Tata Technologies reports ransomware attack to Indian stock exchange

Jonathan Greig

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Indian multinational engineering company Tata Technologies recently dealt with a ransomware attack that prompted the shutdown of several IT systems.

In a statement to Recorded Future News, the company said it immediately launched an investigation after the cyberattack was discovered.

“There has been no disruption to our operations, and we continue to deliver services to our customers seamlessly,” a spokesperson said.

The company declined to provide details on what ransomware gang was responsible, which divisions were impacted or whether data was stolen. It also did not respond to questions about when the incident occurred.

The company filed documents on Friday with the National Stock Exchange of India explaining that the ransomware attack affected “a few … IT assets.”

“As a precautionary measure, some of the IT services were suspended temporarily and have now been restored. Our Client delivery services have remained fully functional and unaffected throughout,” the filing said.

China in Pakistan’s Power Sector: The Hidden Costs Behind Pakistan’s Energy Overcapacity

Nishant Yadav

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According to the Economic Survey (2023-24), Pakistan’s power production capacity stands at 42,131 MW – almost double its domestic electricity demand. Yet Pakistan remains the only South Asian country facing chronic power shortages, with load-shedding rampant even in major cities like Karachi. A Bloomberg report revealed that after electricity rates were sharply increased in May 2024 to secure an IMF bailout, powering a home in Pakistan can cost more than renting one.

The incongruity of ample energy supply amid persistent shortages and skyrocketing costs has reignited public criticism of Pakistan’s Independent Power Producers (IPPs), particularly Chinese IPPs under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). At the heart of the issue are the high “capacity payments” mandated by Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), which obligate the government to pay the IPPs regardless of electricity consumption or even production. The public has increasingly demanded renegotiation of these agreements, especially with CPEC power projects, to address inflated tariffs and reform Pakistan’s power sector.

Pakistan-based cybercrime network dismantled by US, Dutch authorities

Daryna Antoniuk

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U.S. and Dutch law enforcement agencies have seized dozens of domains linked to a Pakistan-based cybercrime network operated by a group known as Saim Raza.

The group, also tracked under the name HeartSender, has been using these websites since at least 2020 to sell hacking tools — including phishing kits, scam pages and email extractors — to thousands of customers worldwide, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

“A cybercriminal can use these tools to send large amounts of spam or phishing emails or to steal someone’s login credentials,” the Dutch police said, adding that Saim Raza’s marketplaces also sold access to compromised infrastructure, including email servers, WordPress accounts, and web hosting control panels such as cPanel.

“With stolen cPanel or WordPress accounts, criminals can take control of a website or server’s management system,” the police warned.

Saim Raza’s customers primarily used these tools to carry out business email compromise (BEC) schemes, deceiving companies into transferring funds to accounts controlled by hackers. The group’s operations in the U.S. alone resulted in more than $3 million in losses, authorities said.

“The criminal group behind HeartSender operated very professionally,” the Dutch police noted.

Inside the Pentagon’s War Games: Can the U.S. Military Defend Taiwan from China?

Kris Osborn

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Could the U.S. Stop a Surprise Chinese Attack on Taiwan?

A massive “bolt-out-of-the-blue” salvo of attacking ballistic missiles designed to overwhelm Taiwan…..a large-scale amphibious assault to surround and take-over the island…a rapid blockade of the South China Sea …..or perhaps even a surprise 5th-generation air attack on US warships in the Philippine Sea ….all seem to be realistic possibilities should the People’s Republic of China suddenly move to annex Taiwan or claim exclusive ownership of disputed island territories in the South China Sea.

Would a large-scale ballistic missile attack designed to take-out Taiwanese air defenses and cripple its weapons, air fields and defenses be a most likely start to a surprise attack? Any attack is almost certain to be accompanied or even preceded by a commensurate PRC effort to “jam” US and allied GPS and communications signals in the region … to effectively blind US, Taiwanese and allied defenses in position to respond in the region.

Senior members of Army Pacific tell Warrior that Commanding General Charles Flynn says the purpose of Army Pacific and its build-up is to “avoid war.” At the same time, part of the method of “avoiding war,” Flynn emphasizes, is to train, prepare, experiment and refine a “war plan.”

Is China’s DeepSeek Using Smuggled AI Chips From Singapore?

