#Eastern Europe business networking

[eeitonline]

Unlocking Entrepreneurship: Creating a Culture of Business in Eastern Europe

by Eastern European Institute for Trade

Eastern Europe has long been recognized as a region with untapped potential for entrepreneurial activity. However, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship has proven challenging due to historical, political, and economic factors. This article explores the key elements necessary to unlock entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe, including regulatory changes, access to financing, education and training, and the development of a supportive ecosystem. To create a thriving entrepreneurial culture, it is crucial to address these factors and learn from best practices around the world.

Regulatory changes are essential in establishing an environment conducive to business creation and growth. By simplifying bureaucratic procedures and eliminating unnecessary red tape, countries can encourage the establishment of new businesses (Klapper, Laeven, & Rajan, 2006). Furthermore, implementing policies that protect property rights, ensure contract enforcement, and create a level playing field for competition can increase entrepreneurial activity (Djankov, La Porta, López-de-Silanes, & Shleifer, 2002).

Access to financing is a critical aspect of entrepreneurship, as it allows individuals to start and expand their businesses. Eastern European countries should work on developing a robust financial system that caters to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Beck, Demirgüç-Kunt, & Maksimovic, 2005). This includes providing alternative financing options, such as venture capital and crowdfunding, to complement traditional bank loans.

Education and training play a vital role in shaping entrepreneurial mindsets and equipping individuals with the skills necessary to succeed in business. Eastern European countries should invest in education that promotes creativity, problem-solving, and risk-taking, as well as provide training programs tailored to the specific needs of entrepreneurs (Piperopoulos & Dimov, 2015). This includes fostering university-industry collaborations and promoting innovation through research and development.

Lastly, creating a supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurs is imperative. Networking opportunities, mentorship programs, and business incubators can all contribute to the growth and success of new ventures (Acs, Autio, & Szerb, 2014). In addition, fostering a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing can help entrepreneurs overcome challenges and learn from one another.

By addressing these key elements, Eastern European countries can unlock the potential of their entrepreneurial talent and create a thriving culture of business. This, in turn, will contribute to economic growth, job creation, and a more vibrant and diverse economy.

References:

Acs, Z. J., Autio, E., & Szerb, L. (2014). National systems of entrepreneurship: Measurement issues and policy implications. Research Policy, 43(3), 476–494.

Beck, T., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Maksimovic, V. (2005). Financial and legal constraints to growth: Does firm size matter? The Journal of Finance, 60(1), 137–177.

Djankov, S., La Porta, R., López-de-Silanes, F., & Shleifer, A. (2002). The regulation of entry. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(1), 1–37.

Klapper, L., Laeven, L., & Rajan, R. (2006). Entry regulation as a barrier to entrepreneurship. Journal of Financial Economics, 82(3), 591–629.

Piperopoulos, P., & Dimov, D. (2015). Burst bubbles or build steam? Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Small Business Management, 53(4), 970–985.

Read more at Eastern European Institute for Trade.

[whencyclopedia]

D-Day was 80 years ago today!

D-Day was the first day of Operation Overlord, the Allied attack on German-occupied Western Europe, which began on the beaches of Normandy, France, on 6 June 1944. Primarily US, British, and Canadian troops, with naval and air support, attacked five beaches, landing some 135,000 men in a day widely considered to have changed history.

Where to Attack?

Operation Overlord, which sought to attack occupied Europe starting with an amphibious landing in northwest France, Belgium, or the Netherlands, had been in the planning since January 1943 when Allied leaders agreed to the build-up of British and US troops in Britain. The Allies were unsure where exactly to land, but the requirements were simple: as short a sea crossing as possible and within range of Allied fighter cover. A third requirement was to have a major port nearby, which could be captured and used to land further troops and equipment. The best fit seemed to be Normandy with its flat beaches and port of Cherbourg.

The Atlantic Wall

The leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), called his western line of defences the Atlantic Wall. It had gaps but presented an impressive string of fortifications along the coast from Spain to the Netherlands. Construction of gun batteries, bunker networks, and observation posts began as early as 1942.

Many of the German divisions were not crack troops but inexperienced soldiers, who were spending more time building defences than in vital military training. There was a woeful lack of materials for Hitler's dream of the Atlantic Wall, really something of a Swiss cheese, with some strong areas, but many holes. The German army was not provided with sufficient mines, explosives, concrete, or labourers to better protect the coastline. At least one-third of gun positions still had no casement protection. Many installations were not bomb-proof. Another serious weakness was naval and air support. The navy had a mere 4 destroyers available and 39 E-boats while the Luftwaffe's (German Air Force's) contribution was equally paltry with only 319 planes operating in the skies when the invasion took place (rising to 1,000) in the second week.

Neptune to Normandy

Preparation for Overlord occurred right through April and May of 1940 when the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Air Force (USAAF) relentlessly bombed communications and transportation systems in France as well as coastal defences, airfields, industrial targets, and military installations. In total, over 200,000 missions were conducted to weaken as much as possible the Nazi defences ready for the infantry troops about to be involved in the largest troop movement in history. The French Resistance also played their part in preparing the way by blowing up train lines and communication systems that would ensure the defenders could not effectively respond to the invasion.

The Allied fleet of 7,000 vessels of all kinds departed from English south-coast ports such as Falmouth, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Newhaven, and Harwich. In an operation code-named Neptune, the ships gathered off Portsmouth in a zone called 'Piccadilly Circus' after the busy London road junction, and then made their way to Normandy and the assault areas. At the same time, gliders and planes flew to the Cherbourg peninsula in the west and Ouistreham on the eastern edge of the planned landing. Paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st US Airborne Division attacked in the west to try and cut off Cherbourg. At the eastern extremity of the operation, paratroopers of the 6th British Airborne Division aimed to secure Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal. Other tasks of the paratrooper and glider units were to destroy bridges to impede the enemy, hold others necessary for the invasion to progress, destroy gun emplacements, secure the beach exits, and protect the invasion's flanks.

The Beaches

The amphibious attack was set for dawn on 5 June, daylight being a requirement for the necessary air and naval support. Bad weather led to a postponement of 24 hours. Shortly after midnight, the first waves of 23,000 British and American paratroopers landed in France. US paratroopers who dropped near Ste-Mère-Église ensured this was the first French town to be liberated. From 3.00 a.m., air and naval bombardment of the Normandy coast began, letting up just 15 minutes before the first infantry troops landed on the beaches at 6.30 a.m.

The beaches selected for the landings were divided into zones, each given a code name. US troops attacked two, the British army another two, and the Canadian force the fifth. These beaches and the troops assigned to them were (west to east):

Utah Beach - 4th US Infantry Division, 7th US Corps (1st US Army commanded by Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley)

Omaha Beach - 1st US Infantry Division, 5th US Corps (1st US Army)

Gold Beach - 50th British Infantry Division, 30th British Corps (2nd British Army commanded by Lieutenant-General Miles C. Dempsey)

Juno Beach - 3rd Canadian Infantry Division (2nd British Army)

Sword Beach - 3rd British Infantry Division, 1st British Corps (2nd British Army)

In addition, the 2nd US Rangers were to attack the well-defended Pointe du Hoc between Utah and Omaha (although it turned out the guns had never been installed there), while Royal Marine Commando units attacked targets on Gold, Juno, and Sword.

