Podcasts about Great Firewall

https://novacut.ai/  Description: Anthropic pulls access to Fable, and China responds the same day with GLM 5.2. In this episode we break down the escalating AI arms race, US export controls on chips and frontier models, and whether the "Great Firewall of America" is already here. ⏱️ Topics: Anthropic restricts Fable — what happened and why China's GLM 5.2 release and how close they're catching up US trust, surveillance, and AI gatekeeping Token pricing chaos — cost per task vs. cost per token Model routing, loop engineering, and autonomous agents Anthropic's Mythos model and Fable safeguard philosophy Xiaomi NEMO V2.5 Pro Ultra Speed Midjourney's bizarre health spa pivot AI Engineer Conference wrap-up

As AI technologies become increasingly sophisticated, the United States and China are vying to win this technology competition. Both countries have different approaches and strengths in their development, deployment, and regulation of AI – the United States is recognized as leading in advanced AI development and China in industrial AI integration. Although perceptions of AI differ between people, companies, and the government in the United States and China, a shared anxiety exists among both populations over the effects this technology will have on their lives.   Yi-Ling Liu joined us on June 10, 2026 to share similarities and differences between the ways people in the United States and China view AI and who the narrative of a U.S.-China AI race neglects.  Further reading: Yi-Ling Liu's recent book The Wall Dancers: Searching For Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet traces the evolution of the Chinese internet, following entrepreneurs, activists, and artists as they navigate surveillance and censorship within the Great Firewall. Liu draws on years of firsthand reporting and interviews in China to examine online subcultures, shifting state policies, and tech innovations over the last three decades

