'Strange overlaps': Journalist notes far-right leaders 'veer into the occult'

Brad Reed
January 7, 2025 
RAW STORY

(Shutterstock.com)

Journalist Anne Applebaum has noticed an odd international political alliance forming between far-right nationalists and traditionally left-wing wellness warriors who share a mutual loathing of the principles of the Enlightenment.

Writing in The Atlantic, Applebaum uses the recent example of Călin Georgescu, the Romanian presidential candidate who seems to have gamed TikTok algorithms to nearly make himself the president.

While Georgescu's embrace of mystical faith in his immune system over western medicine appears to be something out of New Age natural wellness videos, he also mixes it in with a conspiratorial nationalism and pro-Kremlin talking points that have become a staple of American right-wing influencers over the last decade.

Taken together, she believes some on the far left and far right have merged to create a unified coalition best embodied by President-elect Donald Trump's embrace of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"Among their number are health quacks and influencers who have developed political ambitions; fans of the quasi-religious QAnon movement and its Pizzagate-esque spin-offs; and members of various political parties, all over Europe, that are pro-Russia and anti-vaccine and, in some cases, promoters of mystical nationalism as well," she writes. 

"Strange overlaps are everywhere. Both the left-wing German politician Sahra Wagenknecht and the right-wing Alternative for Germany party promote vaccine and climate-change skepticism, blood-and-soil nationalism, and withdrawal of German support for Ukraine. All across Central Europe, a fascination with runes and folk magic aligns with both right-wing xenophobia and left-wing paganism."

Applebaum notes that this newfound belief in mysticism has also coincided with voters who dismiss or even embrace criminality among their leaders, most infamously when Americans voted to elect Trump again even after dozens of felony convictions.

"In a world where conspiracy theories and nonsense cures are widely accepted, the evidence-based concepts of guilt and criminality vanish quickly too," she writes.

Read the full analysis here.

NOT SO STRANGE:

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ORDER NINE ANGLES

Right-wing think tank plans to target Wikipedia editors via malicious links: report

Daniel Hampton
January 7, 2025

RAW STORY



Wikipedia. (Photo credit: Robert Way / Shutterstock)

A right-wing think tank that helped draft Project 2025 plans to target volunteer editors on Wikipedia with malicious tracking links who it alleges are "abusing their position" by publishing antisemitic content, according to a report Tuesday in the Forward.

Documents obtained by the outlet say employees of the Heritage Foundation plan to use facial recognition software and a database of hacked usernames and passwords to find the editors, who mainly use pseudonyms.

The report comes after Wikipedia editors voted in June to label the Anti-Defamation League as a “generally unreliable” source of information on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Wikipedia vote meant the ADL should usually not be cited in articles on that topic. Other unreliable sources, according to Wikipedia editors, include Russian state media, Fox News’ political coverage and Amazon reviews, according to CNN.

It also comes as tech billionaire and "first buddy" Elon Musk publicly asked people to stop donating to the site, which he called, "Wokepedia."

The Heritage Foundation reportedly sent a blueprint for its plans to Jewish foundations and other potential supporters.

"The slideshow says the group’s 'targeting methodologies' would include creating fake Wikipedia user accounts to try to trick editors into identifying themselves by sharing personal information or clicking on malicious tracking links that can identify people who click on them. It is unclear whether this has begun," according to the Forward.

This isn't the first time the think tank has been associated with dubious practices.

Heritage's Project 2025 transition plan would strip job protections for tens of thousands of career civil servants, potentially allowing them to be fired.

Staffers of the organization also flooded federal agencies with thousands of public records requests, seeking information on government employees' communications about topics like climate change, voting, and gender identity.

GOOD RIDDANCE

French far-right figurehead Jean-Marie Le Pen dies at 96


By AFP
January 7, 2025


Jean-Marie Le Pen brought the French far right to prominence - Copyright AFP Pierre VERDY

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historic leader of France’s far right, died on Tuesday aged 96, his family told AFP.

Le Pen, who had been in a care home for several weeks, died at midday (1100 GMT) Tuesday “surrounded by his loved ones”, the family said in a statement.