The RAF and USAAF continued to protect the invasion fleet and ensure any enemy ground-based counterattack faced air attack. As the Allies could put in the air 12,000 aircraft at this stage, the Luftwaffe's aerial fightback was pitifully inadequate. On D-Day alone, the Allied air forces flew 15,000 sorties compared to the Luftwaffe's 100. Not one single Allied aircraft was lost to enemy fire on D-Day.

Packing Normandy

By the end of D-Day, 135,000 men had been landed and relatively few casualties were sustained – some 5,000 men. There were some serious cock-ups, notably the hopeless dispersal of the paratroopers (only 4% of the US 101st Air Division were dropped at the intended target zone), but, if anything, this caused even more confusion amongst the German commanders on the ground as it seemed the Allies were attacking everywhere. The defenders, overcoming the initial handicap that many area commanders were at a strategy conference in Rennes, did eventually organise themselves into a counterattack, deploying their reserves and pulling in troops from other parts of France. This is when French resistance and aerial bombing became crucial, seriously hampering the German army's effort to reinforce the coastal areas of Normandy. The German field commanders wanted to withdraw, regroup and attack in force, but, on 11 June, Hitler ordered there be no retreat.

All of the original invasion beaches were linked as the Allies pushed inland. To aid thousands more troops following up the initial attack, two artificial floating harbours were built. Code-named Mulberries, these were located off Omaha and Gold beaches and were built from 200 prefabricated units. A storm hit on 20 June, destroying the Mulberry Harbour off Omaha, but the one at Gold was still serviceable, allowing some 11,000 tons of material to be landed every 24 hours. The other problem for the Allies was how to supply thousands of vehicles with the fuel they needed. The short-term solution, code-named Tombola, was to have tanker ships pump fuel to storage tanks on shore, using buoyed pipelines. The longer-term solution was code-named Pluto (Pipeline Under the Ocean), a pipeline under the Channel to Cherbourg through which fuel could be pumped. Cherbourg was taken on 27 June and was used to ship in more troops and supplies, although the defenders had sunk ships to block the harbour and these took some six weeks to fully clear.

Operation Neptune officially ended on 30 June. Around 850,000 men, 148,800 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of stores and equipment had been landed since D-Day. The next phase of Overlord was to push the occupiers out of Normandy. The defenders were not only having logistical problems but also command issues as Hitler replaced Rundstedt with Field Marshal Günther von Kluge (1882-1944) and formally warned Rommel not to be defeatist.

Aftermath: The Normandy Campaign

By early July, the Allies, having not got further south than around 20 miles (32 km) from the coast, were behind schedule. Poor weather was limiting the role of aircraft in the advance. The German forces were using the countryside well to slow the Allied advance – countless small fields enclosed with trees and hedgerows which limited visibility and made tanks vulnerable to ambush. Caen was staunchly defended and required Allied bombers to obliterate the city on 7 July. The German troops withdrew but still held one-half of the city. The Allies lost around 500 tanks trying to take Caen, vital to any push further south. The advance to Avranches was equally tortuous, and 40,000 men were lost in two weeks of heavy fighting. By the end of July, the Allies had taken Caen, Avranches, and the vital bridge at Pontaubault. From 1 August, Patton and the US Third Army were punching south at the western side of the offensive, and the Brittany ports of St. Malo, Brest, and Lorient were taken.

German forces counterattacked to try and retake Avranches, but Allied air power was decisive. Through August 1940, the Allies swept southwards to the Loire River from St. Nazaire to Orléans. On 15 August, a major landing took place on the southwest coast of France (French Riviera landings) and Marseille was captured on 28 August. In northern France, the Allies captured enough territory, ports, and airfields for a massive increase in material support. On 25 August, Paris was liberated. By mid-September, the Allied troops in the north and south of France had linked up and the campaign front expanded eastwards pushing on to the borders of Germany. There would be setbacks like Operation Market Garden of September and a brief fightback at the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, but the direction of the war and ultimate Allied victory was now a question of not if but when.

[blueiscoool]

Missing Pieces of 6th-Century Byzantine Bucket Finally Found at Sutton Hoo

While working at the Anglo-Saxon site of Sutton Hoo in England, archaeologists found the missing pieces of a 1,500-year-old copper bucket imported from Turkey. The bucket, which is at least a century older than the famed ship burial, may provide a window into how people lived in early medieval times.

A team of archaeologists, conservators and volunteers from Time Team, the U.K.'s National Trust and FAS Heritage discovered the metal fragments in late June during excavation and metal-detecting work at Sutton Hoo.

Sutton Hoo is best known for its magnificent seventh-century ship burial, whose 1939 discovery was featured in the 2021 movie "The Dig." But the burial was just one part of a complex of 18 separate burial mounds found near Suffolk in southeastern England, many of which contained jewelry and coins. Evidence of imported goods — including an Egyptian bowl, Eastern Mediterranean silverware and a Middle Eastern petroleum product called bitumen — has also been discovered at Sutton Hoo.

But the copper-alloy bucket, known as the Bromeswell Bucket, predates the ship burial by at least a century. The fragmented bucket, which was found in 1986, depicts a North African hunting scene featuring lions and a dog. It was likely produced in the sixth century in Antioch, Turkey, which was then part of the Byzantine Empire. An inscription in Greek on the bucket reads, "Use this in good health, Master Count, for many happy years," suggesting that it may have been a diplomatic gift.

The artifacts uncovered last month were decorated with figures similar to those on the original find. So the team employed X-ray fluorescence (XRF) — which is used to determine which elements are present in an object and to create a unique elemental "fingerprint" of the artifact — to confirm that the newly recovered fragments are indeed part of the sixth-century Bromeswell Bucket.

"Thanks to closer inspection, we now believe that the bucket had been previously damaged and then repaired," Angus Wainwright, a regional archaeologist in the East of England for the National Trust, said in a statement. "In-depth analysis of the metals suggests it might even have been soldered back together."

Although East Anglia has been occupied since at least 3000 B.C., when Sutton Hoo was in use as a cemetery in the sixth and seventh centuries, the area was relatively densely populated and part of a busy trade network. The Sutton Hoo treasures represent diverse objects, including pagan and Christian artifacts, brought there from all over Europe and the Middle East. The ship burial and cosmopolitan nature of Sutton Hoo may even link it to the Old English epic poem Beowulf, which includes tales of gift-bestowing kings from far-flung lands and was composed around the same time.

"It's hoped that this two-year research project will help us learn more about the wider landscape at Sutton Hoo and the everyday lives of the people that lived there," Wainwright said. "So, this find is a great step on that journey."

By Kristina Killgrove.

[reality-detective]

Chapter 2: The Blood Harvest Unveiled

They told you this war was about politics and power struggles, but that was the cover. Beneath the surface, a darker war is raging, one fought in shadows. The soldiers who found the children in Donetsk have since gone silent, but some still whisper. Their stories aren’t for the faint-hearted. This isn’t just war—it’s a blood harvest, a horror far beyond what you’ve been told.