Sebastian Strangio

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The U.S. government is investigating whether the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek has been using U.S. chips that are barred from being shipped to China, including from third parties in Singapore.

In a report on Friday, Reuters quoted a source as saying that the U.S. Commerce Department is looking into whether the firm had obtained advanced Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU) chips that are subject to tight U.S. export controls.

Bloomberg also reported on Friday that officials in the White House and Federal Bureau of Investigation are “also trying to determine whether DeepSeek used intermediaries” based in Singapore to obtain the Nvidia GPUs.

Earlier this month, DeepSeek released its R1 AI model, which the Hangzhou-based company claims is able to achieve equivalent results to the leading U.S. models, though at much greater efficiency and just a fraction of the cost. Nearly overnight, DeepSeek had shot to the top of the list of most downloaded apps in Apple’s App Store. It also prompted profound questions about the resource- and data-intensive approach of the leading U.S. AI firms, including OpenAI. This precipitated a market collapse that wiped more than $1 trillion off U.S. technology stocks.

Trump's tariffs on China begin as Mexico and Canada negotiations continue

Asya Robins

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US President Donald Trump warned that he would impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico when he won the election back in November.

Over the weekend, he took the first steps in enacting that plan, announcing a levy of 25% on Canadian and Mexican imports, as well as an additional 10% tax on Chinese goods.

This sparked a global sell-off on financial markets on Monday before an agreement between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to halt levies on Mexican goods for one month brought some relief.

A few hours later, a last-minute call between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resulted in a similar 30-day delay to taxes on Canadian goods.

But a US levy of 10% on Chinese imports has started today, which resulted in Beijing announcing retaliatory tariffs on a raft of American products.

These won't come into effect until Monday and our China correspondent Laura Bicker says this gives the parties some time to stop a spiralling tit for tat trade war.

And the next few weeks will bring clarity on the future of the US-Mexico-Canada trilateral trade bloc.

What to Know About Trump’s Tariffs on China—and How Beijing Is Responding

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President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, Mexico, and China is ramping up over the production and importation of the opiate fentanyl, along with trade surpluses and illegal border crossings by migrants from across the globe.

Here is what Beijing says about it:

What has been China’s reaction so far?

China has reiterated its threat to take “necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests” following Trump’s decision to impose 10% tariffs on China for allegedly doing too little to stem the production of precursor chemicals for fentanyl.

The Foreign Ministry statement issued Sunday did not mention any specific retaliatory measures, but said “China calls on the United States to correct its wrongdoings, maintain the hard-won positive dynamics in the counternarcotics cooperation, and promote a steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relationship.”

China says the U.S. action violates World Trade Organization rules and has vowed to bring a case before the body that governs global commerce.

The Ministry of Public Security on Sunday made near identical charges and the Commerce Ministry also issued a closely worded statement.

The world at war: the flashpoints that the west ignores

Simon Tisdall

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The world is becoming a more dangerous place. It’s an often-heard sentiment these days, but is it really true? Historical comparisons are of limited help.

Last week’s 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered by the Nazis between 1940 and 1945, offered a grim reminder of how indescribably brutal life can be when war reigns unchecked. Could things get any worse?

The latest readings from the “Doomsday Clock”, which notionally measures proximity to global catastrophe, suggest they could. A panel of international scientists says the clock is now at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to the theoretical point of annihilation.

The reasons are familiar: the risk of nuclear war, climate change, pandemics, disinformation, new technologies. The point is, such threats are poorly managed – and are growing inexorably.

The Path to a Transformed Middle East

Dennis Ross and David Makovsky

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Donald Trump begins his presidency with ambitions of being a peacemaker. He laid out this vision in his inaugural address, declaring that his administration “will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars we end, and perhaps most importantly, by the wars we never get into.” Later that day, he basked in the success of the hostage cease-fire deal in Gaza, including by bringing the families of Israeli hostages to the inaugural parade. “We’re getting a lot of people out in a short period of time,” he proclaimed.

