Month: August 2023

fallout from death of Yevgeny Prigozhin will be felt far beyond Moscow

Published by skeptic

Where were you when you heard that Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aircraft had crashed and he was presumed dead? For Ukraine watchers it was something of a surreal JFK moment. And, like the Zapruder tape, the video footage of the Russian mercenary group commander’s Embraer Legacy 600 private jet falling out of the sky is hard to forget. Within minutes of the visuals emerging, journalists and other commentators were scrambling to reach conclusions: was it a bomb on board? Had the aircraft been shot from the sky? The Wagner Group boss had been travelling with colleagues from Moscow to St Petersburg: had he met with Vladimir Putin? Had they buried the hatchet over his aborted “mutiny” in June? Wasn’t he supposed to be with his troops in Belarus? What about that video of him in Africa just days before? So many questions. Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet crashes. Many questions remain. The Kremlin’s version of the crash was that it was just that: a crash. It took four days for official confirmation that the Wagner …

feminist progress is always met with backlash, but Spain’s #MeToo moment shows things are changing

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Winning the women’s World Cup was a significant moment for Spanish football. Spain is now one of only two teams who are world champions in both the male and female competitions (Germany is the other). This momentous achievement cannot have been lost on Spanish football executives. For that reason, it is particularly incomprehensible that the president of the Spanish football federation kissed the women’s team player Jenni Hermoso on the lips in plain view of the entire world, turning what should have been a celebration into a reckoning. Luis Rubiales’ defence is that he kissed Hermoso in a moment of euphoria (diminishing his own responsibility) and, more importantly, that it was by mutual consent. This he explained to a large crowd of the football federation’s members in a general meeting, despite Hermoso saying publicly that she did not consent or “enjoy” the kiss. So far, Rubiales has evaded calls to resign, both from the public and Spanish football federation officials (though he has been suspended by Fifa). But his protestations of innocence have been drowned …

Australian-made cardboard drones used to attack Russian airfield show how innovation is key to modern warfare

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Innovative design choices can have a massive impact in the theatre of war, so it is important to understand the principles behind their development. Recent use of low-cost cardboard drones by Ukraine, supplied by Australia, to attack targets in Russia is a good example of how this can work. Australia has been supplying Ukraine with 100 of the drones per month from March this year as part of an aid package deal worth an estimated £15.7 million, following an agreement struck in July 2021, according to the Australian Army Defence Innovation Hub. Emerging technologies tend to override current technologies, and in turn, this generates competitive counter-technologies. This circular relationship driven by innovation is often critical in warfare as it can provide key technological advances. Drone technology was originally developed for military use. It was then seen to offer opportunities in the civilian sphere for logistics, delivery and disaster relief. This then in turn has offered new innovations that can translate to military applications. Conflicts in the future will be particularly shaped by drones, which will …

Who’s Vivek Ramaswamy? He’s the Trump 2.0 candidate who’s making waves in the Republican primaries

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The New York Times described him as promising “to exert breathtaking power in ways that Donald Trump never did”. An article for Time magazine called him a “rockstar for those who think cancel culture is threatening every corner of American life”. Well-spoken, polemical and supremely self-assured, it’s no surprise that the Trump-loving Vivek Ramaswamy has emerged as the new darling of the Republican presidential primary field. Coming out of the first GOP debate in late August, where he oratorically dazzled (and also drew sharp criticism) after a combination of pre-scripted lines and impromptu take-downs, Ramaswamy is gaining ground in the polls — and is reportedly seeing a “surge of Iowans flock to his campaign stops,” ahead of the state’s important caucus, due on January 15 2024. Nationally, Ramaswamy has now cruised into third place in the Republican race, at 10%, according to FiveThirtyEight polling averages, and is hoping to overtake Florida governor Ron DeSantis (14%), once seen as the prohibitive choice to rival Donald Trump. While still some 40 points out of first place, it’s …

Why Pope’s message to young Russians not to forget ‘great Russia of Catherine II and Peter I’ has not gone down well in Ukraine

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Pope Francis’s video speech to the All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth in St Petersburg, urging them to “not forget their heritage” has caused quite a stir. What struck a bitter chord internationally – and especially in Ukraine – about the remarks he delivered on August 25 was not so much its religious contents, but its tone-deaf praise of the heritage of “Mother Russia”, which he urged his listeners to never give up. You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire – educated, great culture and great humanity The positive invocation of Russia’s imperial legacies, has been regularly used as a historical justification for the military invasion of Ukraine. So it now feels particularly insensitive – and somewhat unaware of the politicisation of religion in Russia’s imperial and present-day discourses. The Pope’s speech also worryingly echoes the Kremlin’s official discourse since 2014 which has claimed Kyiv as “the mother of Russian cities” on the back of shared religious heritage. Putin has …

the implications of Moscow moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus

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Russia is reported to have deployed nuclear weapons in Belarus, a step that was much telegraphed earlier this year and recently confirmed by Poland. This move has caused concern in neighbouring countries and has affected security arrangements in Europe. Russia reportedly has the world’s biggest nuclear arsenal, with (as of 2023) 5,889 nuclear warheads compared to 5,244 deployed by the US. But size (or, more accurately, numbers of warheads) should not be important. Nuclear deterrence theory – with its related notion of mutually assured destruction – should mean no country wants to fire weapons first as it would pretty much guarantee their own destruction (along with much of the rest of the planet). That said, the rhetoric from the Russian leadership since the invasion of Ukraine has regularly raised the threat of Russia’s nuclear stockpile. Both Vladimir Putin and the deputy chair of his national security council (and former president), Dmitry Medvedev, have made threatening comments, including this from Putin in September 2021: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without …

How folk remedies can fuel misinformation

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When London faced the bubonic plague in 1665, many people desperately sought a way to protect themselves and their loved ones from getting sick. One widely adopted method consisted of mixing two small cloves of garlic in a pint of fresh milk. People believed that drinking this cocktail in the morning, on an empty stomach, would prevent the feared disease. Like those living through the great plague of London, many people searched for remedies that would keep COVID at bay, which is why claims that garlic could cure or protect people proliferated on social media. The claims prompted an exasperated World Health Organization to post tweets of caution. Unfortunately, despite laboratory studies showing that garlic does indeed have compounds with anti-microbial properties, the idea of ingesting garlic to prevent becoming infected with any bacteria or virus is mostly folklore. Folk remedies may sound benign, but they can hurt people. A 72-year-old woman ended up with a chemical burn on her tongue due to her daily use of raw garlic in an attempt to protect herself …

how does a tower crane go up and down?

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How does a crane go up and down? – Spencer, aged four, UK When you see the metal arms of a crane – known properly as a tower crane – against the skyline, you know a new building is going up in your city or town. Many of the materials and machines on a big building site are too heavy for people to lift by themselves without getting hurt. Using a tower crane means that building materials can be lifted easily and quickly, even when something very tall is being built, such as a skyscraper. Tower cranes are huge. They are transported to a building site in many separate small sections and put together on site, almost like a Lego kit. Curious Kids is a series by The Conversation that gives children the chance to have their questions about the world answered by experts. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.com and make sure you include the asker’s first name, age and town or city. We won’t …

here’s what the political and economic gains are

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From the early days of human space activity in the 1960s, missions to the Moon have attracted significant global attention. India’s recent success in landing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the Moon was technically demanding and occurred in a previously unexplored part of the Moon. As well as the scientific benefits, India has already enjoyed the significant attention that still accompanies high profile space missions, gaining news coverage across the globe. There are always considerable demands upon government spending. So why do some countries continue to put substantial resources into space activity? And does this type of success produce tangible national and international benefits beyond a few days in the media spotlight? Though it sounds inordinately expensive to outsiders, getting a nation into space is no longer necessarily as costly as it used to be. Access to space is getting cheaper, especially for nations who have access to their own launch vehicles. This is illustrated by the relatively low cost of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Initially, the budget was a relatively modest US$70m (£55m). Although the final …

X users will need protection after the ‘block’ feature is removed – here’s why businesses are better than people at moderating negative comments

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In a recent post, the owner of X, (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, announced his plans for the social media platform to remove its blocking feature, except for in direct messages. Users are concerned that this change in the platform’s content moderation will lead to a rise in hostile and abusive content, leaving those on the platform unable to protect themselves from its consequences. It is not only social media users who rely on X’s blocking feature to control the content they see and interact with. Companies and brands with official social media accounts also depend on built-in moderation features. This ensures their fans and followers engage in positive and civil interactions. Businesses need to be able to encourage constructive discussions on their social media accounts. This helps them build relationships with customers, increase word-of-mouth referrals and improve sales. Hostile online content directed at a company is not helpful to these business goals. With the “block” feature significantly limited, companies and individual users seeking to control the spread of hostile online content will be forced to …