A version of this essay has been published by Open Magazine at https://openthemagazine.com/world/india-will-collapse-without-digital-sovereignty-and-pax-indica-lessons-from-hormuzBy now it is clear that the Iran War (or West Asia War) has been a disaster to all concerned, including the principals as well as assorted passersby. The massive amounts spent by the US (at last count $25 billion) are at least articulated; the bill for the enormous infrastructural and human suffering inflicted on Gulf states, in the theater of war, must be greater, by definition.The collateral damages suffered by the rest of the world from the cessation of trade through the Straits of Hormuz will presumably run into the trillions of dollars. As one of the worst affected, India, which imports 90% of its hydrocarbons from the Gulf, not to mention other essential items such as urea (for fertilizer), sulfuric acid, helium, etc., is on track to take a massive hit. As an article in The Economic Times said, “India must brace for broad-based economic shock”.Indian exports of up to $50 billion are also affected, especially agricultural products including perishable foodstuffs, but also gems and jewellery, electronics, textiles and garments. Some of this can be diverted via Oman and the UAE's Fujairah port, but much of it passes through the Straits of Hormuz and is potentially blocked and/or stranded at sea.The Hormuz closure is a body blow to India's economy. What can and will India do about it? The Indian State has a habit of rising to the challenge only when there is a crisis, while vegetating otherwise. The 1991 economic crisis is a case in point; the sanctions following “The Buddha is smiling”, and the denial of cryogenic rocket engines and supercomputers are other examples where the nation rallied. So were covid vaccines. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention.Turning a threat into an opportunityIf I were to be an optimist, I could say that the current crisis is actually an opportunity. In fact, a major opportunity. My reading of the Iran War is that it is President Trump's strategic tit-for-tat against China for denying him rare earths and cutting off soybean purchases. In return Trump decided to deny China access to oil by closing access to Venezuela and Iran. Whether this will work, or whether the G2 condominium (read ‘surrender') will prevail, is unclear.But that is, in a sense, background noise that needs to be managed. India needs to focus on its own issues, of which I see several as critical, and the solution in general is to become Atmanirbhar, self-reliant, and from that, to create an Anti-Fragile nation:* National security/defense* Food security* Energy security* Digital security/narrative control* Trade securityThe first three do not need an explanation: they are obvious. Internal and external security are pre-requisites for any successful society. If India's hard-won food security can be threatened by external threats, then there needs to be some deep introspection. Energy security means diversification, both of hydrocarbon sources, and of types of energy, including renewables, nuclear, biomass, coal-based, and so on.Malign narratives and digital sovereigntyNarrative control is something that the Indian State has failed at so far; it is laughably easy to create hate speech against Indians and India (as has been demonstrated freely by any number of players, starting from the MAGA crowd, to Audrey Truschke to a”Cockroach Janata Party” and some nitwit Norwegian journalist in just the last fortnight) and there are no consequences to the culprits. It's enough to make me pine for Lee Kuan Yew's aggressive legal battles against the media.It's one thing if it were only a problem with foreigners, but with the massive spread of social media, and in particular generativeAI, it is becoming a serious domestic issue. Since India is an avid consumer of social media, and because generativeAI is trained on things like Wikipedia, X, Whatsapp and Google content, biased and motivated material becomes ensconced as The Truth. I have written about narrative warfare and manufacturing consent.This used to be a one-way tsunami of (mis)-information by legacy media, but now there is also the opposite: the wholesale and free vacuuming-up of Indian data (whatever happened to “data is the new oil”?). The “Great Firewall of China” both kept out foreign BIg Tech applications and prevented their plundering Chinese data: is that the way to go?Manufactured narratives are intended for regime change: all the color revolutions today are hatched with massive bot-farms funded by some combination of Deep State, CCP, ISI, Qatar etc. (for example the alleged Gen-Z uprisings that rocked Nepal, drove Sheikh Hasina out of Bangladesh). Thus muzzling malign narratives, and ensuring data security, are imperative.Even Singapore is not immune: it had to block anti-India narratives that likely originated from Chinese sources.A particularly striking example of narrative warfare is the virtual hate speech inducted into Wikipedia by deeply prejudiced anonymous editors. Ashley Rindsberg, who exposed the mighty New York Times' biases in his book The Gray Lady Winked, provides many examples of this.Of note to Indians and Hindus is his recent substack titled “Wikipedia's India War” where he identifies just four editors as having created most of the content condemning the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in ‘Wikivoice', i.e. the allegedly neutral perspective of Wikipedia. They are, on the contrary, shown to be highly one-sided.As Rindsberg mentions, Wikipedia being central to generativeAI, the damage is baked into the world-view of all AI applications. Truly Orwellian. Says Rindsberg: “four… anonymous accounts can have an enormous impact on what millions of people believe to be the truth.” “Over four years (2021-2025), editors systematically erased HAF's identity as an American civil rights group, transforming its Wikipedia page into a heavily curated dossier of accusations.”Trade, and how the Spice Route was far superior to the Silk RoadFinally, something that is becoming increasingly important: ensuring freedom of trade. This is more than just freedom of navigation, although I find it instructive that Emperor Rajendra Chola sent a huge fleet 1,001 years ago simply to open up the Straits of Malacca. India can make an active attempt to regain primacy in Indian Ocean trade, the whole Pax indica idea.Here is another example of the power of narrative: we have been led to believe that the Silk Road to China was some major highway of commerce between ancient Rome and ancient China, but it was a term coined only in 1877 by the German Ferdinand von Richthofen. There was no highway. A large caravan might take six months, and with 500 camels traversing treacherous deserts and braving bandits, it might carry a maximum of 100 tons. That is puny.In comparison, on the Spice Route, a single stitched ship from Muziris could carry 400 tons of ivory, pepper, silk, tigers and elephants; and the historian Strabo around 1 CE talks about fleets of 250 ships going from Alexandria to India on a six-week monsoon-powered journey. That is 100,000 tons of merchandise. No wonder Pliny the Elder complained that Rome's treasuries were being emptied of gold by India.Simple question: where are hoards of ancient Roman coins found in Asia? Answer: not along the Silk Road. The hoards are in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.Today, it is possible for India to aspire to port-led development of trade, especially with the major ports at Trivandrum (Vizhinjam), Maharashtra (Vadhavan), and Great Nicobar (Galathea Bay). The underlying ‘software' of India's millennia-old trade competency was a ‘multi-protocol switch' as I pointed out, and today's India Stack can replicate that. Then there is the need for a blue-water navy: muscle to provide security on the Hormuz to Malacca sea-lanes.So there is a vision. How can India get there? This is where policy matters, as I discussed with policy expert Anuj Gupta. Policy, especially industrial policy, has had a bad reputation in certain circles because it was deemed to violate the virginal purity of classical capitalism. However, in a recent U-turn, even the World Bank admitted that industrial policy may not be all that bad, after all: the success of Japan, the Asian Tigers, and China can't be ignored.That leads to the question of why policy in India has produced mediocre outcomes, what is different now, and where the best use of policy might be.Industrial Policy: What went wrong in the past?There are many problems here. To begin with, the Soviet model, which Nehruvians swore by, was, in hindsight, a dead end. Second, there is the problem of governance: post-Independence bureaucrats have awkwardly borne the legacy of imperial hauteur and the needs of a developing society. Third, until recently, the bare necessities (food, electricity, road access) were not available to many citizens, and GDP growth was not their priority.There is also the culture of jugaad: of clever ways in which you overcome constraints through frugal improvisation and seat-of-the-pants making-do. This is fine for one-off things (e.g. converting a tractor trailer into a makeshift transport vehicle because your truck broke down), but it does not make for efficient and replicable industrial products. As The Economic Times said recently, it is time to junk jugaad. Quality has to become ingrained in people's minds.The issue of governance is significant: the bureaucracy and the judiciary have both under-performed, politicians, as everywhere, have been venal. It is said that China's growth can be attributed to the fact that its babus are engineers, and therefore with engineering ruthlessness move in straight lines. The US' babus are lawyers, and India's are humanities graduates. Well, engineers are not very good at second-order effects (eg. China's lurch from one-child policy to demographic collapse), but a little bit of ruthlessness is probably good.What is going reasonably well?There are a few modest success stories: for example, in electronics manufacturing or assembly. The PLIs (and DLIs) have produced the desired effort, with clusters of excellence where global suppliers have also set up shop (as they did earlier for the automobile industry in, say, Sriperumpudur). The fact that a lot of iPhones in the US are now imported from India is laudable, even though it may be derided as “screwdriver jobs”. That's where one starts the move up the value chain.The current semiconductor policy is a big hope, especially after the landmark agreement by the Dutch firm ASML with Tata Electronics in Dholera, Gujarat. Given that ASML has a near-monopoly position in Deep Ultraviolet Lithography (DUV) this is a major boost to India's chip ambitions. My recent conversation with AMD CTO Suraj Rengarajan went into India's chances to realize its ambitions.A recent announcement from Trivandrum-based fabless startup NetraSemi (a recipient of DLI) of the commercial availability of its edge AI chips is a landmark.Next is the newly announced plan for energy security revolving around both coal gasification and intensive offshore exploration. These fall squarely into the Atmanirbhar category: India simply cannot afford to have its energy held hostage by distant nations. It also needs distinctly Indian innovation.The Samudra Manthan initiative is also showing some promise. At least one out of three deep-water wells in the Andaman Sea (SriVijaya Puram-3) are reported to be showing the availability of natural gas, although it will take 5-10 years for this to be commercially available.What should the future look like for India's Industrial Policies?This of course is the hard question. Here is my personal perspective, and I accept that reasonable people may disagree. I think three areas need to be focused on, and will pay large dividends.* Drones and swarming software* Social media and AI stack* Maritime Trade and Blue-Water NavyI admit that these are not the only worthwhile industrial policies. Another is for copper, which would reverse the catastrophic effects of the closure of the Sterlite plant in Thoothukkudi, as the metal is an increasingly important component in electronics, data centers, etc., and far from being self-sufficient earlier, India now imports 50% of its needs. Another area of interest in quantum computing.There are also failures from which the right lessons need to be learned. The policy for EV batteries has apparently failed: according to Swarajya magazine, India has not been able to escape from near-total dependence on imported Chinese batteries.Drone swarmsI wrote recently that drones may well herald a step-change in warfare. For the moment, though, they are searching for their niche in offensive/defensive warfare. Drone hardware is already a well-trodden path with Chinese and other nations dominating it, although with IdeaForge, Paras, Garuda, IoTechworld Avigation etc., India is also making progress there. And India is indeed buying the hardware, $2 billion-worth, according to the Economic Times.But I believe the real game is in drone swarms. AI-based control software (similar to HiveMind) that would allow an entire swarm to act autonomously, just like a murmuration of starlings, would be the gold standard to aim for. Such a self-managing swarm would be virtually impossible to defend against, and I think India should put in place a PLI to support it, leveraging software capability in the country.Of course, drones are not just for military purposes, but also for commercial uses including things like logistics and agricultural use, such as precision delivery of fertilizer and pesticide to crops (as Garuda demonstrates). An Indian initiative that supports both drone hardware, and especially drone software, would be a potential winner.Digital Sovereignty: Social media and AI stackThere is a raging battle over which part of the AI stack India needs to invest in. As an old Unix hand, I believe the foundational