-term online learning,” she said. As the war continues, UNICEF and partners are working tireless to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of children and families. This includes working with municipalities to keep heating systems operational throughout the winter. Although they are doing their utmost, Ms. Russell stressed the need for more action. [...] As UNICEF remains deeply concerned about the number of children who have been separated from their families, Ms. Russell urged parties to prioritize family tracing and reunification, and refrain from taking any actions that would alter a child’s nationality or make it more difficult for them to be reunified. [...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17596971 > Here is the study: [How Weakness in the Social Safety Net Undermines the Political Compact in China (pdf)](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/media.hudson.org/110724_Duesterberg_Social_Fabric_Memo_v2.pdf) > > >“To promote common prosperity, we cannot engage in ‘welfarism.’ In the past, high welfare in some populist Latin American countries fostered a group of ‘lazy people’ who got something for nothing. As a result, their national finances were overwhelmed, and these countries fell into the ‘middle income trap’ for a long time. Once welfare benefits go up, they cannot come down. It is unsustainable to engage in ‘welfarism’ that exceeds our capabilities. It will inevitably bring about serious economic and political problems.” *-- Xi Jinping* > > **Summary of the study** > > This policy memo details China’s approach to social welfare and its impact on the nation’s socioeconomic stability. Xi Jinping and other **Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders have an aversion to being “welfarist,”** which historically aligns with China’s tendency to view its citizens as a source for labor and tax revenue rather than as human resources to be cultivated and assisted when in need. This has resulted in a social safety net that considerably lags international standards, especially those of developed and even middle-income countries. > > High debt levels burden Chinese local governments, and shrinking revenues, declining birthrates, falling marriage rates, and aging populations further fuel the deterioration of government finances. These problems contribute to the growing financial vulnerability of Chinese households and create significant concerns for future generations. Families often shoulder the costs of caring for their elderly, educating their children, and paying for healthcare. China’s public healthcare spending is limited, with around 7 percent of gross domestic product devoted to the national system. Families, on average, spend at least 27 percent out-of-pocket of their total health costs to make up for shortfalls in their health insurance, compared to just 11 percent in the United States. > > **Local governments are responsible for more than 90 percent of China’s social services costs but only receive about 50 percent of tax revenues**. For decades, they have relied on land sales and related real estate revenues to meet their budgets, but both sources have declined precipitously as the housing boom has reversed course. According to the Rhodium Group, more than half of Chinese cities face difficulties paying down their debt, or even meeting interest payments, severely limiting their resources for social services. China’s total debt levels are estimated to be around 140 percent of GDP, limiting budget flexibility for supporting social services. > > China’s household savings rates are high by global standards, as **Chinese increasingly use personal resources to cover shortfalls in the national safety net**. As a result, consumer spending and confidence are down. China has seen lower wage growth in recent years, especially in the private sector, reversing the trend of elevated growth in the first part of the 2010s. Through his dual circulation model of growth, Xi Jinping hopes to shift the country away from an export- and investment-driven economy to a consumption-driven model. But the growing burdens on youth and families undermine this shift. > > There are major shortfalls in access to, and quality of, education and healthcare systems, especially in rural areas. The **hukou system of residency** compounds these problems, stopping many rural migrants from obtaining urban residency and thus preventing them from accessing higher quality urban social services. > > Due to severe wealth inequality, low tax revenues, and the decision to prioritize resources for national security and investment in manufacturing and technology, Beijing has limited resources to improve social welfare programs. Low public confidence in the economy and consumer market—fueled by the COVID lockdowns—has reinforced falling birth and marriage rates. Youth unemployment and public dissent have also increased, with the so-called lying flat movement and white hair demonstrations exemplifying public rejection of China’s attitudes toward overworking, professional achievement, and CCP handling of elder care and other social services. > > **Xi and the CCP have chosen to maintain a limited social services system**. Their reluctance to improve the system has contributed to a cycle of slowing economic growth, massive debt levels, stressed personal finances, and declining public confidence. China’s ambitions to become a consumption-driven economy will face significant challenges, possibly further straining the implied social contract that has for decades resulted in social and political stability.

[Archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20241212060858/https://www.warchild.org.uk/news/war-child-shares-first-study-psychological-impact-war-vulnerable-children-gaza) Here is the [study (pdf)](https://web.archive.org/web/20241216015254/https://www.warchild.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-12/CTCCM_Gaza_Needs_Assessment_Report_2024_WCUK.pdf). The Gaza-based Community Training Center for Crisis Management, supported by War Child Alliance, surveyed more than 500 Palestinian children in Gaza last June. The results in brief: - 96% of children feel death is imminent - 92% of children are not accepting of reality, - 87% display severe fear, - 79% suffer from nightmares, - 77% of children avoid talking about traumatic events, - 73% of children exhibit symptoms of aggression, - 49% of children wish to die because of the war. There are "many more show signs of withdrawal and severe anxiety, alongside a pervasive sense of hopelessness", the organization War Child Alliance says. A seminal 2019 study published in the Lancet indicated that 22% of individuals in a conflict affected population would suffer from a mental disorder*. In comparison, the figures from this needs assessment study indicate that virtually all of the most vulnerable children in Gaza require psychosocial and trauma recovery support.