There is no doubt that Trump helped secure the cease-fire deal. But to be a peacemaker who transforms the Middle East, he has more work to do. The main issues he confronts are Gaza and Iran. In Gaza, Israel and Hamas have different views of what is required to achieve the second phase of the deal, which would save the remaining hostages and produce a permanent cease-fire. Iran, meanwhile, is accelerating its nuclear program—with its “foot on the gas pedal” according to Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Tehran thus continues to existentially threaten Israel. Both issues are likely to dominate upcoming talks between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Trump can—and may have to—address each problem separately. Both are serious in their own right, and Iran’s nuclear program is one of the biggest threats to global security. Should Iran go nuclear, Saudi Arabia will likely pursue a bomb, as well, adding even more danger to what is already one of the world’s most volatile regions. But the easiest way to handle Gaza and Iran might just be to address them together. Netanyahu is hesitant to move toward a permanent cease-fire, in part because he fears it will cause his government to collapse and trigger early elections. But for the prime minister, there is no issue more important than stopping Iran from going nuclear. It has been the central purpose of his long political career. In Knesset remarks years ago, for example, Netanyahu declared that halting the Iranian nuclear program was the reason he gets up in the morning. The more Trump can show he is prepared to work with Israel on Iran, the easier it will be for Netanyahu to make difficult decisions on Gaza.

Al Qaeda Rules Syria: US And NATO Whitewash Their Terrorist Proxies As The New Government – OpEd

Finian Cunningham

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The new rulers of Syria are presented by Western governments and media as “rebels” and “reformed militants” who are trying to bring law and order to the Arab country.

Author and human rights lawyer Dan Kovalik says the Western powers are whitewashing a terrorist regime that is imposing a reign of terror on the Syrian population.

The new rulers of Syria are presented by Western governments and media as “rebels” and “reformed militants” who are trying to bring law and order to the Arab country.

Author and human rights lawyer Dan Kovalik says the Western powers are whitewashing a terrorist regime that is imposing a reign of terror on the Syrian population.

Kovalik has just visited the country on a fact-finding mission.

He toured the capital, Damascus, as well as the outlying countryside. He witnessed firsthand minority groups living in fear of violent retribution from the now-dominant militant factions who profess an extremist version of Sharia Law.

Kovalik corroborates disturbing alternative reports filtering out of Syria of executions, lynchings and other atrocities meted out by the terrorist militia whom the West complacently calls “rebels”.

Israeli-Saudi normalization is within reach. Here’s what Trump and Netanyahu need to do next.

Daniel B. Shapiro

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High on the agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House this week is a potential deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump wants to move fast on it, having dispatched his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Riyadh both during the transition and last week.

This historic achievement, which would produce major gains for US national security interests, is within reach. But it is not imminent. A carefully sequenced series of steps, and a corresponding political strategy, has a greater likelihood of success, perhaps even later this year, than a mad rush in the opening weeks of Trump’s term.

Several conditions must fall into place to make this deal viable.

First, the Gaza ceasefire must hold and advance to its second phase. If all goes well, by early March, phase one will be complete, with the release of thirty-three Israeli hostages and a significant surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The second phase, for which negotiations are just getting underway, would secure the release of the remaining live Israeli hostages.

While Netanyahu already lost one far-right coalition partner, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, over the deal, and another, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, is a threat to leave Netanyahu’s coalition and bring down his government if phase two occurs, polls show that 73 percent of the Israeli public wants the agreement to proceed. Trump will insist that Netanyahu deliver on this. According to Israeli media reports, Witkoff told the prime minister, “Your coalition is your problem.”

Trump says he wants Ukraine’s rare earth elements as a condition of further support

ZEKE MILLER

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President Donald Trump on Monday indicated that he wants to reach an agreement with Ukraine to gain access to the country’s rare earth materials as a condition for continuing U.S. support for its war against Russia.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump complained that the U.S. had sent more in military and economic assistance to Ukraine than its European partners, adding, “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earth and other things.”

Trump suggested that he’s received word from the Ukrainian government that they’d be willing to make a deal to give the U.S. access to the elements critical to the modern high-tech economy.

“I want to have security of rare earth,” Trump added. “We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it.”

Trump, who had previously said he’d bring about a rapid end to the war, said talks are ongoing to bring the conflict to a close.

Securing Ukraine’s Future: What Should the United States Do?

