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Raisi In Beijing – Iran-China ‘Strategic Plans’ Go Full Throttle

The visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Beijing and his face-to- face meeting with counterpart Xi Jinping is a groundbreaking affair in more ways than one.

Raisi, the first Iranian president to officially visit China in 20 years, led an ultra high-level political and economic delegation, which included the new Central Bank governor and the Ministers of Economy, Oil, Foreign Affairs, and Trade.

The fact that Raisi and Xi jointly supervised the signing of 20 bilateral cooperation agreements ranging from agriculture, trade, tourism and environmental protection to health, disaster relief, culture and sports, is not even the major take away.

This week’s ceremonial sealing of the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership marks a key evolution in the multipolarity sphere: two Sovereigns – both also linked by strategic partnerships with Russia – imprinting to their domestic audiences and also to the Global South their vision of a more equitable, fair and sustainable 21st century which completely bypasses western dictates.

Beijing and Tehran first established their comprehensive strategic partnership when Xi visited Iran in 2016 – only one year after the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iranian nuclear deal.

In 2021, Beijing and Tehran signed a 25-year cooperation deal which translated the comprehensive partnership into practical economic and cultural developments in several fields, especially energy, trade and infrastructure. By then, not only Iran (for decades) but also China were being targeted by unilateral US sanctions.

Blinken Warns China Against Providing Aid To Russia, Says Balloon Surveillance Must “Never Again Occur” As Beijing Slams “Excessive Use Of Force”, Offers No Apology

In the aftermath of the recent Hullaballon fiasco, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China’s top diplomat on Saturday that the U.S. will not tolerate violations of its airspace after a Chinese spy balloon flew over North America, but received no apologies from Beijing.

According to Politico, Blinken met with Wang Yi, director of China’s Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in what was the administration’s first face-to-face meeting with the Chinese government since a balloon was discovered earlier this month and subsequently downed by the U.S. military off the coast of South Carolina.

According to a State Department readout of the meeting, Blinken “directly spoke to the unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law” by the Chinese surveillance balloon “underscoring that this irresponsible act must never again occur.” Blinken later told NBC’s Chuck Todd in an interview after the meeting that Wang offered “no apology” for the incident.

Peter Hitchins: If masks are pointless, will I get an apology?

The research is in. Wearing bits of cloth over your mouth and nose is almost certainly pointless, unless you are a bank robber trying to hide his identity.

The news comes from a Cochrane Review, one of the most reliable and thorough forms of scientific research.

The review, which focused on masks and hand-washing, looked at evidence from 78 randomised trials with more than 610,000 participants.

It found that wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to influenza-like or Covid-19-like illness transmission.

This is no great surprise. Before the great panic plunged the world into isolation, house arrest and inflation three years ago, the expert view was that face-coverings were of little help in protecting against the spread of viruses.

Mark Zuckerberg announces Meta is launching ‘Meta Verified’ for Instagram and Facebook profiles for a $12-a-month subscription fee – and requires government ID

Meta is rolling a new paid verification subscription service called Meta Verified, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Sunday.

Coming soon, for $11.99/month on web and $14.99/month on iOs, users on Instagram and Facebook will be able to pay to become verified users, which will entail, among other things, a blue verification badge.

The service will first be introduced in New Zealand and Australia this year, and will be available in other nations ‘soon,’ according to Zuckerberg.

This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services.’

The company has previously granted verification to notable figures including celebrities, business leaders, journalists, politicians and athletes.

Meta said those with pre-existing verification badges will not see their status or options change in the new era of subscription verification.

The new verification system looks a lot like Elon Musk’s Twitter Blue service, which was rolled out in December after an initially delayed launch.

Twitter’s blue check mark subscription costs users eight dollars per month.

Residents Say They’ve Broken Out in Rashes After East Palestine Train Derailment

Locals who live near the train derailment and release of toxic chemicals near East Palestine, Ohio, have complained about various health problems since the incident unfolded earlier this month, including rashes, headaches, and other issues. And they’ve expressed concerns that these new symptoms may be tied to the chemicals that were burned or released.

The Feb. 3 derailment triggered officials to initiate a controlled release and burn of various chemicals as they cited concerns that those materials would explode and send out deadly shrapnel. Chemicals carried on the Norfolk Southern-operated train include toxic vinyl chloride gas, which was vented and burned, releasing a large cloud of black smoke that hung over the area for days.

A plume of chemicals from the train derailment was also detected heading down the Ohio River, although some Ohio environmental officials assert that they may largely be fire retardant substances used to put out the fire. Other chemicals carried on the train include butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, the U.S.

Jupiter now has 92 moons after new discovery

Astronomers have observed 12 additional moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing its total number of confirmed moons to 92.

The discovery was made during observations by astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science and his team. They used the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii in September 2021 and the Dark Energy Camera located on the Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile in August 2022. The Dark Energy Camera can survey the sky for faint objects.

Jupiter and its natural satellites were in alignment with more distant targets that Sheppard and his team have been seeking in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy objects circling the sun that’s located past the orbit of Neptune on the edge of the solar system.
“We have been surveying for new moons around Jupiter serendipitously while our main survey is looking for planets in the outer solar system beyond Pluto,” Sheppard said.

Data gathering Disney’s surveillance infrastructure (72 million pieces of information collected about every child by the age of 13)

Once upon a time, you could just go to Disneyland. You could get tickets at the gates, stand in line for rides, buy food and tchotchkes, even pick up copies of your favorite Disney movies at a local store. It wasn’t even that long ago. The last time I visited, in 2010, the company didn’t record what I ate for dinner or detect that I went on Pirates of the Caribbean five times. It was none of their business.

But sometime in the last few years, tracking and tracing became their business. Like many corporations out there, Walt Disney Studios spent the last decade transforming into a data company.

What comes next is not convenient at all. Companies use that data to corral us into dead-end streets, to limit our choices, choose what we watch, and shuttle us into certain purchases over others. That data divides us into filter bubbles, helps spread misinformation like wildfire, drives wedges through families, and splits us up by political beliefs, race, gender, and social class. Thanks to data-munching algorithms, we are each on very different data-driven pathways through the same world: as if only people with the right data profile were given directions to Tomorrowland. Our journeys are lit by one “convenience” after another, but each path is paved with fool’s gold.

These small conveniences are an entreaty to forget about what we are losing in return. If Disney’s only goal was improving guest experience or safety, their park wouldn’t be so busy feeding a Big Brother–esque to rival China’s Social Credit System.

It’s not just Disney. Just shopping at a store is now pricier without an app, a loyalty card, coupons, or a digital wallet that traces your consumption patterns and habits. Just chatting with friends is now laced with trackers, bots, beacons, and other technological hitchhikers listening in: lock these out and websites break or connections are lost. People who don’t have the app, haven’t logged in, or didn’t get the discount code face more and more barriers. Resistance no longer feels like a reasonable option, even if it is the responsible thing to do.

We don’t often talk about “convenience” when we talk about data privacy, but we should. In the game of personal-data gathering, convenience is the bait. Privacy is essential to a well-functioning democracy, but companies have noticed that we are willing to throw it away and declare it “dead” for the sake of a few manufactured conveniences.

Worse, in making the tracked path appear convenient, companies go to great lengths to make it inconvenient to go without. What was once just a normal experience—an untraceable day at Disneyland—is a disappearing option, one now layered with extra time, cost, and expertise. In other words, these “conveniences” are manufactured, but the resulting inconveniences are not.

There must be more opportunities to opt out without going to crazy extremes. If companies wish to manufacture convenience as a lure, they cannot invent parallel challenges reserved for those who choose to resist.