The adrenochrome farms in Ukraine were only the tip of the iceberg. Putin’s forces are finding more with each passing day. These “farms” are hidden across Eastern Europe—factories where children are tortured, drained, and discarded like livestock. The soldiers speak of facilities more horrific than the last, each designed to extract the purest adrenochrome through unimaginable pain and fear.

The task force member who spoke out revealed the dark truth: ritual abuse, trauma beyond words. They carve symbols into the walls—symbols tied to ancient, occult practices. These children are bred in darkness, never knowing love, raised solely for sacrifice. The purer the fear, the stronger the yield.

And it’s not just Ukraine. Reports suggest the adrenochrome trade is global—secret compounds in South America, hidden facilities in the United States. It’s a cancer, shielded by the rich and powerful. Celebrities, politicians, business moguls—all complicit. Their addiction? The blood of the innocent. Their source? Children whose lives are nothing more than currency in this twisted trade.

The Kremlin now holds a blacklist of elites tied to this network, and Putin’s forces are preparing to strike. People will disappear. The news will call them accidents, suicides, sudden illnesses, but make no mistake—this is a calculated war on those who thought themselves untouchable.

This is not just a battle for territory; it’s a war for humanity’s soul. The veil is lifting. The storm is almost here. Prepare yourself. When it hits, the world will never be the same.

Are you ready? 🤔

[mariacallous]

As digital scamming explodes in Southeast Asia, including so called “pig butchering” investment scams, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a comprehensive report this week with a dire warning about the rapid growth of this criminal ecosystem. Many digital scams have traditionally relied on social engineering, or tricking victims into giving away their money willingly, rather than leaning on malware or other highly technical methods. But researchers have increasingly sounded the alarm that scammers are incorporating generative AI content and deepfakes to expand the scale and effectiveness of their operations. And the UN report offers the clearest evidence yet that these high tech tools are turning an already urgent situation into a crisis.

In addition to buying written scripts to use with potential victims or relying on templates for malicious websites, attackers have increasingly been leaning on generative AI platforms to create communication content in multiple languages and deepfake generators that can create photos or even video of nonexistent people to show victims and enhance verisimilitude. Scammers have also been expanding their use of tools that can drain a victim’s cryptocurrency wallets, have been manipulating transaction records to trick targets into sending cryptocurrency to the wrong places, and are compromising smart contracts to steal cryptocurrency. And in some cases, they’ve been purchasing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet systems to help power their efforts.

“Agile criminal networks are integrating these new technologies faster than anticipated, driven by new online marketplaces and service providers which have supercharged the illicit service economy,” John Wojcik, a UNODC regional analyst, tells WIRED. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit more sophisticated and profitable methods.”

For years, China-linked criminals have trafficked people into gigantic compounds in Southeast Asia, where they are often forced to run scams, held against their will, and beaten if they refuse instructions. Around 200,000 people, from at least 60 countries, have been trafficked to compounds largely in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos over the last five years. However, as WIRED reporting has shown, these operations are spreading globally—with scamming infrastructure emerging in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and West Africa.

Most prominently, these organized crime operations have run pig butchering scams, where they build intimate relationships with victims before introducing an “investment opportunity” and asking for money. Criminal organizations may have conned people out of around $75 billion through pig butchering scams. Aside from pig butchering, according to the UN report, criminals across Southeast Asia are also running job scams, law enforcement impersonation, asset recovery scams, virtual kidnappings, sextortion, loan scams, business email compromise, and other illicit schemes. Criminal networks in the region earned up to $37 billion last year, UN officials estimate. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of this revenue is allowing scammers to expand their operations and diversify, incorporating new infrastructure and technology into their systems in the hope of making them more efficient and brutally effective.

For example, scammers are often constrained by their language skills and ability to keep up conversations with potentially hundreds of victims at a time in numerous languages and dialects. However, generative AI developments within the last two years—including the launch of writing tools such as ChatGPT—are making it easier for criminals to break down language barriers and create the content needed for scamming.

The UN’s report says AI can be used for automating phishing attacks that ensnare victims, the creation of fake identities and online profiles, and the crafting of personalized scripts to trick victims while messaging them in different languages. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit sophisticated and profitable methods,” the report says.

Stephanie Baroud, a criminal intelligence analyst in Interpol’s human trafficking unit, says the impact of AI needs to be considered as part of a pig butchering scammer’s tactics going forward. Baroud, who spoke with WIRED in an interview before the publication of the UN report, says the criminal’s recruitment ads that lure people into being trafficked to scamming compounds used to be “very generic” and full of grammatical errors. However, AI is now making them appear more polished and compelling, Baroud says. “It is really making it easier to create a very realistic job offer,” she says. “Unfortunately, this will make it much more difficult to identify which is the real and which is the fake ads.”

Perhaps the biggest AI paradigm shift in such digital attacks comes from deepfakes. Scammers are increasingly using machine-learning systems to allow for real-time face-swapping. This technology, which has also been used by romance scammers in West Africa, allows criminals to change their appearance on calls with their victims, making them realistically appear to be a different person. The technology is allowing “one-click” face swaps and high-resolution video feeds, the UN’s report states. Such services are a game changer for scammers, because they allow attackers to “prove” to victims in photos or real-time video calls that they are who they claim to be.

Using these setups, however, can require stable internet connections, which can be harder to maintain within some regions where pig butchering compounds and other scamming have flourished. There has been a “notable” increase in cops seizing Starlink satellite dishes in recent months in Southeast Asia, the UN says—80 units were seized between April and June this year. In one such operation carried out in June, Thai police confiscated 58 Starlink devices. In another instance, law enforcement seized 10 Starlink devices and 4,998 preregistered SIM cards while criminals were in the process of moving their operations from Myanmar to Laos. Starlink did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

“Obviously using real people has been working for them very well, but using the tech could be cheaper after they have the required computers” and connectivity, says Troy Gochenour, a volunteer with the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), a US-based nonprofit that fights human-trafficking and cybercrime operations in Southeast Asia.

Gochenour’s research involves tracking trends on Chinese-language Telegram channels related to carrying out pig butchering scams. And he says that it is increasingly common to see people applying to be AI models for scam content.

In addition to AI services, attackers have increasingly leaned on other technical solutions as well. One tool that has been increasingly common in digital scamming is so-called “crypto drainers,” a type of malware that has particularly been deployed against victims in Southeast Asia. Drainers can be more or less technically sophisticated, but their common goal is to “drain” funds from a target’s cryptocurrency wallets and redirect the currency to wallets controlled by attackers. Rather than stealing the credentials to access the target wallet directly, drainers are typically designed to look like a legitimate service—either by impersonating an actual platform or creating a plausible brand. Once a victim has been tricked into connecting their wallet to the drainer, they are then manipulated into approving one or a few transactions that grant attackers unintended access to all the funds in the wallet.

Drainers can be used in many contexts and with many fronts. They can be a component of pig butchering investment scams, or promoted to potential victims through compromised social media accounts, phishing campaigns, and malvertizing. Researchers from the firm ScamSniffer, for example, published findings in December about sponsored social media and search engine ads linked to malicious websites that contained a cryptocurrency drainer. The campaign, which ran from March to December 2023 reportedly stole about $59 million from more than 63,000 victims around the world.