In a significant political move on December 12, the Czech Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution challenging China's interpretation of United Nations Resolution 2758. The resolution champions Taiwan's participation in international organizations, as per an official statement released by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). The resolution, led by Czechia IPAC Co-Chair Rep. Eva Decroix and backed by key committee members, addresses Beijing's sovereignty claims over Taiwan derived from the UN resolution. It denounces China's military provocations in the Taiwan Strait and calls on the European Union to support Taiwan's inclusion in global forums. This is the sixth parliamentary motion under IPAC's "Initiative 2758," aimed at countering China's influence and promoting Taiwanese representation on the world stage. Echoing initiatives from other regions like the EU and Canada, this resolution reaffirms a widening international consensus supporting Taiwan.

All it takes is one hacker and a batch of faulty solar panels to threaten the safety of Europe’s electric grid. Vangelis Stykas, a cybersecurity consultant, said he figured out how to do it. Using a laptop and smartphone at his home in Thessaloniki, Greece, Stykas bypassed firewalls in panels around the world and gained access to more power than runs through Germany’s entire system. The “white-hat hacker,” who tests software so companies can fix flaws, said he got far enough inside the controls that he could have turned the devices off, dramatically tipping the supply-demand balance for the power network. Such a drastic fluctuation could stress a grid to the point where it shuts down as a fail-safe, he said. The exponential growth of rooftop solar systems means millions more connection points to the grid, creating a massive vulnerability that hackers could exploit. The most serious impact may be cascading grid failures across the continent. That risk is a growing concern for utilities and governments dealing with more cyberattacks every year. [...] The **average number of weekly cyberattacks on utilities worldwide doubled within two years to about 1,100**, and they’re occurring more frequently as digitalization takes hold, the International Energy Agency said. The European Union suffered more than 200 reported cyberattacks on energy infrastructure last year, and that number has “largely increased in recent years.” [...] “There’s some naivete about the risk,” Harry Krejsa, director of studies at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology in Pittsburgh, told the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast last week. “It should be more of a concern than is widely perceived today.” [...] The threat is serious enough that NATO ran a security drill in Sweden to find and fix vulnerabilities in solar, wind and hydroelectric systems. The military alliance says it’s the world’s first such exercise, and the scenario comes amid wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the **West’s fracturing relationships with Russia and China. The latter is the biggest maker of solar panels.** [...]

[Archived (in German)](https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Service-Navi/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/Presse2024/241212_Badbox_Sinkholing.html) Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) sinkholed internet traffic originating from Germany and going to the command and control servers of the BADBOX malware group, BSI writes on its website. The malware was [first detected in October 2023 by Human Security](https://www.humansecurity.com/company/satori-threat-intelligence/badbox), a company specialized in detecting advertising fraud. The BADBOX group, which originates from China, assembled a botnet of over 280,000 systems by hiding its malware in malicious Android and iOS apps and inside the firmware of Android TV streaming boxes. Human Security said the BADBOX group operated out of China and most likely had access to hardware supply chains where its members could deploy the malicious firmware on streaming boxes. BADBOX affects consumers from both the public and private sector. The BSI says all German internet service providers with over 100,000 clients are now mandated by law to redirect BADBOX traffic to its sinkhole. A sinkhole is a server designed to capture malicious traffic and prevent control of infected devices by the criminals who infected them. It is reportedly the first time the German BSI has sinkholed a malware operation on its own. Prior to that, the BSI did this as part of international efforts targeting cybercrime operations.

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241210071207/https://news.online.ua/en/russia-refuses-to-reveal-the-whereabouts-of-20000-kidnapped-ukrainian-children-888111/) **Dariya Zarivna, operational director of the Bring Kids Back UA program, said at the UN Security Council, the aggressor country Russia refuses to reveal the location of 20,000 children abducted from Ukraine.** - Russia is withholding information on the whereabouts of 20,000 kidnapped Ukrainian children, defying international laws and efforts for their return. - The forced imposition of Russian citizenship on abducted children from Ukraine has led to discrimination and limited access to essential services like healthcare and education. - The International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, launched by Ukraine and supported by 41 countries, has successfully brought 1,022 children back home. - The Montreal Commitment aims to ensure the safe return of all abducted Ukrainians, with a specific focus on children, in response to Russia's aggressive actions. - The documentary 'Mutilated Childhood' sheds light on the harrowing experiences of children affected by Russia's war on Ukraine, underscoring the urgent need to protect their rights and bring them justice. Russian officials systematically refuse to provide information. But to give you an idea, the commissioner for children's rights in Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova, boasted that she had "resettled" more than 700,000 Ukrainian children in Russia, Zarivna noted. According to her, one of the examples is the story of 10-month-old Maryna Prokopenko, who was kidnapped by the Russian occupiers from a children's home in Kherson. After the child was forcibly deported to Russia, she was given a new name, her place of birth was changed and she was given up for adoption to the family of State Duma deputy Serhii Myronov. [...]