Le Pen, the co-founder of the National Front, sent shockwaves through France in 2002 when he made it to the second round of the presidential election on a staunch anti-immigration platform.

He was often accused of racism and anti-Semitism, and infamously dismissed the Holocaust as a detail of history.

His daughter Marine Le Pen took the party’s leadership in 2011 and booted him out four years later, seeking to distance her movement from his extremist reputation.

The party, since renamed National Rally (RN), has made significant inroads.

It showed strong gains in last year’s European Parliament elections, and became the largest single party in a subsequent general election in France.

Jordan Bardella, RN party chief and the right-hand man of Marine Le Pen, said in a carefully-worded tribute that Jean-Marie Le Pen had “always served France”.

“As a soldier in the French army in Indochina and Algeria, as a tribune of the people in the National Assembly and the European Parliament, he always served France and defended its identity and sovereignty,” the 29-year-old said on X.

“Today I am thinking with sadness of his family, his loved ones, and of course of Marine, whose mourning must be respected.”

Key dates in the rise of the French far right

Agence France-Presse
January 7, 2025 

Marine Le Pen (L) and Jean-Marie Le Pen (AFP)

Here is a short history of the French far-right National Front, whose historic leader and co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen died on Tuesday aged 96.

The party was later renamed the National Rally (RN) under the leadership of his daughter Marine Le Pen.

- 1972: birth of the National Front -


Jean-Marie Le Pen, a former paratrooper who served in Indochina and Algeria, becomes France's youngest MP ever when he is elected to parliament in 1956.

In 1972, he and other far-right figures found the National Front (FN) to capitalize on nostalgia for France's colonial past and its collaborationist World War II leader Philippe Petain.

In 1974, Le Pen makes the first of six bids for president, winning just 0.74 percent of the vote.

- 1983-1995: first victories -

In the 1980s, the FN chalks up several firsts, despite Le Pen describing the Nazi gas chambers as a "detail" of history, earning him one of several convictions for anti-Semitism.

In 1984, Le Pen is elected to the European Parliament and two years later makes a thunderous entry to the National Assembly, winning 35 seats. In 1995 the party wins control of three towns in its southeastern heartland.

- 2002: presidential 'earthquake' -Le Pen sends tremors through the French establishment in the 2002 presidential election, when he secures the coveted second spot in a run-off with Jacques Chirac.

Voters from across the spectrum band together behind the centre-right Chirac but Le Pen still pockets over four million votes in the second round.
- 2011: Rise of Marine Le Pen -


In 2011, Le Pen hands the reins of the party to his youngest daughter, Marine, who embarks on a mission to detoxify the FN brand and rid it of its overtly racist image.

This culminates in her sensational expulsion of her father from the party for anti-Semitism.

In 2012, she finishes third in the presidential election. But two years later the FN causes a shock by coming first in France's vote for European Parliament seats.


Marine Le Pen goes on to make it to the second round of the 2017 presidential election against centrist upstart Emmanuel Macron. She is ultimately punished by voters for threatening to take France out of the eurozone, finishing on 34 percent to Macron's 66 percent.

A year later, as part of her continued effort to modernise the party's image, Le Pen changes its name to the National Rally.
- 2022: Biggest right-wing party -


Marine Le Pen qualifies for the second round of the 2022 presidential election in a rematch with Macron but loses again in the run-off, this time with an improved 41.5 percent of the vote.

In parliamentary elections a month later, the RN scoops 89 seats -- a record for the party, up from just eight five years previously.

The RN becomes the second-biggest opposition party in parliament and the biggest on the right, further normalising its presence in the political landscape.

- 2022: Bardella mania -A fresh-faced former party spokesman, Jordan Bardella, is elected leader of the RN in November 2022 at the age of 27, the first time the party has been led by someone outside of the Le Pen dynasty.

Bardella, who grew up in a high-rise housing estate near Paris, leads the party to its first close-run win over Macron's party in the 2019 European elections, taking 23.34 percent of the vote.
- 2024: Eyeing power -

Five years later, Bardella chalks up another win for the RN in the elections for the European Parliament, trouncing Macron's alliance with 31.36 percent of the vote.