Far from the low-tech days of doing everything through social engineering by building a rapport with potential victims and crafting tricky emails and text messages, today’s scammers are taking a hybrid approach to make their operations as efficient and lucrative as possible, UN researchers say. And even if they aren’t developing sophisticated malware themselves in most cases, scammers are increasingly in the market to use these malicious tools, prompting malware authors to adapt or create hacking tools for scams like pig butchering.

Researchers say that scammers have been seen using infostealers and even remote access trojans that essentially create a backdoor in a victim’s system that can be utilized in other types of attacks. And scammers are also expanding their use of malicious smart contracts that appear to programmatically establish a certain agreed-upon transaction or set of transactions, but actually does much more. “Infostealer logs and underground data markets have also been critical to ongoing market expansion, with access to unprecedented amounts of sensitive data serving as a major catalyst,” Wojcik, from the UNODC, says.

The changing tactics are significant as global law enforcement scrambles to deter digital scamming. But they are just one piece of the larger picture, which is increasingly urgent and bleak for forced laborers and victims of these crimes.

“It is now increasingly clear that a potentially irreversible displacement and spillover has taken place in which organized crime are able to pick, choose, and move value and jurisdictions as needed, with the resulting situation rapidly outpacing the capacity of governments to contain it,” UN officials wrote in the report. “Failure to address this ecosystem will have consequences for Southeast Asia and other regions.”

[mysteriouslytransparentwitch]

This isn't the first time I've read this. I'd be interested to know what you think. This is pure propaganda and much deeper than we think. Some powerful groups want the monarchy to be abolished. They want William gone. Maybe it's to launch the new world order. Look at the seed they are trying to sow through the media. Meghan is just a pawn in a bigger plan. Getting rid of the monarchy means getting rid of stability to implement the change they want, they could then weaken other governments. 🌹

This will be my quarter of an hour of truth:

There is no global force that wants the United Kingdom to lose, there is no chance that the United Kingdom will become a republic! why the British are not the French. France has a better chance of having a 6th republic and a 4th revolution in the next 30 years. Even Russia is not trying to overthrow the United Kingdom because it is too busy with its attacks in Eastern Europe. The USA is currently divided in two and therefore too busy on its own. The global south is in the midst of a revolution to attract the global economy so there is not enough time to try to overthrow William. There is a new global organization but it has nothing to do with Prince William, it's just economic, technological and environmental (I remind you that in the global south there are monarchies!!!)

The truth is that William is not ready for office, being ready to be King is not about making beautiful children and taking beautiful photos. William's problem is that he does not want to follow the line of King George 6, nor Queen Elizabeth 2 and even less of Charles (because he is someone who wants to kill his son since birth according to some people here)

This is not the first time that William has made mistakes, he threw his godmother under the bus while Buckingham Palace was already investigating because there were already different versions now we know the truth! William does not have a cool head, he reigns with his ego and his emotions which can take on completely crazy proportions.

He is not aware (because he does not read the foreign press like the Queen and Charles) of the changes taking place worldwide. He just gets scared of tweets on Twitter like Omid and dr shola I don't know what…. YES they make a lot of noise on Twitter but neither of them are capable of selling books in the real world!!! conclusion Twitter is an epiphenomenon.

Yes the social networks are going crazy about Catherine we went to a cosmetic operation on the nose then on the buttocks for William to a mistress who is pregnant and who came to see Catherine at Christmas (I don't know if young people realize their stupidity, at Christmas she was with Charles, yes!!!)

William must put together a real team to help him in his role and not protect his private life. If we were to listen to William, as armies, we should stop inspecting the armies in African countries because it's colonial lol lol all heads of state around the world inspect their army and hi to the other armies it's is tradition! (this sentence definitely comes from him!!!) Your guy is so afraid of everything that he doesn't even understand the meaning of these sentences and the impact they can have. Fortunately the United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy so there is power to put things in their place.

If this story of Catherine made the journalists/reporters in the foreign policy section frown, it is because there is a good reason.

I can continue like this except that here on this forum as soon as we highlight certain things, the only answer is you have been a fan of Charles since the beginning you hate William bla bla

For your information, these two have no impact on my life.

[warsofasoiaf]

What do you think a better approach to us Soviet relations would have been over fdrs max appeasement

Before the Second World War, I would stress that FDR's recognition of the Soviets was contingent on stopping espionage on the United States. So when Soviet diplomats are found conducting intelligence activities, then they get PNG'd and expelled immediately, instead of just a quiet back-channel ask for the Soviets to stop spying please (especially after they *don't* stop) and their American sources get arrested. FDR would have to listen to defectors like Whittaker Chambers when they came in with credible intelligence about intelligence networks instead of dismissing them to make nice with the Soviets. It means not pressuring businesses to invest in ventures in the Soviet Union when everyone says it'll make no money and Stalin is going to just steal everything anyway.

During the Second World War, it means advocating for Eastern European independence much more forcefully. At the Tehran conference, FDR rolled over for the Soviets and he didn't even have the excuse that the Red Army was already in Eastern Europe at the later Yalta conference. It means not taking the bait at the Yalta Conference and calling Stalin's bluffs.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[tomorrowusa]

Elon Musk understands Eastern Europe about as much as he understands how to run a social media company.

Elon's clueless actions may have prolonged the war in Ukraine.

Elon Musk ordered his Starlink satellite communications network to be turned off near the Crimean coast last year to hobble a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian warships, according to a new biography. CNN quoted an excerpt from the biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, which described how armed submarine drones were approaching their targets when they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly”. The biography, due out on Tuesday, alleges Musk ordered Starlink engineers to turn off service in the area of the attack because of his concern that Vladimir Putin would respond with nuclear weapons to a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Crimea. He is reported to have said that Ukraine was “going too far” in threatening to inflict a “strategic defeat” on the Kremlin. Musk’s threats to withdraw Starlink communications at various stages of the conflict have been previously reported, but this is the first time it has been alleged he cut off Ukrainian forces in the middle of a specific operation.

The 2020s are not even half over but Musk is already a top contender for Putz of the Decade.

At the time of the submarine drone attack, according to the extract reported by CNN, Mykhailo Fedorov, one of Ukraine’s deputy prime ministers, pleaded with Musk to restore Starlink communications. “I just want you – the person who is changing the world through technology – to know this,” Fedorov reportedly told Musk. According to Isaacson’s account, Musk refused, saying Ukraine was “now going too far and inviting strategic defeat”. Musk has in the past echoed Russian talking points on Twitter, suggesting that some parts of eastern Ukraine be handed to Russia to reflect “the will of the people”.

Musk is more worried about future business deals with Russia than he is about Putin committing genocide in Ukraine.

The only way to end the war is for Russia to be defeated. The shit-for-brains tankies, Putin marionettes, and foreign policy illiterates push "negotiations" the way Neville Chamberlain pushed negotiations with Hitler over Czechoslovakia in 1938. Hitler kept his part of the Munich agreement for less than six months; and then Hitler invaded Poland less than a year after Munich.

"Peace in our time" should not be dependent on the whims of Putin who has already openly violated international agreements, signed by Russia, regarding Ukraine's security. Bothsiderism is a safe space for idiots.