Saudi Arabia is hosting a major United Nations conference on internet governance while dozens of people remain imprisoned for peaceful online speech, Human Rights Watch said today. The 19th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will be held from December 15 to 19 in Riyadh, under the theme of “Building our Multistakeholder Digital Future.” The annual forum features multistakeholder policy dialogue on internet-related public policy issues. “Saudi authorities have engaged in a sustained assault on online freedom of expression, yet are now playing hosts to a global internet conference,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If the Saudi government is indeed serious about digital rights, the authorities should immediately release the scores of activists imprisoned for online freedom of expression.” [...] Many are charged under the Saudi Arabia’s abusive counterterrorism law, and the authorities conduct invasive surveillance of civil society members at home and abroad. [...]

[Original version in German and behind paywall.](https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/klima-nachhaltigkeit/chinesische-solarindustrie-bildet-ein-kartell-auf-kosten-deutscher-kunden-110167512.html) Buyers of solar modules from China may have to get used to higher prices. According to a report by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), China’s solar companies have merged into a kind of cartel. The agreement aims to limit production in that there should be quotas based on the market share of the participating groups. Experts say the initiative is similar to OPEC, the organization of oil exporting countries, just for solar modules. A total of 33 companies, which account for around 90 percent of China’s production of solar modules, have agreed to reduce their production, the FAZ quoted by the Chinese business newspaper Yicai. Other reports also mentioned lower prices. The corporations apparently even agreed on an enforcement mechanism. The industry association will visit the factories to determine the exact capacities. Anyone who wants to start new factories in the future must shut down old ones. In addition, penalties were agreed for breaches of contract. Companies that were among the early signatories of the pact would be favoured and receive higher production quotas. The German paper, however, also points out that the reports and industry rumours are currently not verifiable. The move by China’s PV sector follows a similar move by its wind energy majors, who have also promised to collaborate to weed out ‘irrational pricing; from the market for the broader good of the industry, [as per Business Times Singapore](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion-features/opec-solar-power-isnt-going-work). China’s solar majors dominate the global PV sector as well have faced a series of strong headwinds in the past 15 months, facing a perfect storm of overcapacity, followed by high inventory levels, price crashes and now, protective tariffs in many key markets, notably, India the US and possibly Europe soon. [Edit typo.]

**Nearly three years into the war on Ukraine, the Austrian lender continues to make billions in Russia, while its plans for exiting the country remain more unclear than ever.** Here is the [paper (pdf) in English](https://www.banktrack.org/download/burning_the_bridge/burning_the_bridge_en.pdf). Here is the [paper (pdf) in German](https://www.banktrack.org/download/goldene_brucken_abreien/goldene_brucken_abreien_de_1.pdf). A new briefing paper released by BankTrack and the B4Ukraine coalition shows that Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is still failing to meaningfully address the human rights implications of its operations in Russia. The briefing draws together nearly three years of data and investigations into RBI, the largest international bank still operating in Russia. Nearly three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, results indicate that the values of **both the assets and the profits of RBI’s Russian subsidiary remain higher than pre-war levels**, while the bank continues to stall on its commitment to exit Russia. Most notably, the briefing shows that Raiffeisenbank Russia continues to provide payment services and tax contributions that risk materially contributing to the Russian war effort. The bank is found to have made more than €1.3 billion in tax payments since the beginning of the war, with annual payments also remaining significantly higher than pre-invasion levels. These findings indicate that the Russian government and its war effort continue to benefit significantly from RBI’s presence in the country (roughly 40% of Russia’s government budget is earmarked for military purposes). [...] These findings provide crucial background to the Russian government’s classification of **RBI as one of just two “systemically important” foreign banks remaining in Russia**. As the report notes, the size and scope of RBI’s Russian operations exceed those of all other remaining Western banks put together. This outsized presence continues to sustain the Russian wartime economy. [...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17526254 > The Presidential Office yesterday called on China to stop all “provocative acts,” saying ongoing Chinese military activity in the nearby waters of Taiwan was a “blatant disruption” of the “status quo” of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. > > Defense officials said they have detected Chinese ships since Monday, both off Taiwan and farther out along the first island chain. They described the formations as two walls designed to demonstrate that the waters belong to China. > > [...] > > Taiwan has been expecting drills following stops by President William Lai (賴清德) in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during an overseas trip to diplomatic allies in the Pacific last week. > > Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) in a statement said that China’s military actions were a “blatant disruption” of regional stability and Beijing should immediately stop all “provocative acts.” > > She said that it is customary for presidents to go overseas and that “Taiwan’s normal international exchanges with other countries are not an excuse for China’s provocations.” > > Meanwhile, the Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday demanded China cease its military intimidation and “irrational behavior” that endangers regional peace and stability. > [Edit typo.]