Heidi Crebo-Rediker, Liana Fix, Thomas Graham, Michael O’Hanlon, and Paul B. Stares

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Toward a Settlement of the Russia-Ukraine War: Bringing Russia to the Table

President Donald Trump will find that it will take much time and effort to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war that advances U.S. interests and burnishes his reputation as a peacemaker. Because Kyiv faces deteriorating conditions, it should be easier to persuade it to negotiate seriously than it will be Russian President Vladimir Putin, who believes he is making progress toward achieving his maximal goals. The key to getting him to think otherwise is to convince him that time is not on his side. That requires action in four areas:

• articulation of a shared Western and Ukrainian vision of success;
• continued support for Ukraine’s war effort and its integration into the Euro-Atlantic community;
• resistance to Russia, including targeted sanctions, ramped-up weapons production, and pressure on its partners; and
• incentives for Russia such as an offer to restore more normal diplomatic relations.

Trump 2.0 Is Disastrous for Europe in Every Way - Opinion

Sarah Neumann

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With Donald Trump return to the White House, Europeans are deeply worried about how he might reshape global politics. His first term brought radical changes to US foreign policy, marked by isolationist tendencies, withdrawal from multilateral agreements, and an aggressive prioritization of national interests. Should Trump 2.0 follow a similar trajectory, it would undoubtedly pose a serious threat to the global order and Europe, which is already grappling with the Ukraine war. His policies would significantly harm Europe, a region deeply dependent on multilateral cooperation to ensure stability and progress.

Trump’s lenient stance toward Russia could severely undermine European security and the rules-based international order. While debates continue within Trump’s inner circle, several indicators suggest what his approach might entail. His long-standing admiration for Vladimir Putin, his claims of being able to end the Ukraine war within days, and the perspectives of key advisors all point toward the possibility of the United States reducing or even halting military support for Ukraine. Such a shift would risk solidifying Russia’s territorial gains, and a hasty peace agreement could lend legitimacy to Moscow’s aggression. Beyond threatening European security, these actions would set a dangerous precedent by eroding fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, including the prohibition of military aggression and the respect for national sovereignty.

The Court of Trump

Sam Freedman

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One of the many exhausting things about Trump is the second guessing. Which of his throwaway comments does he mean? Which are pure fantasy and which have a kernel of truth? As David Brooks wrote during his first term: “We’ve got this perverse situation in which the vast analytic powers of the entire world are being spent trying to understand a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar.”

On tariffs, on deportations, on healthcare, on Ukraine, all sorts of things have been said and promised but the world is left guessing as to what any of it means. Markets bounce around on every contradictory pronouncement, prime ministers are forced into rapid press conferences, journalists find themselves needing to read up on Greenland. All very tiring.

It's impossible to know how much of this is intentional on Trump’s part – a deliberate strategy to confuse everyone and maximise leverage. We can’t see into his brain. But motivation doesn’t really matter. It’s what he does and it can be effective, if you’re running the most powerful country in the world, though it’s also an approach with serious costs.

He takes a similar approach to his staff – who are set up as a court of factions rather than a team (again, who knows how deliberate any of this is). Proximity to the principal becomes even more important than usual in politics: stars rise and fall as Trump chooses new favourites and changes his mind.

Ukraine Drives Next Gen Robotic Warfare

Mick Ryan

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From the start of the 2022 Russian invasion, uncrewed aerial vehicles have been used in a wide range of missions by both the Ukrainians and Russians. As the war has progressed, the Ukrainian navy began to experiment with, and has now mastered, the development and employment of uncrewed maritime strike systems. A range of small boats and semi-submersibles have been employed to strike Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea, forcing the Russians to restrict their operations in the western parts of that body of water.

This explosion in the use of autonomous and remotely operated systems in Ukraine has seen both Ukraine and Russia develop the ability to not only produce millions of drones annually, but it has seen the development of a rapid adaptation battle, where drones are developed, deployed and evolved with an increasing tempo. The Cambrian Explosion in Drones in Ukraine has also forced military institutions around the world to reconsider their investment in such systems, and to re-assess the balance of traditional, exquisite systems against uncrewed capabilities in military organisations, and how they might improve their defences against massed, uncrewed systems in the air, land and sea domains.

Another more interesting trend has arisen which will force policy makers and military strategists to undertake an even more careful analysis of Ukraine war trends, and how these trends apply in other theatres, particularly the Pacific. This trend, robotic teaming, has emerged over the past year with the advent on drone-on-drone combat in the air and on the ground. In particular, several recent combat actions in Ukraine provide insights that need to be studied and translated for their employment in the massive ocean expanses, tens of thousands of kilometres of littoral, thousands of large and small islands and at least three continents that constitute the Pacific theatre.