The results prompt Macron to call early legislative elections in a bid to catch his opponents off-guard and try to regain control of parliament -- but the gamble appears to backfire.

The RN leads the first round of the high-stakes election on June 30 with 29 percent of the vote.

Bardella hails a "clear verdict" from the French people but in the second round no political group wields an outright majority.

EU rules don’t prohibit Musk’s German far-right chat on X


By AFP
January 6, 2025


Elon Musk -- who owns X -- has provoked ire with his attacks on European leaders - Copyright AFP Joe Klamar

Elon Musk’s controversial plan for a live chat with a German extreme-right leader on X this week is allowed under European Union laws but will be scrutinised for potential violations of electoral interference rules, Brussels said on Monday.

The world’s wealthiest man — who owns the X social media platform — has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Musk has offered strong support to the extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of snap elections in the country on February 23, and will host a discussion on X with the party’s leader Alice Weidel on Thursday.

His X platform is already under investigation under the European Union’s landmark content law — known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) — regarding how it tackles the spread of illegal content and information manipulation.

The EU’s digital spokesperson said a live discussion on X was not a violation of EU rules and insisted the DSA did not “censor any type of content”.

“Nothing in the DSA prohibits the owner of a platform or anyone to host a live stream and express his personal views,” spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels.

“Mr Musk is allowed to express his personal views, his political opinions in the EU online and offline,” he added.

But Regnier noted that the ongoing probe of X “includes suspected breach in areas related to management of risks on civic discourse and electoral processes”.

He said the EU would “carefully” assess the live stream and could include it in its current investigation depending on whether any risks are identified.

Platform owners, he said, must ensure they are “not misused or giving a preferential treatment to certain types of content, or an increased visibility to just one type of content”.

Under the DSA, users have the right to opt out of seeing certain content, which means X should allow users to avoid any mentions of the AfD chat if they wish. The EU wants to know whether X uses its algorithms to promote far-right messages.

On January 24, the EU’s executive arm — the European Commission — will hold a discussion with German authorities, civil society organisations and the world’s biggest digital platforms, including X, to discuss the risks online ahead of Germany’s election.

The EU launched its probe into X in December 2023.

In July 2024 it formally accused the platform of misleading users with its blue checkmarks for certified accounts, of insufficient advertising transparency and failing to give researchers access to the platform’s data

European leaders hit back in Elon Musk meddling row


AFP
January 6, 2025


Starmer slammed the 'poison of the far-right' - Copyright AFP Dave Chan

Peter HUTCHISON, Joe JACKSON

European leaders expressed growing frustration with tech billionaire Elon Musk on Monday, as a major row escalated between members of Britain’s government and US president-elect Donald Trump’s key ally.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer slammed those “spreading lies and misinformation” following days of incendiary posts by Musk on his X platform over historical sex offences against children in northern England.

Musk, who is set for a role in Trump’s administration, then accused the centre-left Labour leader of being “deeply complicit in the mass rapes” and “utterly despicable”.

European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron have also weighed in against Musk.

He said the SpaceX boss was “directly intervening in elections”, including in Germany where Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned the Tesla boss for backing an extreme-right party.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Monday he found it “worrying” that someone with so much wealth and influence was getting involved in the politics of European countries.

Much of Musk’s focus in recent days has been on Britain and historical scandals involving grooming gangs that first emerged during Starmer’s 2008-2013 tenure as the country’s top prosecutor.

The comments pose a major challenge for Starmer’s government, as it tries to fend off growing support for the far-right while also seeking to maintain good relations with Trump’s incoming administration.

Musk’s tirade, which included demands for a new public inquiry into the scandal, has prompted some UK opposition politicians to join in the criticism and call for a fresh national probe.



– ‘Lies’ –



The issue has long been seized upon by far-right figures including the imprisoned Tommy Robinson, one of Britain’s best known far-right agitators, whom Musk has praised and said should be released from jail.

Responding to media questions on the topic, Starmer insisted he was “not going to individualise this to Elon Musk” but said “a line has been crossed” with some of the online criticism.

“Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible, they’re not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves,” Starmer told reporters, without naming Musk.

“I’m prepared to call out this for what it is. We’ve seen this playbook many times: the whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence, hoping that the media will amplify it.”

The grooming scandal involved the widespread abuse of girls in northern English towns, including Rochdale, Rotherham and Oldham.

A series of court cases eventually led to the conviction of dozens of men, mostly of South Asian origin. The victims were vulnerable, mostly white, girls.

Subsequent official reports into how police and social workers failed to halt the abuse in some cases found that officials turned a blind eye to avoid appearing racist.

None of the probes singled out Starmer for blame or found that he had tried to block prosecutions.



– ‘Erratic’ –



The issue reignited this month after it was reported that UK minister Jess Phillips had rejected Oldham council’s request for a government-led inquiry in favour of a locally led investigation.

Musk has called Phillips a “rape genocide apologist” and said she “deserves to be in prison”.

Starmer has rejected calls by the main opposition Conservative party and the hard-right Reform UK party for a new public inquiry, saying an earlier independent probe had been “comprehensive”.

Starmer said he had dealt with the problem “head-on” as a prosecutor and oversaw “the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record”.

But Musk claimed Monday that Starmer and former prime minister Gordon Brown were among those complicit in the sex crimes, adding in one post that Brown “sold those little girls for votes”.

“Prison for Starmer,” he said in another.

Scholz on Saturday condemned Musk for “erratic” comments after the billionaire labelled the German leader an “incompetent fool” and came out in support of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of snap elections on February 23.

Musk surprised many people in Britain on Sunday when he appeared to U-turn on his support for Brexit cheerleader Nigel Farage, saying his anti-immigration Reform party “needs a new leader”.

Charlie Hebdo unveils special edition 10 years since attack


By AFP
January 6, 2025


Members of Charlie Hebdo pose during a photo session in Paris in March 2024 - Copyright AFP Anthony WALLACE

Adam PLOWRIGHT and Karine PERRET

French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo unveiled a special edition Monday to mark 10 years since an attack on its offices by Islamist gunmen that decimated its staff.

The front-page features a cartoon celebrating the atheist paper’s existence with the caption “Indestructible!”, while four inside pages show the results of a caricature contest to mock God and religious leaders.

“Satire has a virtue that has enabled us to get through these tragic years: optimism,” said an editorial from director Riss, who survived the January 7, 2015, massacre that left 12 people, including eight editorial staff, dead.

“If you want to laugh, it means you want to live. Laughing, irony, and caricatures are manifestations of optimism. Whatever happens, dramatic or happy, the desire to laugh will never cease.”

The 2015 attack by two Paris-born brothers of Algerian descent was said to be revenge for Charlie Hebdo’s decision to publish caricatures lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, Islam’s most revered figure.

The massacre of some of France’s most famous cartoonists signalled the start of a gruesome series of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State plots that claimed hundreds of lives in France and western Europe over the following years.

The edition unveiled to the media on Monday will go on sale on Tuesday when public commemorations by President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo are set to take place.

The weekly had called on cartoonists to submit their “funniest and meanest” depictions of God in a typically provocative and defiant contest for the special anniversary edition.

“Yes, we can laugh about God, especially if he exists,” said a headline over what the paper said were the best 40 out of more than 350 entries.

Along with some typically crude and sexually explicit images, one of them makes reference to the Prophet Mohammed with the caption “if I sketch someone who is drawing someone who is drawing someone who is drawing Mohammed, is that ok?”

It shows a cartoonist drawing a picture of another cartoonist who is working on a picture of cartoonist drawing a bearded figure who looks like Mohammed.

Another cartoon appears to show the leaders of the three Abrahamic religions — Christianity, Judaism and Islam — as a three-headed dog.



– Survey results –



This week’s edition also reproduces a small version of one of its most famous and controversial front covers from 2005, showing a Mohammed figure under the caption “Mohammed overwhelmed by fundamentalists.”

Mohammed can be seen covering his eyes and saying “it’s hard being loved by idiots”.

