R.NF

Video description:

"44,794 views May 7, 2025
VALVE cancelled the Counter-Strike fan mod Classic Offensive. After eight years of development and after being approved by Steam Greenlight in 2017, VALVE has ordered the developers of Classic Offensive to halt development and not release the mod.
The full story on: https://classic-offensive.net/
#counterstrike #cs2 #csgo

[...]

Björn Alexander Düben, an expert in Russia-China relations at China's Jilin University, thinks Xi's visit has a "highly symbolic element," noting that, apart from Brazil's President Lula da Silva, Xi was the only major world leader to attend the parade.

Düben noted a "personal rapport" between the two leaders and described how Xi "devotes more time to his interaction with Putin than practically any other international leader."

Russia needs China more than ever

As Western sanctions choke Russia's economy over the Ukraine war, Moscow increasingly counts on Beijing as a lifeline for energy and raw material exports.

China has risen to become Russia's top economic partner, with bilateral trade soaring to $244 billion (€216 billion) last year. In February 2022, the two countries signed a "no limits" economic, military, and diplomatic partnership to counter Western influence.

Since the war's onset, Russia's exports to China have skyrocketed by 63% to $129.3 billion, while Chinese imports have helped bolster Moscow's wartime economy, binding the two nations closer than ever.

[...]

Russia is now China's top source of crude oil imports, supplying around a fifth of imports.

The two powers have also tightened military bonds, ramping up joint war games and sharing cutting-edge defense technologies.

While Russia’s economy has proven more resilient to Western sanctions than most experts had expected, without China's economic support, Moscow would be in a "deep mess," Düben [said].

[...]

China's support props up war effort

As well as the expanded energy trade, Düben said China has given Russia access to manufactured goods and technologies that it cannot produce and that Western states no longer export to Russia.

The Yilin University associate professor said that without China's dual-use goods (civilian and military), "Russia’s armed forces would probably not be able to continue their military campaign against Ukraine."

[...]

I need to install an OS for someone whose first impulse upon seeing a screen is to touch it, because they are young and their first assumption is a touchscreen.

They know their way around Windows and Windows is probably tought to them at school, so Windows might actually be the smart move… but I fucking hate it.

Is ZorinOS or similar polished enough that I can leave it to someone whose tech literacy is centered around Roblox, TikTok and evading parental locks? I don't want to normalize the Windows-bullshit. But I don't want their first Linux-experience to be frustrating.

I feel a little bit dumb right now, because I bought almost 200 liters of LECA this year for my balcony, just to find out that half of that may have worked out just as well...

The video covers growing root vegetables (potatoes, ginger, etc.) in particular, because they seem to not grow that well in substrate-less techniques like the suspended pot method.
Substrate is expensive, and you can cut a lot of it out by just using a cache pot or whatever inside the actual pot, and they don't seem to mind at all about that!

Three Danish political parties have called for a government probe into China’s repression campaign against dissidents living in the Nordic country following the China Targets investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Danish newspaper Politiken and 41 other media outlets.

Lawmakers from the Unity List, the Danish People’s Party and The Alternative said they want to know how widespread Beijing’s targeting of political dissidents and members of oppressed minorities is and what authorities intend to do about it, Politiken reported.

Morten Messerschmidt, the leader of the right-wing Danish People’s Party, told Politiken that China Targets had unmasked the true face of the Chinese regime and said that, for too long, European politicians have turned a blind eye to its transnational repression.

“China successfully keeps its own population in a totalitarian iron grip, and they have a fundamental ambition to do the same with the rest of the world,” Messerschmidt said.

He described China as a “bully” state that Western countries had emboldened economically and militarily “through an extreme degree of naivety.”

China Targets uncovered the pressure tactics the Chinese government uses to silence and intimidate its critics abroad, including through proxies and professional hackers.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/34193572

Three Danish political parties have called for a government probe into China’s repression campaign against dissidents living in the Nordic country following the China Targets investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Danish newspaper Politiken and 41 other media outlets.

Lawmakers from the Unity List, the Danish People’s Party and The Alternative said they want to know how widespread Beijing’s targeting of political dissidents and members of oppressed minorities is and what authorities intend to do about it, Politiken reported.

Morten Messerschmidt, the leader of the right-wing Danish People’s Party, told Politiken that China Targets had unmasked the true face of the Chinese regime and said that, for too long, European politicians have turned a blind eye to its transnational repression.

“China successfully keeps its own population in a totalitarian iron grip, and they have a fundamental ambition to do the same with the rest of the world,” Messerschmidt said.

He described China as a “bully” state that Western countries had emboldened economically and militarily “through an extreme degree of naivety.”

China Targets uncovered the pressure tactics the Chinese government uses to silence and intimidate its critics abroad, including through proxies and professional hackers.

[...]

Going to the doctor can involve sharing your most personal information, including details about your health, medical history and prescriptions. 

It all ends up in your medical record — but a new study by researchers at Women's College Hospital in Toronto found that in some cases, private companies are accessing parts of that data and selling it to pharmaceutical companies.

Erneut haben sich einflussreiche Deutsche und russische Vertreter des offiziell eingestellten "Petersburger Dialogs" in Baku getroffen. Mit dabei: Ralf Stegner, SPD-Bundestagsabgeordneter aus dem Geheimdienst-Kontrollgremium.