model is not where the differentiation is. In analogy with Linux (the open-source Unix variant that was popularized by Linus Torvalds and an army of volunteers), there is little value in re-writing the operating system, but one can differentiate by building on top of it, or by judiciously choosing certain modules of it.Besides, the cost of building an entirely new foundational model would be astronomical and would consume the entire budget of IndiaAI Mission.Thus, my personal opinion is that the foundational model (especially when, it is believed, there are more or less open-source models available for free, e.g. Llama, DeepSeek) is not where India should expend its precious R&D resources, but on the layers of the stack above it. It is the data that matters, as Larry Ellison apparently suggests too.But there is the interesting counter-example of Sarvam AI which is producing its own sovereign model: multi-lingual and presumably otherwise tuned to Indian needs. The question is whether this can survive when hundreds of billions worth of capital investment are going to the US Big Tech companies and their Chinese rivals. The sad history of Koo, a Twitter rival, comes to mind. So does Arattai, a Whatsapp rival, whose popularity has waned. .A well-thought-through industrial policy on generativeAI is therefore essential. The status quo ante is unsustainable; given the fact that Sarvam has also found it difficult to raise funds in the US, it is worth pondering whether a China-style massive subsidy is the answer. And where should it go, into foundational models or into the layers of the stack above it? The answer is “both”, but with priority to the latter.Here is where I would prioritize investments, in order:* Vertical applications in specific domains: e.g. defense, healthcare, agriculture, governance (particularly in the judiciary and in ease of doing business in the bureaucracy)* Fine-tuning and customization: for the needs of the Indian context, e.g. multi-linguality under Bhashini* Compute infrastructure: GPUs, sovereign and protected indian datasets* Sovereign Small-Language Models such as Sarvam AIAs mentioned above, at the moment India's data is being sucked up for free by US Big Tech. In addition, there is the real danger that Indic Knowledge Systems will be mined and digested, as has happened to yoga, pranayama, etc., which have been given Western analogs and nomenclature, as in Pilates, ‘coherent breathing' etc.These two problems are connected, and both need to be tackled in parallel. Social media is being weaponized against India, and this is magnified by the legacy media in a positive feedback loop. Three examples: one was the rage against Adani based on the dubious research of Hindenburg, which then went under; the second is Bloomberg's reckless accusation about gold reserves being sold by the RBI, which they were forced to retract, but social media and Wikipedia will remember it; the third is the meteoric (media) rise of the Cockroach Janata Party.Trade using major ports, Digital Public Infrastructure and a blue water navyUsing trade for competitive advantage is an age-old tactic. The trade tiffs between the US and China are examples of this: we are witnessing war by other means. Many nations are getting into this act, and India does have some advantages, partly based on geography. Maritime trade is likely to continue to be the key, which makes naval chokepoints the big story, but not the only story to watch out for.The major aspects of maritime trade include infrastructure, the digital “multi-protocol switch”, and security. On the one hand, India is developing not only major container ports, and the road/rail links to get to them, and the industrial goods to ship out through them, but also a serious shipbuilding industry, which was one of India's historical strengths. Then it used to be stitched wooden ships (teak beams lashed together with coconut rope). Now it's modern steel ships.There are the big, efficient new ports, which can now turn ships around with Singapore-like efficiency; the proposed third aircraft carrier group which will make it possible to patrol the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal at the time; the Air-Independent Propulsion diesel submarines and nuclear submarines that can monitor (and if necessary, deny) narrow straits; the sale of supersonic Brahmos cruise missiles to the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia (and Cyprus) that create ship-denial zones: all this is muscle.And the final piece, the ‘software' for trade, the “multi-protocol switch”. This last is complicated. Its value is underestimated by many. But this is what enables friction-less transactions between various unrelated parties. The India Stack and the Digital Public Infrastructure can be utilized to provide such a facility. But it is complex enough to need significant study as to what is possible, and how to roll it out.Second-order effectsIn closing, it is worth considering some of what the (unintended) consequences of these proposals may be. Let us note that the G2 has no interest in allowing India to grow and make it a G3. They will do everything in their power to kneecap India, by all means possible.There is also a certain derision for India in some circles. Here is a generic western opinion on why China got rich, and India didn't. Well, the author doesn't consider the second-order effects of the wholesale destruction of Chinese civilization: that is a tradeoff Indians may not prefer for themselves. We all know how China's well-intentioned One Child Policy turned into demographic collapse within a few years. Besides, as The Economist asks, “China is innovative. Its economy is a mess. Which will win out?”This is why I think planning for these second-order effects is important. We tend to ignore them because they seem counterintuitive or unlikely, but Nassim Taleb has sensitized us to how low-probability Black Swan events can have grave consequences.As an example, attempting digital sovereignty may have unwelcome side-effects: Big Tech have the first-mover advantage and network effects and there are increasing returns to scale. They will surely make it hard for a new player to break in. Besides, the large investments in data centers and GCCs that they are making in India would make it very difficult for them to be ejected with a “Great Indian Firewall”.Even taxing their capture of Indian data will be complicated; not to mention that they have demonstrated that they can happily violate copyright laws with no consequence; therefore they will find ways to chew up and spit out Indian Knowledge Systems, and essentially re-colonize India. Digital colonialism is not a threat, it is a reality today, and it is a consequence of the relatively open Indian system.In addition, there is a malign group, the “barbarians within” as Arnold Toynbee once put it, who are ready to sacrifice Indian sovereignty for a pittance.Given all this, it will be very difficult to put in place serious measures to gain digital independence; and the narrative-peddling is likely to gain further momentum: just consider the caste allegations that have haunted BAPS in the US (despite the cases being dismissed by the US DoJ), the Cisco Systems case where, again, the case was dismissed, but the narrative continues, and the persistent efforts in various US states to turn caste into a weapon to bludgeon Indians.Another sensitive issue is that of the multi-protocol switch for trade. While from an Indian point of view, it eases trade and harks back to a Golden Age of Indic maritime commerce, but that will be viewed elsewhere very differently, for instance by the US as an attempt to de-dollarize. The US has jealousy guarded – with very good reasons that we will not go into here – the dollar's reserve currency status.We have also seen what happened to those who attempt to hurt the dollar's primacy: in 1985, the Plaza Accord devalued the dollar, and that was a body blow to Japan's economy, which has not recovered its mojo to this day. Later, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi both had ideas about replacing the petro-dollar with, respectively, the Euro and a new pan-African gold-backed currency. We know what happened to them.If the India Stack multi-protocol switch is perceived as an alternative to the US dollar, there may be grave consequences. Therefore, it should be conceived and deployed only as an adjunct to it and to the almighty SWIFT settlement system.ConclusionIndia is at a crossroads now. Even though the Hormuz closure is a serious problem, if it plays its cards right, adversity can be turned into opportunity across a variety of perspectives. The key is Atmanirbhar, self-reliance. If India can now implement a crash program of industrial policy, and at the same time overcome an ingrained Third-World tendency to cut corners, it can finally break free of the years of underperformance, what I called the Nehruvian Penalty in 2004.It is possible, but there are caveats: unforeseen consequences. Hic sunt dracones. Here be dragons. Be afraid. Be very afraid.3700 words, 7 June 2026This is episode 192 of the Shadow Warrior podcast. Here is a companion AI-generated slideshow. (Note that the borders of India are not necessarily depicted correctly here, because it is generated by an AI, notebookLM.google.com) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with returning guest Ekue Kpodar for their third conversation together, covering a wide range of topics at the intersection of technology, geopolitics, and the evolving information age. They dig into Ekue's unconventional setup of running local AI models across roughly 15 computers, the growing case for open source models over closed ones from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, and how Chinese open source models may be positioned to outcompete Western alternatives on a global scale. The conversation also touches on vibe coding and the democratization of software development, the strategic use of small models for IoT and enterprise applications, the role of Israel and China as dominant players in the information age, and how smaller nations and even individuals may wield outsized power as AI continues to collapse the cost of knowledge work. You can find Ekue Kpodar on X @ekpodar and LinkedIn.Timestamps00:00 Stewart welcomes Ekue for their third episode, diving into vibe coding and AI-driven development changes.05:00 Ekue explains using Claude on Chrome to auto-reply on Skool, burning tokens through screenshots, and Playwright as a more efficient alternative.10:00 Stewart describes his Claude-dependent planning and coding agent system breaking after a model update, prompting him to build his own chatbot.15:00 Small models discussed as critical for IoT, defense, and privacy-focused enterprises building internal APIs instead of routing traffic to OpenAI.20:00 Open source versus closed source debated, with Chinese models gaining global traction while US foundational labs remain expensive and restrictive.25:00 SaaS apocalypse explored as AI commoditizes knowledge work, with Linux and Terraform cited as proof open source still generates wealth.30:00 OpenAI's sci-fi terminator fears explained as the reason they stayed closed source, ultimately handing China a strategic open source advantage.35:00 China's economic dumping strategy applied to AI, potentially displacing US model dominance globally the same way manufacturing was disrupted.40:00 Israel's signals intelligence dominance discussed alongside asymmetric warfare, drones defeating tanks, and information control replacing military muscle.45:00 Global information age rankings debated, Israel leading, US and China tied, France and Poland emerging as sovereign tech players.50:00 Qatar, NVIDIA, and Iran cited as proof that rare resources and technology matter more than population size in the 21st century power landscape.Key Insights1. Running local AI models on a network of affordable computers can be more cost-effective than relying entirely on third-party APIs. By using compressed or smaller open source models locally, developers can handle repetitive or lower-stakes tasks without burning through expensive tokens from providers like Anthropic or OpenAI.2. Small AI models are becoming increasingly important for IoT, defense applications, and companies that do not want to send sensitive data to external providers. Organizations can download open source models, run them on internal servers, and build proprietary APIs around them, creating something like an intranet of specialized small models.3. The value created by AI tools is being redistributed away from traditional SaaS companies toward foundational model providers and individual builders. People are canceling subscriptions to software they once paid hundreds per month for, because AI now allows a single person to build comparable tools themselves.4. Open source technology does not eliminate the ability to profit. Linux and Terraform are both open source yet made their creators wealthy. People will still pay for installation, setup, troubleshooting, and customization even when the underlying software is free.5. China is applying its longstanding manufacturing dumping strategy to artificial intelligence by releasing cheap open source models globally, which threatens to erode US dominance in AI the same way Chinese manufacturing undercut other countries for decades.6. In the information age, the size of a country or institution matters far less than its access to rare resources or advanced technology. Qatar, Israel, and NVIDIA each demonstrate that small populations or headcounts can wield enormous global negotiating power through concentrated technological or resource advantages.7. Asymmetric warfare is redefining military power, with inexpensive drones defeating tanks that cost millions to build. This shifts the advantage toward nations that excel at signals intelligence and information management rather than those with the largest conventional military forces.

