Selling medicines with massively divergent amounts of active ingredient probably is a crime in most countries, and while the study got the worst results in poor African countries where corruption is likely widespread, I do hope the manufacturers in question get all the charges which stick.

Technical summary: it seems OK against an observer who can see the network traffic but hasn’t infiltrated the phone of the source or the computer of the news organization.

Any real message is stored locally on the smartphone by the CoverDrop module and sent as the next CoverDrop message, i.e. replacing the dummy message which would otherwise have been sent. Consequently a network observer cannot determine whether any communication is taking place and CoverDrop therefore provides the potential source with plausible deniability.

The CoverNode and each journalist has their own public-private key pair. These keys are published by the news organization and available to the CoverDrop module directly so the user does not need know about them. When the CoverDrop module is used for the first time, it generates a new, random public-private key pair for the user.

All real CoverDrop messages sent by the CoverDrop module to the CoverNode include the text written by the potential source as well as their own public key. The message is first encrypted using the public key of the journalist who will ultimately receive the message, then encrypted a second time using the public key of the CoverNode. All dummy CoverDrop messages are encrypted using the public key of the CoverNode. All messages, real or dummy, are arranged to be the same, fixed length. Encryption and length constraints ensure that only the CoverNode can distinguish between real and dummy messages.

The article gives a good overview of the situation. I have only a few things to add.

• war is a match of game theory (finding moves that harm the opponent) and accelerated evolution of the technology and methods for doing so

• if a weapon works, choosing not to use it typically increases chance of defeat

• there is no doubt that autonomous weapons work

• about the only thing which seems to prevent some weapons (e.g. of mass destruction) from being used in some wars, is threat of being targeted with the same kind, or a large coalition of opponents forming and intervening

• so, only continued development of international law (collective agreement on behalf of a large coalition of states, representing most of human population) has any chance of restraining use of autonomous weapons

• sadly, I don’t see states wanting continued development of international law

• restraining production of autonomous weapons is probably hopeless, a reasonably good competition robot can be weaponized with some success

So, future will have states threatening each other with swarms of autonomous weapons, and terrorist entitities using them at a smaller scale. Weapons that destroy electronics (EMP, microwave, lasers for frying cameras) will be highly sought after for defense. Air defense and antidrone systems will be much more common than today. At some point in history, there will be a war where a large swarm of autonomous weapons is used for mass destruction (maybe against civilians too). Quite possibly, a response will be given with a different weapon of mass destruction (e.g. nuclear EMP used to disable the swarm). Regulation is unlikely to succceed since states are nowhere near agreement (in fact, fighting new and avoidable wars among each other).

Bunker busters only have about 2kg of payload,

Nope. Please note: when an American writes 2.082 lb, he’s not meaning 2 pounds and tidbits. He’s meaning 2000 pounds. AFX and PBXN are not glitter, they’re explosives. :)

Filling AFX-757/PBXN-114

Filling weight 4,590 / 752 lb (2,082 / 341 kg)

This is a real phenomenon, first widely reported in 2022. Due to some reason, it has resurged.

Arrests in France after scores report being attacked with syringes at street music festival

Millions of people took to the streets across France on Saturday evening for the Fête de la Musique, with authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris. The feminist influencer Abrège Soeur warned online before the festival that calls had been made on social media for women to be targeted with syringes. It was not certain where such posts would have been made or by whom.

The interior ministry said 145 victims across the country had reported being stabbed with needles during outdoor music events across the country. Paris police reported 13 cases in the capital. Officials did not say if these were cases of so-called needle spiking with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB, used by attackers to render victims confused or unconscious and vulnerable to sexual assault. “Some victims were taken to hospital for toxicological tests,” the ministry said.

In Paris, investigations were opened after three people, including a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old male, reported being stabbed in separate incidents across Paris, prosecutors said. All three reported feeling unwell. Across France, 12 suspects have been arrested, the interior ministry said. Among them were four people in the south-western city of Angoulême suspected of having targeted about 50 victims, a police source said.

/…/ There was a wave of reports in 2022 about alleged syringe attacks against women and men in clubs, bars, music events and even theatres. The government put out messages at the time for people going out at night to be vigilant and advising them that they should go immediately to the police and also have a toxicology test if they thought they had been drugged by a syringe prick.

Since another person linked to a story about this on Twitter, of all things, I did some background checking. Does not look like a “panic”, but a new genre of crime.

The mayor of the city of Metz, identifiable, writes on social media (Instagram) confirming the occurrence. Confirming that arrests have been made. Other sources (among them old media outlets like the Guardian, see above link) report about it.

Incitement allegedly occurred over social media. It will be investigated where it occurred. Victims have been sent to toxicology. It will be investigated what was injected, if anything. Some victims reported feeling unwell.

Guess: in a crowd, it is relatively easy to anonymously attack someone and hope to leave little evidence. However, this time, it has been claimed that some assailants were detained on the spot. There will be information confirming or denying this pretty soon.

They’re probably not joking, TOX IDs are like that. :) Mine is:

CA9A4C1968AA38CC93CB32F31F3682AB897ABA42C90E6F0EA5E1FB541930FD64138B4CC09AD*

(*the number opposite to the first is the number that comes after one, to hinder any spam bots)

You can use Signal with a different client.