If Trump Plays It Right, He Can Get The Russians Out Of Ukraine – OpEd

Jonathan Power

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The great flaw in ex-president Barack Obama’s record was his policy towards Russia. Going against everything he had said and written about before he became president, one action after another antagonised the Russians—his early proclamation that he wanted Georgia and Ukraine in Nato, his de facto coalition of convenience for a crucial couple of days with the anti-democratic, anti-Russian, neo-fascist, demonstrators in Ukraine, the further expansion of Nato, despite an earlier promise not to, made by President H.W. Bush, to the Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, and his inability to cooperate with the Russians and Iranians over Syria.

No wonder the Russians are reported to be happy that Donald Trump is now president, a man who has said nice things about Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

If the two meet sometime soon maybe there will be an end to this unnecessary hostility. The Moscow-Washington relationship is the most important political issue in the world, and this may well be the last chance to get it right.

Russia and the US have never fought each other in the 200 years of their relationship. Russia aided the North during the Civil War and sent warships to prevent England and France supporting the confederacy. During the World Wars the two were close allies.

Russian Energy Looms Large In EU’s Planning – OpEd

Andrew Hammond

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Since the start of the Ukraine war, the EU has sharply increased its focus on energy security, reaching many new gas deals, particularly with the US and Middle Eastern countries. However, as EU leaders prepare for any potential deal between Moscow and Kyiv, whether that comes in 2025 or beyond, the thorny question of the future role of cheaper Russian gas in the European energy mix is arising once again.

New EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen has pledged to end the bloc’s energy ties with Russia by 2027. But there is a debate underway in Brussels on whether Russian gas pipeline sales to Europe should be restarted as part of any Ukraine war settlement with Moscow. The proponents of such a move assert that it could help boost the continent’s economic competitiveness, as gas prices in Europe are often three to four times higher than in the US.

However, such discussions have already prompted fury from some of the staunchest opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin. These include the Baltic states, Poland and Slovenia.

For as long as Putin remains in power, Moscow will be seen by much of Europe as a pariah state. For sure, some EU countries, including Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, may significantly increase their energy reliance on Moscow. However, it is likely that many current European leaders will resist.

Does Globalization Have a Future?

JOSEPH S. NYE, JR.

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As wildfires raged through Los Angeles in January, the infamous American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones posted on X (formerly Twitter) that they were “part of a larger globalist plot to wage economic warfare & deindustrialize the [United] States.”

While Jones’s suggestion of causality was absurd, he was right that the fires had something to do with globalization. Last year was Earth’s hottest since recordkeeping began – and likely the hottest in at least 125,000 years – eclipsing the record set in 2023. For the first time, global average temperatures exceeded the Paris climate agreement’s target of 1.5° Celsius above preindustrial levels. For this, scientists overwhelmingly blame human-caused climate change.

Globalization refers simply to interdependence at intercontinental distances. Trade among European countries reflects regional interdependence, whereas European trade with the US or China reflects globalization. By threatening China with tariffs, US President Donald Trump is trying to reduce the economic aspect of our global interdependence, which he blames for the loss of domestic industries and jobs.

With Trump, Focus on Winning

Alan W. Dowd

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Winning is important to President Donald Trump, and losing is unacceptable—which explains why President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine recently emphasized that “The end of the war should be a victory for Trump, not Putin.”

Policymakers at home and abroad would be wise to frame their positions, proposals, plans and policies as Zelensky has: in terms of victory or defeat for Trump.

Calculus

They should begin by emphasizing for Trump this sobering reality: “The threats the United States faces are the most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945, and include the potential for near-term major war,” as the bipartisan Commission on the National Defense Strategy recently concluded.

The commission is not exaggerating. Russia is waging a war of extermination and expansion in Eastern Europe; occupies parts of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova; threatens using nuclear weapons; has transferred nuclear weapons into Belarus; and props up tyrants in Europe, the Americas and Africa. China has absorbed Hong Kong; threatens to annex Taiwan; boasts the world’s largest navy; menaces the Philippines; and is militarizing islands in the South China Sea, tripling its nuclear arsenal and conducting a cyber-siege against the Free World. North Korea is sending ammunition and troops to aid Russia’s war on Ukraine. Iran supplies Moscow with kamikaze-drones, has launched missiles at Israel, and has unleashed its hydra of terror proxies—Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Kata'ib Hezbollah—against U.S. troops, Free World allies and international shipping.