Playing footsie with imperialistic dictators by caving to them only makes them more voracious.

Dilettante meddlers like Musk, who grew up as a privileged and insulated white boy in apartheid South Africa, should keep their lame asses out of Eastern European affairs. People in the West are usually underinformed about Eastern European history and culture and Elon Musk is worse than most.

[oflights]

hi allie! i love all your fics and for the prompt request i would really like something in the make this leap universe. anything, really but if it could involve more food making by draco i’d be really happy. i love food and cooking and that fic is probably one of my favorites ever. but again, it can be whatever you feel live writing! thank you!

hi!! i'm so sorry this took forever; i've started this a few different times and just never quite got going with it. i started writing this version in my head during jury duty today, though, so i was excited to get it down when i got home!!

this is 1.2k words (😭 it's not funny anymore!) of extremely sappy, domestic married fluff in the Make This Leap universe. enjoy!!

Draco finds the cookbook when he’s digging around in the Potter vault for Harry’s birthday.

Shared access to vaults hadn’t gone unmentioned when they’d first married—there were some tender memories there for Draco in particular. But they’d been successful business partners first, already mingling finances, and Harry had been very cheerful and upfront about it: “What’s mine is yours, but most of the good stuff went into the restaurant that burned down, so there’s not much there.”

Beyond gold, which Draco is lucky and successful enough to not have to care about, the Potter vault does have some interesting items that Harry had seemed to lack the emotional wherewithal to really catalog. Draco doesn’t blame him, has never pushed it, and thought it rather lucky as he was considering Harry’s birthday present. The plan was to find some heirloom he could restore, to tell him that if he ever wants to find the emotional wherewithal, Draco will be there to support him.

He finds the cookbook instead.

A good portion of it isn’t in English, which is exciting—Draco loves getting to mess about with Translation Charms—and Draco lacks cultural context for much of it, utterly unable to relate to generations of an immigrant family trying to keep traditions alive through food as much as possible even through countless changes. He still pores over it eagerly, captivated by notes in English in some of the later recipes, itching to try some.

He doesn’t know if he can get an actual birthday present out of this or if it’s just a cooking project he wants to nerd out about, but he tells himself the goal is the former to justify the latter. He stays late a few nights at the restaurant, practicing some of the simpler recipes, realizing he has no idea what he’s doing and if he’s doing anything right at the same time he realizes he doesn’t care, is just having a good time experimenting.

He feeds only some of it to Harry, not telling him what he’s doing or where the recipes are coming from, just telling him he’s trying new things and is charmed by all the vegetarian options. Harry also lacks cultural context, which is demonstrably more tragic, and Draco stops feeding him the experiments the more that tragedy reveals itself. Instead, he starts asking around for help.

In the past, Draco’s learned French cooking in France, Italian cooking in Italy, Eastern European cooking in Eastern Europe, Cambodian cooking in Cambodia—but he can’t exactly hop over to modern day Pakistan for lessons without his husband knowing about it. So he puts feelers out through his network of chefs with what turns out to be a very heartwarming story: he wants to cook the food in this cookbook for his half-Desi husband, and he has no idea what he’s doing.

It gains some traction—fucking Sebastian Quantrill has the nerve to write Draco about doing a story for it when he catches wind, resulting in some extremely colorful threats amidst his denial should Harry find out before Draco’s ready; Sebastian writes back that this is usually the point where Harry threatens to obliviate him, to which Draco responds that obliviate is the least of Sebastian’s worries from Draco, and after that doesn’t hear another word from him—and it takes time, as these things do.

But eventually Draco manages to schedule a few lessons a week with a retired chef through her daughter, who has to translate for them. The chef, a tiny Pakistani woman named Maryam who isn’t taller than Draco’s shoulder and calls him a name her daughter refuses to translate every time he asks for measurements of something, had run a hole-in-the-wall takeaway place straddling the Muggle and magical world for years with her husband, closing it up only when he’d passed.

Draco loves her immediately, and thinks the eventual real birthday present might be introducing her to Harry. Cooking with her is a genuine joy, reveling in the way she shoves him out of her path and laughs at his failed attempts at perfecting his puri after professing to be excellent at flatbreads.

They’re some of the best cooking lessons he’s ever had, if only because one of the conclusions he comes to is that he’ll never be good at this the way Maryam is, and that all he can do is give it a good enough try. “That’s what love is,” she tells him through her daughter, who is tearing up a bit. “A good enough try. As good as you can give.”

It’s the sort of lesson Draco wishes he could’ve had when he was younger, throwing himself into being the best chef he could possibly be because it felt like the only way to be as different as he possibly could be from the kid he’d been growing up.

Draco is a chef, though, so he cooks up what he thinks is a good enough try for Harry’s birthday breakfast: halwa puri (with his best puri yet, starting at sun-up to get it right) with a potato and chickpea curry he’d gotten as close to perfect as possible. These were the recipes with the most notes in English in the cookbook, the most described failures to learn from, so Draco’s excited.

Harry lights up when he comes downstairs, and Draco’s heart swells—Harry’s enthusiasm for his cooking hasn’t faded in all these years, and Draco just loves him for it. “This is all—” Harry starts, sitting down and studying dishes, blinking a bit as Draco whips out the cookbook and drops it carefully in front of him.

“The recipes are from this,” Draco says, dragging his seat around to Harry’s side of the table and leaning over the book to show him the right pages. “I took some lessons—”

“Draco,” Harry says, his voice a little wet. Draco ducks a grin into Harry’s shoulder; he loves his sappy husband who gets weepier as they age.

“Shut up, I had no idea what I was doing. I’ll introduce you to my teacher, you’ll love her—but these are fundamentally family recipes. She could teach you too, if you want, we could do it together, and use this—”

“This is my mum’s handwriting,” Harry says in wonder, looking down at some of the scribbled English notes. Draco’s eyes widen, feeling a little silly that this had never occurred to him, and he gives a short laugh.

“Well, great minds, then.”

“Wait—that bit’s my dad’s, I think.” Harry squints down at it, Draco leaning over to join him in squinting, his own reading glasses stubbornly abandoned on the bedside table for the sake of vanity.

“I should’ve known; it’s barely legible, like yours.”

“They cooked together, too,” Harry says. He looks up with a sniff, catches Draco squinting, kisses his crinkled brow and whispers “Accio Draco’s reading glasses. You vain git.”

“Nice, that’s nice—after I cooked you this amazing breakfast—”

“You’re amazing,” Harry tells him, shaking his head. “You’re—you took lessons.”

“I wanted to get it right!”

“You’re a professional chef!”

“I’m whiter than snow—” His glasses smack him in the side of the head, then, making Harry burst out laughing, making Draco join in, warm and in their kitchen, a good enough try spread out on their table.

[bottlecapping]

pitching a resident evil au for Charon for no reason:

-> in edonia (eastern europe) there's this black market Scrooge-McDuck-brand distributor (who will be referred to as The Distributor) - this Distributor works with a number of conglomerate business to move shipments of things best kept out of public eye. for Umbrella, this Distributor ferried bioweapons and mobile labs, among other time-sensitive pharmaceutical horrors.

