An amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill was passed by the UK House of Lords, which would ban the use of VPNs for citizens under 18. Free speech advocates caution that this could end anonymous browsing, as IDs would have to be submitted to VPN providers, and fear it could lead to a VPN ban for a wider population.
‘This is no longer a world of unilateral dictates, but a multipolar system of alliances defined by agreements, intensive trade, and technological competition. A US–Russian alliance is central to this, symbolized by the meeting of Presidents Trump and Putin in Alaska—a place that was once Russian territory, is now a US state, and may become the symbolic cornerstone of a historic strategic partnership.’
‘Indeed, if anything—as the Hungarian model demonstrates—a healthy sense of Christian nationalism and identity turns out to be protective of Jewish human rights and dignity, certainly in comparison with those Western environments shaped by secular liberalism.’
‘Trump…does not need to “take over” Greenland by force or by acquisition. Instead, he should rely on his artful strategy that has thus far been marked by business pragmatism and a preference for power politics—peace through transaction, that is, cutting a deal.’
As the world order shifts at breakneck speed—from Donald Trump’s pressure on Denmark over Greenland to Washington’s operation against Venezuela—EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas offered European lawmakers an eyebrow-raising response: ‘start drinking’. The remark has become a symbol of Brussels’ paralysis in the new international environment, prompting Balázs Orbán to call for Kallas to resign.
‘Northern and Eastern Europe…as well as parts of Central and Western Europe, are also becoming high-risk areas. Surveillance data show an upward trend in reported Lyme disease cases since 2015, with many countries recording an average increase of about 36 per cent over their last two reporting years—serving as clear evidence that warmer conditions are lengthening the tick season.’
According to a new poll released by The Economist, over 70 per cent of Venezuelans think that the political situation will be either a little or much better in their country within 12 months of President Maduro’s capture, while over 50 per cent outright approve of the US military’s operation.
Canadian conservative philosopher Gad Saad has announced the launch of his sixth book, Suicidal Empathy: Dying to be Kind, now available for pre-order. In the book, Saad argues that ‘empathy politics’ has become a destructive force in the West, inverting moral priorities by protecting criminals over victims and privileging illegal migrants over citizens in the name of compassion.
‘The claim is as follows: conservatives are indeed stupid and lack intellectual curiosity, and the progressives, be they liberals or socialists…have the intellectual firepower on their side.’
‘As the harmful impacts of climate change manifest rapidly, there is a growing need for judicial and similar remedies to address states’ responsibilities for greenhouse-gas emissions, failures in mitigation or adaptation, and related human-rights claims.’