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241211084102/https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/russia-disconnects-several-regions-from-the-global-internet-to-test-its-sovereign-net) Russia restricted foreign internet access across several regions over the weekend to test its national infrastructure. Residents of the affected regions couldn't access both foreign and local apps, including the likes of YouTube (one of the last Western social media platforms still available in Russia), Google, WhatsApp, and Telegram – The Record reported. As per local reports, not even virtual private network (VPN) apps managed to help citizens bypass internet restrictions in what looks like a new phase of online censorship for the country. "This event is crucial in the possible evolution of online censorship in Russia because it shows what's technically possible – a very limited internet experience where most common things simply don't work," a technical expert from the Russian digital rights group Roskomsvoboda told TechRadar. According to reports, Runet trials mostly affected residents living in areas populated by ethnic minorities, such as Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia. [...] **A new phase of Russian censorship** Russian censorship is clearly getting tougher, and visitors and residents are left with fewer means to overcome restrictions. While the best VPN apps have become a crucial resource for people in Russia struggling to access international news and other blocked websites, 2024 has seen the Kremlin double down against Russia's VPN usage. For starters, a new law enforced in March now criminalizes the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions – VPNs included. [...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17509380 > [Archived](https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.recordedfuture.com/research/breaking-the-circle-chinese-communist-party-propaganda) > > Here is the [full report (pdf, 28 pages)](https://go.recordedfuture.com/hubfs/reports/ta-cn-2024-1210.pdf) > > China is rapidly advancing its global propaganda strategies through international communication centers (ICCs), with over 100 centers established since 2018 — most since 2023. These centers aim to amplify the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) voice on the international stage, targeting specific audiences with tailored messaging (a strategy known as “precise communication”). ICCs coordinate local, national, and international resources to build China's image, share political narratives, and promote economic partnerships. > > By leveraging inauthentic social media amplification, foreign influencers, and collaborations with overseas media, ICCs advance China’s multi-layered propaganda approach. For instance, Fujian's ICC reportedly manages TikTok accounts targeting Taiwanese audiences, likely including a covert account that is highly critical of the Taiwan government called Two Tea Eggs. On YouTube, the same ICC promotes videos of Taiwanese individuals praising China. These centers are strategically positioned to promote China's interests during geopolitical crises, despite challenges like limited credibility and resource constraints. > > [...] > > ICCs employ various tactics to achieve their objectives. Social media operations form a core component of their strategy, with thousands of accounts active across platforms like **Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok**. Many of these accounts lack transparency about their state affiliations, enabling covert influence campaigns. Additionally, ICCs leverage foreign influencers and “communication officers” to amplify China’s narratives through user-generated content, vlogs, and experiential propaganda. > > Collaboration with overseas media organizations further enhances ICCs' reach and legitimacy. **Through actions like organizing foreign journalist visits to China,** ICCs create an impression of organic coverage and offer an alternative to Western narratives. These partnerships — reportedly established in Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Japan, Russia, the United States, and elsewhere — are complemented by localized propaganda activities that align with China’s economic and geopolitical interests. > > [...]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17493228 > [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241210095021/https://uhrp.org/statement/uyghur-human-rights-project-marks-uyghur-genocide-recognition-day-with-call-for-urgent-global-action/) > > The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) observes the fourth annual Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, calling on governments, businesses, and civil society to strengthen accountability measures and deliver justice for the Uyghur people. > > “Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day is a reminder of what is at stake—Uyghurs continue to face cultural erasure,” said Omer Kanat, UHRP Executive Director. “Words of recognition must be backed by concrete, enforceable policies to end complicity in these atrocities.” > > The Chinese government’s ongoing repression includes mass arbitrary detention, forced labor, family separation, religious persecution, and the erasure of Uyghur identity and culture. Uyghur forced labor remains embedded in global supply chains, implicating major industries and corporations. Despite growing consumer awareness, transparency and enforcement efforts remain insufficient. > > **Global recognition of the Uyghur genocide has grown since the Uyghur Tribunal’s findings. Similar determinations have been made by the U.S. government and legislative bodies in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Lithuania, Czechia, and Ireland.** > > The United Nations has also raised alarms. **An assessment by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found China may be committing crimes against humanity**, while the UN Special Rapporteur on modern slavery found that some instances of forced labor may amount to enslavement as a crime against humanity. In 2021, UHRP led 50 genocide prevention organizations and experts in who said the treatment of Uyghurs “meet[s] the threshold of acts constitutive of genocide, core international crimes under the Genocide Convention.” > > UHRP **urges governments to enforce import bans on goods produced with forced Uyghur labor,** and strengthen sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses. UHRP also calls on companies to conduct robust due diligence on supply chains and to end business relationships with entities linked to forced labor. > > UHRP calls on governments to acknowledge their responsibilities under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, and take all necessary steps to end the ongoing Uyghur genocide. >

