China: Rights group urges Beijng to free ‘bridge man’ protester Peng Lifa, who sparked ‘White Paper’ protests and 'forcibly disappeared' in 2022

"The Chinese government may have taken away the ‘Bridge Man,’ but his arrest ignited widespread support for a free and democratic China,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “Two years since Peng Lifa was taken into police custody and forcibly disappeared, his message continues to resonate.”

On October 13, 2022, a man in a construction outfit unfurled two banners on Sitong Bridge in Haidian district in Beijing. One read: “We want food not Covid testing; we want freedom not lockdowns; we want dignity not lies. We want reform not the Cultural Revolution; we want to vote not a leader; we are citizens not slaves.”

And another read: “Go on strike, depose the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping.” The police immediately took him away and he has not been seen since.

[...]

Peng’s protest was rare in a country where police closely monitor all public spaces and dissidents. Control was especially tight in the capital ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress at the time of the protest. While authorities quickly censored all news about it, Peng’s messages nonetheless spread.

[...]

On July 30, 2024, a 22-year-old activist who participated in the White Paper movement, Fang Yirong (方艺融), put a Peng-inspired banner on a bridge in Loudi City, Hunan province, and posted a video online saying that he “hope[s] that the Chinese will get rid of autocracy and live a better life as soon as possible.” Police arrested Fang in early August and his current condition is also unknown.

[Edit typo.]

Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors, has won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

Known as hibakusha, the group is made up of survivors of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It has been recognised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Nobel Committee Chair Joergen Watne Frydnes said the group had "contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo".

Mr Frydnes warned the "nuclear taboo" was now "under pressure" - and praised the group's use of witness testimony to ensure nuclear weapons must never be used again.

Founded in 1956, the organisation sends survivors around the world to share their testimonies of the "atrocious damage" and suffering caused by the use of nuclear weapons, according to its website.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3660106

Viktoria Roshchyna, who turned 28 this month, wrote vivid accounts of life in Crimea after Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and areas of eastern Ukraine seized by Russian-funded separatists.

She also documented the nearly three-month defence of the port of Mariupol after Moscow launched its February 2022 full-scale invasion. At least 17 journalists have been killed while reporting on the war, according to international organisations.

Roshchyna was initially held for 10 days in southern Ukraine after the invasion and had embarked on a new trip into occupied regions when she disappeared in August 2023. Russian officials acknowledged last May that she was being held.

With more than 70 percent of Trinidad and Tobago's population and 81 percent of its economic activity concentrated in coastal areas, recent natural disasters have displaced thousands of people and caused millions of dollars in damage, according to the dual-island nation’s Ministry of Planning and Development.

Faced with this reality, a group of 20 teenagers from the country are training to become citizen reporters to address the threats that climate change poses to their communities.

The organization Cari-Bois Environmental News Network launched the second edition of its Youth Journalism Program on Sept. 21. According to the organization, the initiative seeks to train “a cohort of environmentally aware and climate conscious Gen Z multimedia journalists.”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3660846

• The European Parliament (EP) urges Turkish authorities to drop the charges against Bülent Mumay and all other arbitrarily detained media workers, political opponents, human rights defenders, civil servants and academics. Türkiye deplores "a complex web of legislation that systematically silences and controls journalists, and denounce the new “foreign agent regulation” to be introduced by the end of 2024", the EP says in a statement.

• China must immediately and unconditionally release Ilham Tohti, 2019 Sakharov Prize laureate, and Gulshan Abbas, as well as all those arbitrarily detained in China, MEPs say. They strongly condemn the human rights violations against Uyghurs and people in Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

• For Iraq, the EP resolution underlines that new proposed laws do not legally protect women and child victims of domestic violence in the country and deplore the fact that the proposed amendments to the law, if enacted, would lead to an even more radical application of Sharia law.

The resolution urges Iraq to adopt a national action plan to eliminate child marriage, criminalise marital rape, fight domestic violence and strengthen women’s and girls’ rights, in line with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3643028

President William Lai has pledged to uphold Taiwan's self-governing status in his most high-profile public address since taking office earlier this year.