Themen & DiskussionIn dieser Folge bekommst du einen seltenen Blick hinter die Kulissen Chinas – jenseits westlicher Medienbilder. Zu Gast ist Peter Hillig, Deutscher, der seit 2022 in Guangzhou lebt und ein Import-Export-Unternehmen betreibt. Er erklärt, wie tief KI dort bereits im Alltag verwurzelt ist: nicht als bewusste Handlung wie bei uns, sondern nahtlos integriert in WeChat, das Schweizer Taschenmesser des chinesischen Lebens. Du erfährst, welche Modelle die Chinesen wirklich nutzen – von DeepSeek bis zur WeChat-integrierten KI von Bytedance und Alibaba – und warum der OpenClaw-Hype dort eine ganz andere Dimension hatte als in Europa. Peter räumt außerdem mit dem Mythos des flächendeckenden Social Credit Systems auf: Was wirklich existiert, ist ein Financial Score – näher an der Schufa als an einer Überwachungsmaschine. Dazu gibt es konkrete Alltagsbeispiele: KI-Roboter in Hotels, autonome Taxis, Drohnenlieferungen im Park und ein KI-Avatar, der dein Auto per Sprache steuert. Am Ende wird klar: Die größte Lektion aus China ist vielleicht keine technologische, sondern eine kulturelle – weniger Angst vor der Zukunft, mehr Gestaltung im Jetzt. WeChat: Die chinesische Super-App, die Bezahlen, Chatten, Shopping, KI-Assistenz und Browser in einer App vereint – der Standard im chinesischen Alltag. – https://www.wechat.com DeepSeek: Laut Peter das leistungsstärkste frei verfügbare KI-Modell in China – Open Source, mit mittlerweile Millionen-Token-Kontextfenster, auf Augenhöhe mit Claude und GPT. – https://www.deepseek.com OpenClaw (Claude Computer Use): Der autonome KI-Agent, der einen Rechner vollständig steuern kann, löste in China einen riesigen Hype aus – unter anderem, weil die API trotz Great Firewall ungeblockt blieb. – https://www.anthropic.com/news/3-5-models-and-computer-use 11Labs: Ronnys Pick: Hochqualitative KI-Stimmen für Shortvideos, inklusive Stimmkloning. Laut Ronny „berauschend" schnell in der Umsetzung. – https://elevenlabs.io Claude Cowork: Peters Pick: Compliance-Dokumente (63 Stück einer Produktgruppe) einfach in einen Ordner werfen, freigeben und Claude sortieren, analysieren und auf Lücken prüfen lassen. Aus Stunden werden Minuten. – Link einfügen ChatGPT Projects: Stefans Pick: Persönliche Projekte (Naturgarten, Ernährung, Rezepte) mit eigenem Systemprompt und Dokumenten hinterlegen – die KI als dauerhafter Begleiter für private Vorhaben, auch mit Kindern. – https://chatgpt.com Hosts:Stefan Ponitz: Berater und Experte für KI in Marketing und Vertrieb für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen. https://www.fokus-ki.de https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-ponitz/ Ronny Siegel: Unternehmer, Inhaber der Online-Marketing-Agentur Conversion Junkies und Blogger. https://conversion-junkies.de https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronny-siegel-78b7261ab/ https://ronny-siegel.de/

Join our Patreon for less than a cup of your favorite iced coffee and unlock 25+ full-length bonus episodes, ad-free weekly episodes, mp3 downloads of our original songs, exclusive Discord access, and more!  Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is currently crying over a gay novel in an internet cafe.  This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) are hanging out with journalist and editor Yi-Ling Liu (@instalingers), author of The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet. This debut narrative nonfiction follows the lives of five individuals across the past three decades as they push for social change while navigating within the walls of China's Great Firewall. We talk with Yi-Ling Liu about online censorship in China and the life-altering importance of representation and access to community for queer people everywhere.  In the early days of the internet, there were significantly less built-in systems of censorship and surveillance. Internet cafes were cropping up in every town, and globally people were experiencing a newfound freedom that did not exist outside of the confines of their screens. In China and the United States alike, homosexuality was still considered a crime and classified as a mental illness. However, on the newly created, not-yet algorithmically controlled internet, queer people could find one another, form communities and subcultures, and share their stories long before it became acceptable to live openly in daily life. A gay person living in a small city thinking they're the only one in the world who feels the way they do could stumble across a queer novel in an internet cafe and have a truly transformative experience.  Nowadays, things have flipped, especially in China. While being gay is generally more accepted and younger generations think nothing of coming out, the internet has become a much more restrictive and monitored environment. Gay couples in China can openly live their lives; but if they try to share those lives on social media, they have to do so covertly with language that won't trigger the firewall. Words like ‘lesbian' and ‘gay' are automatically censored; so queer people have had to get creative, inventing a shared lexicon that keeps their content off the government's radar. As we watch our own cultural landscape change through algorithmic censorship, increased government surveillance, book bans, and legal challenges, we can't help but see China's firewall as a very possible blueprint for our own near-future online ecosystem.  Get your own copy of Yi-Ling Liu's, The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet.  Don't forget to show your support for our tiny podcasting team by shopping small at bit.ly/lezmerch & picking up Lez-ssentials songs on Bandcamp.  Give us your own answers to our Q & Gay on Instagram and follow along on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and BlueSky @lezhangoutpod. Email us @lezhangoutpod@gmail.com. Connect with us individually: Ellie Brigida (@elliebrigida). Leigh Holmes Foster (@lshfoster). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Die chinesische Mauer erfüllt heute nicht mehr ganz ihren Zweck von damals. Heißt aber nicht, dass es in China keine große Mauer mehr gibt, die die "Barbaren" vom Ausland draußen halten sollen. Mit der "Great Firewall" werden nämlich so gut wie alle westlichen Medien ausgesperrt, ganz zum Leidwesen Kevins, der mit seinem kaputten Fuß gerade nichtmal mehr YouTube schauen kann. Aber lieber ein kaputtes Beinchen, als 4mal durch die Beamtenprüfung zu rasseln und sich dann zum "Himmlischen König" aufzuspielen, oder? Das ist nämlich genau so passiert, vor knapp 200 Jahren im alten China. Die ganze Geschichte gibt's in dieser taufrischen, nunmehr 214. Episode der "Travel Therapie". Viel Spaß! :)__Hier geht's zu: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (ab in den Supporters Club mit dir, um Teil unserer WhatsApp-Community zu werden & um uns zu unterstützen - 50% davon werden wir gesammelt einmal im Monat an Tierschutzorganisationen spenden)__Hier geht's zu unserem..… Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@kevinundanna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠… TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@kevinundanna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠… YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@kevinundanna⁠