Russia has imposed a 55.65% tariff on China-made furniture parts, a trade war salvo that has raised hard new questions about Moscow and Beijing’s “no limits” partnership, as per Asia Times, a media outlet owned by Asia Times Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong company holding multimedia and public relations company, which followed a story first reported by U.S. magazines Forbes. The Asia Times sees reason to suspect " [the first salvo Russia-China trade war](https://asiatimes.com/2024/12/first-salvo-of-a-russia-china-trade-war/)", as the paper writes. Since autumn 2024, the customs department of Russia’s eastern city of Vladivostok has re-categorized furniture sliding rail components as bearing types, resulting in a drastic increase in tariffs from zero to 55.65%. The city now handles 90% of China’s furniture parts imports into Russia, the paper writes. The Association of Furniture and Woodworking Enterprises of Russia (AMDPR) said the new tariff would bankrupt Russian importers of furniture components and create an additional 15% cost for local furniture makers. AMDPR president Alexander Shestakov said importing a finished piece of furniture, which is only subject to a 9-12% tariff, is now more profitable than producing it domestically. He said the targeted components are currently not produced in Russia, which imports about US$1.3 billion of these furniture parts annually, mainly from China. He added that furniture parts importers now must pay up to 2 to 2.5 million rubles ($19,969 to $24,962) worth of tariffs for each container, causing many to send them back to China rather than take delivery. The move comes amid a troubling Chinese economy and slowing growth of the Asian country's exports which grew by 6.7% year-on-year in November 2024, missing market forecasts of 8.5% and sharply deteriorating from a more than two-year high of 12.7% surge in the previous month, reflecting ongoing trade tensions with the West.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17475699 > Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. > > China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. > > Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes near the nation almost daily.

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241209074328/https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/12/06/neo-nazi-street-attacks-are-making-a-comeback-in-russia-experts-link-it-to-2000s-nostalgia-internet-clout-culture-and-the-war) A dark trend has returned to Russia: far-right nationalists sharing videos of brutal attacks on ethnic minorities and other “outsiders.” Each month, at least about 100 new clips of violence against migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia, LGBTQ+ people, and homeless people appear online. According to experts interviewed by the RFE/RL project Kavkaz.Realii, this revival of neo-Nazi and skinhead culture goes hand in hand with the Russian authorities’ ubiquitous wartime propaganda. Meduza shares an abridged translation of the outlet’s reporting.

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241209074552/https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/12/06/either-we-fight-or-end-up-as-the-next-belarus) The protests sweeping Georgia have now entered their second week. Sparked on November 28, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia would halt E.U. accession talks “until the end of 2028,” the anti-government demonstrations have since spread to cities, towns, and even villages across the country. Protesters are now demanding a rerun of the October 26 parliamentary elections, which saw the ruling Georgian Dream party claim victory amid allegations of vote rigging. [...] For a firsthand perspective on the first week of protests in Tbilisi, The Beet editor Eilish Hart spoke to Georgian journalist Anna Gvarishvili, head of the Investigative Media Lab at the University of Georgia. [...] **Anna Gvarishvili:** This is also the first time [I’ve seen countrywide protests] on this scale. Usually, there were protests outside of Tbilisi, but [only] in big cities. Now, it’s in almost every little town and village, and that’s something we’ve never seen before. In my hometown, Batumi, people don’t really like protesting. There’s a [running] joke that we never go out to protest. Now, I’m seeing such massive protests in Batumi that I’m shocked. I think the regime should really be afraid of that. [...] There’s been inhumane treatment of those who were arrested. Almost everyone who got arrested was brutally and violently beaten. It’s like a series of torture. First, they’re beaten up at the scene of the arrest (as seen in videos and media recordings), then again in the [police vans]. One protester even said that police used pepper spray inside the car and then closed the door while there were people inside who had already been beaten up and arrested. [...] Georgians are always like that. Whenever we see dispersals — like during last year’s protests — or disproportionate [force] from the police, we see more people in the streets. It’s been six days now and the protests are only getting larger and larger, and broader in terms of covering the whole country. [...] The protests are totally self-organized and spontaneous, and political parties aren’t involved in [leading them]. That’s good, on the one hand, but it’s also bad because the anger needs a political process going on in parallel and we’re not seeing that. President [Saolome] Zourabichvili is trying her best to be a unifying leader for the opposition parties. But it seems like it’s always Zourabichvili trying her best and we don’t see coordinated [actions] from opposition parties yet, unfortunately. [...] Do you feel like the protesters are still optimistic at this point? Yes, absolutely [I think protesters are optimistic]. It’s not [just] about optimism — it’s a peak of defiance. They understand that there’s nothing to lose anymore. This is the final battle, so either we fight or end up as the next Belarus. So yeah, we don’t really have any other option but to be optimistic.