-> Charon was a special gift from an Umbrella Exec to the Distributor. Charon is one of the attempts at brainwashing/mind control of combatants whose project was part of the stepping stones to reigning in more dangerous subjects. He protects the Distributor

-> during the Raccoon City Trials, the Distributor's involvement with Umbrella puts a magnifying glass on him, and soon, his illegal activities are under the scrunity of the courts. in an effort to protect its interests, the Distributor's network bombards him with assassination attempts. eventually, they succeed.

-> Later, Charon is employed by another arm's dealer in Edonia. He runs a bar there as cover, in which Charon is a sentinel. The black market exchanges are done out of sight, in the bar's palatial basement.

[unilifeabroadcareersolution]

Advantage of studying Small Business Management in International Markets in ITALY | Free Education

Unilife abroad career solutions

Benefits of studying Small Business Management in International Market’s in ITALY

Prestigious Education System:

Italy boasts renowned universities and business schools with robust programs in small business management and international markets.

Strategic European Location:

Italy’s central location in Europe provides access to diverse markets and a gateway to both Western and Eastern European economies.

Rich Entrepreneurial History:

Italy's long history of successful small and family-run businesses offers unique case studies and insights into entrepreneurial success.

Strong SME Sector:

Italy's economy is heavily supported by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing ample real-world examples and internship opportunities.

Cultural Insight:

Understanding Italy’s diverse culture enhances knowledge of international market dynamics and consumer behaviour.

Experienced Faculty:

Learn from experienced professors and industry experts with deep knowledge of both local and global business practices.

Networking Opportunities:

 Build connections with international students, local entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, creating a global professional network.

Innovative Environment:

Exposure to Italy’s innovative approaches in design, fashion, and manufacturing, which are integral to many small businesses.

International Exposure:

Engage in programs that often include study tours, international projects, and exchange opportunities across Europe.

Hands-On Learning:

 Benefit from practical learning experiences through internships, projects with local businesses, and participation in business incubators.

 Government Support:

 Leverage Italy’s government initiatives aimed at supporting small businesses and promoting international trade.

Multidisciplinary Approach:

Gain insights from a multidisciplinary curriculum that integrates management, marketing, finance, and international trade.

Language Skills:

Opportunity to learn or improve Italian language skills, enhancing employability in international business environments.

Quality of Life:

Enjoy Italy’s high quality of life, rich history, art, cuisine, and scenic beauty while pursuing your studies.

Career Prospects:

Graduates are well-prepared for careers in international business management, entrepreneurship, consultancy, and more, with the added advantage of an international perspective.

Unilife Abroad Career Solutions

Contact Us : 8428440444 , 8608777070 , 8428999090

Mail ID : anagha@unilifeabroad.com , diya@unilifeabroad.com

[laresearchette]

Sunday, October 08, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: 90 DAY FIANCÉ (TLC Canada) 8:00pm THE CIRCUS (Crave) 8:30pm LAST STOP LARRIMAH: MURDER DOWN UNDER (HBO Canada) 9:00pm 90 DAY FIANCÉ: PILLOW TALK (TLC Canada) 11:00pm THE TURNING POINT: MARTHA'S VINEYARD V. DESANTIS (MSNBC) 11:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: ICE AIRPORT ALASKA (TBD - Smithsonian Channel) THE VENICE MURDERS (TBD - Lifetime Canada) THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL (TBD)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA ARODON DIAMOND IN THE SKY LISTENING EARS SURVIVAL OF JELILI

CRAVE TV LAST STOP LARRIMAH

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN4) 9:30am: Jaguars vs. Bills (TSN/TSN4) 1:00pm: Giants vs. Dolphins (TSN/TSN4) 4:00pm: Eagles vs. Rams (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 8:20pm: Cowboys vs. 49ers

MEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP (TSN2) 11:45am: Tonga vs. Romania

NBA BASKETBALL (SN Now) 1:00pm: Bulls vs. Bucks (SN1) 8:00pm: Kings vs. Raptors (SN Now) 8:00pm: Pacers vs. Grizzlies

WNBA BASKETBALL (SN1) 3:00pm: Liberty vs. Aces - Game #1

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 4:00pm: ALDS - Rangers vs. Orioles - Game #2 (SN) 3:00pm: ALDS - Twins vs. Astros - Game #2

HEARTLAND (CBC) 7:00pm: Amy and Jack retrain Edwin's horse for carriage racing, bringing Amy and Edwin closer; Logan takes on his first client horse; election night arrives for Lou just as the family faces a difficult loss…OH NO! SAVE YOURSELF HORSIE!

THE BIG BAKE (Food Network Canada) 7:00pm: Fun and games turn to frights as host Brad Smith challenges the baking teams to sew up a win with a dangerous doll cake that toys with judges Ron Ben-Israel, Eddie Jackson and Danni Rose.

THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (CBC) 8:00pm: It's Bread Week once again, and the nine remaining bakers knead to prove their bread-iness.

CRUELLA (CTV2) 8:00pm: Estella is a young and clever grifter who's determined to make a name for herself in the fashion world. However, when Estella befriends fashion legend Baroness von Hellman, she embraces her wicked side to become the raucous and revenge-bent Cruella.

BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN (Lifetime Canada) 8:00pm: Young mother Rachel frantically searches for her teen daughter, Hannah, after their car crashes outside a small town; people die mysteriously in Rachel's wake as she gets closer to finding out that the local doctor kidnapped her daughter.

SKYMED (CBC) 9:00pm: As the SkyMed crew wait for their fallen team member to wake up, Crystal starts to find her feet as a medical student, and a secret from the past threatens Nowak and Tristan's relationship.

BRYAN'S ALL IN (HGTV Canada) 9:00pm/10:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): City slickers turned country boys, Ryan and Taylor, need Bryan's help to transform their live-and-work farm into a show-stopping distillery and bar; they need to create a venue that stands apart from the competition. In Episode Two, new-generation farmers, Samantha and Paul, have big dreams for their rural business; they want to create a farm stand to sell their home-grown products, but also to give local artisans a place to sell their goods.

EUROPE’S HIDDEN WONDERS (Nat Geo Canada) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): The filmmaker showcases the natural wonders of Germany, from the peaks of the Bavarian Alps to the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas.

WHEN CALLS THE HEART (Super Channel Heart and Home) 9:00pm: Lucas is the talk of Hope Valley; Elizabeth and the whole town rally around him, but everyone still worries it won't be enough to stop the governor.

CLEAN SWEEP (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm: The pressure builds on all fronts as Shelly is identified as the mysterious woman at the crime scene; she considers fleeing, but she would never leave her kids.

BELLE COLLECTIVE (OWN Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Latrice, Lateshia, Gucci and Tambra confront their relationship issues head on.

THE WINTER KING (Crave) 11:00pm: Arthur and the tribe kings enter peace talks; Arthur meets Guinevere, Ceinwyn's lady-in-waiting, while traveling.

[daily-media]

US To Give Money Seized From Russian Oligarch To Ukraine As Aid: Report

The money will come from assets confiscated from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev after his indictment on sanctions evasions in April.

Washington: Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday that he had authorized the United States to begin using seized Russian money to aid Ukraine, according to US media.