It was drawn by Cabu, one of France’s most famous cartoonists, who was shot at point-blank range 10 years ago when the masked gunmen burst into the paper’s heavily protected offices with AK-47 assault rifles.

The cartoon is used alongside a survey of attitudes in France towards press freedom, caricatures and blasphemy, carried out by the Ifop survey group in association with Charlie Hebdo.

It found that 76 percent of respondents believed freedom of expression and the freedom to caricature were fundamental rights, while 62 percent thought people had the right to mock religious beliefs.

The Charlie Hebdo killings fuelled an outpouring of sympathy expressed in a wave of “Je Suis Charlie” (“I Am Charlie”) solidarity with its lost cartoonists Cabu, Charb, Honore, Tignous and Wolinski among others.

But it also led to questioning and in some a furious backlash in some Muslim-majority countries against Charlie’s deliberately offensive, often crude humour which is part of a long-standing French tradition of caricaturing.

Since its founding in 1970, it has regularly tested the boundaries of French hate-speech laws, which offer protection to minorities but allow for blasphemy and the mockery of religion.

Free-speech defenders in France see the ability to ridicule religion as a fundamental right acquired through centuries of struggle to escape the influence of the Catholic Church.

Critics say the weekly sometimes crosses the line into Islamophobia, pointing to some of the Prophet Mohammed caricatures published in the past that appeared to associate Islam with terrorism.

“The idea is not to publish anything, it’s to publish everything that makes people doubt, brings them to reflect, to ask questions, to not end up closed in by ideology,” director Riss, who survived the 2015 attack, told Le Monde in November.

A front-page depiction of the Virgin Mary in August suffering from the mpox virus led to two legal complaints from Catholic organisations in France.

Algerians campaign to save treasured songbird from hunters

By AFP
January 5, 2025


Keeping goldfinches is common in Algeria, but conservationists are calling for the species to be safeguarded from illegal hunting and trading - 

Copyright AFP -

Abdelhafid Daamache

With its vivid plumage and sweet trill, the goldfinch has long been revered in Algeria, but the national obsession has also driven illegal hunting, prompting calls to protect the songbird.

Amid a persistent demand for the bird that many choose to keep in their homes, conservation groups in the North African country are now calling for the species to be safeguarded from illegal hunting and trading.

“The moment these wild birds are caged, they often suffer from serious health problems, such as intestinal swelling, due to abrupt changes in their diet and environment,” said Zinelabidine Chibout, a volunteer with the Wild Songbird Protection Association in Setif, about 290 kilometres (180 miles) east of the capital, Algiers.

Goldfinches are native to Western Europe and North Africa, and raising them is a cherished hobby in Algeria, where they are known locally as “maknin”.

The bird is considered a symbol of freedom, and was favoured by poets and artists around the time of Algeria’s war for independence in the 1950s and 60s. The country even dedicates an annual day in March to the goldfinch.

Laws enacted in 2012 classified the bird as a protected species and made its capture and sale illegal.

But the practices remain common, as protections are lacking and the bird is frequently sold in pet shops and markets.

A 2021 study by Guelma University estimated that at least six million goldfinches are kept in captivity by enthusiasts and traders.

Researchers visiting markets documented the sale of hundreds of goldfinches in a single day.

At one market in Annaba, in eastern Algeria, they counted around 300 birds offered for sale.

– Education campaigns –

Chibout’s association has been working to reverse the trend by purchasing injured and neglected goldfinches and treating them.

“We treat them in large cages, and once they recover and can fly again, we release them back into the wild,” he said.

Others have also called on enthusiasts to breed the species in order to offset demand.

Madjid Ben Daoud, a goldfinch aficionado and member of an environmental association in Algiers, said the approach could safeguard the bird’s wild population and reduce demand for it on the market.

“Our goal is to encourage the breeding of goldfinches already in captivity, so people no longer feel the need to capture them from the wild,” he said.

Souhila Larkam, who raises goldfinches at home, said people should only keep a goldfinch “if they ensure its reproduction”.

The Wild Songbird Protection Association also targets the next generation with education campaigns.