A Russian man went on trial in Finland on Thursday on charges of committing war crimes while commanding a far-right paramilitary unit in eastern Ukraine a decade ago. The trial of Yan Petrovsky is a rare attempt by prosecutors outside Ukraine to seek justice for victims of alleged war crimes in a conflict that began long before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. On the first day of hearings at Helsinki district court, the Finnish prosecutor demanded life imprisonment for Petrovsky, who is also known as Voislav Torden. Petrovsky, who was born in 1987, faces five charges of committing war crimes in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015, court documents seen by Reuters show. Petrovsky, who has been under European Union and U.S. sanctions since 2022, denies all the charges, his lawyer Heikki Lampela told the court. Petrovsky was detained in Finland at Ukraine's request in 2023 as he tried to travel to France under a false identity. Finland's supreme court later blocked his extradition to Ukraine. The charges against Petrovsky relate to his activities in Rusich, a paramilitary subunit affiliated to the Wagner mercenary group that fought against Ukraine on the side of Russia-backed separatists in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine in 2014, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. Deputy Prosecutor General Jukka Rappe accuses Petrovsky of co-commanding a group of Rusich fighters who ambushed a group of Ukrainian soldiers after deceiving them by raising a Ukrainian flag at a road block on Sept. 5, 2014, killing 22 and seriously wounding four.

[Archived](https://archive.ph/edMsD) The Austrian satire magazine 'Die Tagespresse' -comparable maybe to 'The Onion' in the U.S.- is understandably not known for factual reporting. This week, however, the magazine started a serious research. They did what they called a ‘self-experimentation’ as they described in their magazine: >"We register [with Chinese platform TikTok] with disposable emails and create nine accounts of fictitious Austrian teenagers [aged 14 to 17] from each of the nine federal states [in Austria]. The app does not require any proof of age or identity." >"Then we start a screen recording and scroll through the video feed for ten minutes. We forbid ourselves the search function, we like and comment nothing to give the algorithm no information about what we think is good or bad." >"Only the perfect Chinese code should decide what young Austrians will see." The article is very long and I don't want to post the whole text here (you will surely find a useful translation), but I provide a summary in English: - All 9 Austrian teenagers between 14 and 17 years of age see radical right-wing propaganda, "free home delivered from China," as the magazine writes. - The young people see Herbert Kickl, the current leader of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party, the avatar of Jörg Haider, a former right-wing politician who died in a car accident in 2008, and Alice Weidel, the head of the far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany - Alternative for Germany). - Russian propaganda arises, too, promoting immigration to Russia: "We offer work, a house, a Russian wife and military training," promises a mock Vladimir Putin to a 15-year-old teenager from Styria, one of Austria’s nine states. Teenagers must apply only at "einbürgerung@kreml.ru". - Donald Trump is doing his 'Trump Dance', anti-EU propaganda and pro-Islamic propaganda are as widespread as Quran videos, and, of course, there’s no lack of China’s Xi Jinping. The magazine writes: >**Fortunately, the self-experiment is already coming to an end, but it gets wild again.** >The algorithm cannot decide whether Elias [one of the names the magazines used for its teenager accounts] should be radicalized to the extreme right or to Islamism. In between, a video of Andrew Tate, who is serving prison time in Romania for alleged human trafficking and wants to take away women’s right to vote, should not be missed. In the end, only more Quran videos emerge, interrupted by two interspersed clips of the Chamber of Labour, which the Socialists apparently try to pull Elias out of Islamism at the last moment. What a photo finish! The magazine concludes: >At the end of this self-experimentation, it’s hard to put into words your own feelings while you’re brushing millions of dead brain cells off your shoulders that have been left out of your ears as you scroll through the app. Our brains feel a few million brain cells lighter, the IQ has dropped by 12 points from scrolling. Alcohol and psychotropic drugs don’t help anymore. >We can’t decide: Should we quote Quran verses and in the name of Allah blow up the Tomorrowland festival? Or join the Catholic church until Putin provides us with a neo-Nazi bride who is Aries in the zodiac sign? Among the questions now are: - Why do Austrian teenagers see this propaganda nonsense and **only** this propaganda nonsense? - What kind of algorithm is this? - What is this aiming at? [Edit for clarity. Second edit for replacing "German satire magazine" by "Austrian" in the first sentence.]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17461260 > [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241206135153/https://www.womeninjournalism.org/alerts/china-authorities-arbitrarily-rearrest-zhang-zhan-just-months-after-her-brief-release) > > **The rearrest comes just months after she completed a four-year prison sentence for her COVID-19 reporting. Zhang was detained again in August, and her lawyer was also held and intimidated by authorities soon after.** > > The rights organization 'Women Press Freedom' has closely followed Zhang’s case since her initial detention in 2020 and has consistently advocated for her release. Despite her brief freedom in May 2024, Zhang remained under surveillance and was summoned by police in June with threats of re-imprisonment for crossing vague “red lines.” Her latest arrest is a grave violation of human rights and part of a broader campaign to silence journalists. > > Women Press Freedom demands Chinese authorities release Zhang Zhan immediately and end the persecution of journalists. "We also call on the international community to take decisive action in holding China accountable for these abuses and to demand the protection of press freedom, " the organization says.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17460850 > [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241208092822/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2024/12/08/2003828131) > > Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) in a video showed how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bribes Taiwanese online influencers in its “united front” efforts to shape Taiwanese opinions. > > The video was made by YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” and published online on Friday. > > Chen in the video said that **China’s United Front Work Department provided him with several templates and materials** — such as making news statements — with some mentioning Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politician Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and asking him to write a song criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party. > > He said he had produced content for China as requested, but did not receive the royalties as promised by a Beijing-based management company for his song Chinese Bosses (中國老總), which is sung in an exaggerated Taiwanese accent with lyrics implying a pleasant life for businesspeople in China. > > Chen said he also founded a company in China jointly with a business partner from the Jinjiang Taiwan Compatriots Friendship Association, who worked as his manager and later poached all his employees and capital invested in the company. > > He was labeled as a fraud and a “Taiwanese independence separatist,” and attacked by Chinese Internet trolls, after he released an online video condemning his former business partner for betraying him. > > “I finally realized the hard way that where I was staying [China] was not a place of democracy,” Chen said, adding that there is a huge difference between democratic Taiwan and autocratic China. > > ...