The announcement came during a meeting between Garland and Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin in Washington, nearly one year after Moscow's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor.

"Today, I am announcing that I have authorized the first-ever transfer of forfeited Russian assets for use in Ukraine," Garland said, according to CNN

The money will come from assets confiscated from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev after his indictment on sanctions evasions in April, he added.

The money will go to the State Department "to support the people of Ukraine," CNN reported Garland as saying.

Kostin welcomed the move, which he said would see $5.4 million of confiscated assets go toward "rebuilding Ukraine."

"Delighted to see the new legislation aimed at seizing the Russian oligarchs' illicit assets in action," he posted on Twitter, along with a picture of himself and Garland during the meeting.

"All Ukrainians have, in one way or another, suffered from this war. It's our obligation to ensure the Ukrainian people receive compensation for all the tremendous damage done," he said.

"The inherent part of accountability is that the perpetrator pays for the harm inflicted," Kostin added at the end of his tweet thread.

Russian millionaire Malofeyev is considered one of the main sources of funding for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In April, the US Treasury blacklisted a network of some 40 individuals and entities led by Malofeyev that it said were used to facilitate sanctions evasion.

"After being sanctioned by the United States, Malofeyev attempted to evade the sanctions by using co-conspirators to surreptitiously acquire and run media outlets across Europe," Garland told reporters at the time, when the Justice Department indicted him.

The United States has announced several packages of sanctions against Russian citizens and organizations since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Treasury Department sanctions generally seek to freeze any assets under US jurisdiction of those targeted and ban any American individual or entity, including financial institutions with US branches, from doing business with them.

[s4g2]

Harnessing Global SEO Power: Tailoring Strategies to Flourish in International Markets

The world is more connected than ever. Businesses, irrespective of their size, have the potential to reach a global audience. But as opportunities expand, so does the complexity of tapping into new markets. Each country, with its distinct cultural and digital footprint, demands a unique SEO approach. At S4G2 Marketing Agency, we delve deep into these intricacies, crafting tailor-made strategies for each nation. Let's embark on a journey across the world, exploring our specialized SEO services for various countries.

Australia and New Zealand: SEO Down Under

Whether it's Sydney's bustling marketplaces or Auckland's thriving hubs, businesses in the Australasian region need a unique approach. Localized content that resonates with the ANZAC spirit combined with mobile-optimized strategies makes for a winning formula here.

European Majors: France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain

Europe is a melting pot of cultures, languages, and digital behaviors. Each country, be it the fashion-centric Parisians or the tech-savvy Berliners, demands a distinct strategy. Our approach leans into cultural nuances while respecting GDPR and other regional regulations.

Emerging Powerhouses: India, Brazil, Nigeria, Indonesia

Rapidly growing economies with a vast digital footprint, these countries present immense opportunities. Local languages, mobile-first approaches, and understanding the pulse of the youth are key here.

Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia

With a strong emphasis on technology and innovation, businesses here need to be ahead of the curve. Incorporating the latest in tech trends, like AI and AR, into SEO strategies can be particularly rewarding.

North American Giants: United States and Canada

Arguably the most competitive markets, the US and Canada require a blend of localized and broad-reaching strategies. Keeping up with the ever-evolving algorithms of major search engines is paramount.

Nordic Nations: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark

Known for their tech-savviness, the Nordic countries appreciate well-structured, user-friendly websites. Transparent, ethical SEO practices resonate well with the audience here.

Eastern European Blend: Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria

A mix of languages and cultures, Eastern Europe demands regional and local SEO. Focusing on local directories and integrating with regional social networks can yield great results.

Middle Eastern Gems: UAE, Israel, Iraq

Businesses looking to penetrate these markets need to understand the delicate balance of modernity and tradition. Multilingual SEO, especially with Arabic content, is key.

African Potential: South Africa, Zimbabwe

While still in the nascent stages of the digital revolution, Africa presents vast opportunities. Mobile-focused strategies, combined with local content, are the way forward.

Latin American Charm: Mexico, Belize, Brazil

Spanish, Portuguese, and a host of indigenous languages make this region unique. Engaging with local influencers and creating culturally resonant content is vital.

Rest of the World: From Austria to Vietnam

Every nation, be it the snow-capped peaks of Switzerland or the bustling streets of Tokyo, has its own digital signature. At S4G2 Marketing Agency, we understand and respect these distinctions. By crafting bespoke strategies, we ensure businesses don't just reach their target audience; they resonate with them.

Conclusion:

In today's digital age, the world is your marketplace. But global reach demands global understanding. At S4G2 Marketing Agency, our expertise spans continents, ensuring your business's voice is heard, understood, and appreciated, no matter where your audience is. Dive into the world of possibilities with our tailored global SEO solutions.

Find SEO Services & SEO Expert on Facebook Below:

SEO Services Australia

SEO Services Bangladesh

SEO Services Cameroon

SEO Services Nepal

SEO Services Greece

SEO Services Indonesia

SEO Services Jordan

SEO Services Lebanon

SEO Services New Zealand

SEO Services Pakistan

SEO Services Canada

SEO Services Singapore

SEO Services United  Kingdom

SEO Services United States

SEO Services Cambodia

SEO Services Afghanistan

SEO Services Albania

SEO Services Algeria

SEO Services Angola

SEO Services Argentina

SEO Services Austria

SEO Services Azerbaijan

SEO Services Bahrain

SEO Services Barbados

SEO Services Belarus

SEO Services Belgium

SEO Services Benin

SEO Services Bhutan

SEO Services Bolivia

SEO Services Brazil

SEO Services Bulgaria

SEO Services Chile

SEO Services China

SEO Services Costa Rica

SEO Services Cyprus

SEO Services Czech Republic

SEO Services Dubai

SEO Services Egypt

SEO Services Ethiopia

SEO Services France

SEO Services Germany

SEO Services Hong Kong

SEO Services Ireland

SEO Services India

SEO Services Malaysia

SEO Services Spain

SEO Services Israel

SEO Services Italy

SEO Services Jamaica

SEO Services Japan

SEO Services Kenya

SEO Services Kuwait

SEO Services Malta

SEO Services Mauritius

SEO Services Mexico

SEO Services Moldova

SEO Services Morocco

SEO Services Nigeria

SEO Services Philippines

SEO Services Russia

SEO Services Saudi Arabia

SEO Services Somalia

SEO Services South Africa

SEO Services Sri Lanka

SEO Services Sudan

SEO Services Sweden

SEO Services Switzerland

SEO Services Venezuela

SEO Services Zimbabwe

SEO Services Thailand

SEO Services Vietnam

SEO Services Botswana

[mariacallous]

On 17 November, Kyiv woke to its first snow of the winter, the now familiar sound of air-raid sirens and explosions, and the news that, yet again, scores of Russian missiles were cutting through Ukraine’s skies headed for power plants and electricity substations.

The destruction of civilian infrastructure is meant to paralyse Ukrainian cities, but has led instead to a new buzz of activity as people try to adapt. Walking through the capital, you tune in to the hum of generators outside cafes that hint cooked food may be had. Other eateries have switched to cold menus and pre-brewed filter coffee, kept warm in a flask.