In a thinly-veiled reference to China's claim over the island, Lai said he would "uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty."

At the same time, Lai promised to maintain "the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait" and pledged to cooperate with Beijing on issues such as climate change, combating infectious diseases and maintaining regional security.

Responding to Lai's speech, a spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it "exposed his intransigent position" on Taiwan independence.

Lai was speaking to a crowd in Taipei to commemorate Taiwan's National Day, only nine days after Communist China celebrated its 75th anniversary.

"The Republic of China and the People's Republic of China are not subordinates to each other," he said, in a reference to the governments of Taipei and Beijing respectively.

"On this land, democracy and freedom are thriving. The People's Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan," he added.

[...]

Issa Amro / Youth Against Settlements - Right Livelihood

Issa Amro / Youth Against Settlements

Palestine

"For their steadfast nonviolent resistance to Israel's illegal occupation, promoting Palestinian civic action through peaceful means."

Issa Amro is a Palestinian human rights activist who has dedicated his life to peaceful resistance against Israeli occupation in the West Bank city of Hebron. Together with the activist group he founded, Youth Against Settlements (YAS), he has become a leading voice in the non-violent movement, striving to create a future where Palestinians live freely and with dignity. His efforts have garnered international recognition, and his strict commitment to non-violence stands in stark contrast to the violent realities of the Israeli occupation.

Amro and YAS have successfully mobilised local communities and international allies to resist the ongoing Israeli occupation through peaceful means. YAS plays an essential role in documenting human rights violations, organising protests, and supporting local communities in Hebron who live under constant threats and attacks from Israeli settlers and military forces. The group's initiatives have also served as an inspiration for non-violent resistance in other Palestinian cities under Israeli occupation.

Amro and the group have been under constant pressure from settlers, the Israeli military and also the Palestinian Authority. Amro has been detained, tortured, attacked on the streets, evicted from home and subjected to judicial harassment. However, he has kept his unwavering commitment to non-violent resistance, which he sees as the only way to achieve justice and peace for the people of Palestine.

I have three choices: to use violence and I will be the hero of Palestine for one month; to accept to live under occupation and accept to be a slave; or to fight the occupation using non-violent resistance. So you choose: everybody would choose to fight using non-violence.

Issa Amro, 2024 Laureate

Biography

Issa Amro is a Palestinian human rights activist and founder of Youth Against Settlements, a grassroots group committed to non-violent resistance against Israeli occupation in the West Bank. Amro's work has earned him international recognition for his steadfast commitment to peace despite facing relentless violence and oppression from settlers, the Israeli military and the Palestinian Authority.

Hebron: A Microcosm of the Oppression

The Palestinian territory of the West Bank has been subjected to Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Six-Day War. The settlements are illegal under international law, a determination which was strengthened in July 2024, when the top UN court issued an advisory opinion concluding that Israel's occupation, settlements, and annexation of Palestinian territories are unlawful. The court also noted that Israeli measures were in breach of the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid.

The city of Hebron is one of the most contested areas in the West Bank, with about 800 Israeli settlers living under heavy military protection amidst more than 200,000 Palestinian residents. The Israeli military and settlers occupy 20 per cent of the city, known as Area H2, leaving the Palestinian population in constant confrontation with settlers and soldiers. For Palestinians in Hebron, daily life is marked by checkpoints, curfews, restricted movement, and frequent violence, creating a climate of fear and uncertainty.

The city's core, including the historically significant Shuhada Street, remains closed to Palestinians, contributing to deep economic and social hardships. The Israeli settlers, many of whom are extremists, frequently harass Palestinians, exacerbating tensions. These settlers, backed by the Israeli military, operate with near impunity, often assaulting Palestinian residents and confiscating their property.

The situation has significantly worsened since the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel's nearly year-long military offensive in Gaza. In the West Bank, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed and thousands detained as of September 2024, according to the UN. The Israeli military has been constantly increasing closures and limitations on movement.