Abderrahmane Abed, vice president of the association, recently led a group of children on a trip to the forest to teach them about the bird’s role in the ecosystem.

“We want to instill in them the idea that these are wild birds that deserve our respect,” he said. “They shouldn’t be hunted or harmed.”

South Korea rival parties form plane crash task force


By AFP
January 7, 2025


Rescue personnel work near the wreckage of a Jeju Air plane after it crashed at South Korea's Muan International Airport, killing 179 people on board

 - Copyright AFP JUNG YEON-JE

South Korea’s rival parties agreed Tuesday to form a joint task force to probe the recent Jeju Air plane crash that left 179 people dead, as the transport minister offered to resign over the tragedy.

The Boeing 737-800 plane was flying from Thailand to Muan, South Korea, on December 29 carrying 181 passengers and crew when it belly-landed at a South Korean airport and slammed into a concrete barrier in a fireball.

With the exact cause of the crash still unknown, Tuesday’s unity move for a joint parliamentary task force came as transport minister Park Sang-woo offered to resign at a future date.

It also came after weeks of political turmoil, kicked off when President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law last month.

“Our People Power Party and the Democratic Party… decided to establish a special committee,” the ruling PPP said in a statement sent to AFP.

It would “discuss the investigation into the causes” and provide support to grieving families of the dead, it said.

The opposition Democratic Party also confirmed to AFP it had “agreed” to form a joint probe team with the PPP to look into the accident.

The 15-member team consists of seven from the ruling party and seven from the opposition, as well as one from neither, according to the PPP.

Minister Park told reporters Tuesday he would “act appropriately” over the disaster and was “discussing the proper methods and timing”.

“As the minister responsible for aviation safety, I feel a heavy sense of responsibility regarding this tragedy,” he said.

The land, infrastructure and transport ministry spokesperson told AFP his comments were “the minister’s offer of resignation”.

– Feathers in engine –

South Korean and US investigators are still probing the cause of the crash of Jeju Air flight 2216, which prompted a national outpouring of mourning with memorials set up across the country.

Investigators have pointed to a bird strike, faulty landing gear and the runway barrier as possible issues.

The pilot warned of a bird strike before pulling out of a first landing, and then crashing on a second attempt when the landing gear did not emerge.

On Tuesday lead investigator Lee Seung-yeol told reporters that “feathers were found” in one of the plane’s recovered engines, but cautioned a bird strike does not lead to an immediate engine failure.

“We need to investigate whether it affected both engines. It is certain that one engine has definitely experienced a bird strike,” he said.

Authorities have raided offices at Muan airport where the crash took place, a regional aviation office in the southwestern city, and Jeju Air’s office in the capital Seoul.

It has also barred Jeju Air’s chief executive from leaving the country.

Jeju Air said Tuesday it plans to cut 188 international flights departing from Busan in the first quarter of the year to improve operational safety.

The announcement comes after it previously announced its plan to cut flight operations by 10 to 15 percent by March for safety reasons.

Georgians hold anti-government protest on Orthodox Christmas


By AFP
January 7, 2025


Georgians celebrated Orthodox Christmas Eve mass in central Tbilisi

 - Copyright AFP JUNG YEON-JE

Thousands of Georgians marched through the streets of Tbilisi late on Monday on Orthodox Christmas Eve, gathering in front of parliament for a 40th day of anti-government demonstrations.

Mass protests have shaken the Caucasus country since November 28, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the government would not pursue the launch of European Union membership talks until 2028.

On Monday evening, protesters, some carrying Georgian and EU flags, came together to celebrate Orthodox Christmas at a church opposite the parliament building in the centre of Tbilisi.

Most Georgians are Orthodox Christians and the Church celebrates Christmas Day on January 7 according to the old Julian calendar.

Protesters chanted “Georgia!” and repeated demands for the release of detained demonstrators and for a fresh general election.

The governing Georgian Dream party won an October vote that the opposition has denounced as rigged.

“For Christmas, I pray that all political prisoners held by the government for expressing their opinions will soon be released,” said 56-year-old protester, Irina Sartania.

