Poll: More than half of Lithuanians opposed to any kind of military deployment to Ukraine: Only 3.5% approved of the Lithuanian military actively participating in combat. Lithuania, along with its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia, rank among the top supporters of Ukraine as a percentage of GDP. Lithuania has also required all Russian-registered vehicles to leave the country or re-register in Lithuania, among other measures to isolate Russia.
“I am in you, and you are in me” (你中有我,我中有你) - Chinese President Xi (describing US/China relations)
“I don’t think we ever really take the Chinese at their word when they say they will or will not do something. It is about verifying, as the president says,” the official told CNN when asked about Xi’s pledge that Beijing will not interfere in the US’ 2024 election. - CNN
Taiwan Quake Puts World’s Most Advanced Chips at Risk: Taiwan is the source of an estimated 80% to 90% of the highest-end chips — there is effectively no substitute. Jan-Peter Kleinhans, director of the technology and geopolitics project at Berlin-based think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, has called Taiwan “potentially the most critical single point of failure” in the semiconductor industry.
In August, President Joe Biden approved $80 million for Taiwan to buy U.S. military equipment, marking the first time in four decades that “America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise,” according to the BBC
Why are today's urban boys afraid of marrying outstanding "Phoenix girls"? The reason is very simple: Perhaps, marriage is not a simple union of two people, but the collision and integration of two families and two cultures. This process requires joint efforts and understanding from both parties. Only when we learn to respect each other's differences and tolerate each other's shortcomings can we find our true happiness. - Entertainment News China
Far Right Government in Finland Gutting Social Net and Cuts Housing benefits: In addition, the cuts will reduce general housing benefit for all those who currently receive it. That amounts to some 400,000 households, according to Kela. - YLE
In his book Who Owns Britain, Cahill argues that 0.3% of the British population owns 66% of the country, and these 160,000 families who own two-thirds of Great Britain largely descend from the army of William the Conqueror — the first Norman King of England who first conquered the country in 1066. - ZME Science
A number of private colleges — some considered elite and others middle-of-the-pack — have exceeded the $90,000 threshold for the first time this year as they set their annual costs for tuition, board, meals and other expenses. That means a wealthy family with three children could expect to shell out more than $1 million by the time their youngest child completes a four-year degree. - SFGATE
Chinese universities raise tuition fees by as much as 54%: Shanghai-based East China University of Science and Technology raised tuition fees by 54% to 7,700 yuan ($1,082) annually for some freshmen majoring in science, engineering and physical education, and by 30% in the liberal arts, according to statements issued on Sunday.
Singapore Close To Full Employment: In 2023 employment in Singapore grew by 88,400, with 83,500 jobs going to non-residents. Tan said that it is a misconception that a net increase in foreign employment means that jobs are not going to Singaporeans, a view that is "fundamentally misguided."
White House, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) warn water sector of cybersecurity threats: Major portions of the water sector are notoriously underfunded to secure themselves against state-backed threats, and experts have called for the need for additional funds in order to improve defenses. “Disabling cyberattacks are striking water and wastewater systems throughout the United States. These attacks have the potential to disrupt the critical lifeline of clean and safe drinking water, as well as impose significant costs on affected communities,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and EPA Administrator Michael Regan wrote in the letter. The letter pointed to the China-sponsored hacking group Volt Typhoon’s targeting of critical infrastructure sectors like drinking water in the U.S. as an example of the threat. National security officials have been sounding the alarm that Volt Typhoon’s intrusion suggests that China is pre-positioning itself to carry out disruptive attacks in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. - Cyberscoop
Haliburton Loophole: Fracking companies used more than 282 million pounds of hazardous chemicals from 2014 to 2021 with no federal oversight, according to a new study. The study, published in Environmental Pollution, is the first to examine the “Halliburton Loophole,” which exempts fracking from federal regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The provision, passed by Congress as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, was endorsed by then-Vice President Dick Cheney, who formerly served as the CEO of Halliburton. The company patented fracking technologies in the 1940s and is still one of the top suppliers of fracking fluids in the world….Olson is also in favor of closing the Halliburton Loophole. “This loophole was a backroom deal folded into legislation with no public debate, and they’ve never justified to the public why it’s needed,” he said. “That’s because it’s not needed. It was just raw political power that enabled them to get it enacted.” - Environmental Health News
The (fracking) industry got a boost when Cheney, the CEO of Halliburton, became vice president in 2001. Though fracking was little-known to the public, Cheney chaired an energy-policy task force that highlighted its potential. The task force recommended a comprehensive exemption to the drinking water act, even though EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman warned, “We don’t yet know the environmental consequences.” - The Dallas Morning News
No one would deny that we live in the most abundant time in the history of recorded music. But the Apple Music library is a far cry away from the entire catalog of recorded music. It is curated and tightly controlled by lawyers and Spotify executives, presented in carefully planned playlists that pop up as soon as we open the app, with push notifications to announce a new collection—a farmer filling the trough. To read this as a monumental achievement of humankind is to obediently fellate the boardroom executives who’ve made our cultural subjugation their bread and butter. The hog farmer doesn’t feed his piggies because it’s the right thing to do. The great effort to collect music into one all-encompassing source with easy-access modules wasn’t motivated by art, scholarship, or altruism, but by the exploitative nature of the market. Its upkeep and evolution are likewise the continued exploitation of both artist and consumer. - The Death of Music Journalism
A majority of Southeast Asians would align with China and not the U.S. if forced to pick sides, though some countries that feel threatened by Beijing’s South China Sea claims still prefer Washington, according to a regional survey. This is the first time Beijing has edged past Washington since 2020 when the annual survey first posed the question. The U.S. as a preferred choice dropped to 49.5% from 61.1% last year. - CNBC
Statistics Canada’s reports on food and service sales confirm that consumers are dealing with less wealth while facing higher food and menu prices. As of January 2024, the average Canadian is spending $248 a month on food retail sales per capita, down from $258 in January 2023 and $282 in February 2017. These figures are all in real dollars, which makes the situation even worse. Based on Canada’s Food Price Report 2024, an individual’s monthly expenditure for a healthy diet should be $339. Again, the current average monthly spending is $248. Until July 2021, Canadians were spending more on average than the desired budget to support a healthy diet. Since then, it has clearly been a challenge. - Canadians Cannot Afford A Healthy Diet
Refugees from Ukraine recorded globally: 6,486,000
“The truth is that Russia,” as Todd writes in his new book La Dafaite de la Occident (The Defeat of the West), “with a shrinking population and a territory of 17 million square kilometers, far from wanting to conquer new territories, wonders above all how she will continue to occupy those she already possesses.” - NATO is 75 years old
(A)nswers to questions that the 21st-century left has so far tended to avoid: Which power is the ultimate bulwark of capitalist exploitation and privilege? What constellation of world powers would make a just global socio-ecological transformation least difficult? Which power has been the worst violator of the most elementary human rights in the 21st century—the right to live and to live in peace? - The Future and the Left