Amro's Path to Activism

Born in 1980, Amro spent his early life studying -- and on the football pitch -- with dreams of becoming an engineering professor. However, several key events, including the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, where an Israeli extremist opened fire at a Hebron mosque killing 29 people and injuring 125, opened his eyes to the harsh realities of Israeli settler terror and led him to seek ways to contribute to the Palestinian cause.

The 2003 closure of his university, Palestine Polytechnic University, during the Second Intifada was a turning point for Amro. What started as a desire to continue his studies became a movement, as he led fellow students in a six-month civil disobedience campaign to reopen the university, marking the beginning of his lifelong commitment to activism.

"I managed to reopen the university with other students," Amro said. "I graduated as an engineer and as an activist: it became part of my character."

After university, Amro joined the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, which has long been involved in documenting human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

Founding Youth Against Settlements

In 2007, Amro established YAS, aiming to give Palestinians a stronger voice in the struggle against the occupation. The group's primary goal is to mobilise Palestinians of all ages, but especially the youth, to resist the Israeli occupation peacefully and to reject the use of violence. YAS quickly became a unifying force for Palestinians from various political backgrounds, promoting unity and peaceful resistance without aligning with any political party.

The group's work includes documenting injustices and providing legal support to Palestinians. They also organise protests, raise global attention by giving advocacy tours for international delegations, and support local families in Hebron through home repairs and community-building initiatives. As of 2024, YAS was operating with about 25 activists.

Innovative Use of Non-Violent Methods

From the beginning, Amro has been committed to non-violence as the most effective means of resisting the occupation. He studied global non-violent movements, particularly those led by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and fellow Right Livelihood Laureate Gene Sharp, and used their methods to shape YAS's strategy.

One of YAS's most significant achievements has been the Open Shuhada Street Campaign, which commemorates the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre and calls for the reopening of the city's main street, which remains closed to Palestinians. This campaign has gained international attention, with hundreds of actions and protests organised globally each year.

Another innovative programme has been the Camera Distribution Project, which Amro began in 2006 while still working for B'Tselem. Aiming to distribute 20,000 cameras to Palestinian families in Hebron, Amro encouraged them to document the violence they faced from Israeli settlers and soldiers. Initially, many families were hesitant, fearing that using cameras would make them targets. However, as the project gained traction and more incidents of violence were captured on film, it became a powerful tool for exposing the occupation to the world. Today, the culture of documentation has become widespread in Hebron, with residents using smartphones to capture abuses and seek to hold Israeli forces accountable. To this day, Amro trains university students on how and what to film while also urging them to capture their daily lives, including the things they enjoy.

In 2019, YAS launched another initiative, replacing the UN's Temporary International Presence in Hebron after the international observer group was expelled by Israel. YAS volunteers donned blue vests and escorted Palestinian children to school to protect them from settler attacks, continuing the work of international observers with limited resources but great determination. While opposed by both Israeli forces and the Palestinian Authority, this project gained wide international attention and praise. In addition to his work in Hebron, Amro has helped establish a broader movement for non-violence across Palestine. YAS's success in Hebron inspired similar initiatives in other cities like Ramallah, Jenin, and Nablus. Amro has also engaged in international advocacy, meeting with diplomats, journalists, and human rights organisations worldwide to raise awareness about the occupation. His efforts have led to increased international solidarity and Hebron being recognised as a symbol of Israeli occupation.

Facing Violence, Eviction and Legal Battles

Despite Amro's commitment to peaceful resistance, he has faced numerous challenges from both the Israeli military and the Palestinian Authority (PA) while being constantly harassed by Israeli settlers.

Amro has been frequently arrested and tortured by the Israeli military. On October 7, 2023, Amro was detained, beaten, and tortured by Israeli soldiers, even though he has always been an outspoken critic of Hamas and has no affiliation with the group. Later that month, he was forcibly evicted from his house by the Israeli military, only to return after a legal battle.