Mai menük:BSides2026Bad Apple - DÁP fixedPoison FountainRisky Chinese Electric Buses Spark Aussie Gov't ReviewPolymarket.com - The Great Firewall dothu goes brrrr  Elérhetőségeink:TelegramTwitterInstagramFacebookMail: info@hackeslangos.show

China's Great Firewall is often spoken about but is rarely understood. It is one of the most sophisticated and opaque censorship systems on the planet, and it shapes how over a billion people interact with the global internet, influences the design of privacy and proxy tools worldwide, and continues to evolve in ways that challenge The post Inside China's Great Firewall with Jackson Sippe appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

Writer and editor Yi-Ling Liu joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and Jennifer Maritza McCauley to talk about state-controlled censorship. Liu, the author of a new book, The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet, explores what it means to build community through the internet while contending with surveillance and suppression. Liu, Terrell, and McCauley discuss the sale of TikTok to U.S. companies, the growing online surveillance and censorship in the United States, and how American citizens can learn from Chinese “netizens” about how to survive under censorship. Liu tells the stories of four people– a renowned feminist, a gay dating app entrepreneur, an aspiring rapper, and a famous science fiction writer—who all found ways to dance around The Great Firewall and earn success for themselves and for their communities online. Liu details the widespread impact of each of these “wall dancers” and reflects on the inspirations that led them to foster social change through online media. Liu explores the importance of cultural exchange and connection online and considers her own personal experience with living and creating under censorship. Liu reads from The Wall Dancers.To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/This podcast is produced by Jennifer Maritza McCauley, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell.Yi-Ling LiuThe Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese InternetOthers “The Little Man at Chehaw Station” Ralph EllisonJourney to the Center of the Earth by Jules VerneWaste Tide by Chen Qiufan, trans. by Ken Liu The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, trans. by Ken LiuSale of TikTok to U.S. Companies | PoliticoTikTok Censorship Investigation | Los Angeles TimesSale of NVIDIA Chips to China | Associated PressThe Great FirewallLü Pin on Feminist VoicesThe Feminist FiveThe Mitu Movement in ChinaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

China’s Great Firewall is often spoken about but is rarely understood. It is one of the most sophisticated and opaque censorship systems on the planet, and it shapes how over a billion people interact with the global internet, influences the design of privacy and proxy tools worldwide, and continues to evolve in ways that challenge The post Inside China's Great Firewall with Jackson Sippe appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As President Bill Clinton famously quipped in 2000, Beijing trying to control the internet would be like “trying to nail jello to the wall.” Things don't look quite so certain now. China's internet is now more controlled than it was a decade ago, with platforms, content creators, and tech companies now firmly guided by rules and signals from Beijing. Yi-Ling Liu charts the story of the Chinese internet in her book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet (Knopf, 2026), with profiles of creators like Ma Baoli, the founder of one of China's, and the world's, largest gay dating apps, or Chinese hip hop pioneer Kafe Hu. Yi-Ling's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, WIRED, and The New York Review of Books. She has been a New America Fellow, a recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award, and an Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Wall Dancers . Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As President Bill Clinton famously quipped in 2000, Beijing trying to control the internet would be like “trying to nail jello to the wall.” Things don't look quite so certain now. China's internet is now more controlled than it was a decade ago, with platforms, content creators, and tech companies now firmly guided by rules and signals from Beijing. Yi-Ling Liu charts the story of the Chinese internet in her book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet (Knopf, 2026), with profiles of creators like Ma Baoli, the founder of one of China's, and the world's, largest gay dating apps, or Chinese hip hop pioneer Kafe Hu. Yi-Ling's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, WIRED, and The New York Review of Books. She has been a New America Fellow, a recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award, and an Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Wall Dancers . Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As President Bill Clinton famously quipped in 2000, Beijing trying to control the internet would be like “trying to nail jello to the wall.” Things don't look quite so certain now. China's internet is now more controlled than it was a decade ago, with platforms, content creators, and tech companies now firmly guided by rules and signals from Beijing. Yi-Ling Liu charts the story of the Chinese internet in her book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet (Knopf, 2026), with profiles of creators like Ma Baoli, the founder of one of China's, and the world's, largest gay dating apps, or Chinese hip hop pioneer Kafe Hu. Yi-Ling's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, WIRED, and The New York Review of Books. She has been a New America Fellow, a recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award, and an Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Wall Dancers . Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As President Bill Clinton famously quipped in 2000, Beijing trying to control the internet would be like “trying to nail jello to the wall.” Things don't look quite so certain now. China's internet is now more controlled than it was a decade ago, with platforms, content creators, and tech companies now firmly guided by rules and signals from Beijing. Yi-Ling Liu charts the story of the Chinese internet in her book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet (Knopf, 2026), with profiles of creators like Ma Baoli, the founder of one of China's, and the world's, largest gay dating apps, or Chinese hip hop pioneer Kafe Hu. Yi-Ling's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, WIRED, and The New York Review of Books. She has been a New America Fellow, a recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award, and an Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Wall Dancers . Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As President Bill Clinton famously quipped in 2000, Beijing trying to control the internet would be like “trying to nail jello to the wall.” Things don't look quite so certain now. China's internet is now more controlled than it was a decade ago, with platforms, content creators, and tech companies now firmly guided by rules and signals from Beijing. Yi-Ling Liu charts the story of the Chinese internet in her book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet (Knopf, 2026), with profiles of creators like Ma Baoli, the founder of one of China's, and the world's, largest gay dating apps, or Chinese hip hop pioneer Kafe Hu. Yi-Ling's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, WIRED, and The New York Review of Books. She has been a New America Fellow, a recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award, and an Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Wall Dancers . Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology

Daniel Schwalbe, DomainTools Head of Investigations and CISO, is sharing their work on "Inside the Great Firewall." This two-part research project analyzes an extraordinary 500–600GB leak that exposes the internal architecture, tooling, and human ecosystem behind China's Great Firewall. Across both parts, you break down thousands of leaked documents, source code repositories, diagrams, packet captures, and telemetry that reveal how systems like the Traffic Secure Gateway, MAAT, Redis-based analytics, and modular DPI engines work together to censor, surveil, and fingerprint users at scale. Taken together, the research shows how the Great Firewall functions not just as a technical system, but as a living censorship-industrial complex that adapts, learns, and coordinates across government, telecoms, and security vendors. The research can be found here: Inside the Great Firewall Part 1: The Dump Inside the Great Firewall Part 2: Technical Infrastructure Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Schwalbe, DomainTools Head of Investigations and CISO, is sharing their work on "Inside the Great Firewall." This two-part research project analyzes an extraordinary 500–600GB leak that exposes the internal architecture, tooling, and human ecosystem behind China's Great Firewall. Across both parts, you break down thousands of leaked documents, source code repositories, diagrams, packet captures, and telemetry that reveal how systems like the Traffic Secure Gateway, MAAT, Redis-based analytics, and modular DPI engines work together to censor, surveil, and fingerprint users at scale. Taken together, the research shows how the Great Firewall functions not just as a technical system, but as a living censorship-industrial complex that adapts, learns, and coordinates across government, telecoms, and security vendors. The research can be found here: Inside the Great Firewall Part 1: The Dump Inside the Great Firewall Part 2: Technical Infrastructure Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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For years, China’s government has used what’s known as the “Great Firewall” to censor the internet inside its country and block access to select foreign websites. Now, a document leak shows that a little-known Chinese company is exporting these tools to other countries, including Myanmar, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia. Ali Rogin speaks with WIRED senior writer Zeyi Yang to learn more. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

For years, China’s government has used what’s known as the “Great Firewall” to censor the internet inside its country and block access to select foreign websites. Now, a document leak shows that a little-known Chinese company is exporting these tools to other countries, including Myanmar, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia. Ali Rogin speaks with WIRED senior writer Zeyi Yang to learn more. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

In this episode of Defending the Edge, we cover breaches to breakthroughs, unpacking the Great Firewall of China data leak, the looming consequences of the CISA Act's lapse, the rise of the “Shai-Hulud” worm, bold cybersecurity predictions, and the arrival of Sora 2, the AI platform reshaping the digital frontier. 