Can you advise, which one would be a good one? Because I actually use Signal too, it’s just misbehaving a lot recently.

I have had endless difficulties with Signal forcing upgrades on me and requiring to sign in on the phone, under threat of deactivating my account (I use it on a PC).

It’s not politically and psychologiclaly realistic for Iran to return to negotiations.

At this time, they perceive themselves to have been attacked without provocation - basically because Netanyahu needed a small victorious war - and resistance is not something one negotiates about.

Also, the ayatollah is an authoritarian ruler. Negotiation would be perceived as a sign of weakness by the opposition and population - and he might be ousted. He knows this, so he will continue the war.

It would depend on the rock type, but I have the same opinion basically (I’m not a geologist or explosives expert, of course) - there is not enough data to claim destruction.

Places about 100 m deep (e.g. metro station Arsenalnaya in Kyiv) have been so far considered totally secure from conventional weapons. Of course, MOP is a big special purpose weapon, so the old truth might no longer apply… but I’m not convinced that Fordo is ruined.

Commentary:

You’re linking to the Times of Israel. Since the news outlet operates in Israel, it is subject to censorship by the IDF, and they have chosen to use their power to censor the article and omit weapon types.

If you want information about assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, get their list from Wikipedia and google each of their names, looking for descriptions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassinations_of_Iranian_nuclear_scientists

My guess: guided missile or drone strikes. All the assassinations happened at a time of Israeli air strikes over Iran. Whatever weapon was used, was deployed from airplanes. Given the high profile of the targets, Israeli intelligence agencies did their job this time (in Gaza, they seem to be feeding their troops low quality AI slop).

I will use the opportunity to remind that Signal is operated by a non-profit in the jurisdiction called “the US”. This could have implications.

A somewhat more anarchist option might be TOX. There is no single client, TOX is a protocol, you can choose from half a dozen clients. I personally use qTox.

Upside: no phone number required. No questions asked.

Downside: no servers to store and forward messages. You can talk if both parties are online.

After existing since 1979, Iran’s government is pretty far from “revolutionary”. In fact, looking at their domestic policy, I’ll call them reactionary without a second thought.

Their most “revolutionary” thought probably was: “let’s export our theocracy to other lands”.

They are a symptom however. The shah was so unpopular (read: repressive) that islamists were able to take over. The shah was propped up by the UK and US in the 1950-ties, in a coup, because Iran nationalized oil industries.

Not sure about “obliterated”. There’s two bomb entry points at the top of the ridge. Road entry points haven’t been bombed. Support building is standing.

Iran had warning, since they managed to bury the road access points. I would not be surprised if they evacuated all people and valuable stuff from the site.

Opinion:

• Iranian air defense continues to be a joke, they knew it was coming, but accomplished nothing

• seems like a poor bombing job from the USAF, unless they knew exactly where to hit and didn’t care about destroying the whole structure

• seems like Iran had over 24 hours of advance warning and buried the road entry points (typically such a move would also speak in favour of evacuating all people and valuables)

Since they buried the entry ways, there’s good reason to think they didn’t leave any transportable (metallic) uranium there. It’s probably in 30 different basements and the owners think it’s a load of potatoes.

Political implications: oil price is going up, naval action in the strait of Hormuz is likely. :( Putin will be able to replenish his cash reserves. :(

Side note: in the recent days, Iran has acquired pretty good GPS jamming. Someone’s webshop will have a review soon: “4/5 quick delivery, easy to set up, good coverage, sadly doesn’t stop all bombs”.

DNA -> find mother -> ask when birth or abortion occurred. Otherwise, examination and guesswork. If you look at a skull, you can approximately tell the age at death.

Thanks for correcting. You’re right, I should have written something else than “probably yes” about Israel under Netanyahu. :(

Tankies are going to hate this comment.

They already are. :) I didn’t quite expect this effect, but I welcome it. :)

How many times can you list russia/ussr? Give me a break with this lib imperialism.

I may list it as many times as I need. I was born there and grew up there, and have a whole lot of information about how life was.

There’s a book on the subject written by Srdja Popovic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueprint_for_Revolution

Summary: protests that start (and try to remain) non-violent have a greater chance to succeed, because they can attract more people to their cause.

Critique: with some regimes, it’s not possible to non-violently protest. For non-violent protest to work, the environment must respect a minimum amount of human rights.

Case samples:

• US during the civil rights movement era: yes
• USSR under Gorbachev: yes
• Serbia under Milosevic: yes, with difficulty on every step (Popovic was there doing it)
• Israel under Netanyahu: probably yes
• China under Xi: practically no (not for long)
• USSR under Kruschev/Brezhnev/Andropov/Chernenko: not really
• Russia under Putin: no, don’t even hold a blank sheet of paper
• Iran under Khamenei: only if you’re doing a bread riot
• Saudi Arabia, USSR under Stalin, NK under the Kim dynasty: no, and execution would be a possible outcome

…etc. In some places, you can’t organize. Then your only option is to fight. As long as you can publicly organize, definitely do so - it’s vastly preferable. :)

Sadly, Iran has not been “tolerable to the media” in recent times.

(Example: a few months ago, their courts were discussing whether to sentence a rapper named Tataloo to death for “corruption on earth” - singing about the wrong things.)

Since they are now in war, media freedom in Iran is probably under the table.