Amro has also faced numerous legal charges. Palestinians in the West Bank are prosecuted through Israeli military courts, where they have a nearly 100 per cent conviction rate, according to the UN. At the same time, Israelis are tried in civilian courts. Despite the rigged judicial system, Amro has won several legal victories, including, most recently, a defamation case against an Israeli right-wing organisation that falsely accused him of terrorism ties.

He has often been a target of the PA, as well. In 2017, Amro was detained and tortured by the PA for his outspoken stance on the need for reforms and democracy within the Palestinian leadership. They have tried to discredit him by saying that he was a spy for European countries. Amro said that defending the voice of Palestinians -- also against the Palestinian leadership, which he calls corrupt -- was a principle for him.

Amro has survived multiple physical assaults by settlers. Living next door to them, Amro is subject to daily harassment and insults, conducted under the protection of the Israeli military. Despite these attacks, Amro has continued his work, noting that it's been the international recognition that has most likely kept him alive.

"It's a miracle that I still exist," he said. "It's a miracle that [I am] not killed, not arrested, not giving up."

A Vision for the Future

In December 2023, Amro's brother Ahmad, a key figure in YAS, passed away from a heart attack, leaving Amro with a profound sense of responsibility to continue their shared mission. Despite the violence and repression he faces daily, Amro remains optimistic about the future. He continues to advocate for Palestinian unity, a new Palestinian leadership, and peaceful resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Looking forward, Amro is focused on expanding YAS's work, particularly its community initiatives. The group has already established the Karamati Women's Center to empower Palestinian women through leadership and education programmes and is planning to open a youth centre. Amro also works on opening a cinema in Hebron to promote cultural expression and resistance through art.

Throughout these initiatives, Amro is working to keep global attention on the Palestinian cause and ensure the existence of Palestinian families in Hebron.

"When the kids come to me in the street, shake my hand, hug me and say good things to me, I feel that I'm doing something right to change their future," he said.

Amro's dedication to non-violence, in the face of brutal occupation, has made him a symbol of hope for Palestinians and the global community: Amro's message of peace and resistance against oppression continues to inspire people striving for justice around the world.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3639320

In September, China announced that it was putting a stop to international adoptions, including cases where families were already matched with adoptee children.

The painful wait will particularly determine the fates of China’s most vulnerable children - those with special needs.

Up-to-date statistics are not readily available, but Beijing’s civil affairs ministry said that 95% of international adoptions between 2014 and 2018 involved children with disabilities.

These children “will have no future” without international adoption as they are unlikely to be adopted domestically, says Huang Yanzhong, a senior fellow at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.

Beijing has not commented since the September announcement. It said the ban was in line with international agreements and showed China’s “overall development and progress”.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3629367

Chinese authorities are seeking to intimidate people from China living in Japan who take part in activities critical of the Chinese government, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Chinese government’s harassment of people from China, including those from Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, and their family members back home, appears aimed at deterring members of the diaspora from protesting against the government or engaging in events deemed politically sensitive. The Chinese authorities have also sought out diaspora members to provide information on others in Japan.

“Chinese authorities appear to have few scruples about silencing people from China living in Japan who criticize Beijing’s abuses,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch. “The Japanese government should make clear to Beijing it won’t tolerate the long arm of China’s transnational repression in Japan.”

[...]

Most of those interviewed said that the Chinese police have contacted them or their relatives back home, pressuring them to end their activities in Japan. Several provided logs of messages from the Chinese social media platform WeChat, recordings of video calls, and CCTV footage that corroborated their accounts.

One person said they stopped participating in any politically sensitive in-person and online activities after receiving a call from Chinese authorities in 2024. Another who initially agreed to be interviewed later decided not to participate out of fear that Chinese authorities would retaliate.

[...]