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241206100430/https://www.rtvonline.com/english/international/18299) Education is often viewed as the bedrock of critical thinking and intellectual freedom. Yet, in China, schools and universities serve a different purpose: indoctrination into the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From the earliest stages of education to the halls of higher learning, the Chinese education system has been understood to systematically mould students to align with state narratives, enabling compliance and discouraging dissent. In China, the education system is weaponized by the CCP to inculcate unwavering loyalty to its ideology. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Party’s narratives about Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan. Through manipulating curriculums and state-controlled pedagogy, Chinese schools and universities have transformed classrooms into arenas of political indoctrination, aiming to distort histories and suppress alternative perspectives. This systematic indoctrination has not only entrenched authoritarian control but has also perpetuated harmful stereotypes and fuelled divisions that has hindered China’s relationship with the international community. **The CCP’s Narratives: A Manufactured Reality** From the earliest stages of education, Chinese students are taught that Tibet and Xinjiang are ‘inseparable parts’ of China and that Taiwan’s sovereignty is non-negotiable. School textbooks have known to whitewash histories of these regions, portraying them as historically Chinese territories and erasing the cultural and political autonomy they once held. The CCP’s narrative on Tibet emphasizes its “peaceful liberation” in 1951, a euphemism for military invasion. Students are taught that Tibet continues to be backward, yet a feudal society rescued by Chinese intervention. The realities of Tibetan resistance, the destruction of monasteries, and the suppression of Tibetan Buddhism are unsurprisingly absent from these discourses. By presenting Tibet as a grateful beneficiary of Chinese governance, the CCP’s projection has attempted to reinforce its legitimacy while silencing the Tibetan struggle for self-determination. Similarly, in the case of Xinjiang, elementary school textbooks have emphasized economic development and ethnic harmony, downplaying the harsh realities of mass detentions, cultural erosion, and systemic repression faced by the Uyghur population. These curriculums have projected narratives emphasising how Uyghurs have benefited benefit from Beijing’s policies, glossing over their lived experiences of surveillance and forced assimilation. Students are conditioned to see the CCP’s actions in Xinjiang as necessary measures to combat ‘extremism’, showcasing a nationalistic justification for human rights abuses. **The Limits of a Controlled Narrative** The CCP’s propaganda on Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan, however also does more than distort history. It has for decades bred prejudice and suppressed critical inquiry, especially when it comes to the human rights abused the Party has conducted in these regions. By teaching students to view these regions through the lens of state ideology, the education system has entrenched harmful stereotypes and perpetuates systemic inequality. For instance, Chinese students are been conditioned to see Tibetans and Uyghurs as ‘ungrateful’ or backward’ for resisting assimilation, reinforcing societal discrimination against these groups. Similarly, the vilification of Taiwan has bred undeniable hostility that has severely undermined the possibility of peaceful cross-strait dialogue. However, perhaps the most concerning aspect of the CCP’s educational indoctrination is its suppression of dissent. Schools and universities have been equipped with surveillance systems to monitor student behaviour, and classmates are encouraged to report those who express ‘unpatriotic’ views, similar to practices that were exercised during the fateful ‘Cultural Revolution’. This has thus created an atmosphere of fear and conformity, where self-censorship has unfortunately become the norm. The recent crackdown on students involved in labour movements and human rights advocacy illustrates the lengths to which the Party is prepared to go to silence dissent. These students, who dared to apply the Marxist principles they were taught to contemporary labour struggles, were met with arrests and expulsions, demonstrating the CCP’s hypocrisy in promoting ideology only when it serves its own interests. The indoctrination of Chinese students has far-reaching consequences beyond China’s borders. ... Moreover, the CCP’s education model serves as a blueprint for authoritarian regimes worldwide, demonstrating how control over education can be weaponized to sustain power and suppress dissent. ...