It’s similar elsewhere; in Lviv, basement cafes double as bomb shelters bathed in candlelight. On a larger scale, the national railway has revamped its ageing diesel fleet to replace electric locomotives, and cities are preparing thousands of generator-powered warm rooms where people can escape the cold and charge their phones.

But even as individuals and businesses find creative ways to respond, it’s impossible to escape the effects of Russia’s missiles and drones. Ukraine says attacks have disabled nearly half of the country’s energy system, increasingly cutting off heat, light, water and communications. Hospitals having to run on back-up generators means countless postponed operations. Water supplies are disrupted and blackouts curtail working hours for businesses, whose survival is vital for an economy likely to shrink by a third this year. Ukraine’s $7bn IT sector, a rare success despite the war, may go into reverse unless it gets the uninterrupted electricity and high-speed internet it needs.

In suburban Kyiv, Oleg has had no work for his theatrical stage design business since the invasion. But he faces soaring costs to ready his home for winter, and the worst three months of subzero temperatures begin about now. The backup generator in his garage guzzles six dollars worth of gasoline an hour. He has to buy firewood and use car batteries to keep the heat pumps running.

The closer to the fighting, the more extreme efforts to adapt have to be. Viktoria, a hotel owner who fled to western Ukraine from Sviatohirsk, recalls finding the Donbas town barely functioning when she went back to visit in October, after Ukrainian forces had regained control. Neighbours told her that after weeks without power, local authorities offered to rehouse them in the town’s hospital, the one place with stable electricity.

When Russia began systematically bombing Ukraine’s infrastructure in September, after battlefield setbacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his people would always choose freedom over electricity or heating, and nearly three-quarters of Ukrainians agree. But even if the Kremlin cannot freeze Ukrainians into doubting their government’s capacity to protect them, a humanitarian winter crisis will drain both Ukrainian and western resources. That will be exacerbated if more people flee, adding to the 6.5 million already displaced within Ukraine and nearly eight million Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

If Russia succeeds in rendering parts of Ukraine uninhabitable, costs will grow further. Hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by the cold and dark would leave a huge gap in an already battered economy. As in the eastern Donbas war zone since 2014, the better-off people would leave first; those most vulnerable would remain in place, and – with the economy disrupted and private support networks scattered – they would increasingly depend on humanitarian aid.

Resources that help Ukrainians adapt rather than leave therefore represent money well spent. At a national level, top of the list is air defence. Ukraine’s systems have already grown more effective thanks to western support, but even a much-strengthened air defence will be stretched if Iran ships hundreds more missiles and drones to Russia, as western officials suspect. Ukrainian forces also continue to face some shortages of cold weather gear, and its western partners could continue to help fill those gaps.

In addition to war-fighting support, there are many other ways international organisations and sympathetic governments, companies, municipalities and individuals can help. Ukrainian energy providers say they are running out of equipment to restore power plants swiftly, making outages ever longer. They need spare parts, building materials and machinery – but also logistical aid in scheduling blackouts efficiently.

Civilians need blankets, boilers, ovens, heaters and generators – or, where there is a functioning market, just money they can spend on what they need most, such as expensive fuel. Those worst-hit need roofing and glazing, or at the very least plastic sheeting, to survive in damaged homes. These relatively simple and uncontroversial kinds of aid can make the difference between staying or leaving.

The onset of winter is a good time to revamp the response to Russia’s continuing invasion, with a combination of generous government aid and direct support from public and private aid providers.

Western cities and institutions can support their Ukrainian counterparts. It is also a good time to combat the fatigue in private donations and put aside political bickering over international aid that could lead to assistance arriving too late. As Russia tries to use civilian suffering to turn the tide of a losing war, mitigating that suffering should be Ukraine’s partners’ priority.

[msclaritea]

Kevin Costner & Morgan Freeman ‘The Gray House’ SAG-AFTRA Agreement – Deadline

Kevin Costner & Morgan Freeman-Produced Civil War Spy Series ‘The Gray House’ Lands SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement

By Peter White

Kevin Spacey Found Not Guilty Of Sex Crimes In UK Trial; Oscar Winner "Humbled"

July 24, 2023 1:52pm

Kevin Costner, Morgan FreemanCourtesy/Nigel Parry

The Gray House, a Civil War spy drama series that is being produced by Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman, is the latest high-profile project to land an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA.

The project managed to secure an interim agreement – by which the producers agree to the terms of the guild’s last counter-offer to the AMPTP – despite having international distribution through Paramount Global.

SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreements: List Of Movies And Series Granted Waivers

SAG Begins Granting Waivers To Indie Productions But Plenty Of Questions Remain, Not Least Whether Actors Will Show Up

The actors guild has now handed out over 60 interim agreements to movies and series since the walkout earlier this month. Apple TV+’s Tehran became the most high-profile series to land one, after films such as The Watchers, which has involvement from Warner Bros. Discovery’s New Line, were also added to the list as well as Glenn Close’s The Summer Book and A24 films Mother Mary and I Dream Of Unicorns.

11 Fresh Nike Summer Shoes for Women to Shop This Season

Paramount Global Content Distribution, which is run by Dan Cohen, is set to distribute six-part series The Gray House, which does not currently have a U.S. network or streamer attached.

The Gray House tells the story of the three women General Ulysses S. Grant credited as helping the North win the Civil War. It focuses on the unsung women who turned the tide of the American Civil War in favor of the North. A Richmond Socialite and her daughter, a formerly enslaved African-American, and a courtesan build the first successful female spy ring, operating right under the noses of the Confederate High Command. They risk life and liberty to help win the war and preserve American Democracy.

The series is based on an original script by Leslie Greif and Darrell Fetty, and Oscar-nominated John Sayles. Oscar-nominated Roland Joffe is directing.

The series has been filming in Eastern Europe.

Costner is exec producing via his Territory Pictures banner with Rod Lake and Howard Kaplan producing. Freeman is producing alongside his producing partner Lori McCreary via their Revelations Entertainment shingle and Greif is producing via his Big Dreams Entertainment alongside Alex Kerr.

Who gets an interim agreement is a complicated question, particularly as some of these projects seem to have ties to AMPTP companies such as Paramount Global.

SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told Deadline, “It goes to reflect the complexity and the business relationships and structures in this industry.”  

He added, “If there are AMPTP connections to the project, then [waivers] won’t be [granted]. That’s the big-picture answer. Everyone needs to be investigated and evaluated individually because obviously the question of ‘Are there AMPTP fingerprints or connections to the project?’ is a very specific question. That means it takes a few days to a week depending on volume, maybe a little more for us to evaluate whether a project can receive an interim agreement.”

These people keep proving me right. I knew Fran Drescher could not be trusted and neither can her little minion Crabtree-Ireland. Some of these productions knew they could get away with this by filming in Europe and by the way, per Insider Hollywood, including many publications like Deadline and Variety lamenting back in 22 about 'a precious American Western being shot in New Zealand' what the fuck do I look like anticipating from two already wealthy actors and their European flavored Civil War drama? Screw Costner and Freeman for this.

I really feel a deep dread for the Hollywood workers striking. They might have been set up with AMPTP ringers on the SAG-AFTRA board.