A brief exemplified summary:

• Several ethnic Uyghurs from Xinjiang said that Chinese authorities contacted them through their relatives back home.
• Several people from Inner Mongolia involved in promoting language rights and peaceful self-determination for Inner Mongolians, an ethnic minority, said that Chinese authorities had contacted them, often through their relatives back home.
• A person from Tibet who promotes Tibetan culture in Japan said that when they went to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to renew their passport, embassy officials told them they needed to return to Tibet to do so. -A person from Taiwan previously involved in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activism in a third country said the Chinese embassy sent them multiple invitations to “retrieve important documents.”

[...]

A person from Taiwan previously involved in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activism in a third country said the Chinese embassy sent them multiple invitations to “retrieve important documents.”

[...]

In recent years, the Japanese government has become increasingly vocal about the Chinese government’s human rights violations, including raising the issue with Chinese officials, and with resolutions in parliament to monitor the cases.

[...]

The Japanese government should recognize the threat posed by the Chinese government’s repression of Chinese nationals abroad, and help protect their basic rights by establishing a system for residents in Japan to report such incidents, Human Rights Watch said.

Archived version

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign lashed out at journalist Bob Woodward after he reported that Trump secretly sent Russian President Vladimir Putin a stash of COVID-19 tests at the height of the pandemic in 2020, when Americans couldn't get them.

However, Bloomberg reports that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is confirming that Trump sent Putin the tests four years ago, while at the same time denying Woodward's reporting that Trump and Putin have spoken multiple times since the ex-president the White House in 2021.

[...]

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung suggested on Tuesday that Woodward lied about every single piece of information in his new book, which will be called "War."

"None of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," said Cheung, who provided no evidence to back up his claims. "Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3630108

Archived link

The [Chinese economic] model that has powered four decades of breakneck economic growth was reliant on cheap exports and wasteful state-led investment in property and infrastructure. It is no longer sustainable. It has led to soaring debt and diminishing returns, with China littered with ghost cities, containing 60 to 100 million empty or incomplete homes, while companies accounting for 40% of China’s home sales have defaulted. It is widely agreed that China needs to rebalance its economy, that consumers need to spend more, since private consumption accounts for just 39% of the economy – extremely low by world standards (the figure in the US is 68%). But there is no consumer confidence, with 80% of family wealth tied up in property and no meaningful social safety net.

China's leader Xi Jinping hopes renewable energy tech can replace property as a new motor of growth, and mouth-watering subsidies have been thrown at industries ranging from solar panels to electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, leading to massive over-capacity and vicious price wars. Yet the benign global environment that accompanied China’s earlier export splurges has gone; the world is much more wary, and both the US and EU have imposed hefty tariffs on Chinese EVs and solar panels they allege are being dumped at below cost.

[,,,]

China has never provided a level playing field for foreign business, but under Xi, the environment has become increasingly hostile. Last year, direct foreign investment into China fell to a 23-year-low. In Western boardrooms, once so bewitched with capturing a share of the mythical China market that they would put normally rational decision-making aside and suffer almost any indignity, ‘resilience’ has become the watchword. The Ukraine war has exposed the danger of over dependence on autocrats with hostile ambitions.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3597863

Archived version

Original version (paywalled)

The passport collection drive, carried out under what is known as “personal travel abroad management,” allows local government officials to control and monitor who can travel abroad, how often and to where.

It comes as Xi steps up state involvement in everyday life and clamps down on official corruption. China’s powerful state security apparatus has also intensified its campaign against foreign espionage.

Interviews with more than a dozen Chinese public sector workers and notices from education bureaus in half a dozen cities show restrictions on international travel have been greatly expanded from last year to include rank-and-file employees of schools, universities, local governments and state-owned groups.

[...]

“If we want to travel abroad, we have to apply to the city education bureau and I don’t think it will be approved,” said the teacher, asking that they and their city not be named.

[...]

Residents of restive regions such as Tibet lost their freedom to travel more than a decade ago. Starting in the mid-2010s, some areas applied “personal travel abroad management” rules to local teachers. Last year, after pandemic-era travel restrictions were lifted, more education bureaus began to introduce teacher travel restrictions and stepped them up this summer.

[...]