[...]

"Fadejew ist ganz klar ein Hardliner", sagt Sabine Fischer, Russland-Expertin der Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. "Er ist eine Galionsfigur des imperialistischen Putin-Regimes." Sich mit ihm und Subkow konspirativ zu treffen, unterminiere die harte Sanktionspolitik gegenüber Russland.

"Man sendet das Signal, dass es auf der deutschen Seite trotz des völkerrechtswidrigen Angriffskriegs gegen die Ukraine weiterhin Akteure gibt, die das Verhältnis zu Russland normalisieren wollen." Den Russen gehe es mit solchen Treffen vor allem darum, Einflusskanäle auf die deutsche Politik zu öffnen.

[...]

Zum jüngsten Treffen begleitete SPD-Mann Stegner eine Riege einflussreicher Strippenzieher: Ronald Pofalla, ehemaliger Chef des Bundeskanzleramts, und Leiter des "Petersburger Dialogs"; Matthias Platzeck, ehemals brandenburgischer Ministerpräsident und SPD-Bundesvorsitzender sowie Vorstand des Petersburger Dialogs; Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner, CDU-Europaminister unter Armin Laschet in Nordrhein-Westfalen, sowie Martin Hoffmann, langjähriger Geschäftsführer des "Petersburger Dialogs"

[...]

Im Falle Ralf Stegners ist die Reise nach Baku noch aus einem besonderen Grund brisant: Stegner gehörte in der vergangenen Legislatur dem Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremium des Bundestages für die Geheimdienste (PKGr) an. Er ist Geheimnisträger und damit für Russland von besonderem Interesse.

[...]

Bislang hat Stegner alle Fragen nach seiner Baku-Reise abprallen lassen, dies mit Verweis auf den angeblich privaten Charakter der Reise. Im politischen Berlin ist zu vernehmen, Stegner strebe für die neue Legislatur den Vorsitz im Kontrollgremium für die Geheimdienste an.

[...]

European intelligence agencies say Moscow has launched a campaign of sabotage, arson and disinformation against the continent. Sometimes, it is focused on specific targets related to support for the Ukrainian war effort, but more often it is simply aimed at causing chaos and unease.

In Lithuania, an Ikea shop was set on fire; in Britain, seven people were charged over an arson attack on a business with links to Ukraine; in France, five coffins inscribed with the words “French soldiers in Ukraine” were left under the Eiffel Tower; in Estonia, the car windows of the interior minister and a local journalist were smashed. There have been numerous suspicious fires in Poland, including one that destroyed a huge shopping centre in Warsaw.

Taken together, the incidents point to how Russia’s intelligence services have moved towards a new kind of attack on the west, one that is dangerous and violent but also piecemeal and hard to prove.

On the ground, the acts are carried out by people who are recruited online and often paid in cryptocurrency. Some know exactly what they are doing and why, others do not realise they are ultimately working for Moscow. The professional intelligence officers who direct the operations never need to leave Russian territory.

[...]

A military parade has begun on Red Square in Moscow, marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/russia-moscow-red-square-luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva-vladimir-putin-b2747784.html

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/34193215

[...]

Björn Alexander Düben, an expert in Russia-China relations at China's Jilin University, thinks Xi's visit has a "highly symbolic element," noting that, apart from Brazil's President Lula da Silva, Xi was the only major world leader to attend the parade.

Düben noted a "personal rapport" between the two leaders and described how Xi "devotes more time to his interaction with Putin than practically any other international leader."

Russia needs China more than ever

As Western sanctions choke Russia's economy over the Ukraine war, Moscow increasingly counts on Beijing as a lifeline for energy and raw material exports.

China has risen to become Russia's top economic partner, with bilateral trade soaring to $244 billion (€216 billion) last year. In February 2022, the two countries signed a "no limits" economic, military, and diplomatic partnership to counter Western influence.

Since the war's onset, Russia's exports to China have skyrocketed by 63% to $129.3 billion, while Chinese imports have helped bolster Moscow's wartime economy, binding the two nations closer than ever.

[...]

Russia is now China's top source of crude oil imports, supplying around a fifth of imports.

The two powers have also tightened military bonds, ramping up joint war games and sharing cutting-edge defense technologies.

While Russia’s economy has proven more resilient to Western sanctions than most experts had expected, without China's economic support, Moscow would be in a "deep mess," Düben [said].

[...]

China's support props up war effort

As well as the expanded energy trade, Düben said China has given Russia access to manufactured goods and technologies that it cannot produce and that Western states no longer export to Russia.

The Yilin University associate professor said that without China's dual-use goods (civilian and military), "Russia’s armed forces would probably not be able to continue their military campaign against Ukraine."

[...]

Загальні бойові втрати противника з 24.02.22 по 09.05.25 (орієнтовно)

#NOMERCY #stoprussia

| Підписатися ГШ ЗСУ |

t.me/GeneralStaffZSU/24048

Fröhlichen Brückentag an die Berliner und einen letzten kurzen Arbeitstag vorn Wochenende für die Fleißigen!

Was habt ihr in der letzten Woche so an tollen Büchern gelesen, Filme geguckt, Spiele gezockt, Museen oder Veranstaltungen besucht, ... ?

Ich habe heute mal nichts zu berichten aber bin gespannt auf eure Funde.