Marchers set off from five different Orthodox churches in Tbilisi and converged at the central church, where they were joined by more demonstrators.

Pro-European former president Salome Zurabishvili, who repeatedly clashed with Georgian Dream during her tenure, joined them.

“We must guide this country back to its proper direction. We cannot fail to win,” Zurabishvili told AFP.

She was elected head of state by popular vote in 2018.

Her term ended on December 29, when Georgian Dream loyalist Mikheil Kavelashvili, a right-wing ex-footballer, was inaugurated as the next figurehead president following a controversial selection process.

Although Zurabishvili has departed the presidential palace, she insists she is the country’s “only legitimate leader” amid the political crisis.

The Georgia Dream government faces accusations of an authoritarian, pro-Russian shift that has undermined Georgia’s EU bid, a goal enshrined in the constitution and supported by 80 percent of the population.

ONLINE FEMICIDE

‘Form of violence’: Across globe, deepfake porn targets women politicians


By AFP
January 5, 2025


Non-consensual deepfake porn targets women politicians around the world -

 Copyright AFP Stefani REYNOLDS

Anuj CHOPRA with Masroor GILANI in Islamabad and Rachel BLUNDY in London

From the United States to Italy, Britain, and Pakistan, female politicians are increasingly becoming victims of AI-generated deepfake pornography or sexualized images, in a troubling trend that researchers say threatens women’s participation in public life.

An online boom in non-consensual deepfakes is outpacing efforts to regulate the technology globally, experts say, with a proliferation of cheap artificial intelligence tools including photo apps digitally undressing women.

The intimate imagery is often weaponized to tarnish the reputation of women in the public sphere, jeopardizing their careers, undermining public trust, and threatening national security by creating conditions for blackmail or harassment, researchers say.

In the United States, the American Sunlight Project, a disinformation research group, identified more than 35,000 instances of deepfake content depicting 26 members of Congress — 25 of them women — across pornographic sites.

A study published by the group last month showed that nearly one in six women in Congress have been victims of such AI-generated imagery.

“Female lawmakers are being targeted by AI-generated deepfake pornography at an alarming rate,” said Nina Jankowicz, chief executive of the ASP. “This isn’t just a tech problem — it’s a direct assault on women in leadership and democracy itself.”

ASP did not release the names of the female lawmakers depicted in the imagery to avoid public searches, but it said it privately notified their offices.

– ‘Wage this war’ –

In the United Kingdom, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was among more than 30 British female politicians found to be targeted by a deepfake porn website, according to a Channel 4 investigation published last year.

The high-traction site, which was unnamed, appeared to use AI technology to “nudify” about a dozen of those politicians, turning their photos into naked images without their consent, it said.

The tech advancements have given rise to what researchers call an expanding cottage industry around AI-enhanced porn, where users can turn to widely available AI tools and apps to digitally strip off clothing from pictures or generate deepfakes using sexualized text-to-image prompts.

In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is seeking 100,000 euros ($102,950) in damages from two men accused of creating deepfake porn videos featuring her and posting them to American porn websites.

“This is a form of violence against women,” Meloni told a court last year, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

“With the advent of artificial intelligence, if we allow the face of some woman to be superimposed on the body of another woman, our daughters will find themselves in these situations, which is exactly why I consider it legitimate to wage this war.”

– ‘Silencing effect’ –

In Pakistan, AFP’s fact-checkers debunked a deepfake video that showed lawmaker Meena Majeed publicly hugging an unrelated male minister, an act culturally deemed immoral in a conservative Muslim-majority nation.

In a separate episode, Azma Bukhari, the information minister of the Pakistani province of Punjab, said she felt “shattered” after discovering a deepfake video online that superimposed her face on the sexualized body of an Indian actor.

“The chilling effect of AI-generated images and videos used to harass women in politics is a growing phenomenon,” the nonprofit Tech Policy Press said last year, warning that the trend will have a “silencing effect on the political ambitions” of women.

The proliferation of deepfakes has outstripped regulation around the world.