How crony is the Trump/TikTok situation?

Nick Sorrentino

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At ACC we are champions of free speech. We believe that it is absolutely vital to a free society. There is almost no room for nuance here. There is the “fire in a crowded theater” exception, but short of that there are very few examples where the government has any right to restrict speech. This is one of the reasons what was revealed in The Twitter Files was so important. The government (under Biden) appears to have pressured social media companies via various means to restrict the speech of its users. This is as far as we can understand a clear violation of the Constitution. Frankly, the people who carried out the censorship should be held accountable legally.

But what of a ban on TikTok? Is this not a government sponsored effort to limit the speech of Americans?

Additionally is it possible that such a ban has been initiated because crony interests want to get their hands on the platform?

Can a Critic of the Deep State Run the Deep State?

Eli Lake

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President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next director of national intelligence is in trouble. In the hours-long public session of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Thursday, Tulsi Gabbard could not bring herself to agree with senators from both parties that the notorious leaker, Edward Snowden, betrayed his country.

Before the hearing, Gabbard had won the support of the committee’s chairman, Senator Tom Cotton, and most Senate Republicans. But as the hearing dragged on, senators grew visibly uneasy. The usually mild-mannered Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, raised his voice in frustration at Gabbard’s equivocations about Snowden.

Trump and Musk Have All of Washington on Edge—Just Like They Wanted

Philip Elliott

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The candor on the tarmac Sunday night at Joint Base Andrews, under the wing of the presidential aircraft, came without any flinch of self doubt.

“This is retaliatory,” President Donald Trump told reporters, essentially summing up his first two weeks in office in the most inelegant but honest bit of sloganeering. He was talking about tariffs against U.S. neighbors but he just as plausibly was describing his posture toward all corners of his new empire.

Gag orders. Mass firings. Legally questionable buyouts. Foiled breaches of classified data and personnel files. A game of chicken over sanctions. Purged people and websites alike. The anxiety across the civil service at this hour is rightly earned and has no sign of slackening. If you’re a career federal worker, you’re marking your time in hours at this point as Trump is looking to shed professional expertise in favor of political hacks. Trump has begun his one-sided war against his foes, and the costs are just starting to be counted. Just ask the feds who found themselves put on leave as punishment for having attended diversity training during the first Trump term.

2025 Homeland Security Threat Forecast: The Converging Nature of Terrorism, Cyber and Internal Threats

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Dr. Sullivan breaks the piece down into 3 separate but synergistic categories that are reshaping today’s homeland security and national security domains.

Terrorism

Forget everything you thought you knew about terrorism. This isn’t a story of simple ideological divisions, but a complex web of actors spanning from white supremacists to Islamist jihadists, with shocking connections that blur traditional boundaries. From a New Year’s Day vehicle ramming in the French Quarter to explosive caches in Virginia, the threat landscape is more unpredictable and diverse than ever before. What hidden connections are lurking beneath the surface of these seemingly isolated incidents?

Cyber and Advanced Technology

Cybercrime has evolved from a nuisance to a strategic weapon. Criminal cartels are no longer just trafficking drugs—they’re trafficking data, using cryptocurrency, digital surveillance, and AI to wage a silent war. Imagine criminal networks that can simultaneously launch ransomware attacks, clone credit cards, and potentially disrupt critical infrastructure—all while using drones and generative AI as their new arsenal. Are we watching the birth of a new form of global warfare?

Quantum Network For Secure Communication

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In a networked society, secure communication is essential. Quantum physics delivers the necessary foundation by allowing practicable technologies such as quantum key distribution. With the new fiber optic test facility at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which opened on January 22, 2025, researchers aim to transmit, test and refine quantum keys. They also plan to set up a quantum network to link quantum computers.

To generate and transmit the quantum keys, the researchers will use cutting-edge technologies such as ultra-coherent lasers with the new fiber optic test facility. Quantum keys are crucial for secure communication because they are based on physical laws instead of the mathematical assumptions underlying earlier encryption keys, which future quantum computers will be able to break.

Spanning 20 kilometers, the quantum-optical transmission line connects laboratories specially equipped with complex lasers and cryostats on KIT’s Campus South and Campus North. The light-guiding core of a fiber optic cable is only about 9 micrometers in diameter. For comparison, the thickness of a human hair is about 60 micrometers.