[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241206155630/https://www.dagens.com/world/eu-officials-spied-on-by-hungarian-intelligence) Surveillance scandals aren’t new to Hungary. Over the past few years, the country has faced accusations of hacking phones, monitoring journalists, and spying on political opponents. But now, a new report alleges that even EU officials investigating corruption haven’t been spared. According to an investigation by Hungarian outlet Direkt36 and Belgian newspaper De Tijd, Hungary’s intelligence agency targeted representatives from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). These **officials were visiting Hungary to probe a company tied to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law**. The alleged incidents took place in 2015 and 2017. The report details how Hungarian agents tracked the officials during car trips, tapped their phone calls, searched their hotel rooms, and hacked their laptops. These methods, described as routine by the investigation, aim to extract sensitive information from visiting delegations. ... OLAF was reportedly investigating whether the company improperly benefited from EU funds. This is not the first time the Orbán administration has been accused of interfering with oversight. **Budapest has long been criticized for undermining independent institutions and cracking down on dissent.** When asked about the allegations, Bertalan Havasi, Orbán’s press chief, dismissed them as "fake news." He refused to elaborate further. This isn’t Hungary’s first encounter with spyware controversies. In 2021, a Hungarian lawmaker admitted the government had purchased Pegasus spyware, software notorious for hacking the phones of journalists and activists. Earlier this year, a vocal European Parliament critic of Orbán’s government was also targeted in a cyberattack. Critics argue that these surveillance practices reflect a broader trend in Hungary. **Over the years, the government has been accused of misusing state resources to shield powerful allies and silence its opponents.** The allegations against Hungary’s intelligence agency come as relations between Budapest and the EU remain tense. For years, Hungary has been at odds with Brussels over its democratic backsliding and corruption concerns. As of now, Hungary denies all wrongdoing. However, the claims add yet another layer of mistrust between Orbán’s administration and the European Union.

Here is the new BBC report on the Romanian court's decision: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4x2epppego [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20241206092800/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20241206-thousands-rally-in-romania-in-support-of-pro-european-presidential-candidate) Several thousand rallied in Romania on Thursday in support of a pro-European presidential candidate a few days before key elections, fearing their democratic rights were under threat. ... In the first-round on November 24, far right outsider Calin Georgescu, a past admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, took the most votes, sparking fears about the future of the EU and NATO member and triggering protests especially among young people. Georgescu is to face Elena Lasconi, the leader of the centrist, pro-EU USR party, in a run-off on Sunday. "I fear that democracy is going to disappear in this country and this is what I don't want," said Liliana Rotaru, who works in the banking sector. "I trust my people and hope that they will choose wisely and vote for the European Union and NATO," the 50-year-old added. "So that means for Mrs Lasconi." Another protester, Radu Bourceanu, who works in human resources, said the protesters gathered to show "we are pro European" but said it was hard to predict the outcome of Sunday's vote "because, we have a mass manipulation through diverse, social media apps." Romanian authorities have pointed to "massive" social media promotion, "manipulated" influencers and cyberattacks as they declassified documents detailing allegations against Georgescu and Russia. "I'm really anxious, and I do really hope that democracy will win and the Russian influence will not prevail in Romanian elections," said Laura Boncu, 33. "I don't know how our future will look if the Russian candidate, the pro-Russian candidate, will win," she said. "I'm here to show that Romania is still a democracy, and we're fighting and we're showing up to be able to live tomorrow in a democracy." Georgescu has in recent days avoided answering questions about his previous praise for Putin and his "Russian wisdom". A critic of the EU and NATO, he says he does not want to leave either grouping but wants to put Romania "on the world map".