Pakistan lacks legislation to combat sexualized deepfakes. UK laws criminalize sharing deepfake porn and the government has pledged to ban its creation this year, but so far no firm timetable has been laid out.

A handful of US states including California and Florida have passed laws making sexually explicit deepfakes a punishable offense and campaigners are calling on Congress to urgently pass a host of bills to regulate their creation and dissemination.

While high-profile politicians and celebrities, including singer Taylor Swift, have been victims of deepfake porn, experts say women not in the public eye are equally vulnerable.

After ASP notified the targeted US Congresswomen, the fake AI-generated imagery was almost entirely scraped from the websites, reflecting what it called a “disparity of privilege.”

“Women who lack the resources afforded to members of Congress would be unlikely to achieve such a rapid response from deepfake pornography sites if they initiated a takedown request themselves,” ASP said.

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Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape - Frauenkultur

... Against. Our Will. Men, Women and Rape. SUSAN BROWNMILLER. Fawcett Columbine • New York. Page 5. Sale of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If ...

Taiwan says Chinese-owned ship suspected of damaging sea cable goes dark


By AFP
January 7, 2025


Taiwan's coast guard said the Cameroon-flagged, Chinese-owned Shunxing39 cargo ship was suspected of damaging a subsea telecoms cable - 

Copyright AFP JUNG YEON-JE

Joy Chiang and Amber Wang with Holmes Chan in Hong Kong

A Chinese-owned cargo ship suspected of damaging a subsea telecoms cable off Taiwan has stopped transmitting its location on the high seas, Taiwan’s coast guard said Tuesday.

The Cameroon-flagged vessel was supposed to sail to South Korea after it was briefly detained by Taiwan’s coast guard on Friday on suspicion of dragging its anchor over an international subsea cable northeast of the island.

Taiwan has asked South Korean authorities for assistance in the investigation into the ship after rough seas prevented them boarding the vessel near northern Taiwan, the coast guard said.

A senior coast guard official told AFP that Shunxing39’s automatic identification system signal, which is used to broadcast a vessel’s location, was now turned off.

“It is illegal, but it has left our jurisdiction,” the official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The captain of the Shunxing39 told the coast guard that the ship had been “dragging anchor”, but Taiwanese authorities had no “clear evidence” to prove the vessel had damaged the cable, the official said.

“Without boarding, we cannot confirm it, we only have photos and videos,” the official said.

Seven Chinese nationals were crewing the vessel, which the coast guard official confirmed was owned by Jie Yang Trading Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong.

The company’s only listed director is Guo Wenjie, with an address in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, the Hong Kong Companies Registry shows.

Jie Yang listed a Hong Kong secretary company, which provides corporate services, as its contact address and phone number.

That company told AFP on Tuesday it had no client matching the name of Jie Yang Trading Limited.



– Targets for attack –



The Cameroon-flagged vessel was intercepted by the coast guard on Friday after Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom reported damage to a subsea cable that is part of the Trans-Pacific Express Cable System.

The vessel, which the coast guard said also sailed under the Tanzanian flag, was expected to travel to South Korea’s Busan port.

Chunghwa’s telecoms service quickly returned to normal on Friday after the company re-routed communication traffic to other cables.

Chunghwa said Tuesday that it hoped to repair the damaged cable by the end of January.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

In recent years, Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taipei, which fears China could attempt to sever communication links to the island.

Taipei-based military expert Su Tzu-yun said the latest incident was part of “Beijing’s systematic action against Taiwan” and was designed to create unease among Taiwanese people.

“If Taiwan’s undersea cables are completely cut off, its connections to the world are cut off,” said Su of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

Su said subsea cables around Taiwan’s outlying Matsu archipelago had been cut 27 times in recent years.

In February 2023, two undersea telecoms lines serving Matsu were severed, disrupting communications for weeks.

Taipei’s Communications Commission and locals said at the time that Chinese fishing vessels or sand dredgers may have done the damage.

The world’s data and communications are carried across oceans by great bundles of subsea fibre optic cables — with their high strategic value making them potential targets for attack.

Taiwan has been exploring satellite-communication options to back-up subsea cables and a microwave system to ensure internet keeps running.