Xi Jinping has built the most advanced surveillance state in human history. But despite Silicon Valley's help and China's Great Firewall, the CCP still fears one thing. In this clip, Xiao Qiang of China Digital Times explains how. Watch the full podcast here! https://chinauncensored.tv/programs/podcast-311

Xi Jinping has built the most advanced surveillance state in human history. But despite Silicon Valley's help and China's Great Firewall, the CCP still fears one thing. In this clip, Xiao Qiang of China Digital Times explains how. Watch the full podcast here! https://chinauncensored.tv/programs/podcast-311

On this week's show Patrick Gray and Adam Boileau discuss the week's cybersecurity news, including: Shai-Hulud worm propagates via npm and steals credentials Jaguar Land Rover attack may put smaller suppliers out of business Leaked data emerges from the vendor behind the Great Firewall of China Vastaamo hacker walks free while appeal is underway Why is a senator so mad about Kerberos? This week's episode is sponsored by Knocknoc. Chief exec Adam Pointon joins to talk through the surprising number of customers that are using Knocknoc's identity-to-firewall glue to protect internal services and networks. This week's episode is also available on Youtube. Show notes Self-Replicating Worm Hits 180+ Software Packages – Krebs on Security Jaguar Land Rover: Some suppliers 'face bankruptcy' due to hack crisis Jaguar Land Rover production shutdown could last until November U.S. Investors, Trump Close In on TikTok Deal With China - WSJ U.S. Investors, Trump Close In on TikTok Deal With China - WSJ How China's Propaganda and Surveillance Systems Really Operate | WIRED Mythical Beasts: Diving into the depths of the global spyware market - Atlantic Council Hacker convicted of extorting 20,000 psychotherapy victims walks free during appeal | The Record from Recorded Future News US national charged in Finnish psychotherapy center extortion | The Record from Recorded Future News BreachForums administrator given three-year prison stint after resentencing | The Record from Recorded Future News Microsoft, Cloudflare disrupt RaccoonO365 credential stealing tool run by Nigerian national | The Record from Recorded Future News Senator blasts Microsoft for making default Windows vulnerable to “Kerberoasting” - Ars Technica Exclusive: US warns hidden radios may be embedded in solar-powered highway infrastructure | Reuters Israel announces seizure of $1.5M from crypto wallets tied to Iran | TechCrunch

In this week's episode of China Insider, Miles Yu covers the recent anti-corruption movement and Gen Z protests that ousted former Prime Minister Oli and government officials, and examine China's role in the transition to the new interim government. Next, Miles breaks down the latest from US-China trade talks in Madrid, as the US seeks to advance the TikTok divestiture and framework for a bilateral trade deal, while China seeks to avoid further tariffs related to purchases of Russian oil. Lastly, Miles unpacks the historical data breach from China's Great Firewall that compromised highly confidential and protected information regarding the CCP's extensive exports of censorship and surveillance technology to foreign countries. China Insider is a weekly podcast project from Hudson Institute's China Center, hosted by China Center Director and Senior Fellow, Dr. Miles Yu, who provides weekly news that mainstream American outlets often miss, as well as in-depth commentary and analysis on the China challenge and the free world's future. 

FBI botnet disruption leaves cybercriminals scrambling to pick up the pieces. Notorious ransomware gangs announce their retirement, but don't hold your breath. Hacktivists leak data tied to China's Great Firewall. A new report says DHS mishandled a key program designed to retain cyber talent at CISA. GPUGate malware cleverly evades analysis. WhiteCobra targets developers with malicious extensions. North Korea's Kimsuky group uses AI to generate fake South Korean military IDs. My guest is Tim Starks from CyberScoop, discussing offensive cyber operations. A cyberattack leaves students hung out to dry. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest Today we are joined once again by Tim Starks from CyberScoop discussing offensive cyber operations. You can read Tim's article Google previews cyber ‘disruption unit' as U.S. government, industry weigh going heavier on offense for more background. Selected Reading The FBI Destroyed an Internet Weapon, but Criminals Picked Up the Pieces (Wall Street Journal) 15 ransomware gangs ‘go dark' to enjoy 'golden parachutes' (The Register) 600 GB of Alleged Great Firewall of China Data Published in Largest Leak Yet (HackRead) China Enforces 1-Hour Cybersecurity Incident Reporting (The Cyber Express) ​​DHS watchdog finds mismanagement in critical cyber talent program (FedScoop) GPUGate Malware: Malicious GitHub Desktop Implants Use Hardware-Specific Decryption, Abuse Google Ads to Target Western Europe (Arctic Wolf) 'WhiteCobra' floods VSCode market with crypto-stealing extensions (Bleeping Computer) AI-Forged Military IDs Used in North Korean Phishing Attack (Infosecurity Magazine) Mitsubishi to acquire Nozomi Networks for nearly $1 billion. (N2K CyberWire Business Briefing)  Dutch students denied access to jailbroken laundry machines (The Register) Share your feedback. What do you think about CyberWire Daily? Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey. Thank you for helping us continue to improve our show. Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our media kit. Contact us at cyberwire@n2k.com to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Great Firewall of China, Jaguar Land Rover, Workday, Facebook, Tenable and Qualys, HackerOne and so much more are all part of this week's breaches!

China's Great Firewall blocks social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, along with certain political topics, streaming platforms, and even Google. For years, we've heard about what China's firewall keeps out — but much less about how it's achieved. Now, a massive leak is shedding light on how the country's censorship technology works and which countries it's being exported to.Today, the Globe's Asia Correspondent, James Griffiths is here. He's an expert on China's online censorship, and he's the author of The Great Firewall of China. He'll explain what the leak exposes, which countries China is replicating its firewall in, and what it all means for the country's growing global influence.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

China has one of the world's most sophisticated internet censorship systems - it's so extensive that it's been nicknamed ‘The Great Firewall of China'. Many Western websites, such as Google or WhatsApp, are shut off to Chinese Internet users, while Chinese equivalents like Baidu and WeChat are popular instead. Blockbuster films like Top Gun Maverick have been edited, celebrities like Lady Gaga are taboo and even Peppa Pig has been censored.So, what is the Chinese government trying to achieve with internet censorship? And in an increasingly globalised world, how are they managing to filter out the information they don't want people to know? Shawn Yuan from the BBC's Global China Unit explains how the ‘Great Firewall' works - and what it tells us about the relationship between the government and citizens in China.Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Julia Ross-Roy and Chelsea Coates Video Journalist: Baldeep Chahal Editor: Verity Wilde

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts' new book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall (Princeton University Press, 2020) reveals the nuances of censorship in the age of the internet. She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites. Roberts's highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts' insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public. Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Susan Liebell is associate professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship (Routledge, 2013). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts' new book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall (Princeton University Press, 2020) reveals the nuances of censorship in the age of the internet. She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites. Roberts's highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts' insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public. Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Susan Liebell is associate professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship (Routledge, 2013). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts' new book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall (Princeton University Press, 2020) reveals the nuances of censorship in the age of the internet. She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites. Roberts's highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts' insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public. Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Susan Liebell is associate professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship (Routledge, 2013). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts' new book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall (Princeton University Press, 2020) reveals the nuances of censorship in the age of the internet. She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites. Roberts's highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts' insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public. Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Susan Liebell is associate professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship (Routledge, 2013).

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts' new book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall (Princeton University Press, 2020) reveals the nuances of censorship in the age of the internet. She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites. Roberts's highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts' insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public. Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Susan Liebell is associate professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship (Routledge, 2013). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts' new book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall (Princeton University Press, 2020) reveals the nuances of censorship in the age of the internet. She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites. Roberts's highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts' insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public. Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Susan Liebell is associate professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship (Routledge, 2013). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts' new book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall (Princeton University Press, 2020) reveals the nuances of censorship in the age of the internet. She identifies 3 types of censorship: fear (threatening punishment to deter the spread or access of information); friction (increasing the time or money necessary to access information); and flooding (publishing information to distract, confuse, or dilute). Roberts shows how China customizes repression by using friction and flooding (censorship that is porous) to deter the majority of citizens whose busy schedules and general lack of interest in politics make it difficult to spend extra time and money accessing information. Highly motivated elites (e.g. journalists, activists) who are willing to spend the extra time and money to overcome the boundaries of both friction and flooding meanwhile may face fear and punishment. The two groups end up with very different information – complicating political coordination between the majority and elites. Roberts's highly accessible book negotiates two extreme positions (the internet will bring government accountability v. extreme censorship) to provide a more nuanced understanding of digital politics, the politics of repression, and political communication. Even if there is better information available, governments can create friction on distribution or flood the internet with propaganda. Looking at how China manages censorship provides insights not only for other authoritarian governments but also democratic governments. Liberal democracies might not use fear but they can affect access and availability – and they may find themselves (as the United States did in the 2016 presidential election) subject to flooding from external sources. The podcast includes Roberts' insights on how the Chinese censored information on COVID-19 and the effect that had on the public. Foreign Affairs named Censored one of its Best Books of 2018 and it was also honored with the Goldsmith Award and the Best Book in Human Rights Section and Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Susan Liebell is associate professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship (Routledge, 2013). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism

A version of this essay has been published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/shadow-warrior-from-crisis-to-advantage-how-india-can-outplay-the-trump-tariff-gambit-13923031.htmlA simple summary of the recent brouhaha about President Trump's imposition of 25% tariffs on India as well as his comment on India's ‘dead economy' is the following from Shakespeare's Macbeth: “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. Trump further imposed punitive tariffs totalling 50% on August 6th allegedly for India funding Russia's war machine via buying oil.As any negotiator knows, a good opening gambit is intended to set the stage for further parleys, so that you could arrive at a negotiated settlement that is acceptable to both parties. The opening gambit could well be a maximalist statement, or one's ‘dream outcome', the opposite of which is ‘the walkway point' beyond which you are simply not willing to make concessions. The usual outcome is somewhere in between these two positions or postures.Trump is both a tough negotiator, and prone to making broad statements from which he has no problem retreating later. It's down-and-dirty boardroom tactics that he's bringing to international trade. Therefore I think Indians don't need to get rattled. It's not the end of the world, and there will be climbdowns and adjustments. Think hard about the long term.I was on a panel discussion on this topic on TV just hours after Trump made his initial 25% announcement, and I mentioned an interplay between geo-politics and geo-economics. Trump is annoyed that his Ukraine-Russia play is not making much headway, and also that BRICS is making progress towards de-dollarization. India is caught in this crossfire (‘collateral damage') but the geo-economic facts on the ground are not favorable to Trump.I am in general agreement with Trump on his objectives of bringing manufacturing and investment back to the US, but I am not sure that he will succeed, and anyway his strong-arm tactics may backfire. I consider below what India should be prepared to do to turn adversity into opportunity.The anti-Thucydides Trap and the baleful influence of Whitehall on Deep StateWhat is remarkable, though, is that Trump 2.0 seems to be indistinguishable from the Deep State: I wondered last month if the Deep State had ‘turned' Trump. The main reason many people supported Trump in the first place was the damage the Deep State was wreaking on the US under the Obama-Biden regime. But it appears that the resourceful Deep State has now co-opted Trump for its agenda, and I can only speculate how.The net result is that there is the anti-Thucydides Trap: here is the incumbent power, the US, actively supporting the insurgent power, China, instead of suppressing it, as Graham Allison suggested as the historical pattern. It, in all fairness, did not start with Trump, but with Nixon in China in 1971. In 1985, the US trade deficit with China was $6 million. In 1986, $1.78 billion. In 1995, $35 billion.But it ballooned after China entered the WTO in 2001. $202 billion in 2005; $386 billion in 2022.In 2025, after threatening China with 150% tariffs, Trump retreated by postponing them; besides he has caved in to Chinese demands for Nvidia chips and for exemptions from Iran oil sanctions if I am not mistaken.All this can be explained by one word: leverage. China lured the US with the siren-song of the cost-leader ‘China price', tempting CEOs and Wall Street, who sleepwalked into surrender to the heft of the Chinese supply chain.Now China has cornered Trump via its monopoly over various things, the most obvious of which is rare earths. Trump really has no option but to give in to Chinese blackmail. That must make him furious: in addition to his inability to get Putin to listen to him, Xi is also ignoring him. Therefore, he will take out his frustrations on others, such as India, the EU, Japan, etc. Never mind that he's burning bridges with them.There's a Malayalam proverb that's relevant here: “angadiyil thottathinu ammayodu”. Meaning, you were humiliated in the marketplace, so you come home and take it out on your mother. This is quite likely what Trump is doing, because he believes India et al will not retaliate. In fact Japan and the EU did not retaliate, but gave in, also promising to invest large sums in the US. India could consider a different path: not active conflict, but not giving in either, because its equations with the US are different from those of the EU or Japan.Even the normally docile Japanese are beginning to notice.Beyond that, I suggested a couple of years ago that Deep State has a plan to enter into a condominium agreement with China, so that China gets Asia, and the US gets the Americas and the Pacific/Atlantic. This is exactly like the Vatican-brokered medieval division of the world between Spain and Portugal, and it probably will be equally bad for everyone else. And incidentally it makes the Quad infructuous, and deepens distrust of American motives.The Chinese are sure that they have achieved the condominium, or rather forced the Americans into it. Here is a headline from the Financial Express about their reaction to the tariffs: they are delighted that the principal obstacle in their quest for hegemony, a US-India military and economic alliance, is being blown up by Trump, and they lose no opportunity to deride India as not quite up to the mark, whereas they and the US have achieved a G2 detente.Two birds with one stone: gloat about the breakdown in the US-India relationship, and exhibit their racist disdain for India yet again.They laugh, but I bet India can do an end-run around them. As noted above, the G2 is a lot like the division of the world into Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence in 1494. Well, that didn't end too well for either of them. They had their empires, which they looted for gold and slaves, but it made them fat, dumb and happy. The Dutch, English, and French capitalized on more dynamic economies, flexible colonial systems, and aggressive competition, overtaking the Iberian powers in global influence by the 17th century. This is a salutary historical parallel.I have long suspected that the US Deep State is being led by the nose by the malign Whitehall (the British Deep State): I call it the ‘master-blaster' syndrome. On August 6th, there was indirect confirmation of this in ex-British PM Boris Johnson's tweet about India. Let us remember he single-handedly ruined the chances of a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine War in 2022. Whitehall's mischief and meddling all over, if you read between the lines.Did I mention the British Special Force's views? Ah, Whitehall is getting a bit sloppy in its propaganda.Wait, so is India important (according to Whitehall) or unimportant (according to Trump)?Since I am very pro-American, I have a word of warning to Trump: you trust perfidious Albion at your peril. Their country is ruined, and they will not rest until they ruin yours too.I also wonder if there are British paw-prints in a recent and sudden spate of racist attacks on Indians in Ireland. A 6-year old girl was assaulted and kicked in the private parts. A nurse was gang-raped by a bunch of teenagers. Ireland has never been so racist against Indians (yes, I do remember the sad case of Savita Halappanavar, but that was religious bigotry more than racism). And I remember sudden spikes in anti-Indian attacks in Australia and Canada, both British vassals.There is no point in Indians whining about how the EU and America itself are buying more oil, palladium, rare earths, uranium etc. from Russia than India is. I am sorry to say this, but Western nations are known for hypocrisy. For example, exactly 80 years ago they dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, but not on Germany or Italy. Why? The answer is uncomfortable. Lovely post-facto rationalization, isn't it?Remember the late lamented British East India Company that raped and pillaged India?Applying the three winning strategies to geo-economicsAs a professor of business strategy and innovation, I emphasize to my students that there are three broad ways of gaining an advantage over others: 1. Be the cost leader, 2. Be the most customer-intimate player, 3. Innovate. The US as a nation is patently not playing the cost leader; it does have some customer intimacy, but it is shrinking; its strength is in innovation.If you look at comparative advantage, the US at one time had strengths in all three of the above. Because it had the scale of a large market (and its most obvious competitors in Europe were decimated by world wars) America did enjoy an ability to be cost-competitive, especially as the dollar is the global default reserve currency. It demonstrated this by pushing through the Plaza Accords, forcing the Japanese yen to appreciate, destroying their cost advantage.In terms of customer intimacy, the US is losing its edge. Take cars for example: Americans practically invented them, and dominated the business, but they are in headlong retreat now because they simply don't make cars that people want outside the US: Japanese, Koreans, Germans and now Chinese do. Why were Ford and GM forced to leave the India market? Their “world cars” are no good in value-conscious India and other emerging markets.Innovation, yes, has been an American strength. Iconic Americans like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs led the way in product and process innovation. US universities have produced idea after idea, and startups have ignited Silicon Valley. In fact Big Tech and aerospace/armaments are the biggest areas where the US leads these days.The armaments and aerospace tradeThat is pertinent because of two reasons: one is Trump's peevishness at India's purchase of weapons from Russia (even though that has come down from 70+% of imports to 36% according to SIPRI); two is the fact that there are significant services and intangible imports by India from the US, of for instance Big Tech services, even some routed through third countries like Ireland.Armaments and aerospace purchases from the US by India have gone up a lot: for example the Apache helicopters that arrived recently, the GE 404 engines ordered for India's indigenous fighter aircraft, Predator drones and P8-i Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft. I suspect Trump is intent on pushing India to buy F-35s, the $110-million dollar 5th generation fighters.Unfortunately, the F-35 has a spotty track record. There were two crashes recently, one in Albuquerque in May, and the other on July 31 in Fresno, and that's $220 million dollars gone. Besides, the spectacle of a hapless British-owned F-35B sitting, forlorn, in the rain, in Trivandrum airport for weeks, lent itself to trolls, who made it the butt of jokes. I suspect India has firmly rebuffed Trump on this front, which has led to his focus on Russian arms.There might be other pushbacks too. Personally, I think India does need more P-8i submarine hunter-killer aircraft to patrol the Bay of Bengal, but India is exerting its buyer power. There are rumors of pauses in orders for Javelin and Stryker missiles as well.On the civilian aerospace front, I am astonished that all the media stories about Air India 171 and the suspicion that Boeing and/or General Electric are at fault have disappeared without a trace. Why? There had been the big narrative push to blame the poor pilots, and now that there is more than reasonable doubt that these US MNCs are to blame, there is a media blackout?Allegations about poor manufacturing practices by Boeing in North Charleston, South Carolina by whistleblowers have been damaging for the company's brand: this is where the 787 Dreamliners are put together. It would not be surprising if there is a slew of cancellations of orders for Boeing aircraft, with customers moving to Airbus. Let us note Air India and Indigo have placed some very large, multi-billion dollar orders with Boeing that may be in jeopardy.India as a consuming economy, and the services trade is hugely in the US' favorMany observers have pointed out the obvious fact that India is not an export-oriented economy, unlike, say, Japan or China. It is more of a consuming economy with a large, growing and increasingly less frugal population, and therefore it is a target for exporters rather than a competitor for exporting countries. As such, the impact of these US tariffs on India will be somewhat muted, and there are alternative destinations for India's exports, if need be.While Trump has focused on merchandise trade and India's modest surplus there, it is likely that there is a massive services trade, which is in the US' favor. All those Big Tech firms, such as Microsoft, Meta, Google and so on run a surplus in the US' favor, which may not be immediately evident because they route their sales through third countries, e.g. Ireland.These are the figures from the US Trade Representative, and quite frankly I don't believe them: there are a lot of invisible services being sold to India, and the value of Indian data is ignored.In addition to the financial implications, there are national security concerns. Take the case of Microsoft's cloud offering, Azure, which arbitrarily turned off services to Indian oil retailer Nayara on the flimsy grounds that the latter had substantial investment from Russia's Rosneft. This is an example of jurisdictional over-reach by US companies, which has dire consequences. India has been lax about controlling Big Tech, and this has to change.India is Meta's largest customer base. Whatsapp is used for practically everything. Which means that Meta has access to enormous amounts of Indian customer data, for which India is not even enforcing local storage. This is true of all other Big Tech (see OpenAI's Sam Altman below): they are playing fast and loose with Indian data, which is not in India's interest at all.Data is the new oil, says The Economist magazine. So how much should Meta, OpenAI et al be paying for Indian data? Meta is worth trillions of dollars, OpenAI half a trillion. How much of that can be attributed to Indian data?There is at least one example of how India too can play the digital game: UPI. Despite ham-handed efforts to now handicap UPI with a fee (thank you, brilliant government bureaucrats, yes, go ahead and kill the goose that lays the golden eggs), it has become a contender in a field that has long been dominated by the American duopoly of Visa and Mastercard. In other words, India can scale up and compete.It is unfortunate that India has not built up its own Big Tech behind a firewall as has been done behind the Great Firewall of China. But it is not too late. Is it possible for India-based cloud service providers to replace US Big Tech like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure? Yes, there is at least one player in that market: Zoho.Second, what are the tariffs on Big Tech exports to India these days? What if India were to decide to impose a 50% tax on revenue generated in India through advertisement or through sales of services, mirroring the US's punitive taxes on Indian goods exports? Let me hasten to add that I am not suggesting this, it is merely a hypothetical argument.There could also be non-tariff barriers as China has implemented, but not India: data locality laws, forced use of local partners, data privacy laws like the EU's GDPR, anti-monopoly laws like the EU's Digital Markets Act, strict application of IPR laws like 3(k) that absolutely prohibits the patenting of software, and so on. India too can play legalistic games. This is a reason US agri-products do not pass muster: genetically modified seeds, and milk from cows fed with cattle feed from blood, offal and ground-up body parts.Similarly, in the ‘information' industry, India is likely to become the largest English-reading country in the world. I keep getting come-hither emails from the New York Times offering me $1 a month deals on their product: they want Indian customers. There are all these American media companies present in India, untrammelled by content controls or taxes. What if India were to give a choice to Bloomberg, Reuters, NYTimes, WaPo, NPR et al: 50% tax, or exit?This attack on peddlers of fake information and manufacturing consent I do suggest, and I have been suggesting for years. It would make no difference whatsoever to India if these media outlets were ejected, and they surely could cover India (well, basically what they do is to demean India) just as well from abroad. Out with them: good riddance to bad rubbish.What India needs to doI believe India needs to play the long game. It has to use its shatrubodha to realize that the US is not its enemy: in Chanakyan terms, the US is the Far Emperor. The enemy is China, or more precisely the Chinese Empire. Han China is just a rump on their south-eastern coast, but it is their conquered (and restive) colonies such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, that give them their current heft.But the historical trends are against China. It has in the past had stable governments for long periods, based on strong (and brutal) imperial power. Then comes the inevitable collapse, when the center falls apart, and there is absolute chaos. It is quite possible, given various trends, including demographic changes, that this may happen to China by 2050.On the other hand, (mostly thanks, I acknowledge, to China's manufacturing growth), the center of gravity of the world economy has been steadily shifting towards Asia. The momentum might swing towards India if China stumbles, but in any case the era of Atlantic dominance is probably gone for good. That was, of course, only a historical anomaly. Asia has always dominated: see Angus Maddison's magisterial history of the world economy, referred to below as well.I am reminded of the old story of the king berating his court poet for calling him “the new moon” and the emperor “the full moon”. The poet escaped being punished by pointing out that the new moon is waxing and the full moon is waning.This is the long game India has to keep in mind. Things are coming together for India to a great extent: in particular the demographic dividend, improved infrastructure, fiscal prudence, and the increasing centrality of the Indian Ocean as the locus of trade and commerce.India can attempt to gain competitive advantage in all three ways outlined above:* Cost-leadership. With a large market (assuming companies are willing to invest at scale), a low-cost labor force, and with a proven track-record of frugal innovation, India could well aim to be a cost-leader in selected areas of manufacturing. But this requires government intervention in loosening monetary policy and in reducing barriers to ease of doing business* Customer-intimacy. What works in highly value-conscious India could well work in other developing countries. For instance, the economic environment in ASEAN is largely similar to India's, and so Indian products should appeal to their residents; similarly with East Africa. Thus the Indian Ocean Rim with its huge (and in Africa's case, rapidly growing) population should be a natural fit for Indian products* Innovation. This is the hardest part, and it requires a new mindset in education and industry, to take risks and work at the bleeding edge of technology. In general, Indians have been content to replicate others' innovations at lower cost or do jugaad (which cannot scale up). To do real, disruptive innovation, first of all the services mindset should transition to a product mindset (sorry, Raghuram Rajan). Second, the quality of human capital must be improved. Third, there should be patient risk capital. Fourth, there should be entrepreneurs willing to try risky things. All of these are difficult, but doable.And what is the end point of this game? Leverage. The ability to compel others to buy from you.China has demonstrated this through its skill at being a cost-leader in industry after industry, often hollowing out entire nations through means both fair and foul. These means include far-sighted industrial policy including the acquisition of skills, technology, and raw materials, as well as hidden subsidies that support massive scaling, which ends up driving competing firms elsewhere out of business. India can learn a few lessons from them. One possible lesson is building capabilities, as David Teece of UC Berkeley suggested in 1997, that can span multiple products, sectors and even industries: the classic example is that of Nikon, whose optics strength helps it span industries such as photography, printing, and photolithography for chip manufacturing. Here is an interesting snapshot of China's capabilities today.2025 is, in a sense, a point of inflection for India just as the crisis in 1991 was. India had been content to plod along at the Nehruvian Rate of Growth of 2-3%, believing this was all it could achieve, as a ‘wounded civilization'. From that to a 6-7% growth rate is a leap, but it is not enough, nor is it testing the boundaries of what India can accomplish.1991 was the crisis that turned into an opportunity by accident. 2025 is a crisis that can be carefully and thoughtfully turned into an opportunity.The Idi Amin syndrome and the 1000 Talents program with AIThere is a key area where an American error may well be a windfall for India. This is based on the currently fashionable H1-B bashing which is really a race-bashing of Indians, and which has been taken up with gusto by certain MAGA folks. Once again, I suspect the baleful influence of Whitehall behind it, but whatever the reason, it looks like Indians are going to have a hard time settling down in the US.There are over a million Indians on H1-Bs, a large number of them software engineers, let us assume for convenience there are 250,000 of them. Given country caps of exactly 9800 a year, they have no realistic chance of getting a Green Card in the near future, and given the increasingly fraught nature of life there for brown people, they may leave the US, and possibly return to India..I call this the Idi Amin syndrome. In 1972, the dictator of Uganda went on a rampage against Indian-origin people in his country, and forcibly expelled 80,000 of them, because they were dominating the economy. There were unintended consequences: those who were ejected mostly went to the US and UK, and they have in many cases done well. But Uganda's economy virtually collapsed.That's a salutary experience. I am by no means saying that the US economy would collapse, but am pointing to the resilience of the Indians who were expelled. If, similarly, Trump forces a large number of Indians to return to India, that might well be a case of short-term pain and long-term gain: urvashi-shapam upakaram, as in the Malayalam phrase.Their return would be akin to what happened in China and Taiwan with their successful effort to attract their diaspora back. The Chinese program was called 1000 Talents, and they scoured the globe for academics and researchers of Chinese origin, and brought them back with attractive incentives and large budgets. They had a major role in energizing the Chinese economy.Similarly, Taiwan with Hsinchu University attracted high-quality talent, among which was the founder of TSMC, the globally dominant chip giant.And here is Trump offering to India on a platter at least 100,000 software engineers, especially at a time when generativeAI is decimating low-end jobs everywhere. They can work on some very compelling projects that could revolutionize Indian education, up-skilling and so on, and I am not at liberty to discuss them. Suffice to say that these could turbo-charge the Indian software industry and get it away from mundane, routine body-shopping type jobs.ConclusionThe Trump tariff tantrum is definitely a short-term problem for India, but it can be turned around, and turned into an opportunity, if only the country plays its cards right and focuses on building long-term comparative advantages and accepting the gift of a mis-step by Trump in geo-economics.In geo-politics, India and the US need each other to contain China, and so that part, being so obvious, will be taken care of more or less by default.Thus, overall, the old SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. On balance, I am of the opinion that the threats contain in them the germs of opportunities. It is up to Indians to figure out how to take advantage of them. This is your game to win or lose, India!4150 words, 9 Aug 2025 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/subscribe