An entry-level salesperson at a bank in Nanjing said she was told to hand in her passport when she joined the state-owned group last year. After quitting in March, she had to wait six months for a “de-secrecy process” before she was able to retrieve it.

In central Hunan province, a mid-level official at a local government investment fund said he gained approval from nine different departments for a holiday abroad but still could not retrieve his passport.

[...]

The restrictions are hitting retirees as well. A 76-year-old who retired from a state-owned aircraft maker more than 10 years ago said his former employer took his passport back this year for “security reasons” and barred him from visiting family abroad.

[...]

China’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of the situation and referred questions to the relevant authorities.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/26372640

Analysis from the BBC (who are usually quite motivated and effective at justifying Israel actions).

The sheer devastation is incredible. 66% of buildings damaged. 90% of the population displaced. Water and sanitation systems non-functional. 53/500 needed lorries entering the territory per day (down from 142). They're not even trying to look they're helping now. The population have been squeezed into over-populated tent cities.

It feels like they think if they create the conditions for disease and it kills people, they don't get blamed.

To me, it's hard to think of a way this could get closer to genocide. Absolutely sick.

Israel seem to be galvanised by inaction of the world and probably looking to do the same in Lebanon. Is Yemen after? Where does this stop?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3567672

Archive link

A technical expert from Studsvik, a Swedish nuclear technology company, has been exposed for having links to the Chinese Communist Party.

The researcher, who held a critical security position within the company, was also a member of the United Front Expert Committee, part of the Chinese regime’s network aimed at expanding its global influence.

Despite his work in nuclear research in Sweden, the researcher participated in several inspection trips with high-ranking officials from the United Front.

It appears he was also recruited into China’s Thousand Talents Program, which aims to bolster China’s military and industrial strength. According to the FBI, this program, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, encourages members to steal foreign technology for China’s benefit.

This was reported by TV4 Nyheterna.

“The recruits in the Thousand Talents Program are expected to support the transfer of knowledge, particularly in cutting-edge technology,” explains William Hannas, former CIA director and now chief analyst at Georgetown University. “This poses a serious threat to countries targeted by these activities.”

China’s United Front, a tool used to strengthen the Communist Party’s global power, has long worked to influence and recruit overseas Chinese to serve the Party’s interests.

“The goal is to consolidate the Party’s power, eliminate threats, and increase the Communist Party’s influence worldwide,” said Alexis von Sydow, an analyst at the National China Knowledge Center.

Archived link

Russian companies have established a barter trade system with Pakistan to facilitate economic exchanges without the need for monetary transactions, as they seek to overcome challenges with payments related to Western sanctions on Moscow.

The alternative trade arrangement was signed at the first Pakistan-Russia Trade and Investment Forum in Moscow. According to the Russian state media outlet TASS, the first Russian company to use the mechanism will be Astarta-Agrotrading, which will supply Pakistan with chickpeas and lentils. Pakistan’s Meskay + Femtee Trading Company will reciprocate by providing mandarins and rice.

Under the terms of the agreement, Russia will export 20,000 tons of chickpeas, while Pakistan will supply an equivalent amount of rice. Another contract stipulates that Russia will send 15,000 tons of chickpeas and 10,000 tons of lentils in exchange for 15,000 tons of mandarins and 10,000 tons of potatoes.

[...]

While monetary transactions are under increasing scrutiny due to international sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, barter schemes offer companies a way to circumvent complications by exchanging goods directly rather than involving bank payments. Such deals help avoid attention from monitoring organizations tasked with ensuring compliance with sanctions.

This is not Russia's first exploration of barter trade as a solution to payment issues. In August, Reuters reported that Russia had been in discussions with China about resuming barter trade, particularly in metals and agricultural products. However, that project has been slow to gain momentum, as individual companies have struggled to meet the specific needs of both sides.

There has been a lot of research on the types of people who believe conspiracy theories, and their reasons for doing so. But there’s a wrinkle: My colleagues and I have found that there are a number of people sharing conspiracies online who don’t believe their own content.