We sat down with Carl Dong — former Bitcoin Core contributor, now founder of Obscura VPN focused on real-world censorship resistance.In this episode, we dive into:- Why Carl walked away from Bitcoin Core development to tackle privacy head-on- What sets Obscura apart from other VPNs- Lessons from the Great Firewall and routing traffic through hostile networks- Chinese numerology- Carl & Casey's long and storied shared historyFOLLOW CARL: https://x.com/carl_dongGet bonus content by subscribing to @hellmoneypod on X: https://x.com/hellmoneypod/creator-subscriptions/subscribeOr support the podcast by sending a BTC donation: bc1qztncp7lmcxdgude4px2vzh72p2yu2aud0eyzys ORDINALS PROTOCOL SHIRT: https://shop.inscribing.com/products/ordinals-protocol-shirtTIMESTAMPS:0:00 Intro & Carl's journey to Bitcoin development11:59 Hard problems in Bitcoin16:00 Binaries, compliers, and reproducible builds37:30 Transitioning from Bitcoin core to working on Obscura VPN1:05:00 Advice for current Bitcoin core contributors1:10:00 Ordinals numerology1:39:00 Outro

In this episode, hosts Ray Powell and Jim Carouso explore the critical concept of techno-nationalism with expert Alex Capri, author of "Techno-Nationalism: How It's Reshaping Trade, Geopolitics and Society."Techno-nationalism represents the intersection of technology, national security, and economic power in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Capri explains how nation-states are leveraging 12 key power-multiplier technologies--including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum science, hypersonics, biotech, and advanced manufacturing--to maintain competitive advantages and protect national interests.The discussion reveals how China's strategic approach to technology development caught the West off-guard. While Western companies focused on trade liberalization and efficiency, China implemented long-term techno-nationalist policies, including preemptive decoupling in critical sectors like telecommunications and banking. The Great Firewall, established in the mid-1990s, was an early indicator of China's protective stance toward strategic technologies.Capri outlines the six core elements of modern techno-nationalism:1️⃣ Weaponization of supply chains through export controls and investment restrictions2️⃣ Strategic decoupling from potential adversaries3️⃣ Offshoring reversal via reshoring and friend-shoring initiatives4️⃣ Innovation mercantilism through government industrial policy5️⃣ Tech diplomacy for strategic alliance building6️⃣ Hybrid Cold War dynamics amid ongoing commercial activityThe Huawei 5G ban exemplifies techno-nationalist concerns about critical infrastructure security. The company's global telecommunications footprint, built through massive state support, raised red flags about potential surveillance capabilities. Similarly, TikTok represents the dual-use nature of modern technology—commercially popular but potentially strategically valuable for data collection and analysis.Despite China's advances, the US maintains advantages in university systems, defense technology, and innovation ecosystems. However, success requires strategic partnerships with allies, particularly in semiconductor manufacturing and critical mineral supply chains. The conversation highlights concerns about policy continuity across political administrations and the importance of sustained investment in STEM education and public-private partnerships.Techno-nationalism isn't just about US-China competition—it's a global phenomenon affecting all nation-states as they navigate security, economic stability, and technological sovereignty in an interconnected world.Follow our podcast on X, @IndoPacPodcast, LinkedIn or BlueSkyFollow Ray Powell on X (@GordianKnotRay) or LinkedInFollow Jim Carouso on LinkedInSponsored by BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Indo-Pacific

There's a strange hatred of all things China in the West—it's time to debunk outdated myths and find out what's true.Over the past couple of years, I've had several conversations about China, exploring why much of what we believe is either fabricated or completely false.For example,Chinese people are oppressedChina has a social credit scoreThere is a genocide of UyghursThe Chinese government harvests organsThe Tiananmen Square massacreAll of the above narratives are bunk.Lee Barrett is a British YouTuber who has lived in China for over a decade. He runs a really great YouTube channel where he posts videos about his daily life there.He chatted with me about censorship, oppression, food, culture, and why many Westerners hate China without ever visiting.It's not a utopia, but nor is it some totalitarian hellhole.Oh, by the way, he didn't use a VPN or anything to dodge the Great Firewall of China. He just recorded with me like any other guest.

In this episode of Breaking Badness, we dive into two major cybersecurity stories: the exploitation of a VPN vulnerability by Chinese APT 41 and the newly discovered “Wall Bleed” flaw in the Great Firewall of China. APT 41 has been using a critical VPN vulnerability to infiltrate operational technology (OT) organizations, targeting industries like aerospace and defense. Meanwhile, researchers have uncovered a flaw in China's DNS injection system, which inadvertently leaks internal data—an ironic twist for a government known for its strict internet censorship. Join us as we break down these exploits, their impact on cybersecurity, and what they reveal about modern cyber espionage. We also discuss best practices for securing VPNs, firewall vulnerabilities, and the ethical implications of studying censorship technologies.

More Info on the Show: https://rhr.tv- IMF Board Approves $1.4Bn Loan to El Salvador with Further Bitcoin Restrictions https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/imf-board-approves-1-4b-loan-to-el-salvador-2/- European States Continue Their Race for Encryption Backdoors https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/european-states-continue-race-for-encryption-backdoors/- Apple Pulls E2EE iCloud Encryption in UK, Boots 135K+ 'Non-Compliant' Apps from EU App Store https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/apple-pulls-e2e-icloud-encryption-in-uk-boots-135k-non-compliant-apps-from-eu-app-store/- Firefox deletes promise to never sell personal data, asks users not to panic https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/firefox-deletes-promise-to-never-sell-personal-data-asks-users-not-to-panic/- Google | Facilitating Censorship in Russia and ChinaGoogle is actively assisting authoritarian regimes like China and Russia to censor dissent, removing online content critical of the Kremlin and Chinese Communist Party. In Russia, Google complied with government requests to erase YouTube videos opposing the war in Ukraine, while in China, it removed references to the Tiananmen Square massacre and pro-democracy activism. With more than 70% of Russians relying on YouTube for news and China's Great Firewall blocking independent sources, corporate compliance with state censorship enables state propaganda to proliferate as a dominant narrative. For activists and nonprofits seeking uncensorable communications, nostr — an open and decentralized protocol — offers a way to share information beyond the reach of authoritarian regimes. Activists and NGOs can get started here.- Sparrow Wallet v2.1.3: OneKey Support, Expanded Labels Export, Lark Fixes https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/sparrow-wallet-v2-1-3/- TollGate Cashu Enabled Wifi https://tollgate.me- Bitkey launches inheritance feature https://bitkey.build/inheritance-is-live-heres-how-it-works/- Braiins builds their own ASIC https://primal.net/e/nevent1qvzqqqqqqyqzq7yxw3qsg0tk7q6prqjreqyx0ynzl4x9rtu58x7tnxe4ml4hk3433zflnx- Cove iOS Beta Released https://primal.net/e/nevent1qvzqqqqqqyqzq0ec9ufl7xx0fsede5kh5s6003n5czftz2wd0tlnan4udzravsard2yvgk- Nunchuk Launches New and Improved Group Wallet https://primal.net/e/nevent1qvzqqqqqqyqzqak65lj2e7vgfw50dvkmdt4zjka68cq72ml5fwn28zklsekckep7vhayca- Marty's hathttps://finitesupply.co/0:00 - Intro2:59 - Not a dump8:13 - Jack is not Satoshi12:21 - Dashboard & Pubkey18:40 - IMF El Salvador loan22:25 - Euro encryption backdoors33:29 - Firefox removes privacy promise38:19 - HRF Story of the Week39:57 - Software updates52:09 - Boosts54:18 - More software updates1:04:24 - Lazarus group1:11:58 - Closing riffShoutout to our sponsors:Unchainedhttps://unchained.com/rhr/Bitkeyhttps://bitkey.world/Stakworkhttps://stakwork.ai/Coinkitehttps://coinkite.com/TFTC Merch is Available:Shop Nowhttps://merch.tftc.io/Join the TFTC Movement:Main YT Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/c/TFTC21/videosClips YT Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUQcW3jxfQfEUS8kqR5pJtQWebsitehttps://tftc.io/Twitterhttps://twitter.com/tftc21Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/tftc.io/Follow Marty Bent:Twitterhttps://twitter.com/martybentNewsletterhttps://tftc.io/martys-bent/Podcasthttps://tftc.io/podcasts/Follow Odell:Nostrhttps://primal.net/odellNewsletterhttps://discreetlog.com/Podcasthttps://citadeldispatch.com/

China's internet is famously walled off from the global web. Despite barriers including censorship and moderation practices, a unique Chinese digital ecosystem has flourished—and unexpectedly, attracted Americans.  The recent temporary exodus of TikTok users to RedNote presented a rare opportunity for American and Chinese peoples to digitally interact on a large scale, sharing views and opinions on the Chinese internet's own turf. Why is China's internet so different from the global internet and in what ways can it be a bridge, or barrier, for online exchange? Yaling Jiang joins the National Committee in an interview recorded on February 9, 2025 to introduce China's internet, its evolution, and forms of censorship that exist within it. Learn more about the speaker.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comAnne is a journalist and historian. She's currently a staff writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University's Agora Institute. She's written many books, including Red Famine, Gulag: A History, and Twilight of Democracy, and her new one is Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. Also check her substack, “Open Letters.”For two clips of our convo — on whether Trump is a kleptocrat, and whether Kamala can connect with the public — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: the ways dictatorships no longer act alone; surveillance and social media; the appeal of Western freedoms via the internet; the Great Firewall; the Uyghurs and squelching dissent before it happens — with algorithms; Iranian theocracy; how autocrats have anonymity but their subjects don't; the ease of stealing and hiding money; shell corporations; the unipolar hegemon of the US; the influence-peddling of the Trumps and the Bidens; what frightens Anne most about Trump; how his China policy could disappoint hawks; why he admires dictators; J.D. Vance and isolationism; Putin invading Ukraine to test the West; the failure of sanctions to cripple Russia; its economic alliance with China; Dubya's foreign adventures; a dictator's appeal to order and tradition; the profound brutality of Stalin; the Cold War; the war in Syria stoked by Russia; the fall of Venezuela as a rich democracy; Western democracies in crisis today; mass migration and Biden's failure; the turnover of Tory PMs and Starmer's “stability”; the West's goal of transparency and accountability; autocrats leaning into social conservatism; scapegoating gays; the myth of Russia as a white Christian nation; misinformation and free speech; Trump's endurance; the assassination attempt; and Anne's husband becoming the foreign minister of Poland.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Jeffrey Toobin on the Supreme Court, Eric Kaufmann on reversing woke extremism, and Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy on animal cruelty. (Van Jones' PR team canceled his planned appearance.) Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.