They are opportunists. These people share conspiracy theories to promote conflict, cause chaos, recruit and radicalize potential followers, make money, harass, or even just to get attention.

There are several types of this sort of conspiracy-spreader trying to influence you.

Coaxing conspiracists – the extremists

[...] When the Boogaloo Bois militia group showed up at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, for example, members stated they didn’t actually endorse the stolen election conspiracy, but were there to “mess with the federal government [...]

Combative conspiracists – the disinformants

Governments love conspiracy theories [...] More recently, China used artificial intelligence to construct a fake conspiracy theory about the August 2023 Maui wildfire.

[...]

As for other conspiracies it hawks, Russia is famous for taking both sides in any contentious issue, spreading lies online to foment conflict and polarization. People who actually believe in a conspiracy tend to stick to a side. Meanwhile, Russians knowingly deploy what one analyst has called a “fire hose of falsehoods.”[...]

Chaos conspiracists – the trolls

These are the everyday trolls who share false content for a variety of reasons, none of which are benevolent. Dark personalities and dark motives are prevalent.

For instance, in the wake of the first assassination attempt on [U.S. Presidential candidate] Donald Trump, a false accusation arose online about the identity of the shooter and his motivations. The person who first posted this claim knew he was making up a name and stealing a photo.

Commercial conspiracists – the profiteers

Some people who fall into this category might truly believe their conspiracy, but their first priority is finding a way to make money from it. For instance, conspiracist Alex Jones bragged that his fans would “buy anything.” Fox News and its on-air personality Tucker Carlson publicized lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election to keep viewers engaged, while behind-the-scenes communications revealed they did not endorse what they espoused.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3544675

China is trying to capitalize on the trend of young people dreaming of becoming influencers and training them to be pro-China.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has started offering free influencer training classes in Fujian Province’s Pingtan, which would teach young Taiwanese how to livestream on video platforms such as Douyin (抖音) — turning them into “seeds” for “united front” campaigns, a Taiwanese government official said, who declined to be named.

This is on top of trying to entice Taiwanese to participate in “united front” operations through half-priced cross-strait tour groups, the official said.

The CCP is increasingly focusing its efforts on younger Taiwanese, especially Internet celebrities, they said, citing China’s inviting of several Taiwanese influencers to produce content in Xinjiang and the promotion of youth exchanges in China’s Zhejiang Province as examples.

Archived version

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has expressed support for children as young as five being exposed to the weekly doses of war propaganda introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

While Putin claimed that any such material must be made accessible to very small children, these weekly ‘conversations about important things’ glorify war and the army; and aim at inculcating a highly specific form of ‘patriotism’ and at pushing Russia’s false narrative about its war against Ukraine.

As the country grapples with a severe food-security crisis, grassroots initiatives, such as mutual aid groups and emergency kitchens, are the only reliable sources of survival for millions. Yet these fragile support networks depend on stable internet access—a vital tool now throttled by war. With the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) tightening its grip on communications in territories it controls and using smuggled Starlink devices to monitor and control access, international actors remain disturbingly silent on this critical obstruction.

The stakes are clear: Without the restoration of internet access, Sudan’s humanitarian and political futures stand to collapse. The very infrastructure that once mobilized resistance, toppled dictators, and enabled life-saving coordination is now at the mercy of warlords and foreign indifference.

Amnesty International has designated three prominent human rights defenders from Hong Kong and mainland China prisoners of conscience today as the organisation called for their immediate and unconditional release.

Human rights lawyers Chow Hang-tung and Ding Jiaxi, along with the free media advocate Jimmy Lai, are all currently imprisoned solely because of their peaceful human rights activism.

The Indian federal home ministry told the country's Supreme Court that "a man does not have a fundamental right" to force sex on his wife, but there were enough laws to protect married women against sexual violence.

The top court is hearing petitions seeking to amend a British-era law that says a man cannot be prosecuted for rape within marriage.

Violence within marriage is rampant in India - according to a recent government survey, one in 25 women have faced sexual violence from their husbands.